Leap Into Indie Giveaway!

Ah, indie books. They come in several flavors. At times they are what keeps me blogging. And at times they make me want to tear my hair out. Some people love them. Some people don't.

Well, today I'm here to spread the love. As a book blogger, some of the most interesting books I have had the opportunity to read are what I would classify as "indie". Now, before we get going with a list of the goodies, what do I classify as "indie"? Indie is what you aren't going to easily find at your local bookstore or library. Just like with indie music, you sort of have to be in the know to get into something indie bookwise. Until, of course, it catches on. (Which is great for the author. I'm not going to get into whether they are still indie or not -- that's not the point here.)

Some of you may know that I am hoping to release my own book, Moon Dance, later this year. It was actually while I was finishing up my first draft that I got into blogging. Which in turn is how I discovered al the awesome books here. Strange how that works, huh? Anyway, the following list of things you will win if you're the one picked from my giveaway is basically a "who's who" of authors I have read since I started I Write, I Read, I Review. There are SIX books here, and yes, someone is going have a very happy e-Reader, very very soon. So, lets get this show on the road! Let me show you what you'll be receiving if you win!

What's Up For Grabs?: 

I love all of these books. They are listed in no particular order of favoritism. I have included links to my reviews where possible, as well as to the books GoodReads pages. ONE (1) lucky winner is going to win e-Book versions of all of these. I did my research for them on Amazon.com, but if you need a different format I will do my best to work with you on that.

Blue Sky Days
by Marie Landry
GoodReads | My Review

C'mon, guys. You knew this was going to be here. Blue Sky Days is actually the book I initially signed up for this giveaway to promote. Is it true that I'm friends with Marie Landry? Yes. Is it true that her debut is absolutely awesome? Once again, yes. Blue Sky Days is a beautiful love story that will stick with you long after you turn the last page. This is the sort of book that you need to read if you like romance.

Destined
by Jessie Harrell
GoodReads | My Review

I said this at the start of my review, and I'll say it here: when it comes to Greek Mythology I am a total, utter and complete snob. I am obnoxiously picky, the characters are my babies and it's easy to rub me the wrong way. With that out of the way: Destined is quite likely the best retelling of a Greek Myth that I have ever read. It's romantic, it's brilliant and it is one of those books that absolutely must be read. 

Miss World
by Randi Black
GoodReads | My Review

There is a lot of sweet love involved in my giveaway package. I figured that it could use something with a little more bite, and I just finished reviewing the perfect thing to fill that void. Miss World is an absolutely fabulous novel. It's always fiercely honest, at times really funny and really captures aspects of the teen experience that most books just won't touch. Get ready to meet Kimmy, because whether you love her or hate her, I'm confident you *will* feel *something*. 

Remembrance
by Michelle Madow
GoodReads | My Review

Another sweet romantic tale, this one with some very interesting reincarnation themes. Michelle Madow's debut is an interesting tale of a love that has carried through time, and how far two people are willing to go in order to be together. Is love worth risking your life for? And even if you get that love, will you get to keep it? I found Remembrance to be a fairly original take on the idea of reincarnation, I liked Lizzy and Drew and I was very drawn to their story. 

The Scarlet Dagger
by Krystle Jones
GoodReads | My Review

Last but definitely not least. If you have not read The Scarlet Dagger yet, and you like vampires *or* dystopian, you are seriously missing out. The characters are strong, the plot twists and turns, the dialogue is both touching and funny, the world is well built, the mythology original and interesting... I could go on and on praising this. (It *did* receive my Kat's Meow Award...) Quite frankly, for me this giveaway wouldn't be complete without it. 

Ryder
by Greta Maloney
GoodReads | My Review

The moment that I heard about this I absolutely had to read it. I love fairy tale retellings, and Little Red Riding Hood isn't a story that gets too much attention. Ryder pays homage to the original tale while not being afraid to add its own twists and turns. A unique and original take on a classic tale, Ryder is many things: a love story, a quest to claim mastery of oneself, a struggle for redemption. Above all, it is absolutely not to be missed. 

Well, that's "it", guys. :D What do you think? Did I make good choices? If you have already read some of these, or if the books I have chosen are not your cup of tea, fear not. You also have the option to choose to receive a $10 gift card from Amazon.com.

How To Enter:

To actually enter the giveaway, it's super easy. Just leave a name for me to announce if you win, and an e-mail address for me to contact you at. (+1 entries)

Bonus Entries:

1. Tell me an indie book you have been dying to read. Who knows? If it's not too expensive I may be super nice and surprise you. (+1 entries)

2. Tell me an indie book that I might want to check out / read. I have a huge TBR pile but I'm always looking for more books that I should be keeping an eye on. (+1 entries)

3. See all the reviews up there? Click on one and comment. I love comments. They totally make my day. :D (+1 entries)

4. Follow me on twitter. (@Katallina) (+1 entries)

5. Tweet the following: I want to win 6 awesome eBooks from @Katallina as part of the Leap Into Indie Giveaway Hop! http://www.katreads.com/2012/02/leap-into-indie-giveaway.html (+1 entries)

6. Follow me via FeedBurner / GFC (+1 entries)

Thanks so much for dropping by and checking out my giveaway! I wish everyone who decides to enter the absolute best of luck!

In My Mailbox (Feb. 25th)

In My Mailbox is a weekly feature hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren where we get to share the fabulous books and book related things that we bought, borrowed or received this week. Curious what I got? Scroll down and take a peek! And don't forget to link me so I can drop by, say hi and have a look at your new treasures. :)

For Review: 

Hope's Journey
by Stephanie Worlton

Sydney is a straight-A student heading to college on a scholarship, and Alex is a quiet jock preparing to serve an LDS mission. But their dreams are shattered on the eve of their high school graduation when they find out that Sydney is pregnant. Separated, they must both trust in God as they search for the worth they once found in each other.

I was absolutely thrilled to be contacted about reviewing Hope's Journey and being part of the tour. I read about this book a few months ago and had been curious since. I've already zipped through it, I'm working on my review and I'm preparing questions for my interview with Stephanie. The Hope's Journey blog tour will be stopping by on April 10th. 

I Bought: (Physical)

You had to see this
one coming, guys!

Not bad for the price.

I love this thing.
Worth every penny.

Anyone who's been around I Write, I Read, I Review knows that anything House of Night related is a complete insta-buy for me. So I had to pick up Lenobia's Vow when I saw it at WalMart. Why haven't I reviewed it yet? Well, I know it's gonna end sad. And even though I know it's the past and there is hope in the present, I'm actually such a sap that this is holding me back. Give me time. It'll get done.

As for the two Hunger Games movie books, they were on sale so I pretty much went "Why not?". The Tribute Guide is alright for the $6 or so it cost me. I may like it better if I spend more time with it. The Illustrated Movie Companion was more expensive (I think I paid $15 or so after the sale) but I absolutely love it and I feel it was worth every penny. Can you tell I am excited for the movie? :D

I Bought: (Kindle)

Yeah, this is new! I'm trying to highlight what I buy for my Kindle now. I finally figured out how to organize everything into categories. If you saw the video I did during the Wicked Winter Readathon you probably saw that my room looks like it is under constant attack from a tornado of books. A ten by ten space is not the place to house a library. :p Anyway, curious what I've been downloading? Well, have a look. :) 

A Hunger Like No Other is something that Darkfallen and Greta from Paranormal Wastelands talked about when they visited for a Saturday Spotlight post. I've wanted to read it ever since. When I saw how many books are in the Immortals After Dark series I figured it would be a good choice to start adding to my Kindle. I've already finished and reviewed this. I love it and gave it five hearts. 

Shadows, to my knowledge, is a prequel to Obsidian. Remember that book? It's one that I had wanted to read for ages and that I totally devoured when the opportunity to do that came up. I loved it. Downloading this for my kindle was an absolute no-brainer since I'm dying to dive in and the physical book does not appear to be available in Canada yet.

Dark Lover is something I bought out of curiosity. I've heard fantastic things about J.R. Ward for years and had not given her a chance for various reasons. Well ... I'm conflicted. I don't hate this book, but I'm not falling truly madly deeply for it either, which is really too bad. But that's the way the cookie crumbles, I suppose. It can happen just as easily with a physical book. At least if I do end up DNFing this (not sure what I'm doing yet) it won't be cluttering my floor.

Ryder is the debut novel of my friend Greta Maloney. (Yep, that's the same Greta I mentioned earlier.) I had no idea she was writing a book, but the moment I found out onto the Kindle it went. I've already read it and put up my review. In short, if you like werewolves and original fairy tale retellings you need to zip over to Amazon and grab Ryder *now*. It is gripping, original, well written and memorable. (Another easy five hearts.)

Well that's "it" for me this week. :) I think I did really great, especially considering how much of this stuff that I actually read! :) I hope that the "book fairy" was every bit as kind to you. :D Have a great day! 

Review: Ryder by Greta Maloney

I downloaded this oh, say, ten seconds after I first heard about it. I had no idea prior to receiving an e-mail that Greta was planning to publish something. But as has been the case before, the moment one of my friends does publish something I have to read it. I have to weigh in. As a fellow writer, I feel like there is no better I can do then to read their creation and share what I think.

Well, this certainly went beyond that. I love fairy tale retellings. Little Red Riding Hood has certainly been done before, but it's not the most common story chosen. (That honor tends to go to the princess stories -- Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, etc.) Not to mention the fact that this looked like it was going to have an absolutely brilliant trio of twists. (1) Riding hood became Ryder -- a boy. (2) The wolf is a fourteen year old girl, and she and Ryder fall in love. (3) Oh yes, I should mention she's a werewolf, too. Can you see why I was so anxious to dive in? Not your mother's fairy tale, is it?

Long story short, how could I not read this? It's the type of story I would have read regardless. I want to make that abundantly clear. Regardless of who something is written by, either I can pay attention, I want to keep going, I am enchanted, entranced, enthralled. Or I am not. With regard to Ryder, I absolutely could not put this down. If I hadn't been tired last night I likely would have finished it in one sitting. Read on to hear my thoughts on this beautifully written and unique take on a timeless tale...

The Plot: (Summary from GoodReads)

Everyone has a secret.
You're lying if you don't.
Fourteen year old Piper has tried to keep her secret hidden.
Everyone who finds out always winds up dead.
Only the man in the dark suit knows the truth.
A man she only met once.
The man who made her what she is today.
The man who bit her.
But that's all about to change.

Piper Glendale is on the run from the moon as her secret Sister Wolf wars with her. Fighting for control, Piper tries to keep her buried deep inside. But sometimes her sister breaks free.

Escaping from an institution, The Sister Wolf claws her way out. On the run her powerful body runs dry. The sun has finally risen. Piper has regained control.

Awaking in a cemetery, she prowls through the grave stones in search for food and shelter. Overlooking a hill, Piper sees a boy. A boy who is about to change her life. A boy in a faded red hood.

Based on the beloved children's classic Little Red Riding Hood, "Ryder" is a modern retelling with a twist.

The first thing that I want to say, and I'm going to get to it right away since it's right there in the summary, is that I thought the blend of extremely descriptive and vividly image driven writing paired very well with the random sprinklings of freeform poetry that were used throughout the book. The writing style chosen for Ryder felt fresh and different, and was always used to enhance what the characters were experiencing; never to simply draw attention to itself. It caught me off guard at first, but as I made my way through the book it blended in very well.

Another thing that stood out was that the aspect of Little Red Riding Hood which Greta chose to keep was the relative sense of poverty that the story evokes when compared to many other fairy tales. So often in fairy tales (once again mainly refering to the princess ones, I suppose) we see characters surrounded by a setting of great splendor. This is also often the case in YA love stories. Ryder deals with a homeless girl who has a wolf living within her, itching to break free under the strain of the full moon, and a boy and his grandmother who are barely getting by. At the same time, though, I feel that Greta did a great job of showing that despite the issues that might make their life seem imperfect, she also showed that regardless of this fact, they still had something worth fighting for. I connected deeply with Ryder and Piper and I genuinely wanted to see them happy.

I liked the blend between the dull grays of a very stark reality that most would not instantly want to inhabit blended against a very sinister magic that seemed to merely be counting down the hours to Piper's demise. There was no fairy godmother here who was going to make everything magically better for these two regardless of what they did. There was also no woodsman who was going to come by and make their problems disappear. Red Riding Hood, by it's own nature, is a passive fairy tale and I think that Greta did a great job of turning this on it's head. If her characters wanted to survive they would have to make that happen for themselves.

The Characters:

Piper was incredibly intriguing. One one hand, she is a fourteen year old girl, homeless and wracked with guilt over the deaths of her parents. On the other she is a werewolf, possessing a dual nature that makes her capable of changing her form under the light of the full moon. She struggles with the duality of what she is. She questions where she ends and her Sister Wolf begins. While she is ultimately a heroic figure, at times I could not help feeling that this was what it might be like to see the events of Frankenstein from the point of view of the Creature, or of The Tempest through Caliban's eyes. Every story needs some form of antagonist, some opposition or conflict that drives the plot. While Piper's Sister Wolf was not the only issue in the book, she is a situation that is far closer to home then most people -- real or fictional -- will ever get to their personal demons. 

Ryder takes the basic concept of Riding Hood and basically makes it explode. Aside from a certain amount of innocence and trust and a red hood, the role is very much open for interpretation. Greta took hold of this and ran with it. Where Red Riding Hood is a very basically constructed character (as most storybook characters are) Ryder was deep and complex. While he did not have something living inside of him like Piper did, he had his own struggles, his own past issues that he had to deal with, that made him real and memorable. The grimly realistic and mundane nature of Ryder's issues contrasted beautifully with the more darkly whimsical nature of the things that Piper faced. I think that gave the book a very balanced pace and a very stark feeling, making it a little frightening in both a supernatural way and in a way that reminds us that this world is not always a pretty place. 

Marti, Ryder's grandma, was also well fleshed out. I have a feeling she knew that Piper's life was not easy and that she was doing her best to help even if she didn't simply take Piper under her roof. (You must realize that her circumstances would not allow that, and that it would have broken the symbolism of the source material. The fact that Piper either snuck in or was brought in by Ryder is very important.) I really enjoyed the story of how she met her husband; it added a layer to her character and because of something related to it became important to the overall plot. 

The Romance: 

As with most fairy tales, the love and attraction between the main characters came quickly and easily. That was fine with me, because the question of when would he love her was never the real issue. Rather, it was at first would he continue to love her after knowing the truth, and then would he survive loving her once that decision had been made. 

Now, sifting all of those questions that center around Piper's issues aside, I also liked the fact that we got to see a very clear picture of what life would be like for these two if they could get past the problems that life was throwing at them. This story took place over the span of several months so we got a clear image of these two characters not only growing together, but also of the fact that they had staying power outside of the supernatural issues that could have separated them. People don't need to have a werewolf inside to have trouble in the love department. The fact that Ryder and Piper wanted to be together, period, was really important. And I think Greta did a good job at making their feelings for each other feel sincere and natural. 

In General: 

I know that I have already given this book praise for its vivid descriptions. I also want to take a moment to tell you that these can be gory, shocking and quite horrific. This did not overly bother me, but not everyone is the same and since this stood out to me that tells me it is something I should make sure people are aware of when they pick this book up. The way that the story is written is definitely to it's benefit. But it is what it is, if you get what I am saying. 

If you enjoy fairy tale retellings, beautiful writing or werewolves then you must read Ryder. It's gripping, it's original, and it will stick with you.