Giveaway: The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood

Title: The Poison Diaries

Author: Maryrose Wood
Description: In the right dose, everything is a poison. Even love . . .

Jessamine Luxton has lived all her sixteen years in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle, with little company apart from the plants in her garden. Her father, Thomas, a feared and respected apothecary, has taught her much about the incredible powers of plants: that even the most innocent-looking weed can cure -- or kill.

When Jessamine begins to fall in love with a mysterious boy who claims to communicate with plants, she is drawn into the dangerous world of the poison garden in a way she never could have imagined . . .

~~~

I absolutely adore Maryrose's Morgan Rawlinson series! Click her name in this post's hashtag to read my reviews. (They are onne of the rare books I actually re-read over and over again from time to time.) I look completely forward to her new series and lucky for you guys, one of you can win a copy of The Poison Diaries! Be sure to visit www.poisondiaries.com for more info!

Contest Time

To enter, answer the following:

If we define “poison” as anything that’s not good for you if you have too much of it, leave a comment describing your favorite poison!

Giveaway Item(s): A signed copy of The Poison Diaries

# of Winners: 1

Eligibility: International

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What I Wore to Save the World by Maryrose Wood

Title: What I Wore to Save the World
Author: Maryrose Wood
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: 276
My Rating: 4.5/5

Morgan is about to enter her last year of high school. She has no flipping clue on what she wants to do later in life. Her parents decide to dish out two hundred bucks so that she is able to meet a private college counsellor so she could finally make up her mind. Odd Mr. Phineas recommends that she should try for Oxford University for mythological studies. Yes, the Oxford.

Given a free plane ticket, she is to go to England immediately for a campus tour. Except a problem arises and her sexy Irish Colin emails her a request for her to meet him at Wales immediately without a given reason. Worried and excited, Morgan takes a detour to Wales after landing at her destination to discover another mess caused by the faery realm. This time, it is no joke. This time, it could be the end of the world if she can not stop it.

In this third and last instalment of the Morgan Rawlinson series, readers will be entranced by a world of magic, love, and fun!

After waiting for months, I finally got the chance to read What I Wore to Save the World! Unsure about her future, teens could relate to Morgan's problem. Still as witty as ever, our protagonist is now on the other side of the continent (yet again) with her long-distance love and a load of magical complications to fix. Surprisingly, I didn't find myself laughing as much as I did in the first two novels. I was a little disappointed that the humour is more of chuckle-and-mental-appreciation instead of a laugh-out-loud moment. However, there is a lot more emotions and heart-felt moments involved, which I thought was perfect considering it is the last instalment.

In this novel, Morgan has to make a big decision on if she should tell Colin about her half-goddess identity or not. Of course, you would have to read it to know what happens but it makes you wonder if someone truly loves you, will they accept the secrets you have?

The ending took me by surprise because I was hoping for it to wrap up differently than it did. I didn't like it at first but when I thought about it, the author did put a nice final touch to the series.

For fans who have long waited for What I Wore to Save the World would be delighted by this enchanting tale and it would be enjoyed from beginning to end! The novel is finally out so get your copy today!

Review copy provided by Penguin Group (Canada).

Queen Titania from the Morgan Rawlinson Series

I absolutely LOVELOVELOVE (x infinity) the Morgan Rawlinson series by Maryrose Wood!!! I am absolutely dying for the third novel! I think it's the only novel that I will go out and buy on the spot! (As an old follower, you will know that I am a little cheap and broke...) So today I present to you Queen Titania who plays quite a bit of a role in Morgan's life!

~~~

To: You Silly Humans
From: Me! The Queen of the Faeries, naturally!

How perfectly delicious! Imagine: me, Queen Titania, a guest blogger at Stop, Drop, and Read! I am going to need a long, luxurious spa vacation just to recover from the thrill. Bring on the hot stone massage, boys!

See, this is a perfect example of why I am so sick of being Queen of the Faeries. Being human is way more fun! The status and influence I enjoy being the supreme ruler of all things magical is nothing compared to the attention you humans get by blogging! Yes, I have unimaginable powers. But I don’t get comments, do I? I don’t get to run book giveaways, do I? Honestly, sometimes being immortal is just so limiting.

The truth hurts, but I can’t just click the heels of my magic Manolos and make it go away. I’m a rockin’ faery queen and Diana Dang’s a lowly human teen, but while I’m stuck discussing cinema with a bunch of trolls, Diana can just sit at her computer and tell the whole wired universe what she thinks of the new Harry Potter movie! And while we’re on the subject, is it me, or does that adorable Ginny Weasley look like she’s going to grow up to be Maureen Johnson? See for yourself!


A charming person, that Maureen, especially for a mortal. She keeps asking me for book ideas, but I just say no! I’m too busy feeding plots to the writers of “The Office.”

Speaking of work, mine is never done — “uneasy lies the updo that wears the crown,” as I once told my old pal Bill Shakespeare. Must run, darlings; I have a realm to rule, after all.

Or do I? It’s a tempting notion, really…I mean, what would happen if I ditched the faery realm once and for all and devoted myself to having fun fun fun, human style? That wouldn’t be the end of the world, now, would it? Hmmm...

Love from the royal me,

Queen T.

~~~

Actually, I haven't gotten the chance to watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yet! I honestly got lost after the third movie... But let's go to the more important things, shall we?

Three of you lovely readers can win the second novel in the Morgan Rawlinson series! If you haven't read the first, Why I Let My Hair Grow Out, honestly, get to it before you move onto the second! It is absolutely HILARIOUS! I no lie!

Prize(s): 3 signed copies of How I Found the Perfect Dress
# of Winners: 3
Eligibility: International

How to get entries: (please put keep it in the format below when you comment!)
+1 Comment
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When Queen Titania decides that the human realm is the only place to be, Morgan Rawlinson has to take charge in a big, big way—or reality will never be the same. WHAT I WORE TO SAVE THE WORLD will be in stores December 1st. For more info, visit http://www.maryrosewood.com.

Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love by Maryrose Wood

Title: Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love
Author: Maryrose Wood
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: 243
My Rating: 2.5/5

Felicia and her best pals call themselves the Sex Kittens. Oh no, it is not what you think. They are talented fourteen years old girls stuck in the Pound (a.k.a. school) and Felicia has her eyes on one hot Dawg by the name of Matthew Dwyer. He is a science geek who could often be found in the lab room doing experiments with adorable bunnies! And this Kitten is head over heels for him!

The science fair is coming up and Felicia partnered up with Matthew. So what is it going to be on? On the Secret of X (or in common people language: LOVE) of course! These two shall test and hypothesize on how you make the one you love fall back in love with you. Will Felicia have the X factor to attract her lovely Dawg?

Ah, this got to be the first book for me where I found the writing language a bit... corny. No offense to Maryrose! I love her other books for sure! (Though I didn't get to read the Musical one yet... So I pretty much just loved the Morgan series.) In the beginning, it took awhile before I got used to Felicia's slang. Referring to her friends as Kittens and the opposite sex Dawgs does make you a bit mad not to mention a hundred other made up words were used. It gets a bit better in the middle, you don't agonize over the language as much but it definitely sticks until the end (which is something you wished that disappear by magic and normal English kicks in but doesn't). There were many praises for it so I was eager to read it but once that slang started from the second page, it took me more than a week to finish it (managed to finish a book I started reading afterwards during the time). Crossing my fingers her next book won't be a disappointment!

Author Interview: Maryrose Wood

After much delay (my apologies!), I present to you my first author interview! Maryrose Wood is a hilarious author of Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love, My Life: The Musical, Why I Let My Hair Grow Out, and How I Found the Perfect Dress!

First, what is it like to be an author? (Your struggles and what you love about your job, etc)

I love my job! I’ve always loved stories and using my imagination to create. I’m fascinated by human nature and what goes on inside people’s heads, and being a novelist gives me a lot of opportunity to think about that.

And I love language, not surprisingly. I love words and sentences: the way words sound, and the many ways you can evoke a feeling or experience or place by simply stringing the right words together in the right way.

The struggles of the job have to do with the reality that you’re working alone a lot. You have to find ways to keep your life in balance and not get sucked into playing with your imaginary friends all the time. Also, books are long, and it can be a challenge to stay focused and productive over the period of many months it will take to write multiple drafts until the book is ready for publication.

But my author friends are really the most interesting people I know; it’s a treat to be part of community of such smart and creative folks. In the world of writing for teens and tweens, at least, writers do try to offer each other the support and sense of collegiality that helps make the lonely life of the novelist bearable!

Curiously, did your parents have some sort of expectations of you when you were about to leave high school? Possibly wanting you to go into a certain field?

When I left high school I was already absolutely certain that I wanted to be a professional stage actor. I auditioned for three different university acting programs and got accepted at two of them. Ultimately I enrolled at New York University as a drama major.

Years later my mom told me she thought I was going to college to be a biologist. Why she imagined that biology programs would require me to sing, dance, and do dramatic monologues to get accepted is something I still cannot understand. One conclusion that you can safely draw from this story is that my family was not really paying that close attention to what I did. Another conclusion you can draw is that my career has evolved in many new directions since college!

Based on my own experience, my advice is to remember that no matter what career plan you have as you graduate high school, you are likely going to change that plan several times as you get older and get exposed to more potential interests and opportunities. If you have a passion I think the best choice is to pursue it wholeheartedly while also getting a well-rounded education.

What is your everyday life like?

I have two kids, so my daily routine involves prying them out of bed, making breakfast, packing lunches, and driving them to school. Once they’re dropped off I come home and walk the dog, make coffee and get to work. I work from home, in a tiny, messy upstairs office that overlooks my garden. My dog always sits under my chair when I’m writing. She’s very inspiring!

When I get stuck or need to walk around a bit to clear my head, I usually go put in a load of laundry. For some reason it helps!

Is there anything you want to do but still haven’t?

Wow, I can think of thousands of things I’d love to do! I love to travel and would like to do more exploring of new places. And I have tons of ideas for creative projects that I hope to get underway when the time is right.

Also, just once, I would love to have a nice clean house from top to bottom with no clutter, anywhere. That would be a major accomplishment!

I read from another interview that you are working on the third installment of the half-goddess Morgan stories. Can you briefly tell me what this one will be about and when I should be sitting outside a bookstore at 7 AM in the morning for it?

Your question is very sweet! I’m writing the third Morgan book right now, and though I have a list of “maybe” titles I don’t have a perfect one yet, so for the moment I’m just privately calling it Morgan Three. A better title will be forthcoming, I promise!

As junior year ends, Morgan is having a hard time making decisions about college and what her future might hold. She’s convinced there’s some kind of half-goddess destiny in store for her. She just doesn’t know what it is.

Then, an unexpected opportunity to take a campus tour at a famous university plops her in the middle of the biggest crisis the faery realm has ever known. Will Morgan throw her plans for college, career and romance out the window to put things right between the human world and the faeries? Just as importantly, will her relationship with Colin survive once he finds out the truth about her being a half-goddess?

The book’s been tons of fun to write. And – there are unicorns! Not your ordinary, everyday unicorns, either. These unicorns are talented!

Are there any other stories that you are working on at the moment? (Answer if yes to the first part: How about giving a brief summary for them too?)

I’m delighted to be working on a screenplay adaptation of my 2008 book, My Life: The Musical. It’s about contemporary teens who love Broadway musicals, and I think it’s going to make a very fresh and fun movie musical – imagine a cross between Juno and Singin’ in the Rain.

I’m also about to start working on my first series for younger readers, which should launch in summer of 2010. Book publishing takes a lot of time! I’ll announce more about that series on my website when it gets a little closer.

Colin is indeed one of my favourite male characters yet. (Hah! A non-Edward fan from Twilight for me!) Have you ever fell hard for the opposite sex before? How did that point of your life turned out to be ?

Well – bearing in mind that I am a grown woman with two children, I think you can safely assume that I have fallen for quite a few lucky fellows along the way! At the moment I’m single, however. Meeting new people and dating has its ups and downs at any age. It helps keep me in touch with my “inner teen,” that’s for sure!

And last, give one interesting fact about you that you have not yet mentioned anywhere on the net!

Okay, big admission: I have a long-held and completely unrealistic fantasy that I might someday run the New York City Marathon. It’s unrealistic only because I haven’t run at all in years, and at the moment I show no signs of resuming with any regularity.

But yesterday I rode my bike in the “Tour de Bronx,” which is a huge group bike event with thousands of riders that meanders all over the Bronx. I did the “short” route (25 miles), but because I rode to the start and then home again from the finish, my total miles for the day were nearer to 40. It was tons of fun (thought quite difficult at times). Overall it felt like a reasonable substitute for my Marathon fantasy!

Thanks for the fun questions, Diana! To find out more about me or my books, please visit me at www.maryrosewood.com.

Wild Ones by Kiyo Fujiwara + NEWS!

Title: Wild Ones
Mangaka: Kiyo Fujiwara
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: Approx. 200
# of Volumes: 6
My Rating: 2/5

Recently orphaned Sachie Wakamura has no where to go. Her mother just died and she has no other relatives. Or so she thinks. An elderly man approaches her and tells her that he is her mother's father! Why did her mother say that he was dead?

...He turns out to be the master of a notorious yakuza (Japanese mafia) clan! This is something she will never get use to. And being the precious granddaughter of the master, she is in need of a bodyguard to protect her! Thinking that she is going to be stuck with a buff and shaved head guy, she ended up with her handsome class president, Rakuto, with a twisted personality! Will she ever accept the fact that she is part of a yakuza clan? And how will her relationship with Rakuto end up like?

This manga is another very typical kind where a girl and a guy gets thrown into some sort of issue that have them end up sticking by each other's sides. The clique ideas come into place and soon after another male character comes into play who falls in love with Sachie. Something I really dislike: Love at first sight when it comes to mangas. The heroine does something and immediately she gets another boy chasing after her. I like it when it is more indepth. Preferably after the two character meet and then their relationship slowly builds up. A bit more realistic I prefer it. I will never buy this manga but I will continue to read it as long as it is provided for me.

~~~~~~~~~~

I have some great news! Maryrose Wood, one of my favourite authors who wrote Why I Let My Hair Grow Out and How I Found the Perfect Dress, is going to have an interview with me and I shall post it on this blog! I have to conjure a list of good questions first so I have no idea when I will have it up. But look forward to it guys!

How I Found the Perfect Dress by Maryrose Wood

Title: How I Found the Perfect Dress
Author: Maryrose Wood
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: 231
My Rating: 5/5

A year after that bike tour from Ireland, Morgan is back in her old Connecticut state living her life. It has been awhile since Colin emailed her and she is freaking out. She can't really call him her boyfriend since they both live on the other side of the world but she is desperate. So she decided to email him on Groundhog Day, it is a perfect excuse to check up on him.

Soon after, he emailed her back with some great news! He is coming to the University of Connecticut for two weeks. She is absolutely thrilled!

After he came, he told her that for some reason he couldn't get enough sleep lately and have been terribly exhausted. Which is unpleasant for him because he has to make a robot for a project at the university. He has been dreaming about being at some weird parties but he can't recall what it is. Morgan on the other hand has a gut feeling that the Other World creatures are messing with him. For what reason are they bothering poor Colin? Morgan just have to find out soon enough as she will meet with old friends and new faces.

I have to say I enjoy the sequel much better than the first book. Don't get me wrong! They are both amazing! Maybe because I rushed the first to get to the second but they are nonetheless full of fun. I finished this one within three-four hours, starting at 12 AM in the morning. Not good for me but the brain got some word candies. Those who haven't read the first one yet better do so now and then pick up the second one! Won't regret either, I promise! I hope for a third installment if possible!

Won copy from In Bed With Books

Why I Let My Hair Grow Out by Maryrose Wood

Title: Why I Let My Hair Grow Out
Author: Maryrose Wood
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: 218
My Rating: 5/5

Out of like, six different books I'm reading and this as the latest, I've finished this one before all. (Probably because I won the sequel, How I Found the Perfect Dress to it at In Bed With Books so I wanted to read the beginning before starting it. Also reason why it took me so long to update because I was going from book to book).

Sixteen years old Morgan was happy with her intelligent and picky boyfriend, Raph. Was. Until he dumped her because she is not his type. Ouch. So to rid of her anger? She chomps of all of her hair, leaving a fuzz on her head. Her parents are absolutely horrified. Her punishment? She gets sent to Ireland for a bike tour so she can experience new things.

Being sent to another country people would find fun, but not for dear Morgan Rawlinson. She is hating everything. Well, except for a cutie who is four years older than her by the name of Colin who is into the technical age and has an adorable accent. All couldn't be better until one night she fell off her bike and hit her head on an area that is called faery mound.

She wakes up to find 1) Her hair has grown back 2) She is in a long princessy dress which is not what she wore earlier and 3) A horse is talking to her. Oh and his hunky warrior companion that looks awfully like Colin except the olden version. 4) And she is no longer in modern Ireland. Instead, she is stuck somewhere at a time period that could have been hundred of years ago!

Later, she finds out that she is half-goddess, Morganne, with a mortal father (who died long long ago) and a faery goddess mother in the other dimension. Pretty whacked when the last time she saw, her parents were perfectly normal. Scratch that, abnormal as a family but normal enough to know that they don't have any sort of super power.

She is brought to the other dimension because... she has to break off enchantments from the olden folks that were caused by her people (a.k.a. the faery folk)?? Given three riddles that are tasks have to be complete in order to lift the spells, how in the world will Morgan figure them out??

I have to say this is on fabulous read. It has a mix of fantasy and reality, which I love both type of genre but extremely rare to find. Especially for teen novels that I will like right away after I pick it up. Morgan is such a fun and loving character with a quirky attitude. You should see how excited I get once in awhile at some parts! Definitely recommend it!