“It’s like Game of Thrones but Young Adult.”

That is the exact description my friend uttered as she handed me a copy of the book. There are a lot of similarities to George R.R. Martin’s series, for sure, but not in a bad way. The world and the characters in the book are all very, very different. The world of Falling Kingdoms started with three different territories which had their own kings or rulers. They were not dependent on each other. The main conflict is that Paelsia was dying slowly and they were envious of their neighbor, the Auranos. Limeros had a brutal king who took advantage of this conflict.

Of course, there was magic.

Based on the novel by Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower stars Emma Watson, who we all loved as Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter movies. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a timeless story and explores growing up and friendship.

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Thanks to Penguin, we are giving away a copy of The Cold Dish, the first novel in the Walt Longmire mystery series written by Craig Johnson!

HOW TO ENTER: Leave a comment on this blog post with your full name and your e-mail address so we may contact you for your shipping information when you win.

CONTEST ENDS: Wednesday, June 27, 2012.

Longmire is currently a drama series on the A&E network, which stars one of our favorite actresses, Katee Sackhoff. She plays a Wyoming deputy on the show named Vic Moretti. The show is based on the Walt Longmire Mystery novels and it’s a contemporary crime thriller and stars Robert Taylor in the lead role as Walt Longmire, the charismatic sheriff of Absaroka County, Wymoning.

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We all make puns. I’m a big fan of the cheesiest puns, in fact, and I always follow it up with a proud declaration of: “I’m PUN-ny!”

John Pollack wrote a whole book about puns: The Pun Also Rises. He wrote about his own relationship with punning and he delved into its very interesting history. You didn’t think puns had that much backstory, did you?

Soulless by Gail Carriger is a steampunk, romance, detective novel with vampires and werewolves. Now wait, don’t go all “I hate sparkly vampires” on me. Within the first chapter (nearly the first page), the main character Alexia Tarabotti, smacks a vampire in the gonads with a brass parasol.

Nerd Girls: The Rise of the Dorkasaurus by Alan Lawrence Sitomer is a book written for pre-teens. For someone my age, I enjoyed the books for a lot of reasons and possibly related to the characters a little.

The story is about Maureen, a chubby, sarcastic and intelligent thirteen-year old girl. She’s quick witted and very self-aware, unlike most girls her age. She knows she’s kind of an outcast and a nerd. She is aware of her “place” in the grand scheme of middle school politics. Combined with her resentment towards her father leaving her family, she’s a pretty jaded little girl.

SPOILER WARNING:
I have not watched the TV series, so I don’t know how directly the two are linked. I may be discussing things here that will spoil the show. I won’t know until I watch it, which I’m going to because the book got me hooked.

When I was in high school, I was really pretentious. I read pretentious books because I was the brainy one and that’s what brains did. (Oh stereotypes, how true you often are).

Fortunately, I grew up and got over that phase and now I love reading stuff like Spartacus. It’s bloody, violent, vulgar and full of sex. And that’s just in the first chapter!

Also read the author’s guest blog for Defective Geeks -  BLOG TOUR: Piper Maitland’s ‘Acquainted With the Night.’

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this book. I’ve been caught up with reading young adult novels these days that it’s been months since I’ve read a book for grown ups. Acquainted With the Night is a rather epic story – a mix of mystery, history, passionate romance and vampires.

No, the lead girl does not have sex with vampires. Who sparkly. Or brood. Quite the opposite. These vampires are ruthless, NOT sexy and just want her dead.