LL & A's Monthly Book Tag (December)

Merry Christmas, Luvs! 

It's that time again, for another book tag from Library Luv and I. I hope you all enjoy, you can see the original post, here. 

And like I mention EVERY SINGLE TIME, there are no rules! Except that you MUST either tag me or Library Luv on Twitter! Or comment below on either her blog or mine! 

Have fun! 

This months theme is: 

END OF THE YEAR!

1- Top 5 favourite books you read this year? 

I have so so so so many wonderful books I've read this year! But here are my five! 

•Mystical by Michael Weekly

•Air Awakens By Elise Kova 

•Drown by Esther Dalseno 

•Ensnared by A.G.Howard

•A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

2- What book best reminds you of the holidays? 
I would have to say . . . Harry Potter. Because in the book, their Christmas is the best Christmas. I wanna have Christmas at Hogwarts! 

3- Two favorite quotes from books you've read this year? 

"I will tell you one more thing." The master paused at the door. "The prisoner told me that it was a shame the East and West could not have worked together. He said, "Fire needs air to live. Air fuels fire, strokes it, and makes it burn brighter and hotter than it ever could alone. But too much air will snuff it completely, just as too many flames will consume all the air. They are far greater than the sum of their parts together, but are equally as dangerous to each other's existence." - Air Awakens by Elise Kova

"Pity those who don't feel anything at all." - A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas. 

4- One book you got/want for Christmas? 

hehe, all of them. 

Seriously though, I REALLY WANT FIRE FALLING. I've been trying to get it from the day it got out . . . but . . . I procrastinated and now I don't have money :( but I do know that I might be getting some sort of light saber . . . (the box looks like a light saber, and no one will tell me what it is. SO, I've been walking around saying, we should open one present today and that I call dibs on the light saber . . . yeah *looks around nervously* I don't even watch star wars. I'm sorry.) 

5- Two books that were released this year that you have yet to read? 

Like a a million. Let's see, Untamed by A.G.Howard, my order from amazon got canceled so I have to re-do the order *Cries*

and, Fire Falling ... I was supposed to get it a month ago. But I didn't. I know, I know! I'm a horrible person who doesn't have a heart or soul! 

But hey, I'll get it soon...

6- 5 fictional characters you want at your new years party? 

EASY!
○Tamlin - A court of thorns and roses-Sarah J. Maas

○Morpheus - Splintered-A.G.Howard

○Teague - Unenchanted-Chanda Hahn

○Prince Aldrik - Air Awakens-Elise Kova

○and my fluffy lil' adorable ball of cuteness, Jared - Mystical-Michael Weekly 

7- A book you read this year that you didn't like? 

If I stay . . . sorry If I stay lovers, I just couldn't get into it that well, but the idea was good. 

8- A "Grinch-y" character you couldn't help but love? 

Now that I think of it, teague was a pretty Grinch-y character. And I was always sort of pro-Teague. Even though, if that thing happened I would totally be Team Jared . . . but then you realise like Mina did that they are--not telling. But Teague from Unenchanted. 

P.s. Just think Lil' Meague babies *Giant Heart Eyes* 

9- What book has that Christmas feeling to it? (cover or novel itself). 

Elemental's by Michelle Madowe . . . the cover is gorgeous AND, it has snow on it. 

10- What was your reading goal this year and were you successful? 

HAHAHAHAHA *dies of laughter* 

No! I failed! my goal was 100. but I only got EXACTLY 50 books read this year. Hopefully I am more successful in 2016. *Crosses fingers and toes* 

Well Luvs that it! 

I hope you enjoy and hope you do this tag! comment below or tag either of us on twitter!

if you participate you will go on a list at the bottom of this post with your name + blog (or twitter). Only if you say it's okay to put you here . . . yup that's all folks, stay tuned to next time! 

(LOL, I don't know. I am weird) 

HAPPY READING, LUVs 

enjoy! 

Christmas is coming!

Hello Luvs! 

Sorry that everything is to the left, but I can't get to my computer and my blogger app is really annoying me! 

Anyways, it is December 23rd and I just wanting to make a post because once again, I forgot to do the TTT for this week! I might still find time to make/oat it between the next couple of days, but I'm not sure. 

This post doesn't have much to it, but I will be extremely busy in January, with my special blog thing *wink wink*

The January blog special thingamabob will be posted on the first of January! I already have the post scheduled, and might have to post it through my blogger app. But I'll be busy the first because New Years, and it's my mums birthday and then 8 days later is me birthday too! 

So a lot of birthdays happening in January, 3 all together that I know of. But phew. 

But no worries! I will have ONE EXTREMELY BUSY BLOG THIS UPCOMING MONTH! *sweats nervously* 

HAPPY READING, LUVs 

And Merry Christmas! <3 

Top Ten Tuesday #9

I've been really busy lately . . . and distracted by reading and twitter. 

OOPS. 

So I haven't done the past two Top Ten Tuesdays, and I feel guilty because I've been wanting to do them . . . yeah. *hides behind book in shame* 

But I am doing it today! YAY

I am listening to Halsey right now, and I'm really pumped and feel like dancing around the house . . . but we all know I won't do that--or will I? 

Now that I've gotten my weird out, 

This meme is hosted by The Broke and the bookish, and the theme this week is

Top ten best books.

This is hard because I love ALL my precious books, but I'll do this. Let's go 

1- A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas 

2- Splintered series by Anita Grace Howard

3- Unenchanted series by Chanda Hahn

4- Drown by Esther Dalseno 

5- Air Awakens by Elise Kova 

6- An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir 

7- Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo 

8- Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige 

9- Paper Towns by John Green 

10- Mystical by Michae Weekly 

Bonus 11- Secrets in Phoenix by Gabriella Lepore 

These are in no specific order, just a list of books I've read this year and have loved dearly. <3 

Enjoy! 

Note to self: write my review for ACOTAR! Ugh you lazy bum! 

Also, this should have been posted yesterday on Tuesday! I wrote most of it on Tuesday, but here I am on Wednesday and I'm still working on it. Errrrruuugggg. 

HAPPY READING, Luvs 

TBR Bookish Tag

This tag originally created by Rachel at 'A perfection Called Books'  

I was tagged by the wonderful SJ over at SJBouquet

thank you! 

The RULES: 

1- answer these questions truthfully

2- Once you have completed this tag, tag more book bloggers to do the tag! 

I was going to make a cool speach like they do when your at the AMA's and they get an award and they're like "I thank my mom, my friends, my fans" but then I thought, people don't care about that, they care about the tag! 

or at least I do . . . because I talk WAYYYY to much. 

And no, I am not eating out of a giant tub of popcorn *Takes big handful of popcorn* 

1- How do you keep track of your TBR pile?

I am not an organized person, but all my TBR books are either on my shelf or in my 'to-be-read' section on goodreads. 

before I started blogging, and knew about goodreads, I had a sheet of paper that I added all my books I wanted on...that paper never got used because I always lost in the next day. 

But now I have goodreads to keep all my TBR books. :) 

2- Is your TBR mostly print or e-book?

I have more print than ebook, so print. I have about twenty books on my shelf that I haven't read yet, and I have about three on my phone that I haven't read. It takes 4x longer to finish a book on my phone. 

3- A book that's been on your TBR list the longest?

To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han. I've been wanting to read this ever since I really got into reading YA, which was a year ago? year and a half? 

4- A book you've recently added to your TBR?

the LAST book I added was Soothsayer by Allison Sipe 

5- A book in your TBR strictly because of its beautiful cover?

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman

6- A book on your TBR that you never plan on reading?

Teardrop by Lauren Kate 

I wanted to read this soooo bad, but then I just didn't. . . I don't know why. But I just no longer felt the need to read it. Maybe it's the YIPS ;)

7- An unpublished book on your TBR that your Excited for? 

Seven days I believe left? AH! I need it so bad! I need to read about my favorite Luv's! see what I did there? I just Morpheus'd them XD 

I have no Idea, I'm loosing my mind. 

8- A book on your TBR that basically everyone's read but you? 

The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

to me, it feels like I'm the last to read it. It's on my shelf at the moment, but I haven't read it yet . . . 

9- A book on your TBR that everyone recommends to you? 

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

I keep getting told that I HAVE TO READ IT! 

But, I haven't yet. Do I plan too? yes! but when? I have no idea XD whenever the time feels right :) 

10- A book on your TBR that your DYING to read?

I will say . . . lately I've been really really really wanting the Accident season, but I haven't had money to buy books so I haven't read it yet :( 

the cover is GORGEOUS! 

11- How many books are on your Goodreads TBR shelf? 

I'm still kind of new to goodreads. I've only had it for a few months, but my total is *enter drumroll here* 

 275

I tag, 

Splintered Luv @ Beyond the Book Reviews 

Jade @ Metamorphic Books 

Alice @ Alice's Book Vault

Denise @ I am Shelfless 

December TBR [last TBR of 2015]

November went by so quickly! 

But this month I am so excited! for Christmas and my birthday a week after January 1st. 

And that special thing happening in January on my blog *winks*

TBR books include:

~A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas 

~Mystical by Michael Weekly

~Days Of Throbbing Gristle by Kevin Cole

~Alice Takes back wonderland by David D. Hammons

That is all! It isn't much but I overdid it last month and I believe that I didn't get that many books finished because I was to busy stressing over the six I planned to read. So this month I am keeping it at the minimal of four! I am half way done with ACOTAR and a little bit into Alice Takes back wonderland! so I am rather excited to read these books because they all seem amazing! 

Comment below what some of your books you want to read this month are! Love to hear what you have <3 

Happy Reading, Luvs 

Monthly Wrap-up (11-30-15)

This month flew by so quickly! I feel like I just put up my October wrap-up. tomorrow is the start of December and I am totally unprepared. 

Below like normal, will be a list of books I bought this month. CORRECTION, Book. and I got it yesterday.

and then I'll put what books I'v read this month. Warning, I did NOT do all my TBR books XD I've been so busy/lazy that I've done more sleeping this month than anything.

Books I purchased in November:

~The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh 

I have been wanting to read this ever since I heard of it . . . and yesterday I went to the mall and I was browsing Barns & Nobles and well I passed this beauty and had to get it. Sadly, B&N is so expensive but I spent money and bought it anyways! Now, just need to read it! 

Books I read in November:

~Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K.Rowling

~Secrets In Phoenix by Gabriella Lepore (click for review)

~Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (click for review)

~and I am currently reading 'A Court Of Thorns And Roses' by Sarah J. Maas 

I know this post is way shorter than normal but that's all! Hopefully I do more reading in December . . . and get more books! considering it'll be Christmas :) 

What did you read this month? <3 

Happy Reading, Luvs 

January Authors + Interviews [info]

Hello luvs! 

I want to post this early so that I have time to prepare! 

So, you may be thinking, "What is going on? what is she doing?" 

I am going to tell you in a moment! 

as in now

For the month of January I will be doing Interviews with a whole bunch of AMAZING authors! 

My plan is to have 31 authors for each day of the month! and at the moment I have--8 wonderful, awesome, amazing, sweet authors that have agreed! (thank you to those authors if you are reading this!). I have NEVER used my e-mail this much XD. 

I hope this little event I am planning goes wonderfully and that it is fun for the authors and the readers! 

I never really planned any of this through. I was just sitting around and it came to my mind and then next thing I know I'm E-mailing authors about it! I hope my e-mails seemed 'somewhat' professional at least. I am horrible at impressions and well, have you met me? I'm weird. So if my e-mails or twitter chats were professional (even just a little) I'm proud I can pull it off! 

If by any chance an Author is reading this and you'd like to participate E-mail me at- Bondedtoaswordbrother@yahoo.com 

p.s. this was all supposed to be a secret until very last minute . . . but I am too excited!

Thank you, Luvs 

and Happy Reading! <3

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Top Ten Tuesday #8

the TTT is hosted by The Broke And The Bookish 

and this weeks theme is, Top Ten Quotes I Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year Or So.

This is hard, I've read some good books this year . . . but here are some of my favorites! 

1- "Fire needs sure to live. Sure field fire, strikes it, and makes it burn brighter and hotter than it could alone. But too much air with sniff it completely, just as too together, but are equally as dangerous to each others existence." - Air Awakens by Elise Kova 

When I read that, that became my favorite line in the WHOLE entire book! I just love that part. 

2- Not all fairy tales have happily ever afters . . . some just have afters - Unenchanted series by Chanda Hahn

The book that started my love for reading! I love that quote because it is true. And I was terrified to read the last book 'forever' because of this quote. 

3- I solemnly swear I'm up to no good - Harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban by J.K. Rowling

4- "Little blossom trapped in between, 

wearing malice like a queen; 

hide the truth, be cruel and tart, 

still all the more, you rule my heart." - Unhinged by A.G.Howard 

5- "If you run, your enemy will hunt you. Kill your enemy, and your are forever free." - Alive by Scott Sigler 

6- "to take something that was meant for good and use it to do evil is a sin."- The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn 

7- "Celeste walked up, as strong as I'd ever seen her, and whispered something into Maxon's ear. When she was done, he smiled. "I don't think that will be necessary." 

"Good." she left, closing the door behind her, and I stood to take whatever was coming. 

"What was that about?" I asked, nodding toward the door. 

"Oh, Celeste was making it clear that if I hurt you, she'd make me cry," he said with a smile. 

I laughed. "I've been on the receiving end of those nails, so be careful there." 

"Yes, ma'am"  

8- "Do not go gentle" - matched by Ally Condie

9- "By the power of the superglue beer sword, I designate you my driver!" -Paper Towns by John Green

10- "It matters not what someone is born, but what hey grow to be." -Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling

Those are some of my favorite quotes...I would add Gif's but I don't feel good. 

HAPPY READING, LUVs

Earth's End by Elise Kova [Cover Reveal + more]

If you are not jumping for joy right now, you seriously have issues. I'm kidding! but you should be really excited! I haven't read Fire Falling yet, but I will soon! 

Okay so what's happening on this post of mine? let me tell you! better yet! Let me show you! 

Keep reading for more information (As in the synopsis for Earths end . . . the cover, some other cool stuff! and a Raffle!). 
Also, don't want to forget! The Cover to Earth's End was created by the awesome (and sweet) zwxArt.

Earth's End Cover:

About Earth's End:

Title- Earth's End (Air Awakens #3) 

Author- Elise Kova

Pub date- February 11th, 2016

Synopsis- A woman awoken in air, a soldier forged by fire, a weapon risen from blood. 

Vhalla Yarl has made it to the warfront in the North. Forged by blood and fire, she has steeled her heart for the final battle of the Solaris Empire's conquest. The choices before Vhalla are no longer servitude or freedom, they are servitude or death. The stakes have never been higher as the Emperor maintains his iron grip on her fate, holding everything Vhalla still has left to lose in the balance. 

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While we wait for Earth's End to come out, some of us still have to read Air Awakens and some just need to read Fire Falling! You can buy Air Awakens and pre-Order Fire Falling with the links below!

Air Awakens

Fire Falling

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About the Author:

Elise Kova has always had a passion for storytelling. She wrote her first novella, a high fantasy, in sixth grade. Over the years she's honed her love of literature with everything from fantasy to romance, science fiction to mystery, whatever else catches her eye. 

Elise lives in Saint Petersburg, florida, where she's currently working on the next installment in her debut YA fantasy series: Air Awakens. She enjoys video games, anime, table-top role playing games, and many other forms of "geekdom." She loves talking to fans on Twitter (@EliseKova) and facebook. Visit her website, EliseKova.com, for news and extras about her books! 

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Well, guess what . . . Below their will be an interview with the Artist, Meril, and Elise herself! 
Elise said we (as in all bloggers particiapting in the cover reveal) could use just a few questions or ALL OF THEM! 
And as you all should know by know, I try my best to go ALL OUT! so DUH, I'm doing all the questions! *winks* 

Meril's Q&A: 

What program do you use to create your artwork?

M- I use various tools to create artwork. When starting out with ideas I prefer making them on my sketchbook first, not minding specific details and just having fun with idea generation and doodling. This is the stage we call 'thumbnails'. The next step I usually use the digital media to finalize the thumbnail, but sometimes I go straight out and sketch my favorite thumbnail to turn into a finished linesketch. As such, all my finished artworks are painted and done in adobe photoshop (CC 2014, currently), along with my old and trusted Wacom Intuos 4. 

What's your background? did you study art in school? 

M- I finished university in 2014 with a degree of Bachelor of Finearts, Major in Advertising Arts. My Alma Mater is the university of Santo Tomas here in Manila, Philippines. The course I took focused on graphic design, branding and marketing for agencies, which is a very good background to have in any art industy. During out 3rd year to 4th year we had special classes we called 'Electives', which are basically specialized classes, this was the time I decided on focusing more on digital painting and illustration, rather than going into graphic designing, so I took electives related to my chosen field. By the time I got o the thesis phase, which is the final requirement before finishing the course, I decided to take on Book Illustration. I've learnt many things from my background that if it weren't for it I'm not sure if I'll be able to do the same things I'm doing right now.

What attracted you to doing the covers for the AIR AWAKENS series? 

M- The Air Awakens series was my very first book cover series. I'm not going to lie that I first took interest on the project because it was an opportunity for me to finally work on the book industry. Any artist starting out would be uncontrollably excited when offered a project as such. and THEN I read the story, read about the character, got to know an amazing client and author, a friend, and so there lies my true answer. It was the perfect project for me, I loved the world, I loved the characters and I loved the idea behind it all. And so I wanted to make sure that I make it very special.

What is your favorite cover so far?

M- That's hard to say. I loved all of it so far! (Or I'm being extremely biased, because well, I worked hard on all of them! haha) But if I'm being asked as an artist I would probably say the first cover. It was simple, straight to the point, saying, 'hey, this is Vhalla, the Heroine for this amazing world/story'. I like the covers that has that Iconic, Unique feeling to it and so I would say that the first cover definitely did it for this series. 

(Without any spoilers) What did you like about the third book in the Air Awakens series: Earth's End? 

M- Earth's End is my favorite of the 3 books so far and my main reason is that it felt like everything was coming down together, finally! Especially for Vhalla. I loved the Vhalla in this book. The character has developed into something much more and although she's still probably transitioning, she's finally getting there. In general what I liked about Earth's End is that there's more action, more story line focused on Vhalla and her world, there were more things learned about the other characters too such as Baldair, among many others. Elise has outdone herself with this one. 

What's one thing that you would surprise people about the process of creating the Air Awakens covers? Or, one thing people may not know? 

M- Elise has always told me that she and her author friends never expect their artist to read the whole manuscript. And I read the whole thing because well, I just couldn't help it. I have become very attached! She says I make the most 'official-est' fanart ever and I agree. 

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Elise's Q&A: 

How did you come to work with zwxArt (Meril Chan)?

E- Well, When I decided to self publish I knew the cover art would be one of the most important things about my book, and I also knew I wanted drawn artwork over photography. I, personally, feel like it's "Iconic high-fantasy" to have a painted cover and so that's what I began searching for. Also, as an indie author, I wanted to work with someone else who wasn't a big cover art company and perhaps was just getting their start also. So I was thumbing through DeviantArt for illustrators I liked and I found Meril. 

It was the image below that made me know I needed to work with her. It was like she'd already created something that I thought captured the essence of Air Awakens, even if the visuals I waned were completely different.  

Can you explain the process from the author's perspective? How are covers made? 

E- Well, I can only explain in my limited experiance. It's my understanding that traditional authors get little to no control over what their covers look like. For me, I started by sending Meril what had been my query letter and a handful of scenes I pulled out from the story. I also sent her the draft manuscript in case she wanted to find how a particular scene I'd chosen to pull out fit in. I'd been told that cover artists are too bust to read their client's work in its entirety, So I wasn't offended by the notion of just handing her some scenes. 

To my surprise, Meril read it all. Talk about knowing you made the right choice as an author! I seriously count my blessings ever day for this. 

So, Meril reads my draft manuscripts (She's usually among the very first to read them before my editor) and then she begins drafting thumbnails. These are very rough, quick sketches to give me an idea of the layout. She explains a bit of each, what she sees as the inspiration and story for each cover. From there we tweak them. 

Tweaking can be everything from, "What if she's holding . . ." to "I like the third and fifth sketch, can you try to merge them?" 

This process can take anywhere from two days to a week, depending on how ong I need to stare at them and how many changes are being made. 

Following that, Meril moves onto the final sketch with a bit more detail. Once we're certain we're on the same page with the final direction she starts rendering. As an author this stage of the process is basically magic to me. Because she transforms (granted, an already amazing rough) into an even more amazing final illustration. 

When she's close to the final she sends it to me (by this point I've already poked her for updates because I'm way to excited not to) and we do any last-minute editing like color changes, softening lines, or adding small details. 

Once all that is done she sends me the final illustration and I do the text layout on it. And, That's how the Air Awakens Covers come to life!

What's your favorite cover so far? 

E- I like them all... They each have something that I think is perfect for the book they're representing about them... I suppose, it's a toss up between Earth's End and Fire Falling. Earth's End just wows me with the background Meril created, it's going to be a gorgeous hardcover book. There's also a lot of teasers in there. But, Fire Falling has Aldrik on the cover, and that's never a bad thing! 

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Hello reader! Welcome to my first blog post. 

On today's topic, I'll be showing you my journey on how I made the illustration for Elise Kova's 3rd installment of Air Awakenes series; Earth's End. 

I'll be covering the initial stages in depth, from thumbnails, artistic insights to design problems and finally to the finished painting! 

Are you excited? Me too! Let's get to it! 

(To read more of Meril's post click, here <3) 

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