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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Raffle Copter- 

                                                         a Rafflecopter giveaway

LL & A's Monthly Book Tag (November)

Hello Luvs! 

What is this? another Book tag? why yes, yes it is! 

This tag was created by Library Luv and I, to see the original post click, here. 

Let's get the little boring details out of the way so we can get to the questions! 

Rule number one- have fun!

Two- Tag either (@Splintered_Luv) or me (@Sweetypetitti) on twitter if you decided to do this tag! or comment below the link to your post! I love looking at all your answers! 

three- come back next month to see more! 

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November is the month of thanksgiving. 

So Library Luv and I decided to do a thanksgiving tag!
I hope you enjoy this tag and you are welcome to join in! It is for anyone to do, DON'T BE SHY <3 

~My Tag~ 

○What's a book cover that reminds you of thanksgiving (fall)? 

Secrets in phoenix had that fall feeling to it!<3 plus this was such a good book! 

○What two authors are you thankful for? 

Well I have a lot of authors I'm thankful for but I will only say two . . . 

~Elise Kova, for making such an amazing fantasy novel (Air Awakens) <3 I'm reading Fire falling when it comes out! Can't wait. 

and

~Esther Dalseno, for making such a good re-telling of Hans Christian Andersons "The Little Mermaid". 

(Also a list of other authors that I want to list- A.G.Howard, Chanda Hahn, Ally Condie, Sabaa Tahir, Victoria Aveyard, J.K.Rowling, MORE MORE MORE MORE). 

○A book you liked but wouldn't read twice? 

The Program by Suzanna Young. It was REALLY REALLY REALLY good, but I didn't get into as much as I had hoped! I really had a high bar set for it and it sadly just didn't reach the top. But it was still good and I am still going to read the rest of the series when I can. 

○Which 5 fictional characters would you like to have a thanksgiving dinner with? 

I would want to have a thanksgiving dinner with, Morpheus, Alyssa, Mina, Teague/Jared, and Nan. Because without nan it wouldn't be interesting <3 

(Splintered series and Unenchanted series) 

○What is a book that is STUFFED with action? 

Throne of Glass was! I really enjoyed that and there was LOADS of action! 

○If you could have any food item from a book served at your table this Thanksgiving, which would you choose? 

In Splintered they had that bird thing . . . I know it may sound extremely cruel, but I'm totally down for it. 

(I just saw Library Luvs answer for this . . . Yes! I should have said Butterbeer. That too!) 

○One fall-ish book that others should read for thanksgiving? 

Secrets in Phoenix! 

○What are 2 books that you are thankful for? 

Unenchanted and Air Awakens 

○Which two books MASHED together would you like to read? 

I would want to read something like . . . The Selection and Throne of Glass. It would probably be weird, but it would be pretty awesome. 

○In General, What are you thankful for this year? 

I have a lot to be thankful for, first off, I'm thankful for all the authors I have spoken too ever since I've gotten this blog. And that some of those amazing authors agreed to do interviews with me. 

I am also thank full for meeting Library Luv! I was just starting my blog when I started talking to her and she answered some of my blog related questions and helped me with a few things. She is amazing and weird --- like me. And she is my Travel Buddy, which we'll have to do some traveling together soon! <3 

I am thankful for all the other book people I have met. I have met quite a few and they are all so sweet and I'm so happy we got to meet! (Jade, SJ, ChyChy, Cyndi, Denise, Alice, Cody + more. <3) They are completely amazing and Awesome! 

(I tend to say Amazing and Awesome a lot . . .) 

I am also thankful for, this blog. I am happy that it is going well and I haven't given up on it yet. I have made tons of blogs in the past and none stuck. 

Lastly, I am thankful for everyone who reads my blog! I means so much to me that someone wants to read what I post! 

Thank you all! 

Again, I hope you enjoy this Tag! 

Remember to tag either of us on twitter or in the comments below! 

Happy Reading, Luvs

Top Ten Tuesday #7

The weekly TTT is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish 

this weeks theme is . . . Top Ten Book to Movie Adaptations I'm Looking Forward To.

I don't know which book to movie adaptations are coming out, but I'll attempt this! 

1- MockingJay part 2

2- the 5th wave (still gotta read the book)

3- The Selection (Is that still being made..?) 

4- Miss Peregrines house for peculiar children (Need to read the book) 


5- Alice Through the Looking Glass *Internally screams of joy* 


6- Allegiant  


7- paper towns 


8- the scorch trials



It's not 10 . . . but I don't know of any more. 
Hope you enjoy this TTT!!
Can't wait to see these!!!! <333333333 

Happy Reading, Luvs!

Top Ten Tuesday #6

The TTT is hosted by The Broke And The Bookish 

And the theme this week is . . . Top Ten Debut Authors Who Have Me Looking Forward To Their Sophomore Novel 

Okay, I think I get this...Sophomore novel is their second novel! I was only a tad bit confused *cough* tons *cough* 

but okay so ten author debuts that made me wanting to read their second book . . . I GOT THIS! 

1- Esther Dalseno's DROWN --- looking forward to Gabriel and the Swallows 

2-Elise Kova's AIR AWAKENS --- looking forward to FIRE FALLING! 

3- Victoria Aveyard's RED QUEEN --- looking forward to GLASS SWORD 

4- Sabaa Tahir's AN EMBER IN THE ASHES --- looking forward to A TORCH IN THE NIGHT 

Those are all I can think of . . . I think . . . If i come up with more I'll edit it. Woah, I really don't read many debut novels, or I do and I just don't know *bum bumm bummmmm* 

Well that's my SUPER SHORT TTT this week . . . really short. Next week will be longer. maybe? aha 

HAPPY READING, LUVs 

November TBR

Hello, Luvs! 

Sadly, Halloween is over. So now we move on to November, the month of thanks and giving. Now the TBR for this month isn't going to be like last where I tried to make it match Halloween, which I think I failed! But the books were all amazing! 

Anyways! Let's get to the books, that's what we're all here for anyways. ;) 

TBR books include: 

-Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch 

-Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

-The Kiss Of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

Ebooks I'll be reading throughout the month: 

-Secrets in Phoenix by Gabriella Lepore

-Alice Takes Back Wonderland by David D. Hammons 

I didn't finish Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last month, so I'm carrying it over to novembers TBR. I'm about a quarter of the way done, but I haven't gotten much reading done because my hedgehog died... :( 

Anyways! Cross your fingers that I can finish all these! I've heard great things about all of them, oh and P.S. Yesterday (October 31st) Drown came out! So go buy it! It was so good!!! (Click here to see review) 

also note, that I most likely will not be finishing most of these! I am just planning to read a lot this month, and those are what I'll be reading if my plan goes-well as planned! 

HAPPY-EARLY-THANKGIVINGS!