Harper Teen has recently relaunced their Pitch Black: Books With A Bite Web site, just in time for Halloween!  Find book recommendations based on your “type”:

For you “Lovers” out there, Harper Teen suggests Claudia Grey’s Evernight Series or Ellen Schreiber’s Vampire Kisses series. 

For the Fighters, check out Diana Peterfreund’s Rampant or Kelley Armstrong’s Darkest Power series.

And finally, for you Biters out there, be sure to check out L.J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries series!

And before you leave the site, be sure to check out the revamped Pimp My Coffin section.  You’ll literally get sucked into decorating your very own customized coffin!

So, what are you waiting for!  Head over and check it out now!

Sgt. Michael McCabe, a former NYPD detective, has recently moved to Portland, ME in the hopes of finding a safer place to raise his thirteen-year-old daughter. McCabe soon learns that Portland isn’t as safe as he believed.  Someone is stealing the hearts of young athletic women-literally.  Their bodies are found with their hearts  removed with surgical precision. 

When another young women goes missing, the pressure is on.  McCabe and his partner, Detective Maggie Savage, begin investigating a local prominent cardiac surgeon, Philip Spencer. McCabe wonders if the hearts are being harvested for transplant,  but Spencer is convinced they are not.  The secrets hidden in his past make Spencer a prime suspect. 

As if McCabe isn’t under enough pressure his ex-wife, who has been out of their daughter’s life for three years, forces her way into the picture again.  She insists that their daughter needs her in her life.  As the investigation unfolds, we also learn a great deal about McCabe’s character.  I really appreciated that his character was flawed.  He has several emotional ghosts hiding in the closet. The parallel storyline dealing with his relationships with his ex-wife, daughter, and current love interest added depth to the story.

The Cutting is a very impressive debut novel. I was so intrigued and engaged in the characters and the storyline that I devoured the book. There was no point at which I lost interest or thought the story was dragging. Everything flowed at a perfect rate, nothing was drawn out or rushed.  This is one of those books you have to make time to read in one sitting, for you will be unable to pull yourself away. I’m excited to learn there is more to come from this author.  I will impatiently await the release of his next book and will rush out to get it as soon as it hits the stores!

About the Author:

Like McCabe, I’m a native New Yorker. He was born in the Bronx. I was born in Brooklyn. We both grew up in the city. He dropped out of NYU Film School and joined the NYPD, rising through the ranks to become the top homicide cop at the Midtown North Precinct. I graduated from Brown and joined a major New York ad agency, rising through the ranks to become creative director on accounts like the US Army, Procter & Gamble, and Lincoln/Mercury.

We both married beautiful brunettes. McCabe’s wife, Sandy dumped him to marry a rich investment banker who had “no interest in raising other people’s children.” My wife, Jeanne, though often given good reason to leave me in the lurch, has stuck it out through thick and thin and is still my wife. She is also my best friend, my most attentive reader and a perceptive critic.

Both McCabe and I eventually left New York for Portland, Maine. I arrived in August 2001, shortly before the 9/11 attacks, in search of the right place to begin a new career as a fiction writer. He came to town a year later, to escape a dark secret in his past and to find a safe place to raise his teenage daughter, Casey.

There are other similarities between us. We both love good Scotch whiskey, old movie trivia and the New York Giants. And we both live with and love women who are talented artists.

There are also quite a few differences. McCabe’s a lot braver than me. He’s a better shot. He likes boxing. He doesn’t throw up at autopsies. And he’s far more likely to take risks. McCabe’s favorite Portland bar, Tallulah’s, is, sadly, a figment of my imagination. My favorite Portland bars are all very real.

You can visit our website at www.jameshaymanthrillers.com.

Have a young adult novel—or a YA novel idea—tucked away for a rainy day? Are you putting off pitching your idea simply because you’re not sure how to pitch an agent? No problem! All you have to do is submit the first 250 words of your novel and you can win both exposure to editors, and a one-on-one chat with one of New York’s TOP literary agents Regina Brooks.

Regina Brooks is the founder of Serendipity Literary Agency and the author of Writing Great Books for Young Adults. Brooks has been instrumental at establishing and building the careers of many YA writers, including three-time National Book Award Honoree and Michael Printz Honoree Marilyn Nelson, as well as Sundee Frazier—a Coretta Scott King Award winner, an Oprah Book Pick and an Al Roker book club selection. As an agent, she is known for her ability to turn raw talent into successful authors.

ADDITIONALLY: The top 20 submissions will all be read by a panel of five judges comprised of top YA editors at Random House, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Sourcebooks and Penguin. All 20 will receive free autographed copies of Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks. Of the 20, they will pick the top five submissions and provide each author with commentary and a one year subscription to The Writer magazine. ONE Grand Prize Winner will have the opportunity to get feedback on a full YA manuscript and win a free 10-week writing course courtesy of the Gotham Writer’s Workshop.

Please submit all entries via the contest website at http://www.writingclasses.com/ContestPages/YAPitch.php. One entry per person; anyone age 13+ can apply. Open to the U.S. & Canada (void where prohibited). Entries for the YA Novel Discovery Contest will be accepted from 12:01am (ET) November 1 until 11:59pm (ET),

NOVEMBER IS NaNoWriMo

In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org)—an international event where aspiring novelists are encouraged to write an entire novel in 30 days—this contest is meant to encourage the aspiring YA author to get started on that novel by offering an incentive for completing the first 250 words.

So apply now! http://bit.ly/1PYGaN

JUDGING

YA literary agent Regina Brooks, along with editors at Sourcebooks, will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions. These submissions will then be read by Dan Ehrenhaft, head Acquisitions Editor at Soucebooks Fire; Alisha Niehaus, Editor at Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin); David Linker, Executive Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books; Michele Burke, Editor at Knopf Books for Young Readers (Random House); and Evette Porter, Editor at Harlequin. These judges will whittle the top 20 down to four winners and a grand prize winner—all five will be provided commentary on their submissions.

Two sisters, Sarah and Christine, are on their way to a girl-only weekend at a luxurious spa.  Sarah walked in on her husband and her neighbor/friend having an affair and needed a weekend to get away and attempt to heal her severely battered self-esteem. So, they decided to make a short trek across the Canadian border into the United States. 

Their road trip started off without a hitch.  But shortly into the trip, a thick fog begins to roll in.

What normally was a vista of rolling hills, majestic forests, and lush farmland, was now obscured by a thick mantle of mist.  The vapours were sliding over the hood and widnshield of the car like blankets of silk and the combined effect was eerie.

As they drove through the thick fog they noticed the road had become rougher. They spot a light in the fog and decide to pull over.  The light was coming from a small, rustic-looking house.  The sisters head up to the house and are greeted by a couple, Gerwin and Elke.  As soon as Sarah and Christine stepped into the house, it was as though they were taking a step back in time. The house was lit by an old oil lantern and the furniture was hand-crafted.  The modern convenience of indoor plumbing was also lacking, the girls soon discovered after deciding to stay overnight at the couple’s home.  The girls asked questions about the couple’s background and the responses were always quite vague.

The next morning, the girls pack up again and prepare to head out.  They ask for directions back to the main road and again, the responses they receive are very vague.  Gerwin simply suggests that they head back the way they came. Sarah and Christine follow his advice and are once again on their way.  The decided there was no sense in attempting to go to the spa, so they attempt to head back home.

Their plans are thwarted when the car begins to shutter and rolls to a stop.  Christine soon discovers that Sarah has come down with a fever and offers to go and look for help. Before doing so, Sarah attempts to use her cell phone to call for help but she is unable to get a signal.  So Christine heads out to look for help.  Sarah, lethargic due to her fever, curls up and quickly falls asleep.

Sarah awakens to find that Christine has not returned. She starts blaring the horn in the hopes that someone hears her. She turns on the radio and gets nothing but static.  She is startled when someone knocks on the car window. She rolls down the window and is greeted by man with a relaxed tone of voice.  His name is Hillard and claims he was camping in the woods. When he heard the sound of the car horn, he walked over to see what the commotion was all about.

Hillard convinces Sarah to get out of the car and agrees to help her look for her sister. As they begin to walk down the road, Sarah notices a piece of broken plastic on the ground: the cell phone she’d given to Christine before she headed out on her trek.

Meanwhile, Christine has awoken in a cell with a dull, aching head. She learns from her cell-mate that she is in the dungeon of a man known as Lord Radek.  Before she can learn more, she is pulled from her cell and taken to Lord Radek.

Radek informs Christine that she was found wandering the road by a few of his men.  Radek further confuses Christine by referring to her as a “new visitor from the fog” and a gift to him. Christine is rewarded with nicer accomodations: a sleeping room full of large ornate furnishings.

Separated, Sarah and Christine soon learn that they are no longer in the world in which they were familiar. The fog was a gate to another world, one led by vampire lords.  The currency is blood; visitors that pass through the fog are offered up as gifts to Lord Radek. They soon learn they are trapped in this world forever, and must fight to protect their lives…and their souls!

Thunder and Blood is a chilling and addictive read. The detailed characterization instantly draws you in and makes you feel a part of the story.  Lord Radek, while he is considered the villian in this tale, is intoxicating. Voss’s writing is intoxicating as well. It is easy to become absorbed in this book.  I certainly did! I read it in one sitting!   What I loved most was the vampire aspect of the story.  They aren’t the sparkly vampires of the Twilight books, but true vampires!  Therefore, I highly recommend this for fans of “real” vampires!

Stacey will be stopping by Jenn’s Bookshelves periodically throughout the day, so please feel free to ask her any questions!

Now on to the giveaway!  I have a signed copy of Thunder and Blood available for one lucky reader!  For five-runners up, I have an autographed bookmark!

To enter the contest, ask Stacey a question or answer the following question: Who is your favorite literarly vampire?  I promise not to delete your comment if you respond with “Edward!”   Tweet and/or blog about it for extra entries.  Leave a comment with each of your extra entries with a direct link to your blog post/tweet.   Contest ends at midnight Eastern Time on Saturday, October 31st. 

This contest is now over!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? This is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being reading, and the books to be finish this week. It was created by J.Kaye’s Book Blog, so stop by and join in!

Books Completed Last Week

Thanks to the readathon, I got a ton of reading done this past week!

Burning for Revenge (The Tomorrow Series #5) by John Marsden (audio)
The Rapture by Liz Jensen
The Widow’s Season by Laura Brodie
City of Bones (Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 1) by Charlaine Harris
Ruined by Paula Morris
The Price by Alexandra Sokoloff

Currently Reading

Dracula The Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Thunder and Blood by Stacey Voss
The Night is for Hunting (The Tomorrow Series #6) by John Marsden (audio)

Books to Complete This Week

Damnable by Hank Schwaeble
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Cutting by James Hayman
His Father’s Son by Bentley Little

What are you reading this week?

Sorry for the delay! With all the prep for the readathon, I completely forgot to announce the winners of this contest!  Without any further delay….

The winners have been contacted via email and have 48 hrs to respond.  The books will be sent directly from the publisher. Thanks to all who entered!

Progress Report:

• Title of book(s) read since last update: Currently reading Ruined by Paula Morris
  

• Thoughts on current read: Love the New Orleans setting!
  

• Number of books read since you started: 4.5

• Pages read since last update: 79 (four year old woke up at 6 AM!)

• Running total of pages read since you started: 1627 pages

• Amount of time spent reading since last update: 46 minutes (see note above about son’s wake-up time!)
  

• Running total of time spent reading since you started: 18 hrs.

• Location: Husband’s recliner

Snack Intake: none

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

It was definitely around 2 AM. I had already taken one nap yet I was still so tired my eyes couldn’t focus.  So, I went to sleep until 6 am!

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

I definitely enjoyed reading Life As We Knew It.  It was a pretty dark read, but still kept my interest.  I also enjoyed reading the Sookie books.  They were pretty easy reads that didn’t require too much concentration.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

I guess this year cheerleaders were assigned blogs to cheer for? I understand the point, but it just seemed a little odd for people who have never visited my blog to cheer for me.  Granted, I do know some of my cheerleaders, and they were all amazing.  Just saying….

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

Twitter! I think it was even more effective this time around!  I liked being able to log on and see a bunch of cheerleaders and other readers offering their support!

5. How many books did you read?

Four and a half.

6. What were the names of the books you read?

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
The Price by Alexandra Sokoloff
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Ruined by Paula Morris

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

I actually enjoyed all of these. I probably enjoyed Ruined the most because it’s set in New Orleans (a city I’ve always been drawn to).

8. Which did you enjoy least?

There were a few books I tried to read during the readathon that didn’t grab my attention. I don’t think this was a fault of the book, just not the right book at the time.

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?

Not a cheerleader.

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

I’ll definitely participate again! And I’d like to continue to be a reader

It’s 2:33 AM.  I’m hitting the sack until about 6.  Can’t get eyes to focus on reading anymore.

Progress Report:

• Title of book(s) read since last update: Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
  

• Thoughts on current read: Noticed a distinct difference between the book and the HBO series.
  

• Number of books read since you started: 4

• Pages read since last update: 118

• Running total of pages read since you started: 1548 pages

• Amount of time spent reading since last update: 60 minutes

• Running total of time spent reading since you started: 14 hrs

• Location: Reading Chair

Snack Intake: none

*Note: I’m prescheduling this post at 10:31 PM EST.  I’m headed to bed to read, which may lead to a short nap.  If you still see this note, I am sleeping and these totals reflect my progress up until this point.

Progress Report:

• Title of book(s) read since last update: Currently reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
  

• Thoughts on current read: This is a quick reread since it’s been some time since I started the series.  I find I truly enjoy the books more than the series.
  

• Number of books read since you started: 3.5

• Pages read since last update: 156

• Running total of pages read since you started: 1412 pages

• Amount of time spent reading since last update: 180 minutes

• Running total of time spent reading since you started: 13.5 hours

• Location: Bed

Snack Intake: A few more cookies (cinnamon sugar and chocolate chip)

Progress Report:

• Title of book(s) read since last update: The Price by Alexandra Sokoloff
  

• Thoughts on current read: Haven’t started 4th Book, but The Price really made me think!
  

• Number of books read since you started: 3

• Pages read since last update: 335

• Running total of pages read since you started: 1256pages

• Amount of time spent reading since last update: 230 minutes

• Running total of time spent reading since you started: 10 hours

• Location: Reading Chair

Snack Intake: Dinner: smoked chicken, macaroni and cheese.  Dessert: a few cookies