REVIEW: The Wolf Princess by Cathryn Constable

Name: The Wolf Princess

Author: Cathryn Constable

Publisher: Chicken House

Release Date: October 4th 2012

Pages: 288, Paperback

Source: For review (from publisher)

Rating: 4 stars

Alone in the world, Sophie dreams of being someone special, but she could never have imagined this.
On a school trip to Russia, Sophie and her two friends find themselves on the wrong train. They are rescued by the beautiful Princess Anna Volkonskaya, who takes them to her winter palace and mesmerises them with stories of lost diamonds and a tragic past. But as night falls and wolves prowl, Sophie discovers more than dreams in the crumbling palace of secrets.

[summary taken from Goodreads]

Beverley's Review

The Wolf Princess is a beautiful, heart-warming tale of three British teenage girls who get whisked off to Russia in a whirlwind of secrets, diamonds and forgotten palaces.  It is a truly sparkling debut from a promising new British author for younger teens.

The setting of this book is what made it a truly magical experience.  There was always a rather dreamy atmosphere present in the pages and this was heightened when the three girls journey to Russia.  Cathryn Constable was generous with beautiful, entrancing descriptions of the country renowned for its palaces and plentiful snow.  Every time I picked up the book, I felt as if I had been transported to an entirely different world.

The characters were pretty average young teenagers but I think younger readers would find it easier to connect with them.  Sophie's selflessness was what really stood out and she would make a great role model for tweens.  Her best friends came in the form of Delphine, the beautiful, rich girl, and Marianne, the typical nerdy friend.

The plot itself was quite interesting and enchanting, and I loved reading about the history and learning about the wolves.  I also picked up a few Russian words (although my pronunciation must have been terrible!) and there was so much culture and magic from the pages.

The Wolf Princess is a truly captivating read, perfect to pick up beside a crackling fireplace.  Sometimes we all need a gentle reprieve from heavier YA books and The Wolf Princess is perfect if you want something to evoke childhood memories and the sense of innocence you always get from books like this.  Let Cathryn Constable whisk you away on a train through a cold, Russian winter night...

4 Teacups for The Wolf Princess

*Thanks to Chicken House for the book!*

Nobody But Us Blog Tour: Blurb and Excerpt!

Today, the Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook blog tour is stopping by.  Below, you will find a blurb and excerpt from the book.  Thank you to Shane at Itching For Books for hosting the tour. To see the full tour schedule, click HERE.

Blurb

Bonnie and Clyde meets IF I STAY in this addictively heart-wrenching story of two desperate teenagers on the run from their pasts.
They’re young. They’re in love. They’re on the run.
Zoe wants to save Will as much as Will wants to save Zoe. When Will turns eighteen, they decide to run away together. But they never expected their escape to be so fraught with danger....
When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can’t run fast enough.
Nobody But Us, told in alternating perspectives from Will and Zoe, is an unflinching novel, in turns heartbreaking and hopeful, about survival, choices, and love...and how having love doesn’t always mean that you get a happy ending. Described as “beautiful, heartbreaking, and exhilarating” by Kody Keplinger, author of The DUFF, Nobody But Us will prove irresistible to fans of Nina Lacour, Jenny Han, and Sara Zarr.

[summary taken from Goodreads]

Excerpt

ZOE

It's beautiful sleeping in his car.  I've never slept anywhere but in my own bed in my own room.  Unless you count the times I blacked out on the floor.  But I don't think of that as sleeping.

  It's not a deep, constant sleep, because even though my body wants to rest, my brain doesn't.  It wants to be awake with Will, watching what we're passing, looking back at what we're leaving behind. Feeling the touch of his hand on my neck, hearing his steady breath next to my ear.

  Sometimes my body wins, and I doze.  I dream about lying next to Will in ways we never have before, feeling the heat of embarrassment mixed with nervous longing as I sleep; but other times my brain wins and I wake drowsily and ignore the pounding in my head to play with the fairy song of my mom's chimes or to smile at Will and put my fingers on his cheek.  He's handsome to me, in his rough way.  I've always thought he was handsome, since the day he transferred to the home and, later, to my school.

  Being in the home gave him a ready-made group of people to hang out with   He spent that first day walking the halls with Charlie Harmon, who graduates this year and plans on going into the army, and Lexi Simon.  She's two years younger than Will but dropped out a couple of weeks ago when she found out she was pregnant.

  He commented on the bruise on my forehead that day, an unfamiliar voice floating out of a group crowded around a couple of lockers, and I tripped over my own feet.

I suppose everyone else in town was used to seeing them.  The dark marks I tried to cover with makeup.  I figured I had been doing a really good job  because nobody said anything when I showed up with some new disfigurement   But then this guy I'd never met before walks up and talks to me and he makes me doubt everything I thought I believed.

***

What do you think?  I hope that through this excerpt, some of Zoe's vulnerability has been conveyed and perhaps compelled you to pick up the book!

Happy reading,
Beverley

One Year Blogoversary Celebrations Wrap Up!

It's a wrap... This post concludes our One Year Blogoversary Celebrations!  I've had tremendous fun writing up all these posts and reading all your wonderful comments wishing us a Happy Blogoversary! It's been such an incredible journey and I would like to thank you again for your kindness and all-round awesomeness!  Your support is what kept me going XD And I can't leave the blogosphere now, can I? I'm already craving the two year blogoversary ;)  Here's to 2013 being even bigger and better than before for all of us *cheers*

And because we like to wrap things up, if you've missed all the posts, here they are in one handy, condensed list:

Kick Off + International Giveaway, in which I marvel at my own stats, hyperventilate and give away a copy of a YA book of your choice

My Blogging Journey + Highlights, in which I talk about my year of blogging, gradually move up the CRAZY scale and... transform into a wise Asian master (don't ask :P) 

Author + Publisher Thanks, in which I thank the authors who showed me so much kindness from the start and to the publishers who send me books, accept my requests etc.

Spreading the Blogger Love, in which I thank my wonderful blogging friends who are super amazing and supportive and friendly in every way!

Giveaway #2: Signed copy of Kiss, Date, Love, Hate by Luisa Plaja (INT)

Giveaway #3: Two Prize Packs from Templar Publishing (UK only)

Giveaway #4: Copy of Witch's Brew by Heidi R. Kling (INT)

Giveaway #5: YA Prize Pack from Simon & Schuster (UK only)

It's been such a fun-filled past two weeks and I still have the blogoversary 'afterglow'... Now to get on to revision in preparation for exams next month :(

Hope you guys are having a fabulous first month of the year!

Happy reading,

Beverley xxx

One Year Blogoversary Giveaway #5: Win a YA Prize Pack from Simon & Schuster!

GUYS, this is the giveaway concluding our Blogoversary Celebrations :'(  I hope you've had fun celebrating with us: we are very grateful of your company!  'We're here for the giveaway!  Get a move on, woman!' I hear you say... Without further ado, here it is: [click on covers to link to Goodreads]

An Epic YA Prize Pack Thoughtfully Put Together by Simon & Schuster:

Infinite Sky by CJ Flood

The Disappeared by CJ Harper

The Hanged Man Rises by Sarah Naughton

Carnaby by Cate Sampson

I am going to be so jealous of whoever wins this!  Infinite Sky and The Disappeared are two books I must remember to read this year!


Terms & Conditions:

- Fill in the Rafflecopter below - please don't leave personal details in the comments section (for your own safety)
- The giveaway is UK only
- You must be 13 or older to enter
- Neither the publisher or I are responsible for books damaged/lost in the post
- The only mandatory requirement is that you are a follower via Google Friend Connect (GFC)
- Other entries are optional but completing them could give you a better chance of winning :)
- Giveaway ends on 1st March 2013
- I will email the winner who must reply within 48 hours, otherwise the prize will go to someone else.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and don't forget to enter the other giveaways:

Two Prize Packs from Templar (UK only)

An e-copy of Witch's Brew by Heidi R. Kling (INT)

Signed copy of Kiss, Date Love, Hate by Luisa Plaja (INT)

Win a YA book of your choice (INT)

Happy reading,
Beverley

One Year Blogoversary Giveaway #4: Witch's Brew!

Hi everyone! I hope you all are having a lovely time celebrating A Reading Daydreamer's first birthday. To join in on the fun (giveaways), the lovely awesome people at Coliloquy have offered to give away an e-copy of Witch's Brew by Heidi R. Kling after I reviewed it for them. Click here to see my review! 

Witch's Brew
(The Spellspinners of Melas County #1)
by Heidi R. Kling
Published by Coliloquy, LLC

The Spellspinners of Melas County is a fantasy YA romance series about a witch, a warlock, and their fight for their forbidden but prophesied love.
Once soulmates, the witch and warlock covens of the California coast have been estranged for a century. Raised to hate each other, their teenagers meet in the Solstice Stones, a magical battleground where they draw energy from each other to maintain their balance. 16 year olds Logan and Lily have spent years training for their first Stones…only to discover just days before that the enemy may not be what either of them had thought.
In Witch’s Brew, Lily is torn between her feelings for Logan and her coven’s need to know who—or what—he is. The young lovers race against time, their distrust for each other, and the powerful influence of their elders to unravel the mystery of their pasts before their future is destroyed. 

THE GIVEAWAY RULES.

- The only mandatory requirement is that you are a follower via Google Friend Connect (GFC)

- Other entries are optional but completing them could give you a better chance of winning!

- The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.

- I will email the winner who must reply within 48 hours, otherwise the prize will go to someone else :(

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy reading!
Jen xx

One Year Blogoversary Giveaway #3: Prize Packs from Templar (UK only)

For giveaway number three, Templar Publishing have very kindly offered TWO prize packs for two lucky UK winners!

[Click on the covers to link to Goodreads]

Prize Pack #1:

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs
Me, Suzy P by Karen Saunders
VIII by H.M. Castor

I have read Sweet Venom and absolutely adored it (read my review HERE) and I am very much looking forward to reading Me, Suzy P and VIII.

Prize Pack #2:

Don't Call Me Ishmael series by Micahel Gerard Bauer

These books seem like such fun, hilarious reads!

Here's how it will work:  the winner will get to choose which prize pack they want and the runner-up gets the remaining pack!

Terms & Conditions:

- Fill in the Rafflecopter below - please don't leave personal details in the comments section (for your own safety)

- The giveaway is UK only

- You must be 13 or older to enter 

- Neither the publisher or I are responsible for books damaged/lost in the post

- The only mandatory requirement is that you are a follower via Google Friend Connect (GFC)

- Other entries are optional but completing them could give you a better chance of winning :)

- Giveaway ends on 1st March 2013

- I will email the winner who must reply within 48 hours, otherwise the prize will go to someone else.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and while you're here, have you enter these two blogoversary giveaways:

Signed copy of Kiss, Date Love, Hate by Luisa Plaja (INT)

Win a YA book of your choice (INT)

Happy reading,
Beverley xxx

One Year Blogoversary Giveaway #2: Win a SIGNED copy of Kiss, Date, Love, Hate by Luisa Plaja (INT)

Don't forget to enter the international blogoversary giveaway to win a YA book of YOUR choice!

Hi guys, I hope you had fun as much fun reading all the blogoversary-themed posts as I had writing them!  It's been such an incredible journey and your comments have made it so much more worthwhile.  To give you another big THANK YOU, Jen and I have a week of giveaways for you to enter: two are international and two are UK only.

To kick it all off, Luisa Plaja has kindly offered a SIGNED copy of her book Kiss, Date, Love, Hate as a prize!  Please note that the signed option is only for UK residents but don't worry, international followers, she has offered to send a copy via The Book Depository minus the autograph if you live outside the UK!

What if you could change your friends' lives and loves through the settings of a computer game...?
Lex Murphy's group of friends have all dated, hated, ignored and lusted after each other for the last few years. If only there was a way of matching people perfectly to avoid all the unrequited love, dumping and drama! Then Lex's friend George is given a mysterious Sims-like game by his software-testing dad which involves building character profiles in the categories of Life, Looks and Love. Lex and George populate the game with avatars for all their mates, making a few 'wishful thinking' adjustments to the settings - and find that the next day these tinkerings have come true! But how long can this new calm, loved-up atmosphere continue?

[summary taken from Goodreads]

Here are the rules:

- Fill in the Rafflecopter below - please don't leave personal details in the comments section (for your own safety)

- The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL 

- You must be 13 or older to enter 

- Neither Luisa or I are responsible for books damaged/lost in the post

- The only mandatory requirement is that you are a follower via Google Friend Connect (GFC)

- Other entries are optional but completing them could give you a better chance of winning :)

- Giveaway ends on 1st March 2013

- I will email the winner who must reply within 48 hours, otherwise the prize will go to someone else :(

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Happy reading,
Beverley xxx