Blog Tour: The Farm: Escape is Only the Beginning

Title:  The Farm: Escape Is Only the Beginning

Author: Emily McKay

Publisher: Berkley Trade

Publish Date:  04 December 2012

Pages: 420

ISBN:  978-0-425-25780-7

Source:  ARC from publisher

Genre:  YA, dystopian, vampires

Series:  The Farm

Other books in series:  The Lair (November 2013)

Rating: Really liked

Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the undead monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other…

And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible.

Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help…

Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race...

What would happen if vampire-like creatures took over the nation?  What would be the government’s response?  Lily and her autistic twin sister, Mel were sent away to a “farm,” a place where the children were taken.  At the farm, they donate blood for the Ticks.  They have been there for six months.  It was supposed to protect them against the infestation of Ticks that were sweeping the nation since the Ticks liked younger blood better.  The Ticks were created during experiments that went wrong while studying epigenetics and the monsters were created literally overnight.   The Ticks are “vampire-like” in only the sense that they drink blood.   These aren’t your sparkly or nice vampires.  They prefer to drink their blood by ripping your heart out of your chest and drink from it.  They are more animalistic than human and it is best to avoid them.

Lily wasn't your average Green, she had a goal in mind.  She wanted to get her and Mel out of the Farm before their 18^th birthday.  That was when you were released, only nobody knows what happens after that.  Since Lily’s and Mel’s birthday is coming up soon, she has to make plans for their escape.  The escape is a risky thing because if they were caught, they would face certain death.  It would be easy to track them since every “green” on the farm has a chip implanted that can tell their whereabouts.  If they weren’t caught and managed to get out of the Farm, they could get ambushed by the Ticks and die.  Lily didn’t know what the world was like now and planned the best she could for it.

Lily was getting ready to go ahead with her escape plan when she saw a new Green on the farm.  It was someone she knew if the Before, Carter.  She was suspicious of him at first.  Lily didn’t trust anyone on the farm – Greens, Collabs or the Dean.  Why does Carter suddenly show up in the Farm?  Will Lily and Mel be able to escape?  What is happening to the nation?

Most days Lily is the steady drumbeat.  The rhthym of my heart.  The repeating melody of the music in my head.  But not today.

Today she is a cacophony of dissonant notes.  Just wrong.  A jumbled mess.  Can’t listen.

She’s out of rhythm.  Trying to rush.  Tempo’s all wrong.  There no music in her today, only words.  Talk, talk, talk, talk.

That’s Lily.  Never has a though she doesn’t say aloud.  Make her feel like the smart one.  The normal one.

As if I count less because I don’t jabber.  Because I listen to the music instead of talking over it.

I know I’m a burden.  How twitchy it makes her, being the rhythm.  Being the steady one.  Twitchy and nervous.  A rat-a-tat-tat.

This book had it all – vampires, fighting, romance, road trips…but not too much of one element. I recommend this book to anyone who likes dystopian or vampire books.  I thought vampires had been played out and there couldn’t be anything new in that genre, this book proved me wrong.  The action in the book is what drew me into the story.  The book was hard to get into in the beginning, but that changed after the first couple of chapters.  The chapters are mainly from Lily’s POV.  Carter’s chapters added an interesting mix in the book, although I’m not quite sure why his chapters were in the 3^rd person and the others were in the 1^st person.  There are some from Mel’s POV.  Those were interesting because she related things in terms of music or sounds.  “It sounds like math” was one of the things she said.  She was very perceptive and wasn’t given enough credit.

I wasn’t too fond of Lily at times and the way she acted that Mel was her “burden” because they were sisters.   I felt that she was sometimes whiny and played the martyr when it came to Mel.  She didn’t take her seriously.   With all her planning, she still made careless decisions and went into things without thinking of the repercussions first.  Yes, she felt that she had to protect Mel, but she put her in danger as much as she protected her.  Carter gave me mixed signals – there were times that I wasn’t sure if he was as good a person as he was made out to be.

I thought McKay did a really good job with the characters.  I will be interested to see if there are more POVs in The Lair.  With some of the characters, my opinions of them kept flipping around.  I never knew what was going to happen to people.  The Farm did a good job of bringing the character’s emotions to life and making you feel what they feel (like an abductura).   This will be series that I will be following.

Q&A with Emily McKay

Explain how THE FARM system of Collabs and Greens works:

Emily McKay: The Collabs are human collaborators who work for the Dean (the adult who runs the Farm). They’ve been issued uniforms and tranquilizer rifles. They have tremendous power on the Farms, because they run things. Plus they have immunity from having their blood drawn and tested.  Basically, they’re the ultimate sellouts. They’ve trade their own safety for their humanity.

There are also Breeders, girls who’ve gotten pregnant on purpose, since the Ticks don’t find pregnancy hormones palatable.

The third “class” of teens on the Farms are Greens, basically anyone who isn’t a Breeder or a Collab. Greens given bi-weekly blood “donations.” They are the bottom of the food chain, figuratively and literally.

Penguin Group has generously donated a copy of a copy of THE FARM along with a Vampire Apocalypse Survival Kit to give away on my blog.

RULES:

-You will have 48 hours to respond or you will forfeit your prize.

-I reserve the right to cancel the contest at any time without reason. 

-I am not responsible for parcels lost or damaged in the postal system.  I will make every attempt to avoid this.

-You must be 13 years or older to participate.

-Contest is US only.

-Names will be drawn by Random.org that is within Rafflecopter. 

-Winner will be announced in this blog post at the conclusion of the contest and notified by the e-mail provided to enter the contest.  MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS THE E-MAIL YOU WANT ME TO CONTACT YOU!!  I am not responsible for e-mails that were sent to accounts that you don't normally check.


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Don't forget to check out Literary Escapism 

on December 11 for more exclusive content!

The Raven Boys

Title:  The Raven Boys

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Publish Date:  12 September 2012

Pages: 408

ISBN:  978-0-545-42492-9

Source:  bought

Genre:  YA, romance, paranormal

Series:  The Raven Cycle

Other books in series:  tbd

Rating: LOVED

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

What if a chance encounter brought you in contact with the people that you swore you would never be around?  That is what happened with Blue Sargent.  Her family is one that has supernatural gifts.  Her mother is clairvoyant.  She lives with two other women who are also clairvoyant.  Not that she doesn't have gifts, her just isn't as obvious as the others.  She magnifies their gifts whenever she is around them.  One of the jobs that her mother and the two other women do is write down names of the spirits that they see at the church on St. Marks Eve and because of Blue's gift, she accompanies them.  Blue never sees the dead.  Except this time she sees a boy.

The caveat in all this is that because she sees the boy’s spirit on St. Marks Eve on the corpse road, it means he will die in the upcoming year.  She is told that there “are only two reason a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Marks Eve.  Either you’re his true love…or you killed him.”  This doesn’t make Blue too happy.  Ever since she was little, she has been told that she will kill her true love with a kiss and because of this, she’s never kissed anyone.

The boy that she sees is Gansey.  When she asks him his name, he tells her “that’s all there is.”  She is so shocked about seeing him that she doesn’t understand it at first.  She soon realizes that he is a boy from the local Aglionby Academy, the school for the rich boys.  They are called the raven boys because on their uniform, their sweater had a raven emblem on it.  That is the first instance in which she sees Gansey, but it isn’t the last.  In a “coincidence,” Gansey and his friends schedule a reading with Blue’s mother.    She isn’t too happy with them and tells Blue that if she ever sees them again to run the other way.

Gansey, on the other hand, is searching for something.  He is into old legends and wants to find the ley line in Henrietta to find the resting place of a Welsh King with the help of his friends, Ronan, Adam and Noah.  This is a big undertaking and Gansey spends a lot of his free time on it.   During this investigation, his path intersects with Blue’s.  What will happen between Gansey and Blue?  Why did she see him on the corpse road?

I was really excited to read this book as soon as I heard that Stiefvater was writing a new series.  That was even before I read the synopsis of it.  I loved the Shiver series and was hoping for another one that enveloped me in the plot like that series did.  I wasn’t disappointed with The Raven Boys.  I loved it!  Just from reading what the book was about, I knew that it would be something I’d be interested in.  One of the things that I love best about Stiefvater’s writing is that you can really get into her characters.  I can see how Blue wouldn’t like the Raven Boys from some of the stories.  On the flip side, I can also see the good in them. 

As far as whether or not Gansey and Blue will get together and will she kill him, well, this IS the first book in a series.  Did you really think the answer was going to be given away that quickly?  I will say that there are a lot of clues in The Raven Boys about their relationship and where it is heading.  I like how she shows that the characters are real by the things that they experience.  You’ll understand that more after you read the book.

I think that this book is so awesome that I wanted to share it with everyone.  Well, I really cannot afford THAT, but I did buy two extra copies and took them with me when I went to Maggie’s book signing in Lansing.  So they are up for grabs in this contest.  More on how to enter later.

“It’s an all-boys school.   For politician’s sons and oil barons’ sons and for” – Blue struggled the think of who else might be rich enough to send their kids to Aglionby – “the sons of mistresses living off hush money.” … “They think they’re better than us and that we’re all falling all over ourselves for them, and they drink themselves senseless every weekend and spray paint the Henrietta exit sign.”

 

This contest is for two hardcover copies of The Raven Boys autographed by Maggie Stiefvater.

Rules

• You will have 48 hours to respond or you will forfeit your prize.
•  I reserve the right to cancel the contest at any time without reason.  
•  I am not responsible for parcels lost or damaged in the postal system.  I will make every attempt to avoid this.
• You must be 13 years or older to participate.
• Contest is international.
• Names will be drawn by Random.org that is within rafflecopter.  
• Winner will be announced in this blog post at the conclusion of the contest and notified by the e-mail provided to enter the contest.  Make sure this is the e-mail that you want me to contact you! I am not responsible for e-mails that were sent to accounts that you don't normally check. 

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Onyx Part 2 and contest

Title:  Onyx

Author:  Jennifer Armentrout

Publisher:  Entangled Publishing

Publish Date:  14 August 2012

Pages:  421

ISBN:  978-1-62061-011-4

Source:  Won at the Entangled Party at RT Booklovers Convention

Genre:  Young Adult, alien, romance

Series:  Lux Series

Other books in series:  Obsidian, Shadows, Opal (

Rating: Loved

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarre connection. I’ve sworn him off even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But against all common sense, I’m falling for him. Hard.

Our relationship issues aren’t out biggest problem…

The Department of Defense is here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we’re linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And when a new boy shows up a school with a secret of his own, things get complicated fast. I need to choose between my own instincts and Daemon’s.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. Daemon’s never going to stop searching until gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies

You may be wondering why I have written to post in regards to the release of Onyx.  Well, it was because I have so much information to share, that I felt it was too much for one post.  Check out the page that has my review, book trailers, and the JLA Reading Challenge hosted by Deity Island.

You can read the first two chapters in the book here.  This information was taken from Jennifer L Armentrout's blog.


Onyx Chapters 1 2 1

I haven't had a contest on my blog in a while, and since I love the Lux series, I thought that this was the perfect opportunity.  Here are photos of what's up for grabs.

These are post cards from the Daemon Invasion tour.  This is the front and back.

There are two first prizes in what I call the deLUXe package.  You will get a copy of both Obsidian and Onyx with matching bookmarks; a Daemon Invasion bookmark, sticker and postcard; and an Entrangled Publishing sticker.

There are four second prizes which will each receive a Daemon Invasion bookmark.

Rules

• You will have 48 hours to respond or you will forfeit your prize.
•  I reserve the right to cancel the contest at any time without reason.  
•  I am not responsible for parcels lost or damaged in the postal system.  I will make every attempt to avoid this.
• You must be 13 years or older to participate.
• Contest is international.
• Names will be drawn by Random.org that is within rafflecopter.  
• Winner will be announced in this blog post at the conclusion of the contest and notified by the e-mail provided to enter the contest.  Make sure this is the e-mail that you want me to contact you! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway