Interview: Jennifer Laurens

Today I have my first author interview with the wonderful Jennifer Laurens!

Here is a little bit about her. Taken from Goodreads.

Jennifer, aka JM Warwick was born and raised in Southern California and her hometown of Palos Verdes Estates flavors her books: A Season of Eden and An Open Vein. She doesn't limit herself to writing one genre, and was the first to author four romance novels centered around the popular sport of ballroom dancing. Now, she focuses on writing young adult. She has YA novels published under her YA romance name of Jennifer Laurens: Falling for Romeo, Magic Hands, Nailed and the Heavenly series: Heavenly ( 2009) Penitence (2010) and Absolution (2010) A Season of Eden and Overprotected. Two are under her other YA author name: JM Warwick - A Season of Eden and An Open Vein. Jennifer lives in Utah and has 6 children.

Now for my interview with her:

What is your favorite book?

Most recently - Damage by Josephine Hart. Magnificent.

How old were you the first time you wrote a story?

5th grade.

What do you like most about being a writer?

Sharing what's in my head and heart with readers.

Do you know anyone who is autistic?

My daughter. Heavenly is the story of our family learning to cope, accept and live with autism and the effects on each family member.

What do you like about angels? and what compelled you to write about them?

My beliefs about angels are pretty straight forwardly portrayed in HEAVENLY: that they exist to help us and they are about doing good. My daughter with autism ( on whom the character Abria is based ) has had so many close calls I can only attribute her safety to the fact that there are people watching over her that love her. People other than us!

What is the best Halloween costume you have ever seen?

So many! I can't pick one, but my favorite of MINE was Smoky the Bear when I was 9 years old.

If you could be anything supernatural what would it be?

Time traveler.

It's always a pleasure to get to know a little more about the author of fantastic books. Thanks so much for joining me, Jennifer!

Here's the link to my angels giveaway.

Review: Heavenly

Title: Heavenly
Author: Jennifer Laurens
Release Date:
Publisher: Grove Creek Publishing
Page: 296
Rate: Lovable

Synopsis from Goodreads

I met someone who changed everything. Matthias. My autistic sister's guardian angel. Honest. Inspiring. Funny. Hot. And immortal. That was the problem. What could I do? I did what any other girl would do-I fell in love with him.

Zoe's sister darts in front of cars. Her brother's a pothead. Her parents are so overwhelmed; they don't see Zoe lost in her broken life. Zoe escapes the only way she knows how: partying. Matthias, a guardian sent from Heaven, watches over Zoe's autistic sister. After Zoe is convinced he's legit, angel and lost girl come together in a love that changes destiny. But Heaven on Earth can't last forever.
My Thoughts

Angels have become popular, but most don't give me the right feeling. This was the first book I have read where the angel gives me that all consuming happiness and joy that also makes you feel guilt for not being as GOOD as them. This book, Matthias, made me feel all that even though I'm not religious in the slightest.

It's sad to see how easy it is for a family to have a massive downward spiral causing chaos all over the place, but it's wonderful to see their lives mending. I was able to compare people I know to every character. Her friend. The boys. Her parents. Her brother. Her sister. They all had very real faults.

When Zoe verbally attacked her brother I really understood her. Teenagers say things they regret. Things that don't help even though that's their only goal. I loved the way Matthias made Zoe feel. The emotions made me tingle with happiness along with her. I wanted to reach out and touch him as badly as she did. Her emotions could have seemed exaggerated, but they weren't.

This is a book I will reread and love just as much as the first time I read it. Jennifer Laurens wrote a book so relatable and wonderful that I'm almost afraid to read the next two books for fear they won't be as amazing, but I know I will, and I know I'll love them.

Here's the link to my angels giveaway.

"Waiting on" Wednesday: Everlasting

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Here is my pick of the week!

Title: Everlasting (Kissed by an Angel #5)

Author: Elizabeth Chandler

Release Date: 6 March 2012

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Pages: 288

Synopsis from Goodreads

Ivy should be ecstatic that her formerly-dead boyfriend Tristan is back on earth with her, but the life of a fallen angel is never easy. Tristan has been cast down in the body of a murderer, and the police are after him. Now, there's only one way that he and Ivy can be together: they must clear him of the murder.

But when it becomes clear that there are darker forces at work, and Tristan and Ivy are still paying the price for Ivy's miraculous survival of the car crash, these starcrossed lovers have more at stake than ever before. And one of them may not be alive much
lonler...

I've been reading this series for years and I am so excited for the fifth book to come out! Elizabeth writes the most suspenseful books. I love the mystery and danger in them. After what happened at the end of the last book... Yeah, I'm excited.

What's your pick of the week? Leave a link and I'll check it out!

Here's the link to my angels giveaway.

5 Angel Books

The list of my 5 favorite books about angels in no particular order...

Kissed by an Angel series by Elizabeth Chandler
I've been reading Elizabeth's books for years. These books have mystery and love and heartache. The first three books were combined into this one book, and then she wrote Evercrossed. The next book, Everlasting, will be coming out next year.

Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens
I recently read this book and fell in love with it. The entire story feels so real. I'll have a review of this book up later this week along with an interview with the author. There are two books that come after Heavenly that I can't wait to get my hands on.

Eternal by Cynthie Leitich Smith
The first book I read by Cynthia years ago was Tantalize. I can still remember how excited I was when I heard Eternal was coming out. Fantastic book!

The Fallen Angels series by J.R. Ward
J.R. Ward is one of my 4 favorite authors and she has been since I was 13 or 14. This is a romance series, but it's one of the best! Her writing is incredible and her characters the most lovable I have ever read about. The first book is Crave, the second Covet, and Envy just recently came out.

A Need so Beautiful by Suzanne Young
I actually just read this book today. My review will go up later this week. I absolutely loved this book! They never officially say the main character is an angel, but they do say she is something similar, or something more. She is one of the Forgotten.

There are so many amazing books about angels lately I was having trouble deciding which one are my favorites. Be sure to tell me some more that you like in a comment! I'd love to hear of some more good books.

Here's the link to my angels giveaway.

Featured Creature of Week #1 and Giveaway

Hello everyone! Are you ready to discover what the first creature me and Tiffany are featuring this October is? All this week we will be blogging about Angels!
We were going to have it be angels and demons, but we ended up changing our minds. Angels have become popular recently in YA books and we wanted to take the time to admire them.

Are you ready to hear what I have planned on my blog this week?

Monday (today): I announce the creature of the week and post my giveaway.

Tuesday: I share a list of my 5 favorite angel books.

Wednesday: "Waiting on" Wednesday featuring a book with angels I'm waiting for.

Thursday: A review of Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens.

Friday: An interview with Jennifer Laurens.

Saturday: A review of A Need so Beautiful by Suzanne Young.

Now that you have all the information about this coming week it's time for my giveaway!
This is my first giveaway, so I will be starting out with a small giveaway. The coming weeks will have bigger giveaways.
This week I am giving away a A Need so Beautiful stickers and bookmark signed by the author Suzanne Young.

Giveaway Rules:

• Must be 13 years or older
• I am not responsible for anything lost in the mail
• US only
• Must be a GFC follower
• Winner will be notified through email and must respond in 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen
• Giveaway ends October 30th 2011 at midnight
• To enter fill out the form below

Halloween Excitement

I know I haven't been around lately, but I'm going to be here more than ever now! All this month me and Tiffany at "perfectly" Inked! will be blogging about Halloween. Each week we'll feature a new creature. We'll have giveaways with books and swag, reviews, interviews, and more! All of it featuring the creature(s) of the week.
We would love it if anyone would like to join us and do posts about the creatures! If you post anything about them let me or Tiffany know and we'll share a link to your posts. Plus, if you blog about the creature you can get extra entires in our giveaways.
The creatures will be announced every Monday and we'll blog about them all week. The first one will be announced Monday October 3rd.
I don't have any questions prepared yet, but if you want to take a shot at guessing the creature that comes in two days I'd love to hear what you can come up with!
Are you ready for October?!

Review: The Future of Us

Title: The Future of Us
Author: Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
Release Date: 21 Nov. 2011
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 309
Rate: Lovable
Got from LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Synopsis from LibraryThing

It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet.

Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM.

Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on—and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future.

Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

My Thoughts

The Future of Us explores the possibilities of happiness and problems and how subjective life is. Marriage, divorce, kids, death, anything can happen and this books puts a unique perspective on it using Facebook as a way people can easily relate to and understand.

Thinking too hard about the future could make you go crazy. What I'd you knew why was going to happen and that you could change it? How confusing would that be! I like the way Josh reacted to Facebook, to his future.

Josh and Emma have problems and are stressed, but I did not feel stressed reading about them. I was never concerned that their lives would end up dismal or the book would end unhappily. They felt like teenagers who would be able to grow past their problems.

The story went by quickly, and I thought the ending was a bit anticlimactic. I loved being inside the characters heads, though. I loved Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, but I had never read anything by Carolyn Mackler before. the Future of Us was an fascinating book and I really enjoyed it.