Little Update For You Guys

Hey guys!

It's Celine here, sorry about how me and Ela haven't been on our blog in ages, if you have even noticed.  So I thought it would be nice if I put on a few excerpts and update a few things. Hopefully they interest you and that we can both start coming on a bit more in the near future.

Thank you for everything and following us.
It means so much! :)

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My Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare little review.
From July (I know it is AGES ago, but anyway, here it is!)

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When I saw the COVER...

*yelps in joy and does a happy dance*





When I saw the RELEASE DATE...



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Here is a funny post I found on Cassie's blog.

If Will Herondale were a doctor...

Patient: I have a terrible stomach ache

Will: I'm afraid you've got Demon Pox

Patient 2: I've been coughing a lot lately

Will: That's Demon Pox

Patient 3: HELP! I've been shot!

Will: DEMON POX!

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GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN CASSANDRA'S CLOCKWORK PRINCESS SOUNDTRACK?

Clockwork Princess soundtrack

Hey Cassie, I was just wondering if you had a playlist for CP2 and if so, would you mind sharing it? :) — shadowhunters-pet-duck

Sure! In no particular order:

Libertines: Music When the Lights Go Out

Is it cruel or kind
Not to speak my mind
And to lie to you
Rather than hurt you?

And alarm bells ring
When you say your heart still sings 
When you’re with me
Oh won’t you please forgive me 

Snow Patrol: If There’s A Rocket Tie Me To It

And I knew the beat since it matched your own beat
I still remember it from our chest to chest and feet to feet
A fire a fire, you can only take what you can carry
A pulse your pulse, it’s the only thing I can remember
I break you don’t, I was always set to self destruct though
The fire the fire, it cracks and barks like primal music.

Bright Eyes: Perfect Sonnet

Lately I’ve been wishing I had only one desire
Something that would make me never want another
Something that would make it so that nothing matters
All would be clear then

Foster the People: I Would Do Anything for You

Every day is a battle I face
Strange life I live 
But it’s what you’ve decided
I give it all into your hands
Do what you will with me 
And I’ll I smile when you speak
Remember all those times 
I was hoping for something?
And shaking my head 
From all that I’ve done
But you never left me

Elliot Smith: Alameda

Thinking about your friends
How you maintain all them in a constant state of suspense
For your own protection over their affection
Nobody broke your heart
You broke your own because you can’t finish what you start

Cake: Love You Madly

I don’t want to hold back
I don’t want to slip down
I don’t want to think back to the one thing that I know I 
Should have done

I don’t want to doubt you
Know everything about you
I don’t want to sit across the table from you 
Wishing I could run

Left and Leaving by The Weakerthans

My city’s still breathing (but barely it’s true)

Through buildings gone missing like teeth

The sidewalks are watching me think about you

Sparkled with broken glass

I’m back with scars to show

Back with the streets I know

Will never take me anywhere but here

Destiny by Zero 7

The journey’s long, and I feel so bad.
I’m thinking back to the last day we had
Old moon fades in to the new
Soon I know I’ll be back with you
I’m nearly with you, I’m nearly with you.

When I’m weak, I draw strength from you
And when you’re lost I know how to change your mood
And when I’m down you breathe life over me
Even though we’re miles apart, we are each other’s 
Destiny

Exit Wounds: The Script

And it hurts so bad
That I search my skin
For the entry point
When love went in
And ricocheted 
And bounced around
And left a hole when you walked out 

Grizzly Bear, Knife

I want you to know
When I look in your eyes
With every blow
Comes another lie

Block Party: I Still Remember

And I can see our days are becoming nights.
I could feel your heartbeat across the grass.
We should have run.
I would go with you anywhere.
I should have kissed you by the water

You should have asked me for it
I would have been brave
You should have asked me for it
How could I say no? 

Wraith Pinned to the Mist by Of Montreal

Maybe I’ll never die,

I’ll just keep growing younger with you,

And you’ll grow younger, too.

Now it seems too lovely to be true

But I know the best things always do.

All the Rowboats: Regina Spektor

But the most special are the most lonely,
God, I pity the violins

The Reeling: Passion Pit

And all at once i feel this, oh how it clings to me
it reels and calls me towards it, confounding destiny
and i can feel the madness inch by inch
the more i run the more i am convinced
a color all these like the branches glimpse
just like the saddle in the foggy mist

Yo La Tengo: Tears are In Your Eyes

Although you don’t believe me, you are strong
Darkness always turns into the dawn
And you won’t even remember this for long
When it ends all right

Ocean Breathes Salty: Modest Mouse

Your body may be gone, I’m gonna carry you in.
In my head, in my heart, in my soul.
And maybe we’ll get lucky and we’ll both live again.
Well I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.  

Wishing Well: Airborne Toxic Event

So you stand on the corner
Where the angels sit
And you think to yourself,
“This is it, this is it,
This is all that I have
This is all ll I can stand

Casimir Pulaski Day: Sufjan Stevens

In the morning in the winter shade
On the first of March, on the holiday
I thought I saw you breathing

All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications when I see His face
In the morning in the window

All the glory when He took our place
But He took my shoulders and He shook my face
And He takes and He takes and He takes.

---

Clockwork Princess Snippet

Clockwork Princess snippet

“You do not want to help us,” Will said to Magnus. “You do not want to position yourself as an enemy of Mortmain’s.”

“Well, can you blame him?” Woolsey rose in a whirl of yellow silk. “What could you possibly have to offer that would make the risk worth it to him?”

“I will give you anything,” said Tessa in a low voice that Will felt in his bones. “Anything at all, if you can help us help Jem.”

Magnus gripped a handful of his black hair. “God, the two of you. I can make inquiries. Track down some of the more unusual shipping routes. Old Molly —”

“I’ve been to her,” Will said. “Something’s frightened her so badly she won’t even crawl out of her grave.”

Woolsey snorted. “And that doesn’t tell you anything, little Shadowhunter? Is it really worth all this, just to stretch your friend’s life out another few months, another year? He will die anyway. And the sooner he dies, the sooner you can have his fiancée, the one you’re in love with.” He cut his amused gaze toward Tessa. “Really you ought to be counting down the days till he expires with great eagerness.”

Pledged by Gwynneth White- Review

Everyone has a soul mate. But what do you do when your soul mate would rather give his soul to the demons than be with you?

Seventeen-year-old Erin has a problem. Seth has been hers forever, but now an ancient curse is tearing him away. And the demons who invoked it will stop at nothing – even murder – to claim him as their own.

How can she win against a curse so binding that it has damned countless others to this same fate – an eternity alone?

The answer lies in the past. To find it, Erin and Seth must risk all, travelling back in time to a dangerous world where love is forbidden, and life – and death – hang on a pledge.

Follow Erin and Seth as they travel to ancient Shenaya and confront the curse that has plagued their families for millennia. Caught in a war between the Angelic Guardians and the Gefallen, the disembodied dead, they must fight to keep their souls in tact and their love untainted.
(Blurb from Goodreads)

*****

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

We were so excited when we were asked to join the Pledged Book Tour, as it was our very first book tour that we'd be participating in (yay for us!). And we got even more excited when we read the blurb for Pledged. Paranormal romance? Yes please.



One of the things we loved about this book would probably be the actual story itself, and the way Gwynneth White wrote it. Pledged is written in third person omniscient, and let us tell you, we can't list the number of books that were written in this point of view that failed miserably. This is not one of those books. The language is simple and easy to understand, which is helpful as there were a lot of details us readers need to know to understand the plot.

The only negative we could say about this book was that Erin didn't really live up to that "kick-ass" heroine that we were expecting her to be. There were times in the book when she didn't strike up as believable, for example when she was fully ready to accept that Seth was her soulmate and that they were meant to be together. We liked Seth, however; his part of the book was more believable to us. His responses to the situation they were thrown into felt more real- like when he couldn't just choose a girl he'd only just met over his brother. It also helped that he was hot. Yeah, okay, we more than liked him. Shhh.



Overall, we enjoyed this book a lot, it was action filled, plus the romance was well written, after we got past the whole character thing up there. We're definitely looking forward to the sequel!

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green- Review

 Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. Blurb from Goodreads

*****

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
 
This is me right now:







I can't even. John Green. That man.

****

One of the things about me that can tell you if I really like a book or not, is if I've borrowed a book from the library, read it, but still want to buy it from the bookstore. The Fault In Our Stars is definitely those books. I am so in love with this book, that I am tempted to buy every single edition of this- paperback, hardcover, whatever- but such expenses is too much for my wallet.



John Green continues to baffle me with the way he writes his books; his prose, his characters, the plot- everything. He could make me laugh like a mental patient one minute, and then bawl like a five- year- old the next. The way he writes and the things he writes about is so relateable to any teenager out there and I love that he understands. I mean, trying not to sound like Patrick here during that chocolate selling episode in Spongebob, but I love that man. The amazingness is to much to describe.



Lord, and Augustus. And the metaphors. And Hazel and Gus together. I absolutely loved how their relationship was very real and nothing seemed fake or cheesy (not that I expected fake cheesyness from John Green). Such perfection. I loved it. I loved all the other characters as well, Isaac, Van Houten, Lidewij, and how they were all relevant to the story (because I hate useless characters).



There's nothing negative for me to say about this book. The Fault In Our Stars was pretty much perfect.

In the end, I loved, loved loved this book; it was hilarious, witty and insightful. It just made me loved John Green more and more excited to read his other and future books. So now, if you excuse me, I am off to the bookstore hopefully to find a copy of The Fault In Our Stars.

Clockwork Princess Spoilers

Hey all, thought we would post some Clockwork Princess spoilers that you may or may not have read already. We hope they help satisfy your Cassandra Clare longing, we know they did for us. :)

Teaser 1:

“What are you doing following me around the back streets of London, you little idiot?” Will demanded, giving her arm a light shake.

Cecily’s eyes narrowed. “This morning it was cariad (note: Welsh endearment, like ‘darling’ or ‘love’), now it’s idiot.”

“Oh, you’re using a Glamour rune. There’s one thing to declare, you are not afraid of anything when you live in the country. But this is London.”

“I’m not afraid of London,” Cecily said defiantly.

Will leaned closer, almost hissing in her ear *and said something very complicated in Welsh*

She laughed. “No, it wouldn’t do you any good to tell me to go home. You are my brother, and I want to go with you.”

Will blinked at her words.

You are my brother, and I want to go with you.

It was the sort of thing he was used to hearing Jem say.

Although Cecily was unlike Jem in every other conceivable possible way, she did share one quality with him. Stubbornness. When Cecily said she wanted something, it did not express an idle desire, but an iron determination.

“Do you even care where I’m going?” he said. “What if I were going to hell?”

“I’ve always wanted to see hell,” Cecily said. “Doesn’t everyone?”

“Most of us spend our time trying to stay out of it, Cecily. I’m going to an ifrit den, if you must know, to purchase drugs from vile, dissolute criminals. They may clap eyes on you, and decide to sell you.”

“Wouldn’t you stop them?”

“I suppose it would depend on whether they cut me a part of the profit.”

She shook her head. “Jem is your parabatai,” she said. “He is your brother, given to you by the Clave, but I am your sister by blood. Why would you do anything for him, but you only want me to go home?”

“How do you know the drugs are for Jem?” Will said.

“I’m not an idiot, Will.”

“No, more’s the pity. Jem- Jem is like the better part of me. I would not expect you to understand. I owe him. I owe him this.”

“So what am I?” Cecily said.

Will exhaled, too desperate to check himself. “You are my weakness.”

“And Tessa is your heart,” she said, not angrily, but thoughtfully. “I am not fooled. As I told you, I’m not an idiot. And more’s the pity for you, although I suppose we all want things we can’t have.”

“Oh,” said Will, “and what do you want?”

“I want you to come home.” A strand of black hair was stuck to her cheek by the dampness, and Will fought the urge to pull her cloak closer about her, to make her safe as he had when she was a child.

“The Institute is my home,” Will sighed, and leaned his head against the stone wall. “I can’t stand out her arguing with you all evening, Cecily. If you’re determined to follow me into hell, I can’t stop you.”

“Finally,” she said provingly. “You’ve seen sense. I knew you would, you’re related to me.”

Will fought the urge to shake her.

“Are you ready?”

She nodded, and he raised his hand to knock on the door.

Teaser 2:

Will’s eyes met Tessa’s as she came closer, almost tripping again over the torn hem of her gown. For a moment, they were in perfect understanding. Jem was what they could still look each other straight in the eye about. On the topic of Jem, they were both fierce and unyielding. Tessa saw Will’s hand tighten on Jem’s sleeve. “She’s here,” he said.

Jem’s eyes opened slowly. Tessa fought to keep the look of shock from her face. His pupils were blown out, his irises a thin ring of silver around the black. “Ni shou shang le ma, quin ai de?” he whispered.

Teaser 3:

“Will!”

He turned at the familiar voice and saw Tessa. There was a small path cut along the side of the hill, lined with unfamiliar white flowers, and she was walking up it, toward him. Her long brown hair blew in the wind — she had taken off her straw bonnet, and held it in one hand, waving it at him and smiling as if she were glad to see him.

His own heart leaped up at the sight of her. “Tess,” he called. But she was still such a distance away — she seemed both very near and very far suddenly and at the same time. He could see every detail of her pretty, upturned face, but could not touch her, and so he stood, waiting and desiring, and his heart beat like the wings of seagulls in his chest.

At last she was there, close enough that he could see where the grass and flowers bent beneath the tread of her shoes. He reached out for her —

Teaser 4:

“If Jem dies, I cannot be with Tessa,” said Will. “Because it will be as if I were waiting for him to die, or took some joy in his death, if it let me have her. And I will not be that person. I will not profit from his death. So he must live.” He lowered his arm, his sleeve bloody. “It is the only way any of this can ever mean anything. Otherwise it is only —”

“Pointless, needless suffering and pain? I don’t suppose it would help if I told you that was the way life is. The good suffer, the evil flourish, and all that is mortal passes away,” Magnus said.

“I want more than that,” said Will. “You made me want more than that. You showed me I was only ever cursed because I had chosen to believe myself so. You told me there was possibility, meaning. And now you would turn your back on what you created.”

Pledged by Gwyneth White- Excerpts

Hey, guys!

As promised, we have here excerpts to Pledged by Gwyneth White. They're pretty exciting :)\

Enjoy!

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THREE SHORT EXCERPTS FROM

PLEDGED

By

GWYNNETH WHITE

We have chosen the following excerpts to give your readers a glimpse into the lives of the main characters in Pledged, namely: Seth and Erin, Jared and Sophia, and Caleb and Talitha.

EXCERPT ONE: Meet Seth and Erin . . .

Despite the heat, Seth felt icy. Dread could do that to him. Or so he had recently discovered. Deep breathing usually calmed him, so he sucked in a lungful of desert air and told himself to relax. It didn’t help. By the time he’d walked from the aircraft to the immigration hall he’d ripped off a jagged piece of thumbnail, already bitten raw. He handed his US passport to the Botswanan border official, and, after a frown, and a stamp, he joined the crowd at the baggage carousel. Botswana in southern Africa was the last place on earth he’d ever have picked for a holiday destination. But he wasn’t here on holiday. Not even close.

His backpack was slow in coming. Tired from his long-haul flight from New York, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. Almost as if to mock him, the hated vision that had brought him to Botswana burst into his mind. In an instant he was back in ancient times, watching a man he knew only as Gideon. As usual, Gideon was huddled on a windswept hill with his band of hopeless soldiers, waiting to be slaughtered by a huge army gathered in the valley below.

Seth snapped his eyes open to stop the battle from waging in his mind. It wasn’t that he was particularly squeamish; he’d watched enough movies to iron clad his stomach against gory visuals. But no movie had ever left him icy with dread the way Gideon’s battle did. And the reason for that was simple. The moment the visions had started, he had known that the war, fought so long ago in a place he’d never heard of, was far from over. And, as reluctant as he was, he too was being enlisted to fight in a cause he didn’t understand or want.

He forced himself to focus on the present: Erin, who waited for him in the arrivals hall; his brother Kyle, whom he’d come to Botswana to visit; Kyle’s expedition to find the Lost City of the Kalahari . . .

He ripped off another piece of fingernail. Thinking about the search for the Lost City was almost as bad as the war-vision. I hope Kyle never finds the damned place. He slapped his hand on his thigh. Enough! Grabbing his backpack off the carousel, he set his face into a smile and strode into the arrivals hall.

The first hurdle was finding Erin. She was due to arrive an hour earlier on a flight from Cape Town in South Africa, one of Botswana’s neighbours. He’d never met her, although they had spoken over the phone once. Then she’d described herself as “a short, seventeen-year-old (a year younger than him) with a mass of ginger hair.” She’d sounded nice. Meeting her was the one ray of brightness in this otherwise dark picture.

He stopped to scan the crowd. A petite girl with shoulder length, reddish-blonde curls, dressed in skinny jeans and a purple blouse, immediately caught his eye. It had to be Erin. Nice legs. What’s it with girls that they always under-sell themselves? He studied her face with his artist’s eye. Vermeer would’ve killed to paint her. Suddenly wishing he didn’t look so grimy after his three plane-changes, he walked over to join her. “Hi, I’m Seth. You’ve got to be Erin. My brother’s just married your sister Izzy.”

“And after only knowing each other for about a week.”

Her dimpled grin was infectious, making him crack his trademark crooked smile. “Madness.”

“Mysterious.” Erin cocked her head to one side, seemingly appraising him. He knew he had been accurate when he’d told her he was tall and dark-haired. But what he had failed to mention was what girls had often said they liked about him: his strong, angular face, softened by expressive brown eyes. He watched her eyes rove over his grey Muse: Resistance t-shirt, taking in his broad shoulders and chest. From there they darted down his black camo-pants to his boots. Amused by her blatant assessment, he cocked his head to one side, watching her. Suddenly Erin giggled – was she embarrassed? – and picked up her bag.

“We’ve yet another plane to catch. My fourth in the last twenty-four hours,” Seth said, hoping to explain away his rumpled appearance. “To a place called Maun.”

“So we do. Let the adventure begin.”

***

EXCERPT TWO: Meet Jared and Sophia . . .

Jared nodded at Sophia and Kezeah without any sign of recognition. With two of his Pledged up front and two at their rear, he marched them down the corridor to a flight of stairs. Once at the bottom, he ducked beneath an archway, opening onto to a gloomy, narrow tunnel. Erin, never keen on dark, claustrophobic spaces, took a deep breath and paused.

“C’mon,” Seth said. “The sooner we walk through it, the quicker we get to the other side.”

“What happens if what’s on the other side is even worse?”

“Then you’ll know for sure that the dead guys are leading this expedition,” Seth said, wanting to deny the painful burning in his heart that reconnected him with a cursed Jared. He grabbed Erin’s arm and pulled her into the passage.

They’d taken no more than two tentative steps along the uneven floor when Sophia stopped. “Commander, I am not walking through this snake-hole!”

Jared turned back to look at her. With none of the fear or diffidence Erin and Seth expected from a boy with limited to exposure to girls – especially beautiful ones – he answered, “Of course, my lady. You’re from Norin, where I understand you live in grass huts.” He gave a sardonic smile. “But don’t despair, you’ll soon get used to bricks. Even our own Outcasts have learnt not to flinch at the sight of them.” He continued down the passage.

     Seth’s mouth dropped at Jared’s rudeness; this was so foreign to the Jared he had seen just moments ago in his vision. It just added to his anger at Reuel’s Curse.

The Pledged at Sophia’s rear prodded her back; she gave him a fierce look and started walking.

For Seth and Sophia, both taller than Erin and Kezeah, negotiating the tortuous twists and turns of the tunnel was no easy matter. Stooping, cursing each time they bumped their heads on the rough ceiling, they struggled after Jared, but he kept up the merciless pace until they reached a dark staircase.

Her temper now as short as her breath, Sophia stopped walking and locked her arms across her chest. “Having just cracked my skull open, you now expect me to scramble up those treacherous stairs too. No doubt hoping I’ll fall and break my neck. Well, forget it. I’m not moving.”

“Sophia!” Kezeah whispered, jabbing her in the ribs as she stepped gingerly onto the first narrow step.

Sophia ignored her. “Only savages and rats live in places like this.”

     Jared’s eyes narrowed. “Savages and rats, you say, my lady?”

Sophia set her face into a cold stare, locking her hypnotic blue eyes on his.

He surprised her by holding her gaze. “I hate to disappoint you, my lady, but Lord Rustus, Lord of the Household, under the direction of the Overlord himself, has chosen your apartment. Surely you don’t question their judgment in this matter?” 

     “As a matter of fact, I do.”

     “In that case, I’ll gladly pass on your concerns. If that’s what you really want.”

“Enough, Sophia. This isn’t a fight you can win.” Sophia’s Guardian had joined them.

***

EXCERPT THREE: Meet Caleb and Talitha . . .

Erin flicked her hair behind her ear and watched Caleb straighten his clothing. He took a deep breath and entered the hut. They followed right after him, drifting through the closed door as if it didn’t exist. Seth laughed, holding his hand up to Erin for a high-five  – until he noticed that Caleb’s Gefallen had also wafted into the cabin with them. Even though he had no idea how to defend Erin from a ghost, he stepped in front of her to protect her. But the wraith ignored them and sailed over to Caleb.

     A tall, blonde-haired girl with almond-shaped brown eyes was waiting for Caleb. For Erin, the recognition was instantaneous; it was Talitha. “She’s so beautiful!”

     “She’s okay,” Seth replied, looking her over critically. “But I don’t think Caleb’s here for her looks.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You said yourself that Caleb’s a good-looking guy. I bet he could have any girl he wants around here.”

Erin frowned; then she smiled as understanding dawned. “So, in guy-talk, you’re saying he loves her?”

Seth chuckled as he picked up Erin’s hand and put it on his heart. “Tell me what you’re feeling?”

Erin gasped at a disconcerting pulse thrumming in Seth’s chest, over-riding his own heartbeat. “It’s . . . no . . . It’s not possible.”

 “I’ll bet it is. It’s Caleb’s heart beating.”

“How do you know it’s him? It could be Talitha.”

“It started the moment I saw him. It’s like it’s there to stop me denying that he and I were once friends. And I was watching Talitha when he walked in. She smiled, and it felt as if someone had just shot a thousand volts through him.”

“It’s amazing you’re so connected that you can feel him.”

Seth wasn’t so sure he agreed; it made being here just a little too real.

Erin felt her own heart and could faintly discern Talitha’s heartbeat; it was nowhere near as strong as the thump in Seth’s chest, but then, she figured, she wasn’t in denial the way he was.

 They fell into silence as Caleb opened his arms to embrace Talitha. She draped her arms around his neck, twisting the dark curls tumbling onto his shoulders. He kissed the nape of her throat and ran his lips up her neck, over her chin to her mouth.

“This is awkward,” Erin murmured, looking away.

“You don’t say. All this way just to watch them making out.”

*****

These excerpts are issued by Swallow Press for use by bloggers participating in launch and blog tour of Pledged by Gwynneth White. Any queries can be addressed to Andrew at sethanderin@swallowpress.com