Picked via a combo of my Forth place winner and random.org..............

Julie from My 5 Monkeys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've sent you a email, and if I don't hear back in 48 hours I'll be asking my Forth place winner to pick another number.


Congrats and thanks again for all who entered! Everyone who won and those who didn't, keep an eye out here for another contest coming up soon!!! I'm working on ideas for the next couple contests, so be sure to keep checking back.

And please everyone check your junk mail. Winners so far had the email from me go to their Junk Mail and I'd hate for a winner to get passed over because of something like that :o) Thanks guys!

Picked via a combo of my Third place winner and random.org..............

Enna Isilee of Squeaky Books!!!!!!!!

I've sent you a email, and if I don't hear back in 48 hours I'll be asking my Third place winner to pick another number.

Congrats and thanks again for all who entered! I'll post my Fifth place winner as soon as I hear from this winner! Keep and eye out.....

And please everyone check your junk mail. Both winners so far had the email from me go to their Junk Mail and I'd hate for a winner to get passed over because of something like that :o) Thanks guys!

Picked via a combo of my second place winner and random.org..............

Throuthehaze Reads!!!!!!!!!

I've sent you a email, and if I don't hear back in 48 hours I'll be asking my second place winner to pick another number.


Congrats and thanks again for all who entered! I'll post my forth place winner as soon as I hear from this winner! Keep and eye out.....

And please everyone check your junk mail. Both winners so far had the email from me go to their Junk Mail and I'd hate for a winner to get passed over because of something like that :o) Thanks guys!

In My Mailbox, is brought to us by Kristi at The Story Siren Thanks Kristi!!

This turned out to be a pretty good 2 weeks in books if you ask me. I missed last weeks... I think lol. So this will be what came in the mail to me or I picked up for this week and last week. (Sorry no picture again. Maybe next time.)

Ordered/Purchased from the Book Depository (my new love!):

Skin Game By: Ava Gray
Trick of Light By: Rob Thurman
Going Bovine By: Libby Bray
Shrinking Violet By: Danielle Joseph
Shadowlight By: Lynn Viehl
Soulless By: Gail Carriger
Tempt me with Darkness (Book 1) By: Shayla Black
Seduce me in Shadow (Book 2) By: Shayla Black


Went to the Crown Book Outlet again today... some great finds, well I think so at least lol And they still haven't put out all the books they recently aquired. So, I'll be going back again at least once more, but after christmas. Here's what I purchased there:
 
Being By: Kevin Brooks
The Hunters Moon By: O.R. Melling
Jerk California By: Jonathn Friesen
I Don't Want To Be Crazy By: Samantha Schuts
Saint By: Ted Dekker
The Queen of Everything By: Deb Caletti

I think that's it for me.... what all did you guys get this week?? Good stuff I hope.

Picked via a combo of my first place winner and random.org.............

SHERRY from Flipping Pages for All Ages!!!!!!!

I've sent you a email, and if I don't hear back in 48 hours I'll be asking my first place winner to pick another number. As soon as I hear back from Sherry, I'll be posting my third place winner.

Congrats Sherry and thanks again for all who entered!

Title: Chasing Brooklyn

Author: Lisa Schroeder
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 432 Pages (January 5, 2010)
From: Won in a Book Tour, read and passed on.

Synopsis: Restless souls and empty hearts


Brooklyn can't sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca, died only a year ago, and now her friend Gabe has just died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe's ghost is there waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn't Lucca visiting her dreams.

Nico can't stop. He's always running, trying to escape the pain of losing his brother, Lucca. But when Lucca's ghost begins leaving messages, telling Nico to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface.

As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they're being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest.

Review: 4 Stars - Chasing Brooklyn was one of those stories that allowed me to feel the various emotions that the characters -Brooklyn and Nico were going through a year after a death that affected them both in very different ways. A supernatural twist to the story had ghosts to help pave the way for both Brooklyn and Nico, in what would be a quest to find a life not only worth living, but a way to live without Brooklyn's boyfriend and Nico's brother. They each had such different ways to deal with death, even after a year had passed. They might have both been still alive, but were they really living? I liked how you could feel the struggles to let go and lean on each other, to understand that they were both going through many of the same things. To be able to see both characters change and grow with the turn of each page and as more time passed in the story.


The author - Lisa has a unique writing style that at first glance made me wonder if there would be gaps or missing pieces to the story. I have to say that after reading the first few pages I knew there wouldn't be anything left out. It was a fast read that had me wanting more and fearing it would end to soon.

Written in alternating chapters from Brooklyn and Nico's journals/thoughts it gave me such an amazing insight to just what each was going through. You could feel each and every phase of grief they were feeling from one moment to the next. The struggles are true to life - often at times heartbreaking, yet at other times I found it light and fun.

I can say that Lisa has written a story that to me was emotional, powerful, and strong and filled with love. I look forward to the day when I can purchase this book and read it again. Whether you read it before it comes out or when it's released, you won't be disappointed. I can't wait to see just what she writes next.

Disclaimer: I did not pay for, nor did I keep this book. I have not been compensated at all for reading and writing this review.

I have my first winner from my first contest!!! Random.org helped me pick the winner now it's your turn...

The winner is......................

NIKKI from A Haunt of Ancient Peace!!!!

I've sent a email and am waiting to hear back. If I don't hear back from you in 48 hours I'll have to pick another winner. The second winner will be posted as soon as I hear back from Nikki. Not to worry, it's all going to still be random!

I had 44 people who entered and over 240 entries! Thanks to everyone for making my first and not my last contest so much fun! I'm thinking up and working on another one, so keep an eye out! I should be posting it soon!

Author Interviews &

Guest Post Master Link List

If your an author or work in publishing and would like to be interviewed, or know someone who would like to be interviewed or do a guest post here at A Life Bound By Books, please contact me at alifeboundbybooks@hotmail.com to set something up. Should anyone have any questions, please feel free to email and ask. As of now, there aren't many interviews or guest posts, but that all is about to change.

*note guest posts and interviews are not limited to Authors or people in publishing. I'm open to hosting either with fellow book bloggers as well. 

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Author: Interview - Potter, Ryan Author of Exit Strategy, 2010

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Author: Interview - Riekki, R.A Author of U.P. , 2009

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Just wanted to let you all know that I've updated the contest info and have changed the deadline date, extending it by 2 days. It's just really crazy around here and with adding the additional info. I wanted to give everyone those extra 2 days JUST in case there's someone out there who would like to enter.

I also mentioned that I'd post some info about the handmade book marks that the winners will get to choose from. Each of the 5 winners we get to choose what they would like their book marks to be "themed" as. Here's that list so when you're selected by random.org you'll be ready to send me all your info including what book mark you'd like. So, here's what you get to choose from:

Colors - want one just in your favorite color or colors? You can pick one color and I'll add in some additional shades of the color, or you can pick 3 colors.
Lucky Charm - all different lucky charms and some greens added in.
Vampire - need I say more?
Halloween - various things that have to do with Halloween will be added.
Christmas - Christmas colors, with some trees, etc.
Snowflakes - with white, silvers, blues and clears added in


Twilight themed - (here's the following choices and these are ALL only Themed after the books and or movies. All have my added touches to make them unique to any trademarked Twilight or Twilight Saga merchandise)
Twilight in general
Themed after Bella's bracelet
Edward
Edward and Bella
Jacob
Jacob and Bella
Alice
I run with vampires themed
I run with werewolves themed
Wolf Pack themed


Hearts - with reds and pinks or just reds or just pinks
Butterflies - with whatever colors you'd like up to 3 colors
Stars - with up to 3 colors
Breast Cancer awareness with pinks
Gothic - black, purple, silver or black, red, silver and misc gothic pieces
Skulls - and up to 3colors you'd like
Hello Kitty - and whatever 3 colors you'd like
The Ocean - and whatever 3 colors you'd like
Keys - and whatever 3 colors you'd like
Music - and your pick of 3 colors (however with this I can only make 1 of this type book markers due to supplies, so first come first serve with this one)
Pirate - totally pirate themed right down to colors
Garden - garden bugs and flowers and your pick of 3 colors
Girlie - totally girlie from colors, etc.
Skulls and Spiders
Cupcake themed (I only make 2 of this type due to supplies, so again first come first serve)

And I think that's it. If I've listed something here you'd like to ask me about combining, please let me know via email and I'll see what I can do. Any other questions please email me as well.

Good Luck to all who have entered and if you haven't, hurry there's only 2 days left, 11/20/09.

Follow the link...........

Kari over at A Good Addiction is holding a contest to win 1 of 5 copies of Fallen By Lauren Kate!!! It's open to all and ends on 12/6/09 right before the book comes out. I know I can't wait to get my hands on this book and read it as I'm sure many others are, so head on over to her blog and enter now... Please be sure to mention that I referred you and we BOTH get 5 extra entries!!!


Click here to enter

A Chase Around the USA Contest.... and the winner for the 5th stop on the ARC copy of Chasing Brooklyn is:

KATE from the Neverending Shelf!

The book will be put in the mail to you tomorrow!

Thanks to all who entered! And be sure to keep an eye out on her blog, she'll be holding the same contest soon!

AS OF 11/15/09 9:00pm PST

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!

I'm the 4th stop in this amazing contest/tour for Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder.

And I have to say that I loved the book. It was a great read that had my heart aching with each turn of the page. The only down fall was that it was a quick read. I read it over just a few hours, but with how quick of a read it was, it had everything in there that a wonderful story should have. The one word that I picked is Healing. I felt that this word was something that ment the most to me while reading the story. I wanted to do the one word totally differently, that would have fit prefectly with this story, but just didn't have the time... however I did a quick hand drawing of the word in blues - to go along with the color of the books cover and added a shadow of a hand over the top to again go along with the cover of the book. (A real review will come in the next day or two, our internet is down and I'm using a friends to be sure to get this contest going and done quick as stated in the rules)

CHASING BROOKLYN by Lisa Schroeder will be released January 5, 2010. Due to publishers cutting back, ARCs are not as plentiful these days. BUT, Lisa has one ARC that she's sending out on a multi-state tour, and she will be trying to chase it down as it goes from reader to reader.

If you would like to read CHASING BROOKLYN, add your name to the comments below. One name will be randomly drawn 24 hours from the date and time of this blog post, and the winner will be contacted via e-mail (please leave your e-mail address in your comment). Not only will the winner get to read CHASING BROOKLYN before it hits the shelves, but each winner will receive a $10.00 gift card from the bookstore of his/her choice from Lisa. If Lisa guesses what state the winner lives in before the state is revealed to her, that amount doubles to $20.00!


Participants in the Chase Around the USA have 5 responsibilities. If you don’t think you can meet these responsibilities, please, PLEASE do NOT volunteer to be a part of the chase.

1) READ - CHASING BROOKLYN within 7 days of receiving it. If you can read it sooner, even better!

2) Take a photo of ONE word - about the book, to describe the book, something in the book that’s important, etc. How do you show us your word? Be creative! Write on paper, on a t-shirt, in the sand, on the wall, in cereal – the possibilities are endless! Please TRY TO INCLUDE THE ARC IN THE PHOTO SOMEHOW. The only requirement is that it cannot be something negative. Of course some people may not like the book. But Lisa plans to use these pictures in a special way when the chase is over, so positive is best. If you don’t like the book, simply pick a word that shares the tone of the book, describes a character, etc. (By participating in this contest, you agree to e-mail the photo to Lisa for her to use as she chooses.)

3) Post the ONE WORD photo on your blog - along with a picture of the CHASING BROOKLYN cover and these rules, and hold another contest just like this one, drawing a name within 24 hours of the blog post. Do what you can (tweet, facebook, etc) to point people to your blog about the contest.

4) Post a comment on Lisa Schroeder's blog - that you've held the contest and drawn the next blogger's name (without revealing the name) to receive the ARC. Lisa will then try to CHASE the ARC down by posting a guess on her blog of what state the ARC will go to next. Once Lisa's blog post goes up with the guess, the current holder of the ARC will post the new winner's name and the state he/she lives in on his/her blog. If Lisa guesses the correct state, the next recipient of the ARC receives a $20.00 gift card to the bookstore of his/her choice!!

5) Mail the ARC - to the winner IMMEDIATELY after receiving the winner's address, so the book can get into as many hands as possible. Lisa is hoping for at least 7-8 stops on the chase, but that will only happen if people get the book read and sent off quickly. Use the flat shipping rate envelopes at the post office for a low price and speedy delivery! Whoever has the book on the release date of 1/5 will mail the book back to Lisa. Please feel free to write notes in the ARC for Lisa to read when the book is returned to her.

At the end of chase across the USA, Lisa will draw three names from the bloggers who participated in the chase to receive FREE signed copies of one of her books - I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, FAR FROM YOU or CHASING BROOKLYN.

Finally, the blogger who has the most creative one word photo (judged by three teens in Lisa's neighborhood) gets a signed copy of FLASH BURNOUT by L.K. Madigan, a signed copy of LIPS TOUCH by Laini Taylor, and a copy of CRASH INTO ME by Albert Borris.

SO - you have 24 hours!!! This contest will close tomorrow night and I'll need to hear back from the winner RIGHT away for your address, so I can be sure to get this out in the mail to you by TUESDAY! Just leave a comment with a email address or your blog URL so I can find you tomorrow night at this time. I will need a way to contact you because once I draw a winner, this will go quick. Good Luck and I can't wait to send this on to the next person to read!

8.... 6 more followers until I hit 100!!!

Well, it's been a bit crazy around here with my dad's knee replacement and all, but I haven't gotten about anyone! I thought I'd make a quick post (I'm stalking the mail man right now lol) and mention what I'll be doing once I hit 100 followers.

I'll add in 2 other winners who will get a handmade one of a kind bookmark AND I'll add in another book or 2 to choose from for the winners who, well win books lol. I'm working on a list of the options each of the winners will get to choose from when it comes to their bookmark designs. So, be on the look out for that.

Click here to enter now!!!

Sorry this is so short, but I'm keeping the house together while my dad's in the hospital and I want to try to get in a few hours of reading tonight... if time doesn't get away from me.

I hope everyone is enjoying some GREAT books! Thanks to all my followers old and new.

There's a HUGE contest over at A BookLover's Diary!! A few winners and some great books to choose from! Contest ends on Nov. 30, 2009 so hurry over and enter now!!

Hey everyone! I just updated the contest post with additional info, another winner and 6 more books to choose from!

If I hit 100 followers before the contest ends, I'll add in another book or two, maybe even three to choose from and another winner!

Click here to take you to the contest page.

Contest ends Nov. 18, 2009 and IF I'm pretty close to the 100 mark, I might extend the contest by just a couple days. If anyone has any questions please let me know. Oh, and I've seen that a few blogs have started using forms when they are holding contests. This is to help with privacy and such, so I'll be looking into that as well for future contests here.

So, enter, enter, ENTER now! The more the merrier! Good Luck to all!!!

In My Mailbox (3), brought to us by Kristi at  The Story Siren Thanks Kristi!! This turned out to be a pretty good week in books if you ask me. So, here goes. Sorry no pictures.... the camera and I aren't getting along right now. :o/

Purchased from: Amazon

Fade Out (Morganville Vampire, Book 7) By: Rachel Caine


Purchased from: Crown Book Oulet (an amazing semi local find, which had SO many great books. We're going back again in a couple weeks since they are about to get over 66K books!!! AMAZING!)



Looks By: Madeleine George
True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet By: Lola Douglas
Dragonhaven By: Robin McKinley
Walk of the Spirits By: Richie Tankersley Cusick
Jars of Glass By: Brad Barkley
The Other Side of the Island By: Allegra Goodman

That's what I picked up this week. What did you guys get??

WOW, I just hit 75+ followers! That's  so amazing and exciting! I'll be hitting a book store or 2 tomorrow and or sunday, so be on the look out for more info about the contest with added books and another winner. If I hit 100 followers before the end of the contest (or if I'm getting REALLY close to 100 by the deadline date) then I MIGHT extend the contest. Why? You ask. Well, if I hit 100 I'll add another winner. :o)

We'll see how things go over the next week or so. Check back over the weekend for addtional info.

PS - more of a FYI, some of you who follow me on twitter already know this, but on wednesday afternoon while running, yes, running for the phone I ran into the door and broke my pinky toe in 4 places. Your wondering how a person can break a lil toe like that in 4 places... well.... picture your little toe on your left foot sticking straight out the side of your foot. My toe was bent and broken at a 90 degree angle. It hurt to say the least. 4 shots later (one for pain and 3 to numb my foot up) and many xrays (which I went to hit it AGAIN and just as hard on the xray machine... and almost passed out in the process. I'm a not sure how I did it, but yeah it happened) it's all taped up and black and blue with some purple and a pretty shade of green. It's gothic pretty. Not FUN! Anyways, IF tomorrow it's to painful to walk on (I tested things out at Target tonight - o-u-c-h!) for a shopping trip I'll try to hit the book stores on sunday. So, just keep checking back, I'll be out and about either tomorrow or sunday without a doubt. :o)

Thanks to everyone, have a great weekend with much fun and amazing books!

The Undercover Book Lover is having a contest to win a signed copy of the Map of the Known World! I'm excited to read this book. The cover just looks amazing and the plot sounds like a must read. Head on over to enter before it's to late. The contest ends on Nov. 14, 2009.

Title: Leaving Paradise
Author: Simone Elkeles
Publisher: Flux, 312 Pages (April 1, 2007)
From: Purchased from Amazon

Synopsis: Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad-her chance to escape everyone and their pitystares-has been canceled. After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb's free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.



Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It's a bleak and torjourney for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.

Review: 5 Stars - LOVED this book. Simone Elkeles has written another great story. From page one - Leaving Paradise kept my full attention, with alternating character chapter points of view, I was able to get a better idea as to who Maggie and Caleb both are and how they each remembered the accident that forever changed both their lives, and the ones around them.

To read how they both struggled through things, trying to get back to whatever normal they could was sometimes hard to read. They had each changed so much that what was, could really never be again.

Maggie wants nothing to do with Caleb when he returns home after being in jail for a year for the accident, however they find that to heal and become the people they are suppose to be they really need each other. The twists and turns each face to forgive and heal really shine throughout the story. It made both Maggie and Caleb feel more real from beginning to end.

The ending had my heartbreaking on many different levels. This was the first book in a long while that I was surprised at the ending. It was hard to read, but you felt it was the right way to end things... for now.

Simone Elkeles writes a great story about a hard subject, one that many can relate to on various levels. The forgiveness part of the story made me hope that if faced with something this horrible, caused by someone else that I'd be as strong as each of these characters and be able to deal with things as well as they did. I'm happy to say that I won't be forgetting about this anytime soon and am excited to read the next installment in the series out fall 2010.

Well, I've tired and this camera just doesn't seem to want to work for me. UGH! At least you'll kind of get an idea what's up there. With all that's going on, there has been a box of books misplaced too. Which is crazy, but I just can't find it. Okay... here's the first picture, lets see how it looks.












 Some of this self and some of the shelf right below here have books on it that are Karl's. I was nice and gave him 2 shelves. lol I would have loved to have this huge monster of a bookcase all to myself, but I had to play nice and share. lol





Just click on the pictures and they will open up larger so you can better see, well amost see most of what I have. Some that are series books are stacked on top or behind each other, so if you see part of a series there, and more then one book in a series you'll kind of get the idea of what's behind it or under it.

I wanted to have more out for the pictures and I'll try to take a large over all one tomorrow when the light is better so you can see it full in all it's glory. No idea why I didn't take one of those today. *shrugs*

I'm really enjoying both books I'm reading and I'm happy to say that I've been getting more time as I've just about finished putting everything back in this room, while trying to get the other ready for a re-do. UGH! Okay, off to finish a few things up so I can get some much needed reading time in. Have a link to show me your bookcase, please be sure to leave it.

Also, I've added some little swag/gift items to who ever wins in the contest. I'm looking to add a couple books in over the weekend after a couple trips to book stores and such. Also.... I wanted to know, would anyone like other ways to earn more entries??? Just let me know!

IMM is brought to us by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Better late, then never... it was a slow week for me when it comes to new books. I only have one to add to my ever growing TBR list. No picture since it was only one -

Book was purchased from: Amazon

Bound to Shadows (Riley Jenson, Guardian, Book 8) By: Keri Arthur

I guess this is the second to the last in the series. I haven't read more then the first 3, but really enjoyed those, so I just kept picking up others as released.

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FYI: Just a quick note. The links I post on each of these, IMM's and in my reviews or anywhere around my blog, will always be a link to where I purchased the book from.... if at all possible that is. These links I DO NOT get paid for. If I can't find a link for where the book was purchased then I will always link back to amazon. I use them most for my online purchasing, so... yeah. I just didn't want anyone to think I was getting paid for any links here. :o) I'll be adding some additional info. about this in the sidebar here - Bound By Books Pages. Thanks guys, and happy reading!

Title: Shadowland - The Mediator (Book 1)
Author: Meg Cabot 
Publisher: HarperTeen, 204 Pages (December 28, 2004)
From: Purchased from Amazon

Synopsis: Suze is a mediator -- a liaison between the living and the dead. In other words, she sees dead people. And they won't leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living. But Jesse, the hot ghost haunting her bedroom, doesn't seem to need her help. Which is a relief, because Suze has just moved to sunny California and plans to start fresh, with trips to the mall instead of the cemetery, and surfing instead of spectral visitations.



But the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it's not that easy. There's a ghost with revenge on her mind ... and Suze happens to be in the way.

Review: 3.5 Stars - A fun, light, easy paranormal read - this book is nice beginning in the Mediator Series. The main Character Suze is true to most teens - going her own way to deal with the ghosts she's trying to send to the "other side". She's head strong and knows just how she likes to do things, which maybe isn't always the right way. However, throughout the book it makes you question whether or not she'll be able to get the job done.

With some mystery - ghost's and a head strong teen, I look forward to find out more and what's coming next for Suze, not to mention finding out more about Jessie and to see where his part of the story leads.

If your looking for a light mysterious read with ghosts? Then this is the perfect series for you.