Words to make you think

HAPPY RELEASE DAY OLIVIA

It's here, it's here, it's finally here!!!

The wait is over!  We can all now find out what is happening with Olivia and Jon!

In my last post I spoke about the first book in the Choisie series, Contessa, which was on sale for 75% less.  That sale continues through today!  Contessa introduces us to Livvy and Jon, and Olivia continues their love story.

I was lucky enough to be given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Olivia, so I can happily share my review of this second book in the Choisie series, which I originally posted on Goodreads:

Which is my favourite book by Lori L. Otto? It's the Lori L. Otto book I'm reading at the time.

 

Olivia continues the story of Livvy Holland, begun in the first book of the Choisie Series, Contessa. Ms Otto deftly shows the growth of Livvy into a mature and responsible adult, the growth in Livvy's relationship with her parents, her dad in particular, and the growth in Livvy and Jon's relationship.

 

Not everything is smooth sailing though. Livvy has to come to terms with a type of loss she's never had to face before and in the process she loses a part of herself. This crisis in Livvy's life, and her dealing-by-not-dealing is woven throughout the book, so that it's always there even if it's not obvious. Which is exactly how Livvy is experiencing it as well. Once again Lori Otto pulls the reader into the life of her characters so that you feel as if you are the one experiencing all the good, bad, happy, sad, silly, stupid and unforeseen things that happen in the story. And there are plenty of each and more.

 

Lori Otto writes people as they are. Real people. There is perhaps no huge drama or mystery or angsty romance, but it's life. The relatively small personal dramas and mysteries and romances feel as life altering as if they were happening to you. Lori writes people stories, not crime or fantasy or erotica. Just the lives of everyday people who you come to feel are people you know. You become invested in these characters and the choices they make. You feel happy and sad with them. You feel proud of and cross with them. And at the end of each book you want to know where the next stage of their lives will take them.

 

Olivia is no different. You will finish this book wanting to know where the next book will take Livvy. I can't wait!

 

 

Believe me when I say, if you've read Contessa, you REALLY want to read Olivia.  And if you haven't read Contessa, you should really get on that.  Although the Choisie series is YA, the books grow as their characters grow.  And there is so much in these books that will remind you of that time in your life.  Your teenage years, your first love, your rebellions against your parents, pushing your boundaries and trying to discover the adult you wanted to grow into.  As with all Lori L. Otto's books, you will re-experience all of these things with the characters.

 

And there is a lot going on today to celebrate Olivia's release!  Join us over on Facebook for the Release Day Event!  Lots of fun and prizes to be had. The event begins at 12pm CDT (that's 7pm here in South Africa) and will continue until 9pm (well into 18 June in South Africa).  There will be drawings for prizes every hour, so get on over there and have fun.

 

In the meantime, here are some snippets to keep you busy and amp up your excitement.  Just click on the awesome graphics provided by Lori Otto to read some great teasers from Olivia!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And last but certainly not least, for a little sneak peak at the beginning of Olivia, click!

Hopefully, ya'll are just as excited to see what comes next as I was! Also, there are loads of extras in the ebook, so go ahead and purchase your own copy by clicking on one of the links below:

Paperback / Kindle / iBooks / Nook / Other Digital Format

The Long Road To My Online Life

Inspired by this post at the Keysmash Blog: MyFaceTwitTumJournal
 
So I was reading the latest post on Keysmash and my comment kinda ran away with me.  I had just had pain pills which make me chatty, so blame that.  But after reading through the comment I realised 1. It was really long, 2. It basically outlined my online evolution, 3. I haven't posted anything here for a while, and why not post this?  So here is my comment to the above Keysmash post in all it's chatty and roundabout glory:

"Different social media platforms definitely have different personalities.  And people use them for different things and people (I find) always prefer one over the other.  I was late to this whole connecting with people online thing.  Aside from email, I kinda felt like joining Facebook would make me vulnerable to the world. And, and... people could spy on me or track me or something. I dunno, I was young and suspicious.  I still am.  Suspicious, I mean.  How one person can see the world through rose tinted glasses and still be suspicious of EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE, I don't know, but I am.  And I digress...

Um... Where was I? Okay, right.  Facebook.  MySpace was never really a thing here (here being South Africa).  Not that I know of anyway. I kind of get the feeling that by the time we joined the internet bandwagon and people could like, have it in their home, MySpace was already dying a slow death and Facebook was the thing.  Like, I never even knew Facebook was ever not available publicly. And also, I went to University to study (shocking).  And I'm not being insulting at all.  I mean, the crowds at University terrified me, strange people terrified me, classmates terrified me, being social in any way terrified me.  This was not the same me who went to High school and started off with straight A's and slid down the slippery slope of boys and parties and drinking and boys and parties.  A thing happened. My brain melted or something and let's not talk about that.  So, come time to go to university I hoped and prayed everyday that no-one would talk to me and I could just be left alone to get my degree and maybe by the time that happened I could actually handle getting a job.  I digress again.

Point is, I wasn't socialising in real life so why would I want to socialise online?  The friends I wanted to keep and who wanted to keep me, I could keep in contact with via texting, and email and sometimes...even letters!  No need to put myself ONLINE and become vulnerable to internet monsters.

And then my best friend got married.  And she had moved provinces so we didn't get to see each other often, but I was a bridesmaid and there were a shit-ton of photos and she said "Well, why don't you just get Facebook?  I'm putting them all there anyway."  She was going to send me a disc with all the thousands of photos on (she did) but that would take a while, while the photos from her and others would go to Facebook almost immediately.  I tried to resist, I really did, but in the end, I gave in.

Wedding pics. Just me, unfortunately, coz I know I gave myself permission ;)

I bit the bullet.  I got a Facebook account, uploaded the photos I had taken, friended her and friended the maid of honour.  And then started the friend requests...  From some people I was happy to catch up with and from some I had hoped to forever forget about.  When my ex-(douchebag)boyfriend's sister wanted to friend me, I about hit the roof.  I mean she was nice enough.  But I never, ever want to know what is going on with him and that was too close a connection for me.  I feel a little bad for ignoring her request, but, you know, not THAT bad.

So I was on Facebook and then everyone started on about Twitter and I thought I had never in my life heard of a more ridiculous concept than Twitter and tweeting and wtf anyway?  And Twitter was worse than Facebook coz anyone could stalk you there and find out stuff about you and I was sure Twitter was an alias for Big-Brother-Is-Watching...  In the end, I got a twitter account because a radio station was running a competition that you could only enter via twitter.  I had an account but very little was going on there, and I very seldom checked in on Facebook. 

And then Twilight happened.  And I was late to that as well.  I saw the movie first coz Sis wanted to and I was like, what. the. hell.  An obsessive co-dependant relationship between an old man and a teenager and they "fall in can't-live-without-you love" like in 5 minutes?  No.  Just no.  And THEN Sis read the book.  In like 3 days.  And loved it.  And let me tell you, Sis doesn't read. At all.  She went through a stage of Danielle Steele, but even then it would be 6 months per book.  I tried to get her to read the first Harry Potter and it took her a year and she didn't even finish.  Sis. Doesn't. Read.  But she read Twilight in under a week?  I had to know... And the rest is history, as is the case with so many people.  And then came Breaking Dawn.  By the time I had read the first 3 books, Breaking Dawn hadn't come out yet so I had to wait.  Thrilling! And then the fade-to-black, and then the search on the internet, and then fanfiction, and then a search for Quileute mythology (I'm a historian, I had to) and then Osa Bella and then Twitarded and then I was kinda screwed.

Twitarded led me to one of my best friends, author Lori Otto, who I have blogged about many times here, and who I could only stalk and chat with via email or Twitter.  (Lucky for me, she didn't mind my stalking.) And twitter was easier. The funny thing is, that Lori far prefers Facebook.  I far prefer Twitter.  All of this led to blogs and Tumblr and now Pinterest and on and on and on.  And some Twitter friends have become Facebook friends and some Facebook friends I have met because of books we're reading, and it's like this never ending circle of online friendship.  Let's all hold hands and sing Kumbaya together *sigh*.

How did that get here...

It has all become intertwined and mixed up, but at the end of the day, each type of social media has a different personality that is better suited to certain types of activities, and is better suited to certain types of people.  I mostly browse and reblog on Tumblr (pretty pictures and porn), keep in touch with old and new friends on Facebook and chat everyday, every damn day, with online turned RL life friends on Twitter.  It's as natural as texting my family at this point.  I love my twitter friends and they have become a very important part of my life.

Each to her own.  And it works.


P.S. I wonder how many online lives were started because of Stephenie Meyer...?"

New Covers for Emi Lost and Found

Hey there! Long time no blog.

Life has been pretty hectic, but with no really interesting blogable things happening. However that changed this week, with Lori L. Otto announcing new covers for her series, Emi Lost and Found.

First, Ms Otto released the new cover for the prequel to the series, Not Today, But Someday.

Fabulous, right?

To read her blog post about this release go here.



Next we were treated to the new cover for the bundled series:

Fantastic, right??

To read the blog post about this new edition, go here.



And finally, last night (or this morning, depending on where you are) we finally got to see the new cover of the first book in the series, Lost and Found:

Gorgeous, RIGHT???

To read the post about this gorgeous cover, go here.


Everybody needs this on their e-reader and on their bookshelf.

These covers were photographed and designed by Christi Allen Curtis with the assistance of Katrina Boone, and the lovely model who provides the perfect face for Emi is Alex Wheelus, and they have all done an awesome job, in my humble opinion.


Now I have to say, I loved the covers of my first paperbacks of the series:

The first paperbacks on my bookshelf of the Emi Lost and Found Series

And I was thrilled with the second set of paperbacks on my bookshelf:

I will always love these covers.

But to be honest, my love for these covers has a lot to do with the content.  I would probably love the books if they were covered in refuse bags, that is how much I love this series.  But I recognise that each edition has been an improvement on the last.

With the new covers that are now being released, I feel the Lori, Christi and Katrina have outdone themselves.  And let's face it, photographic covers seem to be the most popular within the market, and these books deserve to be seen by a wider audience.  I hope these covers convince new readers to give this series a chance, and give themselves a chance to fall in love with these characters who have become old and very dear friends to me.


If you haven't already, go treat yourself and get these books with their wonderful new covers.  You won't be disappointed.  The next two books in the series will be released with their new covers soon.

Where to buy.

(remember, new covers have so far been released for Not Today, But Someday,
Emi Lost and Found Bundled Series, and Lost and Found, the first book in the series.  Wait for the cover releases of Time Stands Still and Never Look Back before you buy those)

ELAF Group Read - The Happily Ever After Badge

*ALL THE SPOILERS

Sigh.

These books. I've often said it, rereading these books is like visiting with old friends. It's comfortable and familiar, but it never gets boring. Each time I read them I learn something new about these characters that I love, that I missed the last time.

I never stop wishing that Nate didn't have to die. I never stop hoping that Emi would give Jack a chance. I never stop praying that Jack would give Emi one more chance.  I never don't sigh with satisfaction as I read the last line:

"and I never look back."

 
In the end, everybody got their happy ending. Yes, even Nate. I often find myself wondering what would've happened if Nate hadn't died.  I've even dragged Lori into this discussion with me.  And I think that, sure, somehow the three of them would have made their lives work, would have been content, but I also see a fair amount of disillusionment and disappointment. 
Maybe Emi was Nate's soulmate. And maybe Jack was Emi's. And maybe, everybody got everything they wanted in the end.

I enjoyed this group read so much, even if I had to scramble and play catch-up at the end.  And I will be grateful everyday that I stumbled upon these books.

ELAF Group Read - The Broken Thumb badge

*SPOILERS

She punched him. She actually punched him. AND she totally punched him like a girl and injured herself in the process.  Not that she doesn't deserve it...

Granted, some of the things Jack says to Emi in this chapter may be a little harsh.  But she seriously needs a wake up call. I don't think Emi set out to string Jack along or hurt him in any way, but she hasn't really been considering his feelings either. She's just coasted along in a little comfort zone, not wanting to face any real decisions.

Well, Emi, my girl. It's time to put your big girl panties on and grab hold of that Jack and never, ever let him go!

ELAF Group Read - The Butterfly Ring Badge

*SPOILERS

Everything seems to be going perfectly for our couple. She's met the family and they love her (for the most part). They're talking marriage and babies and he just might've bought a ring (see above).

So why is she pulling away now? Why is distancing herself from the person who grounds her, gives her stability and security...?

Dun dun DUN...