Winners!!

Thank you to everyone who entered our Desires of the Dead giveaway!  :)  All the winners have been emailed and have 48 hrs to respond before new winners will be drawn.

Marlene won:

Prize #1 -  A signed hardcover copy of Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

Morgyn won:

Prize #2  -  A signed Desires of the Dead poster and bookmark

Tracy, Ambur, Lucie Z., and Sniffly Kitty each won:

Prize #3  - A signed Desires of the Dead bookmark

We hope to see Cassandra Clare and Holly Black on tour later this month, so keep an eye out  for the chance to win more signed books!  :)

Book Giveaway!! Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting!

A signed copy of Kimberly Derting's Desires of the Dead + signed swag!

Kimberly Derting's Body Finder books have become favorites in our house, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to attend one of Kimberly's recent booksigning events!  You can read my full event report here.  If you haven't read The Body Finder or Desires of the Dead yet, I highly recommend both books!  If you happen to have an ereader, HarperCollins is currently offering The Body Finder (with bonus material) for just $1.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders, so it is an awesome time to give this fantastic series a try if you haven't already.  I'm excited to be able to share some fabulous signed Desires of the Dead goodies with our readers!

Desires of the Dead summary:
The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger.

Read an excerpt from Desires of the Dead here!

Contest Details:

Prize #1 (US only - one winner):  A signed hardcover copy of Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

Prize #2  (US only - one winner):  A signed Desires of the Dead poster and bookmark

Prize #3 (US & International - four winners):  A signed Desires of the Dead bookmark

The deadline:  March 31st at 11:59 pm (PST)

How to Enter:

Fill out the form below.

Extra Entries:

+1 for every place you help spread the word about this contest - twitter, blog, sidebar, etc.  (Up to +3)

Awesome Book Event!! Kimberly Derting!

Kimberly Derting, author of The Body Finder and Desires of the Dead

Yesterday I attended a Powell's book signing event featuring the lovely Kimberly Derting!  It was fantastic to see her again and to hear more about her upcoming projects.  She read an excerpt from Desires of the Dead, answered several questions from the audience, talked about her upcoming fantasy-dystopian novel The Pledge, and signed lots of books!  If you would like to win a signed copy of Desires of the Dead, be sure to check out our giveaway post here.    :-)

For a video recap of the event, check out TheEagerReaders YouTube Channel:

Part 1 -  Kimberly discusses a creepy scene in the third Body Finder book.

Part 2 -  Kimberly talks about the cover art for the Body Finder books.

Part 3 -  Kimberly describes The Pledge, her upcoming fantasy-dystopian novel (Release date: 11/15/11)

Part 4 - Kimberly discusses one of the challenges of working on two books at once.

Candace of Candace's Book Blog also recorded several videos, and you can check them out  here.  It was tons of fun visiting with Candace and her sister-in-law, and it was also awesome to see Sara from Novel Novice, Inara Scott (author of the Delacroix Academy series), and Suzanne Young (author of A Need So Beautiful and The Naughty List trilogy).  Suzanne is completely responsible for my crazy lack of sleep last night because I simply could not put A Need So Beautiful down until I reached the final page!  I absolutely loved it!  (Thank you, Suzanne!)

The other huge highlight of the day was having the chance to visit with Kimberly before her Q & A session.  We talked about her upcoming appearance at the RT Booklovers Convention in LA, and she also shared a bit of news that surprised me in the best way ever.  When I first met Kimberly last April at an event for The Body Finder, she mentioned that she loved my name (not my online nickname, Violet, but my actual name, Avonlea) and wanted to steal it to use in one of her books.  It turns out that she was totally serious, and there will be a character in The Pledge with my name.  *insert giddy fangirl squee here*  How cool is that?!  In related news, I'm going to need to pick up a bazillion copies of The Pledge, and we will definitely be giving away a copy here on The Eager Readers.  Is it November yet?  ;-)

If you would like to learn more about The Body Finder series or The Pledge, please check out Kimberly Derting's website, blog, or twitter.

Buy Desires of the Dead: IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

Add this book to your: Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

Pre-order The Pledge (11/15/11):  Amazon 

Add this book to your: Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing 

Flower Friday - Asiatic Lily

Asiatic Lily

Today's featured flowers are Asiatic Lilies!  These brightly-colored lilies begin to bloom near the end of June and continue blooming throughout July and into August.  Ours seem to be pest-free and bloom best with a moderate amount of water and a whole lot of sun.  The large waxy flowers last quite a long time and look so bright and shiny that they could almost be mistaken for fake flowers.  They are easy-to-grow bulbs and the flowers put on a striking display at the tops of spiky green columns of leaves which stand about two feet tall.  You can learn more about Asiatic lilies at Gardeners.com or see several different types of Asiatic lilies at Dave's Garden.

A few book and blogosphere updates: 

1.  Kimberly Derting revealed the cover of Desires of the Dead, the sequel to her excellent debut novel The Body Finder, this week.  How gorgeous is that cover?!  I love it!  You can read our review of The Body Finder here.  The jacket copy for the Desires of the Dead ARC:

When Violet Ambrose's morbid ability to sense the echoes of those who've been murdered leads her to the body of a young boy, she draws the attention of the FBI. She is reluctantly pulled into an investigation that will endanger more than just her secret...but her relationship and possibly her life as well.

2.  Novel Novice is featuring Suzanne Young's Naughty List series as their "Book of the Month" in July.  In addition to finding fun behind-the-scenes info on the series there throughout the month, you can also enter to to win signed copies of the first two books in the Naughty List trilogy - The Naughty List and So Many Boys!  That contest ends July 3oth.

3.  Preger Entertainment announced that they have acquired the film rights to Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series.  Having a studio option the motion picture rights doesn't necessarily mean that we will see a Vampire Academy movie released anytime soon, but it is still a step in an exciting direction, right?  You can read the official press release here and Richelle's announcement here.




Happy Reading!  :-)