Signed Book Giveaway Hop!

 

I've had a book set aside for this since I signed up for this hop. And now, it's kind of a big deal. Hang on a sec, though. First, the book I shall give to one lucky winner:

 

 

Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

And why is this kind of a big deal? Well, remember this stack of books?

 

 

From the Opal Release Party? Well, this copy? It's the LAST of signed books I got from there. Well, except the ones that are mine, but they're signed to me, and I kind of doubt any of you would really want them.

 

I also have an extra un-signed copy I'll probably give away sometime, but signed ones? THIS IS IT.

 

Or at least, this is it until I see Jen again and restock on unecessary signed copies of her books.

 

So...yeah! Read on for details and all that stuff. :)

 

DETAILS!

- Sorry, y'all, but this one is US ONLY. I've been doing a lot of international stuff recently.

- My giveaway policy applies.

- ONE random winner will recieve ONE signed copy of Opal

- Enter through the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Thanks for entering! Hop on, kind people!

 

 

♥Jessica(:

Romance is in the Air Giveaway Hop!

 

 

And here we go AGAIN. I honestly could NOT pass this one up. Y'all know by now how much I lovelovelove sweet things. So here I am. BUT this is more than just a giveaway hop giveaway.

 

Do you remember when we were all voting for Houston to host the OPAL release party and I was like "If you vote for Houston and we win I'll have a ginormous giveaway because y'all are awesome and I love you and OMG JUST VOTE HOUSTON"? Well, I'm sure you remember that Houston did, in fact, end up winning. Because you guys are the best.

 

So I owe you a mega-giveaway, right? Well, THIS IS THAT GIVEAWAY. This also doubles as my birthday giveaway, since my birthday is on the 12th and I'll be doing...other things....on the blog that week. (Yes, if you follow me on Twitter, these "special things" are the one Jana--the Book Goddess--and I keep grinning about.) So happy birthday to me YAY.

 

Now, back to the hop, giveaway, thingy stuff. It's a romance hop. You should know by now who my favorite book couple is. PLUS, I gave a huge hint by saying that this is the OPAL party giveaway. So, naturally, I am giving away...

 

  

THE LUX SERIES BY JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT!

(Well, the first three books. I'd give the last two, but that's kind of impossible at the moment...)

 

But that is not all. I said it would be my biggest giveaway ever, right? Yeah. I did. Sooooo...

 

They're signed.

 

All three of them.

 

By Jen.

 

And Pepe.

 

Yeah.

 

So read on for the details and whatnot!

 

Deeeeeets:

- As promised, this giveaway is INTERNATIONAL! You know I love you guys.

- ONE winner will get ALL THREE of these signed books.

- My giveaway policy applies, y'all. Make sure you've read it.

- Enter through the Rafflecopter below! Because Rafflecopter is our friend. ;)

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Thanks for entering! Now go see what other cool stuffy-stuff the cool kids are giving away!

 

 

 

♥Jessica(:

Review: Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout♥

Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Release Date: December 11, 2012
Format: Paperback, 382 pages
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Series: Lux #3
Source: Bought!!

Description from Goodreads:
No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

It is no secret at all that I am a huge fan of JLA and the Lux series. Which means I was eagerly awaiting Opal. Like, for MONTHS. Long, long months. And in those months, expectations are formed. I mean, how could they not be? It was...4 months? Somewhere around there. Anyway, 4 months of waiting for the book and wondering what it could be like. Imagining what could POSSIBLY happen this time. Of course, all my predictions were wrong. Because Jen's just that good. But the most important thing is that she did not disappoint.

With Opal, Jen's given us a beautiful third installment in my/our beloved Lux series. You see, I keep trying to think of some good adjectives for this, but my brain can't think up any good enough. Amazing, wonderful, spectacular, phenominal...well, this book is all of those things, but I don't feel they're ENOUGH. So I must resort to a gif...or two...

When I got the book...


When I started the book...


Reading...








And just...I swear, I could do more, but I wouldn't want to use TOO MANY gifs. That would be horrible.

So where was I...that was the story. Minus the ending. I'll get to that. But first...

Character Rundown:
Katy: With every book, I love this girl more and more. She's so kickass. Her character has grown and changed so much since Obsidian, and I still think that Jen making her a book blogger is the best high five she could give us. I LOVE that Katy's a book blogger. And Katy...she really has changed. In a good way, I think. I mean, I like it. I've always liked Katy, but she still one-ups herself with every book in this series. GOOD JOB, GIRL.

Daemon: Oh, my my my. This guy. This guy this guy this guy.


He never fails to make me happy. He's funny, and still has his snark, even though he DOES have even more sweet moments. I think there was a great balance there, to make him nicer to Kat, but still his usual snippy self. SO MUCH LAUGHTER, guys. I heart Daemon so much. There's a reason he's my #1.

Plot. You won't see it coming. This book....IT WILL SURPRISE YOU. It seems like it's going in a predictable path. It really does. But you still love it because, um, hello. It's amazing. But then you get to certain places and it's like...OH SNAP.

Yeah, that's the only way I can describe it. Jen, you threw me for a loop. You have serious skill, chica.

Swoon. Um, do I need to repeat the fanning gif? Because that could fit here, too. So obviously Daemon and Katy are AN ITEM now. A seriously lovable item. And they grow so much AS A COUPLE. I loved witnessing it. These two...there's a reason these two are my #1. ;)

The ending. I was kind of dreading this part of the review. But excited, too. Because now I get to tease y'all with the fact tha this is a HUUUUUGE cliffhanger. It made me cry. But it also made me happy. Figure THAT one out. So because of this ending...













Okay, so we get the point, yes? You probably got it three gifs ago. I was just having fun adding them according to how this book made me feel. Specifically the ending.

Overall, this book was so amazing!!! Was it better than Onyx? Honestly, I'm not sure. I adored Onyx, but Opal...I just don't know. It just may be better. It's soooo close. Either way, Opal totally made me feel like this:



PLUS



My point in all this? READ THE BOOK. I recommend it to everybody. Because I love it that much. I really, really, really doooooooooo!

Now, I must go wait in a corner somewhere until Origin is released. WHY MUST JULY BE SO FAR AWAY?!?!?!?!!



♥Jessica(:

Top 10 of 2012 ♥ Book Boyfriends

 

There were A LOT of boys I wanted to include on this list, but I'm following the rules. I just want it to be knows that I WANTED to put Noah Shaw on this list. But I haven't read The Evolution of Mara Dyer yet. I plan on it as soon as I can get it into my hands, though. Okay? Okay. Now, for lists!

 

Honorable Mention:

Dawson

The only reason he's an honorable mention is because I'm trying to make it only one boy per book, and, well....I'm sure you can guess what's coming later in this list. So yeah. Dawson's a sweetheart, though.

 

**From here on out, it's SO. HARD. To put a number on these. So...everything except, like, the first 2 or 3 are in no particular order, really**

 

10. Cadan

Dear Courtney,

Even if we're plane-wrecked on an island, Cadan is mine. MINEMINEMINE. There shall be a plane full of gorgeous boys, though, so you should be fine. The important part here is that Cadan is mine. Because I love him. K, thanks.

 

9. Trevor

I was always Team Trevor. I completely acknowledge that Oliver is a sweetheart, but Trevor's my boy. <3

 

8. Seth

I admit, I was Team Seth. Like, SERIOUS Team Seth. I emailed Jen about it and everything. Then I read Deity and decided Aiden was amazing. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm all over Seth in Pure. Can't help it. And, urm, I REALLY hope he doesn't die in the last two books.

 

7. Zuri

THIS BOY. Thisboythisboythisboy. I love him so much.

 

6. Andrew

In my review, I believe I said he was perfect. Oh, sweet goodness, HE IS.

 

5. Maxon

How can I not love such a sweet prince?

 

4. Daniel

Funny thing about this one, he is LITERALLY my book boyfriend. Seriously. Ask Nancy and everything. She will tell you he's actually mine. I love this boy. Can't wait for Book 3!

 

3. Adrian

I've always had a soft spot for our Ivashkov boy. I mean, I must if I learned how to spell his name, right? ;) LOVE HIM. Cannot wait for The Indigo Spell, which I'm sure I've mentioned already. How Sydney can deny this kind boy, I have no clue.

 

2. Aiden

I was Team Seth and Aiden STILL managed to win me over. That's a big deal. Plus, Aiden's just a bog sweetie. WHERE IS APOLLYON?! *sigh*

 

1. Daemon

I KNOW that didn't surprise you. I don't really try to be covert with my Daemon loving. He's just downright awesome. He's my favorite book character EVER and I just....AH, I adore him. There will never be enough Daemon. Ever. I love Jen so much for creating Daemon.

 

Fun fact: Next year, I have this huge feeling a swoon-worthy boy named DANTE WALKER's going to be allllll over these lists. Especially this one. I'm kind of excited to see where he ends up... ;)

 

Tell me about some of your book boyfriends! Please?

 

♥Jessica(:

OPAL Release Party!! ♥ Recap

Um, yeah. That happened. On the 15th. In Humble, Texas. And I was there to witness it!

 

You remember the Opal Release Party, right? I mean, I've had the #VoteHouston button at the top of my left sidebar for weeks now.

 

Well, I actually got to go!! So I'm going to ATTEMPT to recap it somewhat for y'all. Notice, I say "attempt." It was so much fun, I will probably not have words sometimes. Plus, I don't have the absolute BEST memory in the world. But there WILL be pictures. So yay!

 

Since I live around Austin, we had to drive a good amount to get to the signing. I also planned on helping setting stuff up, which meant we got to leave that much earlier. Not too bad, though. Some people came from waaaay farther than us. Valerie from Stuck In Books? She flew from Colorado. And I heard there was a girl there from Costa Rica. Um, WHOA, right? I unerstand, though. If I could, I totally would.

 

So there was a nice amount of waiting all around, but at least I had stuff to do and/or people to talk to. Then Jen and Pepe got there. And...um....PEPE IS GORGEOUS. Let's just get that out there now. He is. He is he is he is.

 

DO YOU SEE THAT? *swoon* And he has an amazing accent, which we all heard when he announced that Houston was the winning city! Only thing better than that? Pepe saying "Hey, Kitten, want a cookie?" Or aha, maybe "Hey, Kitten, want a cookie again?" (Both of these things DID happen.)

 

Jen? Well, Jen is so. Flipping. Awesome. Seriously, I can't even. She's so nice and she knew who I was! That's such a big deal for me you don't even know.

 

Mmhmm. She hugged me. When she realized I was me. I still have zero words.

 

So there was a Q & A, of course, and honestly, I can't remember specifics. Like, I can't tell you "So and so asked this" and then "Jen said this" followed by specific word for word quote. So I'm going to give y'all bullets of information of what was said.

 

- Jen liked being able to use...certain words...when writing Obsession.

- Pepe misses Sztella. (We all "AWWWWW"ed when he said this.)

- Jen likes to eat microphones, apparently.

- Pepe prefers not to use microphones. (Luckily, I was close enough to hear his beautiful voice.)

- Sztella couldn't make it because of school and stuff. Totally understandable. We missed her, though!

- We should pretty much thank Liz Pelletier for everything Lux related.

- Liz loses all her bonus points because SHE'S the one who says no to Jen telling us what was in the note in Onyx.

- Jen has an idea for the title of book 5, but can't share it because Liz doesn't even know it yet.

- When Pepe & Sztella first came to the U.S for the original Dameon Invasion, it took Jen two hours to find them in the airport.

- Obsidian was originally titled Fallen Stars. (Is that so pretty or what?!)

- Jen had never seen Pepe before in her life when she wrote the character of Daemon, but he fit Jen's idea of Daemon perfectly. AND, he already had an obsidian necklace. BEFORE he even knew about the book or anything. (Um, yeah. Meant to be, right?)

- In Humble, Texas, there is officially a Jennifer L. Armentrout Day.

 

And that's all I've got for you guys as far as the Q&A went. Did I get everything for you guys? Honestly, I probably didn't. But I got the cool stuff.

 

After the Q&A, there was the signing. Where Jen signed so many books...I have no idea how she did it. Pepe, too, but he only had to sign the Lux ones. Jen had to sign her Covenant ones and Cursed, too. But she did! And she was so cool about it. I brought/bought/recieved a gazzillion books for her to sign. But I repeat: she was so cool about it! I kept apologizing about it. She told me I shouldn't apologize and Pepe...well, he asked me WHAT I was apologizing for. Sweet boy.

 

 

 

 

Fun fact: During the signing (after my books were signed, of course) I spent a nice amount of time sitting on the floor near Pepe. Don't think Pepe noticed much, though. Not because I'm creepy, but because I was helping out with swag but then I wanted to sit down...so I did. Great view.

 

After the signing, we got to take pictures! Well, before that, there were raffle drawings for jewelry from Hebel Designs and some little bags and stuff. All the winnings were awesome. I won nothing. BUT my mom and sister-in-law DID, and gave their winnings to me. You shall see later. Anyway, back to pictures!!

 

I have PROOF of how sweet Pepe is. Ready?

That, my friends, is my nephew. Guess who talked him over to take this picture? (Well, with a little of my help, but I think he didn't want to get in trouble. He's four, guys.) SO CUTE! This is my absolute favorite picture from the signing. Even more than the one with just me and Pepe. And the one with just me and Jen. Even though Pepe's not looking at the camera here. He's looking at Billyboy.

This child was CLUTCHING my hand. But in the end, I did get him to say "Hi, Pepe." And Pepe gave him a high five. I'm telling you, Pepe is so freaking sweet.

 

Then there were the other pictures...

 

 

 

Yeah. I'm that short. And that IS Jen's leg. As much as I adore Pepe, I think her leg is my favorite part of this picture.

 

I really like how there is a huge wall of LUX right behind all the pictures. Perfect background, if you ask me.

 

So...those are my pictures! After the pictures...well, it was over. Some of us went out to dinner afterwards where I sat next to my friend Jodie and Rachel Harris (yes, author of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century) and dropped some money on the floor so I got to crawl underneath the table to find it. Then I talked to Jen some (which was so insanely cool, I can't even) and...um...kind of ran after Pepe so I could get one last hug when we were all leaving. As I...said? I can't rememeber, but it was coming out of my mouth, "Pepe Pepe Pepe!" Um. Yeah. Got my hug, though!

 

All in all, the signing was so insanely fun. Anyone who couldn't make it for whatever reason--lived too far away, had to study for the dreadful midterms that start tomorrow for me (ohmygosh, I am so doomed), or their grandmother's ninetieth birthday party--I am so sorry. I tried to put everything cool that went on into this post, though! I'm sure I'm not the only one who's going to do this, so be on the lookout for recap posts and read those, too for more stuff!

 

Aha, I went to this with eight books. Then I bought two. We were part of the first 100 people, so we got four free copies of Opal, then I got an extra copy of Opal at the end because people are nice. PLUS, I won some books at the blogger mingle and my friend Jodie gave me one that SHE won because she already owned it. I at least doubled the amount of books I went home with compared to when I arrived.

 

As of this moment, I own seven copies of Opal. I have plans to send off some and keep some, but still. Right now, there are seven.

That's five of the seven. The other two were in the car and since it was early this morning before we got ready to check out or our motel, I, nor did anyone else, want to go outside to get the other two. But there are seven. Trust me. Or ask JLA. She knows.

 

My Covenant books. Now all signed and personalized. Well, kind of. I've decided on good homes for the extras to go to, after a lot of mind-changing. I have to send them this week sometime!

 

My Lux books! Now signed and personalized. Sorry for the flash. Remember, early this morning. I was too lazy to retake the picture without flash. My copy of Opal was in the stack of five. Because I'm a genius, I didn't think to take a picture of all three together. *facepalm*

 

Those are the books I acquired from the dinner after the signing. All of those are signed. I'm so glad I own Fallen and Hush, Hush now! I kind of want to re-read.... And I haven't read the other two. I'll have to do that sometime!

 

ALLLL of the books I went home with. Well, that were involved with the signing. I had a library book lying around somewhere, too, and a copy of Dear Teen Me which I got signed by Mary Lindsey (because she was at the release party!) for a friend. I have a picture of that somewhere...

 

Yeah, there it is. See it? Off to the left. And, um, that's a majority of the swag I got. I have a better picture of that...

 

That;s most of my swag I got. Not all, though. Some of it was in books or scattered through my bag and I didn't feel like digging it out. I'm lazy, in case you hadn't noticed. Either way, I have more than enough Lux stuff to give people I like. :) And to stow away for things...yeah. You may see some of this again, folks. Plus, I have LOTS more at home. Well, I'm at home right now...but I wasn't when I took this picture and I'm too lazy (ha!) to take another picture right now. And yeah.

 

So that's my recap, guys! I had an amazing time, got some cool stuff, polished off my Christmas gift buying (well, kind of), and got to meet Jen & Pepe!

 

I have no idea what I should ask you guys to comment about. So leave a comment if you have anything to say! I love reading comments!

 

P.S. I hugged Pepe. At least twice. And I hugged Jen at least three times. Just saying.

 

And I have more pictures. I'll post those some other time, though, because I already have so many in this post, I have a feeling blogger's going to rebel against me...so yeah. That is all.

 

Wait, no it's not. Pepe? *swoon*

 

And Jen? Easiest author to talk to I have ever met.

 

Okay, NOW I'm good. So we can end with this, becasue it's my favooorite:

 

 

♥Jessica(: