Fresh Start September: Wrap Up Post

Well, here we are at the end of another month. Daphne, Faye and I have had so much fun bringing you all of the wonderful posts and events of Fresh Start September. We hope that you've enjoyed the author interviews, guest posts, cover poll, giveaways and all of the fun surrounding Fresh Start September. We are thrilled that so many of you have participated on all of the posts. There were over 1100 entrants into our main giveaway!

I have to start off by saying a HUGE thank you to everyone who participated. Daphne Faye and I  want to especially thank all the authors who did interviews and guest posts for us, all the publishers that have supported the event (Strange Chemistry, Harlequin, Entangled Publishing, Random House), and our fabulous guest bloggers, Kayleigh, Brodie and Alison. Without them this wouldn't have been nearly as exciting! 

If you'd like to go back and take a look at the different posts, here's the list, complete with links:

September 1st-  Introduction Post-   Faye and Daphne Melissa

September 2nd-Interview with C.J. Redwine -A Daydreamer's Thoughts

September 3rd- Amanda Rutter (editor of Strange Chemistry) interview-Winged Reviews

September 5th- Synopsis Discussion-A Daydreamer's Thoughts

September 7th- Interview with Carmen Rodrigues-Melissa's Midnight Musings

September 8th- Blogger Guest Post-Winged Reviews

September 10th- Interview with Lauren Bennet, publicist for Random House Children's Publicity in the UK-A Daydreamer's Thoughts

September 11th- Cover Art Poll-Melissa's Midnight Musings

September 12th- Interview With Jessica Khoury-Winged Reviews

September 15th- Interview with Jay Kristoff-A Daydreamer's Thoughts
September 16th- Interview with Niall Leonard-Melissa's Midnight Musings

September 17th- Blogger Guest Post featuring Brodie of Eleusinian Mysteries-A Daydreamer's Thoughts

September 20th- Interview with Kat Zhang-Winged Reviews

September 22nd- Interview with Hannah Harrington- Melissa's Midnight Musings

September 25th- Interview with Rachel Harris-Winged Reviews

September 27th-Guest Post featuring Kim Curran- A Daydreamer's Thoughts

September 29th- Blogger Guest Post featuring Alison of The Cheap Reader Melissa's Midnight Musings

September 30th- Wrap Up Post All 3 blogs

We've had so many wonderful posts for Fresh Start September. One of those posts was the Cover Art Poll where you got the chance to vote on your favorite cover from all the different books that we featured this month. Drum roll please....The winner is:

It was an extremely close contest between Stormdancer and Defiance, but Stormdancer won out by just one vote!

 

The Numbers Breakdown

34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues 7 votes 10%

Origin by Jessica Khoury 1 vote 1% 

Speechless by Hannah Harrington 5 votes 7%

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang 7 votes 10%

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff21 votes 30%

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris 6 votes 9%

Defiance by CJ Redwine 20 votes 29% 

Crusher by Niall Leonard 2 votes 3%

Shift by Kim Curran 1 vote 1%

Thank you to everyone who voted and participated!

And now, what I’m sure you’re all waiting for, the winners of all our fabulous prizes:

Contest Winners

2 winners of Strange Chemistry ARC packs, each pack including a copy of Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings, The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke AND Katya’s World by Jonathan L Howard (courtesy of Strange Chemistry) are:

Veronika and Heather Cranmer

1 winner of an eBook of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris (courtesy of Entangled Publishing):

Gabbie Johnson

1 winner of an paperback of Speechless by Hannah Harrington (courtesy of Harlequin):

Alyssa Susanna

1 Hardcover copy of 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues (courtesy of the author)

Katherina Barney

3 winners of a book of your choice from any that has been featured in Fresh Start September (each courtesy of the hosts) are:

Nichole Nelson, Oana Ungureanu and Wendi Bishop

The winners will be contacted shortly by email, so please respond to claim your prizes!

I want to say another big thank you to everyone who participated, thank you for making this event such a success. Thank you again to the authors and publishers for letting us ask you those burning questions we all wanted to know about the characters, the books, and you! Thank you to the publishers, Amanda Rutter and Lauren Bennett who let us in on the publicity side of things, it's always interesting to see it from both sides.

And last, (but certainly not least!) I want to say thank you to Faye and Daphne for letting me co-host this event. It was so much fun to work with you both! I loved working together and seeing everything take shape. You both are awesome!

The Sunday Post 16th Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly Meme hosted by

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 

It's a chance to share news, 

a post to recap the past week on your blog,

 showcase books

and things we have received and

 share news about what is coming up 

on our blog for the week ahead

Last Week on Melissa's Midnight Musings:

(Click Links to be taken directly to the posts)

• I reviewed Sparks Off You by Anita Felicelli. This was a dark and twisty read.
• I interviewed author Andi Katsina about her writing and her book Rick and Wylie's Fantastical, Magical Adventures. There is a giveaway for the book as well so be sure to check that out.
• I reviewed Echoes From the Infantry by Frank Nappi. It's a very powerful novel.
• I shared the fact that I am a Cherry Fanatic in my Behind the Blog post.
• I announced the winner of the giveaway for a copy of Scrambled by Kathryn Jones
• I featured a Guest Post by Alison of The Cheap Reader as part of Fresh Start September

It's been another jam packed week and this week is just as packed. Before you check out what's coming up, be sure to enter the numerous giveaways that are going on right now! Head over to my Current Giveaways Page to check them out. There are currently 3 giveaways going on, one of which is ending later tonight so be sure to get those last minute entries in! There will be more to be added in the coming days and weeks.

And now, on to what's coming up this week!

Coming Up This Week:

• Fresh Start September Wrap up post. This post will be going up later today. Included will be the winners of the giveaways as well as the results of the Cover Art Poll and a thank you message.
• It's All in the Numbers Birthday Giveaway Announcement My birthday is in October so I thought it would be fun to hold a giveaway. Be sure to be on the lookout for the announcement and get your entries in.
• Review of Wicked: Witch and Curse by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie.
• Review of Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
• Behind the Blog: This weeks theme is Teachers Here's this week's topic: October 5th is the day of the World Teachers’ Day. It is a day to celebrate teachers, to thank your own and to be grateful for all the help you’ve recieved from your teachers. So this week we’re asking you if there are any teachers you want to thank, or your views on why teaching and teachers are, or are not, important. In relation to media, are there any films or books that you feel have spotlighted teachers particularly well? What about any that show them negatively?
• Review of Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

So, as you can see, it's going to be another jam packed week here at Melissa's Midnight Musings. I hope you'll all stop by and check out these great posts I have lined up.

Now on to the books!

This Week's Book Haul:

Clicking the links will take you to Goodreads' descriptions
*all book cover photos and links credited to Goodreads unless otherwise noted

Won: 

Growing Up Brave: Expert Strategies for Helping Your Child Overcome Fear, Stress and Anxiety by Donna B. Pincus PhD.

Won in a giveaway over at CMash Reads

I don't have kids but I still think this book will be really interesting. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Free From Amazon:

Brood of Bones  by A.E. Marling

I got a message saying this was free on Amazon and it looked interesting so I thought I'd try it.

From Author For Review:

The How and What of Gift Giving: The Ultimate Guide to Presenting Your Gifts Meaningfully by Antonio Hajden* 

*photo and link credited to Amazon.com

Ramblings in Ireland by Kerry Dwyer

A bit of a lighter week for me this week (which is a good thing so I can catch up a little) What did you get this week? Be sure to leave links so that I can check out your hauls!

Fresh Start September- Blogger Guest Post Featuring Alison From The Cheap Reader

Hello everyone! This week is the last week of Fresh Start September. We hope that you have enjoyed the interviews, discussions, and guest posts. Also, be sure to get your entries in to our fantastic giveaways. Links  to enter will be at the bottom of this post. Today I'm happy to be bringing you a guest post from Alison, who blogs over at The Cheap Reader Be sure you stop by and check out her blog!

I asked Alison to share her thoughts on debuts. Specifically, I asked her the following questions: 

 "What makes you want to pick up a debut title? Do you think that you are more, less, or equally critical of debut titles as compared to titles from authors who have written multiple books?"

Here's what Alison had to say in response:

To be honest, I try treat all books the same. A book has got to have an interesting summary to make me want to read it. I don't care if it's a debut book by a self published author or the 20th book by a New York Times Best Seller author. If the summary doesn't interest me, I'm probably not going to read the book. I think a good summary is almost as important as a good cover. The summary gives a reader a quick glance into the book. It's how we figure out if a book is 'worth' our time.  I want a summary to give me just enough about the story but hold out on me. I want a summary that makes me pick up the book and start reading.

With that being said, debut books (especially ones being traditionally published) are a bit interesting. This book had something interesting and stand out about it. A publisher wades through many, many manuscripts and somehow this book was the one that won out to be published. That's a bit exciting. What was it that made it stand out? I want to know!

I would say I'm just a bit little less critical of debut books. With an already published author, there's a level that has already been set. If I've read something from them before, I know to a certain extent what I'm going to get. If I haven't read something from them, I can look around at reviews and get a decent picture of what to expect. Either way, I'll have an idea of what to expect so I can evaluate how much the book lives up to those expectations. With a debut author, I don't have that background. I know nothing about them so I don't know what I'm getting into. Since I don't know anything about them, it's hard to say if they've lived up to my expectations. All I can judge the book on in the end is my enjoyment of the story. Of course my enjoyment is pretty subjective and personal making it a bit hard to be super critical.

First off, I want to say a big thank you to Alison for agreeing to be a guest poster as part of Fresh Start September! Faye, Daphne and I really appreciate your being a part of the event. 

I'm curious, are you more, less, or equally critical of debut authors, let us know in the comments!

Don't Forget!

As a bonus part of  Fresh Start September, we are giving everyone a chance to win some prizes donated by our wonderful participants and ourselves! The prizes include:

• 2 winners of Strange Chemistry ARC packs, each pack including a copy of Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings, The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke AND Katya’s World by Jonathan L Howard (courtesy of Strange Chemistry)
• 1 winner of an eBook of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris (courtesy of Entangled Publishing)
• 1 winner of a hardover copy of 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues (courtesy of the author)-US only Enter here
• 3 winners of a book of your choice from any that has been featured in Fresh Start September (each courtesy of the hosts)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Post 15th Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly Meme hosted by

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 

It's a chance to share news, 

a post to recap the past week on your blog,

 showcase books

and things we have received and

 share news about what is coming up 

on our blog for the week ahead

Last Week on Melissa's Midnight Musings:

(Click Links to be taken directly to the posts)

• I posted an interview with Niall Leonard author of Crusher as part of Fresh Start September
• I posted an excerpt and giveaway of Whoever You Are by Donna Marie Lanheady
• I shared some transformations I've gone through in my Behind the Blog post.
• I featured a guest post with author Deb Atwood on ghosts and the lessons we can learn from them. There's also a giveaway going along with the guest post.
• I posted an interview with Hannah Harrington as part of Fresh Start September

This week has been a little light on reviews, but like I said last week, I've just been reading more paranormal themed books and saving those reviews for October. I do have a few reviews coming up this week though. 

Don't Forget to Enter the numerous giveaways that are going on right now! Head over to my Current Giveaways Page to check them out. There are currently 4 giveaways going on, as well as more to come.

And now, on to what's coming up this week!

Coming Up This Week:

• Review of Sparks Off You by Anita Felicelli
• Review of Echoes From the Infantry by Frank Nappi
• Author Interview featuring Andi Katsina, author of Rick and Wylie's Fantastical Magical Adventures plus a giveaway
• Author Interview featuring Lauren Grimley author of Unforeseen plus a giveaway
• Behind the Blog: This week's theme is Food. Here's this week's topic:  We all have a basic necessity to eat. Without food our bodies can deteriorate. It takes a long time, but it will happen. If you’re reading this, then you probably have the luxury of choice when it comes to food. With that in mind, what is your favourite food? Are you a sweet tooth or do you favour the savoury? In relation to media, have any books or films given you a craving for food? Or made you want food you’ve never tried before?
• I'll be having a guest post featuring a fellow blogger as part of Fresh Start September 

So, as you can see, it's going to be another jam packed week here at Melissa's Midnight Musings. I hope you'll all stop by and check out these great posts I have lined up.

Now on to the books!

This Week's Book Haul:

Clicking the links will take you to Goodreads' descriptions
*all book cover photos and links credited to Goodreads unless otherwise noted

From Author For Review:


Whoever You Are  by Donna Marie Lanheady
*You can enter to win a copy of this book on my Current Giveaways page*


The Lore Meister's Reach  by J.L. Jeffries


My Happy Birthday by Mary Ryan
*This photo and link go to Amazon.com


A Part to Play  by Jennifer L. Fry


The Adventures of Stanley Delacourt (Hartlandia #1) by Ilana Walters


An Ode for Orchids by James Fant


Money and Teens: Savvy Money Skills by Darby Karchut, and Wes Karchut

Those are all the books I got this week! I didn't even realize it until just now but I only got review books this week. (This is not a complaint, just an observation) What did you get this week? Be sure to leave links so that I can check out your hauls!

Fresh Start September-Interview with Hannah Harrington

Hello everyone! Fresh Start September has featured interviews with so many great authors, and today I'm excited to bring you an interview with Hannah Harrington, author of Speechless.  Speechless explores the serious impact that rumors can have. It looks like such a great book! Before we get to the interview, lets learn a little bit more about it, shall we?

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Published: August 28 2012

Pages: 288 pages

Buy the Book: Amazon US, Amazon UK, The Book Depository, Barnes and Noble

Add This Book to your TBR List on Goodreads

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can't keep a secret

Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed.

Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she's ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.

But there's strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way—people she never noticed before; a boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she's done. If only she can forgive herself.

Rumors can be vicious can't they? Sounds like this book has some very inportant lessons to teach and I for one can't wait to read it! Now on to the interview:

Both Saving June and Speechless are contemporary YA novels, do you think you’ll ever branch out and write in a different genre?

Part of me would love to attempt a dystopian novel some day, since it's one of my favorite genres, but I don't know if I could pull it off! Genres such as that and fantasy and paranormal take a certain world-building skill that I haven't felt compelled to write so far. I've also always just loved contemporary fiction. It can be just as creative, diverse, and challenging to write, and at the same time I find something very comfortable about it and easy to connect with. So for right now I plan to stick with contemporary, though maybe someday I'll branch out!

What is your writing process like? Do you write for a set amount of time/pages, or do you just write as the 

story comes to you?

I tend to write as the story comes to me. I have started to outline a little more, but it's usually very loose. Everyone operates differently in their process, but I find that forcing myself when I'm not feeling it just ends up frustrating me.

Speechless has a strong message about the strength, and weaknesses of silence, is there a personal story behind it or do you just want to send a message to young adults?

There isn't really a personal story behind Speechless--Chelsea is very different from myself, and I purposely wanted to write a character like that, who was different from my previous protagonist in Saving June, since it would be very easy to write that same kind of character again and I wanted to try something different. I had some of my own experiences with bullying growing up, though not coming from the same place as what Chelsea goes through, and I did work as a pizza cook for a little while after high school, but that is pretty much where the similarities end!

I actually wrote Speechless a few years ago, before the tragic rash of bullying-related gay suicides and the It Gets Better campaign gained a lot of media attention, so it was not a story written out of reaction to that. I don't really set out to write "issue" books where the goal is to send a moral lesson; I'm more trying to write an interesting story with interesting characters. My hope is that any "lessons" that come out of it are just organic to the themes of what I'm writing, since I think if your main aim is to create some kind of teachable moment it can come off as contrived or ring false with your readers. There are obviously things I feel strongly about-- such as the marginalization of LGBTQ* identified people and bullying in general-- that I try not to shy away from expressing my views on. The hope is that it doesn't come off as too forced but instead something people either relate to or possibly think about differently.

Saving June had some really strong and powerful characters, can we expect the same with Speechless?

I hope people feel that way! In Speechless, Chelsea starts off as a rather unsympathetic person. You're not supposed to like her, and that can be sort of difficult to get past, so I tried to write her as someone surrounded by strong, likable characters that the reader could latch onto easily. And hopefully stick around to read through all of the changes Chelsea goes through herself, since she goes through a lot. I enjoy writing characters more than plot, and it's always fun to come up with very different personalities and play around with all the different dynamics.

If you could have any other job, what would you choose and why?

Ooh, this is tough. I think I'd like Anthony Bourdain's job. He gets paid to travel around the world, meet and hang out with awesome people, and eat food. He is living the dream!

Of all the colours in the rainbow, which is your favourite?

Indigo. It's a pretty color, and the word itself is lovely, isn't it? Indigo!

I want to say a huge thank you to Hannah Harrington  for participating in Fresh Start September  and allowing Daphne, Faye and I to bring you this interview!

As a bonus part of  Fresh Start September, we are giving everyone a chance to win some prizes donated by our wonderful participants and ourselves! The prizes include:

• 2 winners of Strange Chemistry ARC packs, each pack including a copy of Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings, The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke AND Katya’s World by Jonathan L Howard (courtesy of Strange Chemistry)
• 1 winner of an eBook of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris (courtesy of Entangled Publishing)
• 1 winner of a hardover copy of 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues (courtesy of the author)-US only Enter here
• 3 winners of a book of your choice from any that has been featured in Fresh Start September (each courtesy of the hosts)

The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and will run until the end of the event (30th of  September). Remember to follow the Twitter and Facebook pages of the prizes you want to win, for example, to be eligible to win the Strange Chemistry Prize, you must follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fresh Start September-Interview With Niall Leonard

Hello fellow readers! Today I'm excited to be bringing you an interview with Niall Leonard, author of Crusher.  Crusher looks like an intense, mysterious read. Before we get to the interview with Niall, why don't we learn a bit more about the book?

Publisher: Random House

Published: September 13, 2012

Pages:  384

Buy the Book: Amazon US, Amazon UK, The Book Depository, Barnes and Noble

Add this book to your TBR list on Goodreads

Synopsis from Goodreads:

To catch a killer,Finn Maguire may have to become one....

Everything changed the day Finn found his father in a pool of blood, bludgeoned to death. His dull, dreary life is turned upside downas he become's the prime suspect. How can he clear his name and find out who hated his dad enough to kill him?

Facing danger at every turn, uncovering dark family secrets and braving the seedy London underworld,Finn is about to discover that only the people you trust can really hurt you....

This sounds so intense doesn't it?? Now that we know a little bit about Crusher, lets learn a bit more about the man behind this intense novel. Here's the interview:

It was revealed that your wife is E. L. James, author of Fifty Shades of Grey and that she encouraged you to write Crusher, did her success help your motivation to write this novel?

It wasn’t her success that motivated me, because when I wrote Crusher only a few people knew of her book, and I have had quite a successful career in TV.  But what did motivate me was the fun she had writing Fifty Shades, and how much she loved the story she was telling.  When you write for TV you have to follow certain rules, and it can get tiresome.  When you write for yourself you can make up your own rules and do things the way you want to see them done.  Even though it was hard work I enjoyed writing Crusher just as much as my wife enjoyed writing Fifty Shades. 

Crusher was written during NaNoWriMo, have you ever participated in the national writing 

challenge before?

No, 2011 was the first time I took part.  It was not the first time I had tried to write a book, but thanks to NaNoWriMo it was the first time I finished one.

How much, if any, of the personality traits of the characters in Crusher are based on your own personality or the personalities of people in your life?

Maguire’s dad is a grumpy Irishman trying to write a show for television and never managing to finish it.   A lot of that is based on me, and a lot of the things he says are the things I say when I’m feeling fed up and annoyed. But I’ve had much better luck than Maguire.  Finn is who I’d like to be – smart, funny and tough. It’s great being able to write someone who gets to say and do all the things you’d like to say and do if you were funny enough and brave enough.   

If Crusher was picked up by a film studio, which actors would you like to be cast for the main characters?

This is a very hard question because Finn Maguire is only seventeen so the actor to play him would probably be someone no-one has ever heard of.  I often think the part needs a young Liam Neeson. Liam is a big man from Northern Ireland who was a champion boxer in his teens.  For Finn’s dad I would go for an actor like James Nesbitt, another Irishman like me and a wonderfully funny, warm actor who can also play very tough roles.

Do you have a special talent or skill that is unusual? If so, what is it?

If I hear a song a few times I usually remember the lyrics forever.  Even the words to awful songs I’d rather forget.

If you could make any animal domestic, which animal would you love to have as a pet?

Wild animals are always better off and happier in the wild, but I wouldn’t mind a pet bear that let me lie back on him as if he was a sofa. I like the fact that bears look cuddly and shambling but have razor-sharp claws six inches long. In fact deep down I’d rather be a bear than have one as a pet.

I want to say a huge thank you to Niall Leonard for participating in Fresh Start September  and allowing Daphne, Faye and I to bring you this interview!

As a bonus part of  Fresh Start September, we are giving everyone a chance to win some prizes donated by our wonderful participants and ourselves! The prizes include:

• 2 winners of Strange Chemistry ARC packs, each pack including a copy of Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings, The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke AND Katya’s World by Jonathan L Howard (courtesy of Strange Chemistry)
• 1 winner of an eBook of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris (courtesy of Entangled Publishing)
• 1 winner of a hardover copy of 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues (courtesy of the author)-US only Enter here
• 3 winners of a book of your choice from any that has been featured in Fresh Start September (each courtesy of the hosts)

The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and will run until the end of the event (30th of  September). Remember to follow the Twitter and Facebook pages of the prizes you want to win, for example, to be eligible to win the Strange Chemistry Prize, you must follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Post 14th Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly Meme hosted by

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 

It's a chance to share news, 

a post to recap the past week on your blog,

 showcase books

and things we have received and

 share news about what is coming up 

on our blog for the week ahead

Last Week on Melissa's Midnight Musings:

(Click Links to be taken directly to the posts)

• I posted a Cover Art Poll as part of Fresh Start September. Be sure to Cast Your Vote for the cover you like best! The results will be announced in the Fresh Start September wrap up post.
• I reviewedA Lovely, Indecent Departure by Steven Lee Gilbert. It was nice, but didn't quite work for me.
• For this week's Behind the Blog I talked about International World Literacy Day
• Also, if you've missed any of the Fresh Start September posts from Daphne, Faye's or my blog you can Check this post where they've all been linked up for easy reading. Also don't forget to enter our month long giveaway for some great books.

This week has been a little light on posting, but I promise that there's a lot more to come next week, Next week is going to be packed full of author interviews and giveaways. I am reading, I promise, but the reason I've been so light on reviews is that the last few books I've read have had to do more with the paranormal/supernatural so I'm trying to save those reviews for October.

Don't Forget to Enter the numerous giveaways that are going on right now! Head over to my Current Giveaways Page to check them out. 

There's the Fresh Start September feature long giveaways that end September 30th. Also, there's a giveaway for a  paperback of "Scrambled' a cozy mystery by Kathryn Jones.

And there'll be  lots more giveaways to come in the next few weeks, all of them very exciting.

Before I let you know what I've got planned for next week, lets take a look at what brought people to Melissa's Midnight Musings this week:

This Week's Search Terms:

"Zane new book release"-  I featured a promo post some weeks back on Kimberely Lewis's novel, "Zane the Mckades of Texas" so it's nice to see people looking for that book. There were a couple of variations on this term.

"Crank Ellen Hopkins blogspot" I reviewed Crank a while back. Can't wait to read another book by Hopkins.

"Rafflecopter giveaway linky" That's an interesting one. I have several giveaways posted and several more to come in the next few weeks.

Friday the 13th blogspot" Maybe they took a look at my Behind the Blog post about Friday the 13th.

And now, on to what's coming up this week!

Coming Up This Week:

• Interview with Niall Leonard, author of Crusher as part of Fresh Start September. (This post will be going up later today)
• A Giveaway for a signed copy of Whoever You Are by Donna Marie Lanheady
• Behind the Blog:  Since Fall is coming, we're talking about transformations. Here's this week's topic: As we head into Fall, with the leave changing all around us, the trees becoming skeletons of their former selves,I’d like to think about transformations. How have you changed or transformed in your life? What parts of yourself have you left behind? In relation to books/media: Who are some characters that undergo major transformations (figurative or literal?)
• A Guest Post and Giveaway with Deb Atwood, author of Moonlight Dancer.
• An interview with Hannah Harrington, author of Speechless, as part of Fresh Start September.

So as you can see this week is full of some great interviews and giveaways. Be sure to stop by and enter them all.

Now for this weeks' book haul. This week's haul is extra special because of an awesome anniversary present that I received a bit early. (My 7 year anniversary with my boyfriend is on Monday, but he let me open this special gift on Friday since it arrived then. That'll be at the end, saving the best for last.)

This Week's Book Haul:

Clicking the links will take you to Goodreads' descriptions

Won:

I won Then Came You in giveaway at Books of Love

I won Borrowed Heart in a giveaway over at Me My Shelf and I

From the Author/Publisher For Review:

From Left to right, starting at the top:

Heaven or Hell by Roni Teson. Roni also sent a wonderful note along with the book.

Life Got in the Way by Deborah Davis, who also sent a nice note and bookmark along with the book.

Keeping Score: A Guide to Love and Relationships by Marc Brackett

The publisher from Mystic World Press was amazingly generous and sent me three copies of Beautiful Wild Rose Girl by B. Magnolia. This is a new independent children's publisher based in San Francisco, dedicated to bringing kids quality books that are handmade. I have one printed copy here and two handmade copies.

We're All Different But We're All Kitty Cats First Day of School

Cadence Beach by Linda Juliano

Rick and Wylie's Fantastical Magical Adventures by Andi Katsina

Dottie and Weasel Lemonade Fiasco (this image and link credited to Amazon.com)

I will be having some giveaways for some of the books pictured above. I won't tell you which ones, just to keep you guessing.

I want to say a huge thank you to all of the authors and publishers who sent me books for review this week.

And last, but certainly not least......

A brand new Kindle Fire HD! 
He pre-ordered it so I got it the day it came out.

I squealed with giddiness when I opened this.

A million thanks to my wonderfully sweet boyfriend Dearran for buying it for me for our anniversary. He knows me so well, knowing that  the way to my heart is through books!

So that's my haul for the week. I got quite a lot of books, now if I only had more hours in the day to read them all. Be sure to leave me links to your hauls so I can stop by and check them out!

Fresh Start September-Cover Art Poll

Hello fellow readers!

We're featuring so many cool books as part of Fresh Start September. In addition to the great stories, these books also have some awesome covers. We'd like to know, which of these covers do you like the best? The results will be published in our Fresh Start September  Wrap up post!

Here are the covers:


34 Pieces of You


Origin


Speechless


What's Left of Me

 Stormdancer (The Lotus War #1)



My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century


Storm Dancer (The Lotus War #1)


Defiance


Crusher



Shift
(All credit for covers goes to Goodreads)

Aren't all of these covers great?

Use this form to tell us which one is your favorite:

The results will be announced at the end of the month in the Fresh Start September wrap-up post.

As a bonus part of the event we are giving everyone the chance to win some prizes donated by our wonderful participants and ourselves! These include:

• 2 winners of Strange Chemistry ARC packs, each pack including a copy of Poltergeeks 
• by Sean Cummings, The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke AND Katya’s World by Jonathan L Howard (courtesy of Strange Chemistry)
• 1 winner of an eBook of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris (courtesy of Entangled Publishing)
• 1 winner of a hardover copy of 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues (courtesy of the author)-US only Enter here
• 3 winners of a book of your choice from any that has been featured in Fresh Start September (each courtesy of the hosts)

The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and will run until the end of the event (30 September). Remember to follow the Twitter and Facebook pages of the prizes you want to win, for example, to be eligible to win the Strange Chemistry Prize, you must follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Post 13th edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly Meme hosted by

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 

It's a chance to share news, 

a post to recap the past week on your blog,

 showcase books

and things we have received and

 share news about what is coming up 

on our blog for the week ahead

Last Week on Melissa's Midnight Musings:

(Click Links to be taken directly to the posts)

• I reviewed Mirror in the River by Dale Lovin. This one just didn't quite work for me, unfortunately.
• I reviewed Wow! Glowing Bride in 30 Days by Laura Pepper. This book is full of practical advice that you can use both when planning a wedding and just every day. There are lots of great product suggestions in this book too.
• Kathryn Jones stopped by and shared her thoughts on What Your Reading Genre Says About You. She also generously offered 1 paperback copy of her newest book "Scrambled" to one lucky reader. If you like cozy mysteries, be sure to Enter for your chance to win Entering is super easy, just leave a comment saying anything you like, and click the rafflecopter button, that's it! As of writing this post there is only one person entered to win it, so odds are good!
• This week's Behind the Blog topic was free choice week, so I shared Some Poetry I've Written
• As part of Fresh Start September I featured an interview with Carmen Rodrigues, author of 34 Pieces of You. She also offered one lucky reader a copy of 34 Pieces of You. Be sure to check out the interview and enter for your chance to win
• Also, if you've missed any of the Fresh Start September posts from Daphne, Faye's or my blog you can Check this post where they've all been linked up for easy reading. Also don't forget to enter our month long giveaway for some great books.

This past week on the blog was full of great things. Next week has some more fun things in store but the posting may be a little lighter than the past few weeks. We'll see what I can get read. I've been reading a lot of books that are more on the spooky/paranormal lately so I've sort of been saving those reviews for October, the perfect month for spooky reviews. Before I announce next week's schedule lets take a look at some of the things that brought people to Melissa's Midnight Musings this week.

This Week's Search Terms:

frank nappi sophomore campaign: An excellent book. You can read my reviews for both books in this series HERE

Wow Glowing Bride 30 days -  This book is super helpful. There were a couple variations of this.

"carmen rodrigues" "34 pieces of you" Her interview is linked above. There were a couple of different variations of this term as well.

all the right stuff walter dean myers a lot of people have been searching for this one lately. My review can be found Here There were a couple variations on this term too.

colour personality blog They were probably looking for my Behind the Blog all about the meaning behind colors.

I love to see what brings people to my blog, it's always fun. Now on to next week.

Coming Up This Week:

• Review of A Lovely, Indecent Departure by Steven Gilbert
• Cover Poll- As part of Fresh Start September you'll get a chance to vote on the covers you like best of all the books that are being featured.
• Behind the Blog: This week's topic is still being decided upon, but once it's been chosen it will be announced on the Melissa's Midnight Musings facebook page

So as of right now this week is a little bit lighter but that could change depending on how much reading I can get done. Now onto this week's book haul:

Book Haul

Clicking the links will take you to Goodreads' descriptions

From Author For Review

A Whisper To A Scream
and
Until My Soul Gets It Right

both of these are by Karen Wojcik Berner and she signed both of them.



Henrietta the Dragon Slayer by Beth Barany



Volunteers for Literacy by Gretchen Elhassani

From the Library:

Not that I don't have enough to read already, but I can't help but pick up a book or two every time I go.

Demonglass by Rachael Hawkins (They didn't have Spellbound or I would have gotten that too)

and

Wicked: Witch and Curse by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

That's it for me this week. Have you read any of these? What did you get this week? Leave me links so I can check out your hauls!