Friday, August 24, 2012

Friday creature-feature book giveaway: 'Serpent's Kiss'

Last week I gave away a book about sirens. This week you have a chance to win a novel about witches!

I'm giving away my brand new hardcover review copy of "Serpent's Kiss" by Melissa de la Cruz (Hyperion, June 2012, $23.99, 316 pp.) provided by to me Hyperion. 

The second in the author's Witches of East End series (also known as the Beauchamp Family Series), "Serpent's Kiss" is a follow-up to "Witches of East End." (With that name, I wonder of the author is a fan of one of my fave witch tales, John Updike's "The Witches of Eastwick"?)

Check out the "Serpent's Kiss" book trailer, posted recently by EW.com on its Shelf Life page here

Want to win it?

Comment on this post with your email address and or send your mailing address to me at mkaras@pottsmerc.com. I will choose one commenter at random and mail the book to you within the next week.

Book summary (from the publisher):
The first book in the series

The intriguing Beauchamp family introduced in the New York Times bestselling "Witches of East End," returns in "Serpent's Kiss," with dizzying plot twists and spellbinding magic.

Joanna and her daughters, bookish Ingrid and wild-child Freya, are just settling into the newfound peace that has been cast over their small, off-the map town of North Hampton. With the centuries-old restriction against practicing magic lifted, casting spells, mixing potions, and curing troubled souls has never felt so good for the three witches. That is, until everything gets turned upside down - from Joanna's organized kitchen to Ingrid's previously nonexistent love life to Freya's once unshakeable faith in her sexy soul mate, Killian Gardiner.

When Freya's twin brother, Freddie, suddenly returns, escaped from Limbo and professing innocence on a long-ago crime, Freya should be ecstatic. The golden boy can do no wrong. Or can he? Freddie blames no other than her fiancé Killian for his downfall, and enlists Freya's help to prove it. Now Freya doesn't know who to believe or trust.

And for the first time in - well, forever, really - Ingrid is also busy in love. Matt Noble, the handsome and charming police detective, has won her heart. But can romance work between a virgin witch and a mortal who doesn't believe in magic? Things get even more complicated when it appears Ingrid is harboring the prime suspects in Matt's police investigation.

To add to the chaos, a dead spirit is attempting to make contact with Joanna--but does it mean to bring harm or help? Joanna asks her sort-of ex-husband Norman to help figure it out, only to accidentally invite him to a Thanksgiving dinner with a dapper gentleman she's recently begun dating.

As the witches pull together to discover the serpent within their midst and the culprit behind Freddie's imprisonment, everything is thrown into peril. Will the discovery come too late to save those they love most?
 
MELISSA DE LA CRUZ
About the author (from her website):

Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs, Blue Bloods Ashleys and Angels on Sunset Boulevard series, and the semi-autobiographical novel "Fresh off the Boat."

Her books for adults include the novel "Cat's Meow," the anthology "Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys" and the tongue-in-chic handbooks "How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less" and "The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch Heels and Faux-Pas." 

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!).

Melissa, who lives in Los Angeles and Palm Springs with her family, posted some helpful advice for young writers on her website. 

Upcoming booksigning in the Philly area:

As part of the Smart Chicks Kick It! tour, De la Cruz will be at the Barnes and Noble in The Court at Oxford Valley, 210 Commerce Blvd., Fairless Hills, PA 19030 on Tuesday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m. To learn more, call the store at (215) 269-0442

Appering with her will be authors Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Rachel Caine, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Kami Garcia, and Sarah Rees Brennan.

2 comments:

Carl Scott said...

Hi Michelle

Where do you keep getting these great new books?
Kingdom Keepers: Shell Game arrived yesterday and it looks like a lot of fun so thanks very much for sending it.
Now you come up with Melissa de la Cruz's newest?! You're turning me into a free book junkie, or maybe I already was one.
At the risk of being piggish I must enter the draw for Serpent's Kiss but I bet I won't be alone.
My email address is, carlscott(at)prodigy(dot)net(dot)mx.
Thanks again and have a great weekend.

Unknown said...

Thanks to all who entered. Congrats to The Mercury's Community Media Lab lending library, which is now home to "Serpent's Kiss." Come visit the lab at 24 N. Hanover St., Pottstown PA 19464, from 11-2, Monday through Friday, and check out this or a number of books for free!