Rinny Rambles - Fire Quill Publishers Blogger of the year 2014 awards

Hi Everyone, 

I hope you are all having a lovely week? Sorry it has been quiet lately, we have both been super busy and battling bouts of illness. However we do have a bunch of awesome reviews coming later this month and some exciting news too share today.

If you follow our blog social media accounts, you might have already seen that we are up for an award!! It's, so exciting. The awards are being hosted by Fire Quill Publishers and everyone who won one of their blogger of the month awards last year, are in the running. There is also a Facebook page where fab prizes will be up for grabs for everyone who likes the page including book box sets!! The poll is on Goodreads and we would appreciate your vote. All of us finalists are doing interviews and every day I will come back and add the link too the next interview. Were in awesome company.

Awards Links

Fire Quill Goodreads Poll

Fire Quill Blogger of the year Facebook page

Finalists Interviews

Teri Carter Lloyd  of Sportschick's Musing

Us (Rinny & Kimmy) of Opinionated Cupcakes

Jackie from The Book Maven

letmebefictional

Fire Quill Publisher Links

Twitter
Website
Facebook

Interview with the lovely author Sarah Dalton!

Hello my lovelies,

On our blog today we are interviewing the lovely author, Sarah Dalton about her series White Hart.  Sarah has also been kind enough to donate some prizes for our lovely readers!

We hope you enjoy:

Hi Sarah, welcome to our blog.  Please tell our readers about your series White Hart.

Hello Kimmy & Rinny, thanks for having me. White Hart is a YA fantasy novel about a girl thrown into extreme circumstances. Fifteen year old Mae has to deal with her growing elemental powers, and after a devastating event is thrown into the dangerous and mysterious Waerg Woods with her pet white stag, and a pampered Prince.

The White Hart series is a mix of classic coming of age fantasy with lots of action and adventure, and fairy tales with dark woods and evil Kings. It’s a story suitable for all ages.

What inspired you to write the White Hart series?

I kept thinking about a strong yet vulnerable young women riding a white stag. The character came to me first, and then the story developed around her. 

Have you always wanted to be a writer? What got you started on your writing journey?

I’ve always loved to read, and I did used to write stories, but it’s something I’ve abandoned and then come back to at different times. It took me a while to develop enough confidence to actually finish a novel. It has been around four years since I started taking my writing seriously, and since then I’ve never looked back. 

What appeals to you about the young adult and epic fantasy genres?

Funnily enough, I’ve never been drawn to epic fantasy at all, at least not in adult literature. I always associated it with very dense, description filled writing and hundred and hundreds of pages. But then I started reading books by authors like Tamora Pierce, Sarah J Maas and Rae Carson and I saw how fantasy could be fast and entertaining as well as taking place in a rich environment. I love making a world from scratch (it makes research a lot easier!) and I love creating magical creatures within the world. White Hart is very much influenced by film as well as books. I had 80s adventure movies in the back of my mind, like The Neverending Story and Indiana Jones. 

What are some of your favourite young adult and epic fantasy books/authors and why?

Alanna – Tamora Pierce – I love this book. One of my favourite story tropes is a young girl pretending to be a boy so she can learn to fight. I have a soft spot for tough girls, and Alanna is one of my favourites. I don’t think Tamora Pierce is as well known in the UK as she is in the USA, I had to really search for her books. I’ve not finished the series yet, and am looking forward to reading more.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns – Rae Carson – This book is so different. Rae writes the classic ‘chosen one’ story, but she gives it a unique religious edge. As someone who is not religious, at first I found that aspect a little difficult to accept, but Rae writes in such an engaging and different way, that I was soon immersed in the story. This series is one of my favourites, I love the unique settings, and the confusing nature of God’s will, and how thoughtful the books are. There’s no need to have faith in order to read this book, you can be an atheist and still enjoy it.

Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas - Another favourite character trope of mine – the dangerous and yet vulnerable young woman. You will love and hate Celaena, you will also love to hate her. She’s arrogant and violent, and yet she is loyal and loving, too. Love triangle haters might not enjoy the romantic subplot, but if you love assassins and royal drama, you’ll really enjoy Throne of Glass.

I’ve also heard great things about Terah Edun’s Courtlight series, and I haven’t finished, but enjoy Morgan Rice’s The Sorcerer’s Ring series.

What makes White Hart stand out from all the other young adult series?

It has a more fairy tale edge to it, and it’s also aimed a little younger than most YA fantasy. I want to give an opportunity for my characters to grow up, which is why they start out as a little immature. I’m also quite a mean puppet-master, so expect my poor characters to go through a lot of heartache along the way. 

Sarah Dalton:

Sarah grew up in the middle of nowhere in the countryside of Derbyshire and as a result has an over-active imagination. She has been an avid reader for most of her life, taking inspiration from the stories she read as a child, and the novels she devoured as an adult.

Sarah mainly writes speculative fiction for a Young Adult audience and has had pieces of short fiction published in the Medulla Literary Review, PANK magazine, Apex Magazine and the British Fantasy Society publication Dark Horizons. Her short story ‘Vampires Wear Chanel’ is featured in the Wyvern Publication Fangtales.

She is also the author of the popular YA dystopia series 'Blemished' and the YA gothic series Mary Hades.

Stop by and say hi to Sarah:

Goodreads Page

Sarah Dalton's Website
Twitter

Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feature & Follow #8

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers, but you have to know, the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? Post your name here along with the link to your blog in the comments section.  Then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is the Feature. Each week Parajunkee & Alison Can Read will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is the Feature today? Find out by clicking their names. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow those they Feature and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post.

This weeks Question:

SHARE A FUNNY YOUTUBE VIDEO

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget to follow!

We prefer to be followed on Bloglovin', Twitter and Facebook.  So click the following picture or the bloglovin' link in the top right corner of the page.  Don't forget to stop by our other social media sites too!

Lizzie Ford's The Underworld Midsummer Fling

The Underworld Midsummer Fling sale and giveaway runs from July 19-20 on Facebook! With several hundred dollars in prizes being given away, some of today's hottest authors and smokin' deals on amazing books, you won't want to miss it! Click here to JOIN THE PARTY AND WIN AWESOME PRIZES! Click here to check out the books on sale this weekend!   Authors helping Lizzy Ford celebrate the release of her latest book, "The Underworld" include:

Julia Crane Cambria Hebert LP Dover Eva Pohler K.C. Stewart Belinda Boring Lacey Weatherford Alisha Basso Michelle Graves Janet Shawgo SE Reign AJ Bennett D. Love Neeley Bratcher Annaleigh Necaise

This week at Opinionated Cupcakes - Rinny Rambles #5

Hi everyone :) Did you have a good weekend? I hope so and i hope your monday has not been to manic? Mines been the normal crazy for our house. Were still puppy training and have a million things going on at the one time. But that's why i read to escape it all :) 

It occurred to me the other day i talk about the puppy alot these days and haven't shared a pic yet. ( I know you have met rogue on a wordless Wednesday) So here she is meet Storm ......

Pretending to be a cat! We have a mini zoo different types of fish, multiple tanks, rats, guinea pig, 2 dogs a cockatiel. We used to have turtles, crabs and diff fish oh and gerbils. 

Anyway enough about me back to the blog. This week Kimmy is on holiday. Lucky her but before you decide not to visit the blog for a week lol ( I know i will miss her too.) We have a guest this week mini cupcake is going to help me out with completing a new fun idea for a blog meme i have and taking part in teaser Tuesday :) She is very excited to interact with you all so please comment. She is over the moon shes getting to be part of the blog for a week. 

Also if you have not already checked out the weekend's booktuber shoutout or seen our tweet. We are wanting to make shout-outs a regular thing. We are looking for authors and bloggers to be featured on our shout out posts. Whether you want to promote a new book or your blog! Just get in touch with us through our email. facebook pm or twitter dm. I will get back to you as soon as possible and we will sort something out. Be it just a normal shoutout or an interview or anything else you would like.

Thanks for reading my ramble. Don't forget comments are like little words of pure joy and sharing is caring. 

Feature & Follow #7

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers, but you have to know, the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? Post your name here along with the link to your blog in the comments section.  Then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is the Feature. Each week Parajunkee & Alison Can Read will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is the Feature today? Find out by clicking their names. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow those they Feature and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post.

Question of the Week:

If you had a time machine (i.e. a TARDIS), where would you go?

Rinny: I would love to go back to my wedding day.  It all went by so quick, It was the happiest day of my life, however you all know what its like and sometimes we fret about the little things, like being on time etc.  So I would like to go back and relive it all over again and enjoy it all over again!

Kimmy: There are so many things that have happened in my life and I think, wow if I could just go back and do that differently, but it has made me who I am today, so I wouldn't change it.  So on another note, probably back to the age of the dinosaurs (safe distance) I would love to see them alive!

Where would you go in your time machine? Tell us in the comment section below!

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget to follow!

We prefer to be followed on Bloglovin', Twitter and Facebook.  So click the following picture or the bloglovin' link in the top right corner of the page.  Don't forget to stop by our other social media sites too!

Feature & Follow #6

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers, but you have to know, the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? Post your name here along with the link to your blog in the comments section.  Then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is the Feature. Each week Parajunkee & Alison Can Read will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is the Feature today? Find out by clicking their names. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow those they Feature and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post.

Question of the Week:

Post a photo of your favorite coffee mug (or mugs if you can’t choose just one).

I'm not a coffee drinker, I don't drink much tea etc either, but if I had to choose my favourite, it would be this:

What's your favourite coffee/tea mug?

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget to follow!

We prefer to be followed on Bloglovin', Twitter and Facebook.  So click the following picture or the bloglovin' link in the top right corner of the page.  Don't forget to stop by our other social media sites too!