ARC giveaway - Throne of Glass and The Diviners!

Time for an ARC giveaway! Since I returned from BEA, I've had the chance to peruse the ARCs I hoarded from various publishing booths. These are two of my favorites so far. Contest rules are at the bottom of the page.

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

Okay, seriously? Who doesn't love Libba Bray? This book was right up my alley. It's long, but I read it in just a couple days, and I thought it was fantastic. Libba is the author of A Great and Terrible Beauty, among other novels for young adults. This is one you won't want to miss.

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.


Where to even start? This is one of my favorite books of 2012. I had my reservations going in, simply because the plot didn't sound like something that would really hook me, but Sarah's writing grabbed me from the first sentence. Calaena was such a well-developed protagonist, with flaws and nuances that slowly revealed themselves throughout the book. She was tough and dangerous, but also girly, which I found rather refreshing; sometimes it seems like the two are mutually exclusive in YA fiction. 


I also found Sarah's fantasy world to be absolutely fascinating. Here's the thing: often, when I read a fantasy book, I feel like the author only knows the bare minimum about their world - in other words, they explore it to the extent that it serves a basic purpose, but they don't have any deeper understanding of the geography, politics, magic systems, etc. With THRONE OF GLASS, I could tell that Sarah had worked out the complexities of her world down to the smallest of details. This understanding lends itself to a richer and more fulfilling story. I try to avoid in-depth reviews on this blog, because I hate spoilers, but suffice to say I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves a well-written, intricate, engaging fantasy novel. 


How to enter:
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+3 for tweeting/facebooking
+4 for blogging
+1 for commenting on this post with your name and email address
+1 for adding up your points and posting that number in the comments section


This contest is open to U.S. residents only (sorry, international peeps!). Open until July 20th.