2019 Most Anticipated Event

It's the most wonderful time of the year! That's right, my annual event showcasing my most anticipated books of the upcoming year is back again this year and it's going to look a little different. I have a ton of books I am anticipating, but there won't be as many Q and A's with authors this year (even though there will be some). I'll be spotlighting book is different ways and including a few posts from publishers and other bloggers as well.

I am looking forward to sharing the books that already have me hyped and hearing back from you all about what books you're super excited for.

The event will begin Monday November 26th and will run for about three weeks. Be sure to stop by to see what is included and hear all about the books I think we'll be talking about next year!

A few teases of books that are included:

- a book that is being described as Westworld meets the Serial podcast

- a book that has the First Son falling for the Prince of England

- more than one fairytale retelling

- a book that blends Romeo and Juliet with Wuthering Heights

 I hope some of these have piqued your interest and that you'll check out the event at the end of the month! 

True Crime Week Announcement

I am super into true crime right now (as you may have guessed from my Weekly Obsessions posts recently) and recently decided to celebrate this love with a feature on the blog. 

Kicking off April 9th I am going to feature true crime reads and some reads that are inspired by true crime. I am hoping to have some author guest posts and interviews to share along with some reviews.

I encourage any authors who would like to take part to get in touch as I would love to feature you and your book!

2015 Most Anticipated Event Annoucement

It's quickly coming to the end of 2014 and with that my thoughts start turning to the amazing books we'll get to read in 2015.

Starting November 20th and every week day up until December 18th the blog will feature a 2015 title I am desperately anticipating for 2015 (or a guest post about what others are excited about). There are plenty of amazing titles that I hope will tempt you to add them to your 'to be read' pile in the upcoming year!

I am, however, going to share a few teasers about the books I've included this year...

- one of my selections features a boy who wouldn't grow up
- one of them is pitched as Romeo and Juliet but with crime families
- one is a modern take on a real life historical romance
- there is more than one retelling of classic tales (fairytale and otherwise) which should surprise NOBODY
- my *dying to read it now obsession* is OBVIOUSLY included

Be sure to stop by to see what titles made my list, AND to enter the giveaway. I'll be giving the chance to win a pre-order of ONE of the titles featured!

Any titles you're dying to read in 2015? Let me know in the comments.

Famous In Love Week - My Choices

To end Famous In Love week, I thought it might be fun to share some of my choices for some of the most talked about love triangles in TV and books.....

Angel/Buffy/Spike - Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Buffy and Angel, always. Season two is my favourite. The romance, the angst, and their connection made my teen aged self swoon and they are one of my favourite couples....ever.

Dawson/Joey/Pacey - Dawson's Creek -  My choice would have been Pacey. He bought her a wall. The entire "Ask Me To Stay" thing. How can you not love Pacey?! It's impossible.

Stefan/Elena/Damon - Vampire Diaries - Team Stefan. Always and forever. The reason? Jeremy. I am bitter, and will hold on to things, and have not forgotten (or forgiven) Damon snapping Jeremy's neck. I feel that if you kill my family member (his having a magical ring of not dying aside) it automatically blocks you from having sexytimes with me. #SorryNotSorry

Neal/Emma/Hook - Once Upon A Time - I could write a freaking essay on why this triangle makes me weep. It frustrates me to no end, and sadly resulted in my favourite character being killed for a 'ship'. I will ALWAYS go for the nice guy who hasn't left this proposed lady love for dead, so Team Neal. Always.

Adam/Juliette/Warner - The Shatter Me series - Uh, is Team Neither an option? That's what I would go with. Both guys are the wrong choice for MANY reasons (and Warner just flat out scares me).

Ben/Felicity/Noel - Felicity - Scott Foley, guys. Enough said. This is one of the many where the other guy one. Ben's fine I guess, but I preferred Noel.

Gale/Katniss/Peeta - The Hunger Games series - The boy with the bread won my heart, and made me hope Katniss would see his gentle nature too. He was a sun that she greatly needed in her life, and I felt her and Gale were like fire and gasoline. They would have had heat, but it also would have been explosive. Peeta is GOOD for her and what she needed.

Rainer/Paige/Jordan - Famous In Love - I have expressed my allegiance to Team Jordan repeatedly since reading this novel. Jordan's appearance infused a kick into the story, and his interactions with Paige have been incredibly swoon inducing. Cannot wait to see where this relationship goes.

Did you pick the same guy I would have? What triangles did I forget?

Famous In Love Week - Katie Guest Post

Katie (from The Bevy Bibliothèque) and I discuss love triangles all the time, and we often pick the same boy. It was a given that I was going to ask her to write something for this particular week. 

She decided to write about a love triangle that works for her, and why it works.

Like many, I get super frustrated with love triangles. Two reasons: because my side isn’t going to “win” and why can’t anyone else see how awesome this guy (let’s be honest: most love triangles are two guys, one girl) is for this girl? Mostly because readers/viewers think about who THEY want, and not who is good for the character. Or I just get really sad because I LIKE THEM BOTH!

There’s one love triangle I actually really enjoy that comes to mind so….

How To Love Triangle Correctly*: By the Writers of  “Haven”

The set up: badass chick with complicated past (Audrey); hot, broody police chief (Nathan); and sarcastic, unmotivated bar owner (Duke).

What they do right:

1.     Make It Extremely Clear Who the Real Ship Is

In this case, Audrey and Nathan. There has never really been a question, even through Duke clearly having feelings for her, it was always known that, in the end, it would be Audrey and Nathan.

2.     Change the Narrative: Make Everyone Besties!

One of the most important, awesome thing the show has done is make these three characters, with complicated histories and tangled up in various degrees of romantic feelings, a unit.

3. Have Said Bestie-ship Trump the Romance

Duke, Nathan, and Audrey have each other’s backs in a weird town that has a lot of cray going down and it’s just become a given that the friendship between the three of them is more important than whatever romantic feelings there are messed in between them.

4. Give the Side of Loss an adorable love of his own that is also AN AWESOME CHARACTER.

I’ve seen this done before but it’s always been obvious that it was just to placate fans, like “Here have this random character that will hook up with your beloved character in two episodes. Now he won’t be lonely!” and don’t even bother making readers/viewers care about the newcomer. Haven brought in Jennifer, who actually had relevance to the story they were building, and slowly built a relationship that was to. die. for.

*if you must have a love triangle at all…

Kelly's Top Five Movie Love Triangles

Kelly from Kellyvision and I often talk books, TV and movies. We often discuss love triangles as well. She's Team Rainer, and I am firmly Team Jordan for Rebecca Serle's Famous In Love series. Our discussion about this book resulted in me asking her to take part in this week long event, and she graciously agreed.

Here is her guest post on her top five favourite movie love triangles...

When Kathy and I were talking about how much we loved Famous in Love, I said that one of my favorite parts is that---while there's a love triangle---there isn't a bad choice to be made.  Both guys are equally wonderful and the "right choice" is a matter of personal taste.  That isn't always true.

I am a huge fan of movies and one of my secret shames is that I love a good love story.  And one of the things it seems that you can't get away from is a love triangle.  (And unlike in Famous in Love, in these cases, there is a definitive right answer and a wrong one.)

Here are my top 5 favorite cinematic love triangles!  (There are spoilers...and potentially unpopular opinions.)

Pretty In Pink (Molly Ringwald-Andrew McCarthy-Jon Cryer).  (Fun fact: this is the only movie I picked where the first choice is also the final choice!)  I am starting to feel like the only person in the world who hated Duckie in this movie.  Is it the fact that I find Jon Cryer to be the world's most obnoxious person? Could be! It's highly possible that I would've hated the ending if they had cast the OTHER choice for Duckie, one Robert Downey Jr.  I think that he could have made it obvious that Duckie's grating personality hid a great deal of vulnerability and would have made him charming.  Instead, while Andrew McCarthy's Blane has plenty of flaws of his own, he's at least a person and not a cartoon character.  I pick Blane; she picked Blane.

Gone With the Wind (Vivien Leigh-Clark Gable-Leslie Howard).  Gone With the Wind is one of my favorite movies ever and I'm honestly not sure that this really counts as a love triangle just because Scarlett never really loves the two at the same time.  Instead, Ashley Wilkes is sort of her ideal, the person she wishes that she could be with, and Rhett Butler is the person she SHOULD be with, although she doesn't realize it until she's too late.  (Also, I'm pretty sure that Clark Gable is one of the most handsome people who ever lived.  I don't see the appeal of Leslie Howard AT ALL.)  I pick Rhett; she picked Rhett. (But too late.)

Sweet Home Alabama (Reese Witherspoon-Josh Lucas-Patrick Dempsey).  Here's probably another unpopular opinion of mine: If all things are equal and you have a choice between handsome, kind man who loves you and New York City and handsome, kind man who loves you and Alabama, YOU PICK THE ONE IN NEW YORK.  No offense to Josh Lucas, but Patrick Dempsey is also cuter.  Even so, this movie is a total guilty pleasure of mine and I do watch it every time I see it on TV.  (I pick McDreamy and New York; she picked Alabama.)

Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn-Humphrey Bogart-William Holden).  My friend Paul hates this movie because, he says, it's inherently flawed: who picks Humphrey Bogart when they could have William Holden? The answer: Sabrina, the chauffeur's daughter.  Like in Gone With the Wind, she spends the bulk of the movie pining after the wrong guy only to realize the right guy is RIGHT THERE.  And, you know, Rick from Casablanca.  I know everyone loves Roman Holiday or Breakfast at Tiffany's the best, but this is my favorite Audrey Hepburn movie.  No contest.  (She picked Bogart; I pick Bogart.)

Bull Durham (Susan Sarandon-Kevin Costner-Tim Robbins).  It's a personality quirk of mine that I hate sports but love sports movies.  This is my favorite baseball movie (Field of Dreams is a close second) and most of it has to do with the love story.  Susan Sarandon plays Annie, a woman in love with baseball and its players.  Each season she picks a player and they have a fling.  This year's contenders: Crash Davis (Costner) and Nuke LaLoosh (Robbins).  Initially, she goes with Tim Robbins, but ultimately ends up with Kevin Costner.  There are some great speeches in this one, too.  (We both pick Crash.)

2nd Annual You Pick What I Read Event

You may recall last year I did an event where I had the readers of my blog choose what I reviewed for a week. It was so much fun that I am going to do it again this year.

I loved that it brought books to my attention that I would normally not have read. I am hoping for a fun mix again this year, and cannot wait to see what people recommend.

A few 'rules' before you leave your suggestions...

- I have to be able to access the book. This should be obvious, but I did have some books suggested that were either only available in advance reader copy format, or very hard to find. I either have to be able to get it from my library (which has a pretty extensive collection as I live in a big city) or purchase it online/at a bookstore.

- It can be either adult or YA or New Adult. I am open to reading anything. This is where the readers get a say in what is reviewed here on the site.

That's pretty much it. I don't have many restrictions so feel free to suggestion whatever.

Once I have suggestions I will be putting up a post where you'll get to vote for the titles listed and the three with the most votes will be what I review during a week in August.

So is there a book you loved and want me to read? Or how about a book you're not sure about and you want me to try it first? Just leave your suggestions it the comments for it to be included in the vote! Excited to see what everyone suggests.

It will be open for suggestions until Tuesday the 15th of July!

* If you follow me on Twitter you are also welcome to make suggestions there*

Tudor Tuesdays Sign ups!

 

I will be hosting Tudor Tuesdays this year, but with a bit of a twist. It'll be TUDOR THURSDAYS (because of the release date of Brazen). Katherine and I have some fun things planned, and we need 5 bloggers to take part in this small blog event.

If you're interested please email me at aglassofwineblog@gmail.com with the heading Tudor Thursdays. Please include a link to your blog.

I'll have sign ups opened for 1 week, and contact people once I've put everything together.

Female Characters in Entertainment Week

I was talking with some of the other Ottawa blogettes and noticed a trend that has made me quite sad.

Female characters, whether in books or on TV, are so often criticized. I feel they are judged much more harshly than their male counterparts. I also think male characters get away with things female characters are criticized for. I am even guilty of this, which lead to me wanting to do something about it.

I want to spread some love to combat all that negativity. So starting the last week of March I am going to be hosting guest posts from various bloggers, authors, etc, about female characters they love. There may be some discussion topics, and I hope it encourages others to express their love of some of the kickass, awesome and amazing female characters out there.

I hope this brings attention to all different kinds of female characters - flawed, sweet, intense, heroine, villain, and some that are in between.

If you would like to be part of this event by contributing a guest post please send me an email (aglassofwineblog@gmail.com) no later than February 20th.

Jessica Shirvington - Guest Post - Embrace Blog Tour

Today I am part of the ongoing blog tour for Jessica Shirvington's Embrace. I have Jessica stopping by with a guest post about her novel and setting.

If you haven't read this wonderful novel and would like a chance to make sure to stop by and enter the giveaway I am hosting.

You can learn more about Embrace over at Goodreads, follow Jessica on Twitter and visit the author website. Thank you Jessica for stopping by again during the angel event!

Where Are You From?

By Jessica Shirvington

In my first draft of EMBRACE (there were eight!), I didn’t set the city. I was in two minds the entire time. I suppose I was drawing on all the places I have been around the world. Although I now live in Sydney, when I started to write EMBRACE, my family and I had just moved back from six years living in London. And prior to that, I’d spent quite a lot of time travelling to many cities around the world – so much so, that when I was writing scenes in EMBRACE, I found myself thinking of different cities around the world and never being able to truly decided which one most suited Violet’s world.

In my second and third and fourth drafts, I chose different cities (I’ll never tell) from around the world and set Violet’s story there. But each time, it felt forced.

I wanted her to live in a city, as opposed to some small town where all these major apocalyptic events just miraculously found her. To be believable she had to be in a metropolitan environment, but which one?

In the end, the answer was … any of them, and none of them. It wasn’t that the cities I chose didn’t work; it was that in my mind I’d amalgamated them into what I needed for her story to work for me. So I made the decision to give that option to all of my readers and simply called her city, the City.

It isn’t the ‘done thing’ usually, but I believe for this story, it works. I want readers to be able to put this story where they know. If they live in a city, it can be there, if they live in a rural area, then it isn’t a stretch for them to imagine a city nearby. It is an element of control that I wanted to give to the reader.

That said, I like a little control myself … and I discovered that by giving this open setting for Violet’s hometown, it also opened up the possibility to use other locations around the world that would really pop off the page.

In ENTICED (the sequel, out in September!), Violet and her friends find themselves travelling to Jordan – on a quest to the place of Moses’ death – Mount Nebo. In EMBLAZE (book 3, out March 2013) they travel to the island of Santorini in Greece, which is small and stunning, and holds terrors that none of them are prepared for.

Each book I take the characters somewhere new and as I write the series, I have discovered how very important this is to me. I want my characters to go to the world, to find the problems and be part of the solution, rather than the fight always, and too conveniently, finding them.

Tudor Tuesday Event Annoucement

You may have noticed I've been teasing events on the blog and on my Twitter account. I am extremely happy to finally announce Tudor Tuesdays.

This event will lead up to the release of Katherine Longshore's amazing debut novel GILT. We will have giveaways, and fun posts planned each Tuesday starting April 10th.

Each blog will play host to one of King Henry's Queens. You'll get to know a little about them, and get to read an advance teaser from GILT as well!

The blog schedule is as follows

April 10 - Nicole @ Nicole About Town
April 17 - Kathy @ A Glass of Wine
April 24 - Rebecca @ Reading Wishes
May 1 - Harmony @ Radiant Reads
May 8 - Christy @ The Reader Bee
May 15 - Angel @ Mermaid Vision Books
May 22 - Wrap Up on Katherine Longshore's Blog

I hope you're just as excited as we for this awesome event. Stay tuned for more details!

Valentine's Day Blog Event

This year, together with Evie from Bookish, we are hosting a Valentine's Day Book Blog Event! It will run February 7th-14th and there will be reviews, guest posts, interviews, as well as many exciting giveaways!

My blog event kicks off tomorrow with a review of Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate!

Here is the full schedule for what is coming up on my blog 

Feb 7 - Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate review
Feb 8 - Valentine's Day themed interview with Kathleen Peacock
Feb 9 - Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin review
Feb 10 - Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay review and interview
Feb 11- My Favourite Romantic Movies
Feb 12 - My Favourite Romantic Cities
Feb 13- Moonglass by Jessi Kirby review
Feb 14 - My Favourite Couples in Literature.

And Evie's insanely awesome schedule as well

Feb 7th: Where it Began by Ann Redisch Stampler (Review)
Guest Post by Ann Redisch Stampler
Giveaway of signed copy of Where it Began (US/Canada)

Feb 8th: Barking Mad by Jamieson Ridenhour (Review)
Shift by MR Merrick (Review)
Giveaway of Shift

Feb 9th: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler (Review)
Interview with Sara Flower, author of By The Sword

Feb 10th: Promising Light (Review) by Emily Ann Ward
Interview with Emily Ann Ward

Feb 11th: Guest Post and interview with Krista Holle, author of The Lure of Shapinsay
Book and T-Shirt giveaway with Krista Holle

Feb 12th: Born Wicked (Review)
Guest Post and Giveaway with Rusty Fischer, author of Vamplayers

Feb 13th: Guest Post with Harper Jayne, author of Knave

Feb 14th: Author's TOP 5 Romantic Reads
Interview with Karen A. Wyle, author of Twin-Bred

Stop by and comment, enter the giveaways and find some new books to make you swoon.