by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . March 4, 2012 . 5:50PM
Congrats to Stacy who won the Letters in Cardboard boxes, giveaway!! 
Thanks for entering and you can expect an email with your ebook soon!
by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . February 16, 2012 . 3:58PM
When the wonderful folks at MacMillon Audio asked if I wanted to review one of their audiobooks, I jumped on the chance. I commute to work and find that I get bored pretty easily without something auditory to enjoy. After being allowed to look at several options, I gleefully selected Cinder, by Marissa Meyer, as I had been eyeballing the book for some time now on a few early reader sites. When it came in the mail, I immediately popped it into my car cd player and settled in for some lovely commutes.
Cinder doesn’t disappoint on any level. The narrator has a solid, pleasant voice and does a stellar job of distinguishing different characters and accents. With an intriguing plot (Cinderella meets Black plague meets desperate future world), I was captivated from start to finish. I frequently found myself sitting in my car after arriving home for “just 3 more minutes.” When the ten hours of audio finished, I was blown away by the ending. Cinder is the first book of a set and it left me craving more. Throughout the book I kept asking myself the following questions: Would Cinder find happiness? Would Kai figure out what happened in time? What was the cure for the disease? Is the doctor good or bad? Will Cinder save her sister? There are plenty of questions in this book to keep you jumping from start to finish, but the book is so well written that I stayed on the edge of my steering wheel for the entire ride.
Marissa Meyer noted on her twitter feed that the next book is not due out until next January and, frankly, I don’t know if I can wait that long. Cinder has brought me into this future world and the audiobook held me in it like a child being read a fairytale at night before bed. I found myself thinking about the book during the day and it allowed that escape that few novels do anymore. Cinder is an excellent young adult novel with no foul language, that I heard, and no real adult themes unless you count a cyborg almost short circuiting when in close contact with a handsome prince or an android giggling about picture a human prince in the nude as a real adult theme. I found them charming and like the things that young teenagers giggle about at slumber parties.
Cinder is a beautiful, sweet-natured, refreshing change of pace and I appreciate MacMillon Audio for allowing me a free copy to review. If you don’t believe me, have a listen for yourself to a short clip from Cinder by Marissa Meyer.
1 lucky blog reader will receive an audiobook version of Cinder by Marissa Meyer thanks to MacMillion Audio.
It can be yours if you win.
Here’s how to enter:
1) Leave a comment before March 23, 2012 at 5pm CST telling me what your favorite childrens book was when you were a child. (1 entry)
2) You can tweet this giveaway and/or link it on facebook and/or link to it on your own blog for extra chances to win! You can do this as often as you like, but it only counts once. (1 entry each, but you must link them here SEPARATELY or they will not COUNT separately as I will be using a number randomizer to choose the winner–please do not spam your friends to win the contest as most sites frown on that)
3) You can put a blueshelled.com blog button (seen in the sidebar-along with code to add it to your blog or website) on your blog or website, or if you already have one, you qualify, for 3 extra entries. I will verify this before your entries will count. Let me know it’s there and where I can find it. It’s pretty!
Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**You must have a valid way of contacting you in your entry (which means you must leave your email address on the entry so I can send you a notice saying “YOU WON!”)
**If your email address bounces back to me, I will leave a post on my blog for 5 days and you will have the option to contact me for your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible for anything that happens once this stuff leaves my hands. If it gets lost, doesn’t work, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.
by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . December 15, 2011 . 7:24PM
We have a winner! Congratulations to Carl Angelo Dela Cruz! I have an audiobook for you! Thanks to all those who participated and I will try to do more giveways. I always just forget that I have that option! Carl, I will send you an email shortly or MacMillan will, with your audiobook! Congrats again!
Here are your random numbers:
1
Timestamp: 2011-12-16 00:21:05 UTC
Life is like a game. We all have challenges, thoughts, opinions and beliefs. Often, it feels like something out there, life, karma, catty people, or blue shells (for the Kart lovers), seeks to bring us down. Luckily, we always get up. This is where I wear my heart on my sleeve and my foot in my mouth.
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