Happy Holidays to everyone – Romance At Random is celebrating their Loveswept line with a random e-book Giveaway to 25 winners plus an opportunity to win one Grand Prize from www.romanceatrandom.com. Enter here to be included in the FREE random e-book drawing (25 winners will pick up their FREE book from Net Galley) and then stop on by www.romanceatrandom.com and comment to enter the drawing to be the ”ONE” Grand Prize winner, to win a selection of great books! Good Luck & Happy Holidays to all!

INCREASE your chances to win by visiting all of the participating ‘Loveswept – Holiday Hop’ sites! (Complete list can be found here.) Winners will be contacted after 1/10/12.

The Postmortal by Drew Magary. © 2011 Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143119821. Trade Paperback. Dystopian. 369 pages. Source: review copy provided by the publishers.

“Imagine a near future where a cure for aging is discovered and—after much political and moral debate—made available to people worldwide. Immortality, however, comes with its own unique problems—including evil green people, government euthanasia programs, a disturbing new religious cult, and other horrors.” — from back cover

This book is speculative fiction but at the same time, it’s eerily real. But I suppose that’s the purpose of dystopian literature: to entertain us and make us wonder but also scare the pants off of us. In The Postmortal, in the year 2019 a cure for aging is discovered. People beg and plead for the government to legalize it so they no longer have to suffer the affects of mortality.

Drew Magary takes us on a whirlwind ride through the eyes of our narrator, 29-year old John Farrel (through his text files located in 2093), who journeys from his overbearing pride wanting nothing more than to escape death to embracing mortality with every fiber of his being. It’s definitely not an easy journey for John, as he makes some massive mistakes and does a lot of wrong things, but ultimately he learns his lesson: we are here to live, and die. That is what life is about.

If you enjoy thought-provoking, dystopian books that traverse the scope of human nature then I suggest you add this one to your list. 3.7/5.

Switched (Trylle, #1) by Amanda Hocking. © 2012 St. Martin’s Griffin. ISBN 9781250006318. Trade Paperback. Young Adult / Urban Fantasy. 320 pages. Source: ARC won through LibraryThing Early Readers.

“When Wendy Everly was six-years old, her mother was convince she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn’t until eleven years later that Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed – a world both beautiful and frightening, and Wendy‘s not sure she wants to be a part of it.” — from GoodReads

I want to start out this review by saying that I have not read Amanda’s original self-published version of Switched and so I cannot compare the two. If you are reading this to see my thoughts regarding the previous version versus this one, I’m going to have to disappoint you. My review will talk solely about the professionally edited version soon to be released by St. Martin’s Press (as received through LibraryThing’s Early Readers program).

The opening is amazing; it begins with a six year old Wendy being aggressed by her crazed mother who is wielding a butcher knife so I was more than hooked from the first paragraph.  Read more

Guinevere, The Legend in Autumn (Guinevere, #3) by Persia Woolley. © 2011 Sourcebooks Landmark (originally published in 1993). ISBN 9781402246432. Trade Paperback. Historical Fiction. 514 pages. Source: review copy provided by the publishers.

“Surrounded by traitors, trapped by destiny, Britain’s spirited Queen Guinevere sees that the greatest dangers to Arthur’s crown may lie within the walls of Camelot. An undeniable spark ignites between Guinevere and Lancelot, but a powerful enemy puts the Queen’s loyalty to the ultimate test. As the heroes of the Round Table undertake the Quest for the Holy Grail, Guinevere’s heartbreaking honesty, courage, and integrity will be challenged by those she loves most.” – back cover

Oh, how I have loved this sweeping and absorbing series! Everything we have grown to love in the Arthurian legends is covered in this series. In The Legend in Autumn we see the connection between Guinevere and Lancelot blossom, Gareth and Perceval’s arrival at Camelot, Mordred’s rebellion with Agravain and Gaheris, and eventually the sad end to Camelot.

I cannot sing the praises of this series loud enough. If you love the Arthurian legends, I strongly urge you to pick up these books; you will most definitely not regret it! Persia paints such a touchingly vivid, riveting, and breathtakingly tragic picture of Albion’s legendary Queen and the downfall of the Golden Age of Camelot. 5/5.