Rogue blog tour + giveaway!

Today we're participating in Gina Damico's tour for her upcoming release, ROGUE, the third book in her Croak series. It's a really fun image tour that I think you'll enjoy. Plus, Gina's graciously offering a giveaway to celebrate!

Without further ado, here's Gina!

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Hey hey Croak fans! Welcome to my blog tour / photo hunt / Roguestravaganza!

From now until ROGUE's release on September 10th, each stop on the tour will reveal an image that represents a chapter in the book - could refer to setting, plot, an important object, mood, or whatever other diabolical visualizations with which I feel like tormenting my dear readers. Each image also contains a hidden letter...though really, they're not that well hidden. (If you have eyes, you should be able to spot them.) Collect the letters every day, and at the end of the tour I'll hold a contest, the winner of which will receive signed and annotated copies of the complete trilogy. (For a complete description of the contest, tour schedule, and links to the stops you might have missed, check out the blog tour page on my website.)

This photo is for Chapter 5. I will let the image do the talking.




Thanks for having me! Good luck everyone!

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Teenage Grim Reaper Lex’s power to Damn souls is getting out of control. She's a fugitive, on the run from the maniacal new mayor of Croak and the townspeople who want to see her pay the price for her misdeeds. Uncle Mort rounds up the Junior Grims to flee Croak once again, but this time they're joined by Grotton, the most powerful Grim of all time. Their new mission is clear: fix his mistakes, or the Afterlife will cease to exist, along with all the souls in it.

The gang heads for Necropolis, the labyrinth-like capital city of the Grimsphere. There, they discover that the Grimsphere needs a reboot. To do that, the portals to the Afterlife must be destroyed...but even that may not be enough to fix the damage. Things go from bad to worse, and when at last the fate of the Afterlife and all the souls of the Damned hang in the balance, it falls to Lex and her friends to make one final, impossible choice.

[embed width="420" height="315"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSM7X-Aw7Ys[/embed]

Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository

Read an excerpt

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Gina is graciously offering a giveaway to our readers and it's open internationally!
One (1) lucky winner will receive a Croak Prize Pack!

Check out the Rafflecopter for details.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Posted by Tynga at 01:00

 Gina Damico, giveaway, Grim Reaper, Guest Post, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, young adult  12 People left their mark

Daring You To Read... Croak by Gina Damico

 

 

Daring You To Read is a weekly feature here on Tynga’s Reviews where we dare you to read some of our favorite older releases (at least 6 months old). All the books/series we choose to feature are titles we adored and think you should give them a shot! We think it’s a super awesome way to discover that special book who might have slipped off your radar!

You’ve already read the book? Let’s us know what you thought!

You are accepting the dare? We’d love to know!

Have a dare of your own? Leave a comment ^^

Can I start off by saying that I can't believe it took me this long to dare everyone to read the CROAK series by Gina Damico? Damico's writing is beyond amazing and has repeatedly made me tear up from laughing so hard.

When I first heard of these books, I was slightly nervous about reading them. It was before I was able to read Darynda Jones's Charley Davidson series, so I was still a little iffy about the concept of grim reapers in young adult literature. But this is the series that easily made me love reapers. Equal parts cute and drop-dead funny, I could not put CROAK down. The humor is dark, sassy, and dripping with sarcasm. Though incredibly immature at times, it fits with the unique characterization of all of the hilarious characters that can be found in the eccentric town of Croak.

Aside from the humor, the characters are really what made this book for me. When Lex arrives in Croak, she quickly befriends the other junior reapers in her age group. All of them bring a different personality to the table, and as different as they are they all managed to mesh together to create one seriously awesome group of friends that go on kickass adventures and have infinite amounts of so-lame-that-I-can't-help-but-laugh jokes.

The other aspect of this novel that I found to be incredibly enthralling was the reaper lore. I'm a huge sucker for things such as this. While I prefer legitimate mythology, any lore that is well-crafted and brings interesting elements to the table to show the evolution of a race through history can easily grab my attention and keep me reading. Croak is no exception to this. When Lex first got to Croak and Mort was beginning to explain everything to her, I was completely awestruck by the creativity of the plot and the imaginative lore despite Lex's character pretending to view everything Mort said as unimportant.

In her debut, Damico weaves a tale of unquestionable hilarity, awkward first love, and the desire to fit in and do what's right even if others think it's wrong. Pick up this book, and you'll be DYING for book two. Get it? Grim reapers. Haha.

Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex's parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape.

But Uncle Mort's true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He's a Grim Reaper. And he's going to teach Lex the family business.

She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can't stop her desire for justice - or is it vengeance? - whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again.

Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?

Read my Thoughts | Read Christine's Thoughts

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

 

 

 

Other Books in the series...

 

Read my Thoughts on the Sequel 

 

Are YOU ready to take on this grim reaper?

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Posted by Lili at 06:00

 Daring You to Read, Gina Damico, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  5 People left their mark

"When I'm not writing..." with Gina Damico + giveaway!

Today's guest is Gina Damico, author of CROAK and SCORCH, YA novels about a teenage reaper named Lex Bartleby. She's currently doing a real life blog tour around the eastern half of the United States (!) but she's graciously made time to join us in the virtual world to tell us what she does when she's not working on her next story.

Do you want to know what Gina does when she's not writing? Well then, you better stick around! And don't forget to enter the giveaway for a signed copy of SCORCH!

When I'm not writing, I'm keeping busy somehow or other, no matter what. If I'm not being productive in some way, I feel like a useless lump, and then I get cranky, and then I yell at my cat, and then the entire situation devolves into a feline staredown, and there's just no way I'm winning that.

So, productive it is. Here is a list of ways that I keep busy:

1. I market. Writing is fun and all, and I wish I could do it all the time, but these books have got to sell, sell, sell, baby. Or get checked out of the library, checked out of the library, checked out of the library, baby. However they're read, people aren't just going to wake up one day with the idea that they should read this book they've never heard of, and so it's (partially) my job to get the word out there about it. So I blog, I make swag, I do these lovely blog interviews. One of these days I'll get a sandwich board made and take to the streets.

2. I crochet or knit. Yes, I'm one of these nerds. I knit garments, and I crochet all sorts of things - including this little grim and other kinds of monsters and freaks of nature. You should see my yarn stash. It's embarrassing.

3. I travel. I'm writing this from a hotel room in Chicago, where I have stopped on my big Slapdash Road Trip Book Tour. I'm driving from Boston, MA to Austin, TX and then back again - in part to accomplish a bit of #1 - but mostly because I realized I'd never been on a road trip before and wanted to see some more of the country through the windows of a poo-colored rental car. So far I have determined that Ohio has a lot of farmland, Indiana has a lot of Amish, and hotels have a lot of crappy coffee that I will suck down regardless of their taste or ability to perk up.

4. I watch TV. A lot of it. Less than I used to, but still enough for me to feel guilty that I'm wasting my life away.

5. I deal with the puppy. My husband and I rescued a dog a few months ago, and he was only three months at the time, and HOO BOY puppies are a lot of work. I do a fair amount of following him around the house, hoping and praying that he's not going to start peeing everywhere. This, one might argue, is the least productive thing of anything on this list, and that would be correct. I can't tell you how many times this summer I've had to stop working on my third book just to get up, drag the dog outside, and lovingly coax some bodily fluid out him. Quite a talent, that.

Thanks for having me, and happy reaping reading!

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Thanks for visiting, Gina, and good luck on the book tour!

For more information about Gina and her books, check out her website or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

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Here's the scoop on SCORCH (coming October 25):

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby is a teenage grim reaper with the bizarre ability to Damn souls. That makes her pretty scary, even to fellow Grims. But after inadvertently transferring her ability to Zara, a murderous outlaw, Lex is a pariah in Croak, the little town she calls home. To escape the townspeople’s wrath, she and her friends embark on a wild road trip to DeMyse. Though this sparkling desert oasis is full of luxuries and amusements, it feels like a prison to Lex. Her best chance at escape would be to stop Zara once and for all—but how can she do that from DeMyse, where the Grims seem mysteriously oblivious to Zara’s killing spree?

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

You should also check out CROAK, the first book in the series:

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.

He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

Christine's thoughts

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

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Gina is generously offering one (1) lucky reader a signed copy of SCORCH!

To enter the giveaway, obey the Rafflecopter!

US only

Ends Monday, October 8, 2012

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Do you guys have suggestions for who you’d like to see featured on the blog? If so, you can make your suggestions on this page. No guarantees that your favorite authors will be able to participate but we’ll try!

Authors, would you like to visit and share with us? Please email me at jennblogs (at) gmail (dot) com and we’ll set it up!

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Posted by jenn at 06:07

 Gina Damico, giveaway, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Reaper, When I'm not writing  26 People left their mark

Croak by Gina Damico

Croak by Gina Damico

Book stats:
Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release date: March 20th 2012

Series: Croak #1

Source: Personal Shelf

Reviewed by: Christine

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.
He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

Croak is the start to a new YA series about Lexington Bartleby, aka Tyrannosaurus Lex or simply Lex, delinquents, troublemaker and all around nuisance. At the beginning of this book, Lex is a true delinquent. She hurts fellow students, acts out and has serious anger management issues. Unlike other "delinquent" characters, she doesn't just pretend to be aggressive, she simply is and has no explanation for it. One day, her parents have had enough and decided to send her away. A whole summer of hard labor on her uncle's farm instead of a summer in NYC, or so Lex thinks.

Turns out Croak, the small town where her estranged uncle lives is actually one of the few towns inhabited only by reapers and her crazy Uncle Mort is actually their mayor. Shortly after her arrival and initiation in the town community, Lex shows a remarkable talent for the Killing and Reaping business and a newfound sense of justice - a wish for dishing out justice to the killers of innocent victims she has to reap. Then, unscheduled deaths with an unknown cause of death (even for the most experienced reapers) start to occur and things are getting a lot more interesting.

I really enjoyed the dark, snarky and sassy humor of this book, even though it is a bit immature from time to time. Still, Croak is a hilarious version of the well known "delinquent is sent away" trope. Some elements of the story were expected, like Lex developing an extraordinary gift, struggling to fit in in Croak and the subtle romance between her and one of the other junior grims. Yet, Gina Damico takes these motives, changes them up and thus puts a whole new spin on this story: suddenly growing up in a loving family makes Lex an outsider among a group of kids who’ve lived a rough life so far.  

The reaper mythology is very well crafted with funny and extraordinary details. I liked how each scythe is somehow a representation of the character who wields it. That, along with the special drink for reapers and other details felt like a nod to the Harry Potter books.

Croak’s inhabitants are all entertaining and interesting. Characters like Uncle Mort and Driggs have a lot of potential and I believe there are many stories to be told about them which I'd love to delve into in future books.

Speaking of Driggs, he is such an entertaining partner for Lex! Their constant bickering and squabbles are hilarious, fresh and surprising. At the beginning, they are just too much alike to get along which leads to some funny scenes that had me snickering more than once. Throughout the book, they struggle to develop a real friendship, a very close relationship that didn’t feel rushed or forced but very natural. I also adored how he seems to have an almost unhealthy appetite for sweets when nervous and how excited he can get about something as weird as road kill.

Lex is an interesting female lead. I was afraid that she was too intense for me at first, but she slowly grew on me and I ended up liking her a lot. She is not the most sensitive of all characters, yet her she does evolve by the end of the book.

While a large part of the story was about Lex settling in Croak and being shown the ropes of her job, I wasn't bored by it. In fact, I really enjoyed getting to know the peculiar little town and its memorable habitants. The story arc about the killings starts later in the book, but is engaging and remains a mystery until the end of the book. The revelation of the killer is accompanied by an unforeseen event that changes Lex's life profoundly. I'm eager to find out how she will deal with the aftermath in the next book.

Despite the rather funny and sassy tone of Croak, the book deals with some very serious topics as well: death, loss and child abuse being just a few of those. While it is mostly only hinted at, the violent and dark pasts of Lex’s fellow junior reapers add just another layer to their characters and made me even more curious about them.

Gina Damico's debut is a fun and fast read I can only recommend. I'm really looking forward to her next book, Scorched to see what awaits Lex on her journey.

Check out the hilarious trailer for Croak:

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Posted by Christine at 06:32

 Gina Damico, Grim Reaper, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Review, young adult  7 People left their mark