Dark Days of Winter Blog Tour

We are ecstatic to be hosting Jodi Meadows on HarperTeen's Dark Days of Winter Blog Tour.  We have had our eyes on Incarnate from the moment we saw that it had sold on publisher's marketplace.  Before we had even had a chance to read this book, we knew it would be a big one!  Then they released the cover, and we were left in absolute awe of the sheer gorgeousness of it!  Also, be sure to come back on February 2nd, where we will have a special interview with Jodi Meadows.

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
Published by: HarperCollins
Release Date: January 31, 2012

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NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all? 

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Words cannot express my absolute joy of hosting THIS BOOK on the Dark Days Tour.  From the turn of the first page there is something completely different and deeply inspiring about Incarnate.  If you are looking for something completely different then pick up this book.  Because of our love for this book a simple review would not do, so as you have seen with a few of our absolutely favorite books, we are going to do a top 10 list!

SO... here it is! Our TOP TEN FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT INCARNATE:

10.  SETTING: The setting adds so much to the overall feel of the novel.  It's frankly a creepy city in the shadow of an even creepier tower!  All the houses and buildings look the same, and somehow they have all mananged to remain standing for 5,000 years.  It has a very eery feeling, but I can't disregard this nagging feeling that there is something important about all the buildings.  And, it may not be a good thing!

9.  REINCARNATION:  Yes, yes, we know what you are going to say that you've read an reincarnation story, BUT let me tell you that Jodi has completely reinvented reincarnation.  How about being able to remember every single life for the past 5000 years.  Plus, never knowing if you are going to come back as a female or a male.  And, what if you are in love with a person, and you both come back as the same sex or you come back years apart?  Let me tell you, total crazy awesomeness!  I loved this idea!  I could sit here and think of hundreds of evil scenarios that Jodi could put her characters through!  So great!

8.  SYLPHS: We all know that the YA World is a bit tired of the traditional mythological creatures. "Why Hello there, Vampire. Nice to see you... again. And again. Oh, what? You brought a werewolf along? How... obvious." It was so refreshing to see Meadows take this more obscure Mythological creature that controls air, and give it a prominent place in her story. And on top of that... the burning that a sylph attack causes was a fresh twist on the original myth! 

7.  GENRE: We're not sure if genre is the right word, but this book definitely has a different feel than any other YA book on the market at the moment. It feels a bit like a futuristic sci-fi, but at the same time has elements that feel Medieval. High Fantasy meets Science Fiction meets Religion and Reincarnation-- you can't get more unique than that!

6.  MUSIC: We would be remiss if we didn't mention the music!  The whole book reads like one long beautiful symphony.  And, the grande piano is to die for! Even though we can't hear the music, the scenes in which Sam and Ana play are so vivid that I can imagine the melody all the same! 


5. DEPTH: Unlike some YA books (though I love all kinds), Incarnate had a philosophical depth that is too often missing in young adult fiction. Yes, there was action and romance and fantasy, but there was also a deeper sense of meaning and questioning that made this book linger in my mind long after I'd read it.  

4.  THE MASQUERADE: Guys. I'm not sure how to tell you how much I loved the scene at the masquerade ball without telling you what happens, but I will say that my heart was beating a mile a minute from beginning to end! 


3. DRAGONS: I can never say no to Dragons. They are SO cool!


2.  THE WRITING: Meadows writing has a lyrical, poetic feel that goes beyond simple description, and instead engages the senses and the mind to build a world that is at once fully realized and mysterious. In other words, girl's got skills. :)


1.  THE ROMANCE!!! Holy meltiness, Batman, the slow-paced, realistic romance was breathtaking.  We loved that the romance didn't happen at warp speed.  Don't let that run you off though, Sam and Anna's relationship is sweet and deep.  Anna has never been around anyone besides her mother for her entire life, so everything she is experiencing is for the first time.  And, Sam gets to be her teacher!  To see her experience and learn so many things with Sam is like one of those romantic musical montages in movies that leave you sighing!  With this slow build to the romance, comes what I LOVE in my books-- the yearning, the questioning, and the longing!  The torment of the does-he- doesn't-he-love-me kind is the best kind of torment! 


That's it, our top 10 favorite things about Incarnate!  Well, what are you waiting for, GO PRE-ORDER THIS BOOK!!!

Be sure to visit the other blogs on the Dark Days Blog Tour!

Leg 1

1/4   Tahereh Mafi at Reading Vacation

1/5   Ellen Schreiber at I Read Banned Books

1/6   Veronica Rossi at Supernatural Snark

1/9   Tahereh Mafi at Reading Vacation

1/10 Ellen Schreiber at I Read Banned Books

1/11 Veronica Rossi at Supernatural Snark

Leg 2

1/16 Cynthia Hand at The Story Siren

1/19 Jodi Meadows at The YA Sisterhood

1/24 Brodi Ashton at The Readiacs

1/26 Courtney Allison Moulton at Reading Teen

1/31 Cynthia Hand at The Story Siren

2/2   Jodi Meadows at The YA Sisterhood

2/7   Brodi Ashton at The Readiacs

2/9   Courtney Allison Moulton at Reading Teen

Leg 3

2/21 Lauren Oliver at All Things Urban Fantasy

2/22 Claudia Gray at A Life Bound By Books

2/23 Alex Flinn at Mundie Moms

2/28 Dan Wells at Bookalicious

3/1   Lauren Oliver at All Things Urban Fantasy

3/6   Claudia Gray at A Life Bound By Books

3/7   Alex Flinn at Mundie Moms

3/8   Dan Wells at Bookalicious

Contest Giveaway: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Wanna win and ARC of the amazing Incarnate by Jodi Meadows?

Trust me, you do. Check out our Waiting on Wednesday post for the book and our Teaser Tuesday.

Or just check out this summary:

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NEWSOUL

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL

Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART

Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

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Now do you want to win it?

Well, you're in luck, because we happen to have an ARC to give away!

Rather than doing a random giveaway, we've decided to hold a contest. As some of you know, we're gearing up for the next YA Sisterhood Tournament! Thanks to your votes, we will be hosting the YA Tournament of Heroines! 

We're asking you all-- YA Sisters in Spirit-- to help us kick off this tournament with an extra special contest (with Incarnate as the prize). 

Here's what you have to do: 

*Make a banner AND a matching icon for the YA Tournament of Heroines!

*It must have the following somewhere on the banner: YA Sisterhood, the url for YA Sisterhood, and  Tournament of Heroines. The rest is up to you! Get creative, friends! Pictures, fanart, quotes, catchphrases-- go all out!

The winning banner/icon will be featured as the official banner for the tournament, and that banner's creator will be the proud new owner of an Incarnate ARC. 

You have until 5pm Central time on Wednesday, November 16th to get us your entry. After that we will choose the winning banner, and the nominations for the Tournament will go live that night at midnight. 

That's right-- at 12:01 AM Thursday, November 17th, Nominations will open for the Tournament of Heroines. You will only have one week to nominate your favorite leading ladies of YA literature, so be sure to spread the word! 

When your finish your banner/icon, you can email it to yasisterhood@gmail.com. Be sure to also leave a comment here stating that you entered, so we can make sure we got your entry successfully. If you don't hear back from us, most likely your email went astray, and you'll need to send it again. 

Best of Luck! May the odds be ever in your favor!

-YA Sisterhood

Teaser Tuesday: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

To participate all you have to do is:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page

•Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!) 

 Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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NEWSOUL

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL

Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART

Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

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A few weeks ago, I did a Waiting on Wednesday on Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. I'd been waiting FOREVER to read this book. And now that I have read it, I can say without a doubt-- it was worth the wait! I have to wait until we're a little closer to the release date to post a review, but I can give you guys a sneak peak here! It's a bit long for a Teaser Tuesday, but I couldn't help it. When I read the book, I think I marked like 10 different spots that I wanted to do for Teaser Tuesday. It was hard to choose, but I think this one reflects really well what the book is about. Well, here goes! Hope you all enjoy!

He reclaimed my hand and stopped, spinning me toward him as though we were dancing. "I just thought of a name for your waltz." 

I waited. 

"If you like it, that is. We can always change it." His voice shook, probably because it had been such an awful morning but I imagined he wanted my approval. "Ana Incarnate." 

My heart felt too big for my ribs to cage. 

For all the unfair head kissing, the way we hadn't kissed in the kitchen and his grudging agreement to dance with me every morning-- it suddenly seemed like he knew me better than anyone in the world. Better than anyone ever would. 

He'd seen my deepest need, buried so far I'd hardly been aware of it. 

There was no telling if I'd be reborn when I died, but the waltz began and ended with my four notes. He'd built me the music around things that reminded him of me. And now this name. My name. 

A hundred or thousand years after I died, someone could play my waltz, even Li, who'd always resented my presence, and they would remember me. 

Thanks to Sam, I was immortal. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine.  It spotlights books that have not yet been released, but ones that you should pre-order today!  This weeks book that we are anxiously awaiting is: Incarnate. It's written by Jodi Meadows, and its release date is January 31st 2012!

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NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I still remember seeing the sale announcement for this book last year, and I've been dying to read it ever since. I was so struck by the idea of an entirely new soul in a world where all souls are reincarnated. The idea alone is killer. Match it with that gorgeous cover and what I've heard is gorgeous writing-- I don't know how much longer I can wait for this book! Luckily, we're supposed to be getting an ARC soon. We'll let you know just how awesome it is when we can!