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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Celebrate Halloween with a little Beautiful Darkness

*This contest is officially closed. Thank you to all who entered and commented!*

We may not have any tricks for you here at Fallenarchangel,
but we definitely have a treat. All weekend long we’re celebrating another
one of our favorite series of books in honor of the release of
BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl,
the second installment in The Caster Chronicles.

Forget the candy we’ve got swag and a signed book and swag to giveaway! And for a
treat you can enjoy right now, visit Little, Brown’s Beautiful Creatures website:
www.somelovesarecursed.com for excerpts, downloadables,
a map of Gatlin  more! You can keep up with authors,
Kami and Margaret and the Caster World at
Authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Rebecca, one of the co-owners/admins of Fallenarchangel, meeting the authors at the Little Brown booth at the ALA Conference last summer in Washington DC. They're just as fabulous in person!

If you haven’t read BEAUTIFUL CREATURES yet, you must. But with reviews like this,
you don’t have to take our word for it.
 “A hauntingly delicious dark fantasy, a cast of fascinating characters,
a rich gothic setting---this debut novel is one to watch.”
-Cassandra Clare, NYT bestselling author of City of Bones

“This book has it all: a creepy setting, a deadly curse, reincarnation, spells, witchcraft and voodoo, plus characters that simply will not let the reader put the book
down until finished…Who could ask for more? A sequel? Please!”
-VOYA

And the sequel, BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS, is just as entrancing!

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South,
where nothing is as it seems.

We could gush about all the reasons (there are too many to even list) you need to read BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS, but in honor of Halloween we thought it would be fun to give you the author approved scoop on the supernatural side of the Caster world!

*** SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T READ BEAUTIFUL CREATURES ***

Caster
With a series entitled The Caster Chronicles, you know Casters play a major role. But what is a Caster you ask? Just think of Casting a spell and you’ve got the idea. Beyond the basics like moving objects with a mere thought, each individual Caster is born with their own range of abilities.

Caster Gifts
Even in a family of Casters, each one has their unique gift that allows them to perform a range of abilities. Here are a few examples.

Natural – Has a lot more abilities than other Casters.
Cataclyst – A Natural gone Dark
Palimpsest – Reads time. They can walk into a room and see it at different points in the past and present, all at once. Because of this they’re often confused about exactly when or where they are.
Siren – Posses the Power of persuasion. They can put any idea in your head and get you to say or do anything they want.
Sybil – Reads faces. They can see what you’ve seen, just by looking into your eyes. They give the saying “Read you like a book,” a whole new meaning.
Illusionist – Creates illusions. They can make anything look like anything they want, for a spell—people, things, places—but they aren’t real.
Shifter – Identical to an Illusionist, but can actually change objects permanently.
Evo – Incredibly powerful; they can influence people, but they can also Evolve, morph into other people.

Seer
A Seer is someone who can see the future. And in our opinion a very handy person to have around, though I don’t think Ethan would always agree!

Incubus
Not be mistaken with a vampire, as one of our favorite characters tells us in BC.  An Incubus requires some sort of feeding to maintain their powers and strength. And not all of them are bad. One of our favorite characters is one!

Succubus
An Incubus in the female form. “The praying mantis of the supernatural world.”

The Greats
Ancestors who are called upon in sprit form for guidance or protection. They’re often given offerings of food or drink in exchange for their help.

Sheer
A Sheer is a soul who hasn’t been able to cross over to the Otherworld because they have unfinished business in the Caster or Mortal world. They typically keep to themselves.

There's even more to fear in the Caster World than what we've mentioned above, but you'll have to read the books and find out for yourself. Let's just say we'd have trouble sleeping at night if we lived in Gaitlin...

****************

And to help celebrate this Halloween celebration all things Caster,
we have a chance for 2 lucky readers, one will win a signed copy
of BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS along with some swag while the
second winner will receive just the fabulous swag
(a BIG thank you to Kami and Margaret for providing this)!


All you need to do is follow our blog and use the entry form below
to submit your contact information. For an extra submission you can
leave a comment on this post telling us what kind of supernatural
being fascinates you most and why. Vampires, ghosts, zombies,
werewolves, fortune tellers, wizards; anything goes! Or if you;ve
read BEAUTIFUL CREATURES or BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS
you can tell us why you love the series. Please keep it spoiler free!

**One entry per person - Open Internationally - Contest ends at midnight on Sun. October 31**

Good Luck! We look forward to reading your comments.
*Join the fansite Caster Girls & Boys at*

39 comments:

~Jenny~ said...

I love anything thats supernatural and has some romance in. Wether it's Vampire, witches, shifters or ghosts. you name it I've read at least one book.

I will admit I havn't read the books yet, but am looking for something new and they sound really good, may have to buy them payday.

Anna said...

These books are absolutely amazing. I really hope i win, I love their books, they're just breathtaking, and I wouldn't mind a little swag either. haha. I can't wait for the next book in the series, Ethan is awesome, and Leah is even better. <3

Victoria said...

Love the paranormal. These books are great. Thanks for the wonderful contest.

Anonymous said...

Awesome giveaway! Thanks. Can't wait to read Beautiful Darkness. :D

Mary not so Contrary said...

I love the Beautiful Creatures books because they're different from everything out there. I love that its set in a southeren small town where everyone knows everyone. But I really love the way that Ethan loves Lena no matter what. His love saves her life more then once in BC. Make my heart flutter. haha

ReaditandSee said...

This book sounds great! I haven't read the first book yet but I'm going to make sure I do. This is a great giveaway too!
Gianna

RJ said...

Awesome giveaway! I would totally like to be a shapeshifter because then I could get away quicker in any given sitiuation :P

Michikit said...

Well I did not had the chance to read Beautiful Darkness yet, but I hope I will in the near future. I can't say that I'm fascinated just in one paranormal creature. I love books with ghosts and vampires, necromancers and werewolf and wizards(Harry Potter). I'm sure that I will also like Zombies in books if I would ever read one.

kaguya2000(at)gmail(dot)com

Ashley Correa said...

This is by far one of the best giveaways!

Anonymous said...

I would so LOVE to win this!!!

iffath said...

Thabnks for the aweosme contest, would love to win these goodies! I love Beautiful Creatures, and there's just no simple enough words to sum it all up!

aurora M. said...

super contest and thanks for hosting....keep up the great work!
Count me in!
veltara at yahoo dot com

Guta Bauer said...

Awesome contest, i can't wait to read this book.

Alba said...

OMG!!
I really would loooooove to win this!
I've read Beautiful Creatures...and
it's..just...
well...it leaves you completely speechless and breathless...
how can you accept what you are?
if that's what keeping you from being with the one you love???
I guess that can ressume the whole book!!

Maidenveil said...

Thanks for this awesome giveaway! :)
I have always been fascinated with wizards, since there is also a lot of mystery attached to them. As well as their elemental nature.

-Len-
Musings of a Reader Happy

Josie Baker said...

I like witches and wizards because how awesome would it be to be able to perform magic? It would make life so much easier...also I would want the abilty to Apparate from Harry Potter, it would be nice to cut down on travel costs ^_^

Anonymous said...

Great! I like werewolves, they're cool :)
Dasha

Anne R. said...

Thank you for the giveaway!
I've always been fascinated with faeries like, since 2months ago. Lol. They are such awesome creatures even though they're horrible :)

Chel said...

Awesome giveaway! I've read Beautiful Creatures and it was really awesome! I really, really want to read Beautiful Darkness now!

Anyhow, since I more of a magic person so I'll go with witches and wizards. They are cool pipz.

Rachelle
A Reluctant Reader

basma aal said...

I hope to win :)

Sherry Adams said...

YAY; Love the Casters!!

Val said...

Can't wait to read this one!

Ariel Wilson said...

I love fairies :D I am literally obsessed with them. I wish I had wings and was connected to nature and everything else.

pinkdaddysgirl[at]msn[dot]com

FreakChiq said...

I LOVED the world Kami and Margaret created in Beautiful Creatures. I could picture every character and every scene, especially the ones taking place at Ravenwood's manor and in Lena's bedroom (the writings on the wall). It was different from anything I've read so far.

Momo (Books Over Boys) said...

I haven't read the Beautiful Creatures series yet! Been trying to get around to them but just haven't yet!

Anyway, favorite supernatural beings would have to be vamps, werewolves, and angels! I like them because of all the books I've read so far that involved them were just fascinating! It questions everything I know! Like the basic knowledge of werewolves and vamps! It changes when you read these stories - like you begin to question if what the author is explaining in the book could possibly be true in some aspect! LOL!

Thanks for the contest!

Jessica Louise said...

Ah Brilliant giveaway!! LOVE LOVE LOVE Beauitful Creatures and cannot wait to read Beautiful Darkness. The caster chronicals rule!! :D Thanks for the awesome contest!

Minas said...

I can't wait to read Beautiful Darkness!

Miss Page-Turner said...

I loved Beautiful Creatures because Ethan is just the boy I would love to have as my boyfriend:)In the end there are so many surprising turns and twists, I couldn't stop reading! Love the Caster idea and the deep conntction between Ethan and Lena:)

Eves said...

I have heard of this book from several book bloggers and despite the saying: "don't judge a book by its cover", their cover's look fantastic so I expect the story inside to be just as great!

It's already on my Christmas list.

Eves said...

I have heard of this book from several book bloggers and despite the saying: "don't judge a book by its cover", their cover's look fantastic so I expect the story inside to be just as great!

It's already on my Christmas list.

timestandstill said...

Love these books and love these authors!! What's not to love.

Anya said...

My favorite supernatural being is the vampire and angels. Vampires because they're a classic and they come in so many variations..evil, harmless, love interests etc. and angels are just...beautiful. I think they're a beautiful thing to write and read about...they just have something...heavenly of course and they just make me feel good...of course they can also be bad or evil...but then they're sexy lol ;)

Ani said...

OMG. I love succubuses and incubuses. They are so awesome! ♥

Anita Metodieva
annie.annie@abv.bg

skyla11377 said...

What an awesome Halloween giveaway. This book looks awesome and the swag looks just as great. I have heard nothing but good things about this series. I am so entering this giveaway....^_^.

Anonymous said...

Favorites supernatural beings... vampires and werewolves... (fallenarc)angels and witches. ;)

This is an amazing giveaway. I just finished reading Beautiful Creatures and I can't wait for the excitement of Beautiful Darkness. It's a thrilling, epic story that stole my heart from the minute I started reading. It's exhilarating and inspiring. I love books like this (they're practically all I read). Haha ;)

Good luck to everyone! :)

Unknown said...

Amazing giveaway. LOVE the books!

Debora B said...

Oh My!!! AWESOME giveaway!!! *-*
what could be better than candy for halloween? beautiful darkness, of course!!! looove it! \o/

Mrs. Duff said...

I love faeries in fantasy books!
Your 1st book is gr8- I can't wwait to read the 2nd!

Debora B said...

Got so excited I forgot to mention: the supernatural beings that fascinates me the most are witches and wizards. I find magic very... mysterious and compelling and... I don't know, there's just something about that kind of power that intrigues me =)