fiktshun

Well it’s the final month of the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge! I can’t believe it’s almost over. Although, the fact that it will be over is a good thing. Because it means that in less than two weeks after the challenge ends, Before I Wake will be available – a book I’ve been waiting a long time for.

And I’m hoping the If I Die spoiler chat will help bridge that gap. Especially since I won’t be able to wait until closer to month’s end to re-read If I Die. Not after the tormenting, twisty heartbreak that was My Soul to Steal.

Another reason I can’t wait for the challenge to end is that the amazing author, Rachel Vincent, mentioned having a BIW chat at some point after its release. I’m hoping that will be on June 27th, but I don’t think it will be quite that soon. Anyway….

Even if you just found out about the challenge now, you can still join in. Yep, the only time it will be too late is at midnight on June 15th.

All you have to do to be considered a participant in this challenge is sign up in the SIGN UP post and read and review or share your thoughts on any one of the full-length books in this series. If you’re just signing up now, thoughts or reviews must be dated during this month’s challenge dates of May 15th through June 14th.

If you want to announce your participation by creating a post, you can add your link HERE for a chance to win a giftcard at the end of the challenge.

But if you’ve already signed up, then you’re all set to START OR CONTINUE READING… or RE-READING! But whatever you do, don’t forget to stop back and leave your link. Because this month’s prizes are awesome!

And, for each book you read and post you create, you’ll get at least one entry into the end of challenge giveaway for the pre-order copies of Before I Wake.

If you’ve missed the chance to include your reviews for any of the previous books in the series - My Soul to Take, My Soul to Save, My Soul to Keep or My Soul to Steal - in the Month One, Month Two, Month Three or Month Four linky lists, not to worry. You can enter them this month.

But it will be the last chance to post those thoughts and reviews. Because once this month’s linky list closes, the challenge will officially be over. As long as your reviews are posted from January 15 through June 14, 2012 you can link them up in this last month’s linky.

Unclaimed Prizes

There are still a few unclaimed prizes for the Month One through Month Three giveaways. But since I’d posted the winners on the SSRC blog versus here, I thought I would give one final chance to those winners by announcing them in this post.

If all prizes from the first three months of the giveaway are NOT claimed by June 1st, they will be added to this month’s giveaway. Month Four prize winners will have until June 15th to claim their prizes or new winners will be chosen.

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Month Five

May 15 – June 14, 2012

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The goal for this fifth month of the challenge will be to read If I Die.

If you missed last month’s deadline, don’t give up! Whether this is a first read or a re-read, If I Die is the pivotal book in the series and one you may just not want to miss. Especially since the action hits you right from the start. A shocking blow will leave you reeling very shortly thereafter. That roller coaster that author Rachel Vincent likes to put you on is the longest, craziest ride ever. The ups. The downs. The loop-de-loops. Insane. Absolutely insane.

But that’s just my opinion.

Oh, and it won’t let you loose until that last page. So, be prepared.

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Whether this is your first month participating, you’ve been here from the start or you joined somewhere along the way, as long as you sign up and post at least one review or thoughts post you’ll be eligible for the end-of-challenge giveaway for a pre-order for Before I Wake.

As promised there will be at least ten pre-order copies up for grabs. The actual number will be determined after the challenge ends and depends solely on just how many people who signed up have posted at least one review for one of the five full-length books in the series.

There will be a separate wrap-up post after the challenge, in which the winners for the pre-order copies of Before I Wake will be announced.

And just a reminder: If you are a winner who is located internationally and Before I Wake or any of the other “book of your choice” books are not available to ship from The Book Depository to your country, I will send the book by postal mail.

What do you need to do this month?

1. Start reading or keep reading!

If you already started the challenge, then all you need to do is keep reading. If you just joined in, or you are behind, not to worry. You can read and post your reviews for My Soul to Take, My Soul to Save, My Soul to Keep and/or My Soul to Steal this month.

And you have all month to read and review this fifth book in the series to get that extra entry into the end-of-challenge giveaway.

2. Post your review or thoughts!

Whether you’ve decided to post a review, or just create a post with your thoughts about the book, you have until June 14th to do so to be entered into this month’s giveaways and to earn an entry into the end-of-challenge Before I Wake giveaway.

But note, for the four special giveaway prizes, you will have had to post at least TWO reviews of the full-length books during the challenge to be eligible. And yes, those two reviews can be posted this month!

3. Leave your link!

Be sure to come back here and leave a link to your post – wherever that may be – Blog, Facebook, Goodreads, Tumblr, etc. If you don’t leave the link, you won’t be entered into the giveaway. LINK MUST BE LEFT IN THE LINKY LIST NOT THE COMMENTS.

If you don’t have anywhere to post your thoughts or review, please leave a comment with a way to get in touch and if your review (or thoughts) are positive, I’ll post them as a guest post on my blog, Soul Screamers Reading Challenge.

Reviews or thoughts posts must be from January 15 through June 14, 2012 ONLY.

What are this month’s incentives?

***

In case you wanted to know….

Extra Credit Reads

You can still post your reviews for any of the extra credit reads this month. Each extra credit read will give you an additional entry into the Before I Wake giveaway at the end of the challenge AND will give you an extra entry into this month’s giveaway.

What if I don’t finish the book this month?

That’s okay. The challenge will be over, but If I Die is awesome. So no matter when you finish reading it, it will be a WIN.

What if I’ve signed up, but never read any books during the months of this challenge?

That’s OKAY. We all have things in life that sometimes take priority. You won’t be eligible for any of the giveaways without at least one review or thoughts post, but no one will judge you for signing up and not doing anything beyond that!

The fact that you want to read the author’s amazing books is awesome! And whether you read them now, or in the future, you’ll be discovering a series that I think it is pretty amazing.

What if I’ve already reviewed the book?

If this is a re-read for you, you can simply create a post about this book talking about what you found different the second (or third, or fourth or…) time around. If you are a blogger, you can always link to your original review in that discussion post so that people can check out what you thought on first read.

BUT, you cannot simply repost your original review to be eligible for the giveaway. AND you cannot leave a link to an old post. All posts must be created during the challenge.

The first book I plan on reading for the challenge isn’t If I Die, is that okay?

Absolutely! If you are starting this month’s challenge by reading any book other than If I Die, you can still post your reviews for that book – or any of the other Soul Screamers books – during this month’s challenge. It will give you an entry – or more depending upon how many reviews you post – into this month’s giveaway and will count as an entry toward the end-of-challenge Before I Wake pre-order giveaway.

But, you only get an extra entry for posting your review for If I Die during this month of the challenge.

How are this month’s giveaway prizes going to be decided?

The giveaway winners’ names will be drawn on June 17th. The end-of-challenge Before I Wake giveaway winners will be announced in a separate post on June 19th.

For this month’s ALL PARTICIPANTS giveaway prizes, Random will be drawing numbers based on the linky number associated with your post.

For this month’s SPECIALTY giveaway prizes, participants names will be drawn using Random’s list generator by name.

Each giveaway will be drawn separately.

If you’ve won and you do not wish to receive that prize, the next number on the list that Random drew will be the winner.

And guess what….

So….

Leave your links below for posts created from May 15 through June 14, 2012. This month the linky list will close ON June 14th to avoid confusion. So be sure to get your posts in on time to count for this final month’s giveaway and for those extra entries.

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Let’s see those posts!

It’s just about half way through the fourth month of the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge. Can you believe it? I know I can’t! That means it’s now less than two months until release date for Before I Wake.

And just a couple weeks until we can officially re-read If I Die - a book that I’ve been dying (no pun intended) to skip ahead and re-read for months now.

By now in the challenge, if we’ve read the first three books in the series, we’ve met bean sidhes (banshees) and reapers and hellions and fiends. We’ve seen what damage three of the seven deadly sins can do. We’re really starting to get to know and like – or hate – some of the major characters in the series.

And we should have already come to expect a pretty wild emotional roller coaster ride with each and every book author Rachel Vincent writes in this series.

Well, in this month’s challenge we get to meet the mara. That’s right, they’re the “living personification of a nightmare” as the description so aptly calls them. And the one we get to meet in My Soul to Steal most definitely is.

For those who already met Sabine Campbell, she more than meets the definition of nightmare – both awake and in dreams. She’s rude. She’s wicked. She has an almost single-minded focus. And that focus is locked on to someone it shouldn’t be.

For those who have yet to meet her, well, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when you do.

But My Soul to Steal is the book that sets the stage for what comes next. It’s the book that has to happen for If I Die to be as awesome as it is. Without the mara, or everything else that happens in this book, things might have turned out very differently for one particular character that I’m rather fond of. But I’ll say no more until next month’s challenge.

In the meantime, I know that being in a long reading challenge that spans months gets TOUGH. It’s why I didn’t make monthly participation mandatory. Some months are easier to add a book to the pile than others. Even if those books are absolutely amazing.

So, to add just a little incentive to pick up whatever book is next for you in the series, whether it’s the first book or the current month’s read, and to share your thoughts, I’m adding another prize to the giveaway pile.

And that would be…

All you have to do is post a review or your thoughts dating from April 15 through May 14 for any of the full-length books in the Soul Screamers series, add your link to the linky list on the Month Four challenge post by May 14th, and you will be eligible for this prize.

Just click the button below to be taken to the MONTH FOUR challenge post where you can enter your links or see what other prizes are up for giveaway in this month’s challenge.

I know that the end of April and the beginning of May are filled with new release titles that are so amazingly awesome. But if you can squeeze in a few hours to catch up on one of these books in the Soul Screamers series and share your thoughts, one of you will have $50 to buy just a few of those new releases or pre-order your copy of an upcoming title you’re dying to have.

If you are new to the challenge, you are welcome to sign up, it’s not too late! Just add your details to the linky in the sign up post HERE and then post your link to your review or thoughts in the MONTH FOUR post linked in the button above.

And yes, for those of you who already posted links to your thoughts about one of the full-length books in the series this month, you are eligible and the link you’ve previously left is your entry.

So, whether you’re just diving in, you’re on track, you’re a little – or a lot – behind, or you’re re-reading for fun, spend a few hours hanging out with Kaylee, Emma, Nash and Tod…. And yes, even Sabine…. They won’t be wasted!

Month four of the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge has officially begun! Which means that there’s only one month after this one remaining in the challenge and just over a month until the release of Before I Wake!

And yes, you can still sign up. It’s not too late! Even if you only decide to read one Soul Screamers book for the challenge you are eligible to participate. All you have to do is click the link to the sign up post in the button above to get started.

And if you want to create a participation post, you can add your link HERE for a chance to win a giftcard at the end of the challenge.

If you’ve already signed up, then you’re all set to START OR CONTINUE READING… or RE-READING! But don’t forget to come back during the month to leave your links for any books read and reviewed or posted about during this month of the challenge.

Even if you’ve been participating in the monthly challenges, don’t forget to sign up in the linky on the sign up post to be entered for the end of the challenge giveaway.

If you’ve missed the chance to include your reviews for My Soul to Take, My Soul to Save or My Soul to Keep in the Month One, Month Two or Month Three linky lists, not to worry. You can enter them this month or next month. As long as your reviews are posted from January 15 through June 14, 2012 you can link them up in any month’s linky during the challenge.

Month One and Month Two Winners

There are still a few unclaimed prizes for the winners of the Month One and Month Two challenges. I am extending the offer for one more month for a last chance for the prizes to be claimed or they will be added into final month’s giveaway. If you haven’t checked to see if you had won, CLICK HERE for Month One winners. CLICK HERE for Month Two winners.

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Month Four

April 15 – May 14, 2012

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The goal for this fourth month of the challenge will be to read My Soul to Steal.

If you didn’t make the month three deadline, there’s no reason to give up! If you’re doing a re-read, you can always skip a book and join in with this month’s read. Or if it is a first read, then just grab the next book and start reading. You do not have to catch up on all the books to be a challenge winner!

Just remember, if you continue on with the challenge you will have more chances to win some of the signed books or the pre-order for Before I Wake at the end of the challenge. And next month’s giveaway is going to be the biggie!

And if you are a winner who is located internationally and Before I Wake or any of the other “book of your choice” books are not available to ship from The Book Depository to your country, I will send the book by postal mail.

What do you need to do this month?

1. Start reading or keep reading!

If you already started the challenge, then all you need to do is keep reading. Even if you read ahead in the previous months, hopefully you held off posting your reviews so you could post them this month for an extra entry into the Before I Wake giveaway at the end of the challenge.

If you just joined in, or you are behind, not to worry. You can read and post your reviews for My Soul to Take, My Soul to Save and/or My Soul to Keep this month or at any month during the challenge.

And if it is a re-read for you and you want to skip last month’s read and start with either of the novellas – My Soul to Lose or Reaper - or with this month’s read - My Soul to Steal - then that’s okay too!

You have all month to read and review this fourth book in the series to get that extra entry into the end-of-challenge giveaway.

2. Post your review or thoughts!

Whether you’ve decided to post a review, or just create a post with your thoughts about the book, you have until May 14th to do so to be entered into any of this month’s giveaways and to earn an entry into the end-of-challenge Before I Wake giveaway.

3. Leave your link!

Be sure to come back here and leave a link to your post – wherever that may be – Blog, Facebook, Goodreads, Tumblr, etc. If you don’t leave the link, you won’t be entered into the giveaway. LINK MUST BE LEFT IN THE LINKY LIST NOT THE COMMENTS.

If you don’t have anywhere to post your thoughts or review, please leave a comment with a way to get in touch and if your review (or thoughts) are positive, I’ll post them as a guest post on my blog, Soul Screamers Reading Challenge.

Reviews or thoughts posts must be from January 15 through May 14, 2012 ONLY.

What are this month’s incentives?

***

In case you wanted to know….

Extra Credit Reads

You can post your reviews for any of the extra credit reads at any time during the challenge. Each extra credit read will give you an additional entry into the Before I Wake giveaway at the end of the challenge AND will give you an extra entry into that month’s giveaway.

SO, if you want extra chances to win a specific prize, be sure to hold off on posting your reviews for the extra credit reads until the month of that giveaway prize!

What if I don’t finish the book this month?

That’s OKAY. You can post your review or thoughts next month. And you can leave more than one link during each month of the challenge.

What if I’ve signed up, but never read any books during the months of this challenge?

That’s OKAY. We all have things in life that sometimes take priority. You won’t be eligible for any of the giveaways without at least one review or thoughts post, but no one will judge you for signing up and not doing anything beyond that!

The fact that you want to read the author’s amazing books is awesome! And whether you read them now, or in the future, you’ll be discovering a series that I think it is pretty amazing.

What if I’ve already reviewed the book?

If this is a re-read for you, you can simply create a post about this book talking about what you found different the second (or third, or fourth or…) time around. If you are a blogger, you can always link to your original review in that discussion post so that people can check out what you thought on first read.

BUT, you cannot simply repost your original review to be eligible for the giveaway. AND you cannot leave a link to an old post. All posts must be created during the challenge.

The first book I plan on reading for the challenge isn’t My Soul to Steal, is that okay?

Absolutely! If you are starting this month’s challenge by reading any book other than My Soul to Steal, you can still post your reviews for that book – or any of the other Soul Screamers books – during this month’s challenge. It will give you an entry – or more depending upon how many reviews you post – into this month’s giveaway and will count as an entry toward the end-of-challenge Before I Wake pre-order giveaway.

But, you only get an extra entry for posting your review for My Soul to Steal during this month of the challenge.

How are this month’s giveaway prizes going to be decided?

The giveaway winners’ names will be drawn on May 18th.

For this month’s giveaway prizes, Random will be drawing numbers based on the linky number associated with your post.

Each giveaway will be drawn separately.

If you’ve won and you do not wish to receive that prize, the next number on the list that Random drew will be the winner.

And guess what….

So….

Leave your links below for posts created from April 15 through May 14, 2012. This month the linky list will close ON May 14th to avoid confusion. So be sure to get your posts in on time to count for this month’s giveaway and for those extra entries.

***

Let’s see those posts!

Last weekend, the first of the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge Spoiler Chat’s was held with author Rachel Vincent. For a little over an hour, the author was kind enough to answer all of our questions about the first book in her Soul Screamers series, My Soul to Take.

And she may have even been lured into answering one or two about the second book in her series, My Soul to Save.

The full chat transcript will be available later today on the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge blog – with the If I Die spoilers redacted. But for those who are interested in finding out just what questions were asked an answered, rather than having to scroll through the chat, I thought I’d post them here.

Q & A

Q. Rose2468:  Are the other novellas going to be printed?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Rose, I hope to have news about that to announce very soon…

Q. Kihn28:  In MSTLose, Toby . . . why haven’t  you mention him in the other books?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Kihn28, I haven’t mentioned Toby again because he hasn’t been necessary to the future plots. He’s old news. Kaylee’s SO moved on.

Q. Helene:  How do you have the idea to write about bean sidhe?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Helene, honestly, I knew I wanted to write a paranormal YA but didn’t want to write about any creatures/territory that was already well-explored. So I did a bunch of folklore research and rediscovered bean sidhes. There wasn’t much in the lore, which left plenty of room for me to make stuff up. That’s the fun part.

Q. smiling_ina:  Rachel, how long did it take to come with your first draft for MSTTake?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Smiling_ina, the rough draft of MSTTake took about…4 or 5 weeks.

C. PyxiRose:  Wow that is quick.

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] PyxiRose, Most of the others are longer, but took abt the same amount of time. I’m pretty quick with most rough drafts.

Q. smiling_ina:  Wow, that’s all? I bet the edits took up most of the work.

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] smiling_ina The Soul Screamers edits aren’t usually that bad. The Unbound edits are hell. Every single time.

Q. Rachel:  I have a question, but it’s more general… as a writer, you work from home, does that ever feel isolating to you?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Rachel, yes, writing is a very isolating career, at least for me. I’ve lived in S.A., TX for 2.5 years and have only made 1 in-person friend. I’m pretty sure I’d fade away without the internet.

Q. Ri:  Do you outline your novels before you write them?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Ri, yes, I almost ALWAYS outline my books first. That’s actually a requirement for me, in my contracts with my publisher.

Q. bookhound:  Rachel, I know you can’t give us specific details, but I know both your current series are ending soon. Do you have more in the works so we don’t have to wait too long to read something new from you?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Bookhound, yes, I’m currently working on two other “side project” books, but I can’t talk about them, because I haven’t even tried to sell them yet. My agent hasn’t even seen them.

Q. KatherynUK:  This is more a general question, but are you planning on coming to the UK anytime this year?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] KatherynUK, I’d love to come to the UK, but because of time and cost restrictions, I’ll only be able to do that when/if Mira Ink invites me.

Q. Apiee:  What inspires your stories?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Apiee, my inspiration comes from everywhere. What-ifs, mostly. And songs. Even things other people said, but I mis-heard. Sometimes what I heard was more interesting than what was actually said.

Q. MandiKaye:  When you write, do you start with an outline that you stick to? Or do you just start writing and let it flow that way?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] MandiKaye, I almost never stick to an outline entirely. The book changes as it’s written.

Q. smiling_ina:  I have a question about Sophie. Does she really “hate” Kaylee because she thinks she’s embarrassing her or is there maybe something else? Maybe Sophie is as self-confident as she seems? Oops, I meant, maybe Sophie is NOT as self-confident as she seems.

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] smiling_ina, Sophie…Sophie is growing, slowly but surely. She’s truly not a big Kaylee-fan, for several reasons.

Q. Mag_GeekChic:  How do you decide which mythical creatures to include in your books? (Other than the bean sidhes, as you’ve already answered that.)

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Mag_GeekChick, most of the creatures in Soul Screamers are made up-entirely, or are my versions of folklore creatures. I use whichever ones fit the plot.

Q. bookhound:  Do you see the Soul Sceamers following Sophie later on, maybe under different titles that don’t follow the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep poem? Since you based Never to Sleep on her?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Bookhound, no, after WAMS, there will be no other Soul Screamers novels. At least, that’s where I stand on that issue now. I love the series, but there are always newer and shinier ideas on the horizon.

Q. dutchess_shoes:  What are your favorite kinds of scenes to write?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Dutchess, my favorite SS scenes are the Netherworld scenes. In general, though, my favorite scenes to write are dialogue heavy. I love dialogue.

Q. Fiktshun:  Rachel, did you have a specific order planned for the various sins in each book?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Fiktshun, I had an order for the seven deadly sins/book themes originally, but that changed a little. Once I realized Sabine existed, I knew the envy book had to come earlier than I’d intended. Remind me in the IID spoiler chat to tell you guys what the lust plot ALMOST was.

Q. bookhound:  I’ve beed trying to get Rachel to Tennessee where she is from to do a signing….it is hard!

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Bookhound, yes, I did grow up in TN. I was there from 5th grade through my freshman year in college.

Q. Rachel:  You’re a writer with quite a big online presence, what kind of measures do you have to take to protect your own/your family’s privacy online?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Rachel, that’s a great question. I’m really big on online privacy. I never show pictures of the outside of my house or use my family members real names. Nor do I say what they do for a living or how old they are, beyond generalities. And I try to stop people from posting their email addresses in my blog comments. That’s really dangerous, guys.

Q. smiling_ina:  Rachel, are any of the SS characters based on people you know in real life? Even loosely?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Smiling_ina none of the SS characters are truly based on real people, but Nash is a sort of combination of several guys I dated or wanted to date in HS. Sabine is named after a girl in my HS who was rumored to have…been with my ex while we were still together. Tod…is his own creature.

Q. Mintz:  In MStT, there was one passage (though I don’t quite remember where it was), where we learned that when they were younger, Kaylee was “adored” by her cousin, which I would assume is Sophie. Why did her “adoration” for Kaylee change? Or did the adults misinterpret that?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Mintz, that’s a good one. Yes, when Sophie was a toddler, she followed after Kaylee, as little kids often trail after their older relatives/friends. But then they become self-aware. And everything changes.

Q. perla333:  What is your opinion about fan translation?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Perla333 I don’t know what fan translation is….

Q. perla333:  Well fan translation is when the rights to a book aren’t purchased and people who make the translation make it for that people who don’t know English to can read the book. Is illegally, but a fan translations are common in different countries. And I’m just curious what do you think about it

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Perla, Um… I understand the reason people do that, but it really is illegal, because neither the publisher nor or author are compensated for fan translations. I’m willing to discuss that further, but not in this chat.

Q. Cem:  Rereading MSTTake I released just how much all the characters have changed by IID. Did you know where things would end up when you were writing Take?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Cem (Hey!!!) no, I didn’t know where all the character developments were going when I started MSTTake. I’ve never been contracted for more than 3 books in a series at a time (which is pretty standard) so I never know how many more books I’m going to get to write until I decide I definitely want to end a series. So…they head down their own paths, and my job is to make sure that I keep things…

[RACHEL VINCENT] …real for them. There are no miraculous recoveries. No personality transplants. No easy outs.

Q. Shay:  Is Before I Wake the last book of the series?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Shay, no, there will be 7 full-length novels, plus the shorts and novellas.

Q. Rachel:  Did you know the plot to each book when you wrote My Soul to Take, or did you just have a vague idea of what would happen in the rest of the series?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Rachel, I plotted the books one at a time. Write one book, then plot the next. Though I usually have a general idea of where the next one will go as I’m writing the previous.

Q. Ri:  Weird question, but I thought I’d ask it: What kind of kid was Tod before he died, in like a high school setting? What kind of student was he? What did they think of him?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Ri (without spoilers…) Tod was a normal kid. Smart, but no overachiever. Athletic, but no super-star. He blossomed after death. But no more about that in this chat.

Q. beth:  I live in England and can’t work out when the IID Spoiler chat is haha could someone tell me in hour many minutes/hours it is please?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Beth, that one won’t be until…what? June?

Q. dutchess_shoes:  Book 1-4 all start with “My Soul to…” Why did you change the titles up for books 5 -7?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Dutchess, we changed the title pattern because people were getting the titles confused. As was I.

Q. smiling_ina:  Did you always plan on writing MSTLose as a pre-Novella, or did you agent or publisher came up with the idea?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Smiling_ina I was asked by my publisher to write MSTLose as a free novella, to give people a taste of my writing/Kaylee’s world in anticipation of the books. MSTLose was actually written after the second book was complete.

Q. Kihn28:  RachelVincent, in book one why did you make Tod seems so miserable?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Kihn, in book 1, Tod seems so miserable because he’s pretty miserable. Nash can’t mourn his brother’s passing with that dead brother is still around. But at that point, Tod is starting to lose his humanity. To kind of slip out of the world of the living.

Q. Rose2468:  Rachel, maybe do you know if the series (or any of your book) are going to be translated to Hebrew?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Rose, I have no information about any Hebrew releases. It’s up to the publishers in any particular territory to buy the rights to the book. Otherwise, it won’t be legally published there. None of that is up to me.

Q. amison15:  Why did you choose to have Kaylee oblivious to her identity in the beginning rather than knowing from the start?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Amison15, that’s a great Q. I wanted Kaylee to be ignorant of her heritage at first so the reader could figure it out along with her. Soul Screamers has some pretty indepth world-building, and if Kaylee already knew all about it, that would be hard to convey to the reader without using info dumps.

Q. bookhound:  Do you like ending a series? I know you said with Shifters it ended like you wanted, but do you think back on Shifters and even possible the current ones and wish you had contracted for just one or two more books. Like there was something you forgot to talk about and want to say?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Bookhound, no, I don’t particularly like ending series. But I don’t want any of them to drag out past their prime, either.

Q. Kihn28:  Ok how did you envision the whole death scene with Kaylee and her mom

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Kihn28, you mean when Kaylee was 3? You know, I don’t know. I’ve tried not to picture it too specifically, because I may want to write it someday as a flashback or a short, but what needs to go in that scene might change between now and then. Does that make sense?

Q. bookhound:  Is it hard for you to kill off a character? Do they feel like a part of you or like a child?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Bookhound…you’re all going to hate me for this, but no, it’s not usually hard for me to kill off a character. I feel like those are the moments when I shine. When I can make people mourn someone I made up entirely. I think pathos and anger are my favorite emotions to write, and death lets me do both, if it’s been built up properly.

[RACHEL VINCENT] Re: Killing off characters, I’ve always found that if the readers think any character is “Safe” they grow complacent. None of my c…

[RACHEL VINCENT] None of my characters are safe.

Q. summerbug99:  Rachel, when is the last book coming out ?!

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] summerbug99, Next fall. 2013

Q. Kihn28:  Rachel, How would you describe Kaylee’s mom?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Kihn, how would I describe Kaylee’s mom? Dead. Loved. Mourned.

Q. PandaCutie101:  Rachel, how did u get the idea for Kaylee’s mom’s death?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] PandaCutie, Kaylee’s mom’s death was actually one of the first background bits I knew for sure. The other was Nash & Tod’s relationship. Those form key personality traits for the main characters. Kaylee’s feeling that she needs to earn her life. Nash and Tod’s complicated relationship…

Q. PandaCutie101:  Rachel, do you think that Kaylee’s uncle might ever come back in to the books for something?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] PandaCutie, Kaylee’s uncle is in several of them. And I have a feeling that everyone will be involved in the final book. Everyone still living (or mostly-living) anyway.

Q. Kihn28:  So how is Emma life going to be now that Kaylee and Nash saved her but in result someone else dying.

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Kihn28, Emma’s life changes a lot, especially once she understands what K & N had to do to save her. There’s guilt, and relief, and the fear that one day, they may not be able to save her.

Q. smiling_ina:  I just want to say I LOVE Lydia! What was your inspiration for her?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] smiling_ina I love Lydia too! I consider her one of the tragic figures of the series. (Nash is another of those–but NO SPOILERS). No matter what happens, those two never seem to catch a break…

Q. Shay:  Why is Kaylee always soo unsure? She doesn’t know how to take stand… why did u make her character this way?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Shay… I think some people would argue with you on that one. Kaylee takes a couple of very hard stands later in the series.

Q. smiling_ina:  Btw, I was kind of happy with what happened to Kaylee’s aunt… does that make me a bad person?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Smiling_Ina, I think Aunt Val got what she deserved.

Q. dutchess_shoes:  I have seen many interpretations of the name Kaylee but that is the first time I ever saw it spelled that way. Is there any reason why you did that??

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Dutchess, I spelled Kaylee’s name like that because that’s the most common American spelling of the name that I’ve seen. She’s kind of an “every man” character, except that she’s a bean sidhe. She’s the average person thrown into extraordinary circumstances. She has two choices: curl up into a ball and cry, or learn to fight. But in her heart, she never feels extraordinary. That’s what the name…

[RACHEL VINCENT] …is supposed to say. Normal, but with an Irish heritage, as a throwback to the original bean sidhe lore.

Q. Kihn28:  Whatever happened to the bond between Kaylee and Sophie when they were kids?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Kihn, When Kaylee and Sophie were kids, they had no problems. Then Kaylee’s mother died, and her father left, and Sophie suddenly had to share her parents with a cousin she grows to see as strange. That’s what happened.

Q. smiling_ina:  My heart just broke for Lydia in MSTLose. All the pain she is taking on herself. Does Lydia ever really have a choice on whether or not she WANTS to take the pain away from others, or is she compelled to do it?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Smiling_ina, yes, Lydia has a choice…sometimes. You’ll learn more about that in IID.

Q. PandaCutie101:  Why was Nash never interested in Sophie? I mean, whatever magical powers Kaylee had, Sophie is a teenage high school girl. Plus, Nash didn’t even know what Kaylee was until later. Please tell me why they were never interested in each other.

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] PandaCutie I don’t know how to say why Nash was never interested in Sophie. Chemistry’s a funny, unpredictable thing.

Q. Fiktshun:  Was Aunt Val’s sacrifice always a planned ending? It was totally heartbreaking that all those girls died for nothing…

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Fiktshun, yes, Aunt Val’s sacrifice was always planned. She had to see her own daughter at risk to understand how many lives she destroyed.

Q. PandaCutie101:  I would love to know more about Nash’s mom. She seems awesome!

C. PandaCutie101:  Harmony Rocks!

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] PandaCutie, yes, Harmony is kinda awesome, IMO. She has a really interesting discussion with Kaylee’s dad in BIW that I think you guys will get a kick out of.

Q. Cem:  The end of MSTTake suggested a past between Harmony and Kaylee’s dad and uncle. Any chance we’ll get that back story at some point?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Cem, yes! There is an interesting past between the Cavanaugh brothers and Harmony. That bit is kind of foreshadowing for Kaylee, and backshadowing for Harmony.

Q. Kihn28:  RachelV, will you ever write a Nash story?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Kihn28, I’ve thought about writing a Nash book, but people are having a hard time sympathizing with him later on in the series, and I’m not sure that seeing things from his perspective would help that. But it may make the Kaylee-haters hate her more, and I don’t want to do that.

Q. smiling_ina:  I felt so sorry for the other girls too, but was sooo happy when Nash and Kaylee saved Emma. Emma has got to be one of the best friend you could ever have!

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Smiling_Ina, Emma holds a special place for me. She’s everyone’s best friend. Pretty, but not conceited. Social, but still private. And she’s Kaylee’s only remaining link to the normal world. Seeing Emma put in danger because of her friendship with Kaylee is one of the hardest parts for K.

Q. dutchess_shoes:  Will there be another chat to discuss later books?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Dutchess, yes, we’re going to do one chat for each book.

Q. Mintz:  Belphegore, the hellion, was mentioned in MStT… but I’m assuming that we’ll learn about her/him later?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Mintz, yes, we will see Belephegore again!

Q. Fiktshun:  We need an Unbound series Spoiler Chat!

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Fiktshun, I’m up for an Unbound chat.

C. Fiktshun:  Yes! So excited! And then we can chat all things Unbound!

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Fiktshun, yes, we can chat about Unbound! But no one else has read SB yet…

Q. Kihn28:  Can you explain what Lydia is? Or is that a spoiler?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Kihn, I don’t consider that a spoiler. Though you won’t actually hear it until IID. But she’s a syphon. She takes surplus things from other people. Mostly emotions and pain.

Q. Fiktshun:  Can you expand on just what Tod thought when he saw K in MSTLose?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] {Fiktshun} What did Tod think when he saw K in MSTLose? Hm…

[RACHEL VINCENT] {Fiktshun} Well, it was a brief sighting, but he was definitely intrigued.

Q. PandaCutie101:  Can u tell us what Nash was doing in MSTLose?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] {PandaCutie101} What was Nash doing in MSTLose? Being Nash. The old Nash. Having fun. Hanging out. Getting good grades without really trying. Getting girls without really trying. Not yet noticing Kaylee…

Q. Mintz:  Do you have character songs that you listen to when you think/write about your characters?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Mintz, yes, I have certain songs that remind me of certain characters. But I don’t typically listen to music while I write.

Q. Juli:  Rachel, did you have to cut out any characters/scenes you really liked in MSTT?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Juli, no there were no major cuts in MSTTake. Very few in the SS series at all, actually. My edits for those usually involve tightening prose and adding stuff.

Q. Sunnykimmy:  When did Tod realize that he knew Kaylee from MStT? *I mean MStLose.

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Sunnykimmy, I think that’s actually mentioned in one of the future books, and I’m NOT getting sucked into another spoiler.

Q. Kihn28:  I still say even though it in the others books, Tod saw her first LOL

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Kihn28, yes, Tod saw her first. That’s in MSTLose. But you can’t call dibs on people.

Q. Fiktshun:  If you had to change anything from MSTTake, would you?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] {Fiktshun} If I could change anything in MSTTAke, I would go back and fix the timeline error. Tod actually has two ages in that book. I missed one in a timeline rewrite during the edits.

Q. Ri:  There’s also the one with Harmony’s wail sounding beautiful to Kaylee… when it shouldn’t

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Ri, yes, I forgot about that one. MSTTake was the first book HQTeen published, and we were all still getting that ball rolling at the time. Some things slipped through the cracks, unfortunately.

Q. smiling_ina:  So, was Nash only interested in Kaylee in first place because she was a bean sidhe? Because he never showed any interest in her until he’d had his suspicion about her.

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Smiling_ina, that’s a good one. Nash may have been interested in Kaylee because of her species at first, but it grew beyond that.

Q. Mintz:  You’ve mentioned that you have a hard time writing the first book in a series (at l think you said something like this), did you find that to be the case with MStT?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Mintz, yes, I usually have a hard time with the first book in any series. The first draft of MSTTake wasn’t hard, comparatively, but I didn’t get it right the first time either. It took some…rewrites.

Q. bookhound:  Since Sophie was in Nash’s crown in school (the popular kids)…did he know Sophie is also a bean sidhe like he did with Kaylee? Or was it Kaylee’s scream that attracted him to her?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Bookhound, Sophie’s not a bean sidhe.

Q. Fiktshun:  In MSTTake Kaylee seems to notice an awful lot of details about Tod. Almost more than about Nash. Was that planned?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] {Fiktshun} Was it intentional that Kaylee noticed more about Tod than Nash? No. I hadn’t noticed. But my CP did. During the critiques, she kept writing, “I get it. Blond. Curly. Gorgeous. But what does Nash look like?”

[RACHEL VINCENT] Yeah, Tod snuck up on me.

Q. PandaCutie101:  Rachel, which, in your own opinion, is cuter in the book or real life? Nash or Tod?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] PandaCutie, There is no way I can answer that.

Q. PandaCutie101:  Ok, I’ll rephrase it. Do you think your characters are cuter in your books or would be cuter portrayed as actors?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] PandaCutie, there is no way on earth any real-life actor could be as cute as I picture Nash and Tod in my head. But I’m more than willing to let them try.

Q. Fiktshun:  Kaylee seems very confident about most things except when it comes to Nash. Why does Nash make her feel so insecure about herself?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Fiktshun, I don’t think it’s Nash who makes her insecure. I think it’s dating/love in general. He’s her first serious bf (Toby didn’t last long) and there are always some growing pains involved in that.

Q. smiling_ina:  Who was your least favorite character to write about in MSTLose and Take?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] smiling_ina, there aren’t any characters I don’t like writing in SS.

Q. Sunnykimmy:  I remember you asking on Facebook for suggestions for names for a new character (not sure for which series). But how did you pick the names of Nash, Kaylee, Tod and Emma? Was it random?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] SunnyKimmy, Nash was the hardest to name. He went through 5 or 6 names before his, and I eventually just ran out of time to give him a real name. So Nash stuck. No. 1 thinks it’s hilarious that he’s named after two cars. Which was totally unintentional.

A couple Q’s and A’s about Avari from My Soul to Save…

Q. bookhound:  Avari….how much fun is it to write from the POV of someone who is just so wicked, souless, and plain mean?

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Bookhound, I LOVE writing Avari. He’s so creepy. He’s the kind of bad guy that you can almost get along with, and he’ll let you think that’s what ‘s happening–right up until the time that he bites your head off. Cavazos (from Unbound) is like that too.

Q. Mintz:  Avari is probably one of the best antagonists in YA fiction that I’ve read of.

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Mintz, Avari was fun to write in BIW. I wish we could talk about that, but we have to wait a bit. But he has an interesting perspective on how IID ended.

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Oh, crud. I forgot Avari isn’t in MSTTAke. Sorry, guys.

Read on for just one final question about Sabine….

Q. bookhound:  With having characters like Avari and the Mara (I can’t think of her name…grrr!) it must be very freeing as a writer to be able to write what no one would say, but truly thinks. (I hope this makes sense)

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Bookhound, that’s what I like best about writing Sabine. She’s so brutally honest. ;09

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] Crap! Yes, no Sabine yet. Sorry!

A. [RACHEL VINCENT] You guys keep sucking me in to spoilers, and I’m such an easy target!!! ;(

Month three of the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge has officially begun! This means we’re one month closer to the release of Before I Wake! If you still haven’t signed up it’s not too late. Seriously. There are three months left to read any or all of the books in the Soul Screamers series. Just click the link to the sign up post in the button above to get started.

And if you want to create a participation post, you can add your link HERE for a chance to win a giftcard at the end of the challenge.

If you’ve already signed up, then you’re all set to START OR CONTINUE READING… or RE-READING! But don’t forget to come back during the month to leave your links for any books read and reviewed or posted during this month of the challenge.

Even if you’ve been participating in the monthly challenges, don’t forget to sign up in the linky on the sign up post to be entered for the end of the challenge giveaway. And if you’re submitting your Month Two Reviews, you have until Saturday, March 17th to add your links! But only for reviews posted BEFORE March 15th.

Starting with this month (month three) there will no longer be any extra days to enter your review links, as it has caused a bit of confusion with participants entering reviews posted after the corresponding month’s challenge end date.

If you’ve missed the chance to include your reviews for My Soul to Take or My Soul to Save in the Month One or Month Two linky lists, don’t fear. You can enter it this month or in any subsequent month. As long as your reviews are posted from January 15 through June 14, 2012 you can link them up in any month’s linky during the challenge.

Month One Winners

There are still a couple of unclaimed prizes for the winners of the Month One challenge. I am offering up one last chance for the prizes to be claimed or they will be added into next month’s giveaway. If you haven’t checked to see if you had won, CLICK HERE.

***

Month Three

March 15 – April 14, 2012

***

The goal for this third month of the challenge will be to read My Soul to Keep.

If you didn’t make the month two deadline, don’t give up! While it might not seem like a lot to read a book a month and write up your thoughts, I’m sure as amazing as the Soul Screamers books are, they aren’t the only books on your pile. And I’m also pretty sure that reading isn’t the only thing that takes up your days.

You can still continue to participate in the challenge without worrying that anyone is judging you for not having read every book or having read each book during each challenge month. If you continue on with the challenge you will have more chances to win some of the signed books or the pre-order for Before I Wake at the end of the challenge.

And if you are a winner who is located internationally and Before I Wake or any of the other “book of your choice” books are not available to ship from The Book Depository to your country, I will send the book by postal mail.

What do you need to do this month?

1. Start reading or keep reading!

If you already started the challenge, then all you need to do is keep reading. Even if you read ahead in the previous months, hopefully you held off posting your reviews so you could post them this month for an extra entry into the Before I Wake giveaway at the end of the challenge.

If you just joined in, or you are behind, not to worry. You can read and post your reviews for My Soul to Take and/or My Soul to Save this month or at any month during the challenge.

And if it is a re-read for you and you want to skip last month’s read and start with either of the novellas – My Soul to Lose or Reaper - or with this month’s read - My Soul to Keep - then that’s okay too!

You have all month to read and review this third book in the series to get that extra entry into the end-of-challenge giveaway.

2. Post your review or thoughts!

Whether you’ve decided to post a review, or just create a post with your thoughts about the book, you have until April 14th to do so to be entered into any of this month’s giveaways and to earn an entry into the end-of-challenge Before I Wake giveaway.

3. Leave your link!

Be sure to come back here and leave a link to your post – wherever that may be – Blog, Facebook, Goodreads, Tumblr, etc. If you don’t leave the link, you won’t be entered into the giveaway. LINK MUST BE LEFT IN THE LINKY LIST NOT THE COMMENTS.

If you don’t have anywhere to post your thoughts or review, please leave a comment with a way to get in touch and if your review (or thoughts) are positive, I’ll post them as a guest post on my blog, Soul Screamers Reading Challenge.

Reviews or thoughts posts must be from January 15 through April 14, 2012 ONLY.

What are this month’s incentives?

***

In case you wanted to know….

Extra Credit Reads

You can post your reviews for any of the extra credit reads at any time during the challenge. Each extra credit read will give you an additional entry into the Before I Wake giveaway at the end of the challenge AND will give you an extra entry into that month’s giveaway.

SO, if you want extra chances to win a specific prize, be sure to hold off on posting your reviews for the extra credit reads until the month of that giveaway prize!

What if I don’t finish the book this month?

That’s OKAY. You can post your review or thoughts next month, or at any time during the challenge. And you can leave more than one link during each month of the challenge.

What if I’ve signed up, but never read any books during the months of this challenge?

That’s OKAY. We all have things in life that sometimes take priority. You won’t be eligible for any of the giveaways without at least one review or thoughts post, but no one will judge you for signing up and not doing anything beyond that!

The fact that you want to read the author’s amazing books is awesome! And whether you read them now, or in the future, you’ll be discovering a series that I think it is pretty amazing.

What if I’ve already reviewed the book?

If this is a re-read for you, you can simply create a post about this book talking about what you found different the second (or third, or fourth or…) time around. If you are a blogger, you can always link to your original review in that discussion post so that people can check out what you thought on first read.

BUT, you cannot simply repost your original review to be eligible for the giveaway. AND you cannot leave a link to an old post. All posts must be created during the dates of each challenge month.

The first book I plan on reading for the challenge isn’t My Soul to Keep, so why start now?

If you are starting this month’s challenge by reading any book other than My Soul to Keep, you can still post your reviews for that book during this month’s challenge post. It will give you an entry into this month’s giveaway and will count as an entry toward the end-of-challenge Before I Wake pre-order giveaway. But, you won’t get an extra entry for posting your review during the scheduled read month for that book.

While the disadvantage is that you won’t get the extra entry, there are advantages to reading any of the books early and participating now.

One of the advantages to reading it now – and posting a review or discussion post – as opposed to waiting for the scheduled month, is that you’ll be eligible for this month’s giveaway prize. You may also discover that once you finish reading the series you’ll want to go back and re-read those first books – trust me, If I Die is a game-changer and it is very likely that you’ll be interested in doing just that.

So, by participating now, you’ll have the time later on during the challenge to re-read those books and by creating a post be eligible for those other giveaways and get yet another entry into the Before I Wake giveaway.

How are this month’s giveaway prizes going to be decided?

The giveaway winners’ names will be drawn on April 18th.

For this month’s giveaway prizes, Random will be drawing numbers based on the linky number associated with your post.

Each giveaway will be drawn separately.

If you’ve won and you do not wish to receive that prize, the next number on the list that Random drew will be the winner.

And guess what….

So….

Leave your links below for posts created from March 15 through April 14, 2012. This month the linky list will close ON April 14th to avoid confusion. So be sure to get your posts in on time to count for this month’s giveaway and for those extra entries.

***

Let’s see those posts!

Today begins month two of the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge! Haven’t signed up? It’s not too late. Just click the link to the sign up post in the button above. If you want to create a participation post, add your link HERE for a chance to win a giftcard at the end of the challenge.

If you’re already signed up, then you’re all set to START OR CONTINUE READING… or RE-READING!

Be sure to sign up in the linky on the sign up post to be entered for the giveaway at the end of the challenge. And if you’re submitting your Month One Reviews, you have until Friday, February 17th to add your links!

If you’ve missed the chance to include your review in the Month One linky, don’t fear. You can enter it this month or in any subsequent month. As long as your reviews are posted from January 15 through June 14, 2012 you can link them up in any month’s linky during the challenge.

***

Month Two

February 15 – March 14, 2012

***

The goal for this second month of the challenge will be to read My Soul to Save.

I cannot believe there are over two hundred sign-ups for this challenge. That’s so far beyond my wildest expectations. If all two hundred participants create just one post during the challenge, there will be twenty pre-orders of Before I Wake up for grabs.

As it now stands, even if those who signed up do not create a post, I will be giving away ten pre-orders of Before I Wake at the end of the challenge.

Of course, it would be amazing if there ended up being three hundred or more participants! And it’s not because it would make me smile to know that so many people joined my challenge – though it would – but because Rachel Vincent’s books are unbelievably awesome and I would love everyone to have read them.

What do you need to do?

1. Start reading or keep reading!

If you already started the challenge last month, then all you need to do is keep reading. Even if you read ahead last month, hopefully you held off posting your reviews so you could post them this month for an extra entry into the Before I Wake giveaway at the end.

If you just joined in, or you are behind, not to worry. You can read and post your reviews for My Soul to Take this month or at any month during the challenge. And if it is a re-read for you and you want to skip last month’s read and start with My Soul to Lose, then that’s okay too!

You have all month to read and review this second book in the series to get that extra entry into the end-of-challenge giveaway.

2. Post your review or thoughts!

Whether you’ve decided to post a review, or just create a post with your thoughts about the book, you have until March 14th to do so to be entered into any of this month’s giveaways and to earn an entry into the end-of-challenge Before I Wake giveaway.

3. Leave your link!

Be sure to come back here and leave a link to your post – wherever that may be – Blog, Facebook, Goodreads, Tumblr, etc. If you don’t leave the link, you won’t be entered into the giveaway. LINK MUST BE LEFT IN THE LINKY LIST.

If you don’t have anywhere to post your thoughts or review, please leave a comment with a way to get in touch and if your review (or thoughts) are positive, I’ll post them as a guest post on my blog, Soul Screamers Reading Challenge.

Reviews or thoughts posts must be from January 15 through March 14, 2012 ONLY.

What are this month’s incentives?

***

In case you wanted to know….

Extra Credit Reads

You can post your reviews for any of the extra credit reads at any time during the challenge. Each extra credit read will give you an additional entry into the Before I Wake giveaway at the end of the challenge AND will give you an extra entry into that month’s giveaway.

SO, if you want extra chances to win a specific prize, be sure to hold off on posting your reviews for the extra credit reads until the month of that giveaway prize!

What if I don’t finish the book this month?

That’s OKAY. You can post your review or thoughts next month, or at any time during the challenge. And you can leave more than one link during each month of the challenge.

What if I’ve signed up, but never read any books during the months of this challenge?

That’s OKAY. We all have things in life that sometimes take priority. You won’t be eligible for any of the giveaways without at least one review or thoughts post, but no one will judge you for signing up and not doing anything beyond that!

The fact that you want to read the author’s amazing books is awesome! And whether you read them now, or in the future, you’ll be discovering a series that I think it is pretty amazing.

What if I’ve already reviewed the book?

If this is a re-read for you, you can simply create a post about this book talking about what you found different the second (or third, or fourth or…) time around. If you are a blogger, you can always link to your original review in that discussion post so that people can check out what you thought on first read.

BUT, you cannot simply repost your original review to be eligible for the giveaway. AND you cannot leave a link to an old post. All posts must be created during the dates of each challenge month.

The first book I plan on reading for the challenge isn’t My Soul to Save, so why start now?

If you are starting this month’s challenge by reading any book other than My Soul to Save, you can still post your reviews for that book during this month’s challenge post. It will give you an entry into this month’s giveaway and will count as an entry toward the end-of-challenge Before I Wake pre-order giveaway. But, you won’t get an extra entry for posting your review during the scheduled read month for that book.

While the disadvantage is that you won’t get the extra entry, there are advantages to reading any of the books early and participating now.

One of the advantages to reading it now – and posting a review or discussion post – as opposed to waiting for the scheduled month, is that you’ll be eligible for this month’s giveaway prize. You may also discover that once you finish reading the series you’ll want to go back and re-read those first books – trust me, If I Die is a game-changer and it is very likely that you’ll be interested in doing just that.

So, by participating now, you’ll have the time later on during the challenge to re-read those books and by creating a post be eligible for those other giveaways and get yet another entry into the Before I Wake giveaway.

How are this month’s giveaway prizes going to be decided?

The giveaway winners’ names will be drawn on MARCH 18th.

For this month’s giveaway prizes, Random will be drawing numbers based on the linky number associated with your post.

Each giveaway will be drawn separately.

If you’ve won and you do not wish to receive that prize, the next number on the list that Random drew will be the winner.

And guess what….

So….

Leave your links below for posts created from February 15 through March 14, 2012. I will leave the linky open until March 17th for those who may have forgotten to leave them, but I have to close it fairly quickly so that Random can choose names for the giveaway prizes.

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Let’s see those posts!

Today is the first day of the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge! If you’ve already signed up, then you’re all set to START READING… or RE-READING!

If you haven’t signed up, just click on the badge above for details on what the challenge is and what you could win if you participate.

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Month One

January 15 – February 14, 2012

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The goal for this first month of the challenge will be to read My Soul to Take.

First, I want to thank all of you who have already signed up to participate in this reading challenge. I had no idea there would be this many people signing on for the event and I am so surprised and super, super excited!

If everyone who signed up posts a review at any point during this challenge, there will be a lot of pre-order copies of Before I Wake for giveaway at the end of the challenge!

What do you need to do?

1. Start reading!

Hopefully you were able to wait to start reading your first challenge book until the event started, but if you just couldn’t wait and got a jump-start on your reading, you’re ahead of the game.

You have all month to read this first book – or any book in the series – you are starting this challenge with.

2. Post your review or thoughts!

Whether you’ve decided to post a review, or just create a post with your thoughts about the book, you have until February 14th to do so to be entered into any of this month’s giveaways and to earn an entry into the end-of-challenge Before I Wake giveaway.

3. Leave your link!

Be sure to come back here and leave a link to your post – wherever that may be – Blog, Facebook, Goodreads, Tumblr, etc. If you don’t leave the link, you won’t be entered into the giveaway.

If you don’t have anywhere to post your thoughts or review, please leave a comment with a way to get in touch and if your review (or thoughts) are positive, I’ll post them as a guest post on my blog, Soul Screamers Reading Challenge.

Reviews or thoughts posts must be from January 15 through February 14, 2012 ONLY.

What are this month’s incentives?

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In case you wanted to know….

Extra Credit Reads

You can post your reviews for any of the extra credit reads at any time during the challenge. Each extra credit read will give you an additional entry into the Before I Wake giveaway at the end of the challenge AND will give you an extra entry into that month’s giveaway.

SO, if you want extra chances to win a specific prize, be sure to hold off on posting your reviews for the extra credit reads until the month of that giveaway prize!

What if I don’t finish the book this month?

That’s OKAY. You can post your review or thoughts next month, or at any time during the challenge. And you can leave more than one link during each month of the challenge.

What if I’ve signed up, but never read any books during the months of this challenge?

That’s OKAY. We all have things in life that sometimes take priority. You won’t be eligible for any of the giveaways without at least one review or thoughts post, but no one will judge you for signing up and not doing anything beyond that!

The fact that you want to read the author’s amazing books is awesome! And whether you read them now, or in the future, you’ll be discovering a series that I think it is pretty amazing.

What if I’ve already reviewed the book?

If this is a re-read for you, you can simply create a post about this book talking about what you found different the second (or third, or fourth or…) time around. If you are a blogger, you can always link to your original review in that discussion post so that people can check out what you thought on first read.

BUT, you cannot simply repost your original review to be eligible for the giveaway. AND you cannot leave a link to an old post. All posts must be created during the dates of each challenge month.

The first book I plan on reading for the challenge isn’t My Soul to Take, so why start now?

If you are starting this challenge by reading any book other than My Soul to Take, you can still post your reviews for that book during this month’s challenge post. It will give you an entry into this month’s giveaway and will count as an entry toward the end-of-challenge Before I Wake pre-order giveaway. But, you won’t get an extra entry for posting your review during the scheduled read month for that book.

While the disadvantage is that you won’t get the extra entry, there are advantages to reading the book early and participating from the start.

One of the advantages to reading it now – and posting a review or discussion post – as opposed to waiting for the scheduled month, is that you’ll be eligible for this month’s giveaway prize. You may also discover that once you finish reading the series you’ll want to go back and re-read those first books – trust me, If I Die is a game-changer and it is very likely that you’ll be interested in doing just that.

So, by participating now, you’ll have the time later on during the challenge to re-read those books and by creating a post be eligible for those other giveaways and get yet another entry into the Before I Wake giveaway.

How are the giveaway prizes going to be decided?

The giveaway winners’ names will be drawn on FEBRUARY 18th.

For this month’s giveaway prizes, Random will be drawing numbers based on the linky number associated with your post.

Each giveaway will be drawn separately.

If you’ve won and you do not wish to receive that prize, the next number on the list that Random drew will be the winner.

And guess what….

So….

Leave your links below for posts created from January 15 through February 14, 2012. I will leave the linky open until February 17th for those who may have forgotten to leave them, but I have to close it fairly quickly so that Random can choose names for the giveaway prizes.

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Let’s see those posts!

Well, it’s a brand new year and I thought I’d do something new. Start a reading challenge of my very own. And I don’t think there is a more perfect series that I can pick than author Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers series.

Why? Do I really need to ask that? This series is AMAZING.

If you need another reason, well… the timing couldn’t be more perfect. With five full-length books in print in the U.S. and If I Die coming out shortly in the U.K., it works out so that if one book is read each month, the series can be completely read (or re-read) just before the U.S. release date of Before I Wake, book six in the series.

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The Challenge

To READ (or re-read) and REVIEW (or post about) all five full-length books in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent between January 15 and June 14, 2012.

THE BOOKS

My Soul to Take

January 15-February 14, 2012

My Soul to Save

February 15-March 14, 2012

My Soul to Keep

March 15-April 14-2012

My Soul to Steal

April 15-May14, 2012

If I Die

May 15-June 14, 2012

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The Deets

The Soul Screamers Challenge will begin on January 15, 2012 and end on June 14, 2012.

You can join the challenge at any time during the above dates by signing up in THIS POST.

You do not have to be a book blogger to join. You just need somewhere to post your review and/or talk about the books you’ve read (i.e., Facebook, Goodreads, personal blog). If you do not have any of those outlets, and your review is positive, I will be happy to post your review as a guest post on my blog Soul Screamers Reading Challenge.

Books must be read and reviewed between January 15th and June 14th. You can read and review them at any time during the challenge, but each book you read and review during the scheduled month will give you an extra entry into the Before I Wake giveaway at the end of the challenge.

You can read the books in any format or edition you’d like – eBook, audiobook or even in print!

Each month, on the 15th, there will be a post in which you can link up your reviews or posts for THAT MONTH ONLY. You can leave more than one link if you’ve read and reviewed more than one of the books that month.

If you choose to do a participation post, you can leave your participation post link on my SSRC page. At the end of the challenge, those who have added their links will automatically be entered into a giveaway for either a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble giftcard or $50 in books of their choice from Amazon or The Book Depository.

If you’ve already read and reviewed all the books in this series, do not fear. Re-reads count as long as you are re-reading them during this challenge! You don’t have to do a new review unless you want to. Just create a post talking about the re-read experience – Was it better the second time around? Did you discover something new that you missed the first time? Did you love Tod just a bit more? There’s plenty to talk about!

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The Incentives

Before I Wake pre-order giveaway. For every ten people that actively participate in this challenge, I will be giving away one pre-order of Before I Wake. So, that’s a one in ten chance. (To be counted as an active participant you must sign up through the linky in this post and you will need to have read and reviewed at least one of the full-length books during one of the five months of this challenge.) The winners will be chosen at the end of the challenge.

At the end of each month, to those who have left their links on that month’s post, I will be giving away one of Rachel Vincent’s books to two winners.

Reading each book during the corresponding month will get you an additional entry into the Before I Wake giveaway.

Reading and reviewing (or posting about) one of the Extra Credit Reads (listed below) will give you an additional entry into the Before I Wake giveaway.

New incentives may be added as the challenge progresses. Stay tuned….

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Extra Credit Reads

In addition to the five books for the challenge, there will be extra entries for each of the three Soul Screamers novellas you read. Links to reviews or posts for the extra entry reads should be left on the challenge post during the month you’ve read and posted about it.

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So, as always I tend to be long winded. I hope it all makes sense. But I’ll sum it up below. If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments. And don’t forget to sign up with the linky.

In short…

Good luck everyone! I hope this is less a challenge and just a great opportunity to discover some amazing new books or to re-read some of your favorites!

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Sign up below…