I am actually kind of sad that the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge has ended. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun and gave me a chance to re-read and get to know a series I loved already just a little bit more. And it gave me a chance to get to know a few readers and bloggers that I might not have otherwise known.

And while I’m ecstatic that BEFORE I WAKE will be out in just over a week, I’m sad that I won’t be reading a Rachel Vincent book each and every month. So, to combat that, I have started to read her SHIFTERS series and will re-read the UNBOUND books currently available when I’m done. Hopefully that will pass the time until the next UNBOUND book is available.

Yes, I’m hooked. Rachel Vincent’s writing is highly addictive. Her characters are amazing. Her plots are gripping. And her love stories are twisty-turny in all the best ways. I love the SOUL SCREAMERS series even more than I did the first – and second for some of the books – time around. And of course I am equally excited and terrified to read the final book in the series.

Anyway… I mentioned, I was going to announce the winners for the end of challenge giveaway on Tuesday. But I decided to buckle down this weekend and get everything sorted now so that I could start getting those pre-orders in as soon as possible.

I also announced the Mini Challenge Redux winners and the Month Five winners on the SSRC blog. Be sure to check them out to see if you might have won.

So, after much tabulating, organizing, confirming, checking and re-checking, I determined that there were 119 active participants in this challenge – meaning 119 of those who signed up for the challenge posted at least one review/thoughts post during the challenge. Which means – if I round up – that there are 12 copies of BEFORE I WAKE up for giveaway.

I then added up all the points for entries and extra entries for those who posted at least once, which added up to 685 entries, and I put all 685 entries into Random’s List Generator and it has spoken. Amazingly it didn’t post any duplicates, either!

Congratulations Kiara @ Goodreads, Melissa @ Goodreads, Mag @ Geek Chic, Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal, Jen @ The Midnight Book Thief, April @ Books4Juliet, The Whispering of the Pages, Kat @ KHN, Cait @ The Cait Files, Shaft @ Shaft’s Words, Jacinda @ The Reading Housewives and Debbie @ Goodreads!

You all have won a pre-order copy of BEFORE I WAKE to be ordered from Amazon or The Book Depository. Please contact me by email at fiktshun[at]gmail[dot]com to claim your prize. If you have already won a pre-order copy of BIW and wish to select a different Rachel Vincent book of your choice, including a pre-order of the SOUL SCREAMERS VOLUME TWO, which comes out in mid-November, you can do that instead.

Thank you all SO MUCH for participating in this challenge. I am so amazed by just how many people came back month after month to share their reviews and thoughts about the books! YOU all made this challenge awesome!

There were so many awesome participants who joined in the challenge who posted in one, two, three or four months of the challenge, but there were only 21 participants who posted reviews in every month of the challenge.

[EDIT: In fact there were 22 participants who posted reviews in every month of the challenge and a total of 29 people who received 10 points or more. Due to a similar name of one of the participants when typing this post, I inadvertently left them off. They have been added in, as they are also a star, and they are awesome!]

And to me, they are the STARS of this challenge and I wanted to thank them personally, here in this post.

***

There are also seven participants who posted frequently enough to have earned ten or more points in this challenge and participated in four of the five months of this challenge, so I wanted to spotlight them here, too.

As, to me, they are also stars!

As I mentioned on Twitter, for each participant who posted a review for all five of the full-length books in the series during this challenge and had a review posted during each of the five months, I would pre-order them a copy of BEFORE I WAKE if they hadn’t won a prize (aside from an eBook) during this challenge. I’ve expanded that to include all 28 of the challenge stars above.

However, for the Challenge Stars that are either “Champions” or “Amazing,” if they haven’t already won a pre-order copy of BEFORE I WAKE, I will pre-order a copy of BEFORE I WAKE even if they won another prize during the challenge.

I will be announcing those winners on Tuesday. Stay tuned…

UPDATE:

CHALLENGE STARS Eligible for a BIW pre-order

Librarian Mouse

Hoping 4 More Simple Reviews

Kristin @ Goodreads

Aleksandra’s Corner

Bookeater/Booklover

Helene @ SSRC

Riffs and Reviews

Alba @ BookPics

Reading Mind @ SSRC

Kristin @ My Parahangover

Ron @ Stories of My Life

Ashley @ Wholly Books

Tyawna @ Goodreads

A Book Obsession

If you are one of the 13 additional winners and you wish to claim your BIW Pre-order Prize, please email me at fiktshun[at]gmail[dot]com. If I do not hear from you by release date, prize will be forfeited.

[Edit: I am adding A Book Obsession to this list, who while they won a prize during the challenge, they opted to passed on it.]

END OF UPDATE

I also want to thank all those who signed up at the beginning of the challenge or signed up and created a participation post. Your early support of this challenge meant SO MUCH! You have no idea.

So…

THANK YOU!!!!

Spoiler chats and one more challenge….

The IF I DIE spoiler chat is in the works and will hopefully be scheduled prior to the release of BEFORE I WAKE to avoid any spoilers for that book in the chat. Date and time to be announced soon. Stay tuned.

There will also be a BEFORE I WAKE spoiler chat later this summer. Details to come.

AND…

I will be hosting a BEFORE I WAKE reading challenge which will run from June 26th through August 1st. There will be a link-up and a giveaway. So if you just can’t wait to read BEFORE I WAKE and want to share your thoughts on, or shortly after, release date, feel free to stop back on June 26th for details.

I received the most amazing package of books in the mail yesterday from author Rachel Vincent. Two signed copies of Before I Wake and two signed copies of Shadow Bound.

Of course one of each of those is mine, personally inscribed, but the other two are for giveaway….

And while I will be giving away a number of signed books when the challenge ends, as I’ve received Before I Wake just a little bit early, I am offering it up for giveaway now to active challenge participants who might also love the chance to read this one a little bit early, too.

So, yes, this giveaway is only for active challenge participants. And they’ll have had to already have read  If I Die as there’s no point in getting a book early if the previous book in the series hasn’t yet been read.

Anyway, there are some rules for this giveaway – not hoops, just requirements – so be sure to check them out below….

There is no requirement to like or follow. But if you’d like to spread the word that would be awesome!

Enter in the form below:

Thanks to everyone for stopping by. The giveaway is now closed. I’ll be adding up the entries and running the names through Random later today. Stay tuned and good luck!

Congratulations Ina! You are the winner for the signed copy of BEFORE I WAKE according to Random.org. I will be contacting you for your address details and will send out your book by Tuesday!

Thank you so much to everyone for entering and for participating in the challenge or leaving a lovely comment for Rachel Vincent. There will be more copies of the book – signed and unsigned – given away when the challenge ends later this week.

Stay tuned! And thank you all so much again for reading or re-read the SOUL SCREAMERS series along with me this year!

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.

***

Month Five

May 15 – June 14, 2012

***

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.

***

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.

***

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.

***

Month Four

April 15 – May 14, 2012

***

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!