I'm Back!!!

Mum, me and hubs up to no good ...

Hey Guys,
Did you miss me?
Okay, don't answer that because clearly the answer will be yes.
I have been off, gallivanting up and down the east coast of my beautiful country on a book signing tour for The Hunted Series and attending the Supanova in Brisbane.

The Mad hatter stopped for tea.

Besides a really f@%#ked up GPS that constantly endeavoured to take us only to our hotel, a pancake rear end from over fifty hours of sitting in the car, and of course, the addition of four kilograms to my drumstick thighs - I had a fabulous time!
You know what? I even managed to get my dad to go on a roller coaster with me at Movie World. He screamed like a girl beside me, but to be truthful I could barely hear him over my incessant, terrified squeals.
We ate everything we saw (this has nothing to do with the 4kg gain) and met some awesome people in both the book and comic industry. But to be truthful, the highlight of my entire trip was meeting one of the girls from Big Brother. Yes, my name is Kristy and I'm addicted to reality TV.
So, without further verbal flatulence, I thought I'd just upload my photos and let you take a gander for yourself. I'll be back to regular posting now (stop groaning, I freaking heard that) so feel free to carry on stalking me, especially those of you with eyes - I like people with eyes.
Anyhoo, have a great weekend everyone, and I'll catch you next week!

Kristy

Mum finally met the rest of her family

Movie World - Yes we conquered the coasters!

Nearly bent this Jason Mamoa look-alike over my table - hot, hot, hot!

I swear, I didn't take the blue or the red pill ...

The best haircut in town. I think he stuffed up mine.

The Hunted Book Tour

Hey guys, I have to apologise. I won't be posting as regularly as I usually do as I'm about to head off on a Eastern coast book signing tour between Cairns and Brisbane. I'll also be attending the Supanova - the biggest comic book convention in Australia, so I'm going to be crazy busy.
So if there are any fans who want to meet up with me along the way to have a chat or even bug me incessantly about the release of The Damned, feel free to stalk me at the following bookstores on the following dates:

Sunday 4/11/2012
Signing at Collins Bookstore, Mackay 10.00am – 12.00pm 
(Shop 13-14, Sydney Street markets, Cnr Sydney & Gordon Streets, Mackay)

Monday 5/11/2012
Signing at Another Story Bookstore/Café, Rockhampton 10.00am – 12.00pm
(2B Denham Street, Rockhampton)

Thursday 8/11/2012
Signing at Collins Booksellers, Morayfield 11.30am – 1.30pm
(Shop 62, Morayfield Shopping Centre, Morayfield road, Morayfield)

Friday 9/11/2012
Signing at Dymocks Bookstore, Chermside 10.00am - 12.00pm
(Shop 249 Westfield Shoppingtown, Cnr of Gympie & Hamilton roads, Chermside)

Saturday 10/11/2012
Supanova - RNA Showgrounds - all day long (next to the Dymocks stand)

Sunday 11/11/2012
Supanova - RNA Showgrounds - all day long (next to the Dymocks stand)

Monday 12/11/2012

Signing at Dymocks Bookstore, Carindale 10.00am – 12.00pm
(Shop 2008 Carindale Shopping Centre, Old Cleveland & Creed roads, Carindale)

I look forward to posting you all the details and photos when I get back!

Kristy :)

Awesome Author Blog Hop

Okay, so I’m a crazy person participating in yet another blog hop and on the same night that I already roll around with the Follow Friday crowd. But, I’m a big believer in trying new things and since I’ve been tagged as an awesome author, I’m not exactly going to say no, cause let’s face it, I am freaking awesome *shrieks with laughter*.

So the name of the game is to answer the five questions below and then tag another five awesome authors and hope the random spamming doesn’t encourage a slap on the forehead from my writer buddies.

Here we go:

What is the working title of your book?

I’m going to roll with my up and coming release “The Damned” for these questions.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I’d already written The Hunted, the first in the series but naturally, my wayward fingers kept on going and before I knew it, a second novel was staring at me from my laptop screen. Freaky!

What genre does your book fall under?

Young adult horror

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Okay, I’ve actually done a massive blog post on this before so I’m going to be lazy here and insert a link. There are just too many to write down!

And for the authors I have tagged:

James Garcia Jnr – author of “Dance on Fire” (Blog) @danceauthor

Madison Daniel – author of “Ember” (Blog) @MadisonDaniel13

Nicole Suzanne Brown – author of “Pride” (Blog) @Nicole_S_Brown

John Hundley – author of “The Draculata Nest” (Blog)

Alexia Purdy – author of “Ever Shade” (Blog) @AlexiaPurdy

Follow Friday #48

Happy Friday everyone!

Yes, it’s that time of week again where bloggers unite to participate in the Follow Friday venture. The idea behind #FF is to promote traffic to your own blog, make new friends with other like-minded bloggers and discuss new and interesting topics each week.

Participating is simple. First you need to follow my blog because I’m totally awesome, then you can follow me on Twitter @kristyberridge (actually you don’t have to do this, it’s wishful thinking), but do follow my blog or assassins will get you …

Then you must follow our illustrious hosts Rachel of http://www.parajunkee.com/ and Alison of http://www.alisoncanread.com/ If you want more details on how to enter your own blog in the follow and hop, all directions are on their webpages

Now, once you’ve followed, check out my answer to this week’s questions and don’t forget to leave a comment so I can do the right thing and follow you back!

This week's question: What is a deal breaker for you in a book? For example, do you abhor love triangles? Or can’t deal with bad editing?

My Answer: A shitty story line with so much irrelevant internalising or pointless plot that I want to shove a tooth pick in my eyeball. I hate that some books make me skip whole pages in favour of getting back on track, or worse still, you skip several pages and have missed absolutely nothing at all - a fair sign of a waffler!

Kristy :)

Book Review: The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

As you all probably know, I am a massive fan of Richelle Mead's writing. I suspect it's mostly because her style is succinct, descriptive and generally highly entertaining. Even her YA novels like this one don't need the flamboyance of violence-riddled action scenes or a series of heavy petting from the pining youths of more gritty, romance-driven novels. Clear structure and an interlaced back story are often cleverly woven within her plots, and thus I find I continue to turn the pages of her novels in desperation to discover the ending.
The Golden Lily is the second book in The Bloodlines series. Again, I was not disappointed to follow the uptight Sydney Sage as we delve back into her recent activities as the head Alchemist protecting a small group of Moroi vampires and Dhampir protectors. 
Taking cover at the Amberwood preparatory school, Sydney continues to clean up the mess of her vampire friends whether personal or professional and hide the Moroi princess known as Jill Dragomir. But a new and seemingly unexpected mission to uncover human vampire hunters as well as balance a personal life presses on the tightly constructed walls Sydney has erected to prevent osmosis of feeling and unsanctioned decisions.
Challenged by the misconceptions of the Alchemists and conflicted by her emotional pull to a certain, entertaining and endearing vampire know as Adrian Ivashkov, Sydney soon sees herself stepping outside the bubble of rigidity her upbringing demands, and branching out into new endeavours.
As always, Richelle Mead does not disappoint. The story carefully follows on from Bloodlines - the protection of Jill and the consistency of their undercover illusion is teamed with all the original characters. Consideration to continue the ongoing research explored between Moroi and Strigoi vampires in the previous novel and this one for me makes the story replete, especially with the introduction of a softer, more flexible Sydney. I will happily rate this book four out of five fangs - another great read.

Synopsis:

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.
Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.
But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.
When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.
Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?