Fresh Writes Spotlight: J. Meyers

(Taken from her website jmeyersbooks.com)

j. meyers grew up in Vermont and now lives in Central New York. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s chasing her four kids around, exploring the outdoors with them, relishing the few quiet moments she gets with her husband, baking sweet treats, and forgetting to make dinner. Though she cannot actually see the future nor heal with a touch of her hand, she likes to think her children believe she can. Intangible is her first novel.

                                                          Intangible Synopsis:

Twins Sera and Luke Raine have a well-kept secret—she heals with a touch of her hand, he sees the future. All their lives they’ve helped those in need on the sly. They’ve always thought of their abilities as being a gift.

Then Luke has a vision that Sera is killed. That gift they’ve always cherished begins to feel an awful lot like a curse. Because the thing about Luke’s ability? He’s always right.

And he can’t do anything about it.

This book was released Jan 29, 2012 and is available on Amazon & Amazon UK for $9.99 paperback and $4.99 Kindle edition and on Barnes & Noble for $4.99 Nook edition. Get your copy today!

Amanda Knox: Will you read her story?

*Article taken from LA Times blog & written by Carolyn Kellogg *

Amanda Knox, the American student who was cleared of murder charges in October 2011 after spending four years in an Italian jail, will tell her story in an upcoming memoir. HarperCollins paid $4 million for the book, it was announced Thursday.

"Knox will give a full and unflinching account of the events that led to her arrest in Perugia and her struggles with the complexities of the Italian judicial system," HarperCollins said in a statement. "Aided by journals she kept during her imprisonment, Knox will talk about her harrowing experience at the hands of the Italian police and later prison guards and inmates. She will reveal never before-told details surrounding her case, and describe how she used her inner strength and strong family ties to cope with the most challenging time of her young life."

In the publishing world, $4 million is a lot of money. It's twice what Dick Cheney is thought to have gotten for his memoir, "In My Time." Cheney spent decades as one of the most powerful men in the Republican party and was vice president for eight years.

As for the men who've called the Oval Office their own? President Bill Clinton was paid a whopping $15 million for his memoir "My Life" -- which clocked in at a whopping 992 pages. President George W. Bush's book "Decision Points" was smaller, and sold for a $7-million deal. Bush was a two-term president, and his book covered the Sept. 11 attacks. Can Knox's memoir really be worth more than half as much?

Knox was an American college student studying abroad in Perugia, Italy, when her roommate Meredith Kercher's throat was slashed in 2007. The sensational case, which attracted international media attention, involved Knox's then boyfriend and, the Italian courts had contended, a sex game gone wrong. In 2009, Knox was found guilty of the brutal murder; in 2011, she was cleared of murder charges after spending four years in an Italian jail.

When we asked readers in October if Knox should get a book deal, almost 900 said she should. Would they still say so, knowing that the deal would be worth about 80 times a years' salary earned by the average American family?

Fresh Writes Spotlight: Hannah M. Davis

     Hannah Davis grew up in Hertfordshire, England with two parents & an older brother. She loved reading and buried her nose in a book just about every night. She even started writing her first book at the age of 7. By the time college came around she knew she wanted to take a creative writing course. After college she got a great job in film and did some film writing in London. After three years in London she felt she needed a change and eventually ended up in Southern Spain where she still lives 10 years later. 

     She spent her first few years there helping other authors become published but then started to focus again on her dream of writing. She found herself with a wonderful debut book Voices of Angels. The 1st in a trilogy of young adult paranormal romance books with a transformational twist.

Voices of Angels synopsis:

     When Lizzie Fisher sees a black mark above her teacher's head, she has no idea how much it will change her life. Seven days later the teacher is dead and Lizzie must come to terms with a frightening new ability: she sees when people are about to die. Sent to Andalucia to live with a grandmother she has never met, Lizzie falls in love with gifted musician, Rafa. All seems well until one day the black mark appears above her grandmother's head. Horrified, Lizzie finds herself in a race against time to find out what the gift really means. Will Rafa help her? And can she save her grandmother's life before it's too late?

This book was released Jan 27, 2012 and is available for purchase on amazon.com right now for $2.99 Kindle edition only. I bought a copy and can't wait to read it! So be on the lookout for a review in the future.

Recommendation Wednesdays

Hey people!
It's recommendation Wednesday which it's that time of the week to share your favorite books. Comment and tell everybody what books you've read lately that others will enjoy and what books you hope to read soon.

I have finished the Hunger Games trilogy this past weekend and loved it! If you haven't read it yet I suggest that you find a copy and read it. I can't wait to compare & contrast the movie to the book.
I also have read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It's a book I'd classify as adult due to some language and content, but overall it was wonderful! I plan to read the 2nd book in that trilogy in the near future.

I would like to read Delirium and Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver, Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie & Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor.

What about you guys?

NU Makeover!!!

Hello everyone!


Welcome to the new & improved Novel Utopia! As you can see there have been some big changes here. First, there's a whole new background to change the look of this place. I also have added three pages that will be used in the future: an interview page for easy access to all the author interviews I hope to have in the future, a review page for quick access to all the book reviews I plan to do this year & a contest page for the contests I hope to hold in the coming year. I have also created a blog badge for people to post on their sites to link back back to here. I thought it was a great idea to help promote the blog. Another new feature is that Novel Utopia now has it's own twitter page!! Now you can keep up with me & my reading as well as updates about the blog and new posts & reviews that go up. 


I am very excited about what's in store for NU in 2012!

New blog badge!!!

Here's our new blog badge people! 

What do you think of it?

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! I hope you all have had a great day so far, and if it hasn't been then I hope it gets better. Well since this is a book blog I thought we'd celebrate the day by talking about some of our favorite romantic books.

Mine is Till Death Do Us Part by Lurlene McDaniel.

Here's a quick synopsis for it:
The doctor's diagnosis for April Lancaster is not good. April has a brain tumor which cannot be operated on. She's only 18, and her future is uncertain. But when she meets Mark Gianni, a 21-year-old with a passion for car racing, things change.

Mark is handsome and charming--and has cystic fibrosis. Despite herself, April falls completely in love with him. April  says yes when Mark asks her to marry him. But a racing accident aggravates Mark's CF, and April must make a decision that will change the course of her life forever.



If you're interested in this book you can buy it from amazon for $5.50 paperback or $4.99 kindle edition.

What is your favorite romantic book?

What I'm Reading

So today I decided on the next book I'm going to read: Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. It is the 1st book in a supposed 4 book series; although more may be added in the future. The 2nd book is Dust & Decay which is out now, the 3rd will be Flesh & Bone coming out September 11, 2012 and the 4th is titled Fire & Ash and will be released in 2013. Here's a bit about the author & the book.

About the author:
JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. His books have been sold to more than twenty countries.




Rot & Ruin Synopsis:
Benny Imura was a baby when the zombie apocalypse happened. His first memory is of his mother handing him to his older half brother as she is being dragged down by his zombie-fied father. He resents Tom for leaving his mother, for running away. To Benny, Tom is a coward. To everyone else in their fenced-in town, Tom is the toughest, bravest zombie killer in California. As Benny approaches his 15th birthday, he must find a job or forfeit half of his food rations. After losing half a dozen jobs, he reluctantly agrees to work as Tom's apprentice in the “Family Business.” When they travel out into the Rot and Ruin, he witnesses things that change his opinion of his brother and forever alter his perception of the world. He also learns that flesh-eating zombies aren't the scariest or most dangerous monsters around. As with all zombie stories, this one requires a fairly large suspension of disbelief, but once the brothers enter the Rot and Ruin, readers become too wrapped up in the plot to dwell on some lapses of logic. The relationship between Benny and Tom becomes surprisingly complex and satisfying, as does the romantic subplot between Benny and his friend Nix. 

Let me know if you have read this book and what you though about it, no spoilers please though. Also, if you want to get a copy and read along with me then feel free to join in and post comments about your thoughts as you read.


This book can be purchased at any book retailer and online stores. I got my copy on sale from Books-A-Million for $3.97.

Finally Finished!!!

So earlier today (about 5:30 pm) I finished reading the last book in the Hunger Games trilogy. I must say, i was very pleased with the ending. It made me even more excited for the movie to come out next month; even though the movie's only over the first book. I just hope the movie is as wonderful as the books are. The previews for it look promising though. It's very late (2:14 am) and I need to be getting to bed, so when I get time this week I'll do a non-spoiler review over the whole series.