Emptying the Nest - August Giveaway!

So, we all have those books sitting on our shelves that we have already read and don't have a use for anymore. It doesn't mean that those books weren't great reads for us once upon a time. However, books are meant to be read so we here at Reading Lark will be giving our readers a chance to give some of our old books a new lease on life. All books are used, but still in good condition. All you have to do to enter is be a Reading Lark follower, tell us which book you'd like to adopt, and fill out the form. Any books not given new homes this month will stay on the list for next month. The used book giveaway will be posted the second weekend of every month and will last a week. However, we pushed back the August event due to other giveaways going on last week. This idea was originally inspired by the Secondhand Saturday event at Reading Teen.

Basic Rules:

* You must be 13 years old or older to enter the YA Giveaway.
* You must be 18 years or older to enter the Adult Giveaways.

* You must have a US or Canadian mailing address to enter.

* The August event runs from 8/20-8/27. Winners will be announced on 8/28.


Click here to enter!


Here are the books you could snag in August - You can enter to win as many of them as you'd like. We have NINE awesome giveaways for you this month. It will be possible for you to win more than once if you enter for more than one book.

 All summaries from Goodreads.
*Note - Cover art may vary from the edition won.*



Giveaway #1: Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake #1) by Laurell K. Hamilton (Adult)


Guilty Pleasures marked the debut of a series that was destined to grow from cult favorite to a major New York Times bestseller. Now, for long-time Anita Blake junkies and newfound fans, Guilty Pleasures makes its trade paperback debut. Readers will learn how Anita Blake started raising the dead-and killing the undead. And how she met Jean Claude, the master vampire destined to become not only her biggest nemesis, but her greatest lover..




Giveaway #2: Mona Lisa Craving by Sunny (Adult)


Dante, the warrior son of a healer, was cursed by the high priestess to endure a never-ending cycle of life and death, born and reborn into an ever-diminishing bloodline. Someone shares one of his past lives. Her name was Mona Lyria. Back then, on the moon in another world, she was his victim. Today, she is Mona Lisa, and this time, she is his savior. Dante's wish is to die by her hands to end his cursed existence, but she feels fate has given them both a second chance. For even stronger than her craving for blood is her craving for what every Monre female desires, and needs...to bear life. Now she has found her mate-but with this blessing could come a new curse under the shadow of a new moon.

Giveaway #3: True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (Adult)


In True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey returns to the harsh, brutal world of Australian history, so brilliantly evoked in earlier novels such as Illywhacker and Oscar and Lucinda. Set in the desolate settler communities north of Melbourne in the late 19th century, the novel is told in the form of a journal, written by the famous outlaw and "bushranger" Ned Kelly, to a daughter he will never see. As Kelly explains, "I lost my own father at 12 yr. of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silences my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will contain no single lies may I burn in hell if I speak false".

The salty, colloquial, unpunctuated style of Kelly's journal is reproduced with great skill, as Carey recounts the outlaw's early life with a cross-dressing, Irish immigrant sheep worker, and a beautiful but headstrong mother, always on the wrong side of the law. Inadvertently causing the arrest and death of his father, Ned realises that "there were a drought and nothing flourishing there but misery I were the oldest son I thought it time to earn my place", a decision that ultimately leads him into conflict with the law, and to form the notorious Kelly Gang.

The novel contains some wonderfully lyrical and deeply moving moments, as Ned struggles to articulate the harsh injustice of the world around him, but some readers might find Carey's epistolary style rather restrictive and colourless after the first 100 pages, and lacking in the imaginative excitement of Carey's earlier novels. --Jerry Brotton

Giveaway #4: Melissa Marr Duo - Wicked Lovely & Ink Exchange (YA)


Wicked Lovely: All teenagers have problems, but few of them can match those of Aislinn, who has the power to see faeries. Quite understandably, she wishes that she could share her friends' obliviousness and tries hard to avoid these invisible intruders. But one faery in particular refuses to leave her alone. Keenan the Summer King is convinced beyond all reasoning that Aislinn is the queen he has been seeking for nine centuries. What's a 21st-century girl to do when she's stalked by a suitor nobody else can see? A debut fantasy romance for the ages; superlative summer read.


Ink Exchange: To 17-year-old Leslie, the tattoo is a thing of indescribable beauty, a captivating mark that she must make her own. But this subtle web of eyes and wings brings with it a transformation that no sweet young girl would ever imagine or welcome. Like its predecessor, this stand-alone sequel toWicked Lovely plunges its youthful heroine into a faery world of almost constant peril. A tantalizing urban fantasy that won't let go.


Giveaway #5: The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake #2) by Laurell K. Hamilton (Adult)


In The Laughing Corpse, a creature from beyond the grave is tearing a swath of murder through St. Louis. And Anita will learn that there are some secrets better left buried-and some people better off dead..


Giveaway #6: Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake #3) by Laurell K. Hamilton (Adult)


In Circus of the Damned-now in trade paperback for the first time-a rogue master vampire hits town, and Anita gets caught in the middle of an undead turf war. Jean-Claude, the Master Vamp of the city, wants her for his own-but his enemies have other plans. And to make matters worse, Anita takes a hit to the heart when she meets a stunningly handsome junior high science teacher named Richard Zeeman. They're two humans caught in the crossfire-or so Anita thinks.


Giveaway #7: The Dark Hunters Manga, Volume #1 (Adult)


In the war against vampires, mankind has only one hope: The Dark-Hunters. Ancient warriors who died of brutal betrayal, the Dark-Hunters have sworn themselves into the service of the goddess Artemis to protect us.

It’s a pact with pretty good perks. Immortality, power, psychic abilities, wealth and a cool wardrobe. But it comes with a few drawbacks: fatal sun poisoning and a new, irreparable dental problem. But aside from the fangs and nocturnal lifestyle, it’s not so bad.  Until Kyrian meets the most frightening thing imaginable. An accountant who’s being hunted by one of the most lethal vampires out there. If Amanda Devereaux goes down, so does he and no offense, he doesn’t want to die (hence the whole immortality thing). And he doesn’t want humanity dead either which is a good thing for us since he and Amanda are all that stands between us and oblivion. Let’s hope they win.  From the wild imagination of Sherrilyn Kenyon comes the humorous and suspenseful manga debut of the #1 internationally bestselling Dark-Hunter series. The world of manga will never be the same again.


Giveaway #8: Sookie Stackhouse Duo: Club Dead (#3) & Dead to the World (#4) (Adult)


Club Dead: Things between cocktail waitress Sookie and her vampire boyfriend Bill seem to be going excellently (apart from the small matter of him being undead) until he leaves town for a while. A long while. Bill's sinister boss Eric has an idea of where to find him, whisking her off to Jackson, Mississippi to mingle with the under-underworld at Club Dead. When she finally catches up with the errant vampire, he is in big trouble and caught in an act of serious betrayal. This raises serious doubts as to whether she should save him or start sharpening a few stakes of her own...


Dead to the World: When cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse sees a naked man on the side of the road, she doesn't just drive on by. Turns out the poor thing hasn't a clue who he is, but Sookie does. It's Eric the vampire--but now he's a kinder, gentler Eric. And a scared Eric, because whoever took his memory now wants his life.


Giveaway #9: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Adult)


New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness.

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged...until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister -- and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.