And the winners are......

It's time to announce the winnners of my ahmazing anniversary giveaway!!!!!

First place goes to...

Marla @ Starting the Next Chapter!!!!!

Second place goes to.....

Small Review!!!!!!

And third place goes to....

SimplyMe!!!!!

Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to all the authors that let me interview them during the Blogoversary week.

Thanks to Amy Holder for sending a signed copy of The Lipstick Laws and swag.

Thanks to Mike Wells for providing an eCopy of Wild Child to each winner.

And, of course, thanks to my mom for even giving me permission to do this in the first place :)

Happy Reading to everyone!!! :D

THREE winners!!!!! :D

You remember the giveaway I'm having right now?! Well now there will be THREE winners!!!!!

Thanks to everyone who helped me reach 500 Twitter followers this past weekend! I have already done #FF thanks to you all :)

Now, since there are three winners now, I'll have to change the winner outlines:

FIRST PLACE: choice of two books, eCopy of Wild Child, and swag!
SECOND PLACE: choice of two remaining books, eCopy of Wild Child, and swag!
THIRD PLACE: remaining book, eCopy of Wild Child, and swag!

Click HERE to go to the post to sign up!!! :D

Wild Child by Mike Wells & Interview w/Mike Wells & A SUPER AWESOME GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!

Sad to say, this is the last post of my blogoversary celebration *crowd boos*. Calm yourselves, please! Luckily, this post is extra extra extra special because I will be opening my anniversary giveaway!!!!!!!!! You'll find all that info at the bottom of the post, but you better not skip! The wonderful Mike Wells and his novel Wild Child have made a stop at Butterfly Feet!!!! :D
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Wild Child

By Mike Wells

Publisher: Self-publ'd via Smashwords, 2011

110 pages, Kindle Edition

Date Finished: 16/6/2011

Genres: Young Adult, Coming of Age, Fantasy, Some Adventure, Romance

Briana Fox is the wildest girl in school. She and Kyle have been close for a long time...almost lovers. Kyle is afraid that if he pushes her, he'll have his heart broken and lose his best friend. When Briana discovers a mysterious "power drug" in a cave, two government agents are desperate to find the source and turn Briana into a human experiment. Will Kyle risk everything to protect his love?
~from goodreads.com~

~First Line: " 'Let's swim over to the cliffs,' Briana said."
~Last Line: "And then he would walk."

Review: Wild Child was super intriguing. It was pretty short in my opinion, but I'm still glad that Mike contacted me with a review request. Thanks, Mike! :)

Our main character, Kyle, is out on any other day with his best friend Briana at the lake using his dad's boat. While swimming out in the lake, Briana gets run over by a speedboat. She would have died, but somehow she found her way to an underwater cave that held some weird green healing water. The craziness starts here.

The characters in Wild Child were pretty good. They didn't go into great detail, but being that the book wasn't that long, it wasn't a problem. The plot was original. I've never read anything like it' mystical green water that makes you feel wonderful and then wears off? Surely you haven't heard of that before. Mike definitely has a creative and vivid imagination.

Wild Child was awesome, and the ending is/was like no other. You'll be surprised at how the novel suddenly comes to an end. There are so many possibilities at what could've happened! I think you should definitely take the time to read this novel. :)

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And now for the interview with Mr. Mike Wells!!!! Let's all give him a giant Butterfly Feet welcome :P

1. What made you want to start writing?
I suppose I started writing fiction because I think it is fun. You get to go on adventures with your main character and experience everything he or she is experiencing just as if it’s happening to you. Each imaginary journey changes you, too. Psychologists say that the unconscious mind cannot tell the different between reality and whatever you dream or imagine in your mind—the effect on you is still the same. So due my fiction writing, I’ve had quite an interesting life! I’ve been chased across Moscow by the Russian Mafia (Lust, Money & Murder), I’ve rolled underneath a moving freight train and lived to tell about it (The Wrong Side of the Tracks), and I’ve lost my physical body and turned into pure consciousness (A Gift from the Stars). Pretty cool, huh?

2. What was the idea behind Wild Child?
Two teenagers discover a magical “power drug” in a cave that gives people superhuman abilities...but soon the government finds out about it and will stop at nothing to get their hands on it.

3. Can we expect any other works from you in the next few years?
You can expect tons of works from me in the next few years—a sequel to Wild Child, sequels to other books, and more brand new books. Almost all I do right now is write. When I’m not writing, I’m promoting what I write.

4. What are some of your hobbies when you’re not writing?
I love the outdoors and spend lots of time biking, swimming, running, and that sort of thing. I like to stay in shape. Writing is a very sedentary activity!

5. Who are your top three favorite authors?
A difficult question. I’d have to say Thomas Hardy, Sidney Sheldon, and Rod Serling. Serling was a screenwriter mainly, creator of Twilight Zone and wrote most episodes, but had a fantastic imagination and was a phenomenal storyteller.

6. What’s your favorite food on the whole planet?
Sushi. I make it myself now, an Asian friend taught me how.

7. Do you like the word “rendezvous”?
Yes, I like that word because it puts a special spin on the general idea of meeting someone. In writing, you want to use as specific a word as possible in every instance (most of the time). Doing that makes all the difference. For example, if I write, “The meeting took place at midnight” it doesn’t have the same impact as “The rendezvous took place at midnight.” Rendezvous implies something clandestine and a little mysterious, whereas meeting is general and rather flat. When I finish the first draft of a novel, the first thing I do is go through it and replace any general words with more specific ones wherever I think it improves the writing.

8. How can my followers and I keep up with you?
The name I always use is MikeWellsAuthor:

http://www.twitter.com/MikeWellsAuthor
http://www.facebook.com/MikeWellsAuthor
http://www.goodreads.com/MikeWellsAuthor

Also, readers should know that I give away a lot of free books. To see what I’m giving away at the moment and sign up to be notified via email, please visit my website: http://www.thegreenwater.com/

Thanks so much for interviewing me!

No problem, Mike! And thank you for wanting to come by and participate! :P

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And noww...... the moment we've you've all been waiting for.......
THE GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Giveaway prizes:

~Divergent by Veronica Roth
~Falling Under by Gwen Hayes
~SIGNED copy of The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder
~Clarity by Kim Harrington
~Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton
~eBook copy of Wild Child by Mike Wells (to each winner)
~The Lipstick Laws SWAG (to each winner)

Winner divisions:

~FIRST PLACE: choice of two books, eCopy of Wild Child, and swag!
~SECOND PLACE: choice of remaining two books, eCopy of Wild Child, and swag!
~THIRD PLACE: remaining book, eCopy of Wild Child, and swag!

Rules of the giveaway:

** Must be 13+ years of age
** US Only (sorry, international folks)
** Must fill out THIS FORM to enter! Comment entries will be deleted.

Now for the fun stuff-- extra entries!!

+2 Old GFC follower, +1 new
+2 Twitter follower (@walkinginsects)
+2 "Like" Facebook page (click here)
+3 GoodReads friend (my profile)
+5 Tweet about giveaway (include link)
+7 Blog about giveaway (include link)
+10 Two comments on a blogoversary post from this week. (Must be on two different posts! +5 for only one comment; for a list of reviews/interviews click HERE.)

You have a chance to have 31 entries total!!!!!

This giveaway ends on July 30th.

Guest Post by Majanka Verstraete and GIVEAWAY!!!!

Here is a guest post by Majanka Verstraete, author of The Blood That Defines Us, on her experience with her town's haunted house!


When I was about ten years old, I gathered all the other kids from my elementary school class and arranged a meeting for our first ‘horror club’. The goal: go into that old, abandoned house in the middle of our town. The reason: no one had ever dared to do that before, it was a challenge, and we were young and foolish. There were about twenty of us, which we believed was more than enough to scare off any potential ghosts deciding to drop by. Plus, it was hot outside, we were bored out of our minds, and I’ve always had a soft spot for old mansions. Sue me.

I began to tell them the story about the Haunted House – which I had totally fabricated, it was all part of my way-too-vivid imagination – but apparently most of them believed me, because by the time I was done, ten of my class mates had already left. Apparently ghosts, murdered children, mad doctors and soul-sucking grandmothers was too much for a bunch of ten-year-olds to handle.

Those of us who remained were all pretty nervous. Not only because the house sure looked haunted, old and abandoned, but also because breaking and entering a house, even if it’s abandoned, is actually a crime. However, no police officer in his right mind would arrest a bunch of ten-year-olds who wanted to hang out at an abandoned property. The worst thing they could do was bring us back to our parents with a warning and ending our scary but highly entertaining adventure. So we cast out all our fears, put on our brave face, and went into the garden of the house, so we could get inside through the back door.

First of all, the garden was so over-grown with plants that it was pretty terrifying by itself. Secondly, the shed in the garden smelled pretty much like rotting corpse – of course we investigated the shed first – and there was a hatch in it, leading to some dark, very stinky, basement underneath. Who has a basement in their shed? Except people wanting to bury corpses there, of course. Thirdly, there was a willow tree in the garden that looked pretty much like a scary grandmother-figure. Oh and, we sort of discovered that the old doc had insisted on getting buried in his own backyard. Stumbling upon a grave all of the sudden in places you least expect, well that does something to people.

To me, it made me feel slightly scared, stressed and nervous, and all the more determined to actually get into that house. To five other kids of our little group, it made them turn around and run out of that garden like the devil himself was on their heels. He might not have been, but that soul-sucking witchy grandmother-like willow tree certainly was.

I was the first one to walk into the house, overcome by an unknown bravery. My best friend Sarah was right behind me. The three others who followed were all boys. So, I walked in first, and the first room I entered was the kitchen. Oddly enough, there were still some spoons, plates and cups on the table, as if no one had ever bothered to empty the house completely. Curious about the rest of the house, I stepped into the grand hallway leading to the front part, and stared at the stairs in awe. They were beautifully decorated with flower patterns, the steps were marble, and it looked pretty impressive. But we weren’t here to scare at a stairs, or to stare at the beautiful ceilings, the enormous double doors or the marble floors.

I grabbed the handle of one of the double doors and pushed it open. What I saw there in the room in front of me, was very confusing. At the time being, I would have sworn to each and every one who asked, that I saw a ghost. A real life, actual ghost. The ghost was standing in the middle of the room and looking out the window, and the first impression I got from it was that it was sad and lonely. And that it terrified me.

Without further explanation or taking my time to think – which I find incredibly stupid looking back on it, I wish I had gone in and try to talk to the thing or something, or at least make sure I wasn’t imagining stuff – I turned around, slammed the door shut, grabbed my friend’s arm (she was a couple of meters behind me) and ran out of the house, pulling her along.

Later on, Sarah described that the look on my face was one of pure horror. She knew me well enough to know that I don’t scare easily, and she occasionally told me, even years later, that she was scared too that day. Because whatever it was that caused me to be so terrified, seeing me scared, frightened her as well. I remember yelling to all of them to get out of the garden, to get away from the house as fast as possible. We all ran until we had left the garden of the haunted house behind us and were safe and sound back on the street.

Unfortunately, one of the boys had lost his wallet while running away. He wanted to get it back, but when no one volunteered to go back with him, I eventually gave in. I couldn’t really let him go back there alone, especially when I had been the one to suggest our trip to the haunted mansion in the first place. While the others waited for us, we want back into the garden and to the house.

We found his wallet somewhere in the middle of the garden. We both bend down to grab it, because we were still quite nervous and scared, and as we got up again, we both stared at the house in front of us. In one of the bay windows on the first floor, there was the clear shape of a man. But it wasn’t a real man, of course. It was just a black shape, with no actual facial features, just the black shape of a man-like figure, staring out of the window at the two of us.

The next couple of seconds seemed to happen in slow-motion. I looked at my friend, and he looked back at me, our facial expressions mirroring each other’s. We were shocked, scared and unable to move, at least not right away. I felt like I was frozen to the spot. Then we stopped looking at each other and stared back at the house in front of us, and at the dark shape behind the window. Then we grabbed each other’s hand and ran out of the garden as fast as we could, dragging each other alone and unwilling to let go of each other’s hand. We weren’t exactly the best of friends and I wasn’t that outgoing that I held hands with everyone at that age, but we were so terrified that we had to hold on to what was reality and what was normal. It seemed to take forever until we got out of the garden and back to our friends.

It took us five years to talk about that day again, and to share our experiences with each other. Nowadays, I’m not sure if the first ghost I saw was actually a ghost, or part of my imagination, or just the light entering the room in a weird way. But the second ghost, the dark shape on the first floor, of that I am absolutely certain.

I went into the haunted house one more time, a couple of years later. But that’s a story for another time.

That said, have you ever seen a ghost? Or something you thought was a ghost? Have you ever entered a supposedly haunted mansion? What happened?
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And now.... it's time for a GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Majanka and I are giving away TWO eBook copies of her debut novel, The Blood That Defines Us!!!

The rules are simple:

--This is an international giveaway
--Must be 13 or older
--Must fill out THIS FORM

Of course, there are ways to get extra entries!

+1 GFC follower
+1 Twitter follower (@walkinginsects)
+3 Tweet about giveaway (mention me in it)
+5 Blog about giveaway
+5 Leave a comment on this post regarding Majanka's story! (Only your first comment will count.)

Simple, right? I know. This giveaway will close on June 28th!!!

Giveaways Galore! Don't Miss Out!

I will be having my first GIVEAWAY soon!!! I know; I'm excited as well! :D As part of a book tour for Majanka Verstraete's first novel, The Blood That Defines Us, she will be giving away two eBook copies of the book!! I won't give all the deets until Tues, but here are a few:
----This giveaway is open internationally.
----There is a possibility of you having 15 entries max. Won't be telling you what this is until Tuesday though :D
----You must be 13+ years of age to sign up for this!

And the one we're all anxious for: my ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY in July, and I would love for you all to join me! I will be having a blogoversary celebration week July 3rd-9th (A schedule for that week is at the bottom of this post). The giveaway starts on the 3rd, and will last about 3 weeks!!! Dont miss it! I'm giving away five -- yes, FIVE 2011 debuts and swag from two authors! :D Here are a few deets about it:
----This giveaway is open to US residents only.
----Must be 13+ years of age.
----There's a possibility of you having 31 entries max. =DDD All I will say is that there's commenting and following involved!

Something I'm sure you'll want to know:
As of right now, the prizes for the Blogoversary giveaway are all going to one person. BUT if I can reach 225 followers by July 3rd, I'll split it into TWO prizes!

"But what if you don't reach it?", you ask? Well, if I can reach 400 followers on Twitter between now and July 3rd, I will still divide it among two winners! My Twitter profile is HERE.

Spread the word! You've got 22 days and counting! (That's counting today.)


Blogoversary Celebration Week Schedule:
July 3rd- Interview w/Tessa Gratton
July 4th- Review of Clarity by Kim Harrington
July 5th- Interview w/Carrie Harris
July 6th- Review of Falling Under by Gwen Hayes
July 7th- Review of The Lipstick Laws; Interview w/Amy Holder
July 8th- Review of Divergent by Veronica Roth
July 9th- Review of Wild Child; Interview w/Mike Wells

Things you Don't Wanna Miss #2! :D

So it's been a while since I've done one of these, but there are some things I'd like to tell you!!!


1.) I have started a new project (another blog) and I would really love for you to stop by and follow me! I was hopping over to A Book a Day and I saw that she is trying to read one book everyday. I am now challenging myself to read one book every two days. Keep up with how I'm doing here: Two Days. One Book.

2.) As you all know, my first ever What's Your Status? Contest is starting this Saturday!!! I would really love for all of my followers to help and participate; we will need you to vote afterwards! There is a schedule at the bottom of this post for you to look at. Please come back and support them! :)

3.) I will having my first GIVEAWAY soon!!! I know; I'm excited as well! :D As part of a book tour for Majanka Verstraete's first novel, The Blood That Defines Us, she will be giving away two eBook copies of the book!! I won't give all the deets until next Tues, but here are a few:
----As far as I know, the giveaway is open internationally. If something changes, however, I will let you know.
----There is a possibility of you having 15 entries max. Won't be telling you what this is until Tuesday though :D
----You must be 13+ years of age to sign up for this!

4.) I am hosting my ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY in July, and would love for you all to join me! I will having a blogoversary celebration week July 3rd-9th (I will put a schedule for that week at the bottom of this post as well). The giveaway starts on the 3rd!!! Dont miss it! I'm giving away five -- yes, FIVE 2011 debuts and swag from two authors! :D Here are a few deets about it:
----This giveaway is open to US residents only.
----Must be 13+ years of age.
----There's a possibility of you having 31 entries max. =DDD All I will say is that there's commenting and following involved!

5.) As of right now, the prizes for the Blogoversary giveaway are all going to one person. BUT if I can get 400 followers on Twitter between now and July 3rd, I will divide it into TWO winners! My Twitter profile is HERE. Spread the word!!


Hopefully I will see you all around! Don't miss all the fun!! (;

WYS Contest Schedule:
June 11th- Marcie (2 Read or Not 2 Read)
June 18th- Marla (Starting the Next Chapter)
June 25th- Jessica (Thoughts at One in the Morning)
July 2nd- Cat (Cat's Thoughts)

Blogoversary Celebration Week Schedule:
July 3rd- Interview w/Tessa Gratton
July 4th- Review of Clarity by Kim Harrington
July 5th- Interview w/Carrie Harris
July 6th- Review of Falling Under by Gwen Hayes
July 7th- Review of The Lipstick Laws; Interview w/Amy Holder
July 8th- Review of Divergent by Veronica Roth
July 9th- Review of Wild Child; Interview w/Mike Wells

You could win ANGELFIRE!!!!

Okay I couldn't help but post this everywhere I possibly could.

Courtney Alison Moulton is hosting a giveaway, and you could win a SIGNED copy of ANGELFIRE!!!!! Go here to sign up RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!! :DDDD

HR,
Zakiya LWings

Giveaway at My Co-Blog!

Remember when I told you the girls and I were hosting a giveaway? Well the post went up today!!

The prize is a SIGNED copy for Sinful by Sara Dailey and Staci Weber and a Sinful postcard!!

You can enter the giveaway whether you are a follower of our blog or not. However, the contest is for the US only (sorry, internationals). All entries must be in by Midnight on January 11th, 2011 (Mountain Standard Time).

~Click here to read the interview with Sara and Staci!
~Click here to see the details on the giveaway!

A Steampunkery Giveaway!!

Want a mad, steampunkery giveaway? The wonderful Mad Scientist is giving one!

Head over to Steampunkery & Book Reviews by Friday, December 10th and sign up for her magnificent giveaway of Soulless and Changeless by Gail Carriger!

There are all sorts of ways to get extra entries, one of them being if you go post about this on your blog! I'm about to go sign up right now; what are you waiting for? Click here to go straight to the post to leave your comment. All the contest and entry details are here as well.

Good luck to all of thou that art entering,
Zakiya the WALKING BUTTERFLY

Giveaway (@ another blog!)

I am following a Tweeter who is hosting a giveaway of signed copies of two of Laurie Halse Anderson's books!! I've signed up, but what are YOU waiting for?? All entries must be submitted by November 12th at 11:59 pm EST. Hurry up and go enter! :D

Link to entry sheet & post: Tahleen's Giveaway