30 November 2013

Book Blitz: Submerged by Nicole Sobon


Submerged (Outbreak #1)
Release Date: 02/14/13

Summary from Goodreads:
After a mysterious virus makes its way into the United States, the government demands that states seal themselves off from one another and do their best to protect their surviving residents. When the state of Florida is bordered off from the surrounding states, Taylen Fincher, a seventeen-year-old girl with a yearning for her former life finds herself wondering how much of what they’ve been told is true.

When Troum took control of the state, he told the residents that the other states had fallen to the virus and that he wouldn’t allow the same thing to happen to them. But Taylen doesn’t believe it. She insists that there is still life outside of the state, and she is going to do whatever it takes to prove it… but her actions will cost her more than she ever expected.

Troum kidnaps Taylen’s sister, Penelope, in hopes of coaxing her into behaving – into being a submissive resident, much like the others. But Taylen isn’t one to give in that easily.

Eager to rescue her sister, Taylen will set out on an adventure that’ll force her to open her heart to the unexpected and to uncover secrets that will change everything.

SUBMERGED is the first book in a YA dystopian duology.


Available from: (only $.99!)
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About the Author
Nicole Sobon is the author of the Emile Reed Chronicles, Capture, No Place Like Home, and various short stories.
***Author Links***
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***GIVEAWAY***
2 signed copies of Submerged in paperback plus swag (Program 13 and Deprogrammed bookmarks) (INT)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz Hosted by:

29 November 2013

Review: The Devouring by Simon Holt

The Devouring by Simon Holt
Publisher: Little Brown, and Company
Release Date: September 1, 2008
Number of Pages: 231
Synopsis: The Vours: Evil, demonic beings that inhabit human bodies on Sorry Night, the darkest hours of the winter solstice.

When Reggie reads about the Vours in a mysterious old journal, she assumes they are just the musings of an anonymous lunatic. But when her little brother, Henry, begins to act strangely, it's clear that these creatures exist beyond a madwoman's imagination, and Reggie finds out what happens when fears come to life.

To save the people she loves, Reggie must learn to survive in a world of nightmares. Can she devour her own fears before they devour her?

The Devouring is an engrossing tale of terror that will have you wondering: what if your worst fears became your living nightmare?


My Review:
I bought The Devouring by Simon Holt awhile back with my own money and this is my honest review.

I decided to buy The Devouring because I love everything horror and I have heard so many things about this book like how creepy it was and how it was like watching a horror movie and so me being a horror geek when my mom picked it out of my TBR cup for me I was excited, especially because it meant I got to read it a few days before and on Halloween night which made it even creepier!

Starting off the book I was loving it the whole story about the Vours on Sorry Night and how they got Jeremiah that part gave me the chills but I loved it, and so when Reggie and Aaron decided to do that weird ritual I knew exactly what was going to happen. Now don’t take that the wrong way either. Sometimes books are bad when you can figure out what happens before it happens but in this case it was exhilarating! It was sad though seeing Henry go through everything he did because he was the sweetest little boy and I loved the relationship he had with his sister.

Another reason why I loved everything about this book was because not only was it very creepy, the author actually added in some other factors too like there were a few emotional moments when it came to the siblings mother leaving them and those moments made me tear up a little. The reason I say this is a good thing is because not all authors can make a scary book and add in other emotions so well and Holt did that perfectly.

The one tiny thing that I didn’t like about the book was that it seemed like everybody was a vour or had some affiliation with them and that was annoying. It’s no fun if everybody’s the same you want to have some sort of difference between all of the characters. But other than that little part the rest of this book was absolutely phenomenal and I just ordered book two because I can’t wait to dive right in! 


25 November 2013

The Sound of Shooting Stars Tour: Guest Post + Giveaway


The Sound of Shooting Stars by Heather Allen
Genre: Contemporary YA
Release Date: November 11, 2013
Synopsis: Jamie Grey grew up tossed around between foster homes. At an early age he shut the world out, deciding he wouldn’t care. Whatever life had to throw at him, he would look the other way. Now his senior year is about to start and he’s been forced into yet another new home. This will be the last time, he assures himself. When an unexpected curveball comes his way in the form of a certain stubborn seventeen year old girl, Jamie soon finds out that life doesn’t always work out the way you plan it.

Beckett Chase has been entitled her entire life. Living in the plush landscape of Palm Beach, Florida, she’s never wanted for anything. She’s always taken what and who she wants with no remorse. When she sets her sights on Jamie Grey and she’s met with rejection, her descent from the top begins.

With a twist of events causing Jamie and Beckett’s worlds to collide, will they be able to put aside their differences or will fate intervene offering an entirely different option?






Meet The Author:
Heather Allen is the author of The Just Breathe Trilogy, and newly released- The Sound of Shooting Stars. Heather finally realized her dream of becoming an author only recently with her mermaid trilogy. She savors every moment on this new journey and the wonderful friends she has met along the way. She has many more books planned. More ideas pop up than she has time to write about.

Heather currently resides in the scorching hot state of Florida with her husband and three children. She holds degrees in education from The University of Central Florida and Nova Southeastern University. She is a hopeless romantic who loves to read just about anything, coffee and Jelly Belly jellybeans. When she isn’t teaching, writing or reading, Heather can be found at the beach or out on the water boating.

Author Links:

Buy Links: 
B&N
Smashwords

Guest Post:
What is it like balancing a writing career with your normal life?
Quite the interesting topic…Maybe when someone learns how to do this they can teach me how! J It’s difficult to say the least. I do have a normal life aside from writing. Someday I’d like to write and call that my normal life but until then I am a literacy coach by day and writer by night. I have 3 kids, a fourteen year old, twelve year old; both boys and a princess, my five year old girl. She is only a princess by environmental influences, ruined for life by the bigger people in her world!
So yes a normal day for me is chaotic at best. I work at an elementary school teaching/coaching in the area of reading all day. Then it’s sports, dinner, homework, and bedtime in no particular order. “JUST GIVE ME MORE TIME!” I usually settle down on the couch with my headphones in around eight o’clock each night. I’m lucky after all the social on line sites, to get in a good hour of writing. BUT, yes, there is but, somehow it all works out. The Sound of Shooting Stars is my fifth book to be released in a year. I have many more planned and just thinking about them makes me tired but that eight o’clock houris what I strive for and look forward to each day. All day long I get to experience the world and people that are important to me. At night I get to make up new people to talk to and manipulate their stories. In some freaky way it all works out for me.

Giveaway:

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23 November 2013

Release Day Blitz: Deadly to Promise by Mia Hoddell




Deadly to Promise (Elemental Killers #2)
by Mia Hoddell

Genre: YA/Romance/Paranormal/Fantasy

Blurb:

A broken promise is all it takes.


Becoming an E.K isn’t a choice for Serena – it’s a necessity to survive. To destroy the Elementals she has to leave her old life behind. She has to train and follow a strict regime. But with time against her, she has only a few weeks to master the skills Kai spent his whole life perfecting.

The knowledge passed down from her ancestors is crucial to the Elementals demise and the success of their mission. However, the path they must follow is lined with riddles, each more confusing than the next. It doesn’t matter how close to succeeding they get, it’s never enough. The Elementals are one step ahead at every revelation and that can only mean one thing – the E.Ks have a traitor among them.

For one week only, both Deadly to Love and Deadly to Promise are 99c / 77p!
Buy Now: Amazon | Amazon.co.uk

Excerpt

“Have you ever been swimming here?” I asked moving my head to watch his reaction as I brought my feet up out of the water and folded them beside me.
“Yeah, most summers when I came here. We all used to use it as a way to cool off or just have some fun in between training.”
“How about skinny dipping?” I asked my grin growing due to the thoughts running through my head.
“Why? You want to try it?” he challenged.
“Only if you go first,” I laughed but stopped instantly when he removed his shirt and tossed it behind us. My eyes widened in surprise and I started to regret my words. “You’re not being serious are you?” I stuttered as he pulled off his shoes, throwing them over to where his shirt was crumpled.
“You can’t chicken out now Rea. It was your idea,” he said smiling as he removed each sock, teasing me as they ended up with the rest of his discarded garments.
I just stared at him, my lips moving but not making a sound as I tried to find an excuse.
He laughed at me. “Relax Rea, I’m just teasing you. Well unless you’ve changed your mind. In that case I’m being deadly serious.” He had a cheeky grin on his face as he spoke and I pushed him hard, toppling him into the water below.
There was a lot of splashing but Kai surfaced finally, taking a deep breath as he flicked the hair out of his eyes. I was clutching my stomach in fits of laughter as I bent over. The shock on his face was priceless.
“Oh you are so dead Rea, so, so dead,” he said, his voice ragged as the cold water and shock affected his half naked body. I just continued to laugh as he floated in front of me, his head bobbing up and down in a comical way.


Deadly to Love (Elemental Killers #1)
by Mia Hoddell


Genre: YA/Romance/Paranormal/Fantasy
ASIN: B00BDQ3QGA
ISBN: 978-1-291-41025-9

Blurb

The world is dangerous – but love will kill you.
Little did Serena Jackson know that one simple, flirty remark to an anonymous guy online would lead to her world being changed forever.

She doesn’t know him, but inexplicably, is drawn. She knows it is wrong but she agrees to meet.

His real name is Kai. He is beautiful. And immediately Serena feels herself blindly falling for him even though she senses a lie. She knows he is hiding something and it terrifies her.

What she doesn’t realise is that her entire life has been built on secrets and lies. The people she loved left her in the dark for a reason.

She trusted them. She trusts Kai. But as he pulls her straight into the heart of the danger the lies and deadly secrets are revealed. They overwhelm her, and the person she once was no longer exists as she is thrown into a ruthless world of elemental forces. The price of truth is her life—and now the world wants her dead.
Buy Now: Amazon (Kindle) | Amazon (Paperback) | Lulu


Praise:

“I couldn't put it down. So I finished it last night and all I can say is WOW! This book was amazing and different.” Brianna (Book Blogger)

“I loved how the author took a different approach to writing a love story in modern times with the paranormal element present. I thought it was absolutely wonderful and refreshing. Marvelous!” Kathy H (Amazon Reviewer)

“In the end I had fallen in love with this story…completely untraditional it was a very original idea, not to mention modern. This story had such a good plot and the story structure was sound.” Kacii – The Kooky Bookworm (Book Blogger)

About the Author

Mia Hoddell lives in the UK with her family and two cats. She spends most of her time writing or reading and loves anything paranormal. Mia always had a love of writing but never reading. She was more interested in sports and hated sitting still - despite getting three poems published before the age of sixteen. Finally though, she found some novels that captured her interest and developed a love of reading which is now one of her favourite hobbies.

Mia began with poems before moving on to short stories. Although she enjoyed this, Mia found she had too much to tell with too little space, so later on she created her first series 'The Wanderer Trilogy' and from there other ideas have emerged. With a total of nine books planned at this moment, she is busy working on her second series 'Elemental Killers' before moving onto the next idea on her ever growing list.
Links: 
Blog |Twitter@MiaHoddell | Facebook Page |Goodreads | Amazon Author Page



Goodreads Book Giveaway

Deadly to Love by Mia Hoddell

Deadly to Love

by Mia Hoddell

Giveaway ends December 06, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win


18 November 2013

Correlation Tour: Guest Post + Giveaway



Correlation by Mia Grace
Synopsis: When the past and the present collide…
Hailey Kent knows how she wants to spend the summer before her junior year in high school: hanging out at the pool with Jenna, her BFF; riding her new trail bike on Vermont’s country roads; and flirting with Jenna’s hot older brother, Cody.
Hailey’s plans are shattered when a post-graduation accident puts her brother into a coma. Feeling guilty for not stopping him from going out that night, she seeks solace in exploring an old house and its overgrown gardens.
A mysterious correlation of events propels her back in time to the Vietnam War era, where she realizes she can use her knowledge of one boy’s fate to save his life.But first, Hailey needs to convince him of her sanity.
Book Links: 
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18297712-correlation

Guest Post:
Grandmas Have Imaginary Friends, Too
Some of us never outgrow our need for imaginary friends.
I had plenty of them growing up, and, weird as it may be, I still do.
Some of them are the characters in my books, of course. Each is vividly real to me. I can’t make you “see” Peter in Correlationunless I know him well. I can’t tell you what Hailey is thinking unless I’m in her head.
Some of them ride along in the car with me when I’m on my way to work. I’m alone, right? It’s the perfect time to have a conversation with a character who’s giving me trouble, to talk through a difficult passage. “Okay, Jenna, how are you going to feel about the fact that your brother caused a devastating car accident?”
I used to worry that someone in an adjacent car would notice me talking to no one, especially when at a stoplight, and I would self-consciously stop talking. Thankfully, with the invention of speaker phones, that is no longer a problem. I jabber away, and no one looks twice. Technology is a wonderful thing, even when you’re not using it.
I do interviews on the radio about the story behindCorrelation—not for real, of course, but in my car with my imaginary interviewer. Peter’s girlfriend, Susan, tells me how she coped with the draft notice that would send Peter to Vietnam.
New friends wait in the wings to tell me their stories. Some, I’m still getting to know, learning more about them before I put their stories on paper. Old friends are never gone. They come by once in a while to remind me that they’re out there, waiting on Amazon for someone new to come and read their stories.
Life is never boring when you can count on a steady stream of imaginary friends.

Giveaway:



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17 November 2013

1000 Sleepless Nights Tour: Excerpt + Giveaway


1000 Sleepless Nights by Connie Ann Michael
Release Date: August 26, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Military Romance
Synopsis: Can you choose between fighting for your life and fighting for your heart?
Twenty-two year old Corpsman Emme Sawyer doesn’t follow rules. She’s always been the best and no one will die if she has anything to say about it.

Emme refuses to hang around the hospital waiting for the wounded to come to her and joins a Marine unit heading into Helmand Providence, the largest opium producer in Afghanistan. Shutting off her emotions, Emme focuses on what she does best…keeping her men safe. When her best friend is obliterated by a roadside bomb, Emme
begins to realize she can’t save everyone. Seeking comfort from Raven, her commanding officer, Emme develops feelings that don’t belong in a combat zone where each step could be your last. As Raven reciprocates, Emme learns you can’t choose when and where love finds you.

Book Links:

Meet The Author:
Connie Ann Michael was raised a city girl, but was converted to a country girl after college and now resides in a speck of a town in Central Washington State.  She is married to her former boss as she worked at the local Pizza place and has two college age boys that provide endless material for her books.  She loves the outdoors and can be found mountain biking, kayaking, or camping with her family.  Being a busy family, she can be found working on her newest novel while on long road trips.









You can find and contact Connie Ann Michael here:
- Goodreads:http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7169768.Connie_Ann_Michael

Excerpt:
A few men were standing around a water pump a short distance away, washing the dust off their faces and filling water bottles. Sawyer headed their way. She needed to scrub the blood from her hands. The men stepped back when she approached. She used the long handle to prime the pump; then placed her hands under the water when it spewed from the small opening. She worked her hands together, scrubbing at the dried-brown blood around her fingernailsand up her forearms. The water felt good, cool, and refreshing after the heat. She opened the neck of her jacket and tilted her head back. She wiped her damp hands down her throat and on her chest.
 Tahk walked over to where she stood, his voice strained. “Sawyer, um…you need to stop.”
She opened her eyes, blinking. “What?
He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side. She followed his head bob. The men sent to break holes in the wall had stopped their work and stood, leaning on shovels, their eyes trained on where Sawyer was standing. Raven stood to the side, his mouth set in a tight line while he watched the men watch her.
Water dripped from her chin. Raven shifted his gaze to her. His expression conflicted. Either he was angry at the men for staring, or angry at her for making them. Sawyer wasn’t sure.
“It’s like you’re in a wet T-shirt contest,” Tahk muttered.
“I was getting the blood off.” She pulled her jacket closed.
“Just get down.” With a frustrated sigh, Tahk walked away.
Raven barked at the men, “Get your asses back to work.” They tripped over themselves to resume their pounding on the mud wall.
Embarrassed, Sawyer stepped off the ledge of the well and followed Tahk to where he had their bags. She leaned against the wall, thankful for the small amount of shade it provided.
“I didn’t do anything the others weren’t doing.”
“Give it a rest. Men don’t wipe water down their neck, letting it drip off them.” He waved his arms around in an exaggerated impersonation of her movements.
“I wasn’t doing that. I wasn’t purposely putting on a show.”
“Sawyer, sometimes just being here is show enough.”
“I don’t know why I get yelled at because men are assholes.”
“Maybe because you’re outnumbered a hundred assholes to one?”
“Yeah, but you’re still assholes.”
“No argument here, sister,” he said.  
“You’ve known Raven a long time,haven’t you?” Doogie started to pry for some information.
Tahk eyed her curiously. “Why?”
“Do you think he likes me?”
“Best he doesn’t. We aren’t here to make lasting friendships.”
“Well, I don’t want him to not like me.”
Tahk stared at her. “What are you talking about?”
“He always seems pissed off at me. No matter what I do, he gives me this look of irritation. I can’t win.”

“That’s his look. Don’t take it personal,” Tahk mumbled.

Giveaway:



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12 November 2013

Cover Reveal: Love and Cupcakes by Susan Bishop Crispell

COVER REVEAL
LOVE AND CUPCAKES
BY SUSAN BISHOP CRISPELL

Adult Romance
Releasing January 21, 2014
Publisher: Swoon Romance
For Jaclyn “Jack” Pace, sensing what sweets people crave is as easy as breathing. But it’s not enough to keep her cupcake bakery in the black. So, when her estranged sister Harper comes back to town with an affinity for making art out of icing—and a past full of secrets—she reluctantly gives Harper a job and a place to crash. As their sisterly relationship begins to thaw, the one with her business partner Graham starts to heat up. Given the legend that says Hollingsworth men will recognize their soul mates at first touch, Jack’s always been resigned to the fact that she’s not his. But when she starts sensing desires that are decidedly not dessert-related, it’ll take all of her magic to set things right with customers and make her own desires come true. Love and Cupcakes is a delightfully sweet and sensual romance from Susan Bishop Crispell.  photo goodreads-badge-add-38px11_zps1ae6e47f.jpg

  About the Author Susan Bishop Crispell is not one of those writers who's been scribbling down stories since she could hold a pencil. She didn't read constantly growing up (blasphemy!), and she can still be found in public without a book tucked into her purse (again with the blasphemy!). She is, however, the kind of writer who lives for the imaginative spark that introduces her to a new character or story idea that pushes her to turn everyday life into something magical. She lives and writes near Wilmington, NC. Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Tumblr  photo AToMRToursC66a-A00aT03a-Z_mdm_zpsa3cc6896.jpg
 
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