Month: November 2013

EVERYTHING YOU KNOW, is Staggering–Review and Giveaway

Everything You Know blog tour banner copy

Hi there! Welcome to my stop on the Everything You Know blog tour organized by A Bound Book Tours. If you want to check out other stops on the tour, click here. Today’s book is a recently released YA Fantasy by Mary Beth Bass.

3ba29-everythingyouknow_cover_wquote21Summary from Goodreads:

A dark forest, a screaming woman and blood. These are the images that haunt seventeen year old Emma from the moment she meets Joe Castlellaw. And so much more awaits.

Emma Mathews never believed she was like everyone else, but neither did she think herself crazy. Meeting Joe Castlellaw, Henry Dearborn High’s newest student, was like waking on a cold rock in a strange place, the world bathed in liquid moonlight. Everything is different now…and fraught. Visions of a dark forest, a screaming woman and blood have begun to haunt Emma’s dreams, and not only at night. But Joe’s lonely beauty makes her float on air, and she would follow him anywhere—out of high school and through the great tree, to a world of poetry and political savagery, of magic and murder, to a life that is entirely theirs and yet unlike anything they have ever known.

My Review:

This YA fantasy romance gets to the matter quickly. The second Emma and Joe touch, Emma falls into a trance and reveals Joe’s tragic history–a history he had no memory of.  The two of them are alternately attracted and repulsed, mainly because they feel so overwhelmingly attracted they think they need to stay apart, for their own good.

Joe’s a child with no history. His adoptive mother found him wandering and took him in, forging his identity. All he knows is he’s different, perhaps because as a small child he could fly. Emma’s the oddest of oddballs, in a family that is far from normal. Add telepathic to that mix and, well, even she thinks she’s cracking up.

At least, until she learns her older brother is telekinetic. And, when Joe and Emma kiss and hit the sky–literally–she knows she’s found sanctuary.See, their supernatural powers exist because they are not of earth they are gemynd refugees from the Commonworld–something nobody has bothered to tell Joe, and what Emma’s parents have actively hidden for her, and her four siblings, her whole life.

But this romance is doomed–Joe’s actual father is a hunted being in the Commonworld. Joe and Emma are both kidnapped, multiple times, in order to draw Joe’s father out of hiding so his immense power can be exploited by either of the warring political parties.

Through all of this, the bond between Joe and Emma becomes acutely strong. They are Soulmates, and the loss of either will result in certain misery for the other. Unfortunately, Joe’s father’s power is about to be usurped by an even more malevolent force that the politicians–and doing so will end all life, on earth and the Commonworld. Due to her telepathic nature, Emma knows she is the only one who can help Joe’s father–even if it means her life is lost.

It’s a quality YA romance, with so many fantasy elements, I was a bit overwhelmed myself. There is intrigue, deceit, danger, risk of self, first love, first loss, sacrifice and salvation. Emma’s family isn’t willing to go quietly, and they mount siege after siege to rescue their children who are alternately in danger. Romantically, Emma wants to take things very, very slow–she barely knows herself, she argues, how can she fully give herself to Joe? And the introspection is both fresh and honest. No agenda to be advanced as there are plenty of controversial plot elements to be had. I’d recommend it to upper YA readers.

Interested? You can find EVERYTHING YOU KNOW at Amazon  or  Barnes and Noble.

7c2d3-marybethbassAbout the Author

More than a little obsessed with Keats and MOBY DICK and fueled by loud music and cold grey days, Mary Beth Bass is the author of young adult fantasy and romantic women’s fiction. Her debut paranormal-women’s fiction hybrid, FOLLOW ME received the Book Buyers Best Award for Time Travel, Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance.
An occasional travel writer, Mary Beth has written about Paris, Bordeaux, and Yorkshire, where she hiked the moors to the legendary setting for WUTHERING HEIGHTS and stood breathless in the parsonage room where Charlotte, Anne, and Emily Bronte talked out their stories with each other.

And if she seem a little strange, well that’s because she is! <<<Her words, not mine…
Also loves octopuses. Wnat to knwo more? Find Mary Beth on Goodreads and Twitter.

***GIVEAWAY***

10 book subscription to Boroughs Publishing Group’s Lunchbox Romance service. (INT)

 So, if you’re interested, click here to enter!

And, as always, keep reading my friends!

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Waking up in NIGHTMARE CITY

nightmare city banner copy

Hi there! Welcome to my stop on the NIGHTMARE CITY blog tour organized by YA Bound Book Tours. To check out other stops on the tour, click here.  NIGHTMARE CITY is a YA thriller from acclaimed novelist and screenwriter Andrew Klavan coming out TOMORROW, but you can find out about it all today…

nightmare citySummary from Goodreads:

Tom Harding only wants the truth. But the truth is becoming more dangerous with every passing minute.

As a reporter for his high school newspaper, Tom Harding was tracking the best story of his life when, suddenly, his life turned very, very weird. He woke up one morning to find his house empty . . . his street empty . . . his whole town empty . . . empty except for an eerie, creeping fog and whatever creatures were slowly moving toward him through the fog.

Now Tom’s once-ordinary world has become something out of a horror movie. How did it happen? Is it real? Is he dreaming? Has there been a zombie apocalypse? Has he died and gone to hell?

Tom is a good reporter he knows how to look for answers but no one has ever covered a story like this before. With the fog closing in and the hungry creatures of the fog surrounding him, he has only a few hours to find out how he lost the world he knew. In this bizarre universe nothing is what it seems and everything including Tom’s life hangs in the balance.

My Review:

Seventeen y/o student reporter Tom Harding’s life is altered–perhaps forever–when he tries to answer his phone one morning. He can’t understand the staticy voice over the line, so he gets up and heads down to breakfast in his empty home.

After a few minutes he realizes his house is the only thing empty. The neighborhood is deserted. And he can’t hear the constant hum of freeway traffic anymore. Snatches of TV break through, but only one show, and the phones and Internet are no-go’s.

He heads into the foggy landscape sure he sees someone who can help him, and find only nightmare creatures who attack at will. Rushing back into his house, Tom hears his brother Burt’s voice warning him–encouraging him–to fight, but that can’t be. Burt’s been dead for six months.

Now, Tom must fight the nightmare creatures and discover the truth buried in his lost memories to survive. In this journey Tom gets help from his girlfriend Marie, his friend and editor Lisa, Burt–speaking from the grave, and the Lying Man who may or may not be lying. Learning which of these people to trust is an even more dangerous game, and may end up killing him.

OMG. I had no idea where this book was going for the first 50 pages. Was it Walking Dead for teens? Was it 28  Days Later reimagined?

It becomes clear that the battle Tom must win is a psychological one. That the escape he’s seeking isn’t to flee this scary life, but to hold onto it. See, Tom’s a stickler for the truth, and the truth is: he’s made some pretty powerful enemies. His bombshell story on the football team’s past steroid use has more that ruffled feathers–it’s turned Tom’s world inside-out.

Revealed in vignettes and mini-flashbacks we experience the disorientation and fear as Tom retraces his muddled memories to find the center of the truth. It’s a fantastic ride, full of twists and red herrings. I’m not a super fan of horror–and had to put this down the first night because I didn’t want my own personal nightmare city running through MY brain (I got ENOUGH trouble sleeping TYVM!) but in the light of day NIGHTMARE CITY is a fast, entertaining read. Definitely suitable for middle-to-upper YA readers. May specifically appeal to boys as the MC is male and it’s a very male tale…

Interested? You can get your very own NIGHTMARE CITY at Amazon,  Barnes and Noble,  Kobo,  or Book Depository.

andrew klavanAbout the Author

Andrew Klavan is a best-selling, award-winning thriller novelist whose books have been made into major motion pictures. He broke into the YA scene with the bestselling Homelanders series, starting with The Last Thing I Remember. He is also a screenwriter and scripted the innovative movie-in-an-app Haunting Melissa.

You can find him at Goodreads, on Twitter and Facebook.

***GIVEAWAY***

3 print copies of Nightmare City (US only)

Click HERE to enter the sweepstakes!

Good luck, and keep reading my friends!

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Double Double–SEDUCTIVE SECRECY–brings trouble! Two Reviews and Two Giveaways

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Hi there and welcome to my stop of the SEDUCTIVE SECRECY blog tour organized by AToMR book tours. For other stops on the tour, click here. Today’s book are a two-for by Marni Mann.

Two erotic romances, two reviews and two giveaways!

 
DOUBLE REVIEW
Seductive ShadowsSeductive Shadows (book #1)
Charlie is a passionate, sensually-inspired art student, seeking an escape from her abusive mother and the pain of a long lost friend. Scarred and unable to love, her yearning for physical pleasure leads her into a tantalizing, dangerous world of power and seduction in the Mansion. Here, she earns her financial freedom and the Madam is the mother figure she longs for.

But the thrill of the Mansion and its arousing dominance quickly fades when she meets renowned-artist-yet-mysterious Cameron Hardy. Cameron is sexy, and not in a subtle way. He stimulates Charlie’s art, her intellect, and her desires. As he breaks through her emotional boundaries, Charlie discovers her ability to love, and wants to leave the tawdry Mansion behind. Unfortunately, the powers there never intended Charlie to leave…alive. In a dramatic twist, Charlie’s escape is masterminded by the one man she never expected to help.
**This book is for mature audiences. It contains explicit language and sexual content.**

My review of Book 1:
SEDUCTIVE SHADOWS is a bit like a platypus. A bit erotic, a bit mystery, a bit tragic, and a bit suspenseful. There was a lot of teasing–some fulfilled, some not.  What comes through the page is a deep and unrelenting pain experienced by Charlie. She has never known her father. Her mother has been an irresponsible parent, one who thinks nothing of getting drunk or high and bringing home random men. Her one true friend was killed in a car wreck that Charlie survived. In fact, Charlie has been a survivor her whole life and now she is surviving her mother’s protracted demise to cancer.

Through it all she seeks escape for her pain in her art and in sex. Dallas, her sometime lover, wants more of a connection than she can give, but work as a call-girl for a well-paying fantasy brothel-the Mansion-is fit to the task. There are many trysts related, some rather satisfyingly, and Charlie is feeling like life may just turn out fine until She meets Cameron Hardy–a handsome and talented rising art scene star. Together they find comfort and Charlie would like to make it physical, but can’t knowing that she’s contracted to the Mansion.

She wants out, but these things aren’t that simple. In a horrifying twist we learn that the girls never leave the Mansion. Human trafficking is a common theme in many NA erotic stories, but this spin is far beyond what I had previously read. To say Charlie’s life is at risk is far too mild. We go cloak-and-dagger at the end, hoping that it will all turn out…which it does.

Because, hey, would you lookie here? By Jove, there’s a sequel!

Seductive Secrecy (book #2) Seductive Secrecy cover

Following the public airing of the Mansion’s nefarious activities, Charlie maintains a very low profile–fearing that the escaped Madam may one day find her. She takes to her art like never before fueled by the passion she, and the insatiable Cameron, make. Throughout this self-discovery Charlie struggles to forgive both herself and her savior–a man who, by all rights, is generally despicable.

Cameron’s acceptance of Charlie’s call-girl past assists her transition into an actual adulthood–one marked by companionship and affection like she has never known. It’s new for Cameron, too, having grown up in and out of foster care with his brother, Jared.

Can she and Cameron overcome the destruction of their pasts and rebuild their future? Or, will the revelation of painful, shocking secrets pull them back into the darkness?
**This book is for mature audiences. It contains explicit language and sexual content.**
My review:
SEDUCTIVE SECRECY is a book about forgiveness. In order to heal, Charlie has to to learn to forgive her mother’s abusive behavior, her father’s absence, and her own mistakes in life.  She wants to leave behind the shame of the Mansion, but it lingers in her reticence to give her love to Cameron. As their relationship grows stronger, Cameron’s possessiveness escalates. He wants every part of Charlie, including her battered heart, and makes all efforts to embrace her schizophrenic sexual desires. Just as that emotional breakthrough occurs, one of Charlie’s former Johns shows up, and he’s the last person Cameron can accept as a rival.

The way Charlie’s art changes throughout their rough patch really defines the emotional disarray she experiences. In this book I got a strong sense of hope, something Charlie had previously lacked, and that hope was conceived and nurtured in her acts of forgiveness. Where the first book teased emotionally and erotically, the second book delivered. We get all the rawness, all the passion–for good or bad–that comes with a fiery relationship. The love-triangle added sufficient tension and awkwardness without going past the limits. Of course, when we think the worst is past, we’re wrong. And, like any good horror flick the bad guy will rise at the end to do something nearly catastrophic to the main character. Same here, and there (thankfully) is no cliffhanger.

I favor SEDUCTIVE SECRECY, but I really think you need to read both novels in order to fully understand the second book.

Interested? You can find SEDUCTIVE SHADOWS on Goodreads or Amazon and likewise for SEDUCTIVE SECRECY  Goodreads   AMAZON
About the Author
A New Englander at heart, Marni Mann is now a Floridian inspired by the sandy beaches and hot pink sunsets of Sarasota. She taps mainstream appeal and shakes worldwide taboos, taking her readers on a dark and breathtaking journey. When she’s not nose deep in her laptop, she’s scouring for chocolate, traveling, reading, or walking her four-legged children.
Find her on Pinterest – Facebook –  Twitter –  Amazon

DOUBLE GIVEAWAYS!

(7) eBook copies of Seductive Secrecy – International

Click this Rafflecopter link to enter!

– Grand Prize:  $100 Victoria’s Secret eGift Card

– $50 Total Wine eGift Card

– 5 ebooks Seductive Shadows

Click this Rafflecopter link to enter!

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MY DATE FROM HELL–Review and Giveaway!

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Hi there, and welcome to my stop on the MY DATE FROM HELL blog tours, sponsored by AtoMR book tours. Check out other stops here. This YA paranormal romance, just released by best-selling author Tellulah Darling, is a perfect blend of snark, fantasy and swoon!

MyDateFromHellCoverBook Description:
Sophie Bloom’s junior year has been a bit of a train wreck. After the world’s greatest kiss re-awakened Sophie’s true identity as Persephone (Goddess of Spring and Savior of Humanity), she fought her dragon-lady guidance counselor to the death, navigated mean girl Bethany’s bitchy troublemaking, and dealt with the betrayal of her backstabbing ex, Kai (sexy Prince of Darkness). You’d think a girl could catch a break.

Yeah, right.

With Zeus stepping things up, it’s vital that Sophie retrieve Persephone’s memories and discover the location of the ritual to stop Zeus and Hades. So when Aphrodite strikes a deal that can unlock Sophie’s pre-mortal past, what choice does the teen goddess have but to accept?

The mission: stop media mogul Hermes from turning Bethany into a global mega-celebrity. The catch? Aphrodite partners Sophie and Kai to work together … and treat this suicide mission as a date. Which could work out for Sophie’s plan to force Kai to admit his feelings for her–if she doesn’t kill him first.

Add to that the fact that BFF Theo’s love life and other BFF Hannah’s actual life are in Sophie’s hands, and suddenly being a teenager—even a godlike one—seems a bit like … well, hell. Whatever happened to dinner and a movie?

The YA romantic comedy/Greek mythology fireworks continue to fly in My Date From Hell. Love meets comedy with a whole lot of sass in book two of this teen fantasy romance series. Breaking up is easy; dating is deadly.

My Review:
MY DATE FROM HELL begins where it should—with Sophie being tortured within an inch of her life by her dad, Zeus. Family, ain’t it grand?

Still Sophie—a reincarnation of Persephone—can’t reclaim the memories she’s being tortured to divulge. So she battles on. In the process she frees herself, and Kai—Kyrillos, son of Hades—who is likewise up for execution. Sophie returns to her Vancouver boarding school to learn her magically-enhanced-bully, Bethany, is poised to claim supreme star-status with the help of Hermes—god of tricksters.

Oh, and Sophie has less than two months to regain Persephone’s memories and fall in love with Kai, or humanity is doomed. But Sophie can’t seem to let go of her fears that Kai will only love her for Persephone’s sake, and not her own. And that’s kinda not so okay with Sophie.

Though Eros and Aphrodite toss in some magic, Sophie can’t overcome her own romantic notion that a person should be really in love, not simply faking it. Kai gets it, and he’d like to let her know his own feelings on the matter, but hey, gods have their pride.

In order to unravel Persephone’s memories, Sophie turns to master caster-Hephestus-also known by his hipster name, Festos. And, he’s game to help if Sophie can maybe sway Theo into looking his way again. Oh, and Eros volunteers to rescue the brain-drain, but it’s gonna hurt. So the merry bunch takes off after Hermes, on a date arranged by Aphrodite, to cut the cord on Bethany’s villainous popularity.

The date between Sophie and Kai soon becomes a Game of Death to rescue Hannah and gain Hermes’ cooperation. Along the way Sophie begins to see that Kai isn’t all bubbly over Persephone any longer. No, he’s realized that Sophie’s a pretty extraordinary gal—what with her snark and her magic powers and her saving the day. In fact, Sophie’s willingness to accept Kai is what returns Persephone’s memories. Now she knows who tried to kill her years ago in Hades.

And, sadly, that person is back to finish the job.

Interested? YOU ARE IN LUCK! Promo pricing (for Oct 31 and Nov 1 only) is $.99! So click the linky-links and enjoy your very own copy….  Amazon   Barnes & Noble

I reviewed the first book in the trilogy, MY EX FROM HELL, earlier this week. If it caught your eye, well, it’s available here! AMAZON   Barnes & Noble

TD photoAbout the Author
Tellulah Darling:  noun
1. YA romantic comedy author because her first kiss sucked and she’s compensating.
2. Alter ego of former screenwriter.
3. Sassy minx.
Geeks out over: cool tech.
Squees for: great storytelling.
Delights in: fabulous conversation.
Writes about: where love meets comedy. Awkwardness ensues.
Sassy girls. Swoony boys. What could go wrong?

Find the delightful Ms. Darling on Goodreads,  Twitter and Facebook

HEY!  Want to help an author? Tellulah’s names for Sopie’s super viney powers stink–Enter here to tell her YOUR IDEA for a power name and if yours wins, you’ll get a signed copy of My Date From Hell, a t-shirt featuring a design of one of Kai’s tattoos and will have their power name featured in the final book of the trilogy. Contest runs Oct 21-Nov 7.

GIVEAWAY:
2 signed copies (1)of My Ex From Hell and (1) of My Date From Hell – International,
(3) eBook copies in mobi or epub – International
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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