This past week I attended A.E. Rought's release party and signing for her Debut title Broken at Schuler Books & Music in Grand Rapids, MI. The event was so fun and I had the opportunity to meet other bloggers, writers, the models for the trailer, and of course meet the author herself! She was so kind and answered lots of questions. I think I asked the majority of them LOL!
One of the questions I asked was "how long did it take you to write Broken?" She said it had taken her four months to write the story. She had also noted that she had spent a lot of time in cemeteries. Creepy! But I can understand as to why she did once she explained more about the story. She also had read one of her favorite passages in the book, which was really cool. To hear the writer read aloud her own work was really neat. If you have never been to a signing and have an opportunity to, I would encourage attending one. It's a great experience. This being my first event, I didn't know what to expect. But now I know I will make an effort to attend more in the future.
While I was there, I picked up a signed copy for one of our lucky followers! What better way to share my excitement and the opportunity to own your very own signed copy of this fabulous new release! She chatted with us as she signed the books and took the time to pose for pictures as well. I thought I would share a few of the pictures from the event. There is even one of A.E. Rought and the models from the Broken Trailer.
Look Me and Ms.Rought!
Book Trailer:
We are very happy to giveaway a signed copy of Broken to one lucky follower! Fill out the rafflecopter form below to enter! Good luck!
A weekly meme hosted by, Tynga's Reviews, that features the books we bought, borrowed, were gifted, and were given for review.
We have another very productive week! Cover reveals, blog hops, and reviews oh my! LOL! Our Cupid Blog Hop also launched Feb 1 and we are so excited to celebrate the next two weeks with everyone. We have a BIG event planned for Feb 14 so make sure to come by and check out all the fun! If you missed anything here is a recap of our insanely busy week!
Today, we have the pleasure of joining in the Indigo Awakening blog tour hosted by YA Bound. For our stop, we are sharing an two excerpts of the book along with a tour wide giveaway. Enjoy!
When Lucas Darby escapes a mental hospital, he hears a girl’s voice inside his head that changes
his life.
Excerpt #1 – Lucas Darby searches for the girl in his head
However his mind had pieced together the puzzle, he knew the girl would be there, in a garage targeted for demolition. A strange unremarkable place to start his new life, but there it stood in its mediocrity. He didn't question how he knew, he just did. Lucas crossed the street, picking up his pace as he got closer. Flashes of a girl teased his mind in precious fragments. She carried the face of his future, every shade and color of her.
The girl in his head came to him in prisms of crystal. Her essence was reflected in countless images caught in the refraction of bouncing light. He imprinted every glimpse of her into his memory. Her skin, a soft curve of a lip, the incredible way her mind held him without a touch. He didn't have to see her to know everything he sensed about her would be real.
She had blinded him to everything—even the van driving slow behind him.
Excerpt #2 – Lucas Darby Meets Kendra Walker
Slowly Lucas turned to look for her. He squinted into the candlelight and found her in the shadows, sitting on a wooden crate. She pulsed in a cobalt-blue aura and looked as serene as the deep blue of the ocean. He recognized the curve of her lips, the soft pink of her skin, and the odd mix of defiance and vulnerability in her dark eyes. He'd seen her before in the crystal fragments of his mind, but because she'd been his first, they shared an intimacy of mind that connected them deeper than anything Lucas had ever felt. It was as if he had
always known her.
Fighting his pain, he cleared his parched throat. He could have sent her a message without using his voice, but speaking aloud made her real and not just a distant voice in his head.
"You're…the one," he said. "The girl…in m-my head, aren't you?"
She came with water for him to drink and knelt by him with a fragile smile. When he saw her eyes filling with tears, he had his answer. Even though it hurt to move, Lucas reached for her hand. Don't cry, he told her. I'm here.
Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.
Voices
told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his
sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled
brother vanish on the streets of LA. In her desperate search, she meets
Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many
secrets. Rayne can’t explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet
compelling boy—to touch him—to protect him even though he scares her.
A
fanatical church secretly hunts psychic kids—gifted “Indigo” teens
feared to be the next evolution of mankind—for reasons only “the
Believers” know. Now Rayne’s only hope is Gabe, who is haunted by an
awakening power—a force darker than either of them imagine—that could
doom them all
Book Trailer:
Now for the giveaway! Take a look at all the awesomeness!
Giveaway will include:
HarlequinTEEN prize pack, includes (US only):
INDIGO AWAKENING by Jordan Dane
ON A DARK WING by Jordan Dane
IN THE ARMS OF STONE ANGELS by Jordan Dane
THE JULIET SPELL by Douglas Rees
BELONGING by Karen Ann Hopkins (ARC)
DANCERGIRL by Carol M. Tanzman
2 Harlequin notebooks
4 Infinity Bracelets: (US only)
For anyone who has read an advance copy of INDIGO AWAKENING, you know that a silver
infinity bracelet plays an important part in the story. Special bracelets will be given away on the virtual tour so the lucky winners will be part of Rafael’s street family. Rafe’s bracelet was in black leather, but I’ve added a white leather braid as my personal remembrance to you for being in MY family.
1 audio book of In the Arms of Stone Angels. Digital download only. (International)
Click HERE to see the rest of the blog tour schedule!
About the Author: Bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Jordan Dane’s gritty romantic thrillers are ripped from the headlines with vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense novels to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag, naming her debut novel NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM as Best Books of 2008. She also pens young-adult novels for Harlequin Teen. Formerly an energy sales manager, she now writes full time. Jordan and her husband share their Texas residence with two cats of highborn lineage and two lucky rescue dogs. Website / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest Thriller/Crime Fiction Blogs: The Kill Zone YA Blogs: ADR3NALIN3 / Fringe Dweller
Today I’m excited to host a review for WinterHaven's Cupid Cloud Hop. This week WinterHaven and a great group of Cupid Cloud Hop bloggers are posting Sweetheart Reviews. I chose a YA book that has LOVE in the title.
My Sweetheart Book choice is Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo.
A wonderful, coming-of-age love story from a fresh new voice in YA fiction.
'Miss Amelia Hayes, welcome to The Land of Dreams. I am the staff trainer. I will call you grasshopper and you will call me sensei and I will give you the good oil. Right? And just so you know, I'm open to all kinds of bribery.'
From the moment 15-year-old Amelia begins work on the checkout at Woolworths she is sunk, gone, lost...head-over-heels in love with Chris. Chris is the funny, charming, man-about-Woolies, but he's 21, and the 6-year difference in their ages may as well be 100. Chris and Amelia talk about everything from Second Wave Feminism to Great Expectations and Alien but will he ever look at her in the way she wants him to? And if he does, will it be everything she hopes?
My Thoughts "I am Chris, your friendly staff trainer. You’ll be with me for three hour shifts. I will call you grasshopper and you will call me sensei. And I will give you the good oil. Right?"
I don’t even know where to begin with this book. I loved it...let’s start with that. It made me think about a lot of things...there’s another point to offer. But, there’s just so much that makes up this story and to try and dissect it would just be criminal. I had no clue what to expect with Love and Other Perishable Items, so to say I was pleasantly surprised is a huge understatement.
This book revolves around fifteen year old Amelia who gets an afterschool job at the local supermarket and manages to meet and fall head over heals for her twenty-one year old co-worker/trainer Chris. Yes, train wreck waiting to happen, but as everything was unfolding, truths were being revealed, emotions were being laid out, and hearts were being broken, there was a part of me, albeit small part because of their age difference that really wanted this train to make it safely to the station. You’ll have to read the book to find out if it did.
I’m proud of Amelia for how she handles herself throughout the book. She’s ten times more mature than I ever was at her age, and I enjoyed reading that. She’s honest, angry about a lot of things, but hopeful and determined to move forward. Grant it, she makes a few mistakes here and there, but how she recovers and deals with the mess had me clapping enthusiastically and becoming a fan of hers. One of the final scenes that involved her not going to a certain somewhere, I was wooting and cheering for her because it took a lot of restraint to just leave bad enough alone. Loved her!
Now Chris, what can I say about him that my favorite quotes below won’t already reveal? I loved his perspective that he chose to share in the form of journal entries. He’s funny as all get out and his honesty made me just want to hand him a twinkie and hug him... after he eats the twinkie of course. He knows what he has going for him, but for obvious reasons chooses to focus on what sucks in his life. For example, he says:
"I’m young; I’m healthy; there is a roof over my head, food on the table, heat in the house; I have friends; I have access to tertiary education; I live in a safe city with clean beaches – and I’m miserable most of the time. I spend most of my time massaging my temples or fuming about a range of grievances. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to wrap up now so I can watch the patch of sunlight on my bedroom wall fade as the sun slowly sets, casting my room in darkness."
Woah! Deep!
So when you pair up angry Amelia and unsatisfied Chris, flavor it with endeering moments, fun conversations and honest journal entries and letters, you’re going to get a story that moves you, makes you smile, causes you to shake your head in frustration and leave you with a sense of wanting an epilogue that glimpses into their lives two or three years down the road. Loved their journey and I’d travel outback with them any day!
4 Snowflakes
WinterHaven Books is hosting a giveaway for 3 YA Contemporary Books as part of the Cupid Cloud Hop festivities. Be sure to fill out the rafflecopter for a chance to win!
Today, we are joining YA Bound in sharing a Cover Reveal for Stephanie Parent's upcoming release!
Forty Days (Neima’s Ark, Book One) by Stephanie Parent
Publication Date: February 12, 2013
The entire village knows Neima’s grandfather is a madman. For years the old man has prophesied that a great flood is coming, a flood disastrous enough to blot out the entire earth. He’s even built an enormous ark that he claims will allow his family to survive the deluge. But no one believes the ravings of a lunatic…
…until the rain starts. And doesn’t stop.
Soon sixteen-year-old Neima finds her entire world transformed, her life and those of the people she loves in peril. Trapped on the ark with her grandfather Noah, the rest of her family, and a noisy, filthy, and hungry assortment of wild animals, will Neima find a way to survive?
With lions, tigers, and bears oh my, elephants and flamingos too, along with rivalries and
betrayals, a mysterious stowaway, and perhaps even an unexpected romance, Forty Days is not your grandfather’s Noah’s Ark story.
Forty Days is approximately 45000 words, the length of a shorter novel, and is the first installment in a two-part epic story. It does contain a cliffhanger ending.
Readers looking for a traditional, religiously oriented version of the Noah’s Ark story should be warned that Forty Days may not appeal to them. The novel will, however, appeal to lovers of apocalyptic fiction, historical fiction, and romance, as well as anyone who’s ever dreamed of having a baby elephant as a pet.
About the Author
Stephanie Parent is a graduate of the Master of Professional Writing program at USC and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts as a piano major. She moved to Los Angeles because of Francesca Lia Block's WEETZIE BAT books, which might give you some idea of how much books mean to her. She also loves dogs, books about dogs, and sugary coffee drinks both hot and cold.
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