Thursday, February 28, 2013

Xpresso Tours Presents Frost Fire (Tortured Elements #1) by Olivia Rivers Blog Tour Stop

Frost Fire (Tortured Elements, #1)
Publication date: November 20th, 2012
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

“Magic is just like love, Allai. It won’t wait for permission before it destroys you.”



Like sand in an hourglass, Allai’s future is dwindling away. She’s spent her entire life fighting the Mages who threaten humanity, and dreams of someday eradicating magic. But all it takes is an anonymous phone call for the truth to spill out: Allai is the one thing she despises most. 



She’s a Mage. 



Though ancient law mandates Allai’s death, she still has one last chance of survival. His name is Drake Rhaize, and he swears he can lead Allai to a sanctuary for Mages. Allai hasn’t seen Drake in years, but she remembers him as the Demon boy who used to hold her close and softly whisper that he’d keep her safe. But Drake has changed since then: He’s now suspected of murder, and has been out-casted for betraying his own kind. 



While Allai doesn’t trust Drake, she has no choice but to put her life in his hands and hope he can get her to safety. Because Allai’s father has hired a pack of Demons to bring her back to him, dead or alive–and Demons never stop the hunt. 

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My Review
 
5 of 5 Frost Fires

Frost Fire is one of those books that has you saying "WOW" "WOW" over and over again. I mean I read it and was like "WOW" and then because I loved it so much I re-read the next day to make sure I did not miss a beat and I found that I had not missed anything. The story was just that GREAT, BRILLIANT in fact. Then just a side note I realized the author looked a little young and HOLY HADES she is a high schooler! Holy Hades I could not believe she had such talent!

Frost Fire is a story about a girl named Allai. She has spent her time killing Mages who want to bring back the magic and destroy humanity. She despises them and when ever she gets a chance to read the world of one she does. Then the strangest thing happens to her and she receives a call that will change her world entirely. At first she does not believe the caller and the story but as the evidence is all there right in front of her face she has no choice but to accept what is being told to her and try to move on and protect herself. 

See Allai finds out she is the one thing she despises. The one thing she hates in this world...... a Mage! Yes folks you heard me right she is a Mage and she is in danger because the law says that all Mages are to die. So she seeks help from an old friend and demon Drake. But Drake has issues of his own that he is battling and when she finds him she realizes that he is in fact in trouble to. But Drake is the only person who knows where the sanctuary is for Mages and Allai needs to get there like ASAP because she has a bounty on her head. See her father put a bounty out on her and the demons he sent after her will stop at nothing to bring her back to her father dead or alive.

What will Allai do? Will she make it to the sanctuary in time? What will Drake do? Will he take her to the sanctuary? This is a must read and I need book two like ASAP! 

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AUTHOR BIO
Olivia RiversOlivia Rivers is a high school student, a literary agent intern, and an obsessive-compulsive reader. She has a slight obsession with Kootenai County in Idaho, and she’s pretty sure life will always be awesome as long as Irish accents exist. She lives with dysautonomia, a chronic medical condition affecting her nervous system. Portions of proceeds from her “Tortured Elements” series go toward supporting youth with dysautonomia.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Xpresso Presents Time's Twisted Arrow (The Chronos Files #1) by Rysa Walker Blog Tour Stop

Time's Twisted Arrow by Rysa Walker 
Publication date: October 1st 2012
Genre: YA Science Fiction

"Sharp writing, a flair for dialogue and a big, twisting imagination." - Kirkus Reviews. 

They weren't panic attacks. Of that, seventeen year old Kate is certain, no matter what the shrink told her parents. But it's even harder to accept the explanation offered by her terminally ill grandmother - that Kate has inherited designer DNA from the time-traveling historians of CHRONOS, who were stranded in the past by a saboteur. Kate knows that her grandmother's story could easily be the brain tumor talking, but that doesn't explain the odd medallion or the two young men - one of them hauntingly familiar -- who simply vanish before her eyes on the subway. It doesn't explain Trey, the handsome stranger who now occupies Kate's assigned seat in trig class. And it definitely doesn't explain why Kate is now in an alternate timeline, where leaders of a previously unknown cult hold great power and are planning a rather drastic form of environmental defense.

In this new reality, Kate's grandmother was murdered at age twenty-two on a research trip to the past, which means that Kate's mother was never born, her father doesn't know her and, for all intents and purposes, she doesn't exist. The only thing keeping her from disappearing entirely is the strange blue medallion around her neck, and the only thing keeping her sane is her burgeoning relationship with Trey. To restore the time line, Kate must travel back to 1893 and keep herself and her grandmother clear of H.H. Holmes, the serial killer who is stalking young women at the Chicago World's Fair. But that choice comes at a price - she'll remember the past few months with Trey, but when he looks at her, he'll see a total stranger.

My Review

5 of 5 Time Travel

Time's Twisted Arrow is a fantastic time travel book. I have to say that I love time travel books. It is something about the main characters traveling between time that makes for a great read. This story is no different but i loved chow the author threw in different things and made you really want to keep reading to see what was going to happen to Kate. The Chronos gene had me so intrigued because Kate knew she was not going crazy but that there was something off about her.

The story flowed nicely and had a hint of romance and maybe a love triangle but I am not so sure about that. I have to say the descriptions of the Chronos gene and the time traveling had me on the edge of my seat wondering how it would be to have lived in another place at another time. Kate is a strong main character and that I loved about her. Usually when hard things come up for some of these characters they break down and the story becomes boggled down but Rysa did this great job showing us that yes Kate could show some emotions but for the most part she knew what she wanted and needed to do.

Give this book a go because you will fall into a new world where you will travel from time to time and discover things that will excite you and have you craving book two. 

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AUTHOR BIORYSA WALKER grew up on a cattle ranch in the South. Her options for entertainment were talking to cows and reading books. (Occasionally, she would mix things up a bit and read books to cows.) On the rare occasion that she gained control of the television, she watched Star Trek and imagined living in the future, on distant planets, or at least in a town big enough to have a stop light. 

When not writing, she teaches history and government in North Carolina, where she shares an office with her husband, who heroically pays the mortgage each month, and a golden retriever named Lucy. She still doesn't get control of the TV very often, thanks to two sports-obsessed kids. 

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Cover Reveal For Wait for You By Jennifer Armentrout AKA J Lynn

What do early readers have to say about WAIT FOR YOU? 

“J. Lynn creates a wonderful cast of characters that will make you laugh, swoon, and cry. Cam stole my heart.” – Cora Carmack, NYTimes and USA TODAY Bestselling Author of LOSING IT 

“For the love of all that is Cameron without a shirt on! Wait for You will have you laughing out loud, fanning yourself and anxiously waiting to know what will happen next.” – Molly McAdams, NYTimes and USA TODAY Bestselling Author of FROM ASHES and TAKING CHANCES 

“I don't think I have ever read a NA Contemporary novel with as much depth as this one. It really moved me and by the end I was just speechless over how inspirational and uplifting it was as well as being sexy and cute and funny and emotional.” - K Books 

“Wait For You is uniquely different from anything else J. Lynn's written but it might possibly be her best work yet.” – Jenuine Cupcakes 

“For all of you in love with Aiden and Daemon, PREPARE YOURSELVES! Your heart will have to expand a little more for Cam.” Total Bookaholic 

“For the love of all things CAM, this book deserves more than 5 stars.” – Mundie Moms 

“I cannot even begin to explain how much I adored this perfectly crafted contemporary.” – Shortie Says 

Excited? Ready to see the cover for WAIT FOR YOU? 
Synopsis 
Some things are worth waiting for… 

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself. 

Some things are worth experiencing… 

Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed. 

Some things should never be kept quiet… 

But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her? 

And some things are worth fighting for… 

WAIT FOR YOU is available now! 

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Wait-for-You-ebook/dp/B00BLTOXEI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1361958795&sr=1-1&keywords=wait+for+you

Barnes and Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wait-for-you-j-lynn/1114701569?ean=2940016231921
 J. Lynn, also known as Jennifer L. Armentrout, is the USA TODAY Bestselling author of the adult romance Gamble Brothers’ series, the young adult Lux Series and award winning Covenant Series. She pretty much writes everything—contemporary, paranormal, and fantasy. All of her books have one thing in common no matter the name or genre: kissing… and stuff. When she’s not busy writing, which is never, she’s usually hanging out with dog Loki, watching reruns of The Walking Dead, or procrastinating on the Internet. You can find out more about Jennifer by visiting the following websites: 

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Xpresso Tours Presents a Book Blitz For Forged in Grace by Jordan E. Rosenfeld

Prologue
I feel swimmy, high, adrenaline on full tilt, though I haven’t consumed a drop of alcohol. “We need to subdue him first,” I hear myself say. “Can’t just slap a hand on his face and hope it knocks him out.”

Marly nods, though she is too encumbered to move quickly, and me—there’s no guarantee of what I can do. 

“I have pepper spray,” she fidgets with her purse as though she’s about to withdraw it. “And it’s not like we have to break in, Grace. He’ll let us in, when he sees it’s me. Think I’m coming to talk.” 

“Okay, then,” I say, before I lose my nerve. And we get in her car and drive. 

We park and walk four residential blocks. The streets are lit by yellow halogen lamps, but there’s also a nearly-full moon. Its bold light makes me feel bolstered, sanctioned. Marly points to his condo, one square box among many in a beige world of homogenous residences. 

“This could have been my life,” Marly whispers, her face a portrait of disgust. “I should be in that kitchen right now making dinner, then go spread my legs for him. I can’t believe he thought he could get away with what he did to me.” 

The guilt surges through me again. If only I hadn’t healed away the evidence. But we didn’t know. Nobody could have known. 

“Let’s do it soon, before I chicken out.” My palms have begun to ache with heat. 

“Damn straight,” she agrees, and the toss of her hair is so familiar it’s like we’re fifteen again.

Simultaneously, we take a deep breath. 

Marly repeats her lines, “I’ll say we’re here to talk—that I brought you as my friend and witness. That will put him on his best behavior. And you?”

I choke a little on my own saliva, cough, and answer, “I’ll ask for a glass of water, say I got too much sun today. He’ll take one look at me and have a hard time refusing, right?” 

Marly pats her purse. “Let’s go.” She’s always one step ahead of me.
Forged in Grace by Jordan E. Rosenfeld 
Publication date: February, 2013 
Genre: Psychological Suspense (Adult w/ YA and NA crossover appeal)

Grace Jensen survived a horrific fire at age 15. The flames changed her: badly scarred in body and mind, Grace developed an ability to feel other people’s pain. Unable to bear human touch, she has made a small life for herself in Northern California, living with her hoarder mother, tending wounded animals, and falling a little in love with her former doctor. Her safe world explodes when the magnetic Marly Kennet reappears in town; Grace falls right back into the dynamic of their complicated friendship. Marly is the holder of many secrets, including one that has haunted Grace for over a decade: what really happened the night of the fire?

When Marly exhorts Grace to join her in Las Vegas, to make up for the years they have been lost to each other, Grace takes a leap of faith and goes. Although Marly is not entirely honest about her intentions, neither woman anticipates that enlarging Grace’s world will magnify her ability to sense the suffering of others—or that she will begin to heal wounds by swallowing her own pain and laying her hands on the afflicted.

This gift soon turns darker when the truth of Marly’s life—and the real reason she ended her friendship with Grace—pushes the boundaries of loyalty and exposes both women to danger.

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BLOG POST: Girls, a Love Story 
By Jordan E. Rosenfeld 
Author of Forged in Grace 

When I first began writing FORGED IN GRACE, or rather, when the character of Marly whispered in my ear while I stoked a fire in a little cabin overlooking a wild river, I knew right away this would be a story about female friends. I didn’t know it would be a dark exploration, but when all was said and done, I continue to think of this novel as a “dark love story of friendship.” That is to say, it’s a story that celebrates the powerful bonds that young girls forge with one another as they act as surrogates to each other for the mature relationships that will come down the road. 

I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of friends in my life, but as a girl, I only had one best friend, Sacha. The tried-and-true bestie who was part sister, part romantic stand-in, part keeper of secrets. She could make me feel good or break my heart all in the same day. She was an athlete to my bookworm, daring and brave where I was timid. She came from a loud family with brothers and two European parents. I was a latch-key kid from a “broken” home with two hippie parents. 

Like Grace does Marly in the novel, I adored and was slightly in awe of Sacha. She bounced back from sleights while I wilted. She took the world head on, while I crept at it from the shadows. We fought, sometimes for days, but always came back together. Not until high school—though Sacha was a year older than I was—did a wedge come between us, and that wedge was, natch, another girl, named Shawna. A prettier, more sophisticated, worldly girl than me who didn’t use “too big” words and needed to wear a bra. Quickly I became replaced. It was a theme that would repeat in my life as part of the messy geometry of friendship. A theme that seems to happen to so many girls, teaching the painful lesson of jealousy and self-esteem, of loyalty and betrayal. 

In FORGED IN GRACE, Grace has an unhealthy bond with the bold, beautiful Marly. Grace wants what Marly seems to have. And yet Marly is all pretense and façade. Her external world hides the darkness she keeps tucked away. What Grace thinks she wants, Marly may not actually have, and vice versa. And it’s up to Grace to realize her own talents and power in order to come to see the friendship for what it was, and is. A lesson many girls can use. 

Many of my favorite books and movies about dark female friendships touch upon an overt or indirect sexuality between the girls. As an adult I can see now that most of these friendships are not, explicitly, sexual—barring those that really are, of course, and that’s not what I’m talking about in this piece—but rather girls, with their fluid and often early developed emotional lives, need to start exercising these feelings before the boys get around to it. They test them on each other, for better or worse. They project things onto one another that will someday be meant for their mates. In the best of scenarios, they forge life-long friendships; in others, jealousy and competition draw them apart. 

As an adult, lucky to have a circle of dear, trusted women friends with whom I can talk honestly and show my dark and messy sides, I now look back on the friends of my youth with a clearer eye. It was my girlfriends upon whom I first tested the strategies of what would someday become my grown-up relationships at slumber parties where we whispered to the night sky our deepest desires and fears. Like Grace, those early friendships are important artifacts that reveal precious information to me about myself. 
AUTHOR BIO
Jordan E. Rosenfeld learned early on that people prefer a storyteller to a know-it-all. She channeled any Hermione-esque tendencies into a career as a writing coach, editor and freelance journalist and saves the Tall Tales for her novels. She earned her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and is the author of the books, Make A Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time (Writer’s Digest Books) and Write Free! Attracting the Creative Life with Rebecca Lawton (BeijaFlor Books). Jordan’s essays and articles have appeared in such publications asAlterNet.org, Publisher’s Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, The St. Petersburg Times, The Writer and Writer’s Digest magazine. Her book commentaries have appeared on The California Report, a news-magazine produced by NPR-affiliate KQED radio. She lives in Northern California with her Batman-obsessed son and Psychologist husband. www.jordanrosenfeld.net

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Interview Questions for Jordan E. Rosenfeld about her novel FORGED IN GRACE (i.v. ink, 2013) 

Q: You lean towards the dark and moody. Ever think of writing a comedy?
Yes, all the time. My personality actually leans toward the comic. Yet me trying to write comedy is like Jack Black doing serious movies. Doesn't work so well. 

Q: Your novel portrays a bond between girls that is less than healthy. Why?
It's not that I believe all female friendships are negative, it's that the unhealthy ones leave more to scour for a novel, and most of us have a few scars from those early friendships as we tested out our future relationship strategies upon each other. 

Q: You have an erratic writing process, care to share?
Yes, I write this elaborate outline, sketching out the characters and their problems, and then proceed to completely depart from it. Somehow I take comfort in an outline, no matter that I rarely stick to it. I need to pretend I know where I'm going. 

Q: After "finishing" a version of this novel once titled "Little Alien"--you then hired an editor, and gutted some 375 pages down to a mere 119, before writing your way back to its current state. Why put yourself through this torture?
 The novel just wasn't working. It was masking its flaws under fancy plot twists and implausible characters. Because of its partial Las Vegas setting, I thought I could get away with some big flights of fancy. Ultimately I came to see that it's a novel about two girls/women and their personal secrets/power. Coming back to that focus allowed me to access the real story I wanted to tell. 

Q: Let's just get this out of the way: Your character heals people. So is it magic, or is it the Memorex (sorry, 80s throwback!): Sigh. I guess that's a question each reader has to answer for herself. There are real cases of people healing others, and an entire industry that professes to be able to do so now--is acupuncture, Reiki, therapeutic touch and more, magic? 
On the one hand, I think you can take the healing gift as a metaphor; on the other, you can choose to see it as real. What's most important is how the "healing" works in Grace and what it does for her story. 

Q: You were raised in Northern California by hippies. How did that influence your work?
My parents were New Yorkers drawn to the wild, free spirit of California in the early 70s, raised on a healthy diet of 60s civil rights activism. Their best friends were astrologers, artists, Reiki practitioners and massage therapists among other things (Yes, I speak New Age). I think that my upbringing left me open at the edges. I wasn't raised in a religion, so there was a lot of seeking and exploration without anyone telling me if I was doing it right or wrong. While that may also come with its own set of problems, it left me interested in that edge of life that we can't fully explain, which turns up in all of my writing: healing powers, prophetic dreams, the creative spark that exists in artists... And I was an avid reader, and an only child until I was 14, which may have had more to do with my writing aesthetic than anything. 

Q: What's the question you least like answering, and why? 
Easy: "Do your characters come from people you know?" It's a valid question, but the artiste in me laughs because I never consciously set out to model my characters after anyone--they come out of me as themselves, like children, and any resemblance to living people will be denied. 

Q: Give a writer some advice, will ya?
Say yes to all opportunities, creative and literal, unless they ask you to send your bank account to a foreigner living abroad. 

Q: Is there a piece of advice you'd wish you'd known sooner?
Not really--writing is one of those crafts where it's better not to know the work ahead of you before you set out. 
Q: Whose career do you covet? 
Joyce Carol Oates, Jodi Picoult... I think of myself as their love child, with a little Alice Hoffman thrown in. 

Q: What is the biggest leap of faith you’ve ever taken and how did it turn out? 
JR: I was going to say quitting my job to work for myself as a freelance writer over ten years ago, which worked out fabulously, but as I sit here thinking about it, the greater leap of faith was having my son. I was 33 when I got pregnant, and my husband and I had been together already for 12 years--that’s a long time to get extremely settled in a lifestyle. My son’s birth rocked everything, changed me, and did that strange thing where your heart busts out of your chest and lives on your forehead forever after, where it is no longer safe from sappy commercials, stories about kidnappings, or light jazz. Now, he’s four and a half and I sort of feel like I’m getting used to this motherhood gig. 

Q: : Grace can heal others but not herself – something I think a lot of people can relate to in a metaphorical sense. Why do we have such a hard time letting go of our own struggles and hurts even as we encourage others to do so? 
JR: Yes, you’ve tapped into one of the major themes of this novel. One of the things Grace and I share in common is what I’ve come to call “extreme empathy”--sometimes I identify so strongly with the pain of others that I can’t figure out where my own begins/ends. I think it’s difficult to let go of our own struggles because they’re adaptive, they were our coping mechanisms as children and as adults we still get something out of them. Until we learn new strategies, we’re screwed.

Q: If you could steal another author’s muse, whose would you take? 
JR: Joyce Carol Oates’! That woman is prolific and takes on all manner of dark, complex and interesting subjects that appeal to me. When she retires, she can fed-ex her muse to me.

Q: How much of your personality traits do you put in your characters when you write? Do you put yourself in them at all?
There is no conscious effort to imbue my characters with me, but like any child, they carry facets of me, or they hold opinions/feelings of mine, though I try really hard to make sure they are behaving in ways that are true to THEIR characters, not mine. Others who know me will always read into my characters more than is probably ever intended.

Q: Tapping into what SN said about letting go of struggles and and hurts, how important do you think healing is for a persons emotional growth and interaction with the world? Can a person offer emotional help/support if they are not healed themselves?
Well, to sound somewhat pompously metaphysial, II think that’s sort of the point--to start out unfinished, “broken” even, messy, unformed and journey toward wholeness and healing. We heal in many different ways, and I have had some pretty inexplicable and life-altering healing experiences, as well as some normal, mundane ones. I think anything that helps us really be alive with all of our senses and appreciate that life, is a form of healing. I think that yes you don’t have to be some bastion of perfect health to be available to others; some very wounded people have insight and wisdom to share. But, I’d prefer to be as “healed” or “whole” as is possible, yes. I like to feel good, to feel happy.

Q: You are an original founder of indie-visible. How did the idea to form a writing collective of indie authors occur and grow to where it is now?
It was born out of a literary loneliness coupled with dissatisfaction with mainstream publishing, which seems to be growing ever narrower. Since moving to a new town nearly seven years ago I lost my huge in-person literary community. I felt amputated, and I’ve learned that I’m someone who needs to be part of something creative and collaborative to feel happy. I had met Chelsea Starling through a student of mine, we quickly became friends, and when I was discussing these things with her, it became clear we had two similar visions that needed marrying. Where it is now is a result of the passion of some highly creative, amazing people. And frankly where i.v. is now is just the beginning of an exciting new stage yet to come!

Q: You’re very physically active - do you think there is a link between a fit body and a fit mind?
JR: Well for me there’s a link between MOOD and body. I’m a MUCH nicer person when I exercise--and I definitely notice my mind gets clearer and burdens slough away when I go exercise, especially if I’m stressed. What is “fit” for one person is different for another. I take classes with marathon runners, and 80 year old women! I began exercising as a harried, exhausted, unfit mother when my son was 2. I had not slept a full night or exercised much in two years! I did it to start feeling better mentally. I can’t ever set the goal of “become fit” or “lose weight” because those goals have implicit self-judgment in them; instead, when exercise was making my mind and heart feel noticeably better, and I had fun in these dance classes, iit was the beginning of an addiction. 

Q: When someone asks to hear about what you’re writing, what do you say?
JR: I think I am guilty of the heavy sigh or groan. I only like talking about my writing when I know I’m not boring someone, which is hard to know. 

Q: An early title of this novel was Little Alien, referring to Grace’s sense of being different and possibly even invoking her shame about her appearance. What led you to change the title?
I think in earlier drafts, as I was getting to know Grace I was exploring her through the lens of her alienation, her isolation because I couldn’t yet understand what being a burn survivor was like (indeed, I called her a burn “victim” then). But after talking with some burn survivors, and eventually casting off some superfluous and unnecessary fanciful plot twists, in the last big revision I came to see that there was far more material to probe in her coming back to the world, in the dark landscape of her friendship with her wild friend, and in actively connecting with people; so Little Alien no longer felt right. This is a book about Grace coming into her right to be alive, her power.

Q: Did anyone in your life in particular inspire your characterization of Grace’s mother?
I think Grace’s hoarding Ma is a personification of my own cluttered mind! But really, I’m fascinated by hoarding because a part of me understands it and has minor tendencies of my own toward holding on for emotional reasons, and not “seeing” what others would call a disaster around me. And as I’m married to a psychologist I get to have lots of interesting conversations with a professional. Most important, for the story I wanted Grace to experience, on every level possible, an emergence from the small, the cramped, and the dark--her mother being a hoarder made so much sense for the story as I revised it.

Q: You’ve written several novels. What moved this one to the top of your queue for publication?
In many ways this book felt like it was the closest to “done”--which turned out to be quite a joke played by my ego, as I wound up putting more work into this novel than any of the other 8 I’ve written. And of those 8 novels, all but two will likely remain shelved. They are my “miles of canvas” as an artist once told me about her process to getting a good painting done.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

ATOMR Presents Fractured Soul (Fractured Light #2) by Rachel McClellan Blog Tour Stop

Fractured Soul
Llona will do whatever it takes to protect her new found friends and home, but the dark plot that is threatening Lucent Academy, a school that’s supposed to be a safe place for Auras, may be too powerful for even Llona to defeat. This fast-paced tale of love, loyalty, and overcoming the darkness will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page!

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My Review

5 of 5 Fractured Souls

Rachel McClellan has done it again and she has written an EPIC follow up to Fractured Light. Fractured Soul picks up right where Fractured Light left off. Man LLona learned so much about herself and others and she and her best friend May share so much and May has even started feeling more at home around the Furries.

LLona will do anything to protect her family and friends. She will not lie down and let the Vyken get her or anyone she loves. She really is not happy about being at the academy but she is there and she is trying to do whatever she can to fit in but she is bored. So at night she sneaks out to go running and on one night she is faced with the Vyken. She fights for her life and what happens after that initial fight is where the story turns into pure action. But Llona knows there is something different when she is fighting this Vyken.

After she gets back to the academy she realizes that someone has infiltrated the Aura Organization. She tells her Aunt Sophia and at first her aunt does not believe her but all evidence shows that something is not right with the organization. At least llona knows she is not going crazy. Llona is also itching to get out of the academy and get to the bottom of this latest set of events. She knows she will have to fight harder than she has ever fought and she is ready to use her light to get rid of the evil. Can she do it? Will she find out who the trader is? 

This is a must read sequel that will have you on the edge of your seat reading like crazy just to get to the end to see what happened!
Author Information:
Rachel McClellan was born and raised in Idaho, a place secretly known for its supernatural creatures. When she's not in her writing lair, she's partying with her husband and four crazy, yet lovable, children. Rachel's love for storytelling began as a child when the moon first possessed the night. For when the lights went out, her imagination painted a whole new world. And what a scary world it was...

Social Media links:
Twitter: @RachelMcClellan
Fractured Light
I’m dying, I thought. This was unexpected and not at all how I envisioned my death. I was supposed to die gardening in a flowerbed as a hundred-year-old woman, not as a seventeen-year-old trapped in a lake beneath inches of ice.

Llona Reese is used to living on the run. After the Vykens killed her parents, she knew they would eventually come for her too. She can’t take any chances. But when she starts to make friends for the first time in her life, she gets careless and lets her guard down. Big mistake.

As an Aura, Llona can manipulate light and harness its energy. But if she wants to survive, Llona will have to defy the Auran Council and learn to use her power as a weapon against the Vyken whose sole desire is to take her light. Now she’s caught in something even bigger than she can understand, with a power she can’t wield, and no one she can trust, except, just maybe, a mysterious stranger.

In this breathtaking and romantic adventure, Rachel McClellan delivers a truly mesmerizing story that will keep you guessing to the very end.

My Review

5 of 5 Fractured Light

I want to thank AToMR for allowing me to read and review Fractured Light for the blog tour. When I first saw the cover I said man that book looks like one hell of a read and I was right. In the beginning it started off slow which was okay but at times it was a a little too slow for me. I get impatient when I am reading a good book so I tend to want the author to speed it along.Rachel did a really good job describing the setting and the people in the story. So when it really started to pick up around chapter four I was completely and irrevocably hooked!

Ilona Reese is not your average teen. She knows she is different and hates the fact that she has to live her life on the run from the Vyken. They want to kill her like they killed her parents. On the run Ilona is forced to change places and not make friends because she is not sure how long she will stay in one place.This life is getting boring for her and she wants to stay put. Ilona realizes that she is a strong Aura who can manipulate light. She also has super hearing and can bring comfort to others by touching them. She knows her powers are stronger than others but she is not sure why that is.

Ilona does want to go to school to learn how to control her light but instead wants to learn how to fight. She believes by learning how to fight she may be able to defeat the Vykens that are after her. She soon finds out that she has a protector Christian and he will stop at nothing to save her from the corrupt and killing Vyken. Christian will have to teach her how to manipulate and control her light in order to survive. Will she be able to learn how to control the light? Will she survive an attack from the Vykens? Will she be able to use enough light to protect the ones she loves? Ilona has a difficult choice to make but in the end she will have to choose.

Purchase links:
Amazon:
Barnes and Noble:

Tour links:

Giveaway: 10 ebooks and 5 Hardbacks-Choice between Fractured Light and Fractured Soul (INT)


Monday, February 25, 2013

ATOMR Presents Kiss Me Tour By Jillian Dodd‏

KISS ME Tour Information
Title: Kiss Me (The Keatyn Chronicles, #2)
Author Name: Jillian Dodd
Release date: November 28, 2012
Genre: Romance
Age Group: Mature Young Adult

Tour organized by: AToMR Tours

Links to find/buy the book:
Goodreads: 
Amazon:
Barnes and Noble: 
Book Description:
I’ve always written scripts for my perfect life.

But no way could I have ever scripted this.

My life is so far from perfect, it’s not even funny.

All because of a stalker.

I’m at a boarding school where I have to lie about who I am.

I can’t see my family.

I’m tutoring a hottie god that tortures me with his smile.

The most popular girl already hates me.

But there’s this boy.

This hot, sweet, sexy boy.

So I’m going to stop trying to script my life and just live it.

Because who knows how long I have left.
About the Author
Jillian Dodd grew up on a farm in Nebraska, where she developed a love for Midwestern boys and Nebraska football. She has drank from a keg in a cornfield, attended the University of Nebraska, got to pass her candle, and did have a boy ask her to marry him in a bar. She met her own prince in college, and they have two amazing children, a Maltese named Sugar Bear, and two Labrador puppies named Camber Lacy and Cali Lucy.

She is the author of the That Boy Trilogy and The Keatyn Chronicles Series.


Social Media links: 

Tour Giveaway: 
(2) eBook sets of STALK ME and KISS ME (copies will be gifted from Amazon or Barnes and Noble) – Open International and (2) Signed paperback sets of STALK ME and KISS ME and (1) Keatyn Chronicles Tote Bag – Open to US/Canada.
International Giveaway code – a Rafflecopter giveaway
US/Canada Giveaway code – a Rafflecopter giveaway

Title: Stalk Me (The Keatyn Chronicles, #1) 
Author Name: Jillian Dodd 
Release date: September 1, 2012 
Genre: Romance 
Age Group: Mature Young Adult 

Tour organized by: AToMR Tours

Links to find/buy the book: 
Goodreads:
Amazon: 
Barnes and Noble:

Book Description: 
Gossip girl meets Hollywood in this new series by That Boy author, Jillian Dodd.

Keatyn has everything she ever dreamed of. Her life is following the script she wrote for the perfect high school experience. She’s popular, goes to the best parties, dates the hottest guy, and sits at the most coveted lunch table. 

She’s just not sure she wants it anymore.

Because really, things aren’t all that perfect.
Her best friend is threatening to tell everyone her perfect relationship is a scam. 
Her perfect boyfriend gets drunk at every party they go to. 
It’s exhausting always trying to look and act perfect.
And deep down, she isn’t sure if she has any true friends. 

To add to the drama, her movie star mom’s long-time fan has turned stalker.
An older man is flirting with her and telling her they should make a movie together. 
And she’s crushing on an adorable surfer. Dating a guy like him would mean committing social suicide.

So she writes a new script. One where all the pieces of her life will come together in perfect harmony. 
But little does she know, there’s someone who will do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Lady Amber Tours Presents A Book Blitz For Owlet (Society of Feathers #1) by Emma Michaels

Title: Owlet
Author: Emma Michaels 
Genre: Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Blitz Host: Lady Amber's Tours

Book Description:

Somewhere between falling and flying… there is a girl.

Iris has a secret. She lost her memory eight years ago and never told a living soul. After an asthma attack one night she finds out that her dreams of a strange house on a snowy island may be a memory resurfacing but the more she learns about the past the more she realizes the life she has been living is a lie. As the façade her father has built starts to crumble around her she will have to decide which means more to her; the truth or her life.
My Review

5 of 5 Owlet

I would like to give a HUGE Thank You to Tribute books for allowing to read and review Owlet and be a part of the tour. I have to say that this book had me gripped from the very first page. Lord can you imagine losing your memory. You can't remember your friends your family nothing your brain is just a blank canvas. That has got to be the most frightening thing ever for someone to experience. Well welcome to Iris's world. She has lost her memories and when she asks her father about things he is evasive not telling her a thing. She has so many questions and no answers.

Iris lives in a fantasy land because she has these dreams and she wishes she could go there to this place she dreams about and to meet the boy she dreams about. One day her wishes comes true because she has an asthma attack and her caretaker brings her to an island at her fathers request. This is where all the secrets and lies will be revealed because Iris soon finds out that the flash backs or dreams she has had are true things that have happened to her. Oh and the boy, yes he is not imaginary but real and has secrets of his own.

Once on the island Iris starts to uncover the truth and find out what her family has been hiding from her. What will she do when she finds out the truth? What will the boy she dreams about do? Come along for the greatest ride. I loved how Emma told this story unfolding with different things at different times and never once slowing down. I need the second book ASAP!
  Author Bio:
Personal: Emma Michaels is a cover artist and author of The Thirteenth Chime, Anasazi, Firstling and Owlet. As the founder of The Writers Voice blog (http://OurBooksOurVoice.Blogspot.com) she loves to connect authors and readers. Her love of blogging started when she created a review blog in 2009 (www.EmmaMichaels.com) that gave her that final push towards submitting her novel to her first publisher, Bokheim Publishing. With her novel Owlet and her full ‘Society of Feathers’ series being published through Tribute Books she feels blessed to be working with two of her favorite publishers to bring her books to life.

Author links
@EmmaMichaels 
Amazon:
Trailer: 

Buy Links 

Happy Monday Cover Reveal Imitation By Heather Hildenbrand

Imitation:

Everyone is exactly like me. 

There is no one like me. 

The rough fabric of my cotton nightgown chafes so I lie very still. They say my discomfort comes from being built like one accustomed to niceties. How is that fair when I myself have never experienced anything but copies of the real thing? 

My entire life is an imitation. 

I am an Imitation. 

I’ve been here five years. Training. Preparing. Waiting.

And now I have a letter.

My assignment has begun. 

I am a prisoner.

I am not Raven Rogen.

I am here to die.
Author of Across the Galaxy, Whisper, and the Dirty Blood series. I write, read, and fuss at my kids. Oh, and I do laundry, lots of laundry. I'm pretty good at it, too. Sometimes I even read WHILE doing laundry - and fussing at my kids. I'm a multi-tasker. 

For more information on my books, release dates, or just general stalker material, um, I mean FAN material, visit my website. www.heatherhildenbrand.blogspot.com. I love hearing from readers! 

Likes and dislikes? I love vintage tees, hate socks with sandals, and if my house was on fire the one thing I'd grab is my DVR player!

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Hysteria by Megan Miranda Meet The Author Interview


Mallory killed her boyfriend, Brian. She can't remember the details of that night but everyone knows it was self-defense, so she isn't charged. But Mallory still feels Brian's presence in her life. Is it all in her head? Or is it something more? In desperate need of a fresh start, Mallory is sent to Monroe, a fancy prep school where no one knows her . . . or anything about her past.But the feeling follows her, as do her secrets. Then, one of her new classmates turns up dead. As suspicion falls on Mallory, she must find a way to remember the details of both deadly nights so she can prove her innocence-to herself and others. 

In another riveting tale of life and death, Megan Miranda's masterful storytelling brings readers along for a ride to the edge of sanity and back again.
Hysteria
My Review

5 of 5 Hysteria

Hysteria is a surprising read. I was totally hooked from the book cover but as I started reading right from the first chapter I was hooked! Lord Megan has a way with writing that captures you and keeps you reading until the end. I love Psychological thrillers and this is one of them.

Mallory is accused of killing her boyfriend Brian. She can't remember a thing that has happened. All she remembers is waking up and realizing Brian is dead on her kitchen floor. The town hates her and Brian's family especially his mother is determined to ruin Mallory's life. To make matters more complicated Mallory is being stalked by Brian's ghost and she is not sure what to do. Her family decides it is best to send her away to the boarding school her father attended. 

Once there Mallory still does not feel like she is safe. The ghostly visions of Brian and some of the kids at the boarding school start to act weird around her. Mallory finally realizes that some of the students know what happened to her back home and they are telling others. All Mallory wanted was to left alone and start a new life after what happened between her and Brian but she soon finds out that someone has it out for her and when the dust settles she will have to fight for her life.

Then another student Jason ends up dead in Mallory's room and she is not sure how he got there and why he was there in the first place. Once again she is accused of killing a boy and she has no memory of it. See the doctor prescribed her some sleeping pills and when she takes them she is knocked out cold. What is a girl to do? She will have to uncover the mystery behind Brian's death and piece together Jason's death and who is responsible because she was sleeping when he was killed.

I loved this Psychological thriller. It had me at the edge of my seat and it will leave you breathless! This is a must read YA book for 2013!
Interview With Megan Miranda
Today we have a special guest author on A Diary Of A Book Addict. It is with the greatest pleasure I introduce you to Megan Miranda who is the author of Hysteria which was released on February 05, 2013. 

Megan thank you for stopping by and taking the time to answer a few questions for you readers. 

What inspired you to write Hysteria? 

Oh, I’m not sure if I can trace this back to just one thing. I had a character in my head—a girl who killed her boyfriend—and I wanted a story for her. So in a way, Mallory inspired the story. Two of the things that I was really interested in while writing the book (that influenced many aspects of it): 

-how memory and the brain work, and how psychological things can manifest in physical ways 

-the idea of haunting, and all the things that can haunt, and in all the ways they can haunt 

Both of these things started a long string of research into individual cases, such as that of a real-life soldier portrayed in the Band of Brothers miniseries (he went blind in a battle, though nothing was physically wrong with him). His story, and others like it, inspired the “what if” idea that became Hysteria. 

How did you come up with the book cover? Is there a hidden message in the cover? I love the cover and that is what jumped out at me when I first saw it. 

I wish I could take credit for the cover—I adore it, but my publisher is the one who comes up with the book covers. I don’t think there’s necessarily a hidden message, but it captures the feel of the book perfectly. When I first saw it, I did a double-take: was it a mirror? Was her head missing? Is it real? And there’s definitely that element to Hysteria – is it real? Is she losing her mind? 

Also, the color red plays a consistent role in the book, so I love that she’s wearing a red dress. 

Is the character Mallory inspired by someone close to you? 

No, but I think all my characters have pieces of me, and probably pieces of people I know in them. That said, she is purely the product of my imagination. 

What made you decide to choose a boarding school for Mallory to go to after her first incident? 

Ah, this is partly one of those subconscious elements of writing where I gravitate toward things that are familiar to me. I'm from NJ (like Mallory), and I went to a boarding school (though I lived close enough that I didn't board). Writing a prep/boarding school is much more natural for me, so I think, in a way, I naturally gravitated toward it (disclaimer: my school was nothing like Monroe!) However, I also think it was the right choice for the story. From the parents' perspective…. what would you do if your kid was being harassed at home? If she couldn't escape a past? It might seem like cruelty to Mallory because she's already at such a low point, but it also makes sense. It's a chance to start over. A chance for normalcy. Even though that's not how it turned out... 

What went through Mallory’s mind when she first met Reid? 

Well, she knew him growing up, and I'm not sure if she remembers the very, very first time she met him. And if she did, she was probably too young to be thinking the same types of things she thought seeing him this time around. This time around, she probably thought a combination of: YES and OH, CRAP. And also NICE HAIR. 

YES because they had a great connection growing up, and I think when you're in a new place, you tend to gravitate toward anything familiar. 

OH, CRAP because of the last time they saw each other, 2 years earlier. I'll leave it at that. 

And NICE HAIR, because, well, nice hair. 

Is Reid inspired by someone close to you? 

Like the above answer for Mallory, no. Purely a product of my imagination. But I do see elements of people in him when I read it back. Especially from high school. 

Can you tell us 3 random things about Reid and Mallory that we did not read about? 

*He got chocolate on her dress at that wedding on purpose years earlier. He was really bad at flirting. 

*She thought about calling him on occasion throughout the years, but was mortified by the idea that his dad would answer and tell her dad and oh the awkwardness 

*Reid knew she was coming to Monroe that first day, and he was sitting under that tree waiting for her specifically 

What is your next WIP and when will it be released? 

My next book will be the sequel/companion to Fracture, currently titled Vengeance. It's told from Decker's point of view and takes place about 8 months after the events in Fracture. It's currently scheduled to be published in early 2014. 

Where is your favorite place to write? 

I wrote the majority of Fracture and Hysteria in my bed, but we recently moved, and now I have a desk, and it is a little bit set apart from the rest of the house, and it is my favorite place to write. I've written at the library and coffee shops when I need to, but I really prefer to write at home. 

Megan thank you again for stopping by and answering a few questions for us. We look forward to more GREAT books from you soon. 

Thank you so much for having me on your blog!