Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Blog Tour {Spotlight/Promo & Giveaway} A Slither of Hope by Lisa M. Basso


Title: A SLITHER OF HOPE (ANGEL SIGHT #2)
Publication date: August 5, 2014
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Author: Lisa M. Basso



ABOUT A SLITHER OF HOPE

Rayna struggles to piece her life back together, but hiding in plain sight from the police, the SS Crazy, and the Fallen isn’t a foolproof plan—something Kade, the World’s Worst Roommate, reminds her of everyday. The late nights of failing to teach Ray how to protect herself against the Fallen are getting to Kade, changing him in ways he doesn’t like, and after a family emergency sends Ray back into Cam’s arms, Kade decides he’s had enough. News of Rayna’s resurfacing brings both angels and the Fallen to San Francisco by the dozens, all eyes scouring the city for the girl with the gray wings. Rayna will need both Kade and Cam’s help to ensure her family’s safety, navigate the new dangers and enemies springing up all over the city, and manage the surprises that arise with her new set of wings.

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ABOUT LISA M. BASSO

Lisa M. Basso was born and raised in San Francisco, California. She is a lover of books, video games, animals, and baking (not baking with animals though). As a child she would crawl into worlds of her own creation and get lost for hours. Her love for YA fiction started with a simple school reading assignment: S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. When not reading or writing she can usually be found at home with The Best Boyfriend FiancΓ© that Ever Lived ™ and her two darling (and sometimes evil) cats, Kitties A and B.

Author Links


Giveaway Information: Winner will be drawn August 29, 2014

Four (4) winners will receive a digital copy of A Slither of Hope by Lisa M. Basso (INT)
One (1) winner will receive a digital copy of A Slither of Hope by Lisa M. Basso AND a $10
Amazon Gift Card or B&N Gift Card – Winner’s Choice (INT)


Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Book Blitz {Excerpt & Giveaway} Had To Be You by Juliet Chatham



Had To Be You
Release Date: 08/05/14
Swoon Romance

Summary from Goodreads:
After college, Rory Finn left behind the familiarity of her quiet, picturesque hometown to pursue a professional career in the city. With her sights firmly on the future, Rory pressed on in hopes of forgetting the past until a jarring bit of unwelcome news forces her to confront it.
Her first love, the one she'd tried so hard to forget, is about to marry someone else. That pang Rory feels isn't envy, it's not even regret. It's love. But Rory can't be that girl. She won't. But if she doesn't, she'll never know what could have been. She'll never have another chance to tell him how she feels. 
As she embarks on an impulsive, desperate bid to win him back, her mission turns into an unexpected and emotional journey of rediscovery. HAD TO BE YOU explores a history of love from its tentative beginnings to what may just turn out to be its final bittersweet end, as Rory ignores her head and follows her heart.

Available now:

PROLOGUE
Moonlight  framed the inky  patch  of  sky  out  the  port  window,  illuminating  silhouettes  of  pale shadows. Overhead, halyards clapped softly in the breeze, keeping time with the creak of lines as the boat shifted, gently rocking in the waves.

Tiny  thrills  of  heat  shivered  through  her  body,  thrumming  with  warm  electricity. One moment it felt like she was flying, and in the next, melting away into a dream. His body was hot and hard, his kisses so soft and deep. Her lips parted in a quiet moan as his tongue slipped past, tangling with hers in a delicious slow slide, the surrounding ocean luminous and shimmering in the quiet summer night.

Her  breath  quickened,  the wind like  a  whisper  of  cool  silk  against  heated  skin  as  his mouth moved down her neck, tongue tracing the hollow of her throat. She trembled with longing on  every  soft  caress  as  his  skilled hands  curved  around  her  hips,  smoothing  warm  paths  down the  small  of  her  back. They  found  their  rhythm,  the ebb  and  flow,  bodies  moving  together  in perfect  waves  of  passion,  a  hot  undercurrent  of  pure  lust  running  beneath  this  deep  well  of feeling and emotion.

Mindlessly, breathlessly, she gasped his name in a hot, hungry plea. He responded with a soft groan, a jolt of pure desire.

She  bit  her  lip  to  mute  her  cry,  clutching  at  his  broad  shoulders,  grasping  at  the  taut muscles in his arms, anything to hold onto as she began to feel weaker and weaker against that relentless ache of need. Each roll and push of his hips was a pure revelation of sensation, filling her again and again. Her body arched, breasts crushed against the muscled wall of his chest.

The pleasure was indescribable, waves of ecstasy building in intensity. Heart beats raced between   shallow   breaths and   quiet   gasps   as   she   tightened   around   him.   Soft,   thrilling declarations of love burned in his kisses, murmured into her neck, whispered past her ear as he stroked  her  hair. Yet  he  never  had  to  say  it  at  all;  she  felt  it  everywhere.  This  feeling,  this exquisite, endless ache, wasn’t just him inside her body but inside her heart as well, bursting with the diamond brilliance of the starlit sky.

After,  feeling  thoroughly  sated  yet  somehow  still  weak  from  want,  she  settled  into  his arms. She could feel the thunderous pounding of his heartbeat gradually soften and slow through his warm skin as the boat bumped against the mooring, floating on an aimless current. A sleepy smile lifted the corner of her lips as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“You’re going to marry me someday,” he said in his usual joking way, though with a husky edge to it. “Just so you know.”

“I’ll consider myself forewarned,” she replied and closed her eyes.
They couldn’t stay here too long. She would have to go soon. But right now her whole world  consisted  of  this  place  of  pure  contentment  and  perfect  happiness,  wrapped  inside  a  fleeting moment in time.

About the Author
A lifelong New Englander, I divide my time between the North Shore and Cape Cod. My favorite things are beaches, boats, books, bars, the Boston Red Sox and boys, but not necessarily in that order. Consequently, you’ll probably find that these are the things I write about, too.

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Cover Reveal for Lost To Me by Jamie Blair

Lost To Me
Release Date: 08/19/14

Summary from Goodreads:
Lauren Kelling’s prom night is a memory she’ll never forget—in her nightmares. She had the dress, the hair, and romantic first time plans with her boyfriend, Kolton Seidel. But what should have been the best night of her life bleeds into terror when she’s brutally attacked.

Now, Lauren relives the events leading up to prom, unraveling the clues that should have warned her of the trauma to come. Like Kolton ’s malicious ex-girlfriend, who’ll do anything to rip them apart. Or Kolton’s mentally unstable brother.

After the tragedy, Lauren wants to hide, disfigured inside and out, while Kolton drowns in a sea of guilt. Only together can the two of them lay rest to the past and heal each other, through a love too strong to break.

About the Author
Jamie Blair lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband, their two kids and a cat that broke into their house and refused to leave. She won a young author's contest in third grade, but it probably shouldn't count since her mom wrote most of her entry. LEAP OF FAITH is her first novel. She promises her mom didn't write one word of it. 

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Release Blitz {Giveaway} Upside Down by Lia Riley



Title: Upside Down
Author: Lia Riley
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Series: Off the Map #1
Publication: August 5th, 2014 by Grand Central

If You Never Get Lost, You’ll Never Be Found

Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying good-bye to the past-and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she'll act like a carefree exchange student, not a girl sinking under the weight of painful memories. Everything is going according to plan until she meets a brooding surfer with hypnotic green eyes and the troubling ability to see straight through her act.

Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he moved back home to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He's never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart.


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About Lia

Lia Riley writes offbeat New Adult Romance. After studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, she scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. She counts shooting vodka with a Ukranian mechanic in Antarctica, sipping yerba mate with gauchos in Chile and swilling XXXX with stationhands in Outback Australia among her accomplishments. When not torturing heroes (because c'mon, who doesn't love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about as-of-yet unwritten books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. She and her family live in Northern California.


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Excerpt

“That’s it, Talia,” Bran’s voice is encouraging. “You’re holding tight, that’s great. Now, I’m going to need you to release your left hand and reach up a few inches to grab the next hold.”

I grit my teeth. The way he talks, you’d think I’m scaling Everest. Or at least Kilimanjaro. Instead—

“’Scuse, us, we’ll be by in a tic. That’s the way, Andy, right around the lady.”

I’m the lady. Andy is a kid who doesn’t look a day over seven who scrambles past me in a flurry of Spider-Man shoes and gap-toothed smiles. His parents bring up the rear, smiling up at their wild monkey child with obvious pride.

And they aren’t the first group to pass me.

Five Swedish women, a couple, and a guy who looked to be in his mid-seventies have also shot past me during the course of the last quarter hour.

The top is so close I can taste it. Bran is being nothing but encouraging, but below me is a twenty-foot drop. Not enough to kill me, unless I fall with some sort of suicidal intent, but enough to make me feel incredibly uneasy about the boulder field.

Bran eases toward me. “Talia, take my hand.”

“Can’t let go.”

“Talia.”

“No.” This is it; this is the reason. Bran isn’t going to admit it here, while I’m bordering on a panic attack on a trail being conquered by elementary school children and senior citizens, but there’s no doubt this is A REASON to lose interest in me. I’m giving him a big capital-lettered reason, but I can’t stop. I physically can’t let go.

“Talia. Take a deep breath.”

“Breath taken.”

“Another.”

“Okay.”

“Give me your hand, no bullshit. I want your fingers in mine. You’ll be safe. I’m going to keep you safe. I need you to trust me.”

Somehow I do it. I give him my fingers. He assists me up. We’re doing this together. My head clears the boulder and I can see the steel marker that identifies the summit ahead. Holy shit, he’s right. I’m going to reach the top.

A few more steps, easy now, and we’re there. The kid in the Spider-Man shoes munches a Vegemite sandwich. I want to scoop him up in a smooshy squeeze. Except his parents would likely object, so I switch gears to give Bran a long and passionate kiss.

“I knew you’d get here,” he says.

“I didn’t.”

He turns me to see the view, his hands tight around my waist. “Your place is here, Captain, in the sun,” he whispers in my ear. “Don’t ever forget that.”

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Giveaway



Book Blast {Giveaway} Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee


GATES OF THREAD AND STONE
Gates of Thread and Stone #1
Author: Lori M. Lee
Release Date: August 5th, 2014
Publisher: Skyscape

In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe.

In a city of walls and secrets, where only one man is supposed to possess magic, seventeen-year-old Kai struggles to keep hidden her own secret—she can manipulate the threads of time. When Kai was eight, she was found by Reev on the riverbank, and her “brother” has taken care of her ever since. Kai doesn’t know where her ability comes from—or where she came from. All that matters is that she and Reev stay together, and maybe one day move out of the freight container they call home, away from the metal walls of the Labyrinth. Kai’s only friend is Avan, the shopkeeper’s son with the scandalous reputation that both frightens and intrigues her.

Then Reev disappears. When keeping silent and safe means losing him forever, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to find him. She will leave the only home she’s ever known and risk getting caught up in a revolution centuries in the making. But to save Reev, Kai must unravel the threads of her past and face shocking truths about her brother, her friendship with Avan, and her unique power.



Praise for GATES OF THREAD AND STONE

“Lori M. Lee excels in building a world of intrigue, oppression, and magic amidst a Labyrinth setting as twisted and winding as the secrets hidden inside her characters’ hearts. Fans of strong heroines who don’t need a boy to hold their hands, action-packed fighting scenes, and whispers of steampunk and mythology, will find themselves wishing they, too, could manipulate the threads of time, if only to stay inside the story a little longer.”
A.G. Howard, the SPLINTERED series

“Inventive, romantic, and gripping. I was hooked from the first page!”
Amy Tintera, REBOOT and REBEL

“A fast-paced, heart-wrenching whirl of a story full of magic, immortals, and a romance that will leave readers gasping for more. I adored the tough, scrappy narrator and fell in love with the boy chasing after her heart. Lori M. Lee introduces us to a fantasy world unlike any other and gives us the first taste of an epic love story in the making. I can’t wait for more!”
Mindee Arnett, THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR series and AVALON series

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lori is the author of young adult fantasy Gates of Thread and Stone, coming August 5, 2014 from Skyscape. She has a borderline obsessive fascination with unicorns, is fond of talking in capslock, and loves to write about magic, manipulation, and family. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, kids, and a friendly pit bull.

Find Lori on her website, Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook.


Giveaway is open Internationally | Must be 13+ to Enter

1 Winner will get (1) $25.00 Amazon Gift Card + a Swag Pack

Monday, August 4, 2014

Blog Tour {Excerpt & Giveaway} Uncovering Cobbogoth by Hannah L. Clark

uncover cobbogoth tour


Uncover Cobbogoth
Uncovering Cobbogoth by Hannah L. Clark

Norah Lukens needs to uncover the truth about the fabled lost city of Cobbogoth. After her archaeologist uncle’s murder, Norah is asked to translate his old research journal for evidence and discovers that his murder was a cover-up for something far more sinister.

When she turns to neighbor and only friend James Riley for help, she realizes that not only is their bitter-sweet past haunting her every step, but James is keeping dangerous secrets. Can Norah discover what they are before its too late to share her own.


Praise for Uncovering Cobbogoth


"With a fascinating protagonist in Norah Lukens, a fully realized, never before seen fantasy world, and a fast paced, compelling story, Uncovering Cobbogoth establishes Hannah L. Clark as a major new voice in American fiction. The richness of the story and the scope of the world she's created screams for a film adaptation. This is a fantasy novel for everyone, even readers not usually drawn to the genre. Highly, highly recommended!" -Bryce Clark, author of Red Shirt Kids


"This book takes you on a wonderful ride, bringing myth and legend to life. The characters are full and flawed, with a sweet romance woven through the adventure." - Annette K. Larsen, author of Just Ella


"Uncovering Cobbogoth is an Icelandic tale that will appeal to many Harry Potter series fans […] For those who’ve missed the Harry Potter world, here’s a pretty good alternative!" - Sharon Haddock, For the Deseret News


"This isn't a typical YA fantasy/scifi/para story like the multitude of vampire or witch or werewolf or mermaid themes that fill bookshelves in stores currently. When after a couple of chapters it became apparent that this wasn't yet another entry into the aforementioned themes, I was downright giddy. And then to find out there wasn't a standard issue love triangle? I wanted to find the author and buy her dinner." -Radar626, Amazon reviewer


"A friend of mine recommended this book […] I checked it out and I was so pleased! I love this book. I can't wait to read the next one [...] and I am encouraging my daughter to read it as well. If you like fantasy with a little mix of science this book is perfect. I had such a hard time putting this book down just so I could deal with real life and working on promoting my own book. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book." -Pamela Hall, author


Excerpt


The Legend of the Cobbogothians is really where Uncovering Cobbogoth begins. For as long as Norah can remember, her Uncle Jack has been obsessed with the mythical people. He became an archeologist and world famous Myth-chaser because of the Cobbogothian legends he heard while visiting his Granddad Aegissida’s farm in Iceland.


The Legend of the Cobbogothians


Long ago, at the beginning of time, a peculiar race ruled the earth. They found favor in the eyes of the gods and received great gifts of knowledge and power at their hands. These gifts made them elementalists—masters of earth, wind, fire, water, metal, wood and space. The elementalists thenceforth became rulers of the earth and sky.


With this power came corruption, and the elementalists soon forgot their patron gods. Instead, they turned to worshipping themselves and their own creations. This angered the gods, and in their wrath, the vowed to bring an icy end to the prideful race.


Rumors of the looming destruction were heralded throughout the land, and a final invitation was issued to the elementalists to renounce their fallen ways. Yet only a few heard and heeded. Among them was a man named Cobbogoth. Being a wise and humble servant of the gods, he believed the warnings and led all who would listen deep into the bowels of the earth to wait out the approaching storm.


When the day of destruction was come and the wrath of the gods rained down, the race of elementalists was wiped away, and then came the dawning of a violent and frigid ide age.


It is said that Cobbogoth’s posterity still lives beneath our feet, waiting to rise and rule the earth and sky once more.


Sigurd Jorgensson Icelandic Bard, 1045 AD


*Translated from the original Old Norse by Dr. Jack A. Lukens of Harvard University, April 1975




hannah
Author Hannah L. Clark

Hannah L. Clark lives with her husband and their son in the Rocky Mountains. She has always known she would be a storyteller. In 2006 she graduated from Utah Valley University with a bachelor’s degree in English and immediately began writing Uncovering Cobbogoth, the first book in a seven book series based on Clark's mythological brain-child, the Icelandic Legend of the Cobbogothians. Clark loves her family, running, mythology, laughing, soulful bluegrass music, road-trips, studying alternative medicine, retro hairdos, and growing things. Like her heroine Norah, she also kind of believes trees have souls, but must clarify (for her parents' sakes) that she was not raised by hippies. ;-)


Blog Tour Giveaway
$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 8/24/14

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the publisher. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Cover Reveal for The Empress Chronicles by Suzy Vitello


In this dazzling novel from the author of THE MOMENT BEFORE, one courageous girl seeks keys to the past to unlock the future…
When city girl Liz is banished to a rural goat farm on the outskirts of Portland, the 15-year-old feels her life spiraling out of control.  She can’t connect to her father or his young girlfriend, and past trauma adds to her sense of upheaval.  The only person who seems to keep her sane is a troubled boy who is fighting his own demons.  But all of this changes in one historical instant.
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One-hundred fifty years earlier, Elisabeth of Bavaria has troubles of her own.  Her childhood is coming to a crashing end, and her destiny is written in the form of a soothsaying locket that has the ability to predict true love.  But evil is afoot in the form of a wicked enchantress who connives to wield the power of the locket for her own destructive ends.
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When Liz finds a timeworn diary, and within it a locket, she discovers the secrets and desires of the young Bavarian princess who will one day grow up to be the legendary Empress of Austria. It is in the pages of the diary that these two heroines will meet, and it is through their interwoven story that Liz will discover she has the power to rewrite history—including her own…

Readers of books like Rachel Harris’s MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY will love THE EMPRESS CHRONICLES


Release Day: September 4th 2014

Pre-Order on Amazon
Pre-Order on iBooks

Published by Diversion Books



About The Author
Suzy Vitello is a proud founding member of a critique group recently dubbed The Hottest Writing Group in Portland, and her short stories have won fellowships and prizes (including the Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Award, and an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship).




Twitter: @suzy_vitello

Blog Tour {Excerpt & Giveaway} Hope Over Fear by J.A. DeRouen



Synopsis

Today is the day – the day that the man I love marries someone else. I don’t deserve pity or sympathy. I’ve made my bed. I left Mason and ripped his heart to pieces as I ran away. The guilt and sorrow consume me, threatening to choke me everyday.

But today is a new beginning. Today is the day I will wake up with a renewed resolve and determination to do better … to be better … to be worthy. My name is Sara Preston, and this is my story about what happens after.

Hope Over Fear can be read as a stand alone novel.




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Excerpt

"The fact is, Sara, I don’t think I can let you walk away.”

He reaches around and wraps my hair around his fist, then gently pulls, exposing my neck. My breath is coming in short bursts, and I fight with my body to appear calm and in control. His nose trails delicately across my cheek, down my neck, and over my collarbone. He gently nips at the base of my neck, and my body shudders involuntarily. He kisses hungrily up the side of my neck until he reaches my ear.

“Just give me a chance. I promise you won’t regret it, beautiful girl,” he whispers. He shifts back just far enough to look into my eyes. And I’m lost. Lost in the hunger and desire I see reflecting back at me.

Lowering his head toward me, he sucks my bottom lip, and I grasp his forearms tightly for balance. There’s nothing tentative about his approach. He’s self-assured, knows what he wants, and takes it. I fucking love that. He coaxes my lips open with his tongue and devours me. As our tongues slide hungrily against each other, he pulls me even closer to him and pushes his way between my legs. Adam kisses like he’s starving, and I’m all too happy to provide.

He ends the kiss way too soon for my liking. We stay intertwined and breathless for a few moments, and I love that I hold power over him like he does over me. He looks up at me with a lazy smirk, and it feels like the wind has been knocked out of me. He’s stunning, and I can’t believe he’s interested in someone like me.

Teaser


MeetTheAuthor


 

J.A. Derouen resides in South Louisiana where she lives with her husband, son (aptly nicknamed "The Professor"), and her furry friend, Scout. She has earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and nursing. When she's not writing or inhaling romance novels by the stack, she works as a women's health nurse. She’s been an avid reader and daydreamer since childhood, and she's never stopped turning the page to get to the next happily ever after.






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