Cover Reveal: Cinder & Ella by Kelly Oram + Giveaway

One of my favorite author Kelly Oram has a new YA/NA book coming out this October! Check out it's blurb below and join the giveaway to win $15 Amazon gift card :) Oh btw if you haven't read any of her books I recommend you start with Avery Shaw Experiment (My Review) then the ever wonderful Jamie Baker series! *wink*

Cinder & Ella
by Kelly Oram

Release date: October 1th, 2014

It’s been almost a year since eighteen-year-old Ella Rodriguez was in a car accident that left her crippled, scarred, and without a mother. After a very difficult recovery, she’s been uprooted across the country and forced into the custody of a father that abandoned her when she was a young child. If Ella wants to escape her father’s home and her awful new step family, she must convince her doctors that she’s capable, both physically and emotionally, of living on her own. The problem is, she’s not ready yet. The only way she can think of to start healing is by reconnecting with the one person left in the world who’s ever meant anything to her—her anonymous Internet best friend, Cinder. 

… 

Hollywood sensation Brian Oliver has a reputation for being trouble. There’s major buzz around his performance in his upcoming film The Druid Prince, but his management team says he won’t make the transition from teen heartthrob to serious A-list actor unless he can prove he’s left his wild days behind and become a mature adult. In order to douse the flames on Brian’s bad-boy reputation, his management stages a fake engagement for him to his co-star Kaylee. Brian isn't thrilled with the arrangement—or his fake fiancée—but decides he’ll suffer through it if it means he’ll get an Oscar nomination. Then a surprise email from an old Internet friend changes everything.

“You do have someone who cares,” he said softly. “No matter how bad things are at home or at school or whatever, you have me. You’re my best friend, too. You have my number now. Save it in your phone and call it anytime—day, night, the witching hour—it doesn’t matter. Okay?”

It took me a moment—and a series of deep breaths—before I could respond. “Okay.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. As long as I always have you, I’ll be fine.” I kicked myself internally and laughed.“Wow, that sounded really cheesy. You see? That’s why I didn’t want to call you. I can filter my stupid mouth so much better when I have to type out my thoughts.”

Cinder laughed again. “Ah, but then you would miss out on all the sweet nothings I plan to whisper in your ear now that I know how much you like my ultra-sexy voice.”

I blushed but refused to let him know that his flirting rattled me. “I never said ultra, you egomaniac. But you should definitely consider recording audiobooks for a living.”

“Hmm. That’s not a bad idea.” Cinder’s voice dropped to that slow, seductive purr again as he asked, “Would you like me to read to you, Ellamara?”

I thrilled at the thought and couldn’t quite mask my excitement. “Seriously?”

“Why not? Before you called, I was getting ready to have a Top Gear marathon all by my lonesome.”

“You are such a liar. Tonight is Friday night, and it’s Halloween. There is no way you don’t have plans.”

“I don’t have important ones. It’s just a stupid party that my sort-of girlfriend wants me to go to.”

“Your ‘sort-of’ girlfriend?”

“Yeah.” Cinder stretched the word out in a long breath. “It’s a long story, but I’m not that into her. I’d much rather stay home and read with you. Besides, I can’t hang up on you when you’ve had the worst day ever. What kind of best friend would that make me?”

I almost cried again. The offer was so sweet. And thoughtful. Reading was a passion Cinder and I shared. We read and discussed books all the time. We’d even decided to read the same book at the same time before, but we’d never read one together. Cinder had to know how much that would mean to me.

“It has to be The Druid Prince,” I said.

Cinder laughed. “It’s already in my hands.”

Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and loves to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and four children.

Author Links:

Amazon * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads * Blog

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Waiting on Wednesday: Red Queen and An Ember in the Ashes

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.

Here are my WoW picks this week (click on the title for the Goodreads page):

Red Queen

by Victoria Aveyard

Release date: March 26th, 2015

Publisher: Orion

Pre-Order: The Book Depository | B&N | Amazon

Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood—those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds, destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them nearly gods. Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but when her best friend is conscripted into the army she gambles everything to win his freedom. A twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself, where, in front of the king and all his nobles, she discovers a power of her own—an ability she didn't know she had. Except . . . her blood is Red.

To hide this impossibility, the king forces her into the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks her new position to aid the Scarlet Guard—the leaders of a Red rebellion. Her actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against prince—and Mare against her own heart.

From debut author Victoria Aveyard comes a lush, vivid fantasy series where loyalty and desire can tear you apart and the only certainty is betrayal.

This sounds so bloody awesome and I love the simple but eye-catching cover. It's officially one of my most anticipated 2015 debuts.

An Ember in the Ashes
by Sabaa Tahir

Release date: April 28th, 2014

Publisher: Razorbill

Pre-Order: The Book Depository | Amazon

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier— and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.

Vow your blood and body to the empire.

Keep your heart for yourself.

The early reactions for this book are overwhelmingly positive and I can totally see why. With a summary that promises action and adventure, who wouldn't like this? And did you know that Paramount already bought the rights to it?

What are you waiting on this week? Leave a comment with your WoW link and I'll make sure to stop by your blog!

Guest Post: Adi Alsaid’s Writing Process + Giveaway (WK2)

For this week two of the Book blitz for Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid, we will get to know his writing process. Last week I've posted Alsaid's Top 5 Things to Pack and Travel-Themed Reads/Books to Read on the Road, check out the post and enter the giveaway.

     What’s my writing process? It’s easy. Like Hemingway said, I just sit at a typewriter and bleed. Except I do the modern version, which is I go to a coffee shop, open my computer, and stare.

My typical writing day is broken up this way: Two to three hours of writing in the morning, usually beginning at around 10. Then a break for coaching basketball, or if school’s out I’ll go have lunch, do some reading, walk around until all the coffee I drank in the morning has settled. Then I write for another two to three hours, or until I’m done with my goal, which varies. At my typical non-hurried pace, that’s about 1,000 words a day. When inspired or on a shorter deadline, I aim for somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000, or a chapter every two days or so.

I grew up as a basketball player, and the training I did as a teen helped to discipline me to keep a consistent schedule for writing. Especially on first drafts, I write every single day, with very few exceptions made; special events, travel, uninspired days where it’s useless to try to churn something out (note, on these days, I’ll still sit there and stare for a few hours until I admit to myself it’s just not happening).

I prefer working in public, since staring is just more interesting out and about in the world than in my living room. Like everything else, I make exceptions to this, too. Sometimes I just feel like making a pot of coffee and blasting music as I write, rather than listening through headphones. Sometimes the Mexico City rainy season makes me feel like protesting the weather by staying in (I’m not someone who thrives or finds inspiration in rainy days—give me sun and warmth), sometimes I feel like my wallet needs a break from all the coffee shop excursions.

There are also the occasional manic bursts of productivity, where no matter where I am or what the situation is, the writing is coming, and it’s best to let it out until it runs dry. This happens sometimes on flights, at late night outings, or, recently, at five in the morning after a night of board games with friends.

        My main guideline is easy: To write well, do it often.   

________________________________________________________________________________________

Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid

Release date: July 29, 2014

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Five strangers. Countless adventures. One epic way to get lost.

Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named LEILA. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most.

There's HUDSON, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And BREE, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. ELLIOT believes in happy endings…until his own life goes off-script. And SONIA worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love.

Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila's own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth— sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way.

Early Praise:

“Reminiscent of John Green’s Paper Towns and road trip novels that feature a teen paving the way to adulthood, Alsaid’s debut is a gem among contemporary YA novels.” – School Library Journal

“Five love stories, beautifully woven together by a special girl in search of adventure, hope, and full appreciation of life’s simple pleasures. A do-not-miss.  ” – Justine Magazine

“Moving and poignant.”  - Glitter Magazine

“An entertaining and romantic road-trip debut.” – Kirkus

"Leila's quest to find the Northern Lights takes readers on a captivating cross-country journey, where four strangers' adventures collide into one riveting tale of finding yourself." ―YABooksCentral.com

“This will likely be a popular summer hit, especially for older teen about to embark on their own journeys of self-discovery.” –Booklist

Available Now!

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Indie Bound * Harlequin.com

Adi Alsaid was born and raised in Mexico City, then studied at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. While in class, he mostly read fiction and continuously failed to fill out crossword puzzles, so it's no surprise that after graduating, he did not go into business world but rather packed up his apartment into his car and escaped to the California coastline to become a writer.

 He's now back in his hometown, where he writes, coaches high school and elementary basketball, and has perfected the art of making every dish he eats or cooks as spicy as possible. In addition to Mexico, he's lived in Tel Aviv, Las Vegas, and Monterey, California. A tingly feeling in his feet tells him more places will eventually be added to the list. Let's Get Lost is his YA debut.  

Let's Get Lost Website!

Author Links:

   

1 signed hard cover copy of Let’s Get Lost

1 Let’s Get Lost luggage tag

1 Harlequin TEEN notebook

1 Let’s Get Lost sachel

1 Harlequin TEEN tote bag

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Book Blitz Organized by:

Exclusive Q&A with Stephanie Diaz, Author of EXTRACTION

Hey lovelies! For the last July debut author spotlight, we have Stephanie Diaz whose sci-fi/dystopian novel, Extraction, came out on July 22nd! Find out more about the imaginative world of Extraction and Stephanie Diaz in the interview below.

Congratulations on your debut, Stephanie! We love the concept of Extraction and we're sure it took a lot of effort and envisioning to set up the kind of world-building that it demands. What prompted you to write this story and what preparations did you make in order to create it?

Thanks so much! The story all started with a question I asked myself one day: "What would the world be like if the moon were toxic?" From there, I developed the idea of a moon that bleeds deadly acid and constructed a planet for the moon to orbit. I'm more of a pantster than a plotter, so a lot of the world-building happened as I wrote the novel and revised it. But before I wrote the first chapter, I'd developed a basic layout for the world.

Can you introduce us to the world of Extraction? Of the life on Surface and Core?

Extraction takes place on a planet, Kiel, where scientists worked with the government leaders to develop cities underground, all the way into the core of the planet (which is easier to manipulate than the core of Earth). Underground has been turned into something similar to the Death Star. Below the Surface, there are four sectors: Crust, Mantle, Lower, and Core. The Core houses the government leaders and the upper-class citizens. The Surface and the other sectors house the lower-class citizens, who live and die in work camps, fighting for a rare chance of escape when they take the Extraction test at age sixteen. Only the ten strongest, intelligent, and obedient girls and boys are Extracted from each sector every year, and given a shot at a better life in the Core.

How long did it take you to write Extraction?

The first draft took about a month and a half. Revisions happened over the course of the next year and a half, first on my own, then with my agent, then with my editor.

Clementine sounds like a determined and independent heroine. Can you tell us a bit about her character? How did you develop her? 

I wanted the heroine of Extraction to be clever, strong, and fearless, but also flawed and human, in the same vein as Hermione, Katniss, and other kick-ass heroines. Clementine is incredibly brave and she'll fight for those she cares about until the end. But she can also be stubborn, untrusting, and reckless in certain situations. She has to learn how to accept help from others, and also how to care more for her own safety.

Rebellion, the second book in the trilogy, releases next year. Are you still writing or editing it at the moment? Can you share a little bit about it?

I am largely finished with Rebellion, as it has moved onto the copy-editing stage. But I will get another couple chances to re-read it and make small changes.

JJ Abrams. Photo by David Shankbone

We learned that you were a film major and now a writer. What's your favorite film based on a book? And who are your dream cast and director for Extraction?

Recently, I was quite pleased with the film adaptation of Catching Fire. If Extraction were made into a movie, I would love for J.J. Abrams to take the helm as director. I'd cast Annalise Basso as Clementine, Brenton Thwaites as Logan, Colton Haynes as Beechy, Dane Dehaan as Sam, Elle Fanning as Ariadne, Asa Butterfield as Oliver, Rooney Mara as Sandy, and Bill Nighy as Commander Charlie.

What are the most surprising things about publishing and being an author since your first book deal?

Honestly, the most surprising thing was something that should've been pretty obvious from the start: getting a book deal doesn't solve all your problems. (It doesn't make you stop being awkward around boys, for example.) It definitely doesn't make writing any easier -- in fact it makes it harder. You suddenly feel like you're in the spotlight every time you sit down to write, instead of in a special place all by yourself. Landing a book deal is the start of a journey filled with struggles, not a perfect ending. But seeing your book on a shelf and hearing from readers who loved it? That makes everything worth it. :-)

Who and what are your literary inspirations? Did any of them influence the way you wrote your debut?

J.K. Rowling has been a huge inspiration, since I grew up with Harry Potter. She inspired me to persevere when it came to publishing. John Green is another inspiration, since he's an awesome person as well as a writer. As far as directly inspiring the way I wrote Extraction, the only real literary inspiration was Suzanne Collins, since reading Hunger Games is what made me re-fall in love with the sci-fi/dystopian genre (The Giver first opened that door).

What's the best piece of advice can you give to aspiring authors?

Read broadly and write books like you need to do it to keep breathing.

What books are on top of your TBR at the moment?

I'm in the middle of This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner. I have Starglass by Phoebe North and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher waiting for me at the library, so those will be next.

What do you do when you're not writing or reading?

I'm a bit of a TV show and movie-holic, so I spend a lot of time watching Netflix. I also go on spontaneous adventures with friends.

Can you share some random things about you that people may be surprised to know?

I enjoy singing, songwriting, and playing guitar. I actually recorded and produced a CD of original music back in high school. A couple of the tracks are on the internet. Maybe. :-)

It was great having you, Stephanie! Thank you so much for visiting us here at Teen Readers' Diary. :)

Extraction (Extraction #1)
by Stephanie Diaz

Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Release Date: July 22nd 2014

Blurb:

"Welcome to Extraction testing."

Clementine has spent her whole life preparing for her sixteenth birthday, when she’ll be tested for Extraction in the hopes of being sent from the planet Kiel’s toxic Surface to the much safer Core, where people live without fear or starvation. When she proves promising enough to be “Extracted,” she must leave without Logan, the boy she loves. Torn apart from her only sense of family, Clem promises to come back and save him from brutal Surface life.

What she finds initially in the Core is a utopia compared to the Surface—it’s free of hard labor, gun-wielding officials, and the moon's lethal acid. But life is anything but safe, and Clementine learns that the planet's leaders are planning to exterminate Surface dwellers—and that means Logan, too. 

Trapped by the steel walls of the underground and the lies that keep her safe, Clementine must find a way to escape and rescue Logan and the rest of the planet. But the planet leaders don't want her running—they want her subdued.

With intense action scenes and a cast of unforgettable characters,Extraction is a page-turning, gripping read, sure to entertain lovers ofHunger Games and Ender's Game and leave them breathless for more.

You can purchase Extraction at the following Retailers:

    

  

  

About the Author 

Twenty-one-year-old Stephanie Diaz wrote her debut novel, Extraction, when she should've been making short films and listening to class lectures at San Diego State University. When she isn't lost in books, she can be found singing, marveling at the night sky, or fan-girling over TV shows.

Follow her on these sites

WEBSITE