Embrace by Cherie Colyer Book Birthday + Giveaway!

It’s Embrace’s Book Birthday and to celebrate the success of her debut novel Cherie Colyer is giving away a copy of her book plus swag. Before we get to that, here is a brief excerpt and some information about Embrace.

We walked at a fast clip to the gates. I told myself to keep my eyes forward, not to let on that I could feel the eyes that watched us. I looked back as we stepped onto the sidewalk. Tombstones reached up like crooked teeth, laughing at me, daring me to come back.

Embrace

by Cherie Colyer

From Omnific Publishing

How far would you go to save the people you love?

Synopsis:

Madison is familiar enough with change, and she hates everything about it. Change took her long-term boyfriend away from her. It caused one of her friends to suddenly hate her. It’s responsible for the death of a local along with a host of other mysterious happenings. But when Madison meets a hot new guy, she thinks her luck is about to improve.

Madison is instantly drawn to the handsome and intriguing Isaac Addington. She quickly realizes he’s a guy harboring a secret, but she’s willing to risk the unknown to be with him.

Her world really spins out of control, however, when her best friend becomes delusional, seeing things that aren’t there and desperately trying to escape their evil. When the doctors can’t find the answers, Madison seeks her own.

Nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.

~

To view the book trailer click here. If you’d like to curl up with Embrace today you can download the eBook on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

To win a copy of Embrace or swag, all you have to do is fill out the form: 

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Find Cherie: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter 

(Blog Tour) The Scourge by A.G. Henley Review & Giveaway!

 

The Scourge by A.G. Henley

Release date: January 31st, 2012

Kindle Edition

Blurb: Seventeen-year-old Groundling, Fennel, is Sightless. She's never been able to see her lush forest home, but she knows its secrets. She knows how the shadows shift when she passes under a canopy of trees. She knows how to hide in the cool, damp caves when the Scourge comes. She knows how devious and arrogant the Groundlings' tree-dwelling neighbors, the Lofties, can be. 

 And she's always known this day would come—the day she faces the Scourge alone. 

The Sightless, like Fenn, are mysteriously protected from the Scourge, the gruesome creatures roaming the forests, reeking of festering flesh and consuming anything—and anyone—living. A Sightless Groundling must brave the Scourge and bring fresh water to the people of the forest. Today, that task becomes Fenn's. 

Fenn will have a Lofty Keeper, Peree, as her companion. Everyone knows the Lofties wouldn’t hesitate to shoot an arrow through the back of an unsuspecting Groundling like Fenn, but Peree seems different. A boy with warm, rough hands who smells like summer, he is surprisingly kind and thoughtful. Although Fenn knows his people are treacherous, she finds herself wanting to trust him. 

As their forest community teeters on the brink of war, Fenn and Peree must learn to work together to survive the Scourge and ensure their people’s survival. But when Fenn uncovers a secret that shatters her truths, she’s forced to decide who and what to protect—her people, her growing love for Peree, or the elusive dream of lasting peace in the forest.

      Review:

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, The Scourge is a story about a sightless seventeen-year old girl named Fennel. Fennel belongs in a community called Groundlings and has a very important role: to bring water to her people in the caves and to the Lofties, the tree-dwelling people, every time the Scourge encroach their forest homes. Her sightlessness gives her the ability to walk with the Scourge freely. Fennel is not alone with this great responsibility as a Lofty Keeper named Peree looks after her. 

Meanwhile the Scourge seems to be in no hurry and the Groundlings has to stay longer in the cave as a repercussion. With dwindling supplies and rationed water, Fennel has to set out on a journey to find the legendary Hidden Waters – which is said to be safe from the Scourge. Together with Peree, Fennel is about to discover the truth that will challenge everything she used to believe. 

What an amazing world written by AG Henley! She breathes life into a story that is fresh while fitting in things that I love in post-apocalyptic YA. People who have read this go on and on about how beautifully written The Scourge is and I’m glad to be one of those who can attest to it. Her imagination made for some interesting and vivid descriptions on Fennel’s surroundings and the flesh-eating Scourge. 

I had never before encountered a blind heroine in YA. It is a pleasant change which I easily welcomed and got used to. Being in the shoes of Fennel is equally a refreshing and exciting experience. The romance was sweet and simmers slowly but surely. It is just the ending that I felt was a little too rushed. However, that doesn’t lessen my anticipation for book two.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. The Scourge entails a plot-driven story that I’m sure YA Dystopia fans will revel in!


Buy it on: Amazon || Barnes and Noble || Smashwords

    

Author Bio

A.G. Henley is the author of the young adult novel, THE SCOURGE. She is also a clinical psychologist, which means people either tell her their life stories on airplanes, or avoid her at parties when they’ve had too much to drink. Neither of which she minds. When she’s not writing fiction or shrinking heads, she can be found herding her children and their scruffy dog, Guapo, to various activities while trying to remember whatever she’s inevitably forgotten to tell her husband. She lives in Denver, Colorado. Learn more at www.aghenley.com

Follow her on these sites: Website││Twitter|| Facebook|| Goodreads

Giveaway

30 daily winners will win an e-copy of The Scourge! Open Int'l

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FANG GIRL: Interview+Giveaway(INT)

Fang Girl by Helen Keeble

Paperback: 464

Release date: September 11, 2012

Publisher: Harper Teen

Goodreads Rating: 3.73

Goodreads Summary: Things That Are Destroying Jane Greene’s Undead Social Life Before It Can Even Begin:

1) A twelve-year-old brother who’s convinced she’s a zombie.

2) Parents who are begging her to turn them into vampires.

3) The pet goldfish she accidentally turns instead.

4) Weird superpowers that let her rip the heads off of every other vampire she meets.(Sounds cool, but it doesn’t win you many friends.)

5) A pyschotic vampire creator who’s using her to carry out a plan for world domination.

And finally:

6) A seriously ripped vampire hunter who either wants to stake her or make out with her. Not sure which.

Being an undead, eternally pasty fifteen-year-old isn’t quite the sexy, brooding, angst-fest Jane always imagined....

Helen Keeble’s riotous debut novel combines the humor of Vladimir Tod with Ally Carter’s spot-on teen voice. With a one-of-a-kind vampire mythology and an irresistibly relatable undead heroine, this uproarious page-turner will leave readers bloodthirsty for more.

"Helen Keeble Interview 1"

What would you do if you woke up in a coffin and discovered you were a vampire?

Um, probably panic and cry in a very undignified fashion. I’m much less tough and resourceful than FANG GIRL’s Jane! But once I’d got a grip on myself, I’d do the same thing that Jane does – phone my family. Who wants to be a solitary creature of the night when you can go back home where there’s bed, broadband, and people who love you?

Do you work with an outline, or just write and go with the flow?

When I first started writing FANG GIRL, I was definitely just going with the flow. The first draft was actually written in just thirty days, as part of NaNoWriMo 2008 (National Novel Writing Month – a yearly challenge where people try to write a whole novel in a month). But given that it took me at least five drafts and an entire year to turn that rough manuscript into something coherent (let alone publishable), I’m now a firm convert to outlining.

Plus, of course, these days I have to outline, because my editor wants to know what I’m going to write before I write it, so she can decide whether or not to buy it! So my second book, NO ANGEL, had a fairly detailed outline… not that I stuck to it.

Which came first – the story or the characters? 

I always get a couple of characters first (in this case, Jane and her family), and then have to figure out what story to tell with them. Then it’s an iterative development – I create new characters to meet the demands of that story, but those characters in turn alter the shape of the story so I have to change that, which may mean I have to tweak the characters again… and round it goes!

If you could go to lunch with any author, who would you pick?

I can only have one? Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn, which I have probably read more than any other book in my life. I, uh, may also have watched the animated film version every single week between the ages of six and eight.

If I could have lunch with more than one, then I’d want Peter S. Beagle, Steph Swainston, China Mieville, Dan Abnett, Sarah Rees Brennan, Terry Pratchett, Ursula Le Guin, Jacqueline Carey, and Cassandra Claire. Now that would be a literary party to remember!

Is there anything about you that would surprise your readers?

I may be a writer by night, but in the day I’m a professional engineer, developing software for industrial controllers. The cool (and terrifying) way of saying this is: “I design stuff that controls nuclear power plants!” The more accurate way of describing it is “I sit in a lot of meetings where people argue about tiny details in C++ code.” But either way, it’s an awesome job!

Can you give us any hints about book 2?

My next book (out in Fall 2013) is not actually a sequel to FANG GIRL – it’s another YA paranormal comedy with the same style of humour, but it’s not about vampires. It’s called NO ANGEL, so you can probably guess what romantic subgenre I’m poking fun at this time…

I’m working on a sequel to FANG GIRL at the moment, though can’t yet say when (or if) it’ll be released – whether or not my publisher, HarperTeen, decide to buy it will depend on how well FANG GIRL does! But I can tell you that the working title is THANK DOG, and in it Jane meets the inevitable hot shirtless werewolf… who is not quite what she’s expecting.

Author Bio:

Helen Keeble is not, and never has been, a vampire. She has however been a teenager. She grew up partly in America and partly in England, which has left her with an unidentifiable accent and a fondness for peanut butter crackers washed   down with a nice cup of tea. She now lives in West Sussex, England, with her husband, daughter, two cats, and a variable number of fish. To the best of her knowledge, none of the fish are undead.

Her first novel, a YA vampire comedy called FANG GIRL, is out 11th Sept 2012, from HarperTeen. 

She also has another YA paranormal comedy novel (provisionally titled NO ANGEL) scheduled for Sept 2013.

Website | Twitter| Goodreads

GIVEAWAY TIME!!

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Book Blitz: The Boys of Summer by CJ Duggan + Giveaway! (INT)

CJ Duggan's debut novel The Boys of Summer releases today! I'm pretty sure all of New Adult readers are as excited as I am to read this. To celebrate, we are exclusively giving away a copy of The Boys of Summer! You can fill out the form at the end of the post to enter.

The Boys of Summer by C.J. Duggan

Release date: December 17th, 2012

Kindle Edition

Blurb: It seemed only natural to nickname them the ‘Onslow Boys’. Every time they swaggered in the front door of the Onslow Hotel after a hard week’s work, their laughter was loud and genuine as they settled onto their bar stools. I peeked through the restaurant partition, a flimsy divider between my world and theirs. I couldn’t help but smile whenever I saw them, saw him ... Toby Morrison. 

Quiet seventeen-year-old Tess doesn’t relish the thought of a summertime job. She wants nothing more than to forget the past haunts of high school and have fun with her best friends before the dreaded Year Twelve begins. 
To Tess, summer is when everything happens: riding bikes down to the lake, watching the fireworks at the Onslow Show and water bomb fights at the sweltering Sunday markets. 

 How did she let her friends talk her into working? 

After first-shift disasters, rude, wealthy tourists and a taunting ex-boyfriend, Tess is convinced nothing good can come of working her summer away. However, Tess finds unlikely allies in a group of locals dubbed ‘The Onslow Boys’, who are old enough to drive cars, drink beer and not worry about curfews. Tess’s summer of working expands her world with a series of first times with new friends, forbidden love and heartbreaking chaos. 

All with the one boy she has never been able to forget. 

It will be a summer she will always remember. 

Warning: sexual references, and occasional course language.

  

Author Bio

C.J is an up and coming Australian Author. Her debut novel, a YA Romance 'The Boys of Summer’ is a coming of age love story set in a mythical small Australian Town in the mid 90's. 
Whether juggling the pressures of a stressful day job, or be it the many realms of mundane reality? C.J has earned a name for her ballistic imagination and witty banter in her blog. Offering an honest, refreshing account with her daily rants of the world and her personal journey in being an Aspiring Author. 

To find out more about C.J Duggan and her debut YA Romance “The Boys of Summer” visit http://can-duu.blogspot.com/

Follow her on these sites: Website││Twitter|| Facebook|| Goodreads

Giveaway
Open to anyone 16 and above

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Spellbound Book Blitz + giveaway (INT)

The 12 Days of Magic book blitz for the YA Paranormal series, Spellbound, by Nikki Jefford. The Blitz runs from December 10th to December 21st, 2012. Today I participate on promoting the Spellbound Soundtrack. Check it out and enter for the giveaways below :)

Spellbound Book 1: Entangled - February 20th 2012

Two months after dying, seventeen-year-old witch Graylee Perez wakes up in her twin sister Charlene’s body.

Until Gray finds a way back inside her own body, she’s stuck being Charlene every twenty-hour hours. Her sister has left precise instructions on how Gray should dress and behave. Looking like a prep isn’t half as bad as hanging out with Charlene’s snotty friends and gropey boyfriend.

The “normals” of McKinley High might be quick to write her behavior off as post-traumatic stress, but warlock Raj McKenna is the only person who suspects Gray has returned from the dead.

Now Gray has to solve the mystery of her death and resurrection and disentangle herself from Charlene’s body before she disappears for good.

 

Spellbound Book 2: Duplicity - March 20th 2012

If Graylee Perez thought sharing a body with her twin sister was bad, dealing with a duplicate of herself is two times worse. Gray the second doesn’t seem to get that Lee’s boyfriend, Raj McKenna, is off limits. Then there’s the problem of Adrian Montez. He expects one of the Grays to be his.

Nearly a year later, the council is onto them for past misdeeds; Lee, along with the rest of the coven, has lost control of her powers; and Gray is being stalked by what looks like the Grim Reaper.

If they work together, they may stand a chance of setting things right and making it out alive.

Spellbound Book 3: Enchantment - April 2013 

In the third and final installment of the Spellbound series, Graylee Perez (the duplicate), goes to Spain for a summer of escape. There she meets new friends and comes face to face with her old adversary, Adrian Montez.

When Gray tries to setup a spell that will banish Adrian from her life, she inadvertently falls under a love spell instead.

Charlene returns, having hijacked a new body, for one final battle between the twins.

Purchase:

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"Spellbound Soundtrack"

ENTANGLED (S1)

Magic Dance by David Bowie from Labyrinth

This song has haunted my brain throughout the series. Plus David Bowie reminds me of warlock Adrian Montez minus the 80’s hair and tight pants…well, let’s keep the tight pants.

Lightning by The Wanted

Raj McKenna steals the show in Entangled. He is the ultimate bad boy with a good heart, and fiercely loyal to Gray. I stumbled upon this YouTube video and have watched it at least a dozen times all while thinking of Raj. Yeah, baby!

DUPLICITY (S2)

Within You and As The World Falls Down by David Bowie from Labyrinth

Adrian’s obsession with Gray reminds me of the Goblin King’s fixation on Sarah. At the end of book one Adrian risks his own life to ensure she doesn’t disappear. In book two his feelings intensify, but are harshly rejected. Sorry, Adrian, you have no power over Gray.

Bad Romance by Lady Gaga

The confusion spell Gray puts over Adrian requires her to speak gibberish the entire time. She starts singing “Rah, rah, ah, ah, ah; Roma, roma, ma; Gaga, ooh, la, la,” then accidently busts into the Bad Romance lyrics.

ENCHANTMENT (S3)

Barcelona by Giulia y Los Tellarini from the Vicky Christina Barcelona soundtrack

Love is in the air. Gray heads to Barcelona for the summer, meets the sexy Spaniard Carlo, wards off the attentions of the polite British Will, runs into Adrian and unwittingly falls head over heels for her arch nemesis. It’s all good fun!

Les Triplettes de Belleville from the French animation movie soundtrack

Charlene nabs herself a new body in Paris, shows up in Spain, much to Gray’s annoyance, and requests her help dealing with a stalker. I like to call this one The “Twins” of Belleville.

How does it all end? Find out Spring of 13!

Author Bio:

Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt. She writes edgy teen fiction, including the Spellbound Trilogy and Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter.

Nikki married Sébastien, the love of her life, while working as a teaching assistant in France. They now reside in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands, 70 miles northeast of Forks, Washington.

Website | Facebook| Twitter| Goodreads

GIVEAWAY TIME!!

First Giveaway:

• 1 Reading is Sexy sticker (as pictured here) and signed book swag (1 Entangled bookmark and 1 Aurora Sky door hanger)--1 winner gets all. 
• Just fill out this form  
• Open internationally.  Ends on December 28th, 2012

Second Giveaway:

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