Blog Tour: Love, Lucy by April Lindner (Excerpt)

LOVE, LUCY

by April Lindner

Pub. Date: January 27, 2015

Publisher: Poppy

Pages: 304 pages

Blurb:

While backpacking through Florence, Italy, during the summer before she heads off to college, Lucy Sommersworth finds herself falling in love with the culture, the architecture, the food...and Jesse Palladino, a handsome street musician. After a whirlwind romance, Lucy returns home, determined to move on from her "vacation flirtation." But just because summer is over doesn't mean Lucy and Jesse are over, too.

In this coming-of-age romance, April Lindner perfectly captures the highs and lows of a summer love that might just be meant to last beyond the season. 

Today, though, Charlene wasn’t there to spoil her fun, so Lucy drew closer to the source of music. A smattering of people surrounded the young man with the guitar. She maneuvered her way through the crowd, hiding out near the back, then slipping a bit closer, her camera at the ready.

The singer had a warm, deep voice, and Lucy had to hold herself back from singing along. The song ended and she was reaching into her pocket for loose change when the couple in front of her picked up their daypacks and slipped away. Nudging forward into their vacated place, Lucy lifted her camera. She got a shot or two as the musician bent to gather up a five-euro note somebody had flung at his feet. Dark, longish hair obscured his face. Just as she emerged from behind the camera, he straightened and caught her eye.

Shockingly, it was someone she knew. How could that be, in a city where she knew hardly anyone? From his expression, she could tell he recognized her, too. It was Jesse – Nello’s roommate. He looked as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

“You,” she said. She didn’t mean to be rude, but that was the first word that popped into her mind.

“You,” he replied. “How’s your new room?”

Was this a reproach? She wasn’t sure. “I like it,” she said.

“Good.” Then he smiled – a wary smile, but not at all sarcastic. He might not be her favorite person in the world, but bumping into him like this when she’d been arguing with Charlene made him feel, oddly enough, like an old friend.

Lucy dimpled in return. “The view’s great,” she added. “Thank you for trading with us.” Bystanders were watching them now. Somehow she’d become part of Jesse’s act.

“You’re all by yourself?” Jesse scanned the crowd. “Where’s your friend?”

“I lost her.” But this wasn’t the whole truth. “Or maybe she ditched me. I seem to be driving her crazy. Actually, it’s mutual.”

You can purchase Love, Lucy at the following Retailers:

    

About the Author 

I'm April Lindner, author of two young adult novels,Catherine, a contemporary retelling of Wuthering Heights, and Jane, a retelling ofJane Eyre, both published by Poppy.  A third YA novel, Love, Lucy, is due out from Poppy in January 2015.  

I'm also a poet, with two collections in print: This Bed Our Bodies Shaped, from Able Muse Press, and Skin, winner of the Walt McDonald First Book Prize from Texas Tech University Press.  I write literary criticism and edit poetry anthologies too.

By day, I'm a mild-mannered English professor at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. By night, I attend way too many rock concerts and travel wherever and whenever I can.  I also lavish attention on my rescued pets--two wonderful mutts and two exciteable guinea pigs. I'm a wife, mother, a lover of all things Italian, and a New Yorker at heart though I haven't lived there in quite a while.  

Follow her on these sites:

Guest Post: Ryan Graudin of All That Burns+Giveaway

All That Burns (All That Glows #2)

by Ryan Graudin

Publisher: Harper Teen

Release Date: February 10th 2015

Blurb:

In this thrilling sequel to All That Glows, the worlds of magic and mortal are colliding as London celebrates its new king, marking an era of unity between the Faery realm and the human one. Emrys, the Faery guard to the British royal family, sacrificed her powers to be with King Richard, choosing love over immortality. But now, as Emrys struggles to navigate her place between the Faery queen’s court and London’s lavish galas, danger looms beyond the Thames.When a prisoner with dark, strange magic breaks out of Queen Titania’s labyrinthine prison, endangering Emrys's king and sparking an uprising, Emrys must make the hardest decision of all.

Will she reclaim her magic to save Richard’s life and lose him forever? Or stay powerless as the kingdom goes down in flames?

1. I was a competitive synchronized swimmer as a teenager. I belonged to the only synchronized swimming team in South Carolina and we would travel out of state to Georgia, Florida and Virginia for competitions. We made our own costumes (with LOTS of sequins) and wore tons of waterproof makeup for our routines. It took at least 5 thorough washes to get all of the Knox gelatin out of our hair.

2. My part time job in college was as a waitress at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. I had to memorize trivia games about the movie to ask every table I served. My younger brother worked at the same restaurant and had to wear a full sized “Shrimp Louie” costume while hula-hooping on the sidewalk.

3. If I get my hands on a box of Cheddar Jack Cheez Its, I will inhale it.

4. At five years old I was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson White Syndrome. A condition where an abnormal electrical pathway develops in a person’s heart. The problem was solved by a heart catheter, and hasn’t affected me since.

5. I had dreadlocks in college.

6. I got married at twenty-one. A lot of people thought I was too young. I regret nothing. My husband is my best friend, someone who share all of my adventures and constantly challenges me to be the best version of myself.

7. I had a lot of extra-curricular activities as an adolescent, including singing in a choir. This afforded me the opportunity to see Europe at a younger age (travels which eventually inspired ALL THAT GLOWS and ALL THAT BURNS). One of the most amazing things I got to do with them was sing for Sunday morning mass at Notre Dame in Paris. A breathtaking experience, to be sure.

8. If I could shop at only one store for the rest of my life it would be Anthropologie.

9. I occasionally moonlight as a wedding photographer to earn money to buy clothes at said store.

10. One of my most life-changing experiences (and the inspiration for my second novel THE WALLED CITY) was a trip I took to Phnom Penh, Cambodia when I was twenty years old. I was with a program called Global Urban Trek, which exposes people to third world poverty through incarnational living. I lived with a family in the slums for six weeks.

by Ryan Graudin

Ryan Graudin is doing a preorder special through her local indie Blue Bicycle Books. You can pre-order a signed copy of All That Burns and get a free ALL THAT BURNS tea (a ginger plum flavored black tea). Don’t miss this special offer! Click here to pre-order a signed copy of All That Burns.

Follow the All That Burns by Ryan Graudin Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

About the Author 

My name is Ryan and I've been writing ever since I grabbed one of my dad's old tax ledgers and created this masterpiece: see image.

My writing has since improved, though my obsession with wolves has remained relatively the same (I even own a wolf-hybrid pup.) My childhood was a happy, sunny thing. I grew up on a steady diet of fairytales, salt-marshes, music and brothers who would re-enact Redwall battles with me in the back yard. I went to an artsy sort of high-school that allowed cello recitals in the hallways and impromptu poetry slams in the cafeteria. It was there I decided that writing was what I wanted to do more than anything.

I'm officially a grownup now (I suppose one must admit that once they turn 26). My diet still includes fairytales, salt-marshes and art, but there are a few new loves thrown in. A big one is travel. Pieces of my heart are scattered like breadcrumbs all over the globe--I've bartered them off for writing inspiration, so I suppose it's a fair trade.

When I'm not cramming my earthly belongings into a backpack and waiting in airport security lines, I'm doing one of the following: Writing YA novels, Photographing weddings with my husband, Making our little white cottage more homey, Playing with my wolf pup, Trying out Korean récipes, Haunting local coffee shops with my friends.

Follow her on these sites:

Win (1) of (2) signed copies of All That Burns by Ryan Graudin (US Only)

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A COLD LEGACY Release Day Blast+Giveaway

I am so excited that A COLD LEGACY by Megan Shepherd releases today and that I get to share the news, along with an excerpt from the book!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Megan Shepherd, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blast also includes a giveaway for a signed copy of the book and swag courtesy of Megan and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

A COLD LEGACY

by Megan Shepherd

Pub. Date: January 27, 2015

Publisher: Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins

Pages: 400

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Blurb:

After killing the men who tried to steal her father’s research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet’s secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor’s own walls.

Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own.

With inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman’s Daughter trilogy is about the things we’ll sacrifice to save those we love—even our own humanity. 

Montgomery stopped the horses outside a tavern. He came to the carriage door, opening it just a crack to keep the rain from drenching us. “I’m going to ask directions. We can’t be far now.”

We watched him saunter over the muddy street as though he didn’t even feel the bite of freezing rain. A face appeared in the tavern window. The door opened and he spoke to a woman in a wool dress for a few moments, then stomped back through the mud. “This village is called Quick,” he told us. “The manor’s only five miles from here.”

“Did you hear that?” Lucy murmured to Edward, still stroking his hair. “We’re almost there. Just hold on. Everything will be all right once we arrive.”

Montgomery’s eyes shifted to me. Neither of us wanted to remind Lucy that the prospect of Edward’s fever breaking—and the Beast’s reappearance—was almost more frightening than the fever itself. Delirious, he was less of a threat.

“Let’s go then,” I whispered to Montgomery. “And quickly.”

He closed the door and in another moment we were moving again, passing through the rest of Quick. Then all too soon the village was nothing but fading lights. The storm grew and the road became rougher, and all the while Edward’s eyes rolled back and forth beneath shuttered lids.

Thunder struck close by, and Lucy shrieked. Montgomery whipped the horses harder, pulling us along the uneven road impossibly fast, trying to outrun the storm. I twisted in the seat to look out the back window at the pelting rain. A stone fence ran alongside us.

“We must be getting close,” I said.

“Not soon enough,” Lucy breathed. “We’re going to crash if he keeps driving like this!”

The road widened, straightening, letting us travel even faster. Lightning struck close by, blinding me. The horses bolted. Lucy screamed and covered her eyes, but I couldn’t tear mine away. The lightning had struck an enormous oak tree, twisted from centuries of wind. The oak took flame, blazing despite the rain. A smoking gash ran down the trunk—the lightning’s death mark. I watched until the rain put out most of the flames, but it still smoldered, billowing hot ash into the night.

The horses pawed the earth, and I grabbed the window to steady myself. At this wild speed, just hitting a single rock at the wrong angle would send the carriage shattering to the ground. It was madness to go so fast. Couldn’t Montgomery calm the horses?

Just when I feared the carriage would careen out of control, it stopped short, throwing me against the opposite wall. I tangled in Lucy’s limbs as the chains around Edward’s body clinked. Balthazar grunted, jerking awake at last. We scrambled in the bottom of the carriage until the door flew open.

Montgomery stood in the pelting rain. I feared he’d say we’d broken another strut or the horses had gone lame or we’d have to spend the night in the harsh storm.

But then I saw the lights behind him, and the night took shape into a turreted stone manor with bright lamps blazing and gargoyles on the roof vomiting rain into a stone courtyard.

Montgomery’s eyes met mine beneath the low brim of his hat.

“We’ve arrived,” he said.

About the Author 

Hello! 

I’ve been many things, like a professional exchange student, park ranger in Montana, and LOST enthusiast, but what I am now is a writer.

I think it’s fair to say I was born into it. I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, raised behind the counter of my parents’ independent bookstore, Highland Books in Brevard. Ah, so many free books. But I never thought being a writer could be a real career. After college I thought I’d end up as a foreign service officer somewhere dashing and exotic, like Canada. I studied French, Spanish, German, and Russian and still speak a few of those. Then I joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Senegal, where I learned a few more languages I’ll never speak again and lived in a mud hut with no electricity or running water. You can probably imagine how that experience went, but if you’re curious, here are the dirty details. 

It wasn't until a chance aquaintance read something I wrote and said, "have you ever considered being a writer?" that something clicked and I realized it was possible. My husband encouraged me, and I quickly fell head-over-heels in love with writing and children's literature in particular. I started out writing articles, which have appeared in Faces, Appleseeds, and Calliope magazines, and stories for younger children. I soon realized I wasn’t sweet enough to write fiction for that age and found myself writing young adult literature instead, which doesn’t require nearly as many tender moments and includes a lot more cursing.

When I'm not writing, I can usually be found horseback riding, day dreaming at coffee shops, or hiking in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. I love to hear from readers, so please drop me a line!

I am represented by Josh Adams of Adams Literary.

Author Photo by Kristi Hedberg Photography

Follow her on these sites:

1 winner will receive a signed copy of A COLD LEGACY and swag! US Only.

Ends on February 6^th at Midnight EST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There will also be a Twitter Chat hosted by Veronica Rossi on Jan.27, 8-9pm EST with Megan Shepherd. Join in the chat for a chance to win prizes! Don't forget to use #ACOLDLEGACYCHAT in your tweets.