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Friday, January 30, 2015

Feature and Follow Friday (#59)


Hosted by Parajunkee and Alison can Read.

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! or just check out the weekly questions and see what others respond. 

Question: Hard print (real thing) or Kindle/Nook, which is your favorite? - Suggested by The Realm of Books.

Answer: I like actual hard copies of the books that I read, but the majority of the time I read on my ipad (it's a lot of accessible, since I get to carry it everywhere with me. I always have a book to read) :) 

***Which one is your favorite? Hard print or Kindle/Nook?*** 

























~Let me know if you are a new follower, whether it's on Goodreads, Twitter, Bloglovin' or GFC. I will make sure to follow back!~ :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Thursday, January 29, 2015

✯Cover Reveal ✯: Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry ➳ { & Behind-The-Scenes Pictures}


COVER REVEAL! 


Hi guys! So this is a different type of a cover reveal, since I'm only showing you a piece of the actual cover! Since this is a "puzzle-like" cover reveal, make sure to be on the look out for other blogs that will be showing the rest of the pieces. The actual cover will be released on facebook later today :) HERE!


Nowhere But Here 
by Katie McGarry
Release Date: May 26th 2015 by Harlequin Teen
Series: Thunder Road #1
Pages: 400
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both. 

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down. 

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.



Pre-Order Links:

Katie McGarry:

Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie is the author of full length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON,  BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine's 2012 Reviewer's Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick. DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013. 



Behind-The-Scenes Pictures of the Book Cover!



Thanks for stopping by! ;)

Review: More Than This by Jay McLean

More Than This 
by Jay McLean
Released Date: July 10th 2013
Series: More Than #1
Pages: 311
View/Purchase: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N
Author's Website: Goodreads, Website, Twitter, Facebook

When Mikayla imagined her prom night, she envisioned a fairy-tale evening full of romance. So when betrayal and tragedy come in quick succession, Mikayla is completely destroyed. Suddenly, everything she loved and everyone she relied on are tragically, irrevocably gone.

Jake, a handsome boy she just met, happens to witness her loss. With no one to turn to, Mikayla is forced to depend on this near stranger and his family, and he in turn is determined to take care of her. But Mikayla—thrust into adulthood with no one to guide her—is desperate to contain her grief and hide what she considers to be her weakness. Mikayla and Jake both want more, but despite their growing closeness and intense chemistry, she tries to keep her distance and protect her heart. As he does everything in his power to win her trust, Mikayla must choose between remaining alone and safe or letting love in.
 

(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)

My Review:

--I absolutely love this book, it's definitely a-must-read!!!-- :)

More Than This had me captivated from the start, the characters were relatable, and as the story started to unravel it was hard to stop reading the book. 

One night changed Mikayla's life forever...

She never imagined that her much anticipated prom night was going to turned out to be a complete disaster in the end. Mikayla has the perfect live, she has a supportive family, great friends, and a boyfriend. What took her by surprised was to see her boyfriend cheating on her the night of their prom. She is destroyed and doesn't know what to do, so when a handsome stranger walks on her and asks her to go to his prom instead, Mikayla immediately accepts. She dances with Jake, and meets his friends, who all embraced her like one of her own. Yet just when she thought her night couldn't have turned any worse, she finds the police and ambulances outside her house. It appears that her family had been murdered, everything in Mikayla's world comes crashing at the news. Meanwhile, Jake is there, by her side and takes her to his home where his parents help her settle in until she can get someone in her family to take her in. As the two face with the challenges ahead of them, they start to realize that they might just be falling for each other. Yet, there is something holding Mikayla back, and she doesn't want to fully commit to a relationship that might just break her heart. 

There were a lot of things that I absolutely loved about this book, one of them being the character development in the main characters. Jake is one of those characters that I would love to have in real life, he is caring, and smart. He has a future ahead of him that demands his full attention, yet he always seems to take time to take care of Mikayla. He worries about her, and that is evident from the very start. On the other hand, Mikayla closes herself up because she is afraid of losing something that she loves, just like she lost her family. She has to make choices about her future, and what she truly wants. There is the mystery of what actually happened the night when her family got murdered. It was a bit rushed at the end, when we as readers get to find out who did it, and it all happens very quickly. I still liked how everything ended, the writing was well done as well. Overall, I would highly suggest reading this book, it will not disappoint.:)

*ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*


My Rating: 



More Than Series 


Thanks for stopping by! :)

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday (#78)


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

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

One of the Guys

by 
February 10th 2015 by Spencer Hill Press

***Cute synopsis, it sounds more like a summer read, so I might wait to read it then :) What are you guys waiting to read??? :D ***


Thanks for stopping by

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

❥ Release Day Blast: Love, Lucy by April Lindner {GUEST POST + GIVEAWAY!} ✈




 

Love, Lucy by April Lindner

Release Date: January 27, 2015 by Poppy
Pages: 304
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Travel

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.



About April Lindner:

April Lindner is the author of three novels: Catherine, a modernization of Wuthering Heights; Jane, an update of Jane Eyre; and Love, Lucy, releasing January 27, 2015. She also has published two poetry collections, Skin and This Bed Our Bodies Shaped. She plays acoustic guitar badly, sees more rock concerts than shed care to admit, travels whenever she can, cooks Italian food, and lavishes attention on her pets—two Labrador retriever mixes and two excitable guinea pigs. A professor of English at Saint Josephs University, April lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two sons. 


Here is a special guest post from the author in which she shares "Some Rules of the Road" for traveling abroad, as Lucy did in the book! :)


Some Rules of the Road

Like Lucy Sommersworth, the heroine of Love, Lucy, my parents gave me the gift of a lifetime: a backpacking trip to Europe. I was a bit older than Lucy—22, and just out of college—but when I arrived in Milan, Italy with a Eurail pass, a copy of Let’s Go: Europe, and a seventy-pound backpack I could barely lift, I was a wee bit terrified. Like Lucy, I spoke only a little bit of Italian, just barely enough to get by, and I wasn’t particularly good at reading maps or train schedules. Unlike Lucy, I was travelling solo. 

Luckily, my journey began with training wheels. I’d just taken a college Italian class, and my professor had offered a safe crash pad for the first few days of my trip—in her family home in the Alps. Less luckily, when I reached Malpensa airport, nobody was there to pick me up. Giddy with excitement and jet lag, I wandered around the airport, eavesdropping on Italians as they hugged each other hello and goodbye, and had noisy arguments. I’d never felt more alone in my life. Where would I sleep that night if my ride didn’t show up?
Luckily, my professor’s brother arrived at last to whisk me away to the family home in Domodossola. The extended family welcomed and fed me, gave me tours of their city with its charming medieval center, helped me practice my Italian, and, when the time was right, brought me to the train station where my solo travels began for real. It was time to take off the training wheels. 

If I’d felt alone back in the airport, I was even more so on that train to Verona, a city where I didn’t know a soul. In those pre-internet days, I could disappear into thin air and nobody would even notice I was gone. The thought was chilling, but oddly exciting. 

By nightfall, I’d made it to Verona. I’d figured out the public transportation, found a youth hostel, and booked myself a bed. Best of all, I had introduced myself to a handful of other backpackers. We hung out together in the hostel’s common area, sharing bread and cheese, exchanging stories, discussing the rules of the road—those bits of practical wisdom our travels were teaching us. Here are a few.
Time passes differently on the road. Spend a few very intense hours seeing the sites with strangers and by the end of the day, those strangers have become a part of your story. Years later you’ll see their faces in your photo album and still remember stray details of the adventures you shared together, even if you can’t quite recall their names. 

Spontaneity is key. There are few things as magical as showing up at a train station with no idea where you’re headed next, picking a random train, and hopping on.

Janis Joplin said it best: Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose. When you’re carrying all your possessions on your back in a city where you don’t know a soul, you’re absolutely free. You can go anywhere, do anything. That freedom has its lonely moments—but it can be the doorway to all kinds of adventures.

Embrace misadventure. As carefully as you plan there will be crazy mistakes: wrong turns, slept-through train stops, multilingual misunderstandings, and all kinds of other blunders—and these will make the best stories. My misadventures are some of my favorite memories. The time I missed curfew and had to climb into my hostel through a second-story window. The morning when, hanging out my recently washed clothes to dry, I dropped my wet underthings out the window, onto a stranger’s head. The night when, with no room to stay in, I slept on Venice’s train station steps with about a hundred other backpackers, the stars above us and the Grand Canal stretched out before us.

Would I trade that last memory for a safe, comfy night in an actual bed? Not on your life.

GIVEAWAY!

Freebie Tuesday (Edition #52)


Hi guys!:) Happy Tuesday! Here is another edition of Freebie Tuesday. I hope everyone finds this posts helpful (if anyone is looking for a new book(s) to read). 

***Note that there will be some books that will be free for limited time only, so make sure to download them as soon as you can. Also if there is any specific genre that you guys want me to find books of, let me know in the comment section below. (:  Enjoy! 

*Older Editions will be linked on the menu section (above) under Freebie Tuesday:)

A Heartless Design 

by 
2014 by SkySpark Books
Genre: Romance, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Regency
An enigmatic woman, a determined spy, and a love that could shake the foundations of Europe…

“Heartless” Cordelia Bering refuses every marriage offer she receives. Yet men still try to win her, drawn by her sharp wit and intoxicating green eyes. But Cordelia knows a marriage could reveal her deepest secret and truly endanger her life. Besides, she hasn’t met a man worth considering, until…

Sebastien Thorne, a spy in the service of the Crown. One of the elite agents in the group known as the Zodiac, he comes to London determined to solve a mystery with roots on the Continent. He won’t let anything distract him. But is Cordelia a distraction, or the key to the mystery? As he learns more about the “heartless” woman, he becomes embroiled in secrets, plots, and a design that could change the future…and Cordelia is at the center of it all.

A Heartless Design is the first book in the Secrets of the Zodiac, a series that blends romantic suspense with the rich background of the Regency period.
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads) 

           

Too Wilde to Tame 

by 
December 28th 2013 
Wilde Series #3
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads) 


            


Happy Reading! :)

Monday, January 26, 2015

★ Blog Tour ★ Stupid Boy by Cindy Miles ➳ {EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY!}


Stupid Boy
by Cindy Miles
Release Date: February 17th 2015 by TKA Distribution
Pages: 332
Series: Stupid in Love #2
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance

From Cindy Miles, bestselling new adult author of STUPID GIRL, comes the next installment of her blockbuster Stupid in Love series – STUPID BOY. 

Brax Jenkins and Olivia Beaumont are the most envied couple at Winston University—but the so-called “virginity dare,” orchestrated by Brax’s old fraternity, almost tore them apart. Now, a new dare is taking shape, and it’s sure to set emotions ablaze--more than ever before.

Winston’s “It Girl” Harper Belle isn’t just president of the Deltas--she’s also a master at keeping her ugly past a secret. So, when the Kappas’ dare hits closer to home for her more than anyone realizes, she devises a competition of her own as payback. Three sorority sisters will seek out a notorious womanizer on campus and--unbeknownst their “mark”--secretly train him to be the perfect boyfriend. Always up for a challenge, Harper targets the biggest player she can find: Brax’s wickedly handsome foster brother Kane McCarthy.

But, Harper discovers there’s much more to Kane than girls, games, and partying. His easy smile belies the quiet, old soul reflected in his deep brown eyes. All it takes is one night, one secret laid bare, and one kiss from Kane to shift Harper’s world on its axis. Suddenly, the girl who’s always walked a straight and narrow path can’t think of anything else except losing control.
 



Pre-order:


__________________________________________________________

-*-Excerpt-*-

By the time I’d finished a very poor attempt at studying for an Art test and exited the library, the tell-tale signs of pending dusk had crept onto Winston’s manicured campus. The early November air felt crisp against my cheeks as it whisked through, rustling the leaves and sending several pirouetting to the ground to land in scattered colors on the grass like some strange abstract stained glass. Knowing darkness would soon swallow everything, I hurried to the campus coffee house and cafĂ© that stayed open until midnight. Inside, students sat at tables studying, their laptops open, the light illuminating their faces and coffee cups by their sides. As I took my place in line I selected my usual pre-packaged turkey sandwich and a bottle of lemonade and stood, waiting to pay.

    “That’s all you’re eating?”

    I jumped at the voice behind me and turned to find Kane there. Instantly, my insides froze. He gazed down at me, his hands shoved into his pockets, those broad shoulders sort of hunching toward me, almost…cornering me; his eyes as worn and soft as the leather jacket he wore.

    “Um, yes,” I answered. I gave a hesitant smile. “Not very hungry, I guess.” What was he doing here? Suddenly I felt closed in—a feeling I avoided at all costs.

    “So what’s good here?” he asked. His Boston accent was heavy and void of the letter r, just like Brax’s, only…softer. Quiet. The kind of voice that you had to pay close attention to or else you’d miss what they were saying completely.

    I couldn’t believe he was talking to me. I shrugged, pretended he didn’t bother me, and held up my sandwich. “Turkey?”

    He said nothing as he lifted three turkey sandwiches from the cooler; his smoky gaze remained riveted to mine. Then, he bent his head close. “Kane McCarthy.”

    I looked at him then, taken back by how his voice washed over me and made my skin tingle. I forced myself to breathe; I wasn’t used to being in this kind of situation. Guys just didn’t go out of their way to talk to me. I made sure of it. But I didn’t balk. I mean, after all—Kane was my potential reformation Dare. Right? Murphy’s words rushed back to me. Reform the barmy beast! I breathed. Smiled. Pretended. “Harper Belle.”

    Again, his eyes softened, and as we stepped up to the cashier he gave her a nod and inclined his head toward me. Before I could say a word, the cashier had rung our orders up together, and Kane handed her a twenty.

    I looked at him, embarrassed. “Oh no, really, that’s okay, you don’t have to—”

    Kane’s eyes moved over me. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I do.”

__________________________________________________________

About Cindy

National bestselling author Cindy Miles writes edgy romance, ranging from contemporary love stories to sexy paranormals. A native of southern coastal Georgia, she loves reading (naturally), baking swoon-worthy desserts, traveling abroad, yoga, and classic rock. The cover for her upcoming New Adult romance, STUPID GIRL, was featured on USA Today’s Happily Ever After blog. In the novel, a volatile mix of bad boys, sassy smart girls, dark secrets, and red-hot romance add up to one wild ride through college.
Hang out with Cindy on her Facebook fan page at: https://www.facebook.com/officialcindymilesfanpage


Or check out her website: http://www.cindy-miles.com/


__________________________________________________________

~Giveaway~



★ BLOG TOUR ★ Bringing Home the Bad Boy by Jessica Lemmon ➳ {GIVEAWAY + EXCERPT}




Bringing Home the Bad Boy by Jessica Lemmon

Released Date: January 27th 2015 by Forever
Pages: 384
Genre: Romance, Contemporary

Creativity is his drug, painting is his escape, but she'll be the addiction that brings him to his knees. 

Evan Downey buried a part of his soul when put the love of his life in the ground. He knows he needs to get his shit together for the sake of their son, but escaping into his art is the only way he can begin to cope with Rae's death. When the chance to move back to Evergreen Cove, one of the few places that has ever felt right to him, he knows it's a chance he has to take. For his sake, and his sons. Charlotte Harris would give anything to have her best friend back. But if she can't have Rae, then she vows she'll at least be there to support the family Rae left behind. So when she learns that Evan is looking to move home, she does everything she can to help him and Lyon re-build their lives at the Cove. But when sparks start to fly between Charlotte and Evan it's the first glimpse of something bright and beautiful either of them has seen in far too long. And they start to wonder if fate has offered them a second chance at happiness-- if only their brave enough to take the risk and let love back into their lives. 

-*-EXCERPT-*-

“Know why I moved here?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
She wrenched her eyes from his and focused on a spot over his shoulder.
“Because you didn’t want to live in Columbus anymore.” That’s what he’d told her. That he wanted a change. That he and Lyon had outgrown the house. And, she imagined it’d be hard to live in the house where Rae had passed.
“But why here?”
“Um…”
His fingers grazed her jaw and turned her head, his palm moving to her neck where he cupped her nape and forced her eyes to his.
Reluctantly, she met them.
“Rae’s more alive when you’re around, Ace.”
Her heart, oh her heart. Kicking against her chest in a confusing, hectic rhythm.
“You bring her to life for Lyon—more than anyone else. I need him to remember her because he can’t remember her alive.” His hold stayed, his palm warming her neck, his gaze unwavering.
She tried to separate the two feelings she was having—one that she was now talking about Rae with Evan and two, that he was touching her while talking about Rae.
Before she could, his lips closed over hers.
Her thoughts short-circuited.
This wasn’t anything like a soft peck hello. This was his lips moving over hers, slanting over hers, warm and firm and then his mouth opened and—
Oh my gosh!
His wet, warm tongue slid along the seam of her lips and she stopped being passive and started kissing him back. When she would have touched her tongue to his, he relocated it, running along her bottom lip instead and tugging with his teeth.
If she’d been standing, her knees would have given out and dropped her right on her butt.
And then there was the palm on her neck, now spearing up through her hair and clutching onto a handful of it. He held her captive, his hand fisting her hair as he angled his mouth again. In response to the soft whimper escaping her throat, he swept his tongue into her mouth. He tangled his tongue with hers once, twice, and released her.
When he pulled his mouth away, a long, satisfied sigh escaped her lips. Because that was a kiss. A kiss to rival all other kisses.
She opened her eyes to realize A) she’d closed her eyes and B) she’d at some point wrapped both hands around his forearms where she was holding tight and C) Evan looked as please as she felt.
“God damn, Ace. Your mouth.” His eyes flicked to her lips. Lips still tingling from the rough scrape from the stubble surrounding his.
She concurred with that sentiment. Not that she said anything. She’d gone dumb; completely mute.
He backed away, but held onto her chin and tweaked it lightly with the rough pad of one thumb. “That’s the way this is gonna go from now on.”
Her breathing went shallow, her thoughts went muzzy and her head blurred as her heart palpated to the point of panic attack.
“Sorry, Rae.”
She didn’t mean to say it, and it had only been a whisper, but by the look twisting Evan’s face—the angry look twisting his face—he’d heard. And he hadn’t liked what he’d heard.
“Sorry,” she said to him this time. “I should go.”
Unbelievably, he leaned closer. She pulled her chin back until she realized she likely had a double chin, then settled her head on her neck in a more reasonable position.
Gosh. He was making her crazy.

-*-ABOUT THE AUTHOR-*-

Jessica Lemmon has always been a dreamer. At some point, she decided head-in-the-clouds thinking was childish, went out, and got herself a job . . . and then she got another one because that one was lousy. And when that one stopped being fulfilling, she went out and got another . . . and another. Soon it became apparent she'd only be truly happy doing what she loved. And since "eating potato chips" isn't a viable career, she opted to become a writer. With fire in her heart, she dusted off a book she'd started years prior, finished it, and submitted it. It may have been the worst book ever, but it didn't stop her from writing another one. Now she has several books finished, several more started, and even more marinating in her brain (which currently resides in the clouds, thankyouverymuch), and she couldn't be happier. She firmly believes God gifts us with talents for a purpose, and with His help, you can create the life you want. (While eating potato chips.) 


-*-GIVEAWAY-*-



Thanks for stopping by! ;)

Friday, January 23, 2015

✎ Book Trailer Reveal: Deviate by Tracy Clark {GIVEAWAY!}


Book Trailer Reveal

Deviate 
by Tracy Clark
Release Date: March 3rd 2015 by Entangled: Teen
Pages: 356
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
View/Purchase: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iTunes, Kobo
Author's Links: Goodreads, Website, Twitter, Facebook

Learning the truth about herself was just the beginning.
Tormented after a daring escape, Cora Sandoval must find a way to stop the Arrazi from murdering innocent people and from violating, using, and killing the Scintilla for their powers. She must also accept one bitter betrayal.: Finn Doyle—the Irish boy who has both a piece of Cora's heart and soul—is Arrazi...
On the verge of extinction and sought by those who would either consume or destroy them, Cora and the remaining Scintilla survivors must solve the mystery of The Light Key. If they fail, the truth will stay buried forever and mankind will pay the ultimate price.
No longer will she hide.
No longer will her loved ones be hunted.
And she will have her vengeance...even if she shatters her heart in the process.

About Tracy:

Tracy Clark grew up a "valley girl" in Southern California but now resides in her home state of Nevada with her daughter and son. She's an unapologetic dog person who is currently owned by a cat. She is the recipient of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Work in Progress Grant and a two-time participant in the prestigious Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program and now serves as Regional Advisor for Nevada SCBWI. Her debut novel was inspired by her enchantment with metaphysics as a teen, seeing it as the real magic in life. Tracy is a private pilot, and an irredeemable dreamer. 

-*-BOOK TRAILER-*-




-*-GIVEAWAY-*-


Thanks for stopping by! :)