Monday, December 30, 2013

The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard ~ Book Highlight and a Giveaway!


The Forgotten Ones


Title: The Forgotten Ones
Author: Laura Howard
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Series: The Danaan Trilogy #1
Published: April 28, 2013
Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember.

What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.









Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.











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15 Winter Reads Boxed Set and $100 Book Blast Giveaway

Winter Reads Cover

Sit back, relax in your favorite reading chair and enjoy 15 Winter Reads from 15 bestselling YA authors. There is something to delight every reader in this box set – paranormal romance, futuristic sci-fi, historical, time travel, and contemporary. Many of the Indelibles have given you access to both the first and second books in their series – you’ll be reading well into the New Year!

LIMITED TIME BOX SET - from 15 bestselling YA authors
ON SALE 12/29 - 1/11 for just $1.99


Amazon * Barnes & Noble


15 Winter Reads includes:


Iron ButterflyThe Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn


Escaping an experimental prison, Thalia tries to hide her past and her gifts, from her friends. But her past isn’t always easy to escape, especially when it hunts you down.


TrembleTremble (Celestra Series) by Addison Moore


Sixteen year-old, Skyla Messenger is a dead girl walking. When her newly remarried mother moves the family to Paragon Island, to a house that is rumored to be haunted, Skyla finds refuge in Logan Oliver, a boy who shares her unique ability to read minds.


ExiledExiled by RaShelle Workman


Venus wakes to find herself no longer on her home planet of Kelari, but on Earth with a week to get back or she'll die.


Dragonfly CoverDragonfly by Leigh Talbert Moore


Gossip Girl meets VC Andrews in this contemporary family saga. Love, lies, and betrayal become the new normal when Anna enters the world of Jack and Lucy Kyser.


Amazon  * Facebook  * Twitter  * Goodreads  * Pinterest


open mindsOpen Minds and Closed Hearts by Susan Kaye Quinn


When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.


 Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Wattpad * Goodreads



untraceableUntraceable by S.R. Johannes


When Grace's forest ranger dad disappears on patrol, she fights town authorities, tribal officials, & nature to prove he’s alive. Torn between a new hot boy and cute ex, she heads into the wilderness to find her dad. Soon, she is caught in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder.


 Twitter * Facebook * Blog  * Goodreads


date an alienHow to Date an Alien and How to Break Up With an Alien by Magan Vernon


Alex Bianchi takes an internship at an alien operations center to pad her college applications but doesn't plan on falling in love with one of its residents. But as Alex’s senior year progresses, everything changes and she can’t figure out if it is interstellar or if it is just time to break up with an alien.




flutterFlutter of Luv by L.M. Preston


Dawn, the neighborhood tomboy, is happy to be her best friend’s shadow. Acceptance comes from playing football after school with the guys on the block while hiding safely behind her glasses, braces, and boyish ways. But Tony moves in, becomes the star Running Back on her school’s football team, and changes her world and her view of herself forever.




watchedWatched by Cindy M. Hogan


It takes more than a school trip to change Christy's life. It takes murder.


 Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads




clockwiseClockwise and ClockwiseR by Elle Strauss


A follow up to Clockwise, Casey and Nate travel back in time and race against the clock to rescue Casey's rebellious brother Tim from frontline battle in America's civil war.


 Website * Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Wattpad * Goodreads


5.5"X8.5" Post Card TemplateGlimpse (Zellie Wells #1) and Glimmer (Zellie Wells #2) by Stacey Wallace Benefiel


While working together to figure out what their shared vision means, Zellie discovers that Benjamin is a worthy friend and mentor. If only he could keep his hands off of her - if only she wanted him to...


 Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads


spy like meA Spy Like Me by Laura Pauling


After dodging bullets on a first date, Savvy must decide how far she'll go to protect the ones she loves.


 Blog * Twitter * Goodreads



Grasping At Eternity by Karen Amanda Hooper


An eternal soul mate, a supernatural family who has known her for centuries, and lifetimes of erased memories: this is Maryah Woodsen’s life. She just doesn’t know it yet.


 Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Goodreads


lacrimosaLacrimosa by Christine Fonseca


In the world of angels and demons, one thing is clear - some sacrifices should never be made. Even for love.




spruce knollThe Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle


The town of Spruce Knoll hides many secrets—and many dangers, among them are that the untimely death of Eren’s parents was no accident and that she is far more than she realizes.


 Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Wattpad * Goodreads



Giveaway Details

$100 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 1/11/14

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 authors. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.


Saturday, December 28, 2013

Book Spotlight and a Giveaway! Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos


Belong to Me


Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos
Paperback, 398 pages
Published March 31st 2009 (first published January 1st 2008)
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

"On a recent rainy Monday, I'd tried imagining the last month and a half of my life as a feature film, a game I play, secretly, fairly often, and that I'm convinced other people play, secretly too," confesses Cornelia Brown, whose witty observations and small epiphanies in the pages of Marisa de los Santos' Belong to Me surround readers like the warm embrace of an old friend. Cornelia and her impossibly handsome husband, Teo Sandoval, made their debut in the author's Love Walked In.

As this book begins, the couple is settling into their first house on an idyllic street in a picturesque Philadelphia suburb. Cornelia is inexplicably drawn to "this unsurprising place" that she yearns to call home, but her neighbors are less sure of how these transplanted, apparently childless urbanites will fare in their midst. Especially Piper Truitt. The epitome of blonde cool, this demanding mother of two has created her own version of perfection within the walls of a home that sits across the street from Cornelia's. From their early encounter at a dinner party, the two are at odds, a situation that Cornelia, adrift from her familiar surroundings, cannot conceive how to navigate.

As the novel progresses, new characters emerge. We meet Elizabeth, Piper's best friend, who's battling cancer, as well as Toby, Cornelia's brother, and Clare, the bright and compassionate teen familiar to readers of Love Walked In. Then there's Lake, a single mother working at a local Italian restaurant, who throws Cornelia a timely lifeline in the form of a dish of spaghetti alla puttanesca. Lake's son Dev, a preternaturally gifted 13-year-old, becomes Cornelia's unexpected kindred spirit. Deftly blending several tales at once, de los Santos' narrative is richly embroidered with intertwined lives and loves. As present circumstances are threatened by the revelation of past secrets, the friends forge a circle of strength and forgiveness that the reader, too, belongs to -- and will hate to leave when the last page is turned. A triumphant testimony to the power of love, Belong to Me hums with the hope that pulls friends through the ups and downs that the years hold in store for everyone.


About the author


Marisa de los Santos was a poet for a very long time, with an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D. from the University of Houston. Her first book, From the Bones Out, a collection of poems, was published in 2000.

She and her husband, writer David Teague, lived in Center City, Philadelphia for a number of years before moving to Wilmington, Delaware in spring of 2003. That summer, Marisa began writing what would become her first novel Love Walked In (Dutton, 2006). Love Walked In was translated into fourteen languages, was optioned by Paramount pictures, and was a trade paperback bestseller. William Morrow published her second novel Belong to Me in April 2008, and it was an instant New York Times Bestseller.

Marisa, David, and their two children, Charles and Annabel, live in Wilmington, where Marisa takes as many ballet classes as she can, volunteers at her kids' school, and is working on her third novel.

Connect with Marisa


Giveaway Time!!



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Friday, December 27, 2013

On Tour: External Forces by Deborah Rix, the Trailer, Voices and a Giveaway!




External Forces by Deborah Rix
Publisher: Dime Store Books
Pages: 268
Series: The Laws of Motion #1
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction


Discuss this book in the PUYB Virtual Book Club
at Goodreads by clicking here

Purchase from Amazon

Treason, betrayal, and heartbreak.

A lot can happen to a girl between her first kiss and her first kill. 

It’s 100 years since the Genetic Integrity Act was passed and America closed its borders to prevent genetic contamination. Now only the enemy, dysgenic Deviants, remain beyond the heavily guarded border. The Department of Evolution carefully guides the creation of each generation and deviations from the divine plan are not permitted.

When 16-year-old Jess begins to show signs of deviance she enlists in the Special Forces, with her best friend Jay, in a desperate bid to evade detection by the Devotees. Jess is good with data, not so good with a knife. So when the handsome and secretive Sergeant Matt Anderson selects her for his Black Ops squad, Jess is determined to figure out why.

As her deviance continues to change her, Jess is forced to decide who to trust with her deadly secret. Jess needs to know what’s really out there, in the Deviant wasteland over the border, if she has any hope of making it to her 17th birthday. Because if the enemy doesn’t kill her first, the Department of Evolution probably will.

Trailer


Voices 

Deborah, thanks for being here today. I have heard other authors say that they 'hear voices in their head' and that is how they write their books: the characters are telling their stories. Not being a writer myself, that concept has always intrigued me.

When some people hear voices, we get them medical attention, others end up becoming writers. Does this happen to you? How do you come up with your stories?



Well, Susan, sometimes there are voices in my head. Just a moment ago it was my own, wondering how you can possibly follow hundreds of blogs about books and still have time to read any actual books. Do library associates in South Dakota have some secret powers around the reading of books? Hmm. (Um, no. I just don't have a life. I do live in SD, you know. hehehe)
I started writing in an attempt to gain control over some part of my life, because most of it was wrapped up in red tape from the building department at City Hall. You can’t tell building permit issuers what to do, they won’t listen. I needed my characters so that I could tell someone exactly what to do, and they’d do it. While I pretended at control in a delusional act of self-preservation, my characters ended up telling me exactly what they were going to do and I’d better not try to stop them.
I've heard other writers describe this, but I was still completely astonished when my fingers seemed to be typing of their own volition. My daughter heard me gasp as I stared at something I’d just written and wanted to know what was wrong. “You won’t believe what Charlie just did!” was my answer. True story. I found that dialogue became easier as I went along, because what came out was them “talking in my head.”  Not as if they were beaming in from outer space and I needed to wear a tin foil helmet to stop the mind control, that would be crazy. I would imagine the character, as though I was in conversation with them, and watch their face and body language. And then they would speak and I would write down what they said. That’s not mind control, not at all.
Thanks for inviting me to your blog. 
Deborah Rix
About the author


Deborah Rix’s favourite position for reading a book is head almost hanging off the couch and feet up in the air with legs against the back of the couch. She’s been reading too much from Scientific American for research and ideas and needs to get back to some fiction. She has a long standing love of science fiction, some of her favourite authors include William Gibson, Philip K Dick, Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Douglas Adams, Iain M Banks. A bit old school.

Deborah enjoyed a successful career in entertainment publicity, live music promotion and event management. Which means she slogged through muddy fields for music festivals, was crammed into concert halls with too many sweaty teenage boys and got to go to Tuktoyaktuk (that’s in the Arctic Circle) for a Metallica concert. She lives with her family in Toronto, Canada, where she is the proprietor of The Lucky Penny, a neighborhood joint in Trinity-Bellwoods.

External Forces is her first novel.

Connect with Deborah

Giveaway Time!!

ACCELERATE YOUR POWER GRAND PRIZE

GRAND PRIZE: Winner will have a minor character named after them in Acceleration, the second book in The Laws of Motion Trilogy by Deborah Rix. PLUS: 1 (One) WakaWaka Power – a solar powered charger and light, 1 (one) Limited Edition EXTERNAL FORCES Black Ops Beanie, and 1 (one) signed copy of External Forces.

The fine print: Grand Prize winner will have a minor character named after them in the forthcoming book, Acceleration. The winner can choose a name other their own as long as it is mutually agreeable with the Author, Deborah Rix. That means nothing obscene, stupid or ridiculous, as decided at the sole discretion of the author. Winner agrees that the gender, race, physical description, sexual orientation or any other characteristics of the character are at the sole discretion of the author. Winner agrees that the character may suffer some sort of gruesome downfall or may be a heroic figure in the story, it is at the sole discretion of the author what the role of the character will be and to what extent the character will be part of the story. The author assures the winner that it will be a real character in the story and part of a sub-plot or major plot.

Terms & Conditions:
By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old. One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive the Accelerate Your Power Grand Prize. This giveaway begins November 4 and ends January 31. Winner will be contacted via email on Monday, February 3, 2013. Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!


Pump Up Your Book



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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Turtle/Doughboy Christmas!


When my sons were little they were really into the TMNT. I can't tell you how many hours were spent 'playing guys'. And now I have grandsons who are playing with them. Did they ever go out of style? I think not!

So anyway, in honor of my little guys (who aren't so little anymore) and my newest little guys, Merry Christmas from me and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

I also want to share a little bit about me. I love the Pillsbury Doughboy and have for many years. I have a pretty large collection of Doughboy things in my kitchen. I asked him to help me celebrate with all of you.

So enjoy this little bit of Christmas cheer from me and the Doughboy!



Hooo hooo!



Merry Christmas one and all!


Saturday, December 21, 2013

Book Spotlight and a Giveaway! The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall


The Scent of Cherry Blossoms


The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall
Hardcover, 208 pages
Published February 21, 2012 by WaterBrook Pressv

Annie Martin loves the Plain ways of her Old Order Mennonite people, like those revered by her beloved grandfather. Retreating from a contentious relationship with her mother, Annie goes to live with her Daadi Moses in Apple Ridge.

But as spring moves into Pennsylvania and Annie spends time amongst the cherry trees with the handsome Aden Zook, she wishes she could forget how deeply the lines between the Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonite are drawn.

Can Annie and Aden find a place for their love to bloom in the midst of the brewing storm?


About the author


Cindy Woodsmall is a New York Times best-selling author who has written six novels, three novellas, and Plain Wisdom, a work of nonfiction coauthored with her dearest Old Order Amish friend, Miriam Flaud. She’s been featured on ABC Nightline and the front page of the Wall Street Journal, and has worked with National Geographic on a documentary concerning Amish life.

She is also a veteran homeschool mom who no longer holds that position. As her children progressed in age, her desire to write grew stronger. After working through reservations whether this desire was something she should pursue, she began her writing journey. Her husband was her staunchest supporter as she aimed for what seemed impossible.

She’s won Fiction Book of the Year, Reviewer’s Choice Awards, Inspirational Reader’s Choice Contest, as well as one of Crossings’ Best Books of the Year. She’s been a finalist for the prestigious Christy, Rita, and Carol Awards, Christian Book of the Year, and Christian Retailers Choice Awards.

Her real-life connections with Amish Mennonite and Old Order Amish families enrich her novels with authenticity. Though she didn't realize it at the time, seeds were sown years ago that began preparing Cindy to write these books. At the age of ten, while living in the dairy country of Maryland, she became best friends with Luann, a Plain Mennonite girl. Luann, like all the females in her family, wore the prayer Kapp and cape dresses. Her parents didn't allow television or radios, and many other modern conveniences were frowned upon. During the numerous times Luann came to Cindy’s house to spend the night, her rules came with her and the two were careful to obey them—afraid that if they didn't, the adults would end their friendship. Although the rules were much easier to keep when they spent the night at Luann’s because her family didn't own any of the forbidden items, both sets of parents were uncomfortable with the relationship and a small infraction of any kind would have been enough reason for the parents to end the relationship. While navigating around the adults’ disapproval and the obstacles in each other’s lifestyle, the two girls bonded in true friendship that lasted into their teen years, until Cindy’s family moved to another region of the US.

As an adult, Cindy became friends with a wonderful Old Order Amish family who opened their home to her. Although the two women, Miriam and Cindy, live seven hundred miles apart geographically, and a century apart by customs, when they come together they never lack for commonality, laughter, and dreams of what only God can accomplish through His children. Over the years Cindy has continued to make wonderful friendships with those inside the Amish and Mennonite communities—from the most conservative ones to the most liberal.

Cindy lives in Georgia with her husband, three sons, two daughters-in-law, a new granddaughter, and a dog named Jersey who wants to dominate the world, starting with the Woodsmall household.

Connect with Cindy


Giveaway Time!!



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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

WWW Wednesdays December 18, 2013


WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading

To play along, just answer the following three questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Clicking on the book covers will take you to Goodreads for more information about the books listed below.

What are you currently reading?

Quinn by Iris Johansen
(Eve, Quinn and Bonnie #2)
I love the Eve Duncan series and this mini-series of 3 is a nice look at the backgrounds of the main characters.

What did you recently finish reading?

A Can of Peas by Traci DePree
(Lake Emily #1) 
I really liked this one. My thoughts are here. I am giving away a copy. Head over and enter!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
(read by Tim Curry)

What do you think you will read next?

I don't have any 'deadline' books now until January. I know I should be reading some of them to get ahead but I am just going to dive into the wonderful books on my shelves that I have been ignoring. They are calling to me!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
I have been wanting to read this one for forever!

What's on your WWW this week?

Leave me a comment and
I'll stop by to check out your reads.



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