Book Spotlight Giveaway! Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood #BornWicked

I have sooooo many books! The Book Spotlight Giveaway feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to clear my shelves and to share some of the many books I have. This feature is a way for my to cull my collection and to give someone else the opportunity to enjoy these treasures.

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Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

Born Wicked

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
Series: The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1
Paperback, 352 pages
Published January 8th 2013 by Speak

A gorgeous, witchy, romantic fantasy by a debut author! Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and the Beautiful Creatures series!

Everybody thinks Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship--or an early grave.

Then Cate finds her mother's diary, and uncovers a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra. But if what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe--not even from each other. 

 

Goodreads link to the whole Cahill Witch Chronicles series

About the author

Author. Editor. Feminist. Slytherpuff.

I live in Washington, DC with my playwright husband, where I also work as a children's library associate for the DC Public Library.

If you're interested in interviews or guest posts, please contact me at jessica.shea.author@gmail.com. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Jessica

 Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram

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Waiting for Fitz by Spencer Hyde ~ My Thoughts #WaitingForFitz

Waiting for Fitz

Waiting for Fitz by Spencer Hyde
Print and ebook, 256 pages
Published March 5th 2019 by Shadow Mountain

Addie loves nothing more than curling up on the couch with her dog, Duck, and watching The Great British Baking Show with her mom. It’s one of the few things that can help her relax when her OCD kicks into overdrive. She counts everything. All the time. She can’t stop. Rituals and rhythms. It’s exhausting.

When Fitz was diagnosed with schizophrenia, he named the voices in his head after famous country singers. The adolescent psychiatric ward at Seattle Regional Hospital isn’t exactly the ideal place to meet your soul mate, but when Addie meets Fitz, they immediately connect over their shared love of words, appreciate each other’s quick wit, and wish they could both make more sense of their lives.

Fitz is haunted by the voices in his head and often doesn't know what is real. But he feels if he can convince Addie to help him escape the psych ward and everything will be okay. If not, he risks falling into a downward spiral that may keep him in the hospital indefinitely.

Waiting for Fitz is a story about life and love, forgiveness and courage, and what’s necessary to let go and learning what is truly worth waiting for.

     

My thoughts about Waiting for Fitz ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"My life took off the comedy mask and put on the tragedy mask at the end of my seventeenth year."

First of all, I just need to say that this cover is amazing. It’s one that you just need to look at for awhile to absorb all that’s there. So beautiful!

Waiting for Fitz is a heart-breaking, realistic look at mental illness, while at the same time being a heart-warming, beautiful love story—a story of two young people accepting one another just the way they are.

Addie and Fitz have an instant connection when they first meet each other in the mental hospital. She’s there for treatment of her OCD and he for schizophrenia. They form a close friendship and a tight bond—a bond that eventually leads to an escape plan. Will leaving the hospital heal them, or make them spiral downward and out of control?

The fact that the author himself was hospitalized for his own OCD gives Waiting for Fitz an authentic feel for the ups and downs of mental illness and will open readers’ eyes to this somewhat mysterious world. It is a wonderful story that should be read by all. 

I received a copy of Waiting for Fitz from Shadow Mountain Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

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About the author

Spencer Hyde spent three years of his high school experience visiting Johns Hopkins for severe OCD. He feels particularly suited to write Waiting for Fitz because he’s lived through his protagonists’ obsessions.

Spencer worked at a therapeutic boarding school before earning his MFA in Utah and his PhD in Texas, specializing in fiction. He wrote Waiting for Fitz while working as a Teaching Fellow in Denton, Texas. He is currently an assistant professor of English at Brigham Young University.

Stories have a way of changing lives—Spencer learned that the first time he picked up a Tom Stoppard play and realized that words can nudge the world and build bridges to hope.

Spencer and his wife, Brittany, are the parents of four children. They love to hike, read, watch movies, fly-fish, and bake.

Connect with Spencer

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Amazon

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Night Beach by Joanne DeMaio ~ My Thoughts #NightBeach

Night Beach

Night Beach by Joanne DeMaio
Series: The Seaside Saga #8
Print and ebook, 198 pages
Published March 5, 2019 by Joanne DeMaio

From the New York Times bestselling author of Castaway Cottage comes a novel as captivating as the moonlit sea.

Everything was in place for the perfect beachside gathering. Lace-wrapped jars hung from white chairs on the sand. Paper lanterns and tiki torches glimmered in the twilight evening. A rowboat draped with roses and vines waited in the wings. Love floated on the salt air.

Until the arrival of a mysterious guest named Shane Bradford, a lobsterman with a tangled past in this little New England beach town.

Like a sudden sea breeze, the special evening quickly turns. And the residents of Stony Point must tread the darker water Shane brings to their Night Beach.

     

My thoughts about Night Beach ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"Never turn your back on the sea."

Night Beach is book #8 in Joanne DeMaio's wonderful Seaside Saga series. I've read every one of them and I find myself falling more in love with Stony Point and all of the wonderful characters with each book. I've come to think of the people from Stony Point as family and I love going back to check up on their lives. 

I love how each book picks right up where the last one ended. This is a series that would be so easy to binge read because you just want the story to keep going, continuing on with the love and friendships. Sure there are some troubled times, some conflicts among family and friends, but everyone comes together to help each other through the tough times, while also rejoicing in the good times. I've become so emotionally wrapped up in everyone's live, that I experience the tears of sadness and the elation of joy right along with them. 

"No, you don't always get to to choose who or what washes up in life's driftline."

I loved my recent, brief visit to Stony Point and I'm excited to go back soon. Come join me, why don't you? 

I received a copy of Night Beach from the author in exchange for my honest review.

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About the author

Joanne DeMaio is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction. She enjoys writing about friendship, family, love and choices, while setting her stories in New England towns or by the sea. Currently at work on her next novel, Joanne lives with her family in Connecticut.

For a complete list of books and to learn more about the author, visit Joannedemaio.com. She also enjoys hearing from readers on her Facebook Page.

Connect with Joanne

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

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Release Day! Until the Day I Die by Emily Carpenter #UntilTheDayIDie #TallPoppyWriter

Happy Release Day!!

Congrats Emily

on the release today of 

Until the Day I Die!

Until the Day I Die by Emily Carpenter
Print and e-book, 325 pages
Published March 12, 2019 by Lake Union Publishing

If there’s a healthy way to grieve, Erin Gaines hasn’t found it. After her husband’s sudden death, the runaway success of the tech company they built with their best friends has become overwhelming. Her nerves are frayed, she’s disengaged, and her frustrated daughter, Shorie, is pulling away from her. Maybe Erin’s friends and family are right. Maybe a few weeks at a spa resort in the Caribbean islands is just what she needs to hit the reset button…

Shorie is not only worried about her mother’s mental state but also for the future of her parents’ company. Especially when she begins to suspect that not all of Erin’s colleagues can be trusted. It seems someone is spinning an intricate web of deception—the foundation for a conspiracy that is putting everything, and everyone she loves, at risk. And she may be the only one who can stop it.

Now, thousands of miles away in a remote, and oftentimes menacing, tropical jungle, Erin is beginning to have similar fears. Things at the resort aren’t exactly how the brochure described, and unless she’s losing her mind, Erin’s pretty sure she wasn’t sent there to recover—she was sent to disappear.

I read an early copy of Until the Day I Die and loved it! Read my thoughts here. You're definitely going to want to add this to your TBR list. 

About the author

Emily Carpenter, a former actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Auburn University. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Georgia with her family. You can visit Emily online at emilycarpenterauthor.com. ~ Amazon

Connect with Emily

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Amazon

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Release Day! The Liar's Child by Carla Buckley ~ My Thoughts #TheLiarsChild

Happy Release Day!!

Congrats Carla
on the release today of
The Liar's Child!

The Liar's Child by Carla Buckley
Print and e-book, 288 pages
Published March 12, 2019 by Ballantine Books

In this intense and intimate family portrait that moves at a thriller's pace, a troubled woman faces a gripping moral dilemma after rescuing two abandoned children from a hurricane.

On the outskirts of North Carolina's Outer Banks sits the Paradise, an apartment complex where renters never stay long enough to call the place "home"--and neighbors are seldom neighborly. It's ideal for Sara Lennox, who moved there to escape a complicated past--and even her name--and rebuild a new life for herself under the radar. But Sara cannot help but notice the family next door, especially twelve-year-old Cassie and five-year-old Boon. She hears rumors and whispers of a recent tragedy slowly tearing them apart.

When a raging storm threatens then slams the coastal community, Sara makes a quick, bold decision: Rescue Cassie and Boon from the storm and their broken home--without telling a soul. But this seemingly noble act is not without consequences. Some lethal.

Carla Buckley crafts a richly rewarding psychological portrait, combining a heart-wrenching family drama with high-stakes suspense, as the lives of three characters intertwine in an unforgettable story of fury, fate--and redemption.

My thoughts about The Liar's Child ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—"It wasn't as though anyone came right out and said it in so many words. That wasn't how small towns worked. No, it was mostly raised eyebrows, grunted half sentences." 

This was my first book by Carla Buckley so I wasn't sure what to expect going in. The synopsis of the book sounded intriguing and I've kind of been on a psychological thriller kick lately. This one was definitely one that held my interest, with great characters and lots of suspense and drama.

Cassie and Boon stole my heart as they are trying to get by, after recently losing their mother and with a father who is working hard to keep the family together. Sara is just trying to survive and possibly escape the life that she has been dropped into. All sorts of secrets and lies keep the story rushing at the reader. Who to believe and what is the truth?

"The secret, he explained, to lying successfully was to stick to the truth as much as possible."

I really enjoyed The Liar's Child and I look forward to reading more of Buckley's stories.

I received The Liar's Child from Goodreads in exchange for my honest review.

About the author

Carla Buckley is the internationally bestselling author of The Good Goodbye, The Deepest Secret, Invisible, and The Things That Keep Us Here, which was nominated for a Thriller Award as a best first novel and the Ohioana Book Award for fiction. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and the Wharton School of Business, and currently lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She serves on the board of the International Thriller Writers as Vice President, Awards and is at work on her next novel.
 ~ Goodreads

Connect with Carla

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Amazon

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