Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Excerpt +$25 Giveaway: A Pirate at Pembroke by Danielle Thorne


A Pirate at Pembroke by Danielle Thorne
  A Jane Austen-inspired Pirate Romance Sophie Crestwood is never going to catch a husband, and she isn’t even sure she wants one. Her father is a gossip, her mother always has her nose in a book, and little Jack has shamefully been dismissed from boarding school. Worst of all, a pirate moves next door into Pembroke Hall! When Sophie’s sent to a matchmaking party at a neighboring estate, the pirate from Pembroke arrives and distracts everyone from the summer festivities. Unguarded, her feelings about the mysterious Captain Murdock bloom into a trusted friendship that Sophie fears may come to mean much more than anyone would ever suspect. Keeping company with a reputed pirate is one thing but falling in love with him could ruin the eccentric Crestwood family for good.




Danielle Thorne's book A Pirate at Pembroke is up for nomination in the Kindle Scout Contest. Please vote for her book! If Kindle Scout selects A Pirate at Pembroke for publication you'll get a copy of the book for free!   

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

'Til Next Tuesday #9: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi


'Til Next Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted here @Little Library Muse. It's allows me to share my love of books and showcase new releases. It's inspired by my work developing the young adult collection.


Expected Release: March 6, 2018 
Publisher: Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. 

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.


Now, Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good. 


Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for the enemy.


Upcoming Releases in March!










What new books have caught your eye? Any books that you would recommend?

Finale: Romance is in the Air Giveaway

 

I hope you have enjoyed the Romance is in the Air Promotion! There are $500 in Giveaways as part of this event. Be sure you have entered all 17 giveaways! Be on the lookout for our next clean author event "Love in Bloom" which will take place in April.


 
Links to ALL GIVEAWAYS
Giveaway Details $25 in Paypal Cash or a $25 Amazon.com eGift Card Ends 3/13/18 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use money sent via PayPal or gift codes via Amazon.com. 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. This giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the participating authors. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, February 26, 2018

$25 Giveaway & Excerpt: Against the Magic by Donna K Weaver

 

Against the Magic by Donna K Weaver
Reese Hamilton has big plans to help make the world a better place and a new job lined up to help her do it. Before starting work, she heads to England for a Regency immersive experience. She doesn’t expect her best friend to invite her heart-destroying brother to join them. Two years hasn’t been long enough for Reese to forget him. Then fae magic rips them back to 1850. It’s a time when women have few rights. It’s also a time when a determined woman could make a difference, with the right man at her side. Reese finds she will have to choose between two men and two times. Jem Taylor messed up big when he walked away from Reese to pursue his dream job. He hasn’t been able to forget her and jumps at his sister’s invitation. Suddenly hurtled into Victorian England, he has the chance to woo Reese again. But to do it, he’ll have to fight the magic that brought her to 1850 and an Earl with the means to keep her there.




       "I don't usually like time travel novels but the humor, banter and the attraction kept me enthralled. A great love story with a little history lesson, a happy ending and a hook." ~K.B. "A magical read" ~ Jennifer Soppe 


 

Sunday, February 25, 2018

My Sunday Post #53



The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
I'm also linking up to Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Review this week.

The weather here has been borderline summer with temps getting up in the 80s. My husband and I will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary on Tuesday. We won't do anything fancy because we both have to work. We spent Friday night eating tacos and watching movies. On another note, I feel like I finally got my reading mojo back after being in a slump. How's your week been?
Last Week on the Blog
Tenative Schedule for this week
My Sunday Post #53 
$25 Giveaway & Excerpt: Against the Magic by Donna K Weaver
Finale: Romance is in the Air Giveaway
'Til Next Tuesday #9: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Excerpt +$25 Giveaway: A Pirate at Pembroke by Danielle Thorne
Review: The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
Review:The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Giveaways
New This Week 
FOR REVIEW CONSIDERATION


What's new

Quotes

What's new with you? Did you discover any new books? 

Saturday, February 24, 2018

$25 Giveaway:Jessica & James: A Love Story by Kimberly Montpetit




A feisty ballerina with a broken heart. A minister-in-training whose faith can work miracles. Can two strong-willed people find true love and a match made in heaven? JESSICA & JAMES: A Love Story is a boxed collection of two romances set in Snow Valley, Montana—the saga of rising star ballerina Jessica and the sparks that fly between her and gorgeous James Douglas, the new pastor in town. This collection includes new chapters, and a Brand New Bonus Wedding novella! Suffering with a broken heart, Jessica has struggled to forgive herself for that fateful night when her childhood love was killed in a car accident. After staying away from home for years, she finally returns for Christmas and meets James Douglas who is unlike any minister-in-training she’s ever known. James can not only dish back Jessica’s finely tuned sarcasm but understands grief all too well, turning Jessica’s world and her faith upside down. Is she ready to take another risk on love? Living 2,000 miles apart proves difficult and Jessica and James' love is tested in a myriad of ways, but James can’t get the spitfire Jessica out of his mind. When she comes home to Snow Valley to accept an inheritance with her male ballet partner in tow, James and Jessica's passion for each other takes on a new edge. Clean romance with heart, and a surprise wedding you won't see coming.


 
 A Great Love Story for everyone! This was a very moving romance about loss and moving forward with life and forgiveness. It shows how much we can inhibit our growth after a devastating event. Recommend this collection for teens to adults, along with a few Kleenex. Have liked the Snow Valley Series. Wish it was a real place to go and visit for Christmas! I absolutely loved this book! It is a touching & emotional story about family, friendship, love, and faith. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the story of Jessica & James. A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE!!! All those Happily Ever After lovers out there, this is a story for you to grab, snuggle up with a comfy blanket and get lost in the love story of two characters who are not perfect but growing, healing and learning to love and be loved. Be warned that you might just be sucked into it and not want to set it down or to say goodbye to these characters once the final page has been read. I can't recommend this one enough.


 

Friday, February 23, 2018

Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre

Author: Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre
Title: Honor Among Thieves
Publication: February 13, 2018
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
  
Synopsis
Petty criminal Zara Cole has a painful past that’s made her stronger than most, which is why she chose life in New Detroit instead moving with her family to Mars. In her eyes, living inside a dome isn’t much better than a prison cell.

Still, when Zara commits a crime that has her running scared, jail might be exactly where she’s headed. Instead Zara is recruited into the Honors, an elite team of humans selected by the Leviathan—a race of sentient alien ships—to explore the outer reaches of the universe as their passengers.

Zara seizes the chance to flee Earth’s dangers, but when she meets Nadim, the alien ship she’s assigned, Zara starts to feel at home for the first time. But nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight.
  
“Here we sing to the stars. 
Deep in the dreaming, we have come and gone for many evers. 
Until the joining. Until journey’s end. 
Sing back to us when you come, so that we may know the silence is never eternal."
Review 
This is the first book I have read by either author. It is an unusual concept that combines music, space and relationships all into one. It begins with Zara robbing someone to sell the parts for money and then having to fight for her life not moments later. She is a loner with a fierce desire to run free and does not like being closed in. Her theft lands her in more trouble than she anticipated and she has the most notorious Mobster in New Detroit on her tale with a reach even she did not expect, so she commits herself to stay safe. Yet, nowhere is safe for her. Zara's watched the Honors and does not think highly of the program, so when she gets selected, being gracious is not high on her list. She doesn't have many options and she resigns herself to her fate. 

Zara's first interaction with Nadim is of wonder and excitement. She adapts to the ship very quickly. Nadim says she shines brighter than the other Honors he has met. The connection between them is unique and it reminds me of how the wolves in Twilight imprinted. It seems it is their destiny to align. I could feel the genuine bond between them as they learned and grew throughout the story. I think the relationship is so instantaneous and deeper because they can relate to the loneliness within one another.  Nadim through Zara's eyes makes it easy to visualize what he would look like inside and feel the texture of him through the page. 

Overall, this world thrives on advanced technology with a mutual exchange of information between humans and the Leviathan. The world is very vivid and there is still some mystery to why they came to Earth, the journey and the mobster after Zara. This story is fast paced right from the beginning and does not stop until the revelation at the end. I feel this will be a good read for anyone that likes sci-fi fantasy books.

Excerpt & Giveaway: Fire & Bone by Rachel A. Marks


Fire and Bone
Rachel A. Marks
(Otherborn #1)
Publication date: February 20th 2018
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

“Gossip Girl meets Percy Jackson in the glitz and grit of L.A….”
In Hollywood’s underworld of demigods, druids, and ancient bonds, one girl has a dangerous future.
Sage is eighteen, down on her luck, and struggling to survive on the streets of Los Angeles. Everything changes the night she’s invited to a party—one that turns out to be a trap.
Thrust into a magical world hidden within the City of Angels, Sage discovers that she’s the daughter of a Celtic goddess, with powers that are only in their infancy. Now that she is of age, she’s asked to pledge her service to one of the five deities, all keen on winning her favor by any means possible. She has to admit that she’s tempted—especially when this new life comes with spells, Hollywood glam, and a bodyguard with secrets of his own. Not to mention a prince whose proposal could boost her rank in the Otherworld.
As loyalties shift, and as the two men vie for her attention, Sage tries to figure out who to trust in a realm she doesn’t understand. One thing’s for sure: the trap she’s in has bigger claws than she thought. And it’s going to take a lot more than magic for this Celtic demigoddess to make it out alive.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Author: Angie Thomas
Title: The Hate U Give
Publication: February 28, 2017
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Length: 464 pp.
Source: Library
Website | Twitter |Goodreads

Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
 "Once upon a time there was a hazel-eyed boy with dimples. 
I called him Khalil. 
                                                            The world called him a thug. 
He lived, but not nearly long enough, and for the rest of my life I'll remember how he died." 

Review
My name is Starr Carter. I go to school in the better part of town because my neighborhood isn't the best. At Williamson, I can be whoever I want just not ghetto or angry. I work hard to keep Williamson Starr separate from who I am at home because the one time I did try to mesh both worlds, didn't work out well. 
"Keep your hands visible. No sudden moves. Only speak when spoken to."
But one night my struggle to keep my two lives apart crumbles. There on the ground my friend, Khalil takes his last breath and I can do nothing to help him. Now,  I live in the aftermath of his death wondering what I could've done to save him but I also feel guilt that I wasn't a better friend to him. Guilt that my silence will cost him justice. Fear that nothing will change.
"What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?"
I liked the characters in this book because they are realistic, the struggle they face in their day to day lives is authentic. The writing is fluid and Starr's close perspective gives a personal perspective on this topic. Overall, I think this is a powerful message that is relevant and current. This was a hard story to read but it only begins to touch the surface of this matter but I think many will enjoy reading it.


Have you read the book? How did it make you feel? What are your thoughts about the subject matter?

Spotlight & Giveaway: What Time is it There? by Christine Potter


What Time is it There? by Christine Potter
Publication Date:  November 29, 2017
Publisher:  Evernight Teen
Just over a year ago, Bean and Zak headed for colleges two thousand miles apart, promising to write, but to see other people … until Bean fell for the wrong guy and Zak fell off the planet.

Now, Bean’s got two weeks’ worth of Zak’s year-old letters that she still can’t bear to open—and a broken heart. Her new best friend, a guy named Amp, wants her to read the letters and be done with it, but he may have his own reasons for that.

When Sam shows up at Bean’s school unexpectedly and Bean tumbles into the 19th century from the cellar of a ruined church, things start making a bizarre kind of sense. That is, if she can just fit all the pieces together again…let's see--there's a cult...and the Flying Singing Angel With No Feet...and of course, The Grateful Dead... 


Purchase Links:

As the plot thickens:  Bean starts running into Zak in her trips to the 19th century, where he totally does not belong.  

Excerpt 2:

And then something in the morning light dimmed—a cloud in front of the sun?
No.  A shadow. Someone else was in the church with her.  
“Bean?” he said.   “Hey, Bean. Behind you.  Up here!”
That voice was familiar, too—so much that it turned her heart inside-out.  Bean spun around and looked up into the heavily carved cherry pulpit where Lucia’s father gave his sermons each Sunday.  Grasping its edges was someone with long, silver-blonde hair…wearing a purple and blue tie-dye t-shirt. 
Zak. 
Bean gasped. This is wrong, she thought.  This has to be wrong.  But she ran to him anyway.
“Check it out!” he said, leaning over the pulpit’s well-polished edge.  He leaned forward, caught her hands, and squeezed them. “Pretty bizarre, huh?” 
Bean didn’t even know when she’d started to cry. Zak’s smile and his steel-blue eyes blurred in her tears. Rules!  she thought. This is not okay. It isn’t.  She remembered Crow…and danger…but, no.  This was Zak!  Zak, after all this time, right in front of her, touching her, close enough to…close enough to kiss, she thought, and felt the heat rising in her cheeks.
She couldn’t burden him with her worries.  She didn’t want to think about them, herself. Gnats buzzed outside and the sun came in golden through the stained glass windows. 
“Oh, Zak!  Oh, wow!” Bean said. Her voice sounded choked and shaky in the reverberant church.
“Yeah,” said Zak.  “Just look at you, woman!”
“You’re not really pissed-off at me because…you know?”
He laughed. “It’s not nearly time for that yet.  You have to take the manuscript first.”
“What?”
“Edwina’s manuscript.  There on the organ.  Go on.  Take it, woman.  Your job is to keep it safe,” he said.  He bent further over the pulpit until his face was next to hers.  His lips were warm and dry on Bean’s forehead when he kissed her.  “Grab that music.”  She raised her face to kiss him back properly…

…and then she was standing in the cellar of a building that wasn’t there anymore, looking up at a bright, cold sky above her.  Bean wondered for a minute if she’d fallen, but she hadn’t.  No scrapes or bruises.  Something that had been dead for a long time was breathing again inside of her.  She’d seen Zak!  

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christine Potter is a writer and poet who lives in a very old (haunted) house on a creek in Rockland County. She has an organist/choirdirector husband (Ken) and two spoiled tom cats. One of the house's two ghosts lives in the room behind her office.

Christine's newest book is a YA time travel novel, What Time Is It There? (The Bean Books, Book 3), newly released by Evernight Teen. The first book in the series is Time Runs Away With Her, and the second is In Her Own Time. 

Her two poetry collections are Zero Degrees at First Light (2006) and Sheltering in Place (2013). She has also had poems published in Rattle, Fugue, The Irish Examiner, HOOT, Eclectica, and The Pedestal, among other magazines. Her third book of poems, Unforgetting, is due out this spring from Kelsay Books. 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

$25 Giveaway:Thirty-Two Going on Spinster by Becky Monson





Thirty-Two Going on Spinster by Becky Monson
Julia Dorning is a spinster, or at least on the road to becoming one. She has no social life, hates her career, and lives in her parent’s basement with her cat, Charlie. With the arrival of Jared Moody, the new hire at work, Julia’s mundane life is suddenly turned upside down. Her instant (and totally ridiculous) crush on the new guy causes Julia to finally make some long-overdue changes, in hopes to find a life that includes more than baking and hanging out with Charlie. But when the biggest and most unexpected change comes, will the new and improved Julia be able to overcome it? Or will she go back to her spinster ways?  





Thirty-Three Going on Girlfriend by Becky Monson
Julia Dorning thought she would die a lonely spinster. That was until nine months ago, when her world was turned upside down. Now she’s got a dream career as a bakery owner, and a relationship with handsome Jared Moody—a life she never thought possible. Just as she’s starting to feel comfortable in her new life, Julia is invited to battle it out on national television making cupcakes. An amazing opportunity, if she can muster up the confidence to do it, that is. Then, out of the blue, Jared goes and throws a rather large wrench in their relationship causing Julia to have to make some big decisions.With her two trusted confidants off in wedding la la land, Julia is on her own to figure everything out. Left to her own devices, will Julia be able to work things out for herself? Or will she make a disaster of it all? Find out in Becky Monson’s sequel to Thirty-Two Going on Spinster!  


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