Tuesday, 4 August 2015

RELEASE DAY BLITZ - HOME - SONGBIRD SERIES BY MELISSA PEARL

Title: Home
Series: Songbird #4 (novella)
Author: Melissa Pearl
Genre: NA, Romance
Release Date: 29th July 2015

BLURB from Goodreads
Rachel Myers never meant to stay in Payton. Her eyes were set on bigger things than waitressing at Clark’s Bar. She wants to perform on a stage of her own with bright lights, fame, and fortune. But something got in the way—Joshua Clark. He’s a good man who loves her, a solid rock she can depend on. She wants that to be enough, but it hasn’t quelled her yearning for the big city.

Josh knows Rachel wants more out of life and might leave one day. Yet so far, she hasn’t gone anywhere. Deep down, he believes his love is enough to keep her…or at least he hopes so. Until one night, a city boy from Hollywood promises Rachel a record deal and destroys everything.

Jumping at a chance she never thought she’d have, Rachel leaves Payton. And Josh. But the sparkle of Los Angeles is not all it’s cracked up to be, and Rachel quickly figures out that some sacrifices are not worth the risk. Is she too late? Will Josh forgive her, or has her desire for fame ruined the best thing she’s ever had?

Sometimes you have to say goodbye before you can say forever.


PURCHASE LINKS


REST OF THE SERIES SO FAR

Title: Fever
Series: Songbird #1
Author: Melissa Pearl
Release Date: 29th May 2014

BLURB from Goodreads
Singing in the shower takes on a whole new meaning in Melissa Pearl's first New Adult Contemporary Romance. 

Ella Simmons does not want to move across the country. But she is, because her boyfriend has persuaded her to join him at UChicago to finish out her college education. Never able to tell him no, she hops on a plane and makes the trek from LA expecting to adjust to life like she's often forced to, but things are not that simple when she hears a luscious voice singing over her shower wall. His deep, sexy tenor makes her weak in the knees, spreading fire through her limbs and making her question everything about her life and relationship. 

Can one voice really have that much of an impact? 

Cole Reynolds is on his way out. In his final year at UChicago, the only thing he wants to do is finish school and get on with his life. But the sweet voice that interrupts his morning shower turns his world upside down. Compelled to find his shower songbird, he begins a search across campus. The only thing to distract him from this goal is his roommate's gorgeous girlfriend who's just arrived from LA - Ella Simmons. 

Relationships are put to the ultimate test as future dreams are questioned and friendships are thrown on the line for love. 


PURCHASE LINKS

Title: Bulletproof
Series: Songbird #2
Author: Melissa Pearl
Release Date: 20th November 2014

BLURB from Goodreads
Morgan Pritchett doesn't need anyone. Strong-willed and confident, she's the master of organizing and looking after everyone around her. In her mind, she's bulletproof. 

But she has one weakness - men. She can't seem to live without them, yet is unable to find her perfect match. After yet another break up, Morgan promises her sister and best friend that she'll write off men for the rest of the year...but then she meets Sean Jaxon. 

Sean Jaxon has worked hard to become a Hollywood actor, scoring minor roles and slowly making a name for himself as an action sidekick. After a chance encounter with the stunning Morgan Pritchett, he decides to take a risk and put his dancing skills to the test by signing on for the lead role in Superstar, a TV musical. He never thought he'd reconnect with the girl who urged him to ignore his manager and be honest with himself, but when Morgan shows up on the set as a production assistant, he realizes he's found his ultimate weakness - her. 

Their passion for dance and music will bring them together, but will their relationship be able to withstand the forces determined to pull them apart? As Morgan comes face-to-face with her long-buried demons and Sean decides just how much he's willing to risk for love, these two songbirds discover something...they're not as bulletproof as they thought.


PURCHASE LINKS

Title: Everything
Series: Songbird #3
Author: Melissa Pearl
Release Date: 24th April 2015

BLURB from Goodreads
Jody Pritchett had a dream...but life had other plans. Instead of singing and dancing on Broadway, Jody's a twenty-year-old single mom, living at home with her disapproving father and overbearing sister. The choice to keep her little Angelia came with a high price and although she adores her baby girl, it doesn't take away the sting of kissing goodbye her chance at a career on the stage.

Leo Sinclair had his own dream...but got lost along the way. After a failed marriage that left him hollow and downtrodden, the Australian songwriter wonders what joy his future could possibly hold. Encouraged by the one family member who doesn't think he's a failure, Leo decides to stop living the life everyone expects him to and start chasing his dreams again. 
When the perfect opportunity comes knocking, Leo leaves Australia behind and hops a flight to LA. With his sights set on selling a musical to a Broadway producer, Leo is determined to finally realize his life-long dream. But life gets in the way again, when he spots a young mother outside his apartment in tears. He never realized how one person, one voice, and one Angel could have him contemplating abandoning his dreams once again. 

As these two burned hearts wrestle to overcome their past struggles, Leo and Jody must decide what dreams are worth clinging to...because, sometimes, everything you want is not everything you need.


PURCHASE LINKS


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melissa Pearl was born in Auckland, New Zealand, but has spent much of her life abroad, living in countries such as Jordan, Cyprus and Pakistan... not to mention a nine month road trip around North America with her husband. "Best. Year. Ever!!" She now lives in China with her husband and two sons. She is a trained elementary teacher, but writing is her passion. Since becoming a full time mother she has had the opportunity to pursue this dream and her debut novel hit the internet in November 2011. Since then she has continued to produce a steady stream of books. Recently she signed with Evatopia Press and her first Evatopia book is coming out in February 2014 - True Colors, The Masks Series #1. She is very excited to be trying out new things this year while continuing to publish under her own name as well. She has six books planned for 2014 and is excited about writing each and every one of them.

"I am passionate about writing. It stirs a fire in my soul that I never knew I had. I want to be the best writer I can possibly be and transport my readers into another world where they can laugh, cry and fall in love."



RELEASE BLITZ - PUBLIC ENEMIES - IMMORTAL GAME BY ANN AGUIRRE

In Book 2 of the Immortal Game trilogy, Edie must learn the rules of the game . . . and then play better than anyone else.

Title: Public Enemies
Series: Immortal Game #2
Author: Ann Aguirre
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan
Release Date: 4th August 2015

BLURB from Goodreads
Through a Faustian bargain, Edie Kramer has been pulled into the dangerous world of the Immortal Game, where belief makes your nightmares real. Hungry for sport, fears-made-flesh are always raising the stakes. To them, human lives are less than nothing, just pieces on a board.

Because of her boyfriend Kian's sacrifice, she's operating under the mysterious Harbinger's aegis, but his patronage could prove as fatal as the opposition. Raw from deepest loss, she's terrified over the deal Kian made for her. Though her very public enemies keep sending foot soldiers--mercenary monsters committed to her destruction--she's not the one playing under a doom clock. Kian has six months...unless Edie can save him. And this is a game she can't bear to lose.


PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
 BAM
Indiebound
Vroman’s
Book Depository
iBooks


EXCERPT
from
Public Enemies
“Better?” he asked.
“A little. How long have we been here?”
“I’m not sure. But probably not as long as you think.”
“More of the Harbinger’s tricks?” I tugged at my clothes, only to notice that they’d shifted back at some point. So… was I wrong before? Am I wearing the same dress? The constant unreality might wreck my brain.
“Mostly. I think.”
The Harbinger stopped his bizarre frolicking to clap his hands, and the sound rang out like thunder, much louder than anyone else could achieve with two palms. “We have one final diversion before the feast is ended. Shall I show you?”
Like before, the mob practically destroyed the ballroom with enthusiasm. By then, numbness had taken over; I could only exist in a state of abject terror for so long. Along with everyone else, I watched as two giant amorphous moth-beasts dragged someone up onto the dais. At first glance, I thought it was a girl but when the person rolled over, I realized it was a boy, probably fourteen or so, and small for his age. Definitely human, unless this was the best illusion ever. His terror was palpable, and it made the immortals nearby stir with avid anticipation.
“Delicious,” something with sharp teeth hissed.
The boy came up onto his knees, resting delicate hands on the floor before him in a posture of defeat so abject that I took a step forward. Bruises ringed his throat and his wrists, and what he had on could barely be called clothes; the shirt was torn in three places and the pants had frayed until they hit his knees, revealing filthy calves and feet that were sliced up as if he was routinely forced to walk across broken glass. On his right hand, two of the fingers were bent at unnatural angles, either broken now, or they had been, then they healed badly afterward.
“Kian…” I whispered. “I don’t like where this is going.”
“This one has a most impressive survival instinct,” the Harbinger said, indicating the cowering boy with a flourish. “He’s been my favorite pet for some time. But his luck might run out today. Shall we find out?”
The audience rumbled in agreement, and the room changed. I had no explanation for it, but suddenly it seemed as if we’d moved from the ballroom entirely. We were standing outside an arena now with a blood-stained pit below. Bones littered the floor of it, along with broken weapons. Snarls came from the sublevel, enough to chill my blood.
“Time for a bit of fun,” the Harbinger said.
Before I knew what I planned to do, I broke away from Kian. He reached for me but I wasn’t stopping. I’d been passive for too long, waiting and hoping that things would get better. It was time for me to fight, even if I didn’t know how. Yeah, there might be fallout, but the Harbinger had to protect me, right? Even if I interfered with his grisly show.
Scared didn’t cover how I felt just then. This is a death match, a gladiator fight, and you’ve never even played Mortal Kombat. You don’t know shit about knives or swords or whatever. You’re probably going to lose. Horribly. 
But I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I stood by and watched.
When I climbed up on the stage, the Harbinger was a statue, lightning eyes flashing astonishment and displeasure. But he held still and waited for me to play my card. Maybe Dwyer was right, and I’d end up broken if I participated in their game. I only knew that I was sick and tired of being moved on the board.


Not read Book One yet? Check it out below

Title: Mortal Danger
Series: Immortal Game
Author: Ann Aguirre
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Release Date: 4th August 2015

BLURB from Goodreads
Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind.


PURCHASE LINKS

Also available 
(though I cannot find a cover image for it) is. . 

Title: The Girl in the Gray Sweatshirt
Series: Immortal Game 0.5
Author: Ann Aguirre
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Release Date: 14th August 2014

BLURB from Goodreads
Before their deal – the one they strike in Mortal Danger – Kian and Edie are connected. But Edie doesn’t know that. She’s a girl in a gray sweatshirt, a girl who believes no one notices her, and no one cares. But Kian does. He just can’t show her how much. Yet.


And Coming 2nd August 2016 it's. . . Infinite Risk, Immortal Game Bk#3
keep an eye out for more details here on Goodreads


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ann Aguirre is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author and RITA winner with a degree in English Literature; before she began writing full time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. Ann likes books, emo music, action movies, and she writes all kinds of genre fiction for adults and teens, published with Harlequin, Macmillan, and Penguin, among others.

AUTHOR LINKS


***GIVEAWAY***




BOOK BLITZ - TO KNOW ME THE COMPLETE SERIES BY MARCY BLESY

Title: To Know Me
Series: To Know Me
Author: Marcy Blesy
Genre: YA
Release Date: 13th July 2014

BLURB supplied by Xpresso Book Tours
Seventeen-year-old Mae is convinced that the consequences of her poor decisions have caused the untimely deaths of three close family members within a year, no matter how ludicrous her thoughts seem to those she loves. The solution? Run away so no one else she cares for gets hurt.
Despite Mae’s efforts to blend in at a new high school just long enough to graduate, she meets Ty, the “perfect guy” with his own secrets and a relentless interest in her. She must decide if she can stop running from the past and still protect those she loves; and if she does return home, whether Ty is really the right person to protect her fragile heart.
Complete 4 Book Series:
To Know Me
To Love Me
To Forgive Me
To Choose Me

**To Know Me is an upper YA-New Adult Romance Series, not intended for younger readers.**


PURCHASE LINKS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marcy Blesy is the author of several middle grade and young adult novels and short stories. Her picture book, Am I Like My Daddy?, helps children who experienced the loss of a parent when they were much younger. She has also been published in two Chicken Soup for the Soul books as well as various newspapers and magazines. By day she runs an elementary school library and enjoys spending time with her husband and two boys.

Marcy is a believer in love and enjoys nothing more than making her readers feel a book more than simply reading it. She likes to connect with her readers via email (mablesy(at)yahoo.com).

AUTHOR LINKS



Monday, 3 August 2015

RELEASE DAY BLITZ - RED BLOODED BY CAITLIN SINEAD

Title: Red Blooded
Author: Caitlin Sinead
Genre: NA, Romance
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: 3rd August 2015

BLURB supplied by Inkslinger PR
Instead of eating ramen and meeting frat guys like most college freshmen, Peyton Arthur is on the campaign trail. Traveling with her mother, the Democratic pick for vice president, she’s ordering room service, sneaking glances at cute campaign intern Dylan and deflecting interview questions about the tragic loss of her father. But when a reporter questions her paternity, her world goes into a tailspin.

Dylan left Yale and joined the campaign to make a difference, not keep tabs on some girl. But with the paternity scandal blowing up and Peyton asking questions, he’s been tasked to watch her every move. As he gets to know the real Peyton, he finds it harder and harder to keep a professional distance.

When the media demands a story, Peyton and Dylan give them one—a fake relationship. As they work together to investigate the rumors about her real father and Peyton gets closer to learning the truth, she’s also getting closer to Dylan. And suddenly, it’s not just her past on the line anymore. It’s her heart.



PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon UK

EXCERPT
With the flood of more people outside of the Wawa, and even more phones attached to Instagram and Pinterest and god knows what else, there isn’t time to think. There’s only time to act.
I brush against Dylan, fear gurgling in my stomach. What if he doesn’t get it? What if he doesn’t want to play along?
“Dylan, promise me you’ll keep looking at me as I say this.”
His eyes dart up. “What?”
“Just, don’t look anywhere else,” I say, as I approach him, our bodies almost touching. “People recognized me.”
He jitters, about to look around, but he stops himself. His attention is all on me. “Yeah,” he says, voice low.
“Remember how you told me that in politics we need to make the story our own. Make it something positive?” I close the gap between us, my body pressing against his. He stiffens, but only at first, then his breaths grow deep.
He nods. “Yeah.”
“This is me making my own story.”
My palms glide over his knuckles. I press down on his wrists to help leverage myself up as I stand on my tiptoes. I bring my face closer and closer to his, until our lips touch. I move, but barely, running my mouth along his. His mouth opens, and together, our breaths connect.
We stay there, not moving past the lip-touching, until he lowers his head. His hands fly around my hips. He pulls at me, pressing my belly into his pelvis as his lips come down hard. His tongue slips into my mouth, tender and curious. I reach my hands around his neck, pressing my breasts against him. His right hand reaches just under the back of my shirt, and his fingers press against my lower spine as his left hand scoops my neck, ensuring my mouth stays with him. Ensuring our tongues and lips can stay together, caressing and connecting. His thumb rubs against the sensitive part under my ear. I arch my back as he holds me close. I’m ready to relinquish everything to him.
Just as I’m wanting his hands to skid all over me, just as I’m wanting his mouth to never leave mine again, he draws back. He looks down and swallows. I hold on tighter as his hands glide to my upper arms. We’re both catching our breath as we stare at each other.
Then he looks to the crowd that I realize, belatedly, has been joyously catcalling from the Wawa doors. He leans to the side of me that they can’t see. His warm breath blows against my ear.
“That was just for show?” he asks.
I mumble something and try to nod my head. Up. Down.
“Okay.” He lets me go and climbs into the driver’s seat faster than I thought possible. Especially now. My legs feel like Jell-O, my mind feels like something even less solid than Jell-O. I look up in a haze. He opens the door a sliver. The familiar, gruff, Dylan voice is back. “You coming?”


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Caitlin Sinead is represented by Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger, Inc. and her debut novel, Heartsick, is available now from Carina Press. Her writing has earned accolades from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Glimmer Train, and Writers & Artists, and her stories have appeared in multiple publications, including The Alarmist, The Binnacle, Crunchable, Jersey Devil Press, and Northern Virginia Magazine. She earned a master's degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University. 


AUTHOR LINKS

***GIVEAWAY***




BOOK BLITZ - SILVERWOOD - SILVERWOOD BY BETSY STREETER

Title: Silverwood 
Series: Silverwood #1
Author: Betsy Streeter 
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Publication date: March 15th 2015


BLURB supplied by Xpresso Book Tours
A story of finding where you belong, even if it involves time travel, shape shifting, and hacking.
Helen Silverwood, fourteen, is sick of life on the run with her mom and her younger brother. Nothing makes sense. She doesn’t understand why she has recurring dreams of shape-shifting creatures, why her mother is always disappearing, and how her brother can draw things that haven’t happened yet. Most of all, Helen longs to know what happened to her dad—is he imprisoned, a fugitive, or gone forever?
When someone blows up the apartment where Helen lives, the stories of the ancient Silverwood clan—and her role in it—begin to unravel. All Helen wants is to feel like there’s someplace she belongs—but getting there will prove very, very complicated.


PURCHASE LINKS


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Betsy Streeter grew up on a steady diet of Star Trek, The Muppet Show, Atari, and musical rehearsals in her family's living room. Her habits of making up stories and drawing and painting on everything within reach eventually led to degrees in art and communication from Stanford University. She has worked in film and video production, design, and video games, and has served as president of a community theatre. She and her family are voracious consumers of books, music, movies, art, action figures, and musical instruments, resulting in inadequate storage space. Betsy has published single-panel cartoons, comics, art, and short fiction in paper, digital, graffiti, and tattoo form. She lives in Northern California with her husband, son, daughter, two peculiar and disruptive cats, and a mellow but hungry tarantula.
AUTHOR LINKS

QUOTES

"We Tromindox are shape shifters and mimics, like an octopus."

"I have my theories. Theory one: She’s a bodyguard for some mob boss or musician and they tour around and we have to follow. Theory two, which is better: She’s a repo-woman. You know, a person who goes out and takes people’s cars back when they haven’t paid for them and if they fight she kicks their butts and takes the car anyway. Whatever she does, it involves combat skills I’m pretty sure."
- Helen Silverwood, 14, about her mom, Kate

"She yanks the steering wheel again, this time to the left, sending the heavy station wagon into a spin and throwing out another plume of dust and rocks. The car comes to a rest facing their pursuer head-on.
That's the moment that they hear the snapping sound. "

“Yeah Rose, did your husband pay you a visit?” Ted asks. “Did you stop knitting for a little while? That’s when he comes back from the dead, isn’t it? When you stop knitting?”
Rose shoots them a look. “As you can both see, my knitting continues unabated.”
“Well, good,” says Earl. “Because I don't want ol' zombie Don coming around. You keep knitting, Rose, don’t stop. Keep that fellow in his grave, where he belongs.”
- Conversation at the Brokeneck Diner

"Puberty!"
- Henry Silverwood, 9



EXCERPT

SILVERWOOD EXCERPT III: 
BROKENECK, CALIFORNIA

Mrs. Woods sweeps the wooden steps in front of the Brokeneck Hotel in Brokeneck, California when a black-cloaked man in a wide-brimmed black hat appears in the street, sun-baked gravel crunching beneath his boots. She looks up, leans her broom on the railing, wipes her hands and turns to go inside while untying her apron. A moment later she reappears and walks out to the middle of the street where her visitor waits for her. She squints and puts her hand up to shield her eyes as she steps out into the sun.
In Brokeneck it is customary to conduct your conversations in the middle of the street, because no one drives there. Savvy residents will have a look up and down every so often to keep informed. That is, unless it gets too hot, in which case everybody retreats to the covered porches of the gold-rush era buildings and watches from there.
“Ma'am,” the man says, removing his hat. “I'm bound to make a delivery to you, courtesy of the Council. You are Eleanor Woods, are you not?”
“I am indeed, sir,” Mrs. Woods replies. “What do you have for me?”
The man reaches into his pocket and fishes out a small coin-like object with a hole in the center. “It is my understanding, ma'am, that you desire a field free of Tromindox. Is that correct?”
“I do,” Mrs. Woods says. “I have lodgers arriving soon who will require protection.”
The man holds out the portal and Mrs. Woods takes it. “That there is a rarity, ma'am. A reversible field, capable of covering a wide distance. Wide enough to encompass your establishment here,” he nods toward the hotel, “if that is what you aim for.”
“It is indeed,” Mrs. Woods says. “I thank you, sir. Please take these as payment.” She reaches out her fist, and the man places his hand out flat beneath it. She lets five coins fall into his palm. They are portals, but not the kind strong enough to create a field – those are special order. Since Mrs. Woods has to secure the hotel, she is happy to trade a few coins to make the deal, even if it means revealing a bit of information to the Council. They have other things to worry about, she trusts. She hears they have Tromindox showing up at their headquarters these days, brazenly demanding things and taking what they want. The Council have their hands full.
“Won't you stay for a glass of lemonade?” Mrs. Woods asks. “It's not even eleven yet and already hot.”
“I'm much obliged to you,” the man says, placing his hat back on his head. “I'm afraid I have business elsewhere and must be going. However, before I depart I am obligated to read to you the disclaimer that accompanies this very specialized piece of equipment that I am delivering to you.”
“Go ahead,” Mrs. Woods says.
The man reaches into his breast pocket, and pulls out a rolled up piece of thick paper. He unrolls it and holds it out in front of him, adjusting the angle to better read in the bright sunlight.
“The Council of Portals hereby certifies that this is a fully-functioning Field-Generating Portal of the Secondary Order, and as such transfers all responsibility for its use to its user. Deployment of this portal may result in effects including but not limited to the prevention of breach by Tromindox and other projected or time-traveling creatures, headaches, dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, and a persistent high-pitched whining noise. In certain rare cases the field generated by the portal may collapse, resulting in damage to property or persons. The user hereby accepts full responsibility for all actions and effects resulting from the use of the aforementioned portal, and in no way holds the Council or its affiliates responsible for any effects, ill or otherwise, resulting from the use thereof.”
Mrs. Woods waits a beat to be sure the man is finished reading. Then she adds, “Perhaps if the Council spent as much time tending to their own business as they spend writing legal mumbo jumbo, I wouldn't be requiring such a field in the first place.”
“I'm inclined to agree with you, ma'am, however in my capacity as the deliverer of the portal I am sworn to read the little paper, be that as it may. I endeavor only to protect the Council from any misunderstandings.”
“I hope that you will convey to the Chairman my deepest gratitude, and remind him that there is one more delivery to make.”
“Yes ma’am, I will do that. Good afternoon.”
With that the man touches the brim of his hat, hands the paper to Mrs. Woods, turns and walks away down the middle of the street. The crunching sound of his boots fades until there is nothing left but a bit of dust trailing his footsteps.
Across the street, behind the dirty windowpanes of the Brokeneck Bookstore, a figure stirs. 
Mrs. Woods looks down at her new acquisition, then turns and walks back into the hotel. A moment later she is back on the porch, sweeping with her apron on.


***GIVEAWAY***
This is an International Blitz Wide Giveaway
The Prizes?
Concept sketches that the author has done, one of a Tromindox and one representing the Guild. These are originals and she can sign them to the winner (images used in this post!).
5 iBooks copies of Silverwood
3 signed copies of Silverwood

a Rafflecopter giveaway