Seize Today by Pintip Dunn

Title: Seize Today
Author: Pintip Dunn
Release Date: Oct 3, 2017
Publisher: Entangled TEEN
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Conclusion to the New York Times bestselling and award-winning series, Forget Tomorrow.

Seventeen-year-old Olivia Dresden is a precognitive. Since different versions of people’s futures flicker before her eyes, she doesn’t have to believe in human decency. She can see the way for everyone to be their best self-if only they would make the right decisions. No one is more conflicted than her mother, and Olivia can only watch as Chairwoman Dresden chooses the dark, destructive course every time. Yet Olivia remains fiercely loyal to the woman her mother could be.

But when the chairwoman captures Ryder Russell, the striking and strong-willed boy from the rebel Underground, Olivia sees a vision of her own imminent death…at Ryder’s hand. Despite her bleak fate, she rescues Ryder and flees with him, drawing her mother’s fury and sparking a romance as doomed as Olivia herself. As the full extent of Chairwoman Dresden’s gruesome plan is revealed, Olivia must find the courage to live in the present-and stop her mother before she destroys the world.
I'm excited to be able to share an excerpt with you today from Seize Today. I have loved this series since the beginning and how it unique it is that each book follows a different character.

Excerpt 1:

Eleven years earlier…

I pull the lever of the cage, switching the tunnel onto a different track, trying to confuse the mice.

I know exactly how the future will play out, of course. I know which mice will fall down the trap and which ones will smack into the see-through glass wall. I know which mice will get hopelessly lost. I even know which ones will run the maze correctly on the very first try.

I like watching them anyway. They wriggle over one another like worms, and their whiskers twitch when they're at a corner between two paths. But what I like most is how they come to me when I call.

Picking up a mouse, I run my fingers over its soft fur and warm body. It looks at me with unblinking pink eyes, and I think it could be my friend.

Of course, I can see which mice will come, so I know which ones to call. Rodents are predictable like that. Humans, not so much. They have too many wants, too many feelings. I don't see any one future for people. Rather, I see them all—every single pathway their futures might take, flickering before my eyes.

So I have to guess which of my human classmates will want to play with me. Most of the time, I guess wrong.

"Are you bothering my mice again?" a little boy's voice says. "Fates, Livvy. How many times do I have to tell you? Leave them alone!"

Startled, I let go of the mouse and look up at Tanner Callahan, the other six-year-old who hangs around the scientists' labs. I'm here because my mom's the head of the Future Memory Agency, or FuMA, and he's here…I guess ’cause he has nowhere else to be.

He's got black hair that pokes up in the back, and his skin sticks too closely to his bones. I thought this meant he wasn't eating enough, but MK, our child-minder, said that grief over his parents' deaths had burrowed holes through his resources.

This makes me think of the mice digging through the straw, and my chest aches. I flash forward to his futures. He still has hundreds of branches remaining, but in most of them, one thing is the same: he will be sad and lonely until he kisses our classmate Jessa ten years in the future.

I don't know why kissing should change anything. But I do know how it feels to be lonely and sad.

We don't have to be like this. I could be his friend. I just have to figure out the right thing to say.

"Jessa and I are going to rule the world one day." It can't hurt to bring up the girl he smushes lips with. Maybe if he thinks she and I are friends, he'll like me, too. "You know Jessa, right? The girl with the teardrop eyes? She's my best friend." Not true. I think Jessa only talks to me because she’s nice. But he doesn't have to know that.

"Oh yeah? Well someday, I'm going to be the inventor of future memory," he shoots back. "And then we'll see who's more important."

I bite my lip. That wasn't what I meant. I wasn't trying to brag or compare or compete. The futures containing our friendship begin to fall away, one by one. I guessed wrong once again.

 

Pintip Dunn is a New York Times bestselling author of YA fiction. She graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She received her J.D. at Yale Law School.

Pintip’s novel, FORGET TOMORROW, won the RWA RITA® for Best First Book. It is also a finalist for the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, the Japanese Sakura Medal, the MASL Truman Award, and the Tome Society It list. In addition, THE DARKEST LIE was nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award. Her other books include REMEMBER YESTERDAY, SEIZE TODAY, and GIRL ON THE VERGE.
She lives with her husband and children in Maryland.

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Roar by Cora Carmack

Title: Roar
Author: Cora Carmack
Published: June 13, 2017 by Tor

In a land ruled and shaped by violent magical storms, power lies with those who control them.

Aurora Pavan comes from one of the oldest Stormling families in existence. Long ago, the ungifted pledged fealty and service to her family in exchange for safe haven, and a kingdom was carved out from the wildlands and sustained by magic capable of repelling the world’s deadliest foes. As the sole heir of Pavan, Aurora’s been groomed to be the perfect queen. She’s intelligent and brave and honorable. But she’s yet to show any trace of the magic she’ll need to protect her people.

To keep her secret and save her crown, Aurora’s mother arranges for her to marry a dark and brooding Stormling prince from another kingdom. At first, the prince seems like the perfect solution to all her problems. He’ll guarantee her spot as the next queen and be the champion her people need to remain safe. But the more secrets Aurora uncovers about him, the more a future with him frightens her. When she dons a disguise and sneaks out of the palace one night to spy on him, she stumbles upon a black market dealing in the very thing she lacks—storm magic. And the people selling it? They’re not Stormlings. They’re storm hunters.

Legend says that her ancestors first gained their magic by facing a storm and stealing part of its essence. And when a handsome young storm hunter reveals he was born without magic, but possesses it now, Aurora realizes there’s a third option for her future besides ruin or marriage.

She might not have magic now, but she can steal it if she’s brave enough.

Challenge a tempest. Survive it. And you become its master.

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Roar is a great new fantasy from Cora Carmack. Combining two of my favorite things, elemental magic and a knife wielding lead who can stand her own.

In many ways I loved Aurora aka Rora aka Roar. She is fierce. Even though she seems to be lacking in typical Stormling magic, she doesn’t let herself become crippled by it. She has learned how to fight and become an expert in knives. The things I struggled with her though was the childish way she handles Cassius and her kingdom. She should have confronted Cassius instead of running off and not even thinking twice about the possible peril she left her kingdom in. How often did she think of Nova and worry about her? It also bothered me that she seemed to fall for the first cute guys that look her way. It was just a weird pet peeve for me about her. I do really like her though and I think she is going to be amazing in the next book. I can’t wait to see what she can do, she definitely grows as she journeys to find her own answers. The thing about her is that even when she is at her lowest, she’s not helpless.

I love Nova! It’s hard to go on much about her without giving things away. She is definitely someone that I hope to see play an even stronger role as the story continues.

Cassius really intrigues me. We get to see his point of view at times and so you know what he’s actually thinking. There is so much more to him than what his family is and I think that brought about some of my frustration with Aurora.

I also love Locke. He is very good hearted and kind. He has seen tragedy and has a need to protect people. He immediately takes to Roar thinking she is someone in distress. Again there are things about his relationship that bother me. The way that he gives her trust and he doesn’t receive it back would be one of them. Although the way he treats her and the way he cares for her is amazing.

Jinx is another great character and strong female. I’m was always happy to hear her banter along with the rest of the Storm crew.

I love the magic system!! I find the different types of storms and the way they act fascinating. It’s not too much information. We get to learn right along with Roar which makes things less confusing. There is so much to it and it’s pretty cool. There is also a little bit a religion that goes with it as well that was interesting.

I was really excited for Roar and I’m so glad it lived up to my expectations. I can’t wait for the next book.

EXCERPT

“No need to burn people from the inside out, Etel. This one is with me.”

A large, masculine form pressed into Rora’s side, and a heavy arm draped over her shoulders. The old woman straightened. She scowled and spit on the ground, and when she spoke, her tone was higher, less raspy, “Ye could have told me that, Locke, before I wasted me time.”

Rora froze. Cassius. He’d found her. She had been so distracted by the woman and her wares that she hadn’t thought to keep watch. He pulled her forward, and her feet dragged like lead. She couldn’t take a deep enough breath, and her eyes began to cloud with tears.

What have I done? How will I explain this? What will he do to me?

“Come on, girl. I’m doing you a favor getting you away from that fraud. You could at least play along.”

Rora lurched to a stop, and jerked her head upward. That wasn’t Cassius. Her hood began to slip backward. She tried to catch it, but her movements lagged behind her mind, and her injured arm had grown stiff and numb. Cool air hit her uncovered cheeks, her nose, then her forehead. Even with the scarf hiding her hair, she might be recognized. And she had a feeling this was a very bad place for a princess to be.

The hood’s descent halted; it wasn’t her fingers that had caught the fabric but his. He was so tall that Rora had to crane her head back to see him. His hair was a dark, wavy brown and hung long enough to brush against his shoulders.

“Keep that hood up. This is no place for little girls.”

“I’m not a little girl!” She clamped her mouth shut, immediately wishing she could take the declaration back. Not only because it sounded exactly like what a little girl would say but also because she had not tempered her volume. At all. And thought it wasn’t Cassius who caught her, he was here somewhere. She bit her lip in worry, and the stranger’s eyes tracked down to her mouth briefly before darting around her face.

He still held on to her hood, keeping it back enough that he could see her eyes. “So you’re not a little girl. Still doesn’t mean this is any place for you.”

She could not argue with that.

“She called you Locke.”

His eyes narrowed. “Yes. And?”

“As in…Prince Locke?”

He laughed so hard that he released her hood. She rushed to grab it and pull it down to cover her face. She had no doubt people were staring now. He sucked in a breath, and then as if he couldn’t help himself, burst into laughter all over again.

Still chuckling, he said, “I’m about as much a prince, as you are a princess.”

Cora Carmack is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of New Adult Romance and YA fantasy. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages around the world. Cora splits her time between Austin, TXand New York City, and on any given day you might find her typing away at her computer, flying to various cities around the world, or just watching Netflix with her kitty Katniss. But she can always be found on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and her website www.coracarmack.com.

Represented by the fabulous Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary.

WEBSITE : TWITTER : GOODREADS : FACEBOOK : INSTAGRAM

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Roar by Cora Carmack Excerpt

Title: Roar
Author: Cora Carmack
Published: June 13, 2017 by Tor

In a land ruled and shaped by violent magical storms, power lies with those who control them.

Aurora Pavan comes from one of the oldest Stormling families in existence. Long ago, the ungifted pledged fealty and service to her family in exchange for safe haven, and a kingdom was carved out from the wildlands and sustained by magic capable of repelling the world’s deadliest foes. As the sole heir of Pavan, Aurora’s been groomed to be the perfect queen. She’s intelligent and brave and honorable. But she’s yet to show any trace of the magic she’ll need to protect her people.

To keep her secret and save her crown, Aurora’s mother arranges for her to marry a dark and brooding Stormling prince from another kingdom. At first, the prince seems like the perfect solution to all her problems. He’ll guarantee her spot as the next queen and be the champion her people need to remain safe. But the more secrets Aurora uncovers about him, the more a future with him frightens her. When she dons a disguise and sneaks out of the palace one night to spy on him, she stumbles upon a black market dealing in the very thing she lacks—storm magic. And the people selling it? They’re not Stormlings. They’re storm hunters.

Legend says that her ancestors first gained their magic by facing a storm and stealing part of its essence. And when a handsome young storm hunter reveals he was born without magic, but possesses it now, Aurora realizes there’s a third option for her future besides ruin or marriage.

She might not have magic now, but she can steal it if she’s brave enough.

Challenge a tempest. Survive it. And you become its master.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY

The Pavanian princess stared at Cassius, her mouth open slightly. When she first walked into this room, Cassius had thought her stunning in her savagery, colder than the depths of winter. Her dress seduced and threatened in equal measure, clinging to her curves and adorned with carved skyfire crystals that jutted from her shoulders and head like the spikes of a warrior’s armor. And yet for all that careful pageantry, it had only taken a compliment to rattle her. She looked very young in that moment, very sweet, which was never a good thing for a potential ruler to be.

She donned an unreadable expression before his curiosity was satisfied, and her lilting voice turned sharp. “Flattery is not necessary. The betrothal has already been set.”

Another blast of that wintery gaze. She had unusual blue-gray eyes—wide and expressive and lovely enough to bring a lesser man to his knees. Her confident demeanor would likely have convinced most, but he had sharpened his instincts in a court little safer than a lion’s den. Tension rode her—something between unease and fear. He gripped her wrist and had the inexplicable urge to drag her somewhere else, anywhere other than the betrothal celebration that waited upstairs with his family. She was a delicate songbird, and his father was a bird of prey. They all were, Cassius included. And he couldn’t help but wonder how long it would be before this little bird had her wings clipped.

She tugged her arm out of his grasp, hard. He was tempted to take it back. That was part of his nature … to take. But she fixed him with a harsh glare, and he smiled in response. Perhaps his little bird had talons after all.

Enough. She was not his little bird. A jungle cat does not care for prey, even if he wants it with a hunger stronger than any he has ever known. He pushed his more ruthless instincts aside. That would be his greatest challenge here—fighting the need to seize, command, destroy. Those were the things he was good at. The things he’d been taught since he could walk. With Aurora he would have to coax and flatter and comfort—that was his path to control.

She said, “We should probably go. They’ll be calling for us soon.”

Cassius offered her his elbow, and her body was tense as she curled her hand around it. But before they even took a step, it became clear that the voluminous fabric at the bottom of her dress wouldn’t allow them to easily walk side by side. Cassius took hold of her hand, sliding it off his arm and lacing their fingers together instead. Slowly, he lifted her hand until his lips dragged across her knuckles. The blacks of her eyes expanded, swallowing up that lovely color and adding just a touch of sin to her sweet. She jerked within his grip, trying to pull away. Chuckling low, he put some distance between them, but he did not release her hand.

It took entirely too long to cross the throne room in her elaborate attire. She had to kick the bottom of her dress out before she stepped so that it wasn’t underfoot. Cassius was willing to bet that the dress and the headpiece weighed a third as much as she did or more, but her posture remained rigidly upright and her steps smooth.

By the time they reached the staircase at the back of the throne room, her lips were open and her breathing quick. He was beginning to hate this dress, even if it did cling to her curves rather spectacularly.

“You know,” he said, “I have a knife. I’m tempted to cut off the bottom of that dress so you can walk like the rest of us.”

A smile flitted across her mouth, small at first, then widening into something playful and bright. It called to the darkness in him. “You could try. But you’d likely find that knife at your throat with my mother on the other side of it.”

“Not you?”

“If I had my way, we’d burn it once you cut it off. The headdress too.”

He smiled, and for the first time in a long while it felt almost natural.

“Perhaps we’ll celebrate our wedding with a bonfire.”

Every time he mentioned the wedding, she tensed. It was, of course, already agreed upon and signed in ink, but he had plans that would not succeed if she remained reluctant.

They ascended the first few steps slowly, the beaded fabric of her dress pulled taut around her legs. He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and charge the rest of the way, but he distracted himself with studying his surroundings instead. The hallway they were leaving behind was filled with paintings and statues of the Pavan Stormling ancestors. At the hallway’s end a massive, gold-painted statue of the current queen stood in a decorative alcove. Once upon a time, there might have been altars to the old gods—places to pray for good harvest or fertility or even luck—but those days were long past. Too many years of unbridled destruction and unanswered prayers.

No, Stormlings were the gods now. It was Cassius and the people like him who either answered prayers or ignored them.

“You said you faced a blizzard on your journey, but you did it without an affinity.”

He squeezed the hand he still held. “I did.”

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, scraping at the white paint that covered her skin. She asked, “Would you tell me about it sometime? The blizzard?”

He angled his head to smile at her again, and she looked away. Shy. So many pieces to her puzzle. “On one condition.”

“Which is?” He had expected her to be like most of the well-born ladies of the court in Locke: sirens with claws and teeth or frightened little mice, made to be gobbled up by this world. Aurora seemed neither vicious nor weak, but she was working so carefully to show him a façade that he could not pinpoint exactly what she was.

He had to know. It was his curse, the reason he thirsted for the thrill of a storm. He had to know how things worked, had to know why. And the girl in front of him was no different. In fact, the need to unravel all her secrets was stronger than he’d ever felt because she would be his. And he had a feeling that conquering her would prove more exhilarating than any storm he had ever defeated.

Rather than giving her his condition, he released her hand and wrapped an arm around the slim circle of her waist. She tried to step back, but her feet tangled in her dress, and she gripped his tunic to stay upright.

There it was. A thread of fear in those eyes. He could have stopped then, but he had little self-control when it came to these things. It was not enough to see a measure of her emotions on her face. He wanted them all. So he pushed a little more. “You might be patient enough to fight with this dress, but I am not. Let me get us to the top of these stairs, and I promise to tell you whatever story you want to hear.”

She jutted her soft chin out and said, “You have a deal.”

The paint had begun to wear away on her lips, revealing rosy skin underneath. Was the rest of her flushed beneath all that powder? He dragged his fingers back and forth over her side, feeling hard ridges beneath the heavy, embellished fabric. “Corset?”

She sucked in a breath, and he knew he had shocked her. Innocent. He collected each morsel of her identity like a scavenger in the jungle. He saw just a sliver of panic before she hid it away and met his gaze.

Brave little bird.

“It will have to be like this.” Before she could change her mind or reason could catch up to his own actions, he bent, winding his arms around her thighs, and lifted. She was tall but slight, and he held her tight against him so that her hips pressed against his chest and her stomach hovered in front of his face. She gasped and braced a hand on his shoulder, reaching up to balance her headdress with the other. He could not see her face like this, but he imagined she was scandalized. He chuckled. “I suppose I should have given you some warning.”

He risked offending her or word getting back to her mother through the guards that followed them. Both of which paled in comparison to the risk of his father hearing of his actions. He was a child, poking at a fish with a stick, rather than reeling it in the way he was supposed to. But he could not seem to help himself.

With some measure of urgency, he started up the stairs. Her body swayed toward him, her beaded dress scraping against his chin. This close, he felt her breathing speed up. The hand on his shoulder migrated to her chest, doing her best to cover the cleavage that was only just above his line of sight.

His instincts said to push again, but this time he reined them in. He kept his head down and quickened his feet. Again, the movement made her sway toward him, harder this time without her hand on his shoulder as a brace. He turned his face to the side, and her belly pressed against his cheek just for a moment before her hand was back at his shoulder, righting her position.

He took the last few steps at a pace that was nearly a jog, and when he reached the top, he looked up at her face. Her mouth was open and soft; he knew by the rise and fall of her body against him that her breaths were ragged, and in her eyes was a gleam. Not fear. Not panic. Not even anger.

Want.

He could work with that.

Copyright © 2017 by Cora Carmack

Cora Carmack is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of New Adult Romance and YA fantasy. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages around the world. Cora splits her time between Austin, TXand New York City, and on any given day you might find her typing away at her computer, flying to various cities around the world, or just watching Netflix with her kitty Katniss. But she can always be found on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and her website www.coracarmack.com.

Represented by the fabulous Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary.

WEBSITE : TWITTER : GOODREADS : FACEBOOK : INSTAGRAM

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Lies We Live by Brenda St. John Brown #Excerpt #Giveaway

Ella Ingraham is a best-selling novelist. She's also a murderer. At least that's what most of the world thinks after her ex brought a tabloid frenzy and a civil suit down on her for "negligence" following the stillbirth of their unplanned child at eight months. Her cross-country drive is meant to be an escape, and Horatio, AR is just another random exit off the highway. Until she meets Josh Devereaux.

Josh Devereaux – seductive, charming and hot, hot, hot – is a part-time farmer, full-time tech genius holed up in his hometown after a few years in New York turned him into someone else. Someone worse. His closetful of skeletons has been locked up tight since he returned to Arkansas, right along with his heart. He knows Ella could unlock both – and what a bad idea that would be.

Ella has no intention of getting involved with Josh, but as one date turns into more, feelings surface Ella hasn't felt in years -- like hope. As their relationship grows, Josh knows he should tell Ella the truth about his past. If only the lie wasn't so much easier to believe.

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Josh leans back on his stool and I follow the long line of faded Levi’s, stained a faded brown on the thighs, frayed along the seams.

I bet he has a nice ass.

I try to push the thought away and twirl my half-empty beer glass on the smooth wood. “You probably know everybody in here. What’s that like? Everybody knows your story and how do you…” I twirl my glass again like that’s a deliberate pause and I’m not cutting myself short because that’s a more honest answer than I expected to give. Certainly more honest than the one I gave when asked in Tennessee. Or any state north of there. Including New York.

“Maintain your sanity?” Josh finishes my sentence for me, but I suspect he knows, too, that wasn’t what I was about to say. His brown eyes are too intent on my face. “That’s a loaded question if there ever was one. How long are you staying?”

“Staying?”

“Well, Horatio is as small-town as you’re going to get and we have Bible thumpers to spare.” Josh takes another long swallow of his Bass. “You won’t learn anything on a bathroom break and a beer. You should stay and have dinner with me.”

“For research?” I ask, taking a bite of the bread. Research could be a lot worse.

Josh shakes his head. “No. Because I want you to.”

I’m not sure what startles me more – his directness or the fact I kind of want to have dinner with him. And that’s exactly what I don’t need. “I don’t even know you.”

“You think you do.” Josh’s retort is quick. And dead on.

“Likewise.”

“Touché.” His eyes skim my legs again and his mouth loses all but a trace of a smile. “Prove me wrong.”

Ella Ingraham makes up stories for a living, and even she has a hard time believing the turn her love life has taken.

Hot guy? Cue Josh Devereaux.

Even hotter night together? Hello kitchen counter.

Morning-after phone call to Josh from her ex? Um, what?

The truth about who Josh is and what he’s done are on the other end of that phone. He knows he lied. He also knows that isn’t the worst of it. It isn’t even that Ella’s ex thinks Josh is the right man to help destroy her. Again. The worst part is the way Ella looks at him now. Or doesn’t.

Ella isn’t sure what the worst part is – Josh lying to her about his past, or the fact she can’t stop thinking about him anyway. Not that he’s making it easy for her, with his idea to stop her ex’s slander campaigns against her before her next big book release. Even Ella has to admit it’s a better plan than she – or her lawyer – have come up with. But for the plan to work, Ella has to not only rely on Josh, but trust him. Implicitly.

Ella knows she’d be a fool to trust him a second time. So why does her heart keep trying to convince her otherwise?

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Brenda is a displaced New Yorker living in the English countryside. She writes novels about teens and twenty-somethings kissing. Her characters do other things, too, but there's always kissing.

When she's not writing, Brenda enjoys hiking, running and reading. In theory, she also enjoys cooking, but it's more that she enjoys eating and, try as she might, she can't live on Doritos alone.

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My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal #BlogTour #Excerpt #BookReview #Giveaway

My Last Kiss
by Bethany Neal
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: June 10th 2014

What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy?
Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss--the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died--is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn't a suicide as everyone assumes. She can't remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she's worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend.
If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she'll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made--good and bad--that led to her last kiss.
Bethany Neal's suspenseful debut novel is about the power of first love and the haunting lies that threaten to tear it apart.

 

Chapter 1

It’s snowing or maybe it’s raining. . . no, it’s snowing. I can feel the wet flakes gathering in the corners of my eyes, melting down my cheeks like tears. The warmth from the sun I felt on my face only an instant before is gone. When I blink, the only things I see are blotchy white bits of trees and clouds and lights. Where are those lights coming from? I stumble onto my feet and my legs feel Jell-O-y, like I’ve been swimming for a really long time and now the ground feels too rigid.

I take one step and suddenly my whole body stings. I fall to my knees and clutch my middle. The worst pain I’ve ever felt invades my limbs, like when your foot falls asleep except it’s my entire body and it’s epically stronger. I’m screaming and gripping my sides, writhing in the fluffy white snow. And then the pain stops; as fast as it came, it stops. Filled with relief, I do a quick once-over of my body. I even pinch my arm to check if I’m dreaming. How dumb is that?

I manage to open my eyes enough to see a silhouette standing above the waterline among the trees in Dover Park. He—at least I think it’s a he—is staring at me, but not at me, me. He’s staring at the bloody, twisted mess of me on the rocks along the riverbank.

Why are there two of me?! And how did I get in the river?

I run toward my other, mangled body. I must be having a nightmare—but it’s like there’s a force field around me. I sort of melt into the air, then get flung back. I land on my butt in a massive snowbank at the water’s edge, waiting to feel the cold from sitting in waist-deep snow.

A jagged chunk of ice floats by, sparkling in the early-morning moonlight.

I still haven’t felt the cold.

The silhouette is talking now. I hear him, but the words are muffled as if he’s talking underwater. I press my hands to the sides of my face and squeeze my eyes shut, concentrating. His voice comes clearer. . . He’s telling me he didn’t mean to.

Mean to what?

Now he’s telling me this isn’t how it was supposed to go. This is her fault.

Is “her” me?

I open my eyes to check if he’s talking to me, me. He’s not. I look at my Other body, broken and folded in ways a body should never bend over a mound of gray rocks. In one of my Other hands I’m holding something, maybe a piece of paper, but I can’t see it clearly. Snow piles high again around my eyes and my cheeks and now on my shoulders. It comes down, harder and harder, until I feel buried in it. I can’t even see it and I’m buried in it so deep that I can’t breathe.

Slowly a thought creeps in, settles in the front of my mind. It tugs at something I feel like I know but can’t quite remember. I open my mouth to speak it, but I don’t see my breath the way I should in early March. I glance up at the silhouette. He’s crying or maybe he’s yelling; either way, I can see his breath.

I’m not breathing. I don’t need to. The words float past my lips like a rehearsed chorus: “I’m dead.”

My Last Kiss was pretty addicting, especially in the beginning. We have Cassidy who is a ghost and we start off the book with her looking at her dead body. She knows that something must have happened to her but she is missing big chunks of memory from the last 3 weeks before her death. She realizes that she must be a ghost for unfinished business reason but not exactly sure what that is.

The book revolves around the mystery of Cassidy’s plunge off the bridge behind her best friends house. The thing I liked about it was the complexity. It was a gradual progression. It seemed like everything was so simple but then things kept getting more and more complicated as Cassidy pieced together the clues. Although I figured out parts before the end of the book, I loved how the subtle hints were laid throughout. Things that Cassidy didn’t catch on to in life, but seemed to understand more in death. Towards the end I did feel like things were coming at me fast and it was hard to keep straight who was where and when. I wouldn’t have minded some of that being peppered in a bit more earlier. I can also see how the fear might be to give too much away too early. It’s hard when you write a mystery. The writing kept me interested in finding out what was going to happen next. I needed to know how all of the pieces of Cassidy’s story fit together.

Cassidy herself is actually complex. I liked Cassidy in ghost form but the things she did leading up to her death made me really dislike her. It’s one of those things where hindsight is 20/20. It seemed to me that Cassidy in ghost form was more true to herself than she was in her memories. She could see how she had become a different person and was ashamed with herself.

The romance is definitely different in this story because there really can not be a happy ending. My Last Kiss is not about finding love, it’s more about forgiveness than anything else. I really liked this different look at it. I loved looking back on some of Cassidy’s interactions with the boys even though I was pissed at some of the things she did.

There is a great friendship between Cassidy and Aimee in the book. It’s probably one of my favorite girl friendships that I have read. I expected for some reason for Madison and Aimee to be all mean girl about Cassidy but I was pleasantly surprised. Aimee is a hard core true friend to Cassidy even after her death. Even when some things come to light about situations Cassidy had gotten herself involved in. Amee never wavered.

I really enjoyed My Last Kiss because of the slowly progress complex mystery that is involved in it. The book also has one of my favorite friendships between two girls and the romance has a different approach that I really liked.

Bethany Neal writes young-adult novels with a little dark side and a lot of kissing! She is obsessed with (but not limited to): nail polish, ginormous rings, pigs, pickles, and dessert.

You can find her locked in her Writertorium for insane amounts of time. But, hey, insanity is fun! My Last Kiss is her first novel.

   

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The Offering by Kimberly Derting Blog Tour #Review #Excerpt #Giveaway

The Offering by Kimberly Derting

True love—and world war—is at stake in the conclusion to The Pledge trilogy, a dark and romantic blend of dystopia and fantasy.

Charlie, otherwise known as Queen Charlaina of Ludania, has become comfortable as a leader and a ruler. She’s done admirable work to restore Ludania’s broken communications systems with other Queendoms, and she’s mastered the art of ignoring Sabara, the evil former queen whose Essence is alive within Charlie. Or so she thinks.

When the negotiation of a peace agreement with the Queendom of Astonia goes awry, Charlie receives a brutal message that threatens Ludania, and it seems her only option is to sacrifice herself in exchange for Ludanian freedom.

But things aren’t always as they seem. Charlie is walking into a trap—one set by Sabara, who is determined to reclaim the Queendoms at any cost.



Praise for The Offering

"This was a truly epic ending to the series." --Crystal Perkins, Goodreads Review

"The final book in Kimberly Derting’s Pledge trilogy is a thrilling conclusion. I was immediately swept up into it and powered right through. It was pretty much what I wanted with a few surprises along the way." --Krys at Bibliopunkk Reads

Wow. Well the book started out with quite a bang. Wow, I had to put the book down for a minute after reading the prologue. I quickly went back because then I had to know more but still.

This is book 3 in the series so I will avoid spoilers for this book but there will be some if you haven’t read book 1 and 2. Beware.

It’s amazing to me how much Charlie has grown from The Pledge to now The Offering. In The Essence we saw her being a lot more timid and reserved as she was trying to navigate through being a new Queen and dealing with Sabara/Layla’s essence inside of her. I felt like in this book she really comes into her own. Where she was barely riding a horse and falling face first into the mud during Zafir’s combat lessons, she now is...well she still has trouble with horses but she is more able to defend herself. She still can make rash impulsive decisions but she learns from them and by the ending of the book it’s like she blooms. I loved how her character developed.

I did miss some characters like Zafir who had a smaller role in this book but we get to know other characters better like Eden. I can’t say I became her super fan or anything but it nice to get to see some other sides of her. I also love Brooklyn and getting in her head is always fun. She is such a tough cookie. Max takes on his usual subtle role which just shows Charlie doesn’t need a guy to protect her. I really liked that we got to see more of Sage. It totally changed my view of her. There are many characters in this series but I never felt like they were fighting for your attention or underdeveloped. I felt like I got to know each character enough and of course I wouldn’t mind some novellas on a few, like Sage. Even though Charlie is obviously the main focus I felt like the story was shared among the characters and made it feel well rounded.

I love the world that has been built with the kingdoms. We once again venture out from the palace and get to experience more parts of Ludania. We saw a lot of the Scablands in book 2 and now we are seeing a lot of the coastal region. I thought it was cool how that Charlie gets to venture out into these areas rather than having them just refered to as she holes up in her palace. I want to know more though!! I want to visit the other kingdoms!! More spinoffs, more novellas, more writing….well I guess I shouldn’t walking around making demands. Ha ha.

There were plenty of intense moments. Like I said the prologue had me dropping the book on the ground but there were other parts where I felt like I couldn’t slow down my eyes. I was going to give myself whiplash flying through the pages like I was. Especially the last 100 there is no way I could have taken a break from that.

So yes this was an excellent 3rd installment of the series and I was very happy with it. My inner fantasy girl really enjoyed these books. Magic, Queendoms, Murder and cutie pie guys, you can’t go wrong with that.

The two guards dragged Xander toward a small, round opening in the stone floor, a hole through which blood could easily drain away to the sewers.  They, along with two others who’d appeared, pinned him to the ground while he continued to writhe and scream. They waited until he was too weary to fight any longer. Until he had no other option but to accept this fate he’d been handed.

Then the executioner raised his blade.

Niko would have closed his eyes, if Elena wasn’t observing him so keenly. Unlike Niko, she had no interest in turning away. She seemed to relish the moment.

When the axe fell and the sharp crack of metal struck stone beneath, he felt the slightest jerk from beside him. But when he turned his gaze on her, he saw that she was frowning at the hem of her gown, rather than at the grisly view at her feet.

“Will you look at that,” she clucked, craning her neck to get a better look, and ignoring everything else going on around her. “He got blood on my new dress.”

Author Kimberly Derting

Kimberly Derting is the author of the BODY FINDER series, THE PLEDGE trilogy, and THE TAKING (coming April 2014 from HarperTeen). She lives in the Seattle area, with her husband and three children, who often find the outrageous things they say either in the pages of her books or posted on Twitter or Facebook for the entire world to see.

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