Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Stripped by Brooklyn Skye

Stripped

Release
Date: 05/14/13
Cover
designed by: Lisa Poff
Photography
Cover
reveal organized by: YA Bound

Summary
from Goodreads:
“I
like you.” His voice is low and soft, which I don’t deserve. I look away, down
the rutted parking lot.
“Don’t…waste
those words on me.”
He
touches my cheek. “You just need someone to show you.”
“No.”
I ease back again. “I don’t. So please, Torrin, stop trying to swoop in and
save me. I don’t need saving.”

College
freshman Quinn Montgomery will do anything to avoid the mistake her sister
made—killing herself over a boy. But when she is forced into nude modeling at a
local college to support her family after a bankruptcy, she begins to crack,
just enough to let Torrin, the university’s top varsity oarsman, see that the
real Quinn is not as feisty and unapproachable as she wants everyone to think.
But letting someone in comes at a steep cost and, it turns out, Torrin is
connected to Quinn’s family in more ways than she could ever imagine.

About
the Author
Brooklyn
Skye is an author, editorial intern, and just your average awkward girl
(especially on the phone!). Her new adult debut, STRIPPED, releases May 2013!

Follow
Brooklyn at:


Click
HERE
to sign up to participate in the blog tour for Stripped.

***GIVEAWAY***
Enter
below to win a signed hardcopy of STRIPPED (if U.S. winner) or an e-copy
with Authorgraph (if international winner)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feature and Follow

Feature and Follow Friday is a blog hop that is designed to provide some much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each of whom feature a chosen blog for the week, it's an interesting way to get to know one another.

If you would like to follow me, you can do so by GFC, Twitter or Linky .

I also make sure to go back and follow everyone that comments and I try to always follow twitter along with GFC/Linky. So if you have a twitter that is not on your page for some reason leave it in the comments and I will follow you that way too!
Q: Activity! Hopefully warm weather for most of us is here soon…so tell us about your favorite outdoor reading spot. Or take a picture.

My favorite reading spot is the Morton Arboretum, unfortunately I don't go there that often without my kids. I'm hoping when they get older though I will be able to read while the run away. It's a really fun place in general and the grounds are gigantic. You got a favorite tree? They've got there for you to sit under and read.

I know I have pictures of cool trees there but I can't find them.

Blog Tour and Giveaway: The Crimson Hunt by Victoria H. Smith

I'm happy to be a part of the Blog Tour for Victoria H. Smith's The Crimson Hunt, hosted by Xpresso Book Tours. You can get the full details and schedule of the tour Here
 

The Crimson Hunt by Victoria H. Smith
Series: Eldaen Light Chronicles, #1
Publication date: November 8th 2012

Purchase:
Amazon / Barnes and Noble / The Book Depository

Synopsis:

College junior Ariel Richmond is working on year three of Project Normalcy.

Her house reeks of keggers past and her bestie is just a slight bit vulgar. But the thing is—they both aid in making life refreshingly uneventful.

So much for hard-earned mediocrity when Luca Grinaldi appears on the scene.

Luca’s sudden presence on campus is hard to ignore. Those bright eyes act like a beacon to unsuspecting females, and with features like his, he’s got to be moonlighting for GQ. Luca hopelessly captivates Ariel with his confidence and charisma, but the mysteries surrounding him make him nearly untouchable. And just when Ariel grows close enough to unlock his secrets, a tragic event sends her life in a downward spiral.

That steady life is no longer an option and allies quickly become scarce. The mysterious Luca seems to be the only one willing to help her—but with that trust comes the burden of his secrets. He has a dark mission of otherworldly proportions, and is willing to sacrifice as many lives as it takes to see it completed.

Gone are the days of simply maintaining normalcy, and if Ariel isn’t cautious with her trust, so soon may be her future.



Review:

The Crimson Hunt starts off in a shroud of mystery with the prologue. We know that there might be something otherworldly involved, but what. We experience Ariel’s somewhat normal life in the first part of the book. She is a college student trying to make it into the big Art show but thwarted by her mean girl arch nemesis. Then enters Luca the mystery boy crush who is a jerk one minute and then charming the next. The next thing you know the book takes a turn for the dark and sinister as people start showing up dead, including ones close to Ariel.

As far as the book tempo it did start off slightly slow, but it was appropriate for setting the scene and keeping you in suspense. I found myself anxious to find out what was going to happen so it kept my attention. Once it picked up, it hit the ground running and there was action around every corner. What a great concept for the book, I loved the sci-fi mix with a dash of paranormal. I also loved the idea of why there are these beings here and that as humans we are almost just unfortunate causalities in the bigger picture.

Ariel was a strong self-reliant character. I liked the way she interacts with her friends and other characters. I also like that she has a history of relationship failure, I’m not even sure why but it made it seem more real. She is a little more reserved when she meets Luca, even though she is attracted to him she tries to keep her head on straight and not fall to hard. Even though she ends up doing just that of course who wouldn’t.

I’m not all together sure how I felt about Luca; I didn’t feel like Ariel needed him which was kind of nice change. He liked to run hot and cold but once he warmed up it was hard not to be at least fond of him. He had trained himself to not feel so when he really starts opening up to Ariel we see a different side of him. He is sweet, kind and of course gorgeous. He might be the next great love my life but I thought he was a good character and also a good match for Ariel.

At first I did not like Piper, Ariel’s best friend; I was like why is she friends with this girl. I don’t understand this relationship. As we get to know Piper we find out how she truly is loyal to Ariel and actually a really good friend. There were other side characters involved all that I found some kind of fondness for. Even the villains were interesting and very evil at times.

I really enjoyed this book and I loved the fact that it’s New Adult. The College Campus setting is perfect for this type of story and it really gave the characters more leeway with things. I really don’t want to give away too much of the mystery because that’s the best part about it. It mixes in a little mystery as we learn about the characters roles, which makes it intriguing to the last page. I will definitely pick up book two because I’m curious about how everything will end up resolved.

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway



About the Author:

Victoria H. Smith has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She puts it to good use writing romance all day. She resides in the Midwest with her Macbook on her lap and a cornfield to her right. She often draws inspiration for her stories from her own life experiences, and the twenty-something characters she writes give her an earful about it.

In her free time, she enjoys extreme couponing, blogging, reading, and sending off a few tweets on Twitter when she can. She writes new adult fiction romance in the sub-genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and contemporary, but really, anywhere her pen takes her she goes.

Victoria H. Smith Links: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads



Feature and Follow

Feature and Follow Friday is a blog hop that is designed to provide some much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each of whom feature a chosen blog for the week, it's an interesting way to get to know one another.

If you would like to follow me, you can do so by GFC, Twitter or Linky .

I also make sure to go back and follow everyone that comments and I try to always follow twitter along with GFC/Linky. So if you have a twitter that is not on your page for some reason leave it in the comments and I will follow you that way too!

 Q: What is a book you didn't like that all your friends raved about or what book did you love that wasn't popular?

This is actually an easy question for me....Beautiful Creatures.....it's not even that I didn't like it I just felt very blah about it. The writing was good but I just didn't like Ethan a whole lot so it fell a little flat. I did even go see the movie, which also super unimpressed me because they changed the things I had actually liked in the book.

Transcend Time Blitz and Giveaway!




Remembrance
Michelle Madow
Series: Transcend Time Saga #1
Publication date: July 27th 2011
Genre:YA Time Travel
Goodreads

Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.

Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's high school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, fighting fate isn't going to be easy.
 
 
Vengeance
Michelle Madow
Series: Transcend Time Saga #2
Publication date: December 8th 2011
Genre:YA Time Travel
Goodreads

How far would you go to get revenge?

When Chelsea Givens discovered that her ex-boyfriend Drew dumped her to be with her former best friend Lizzie, she'd never felt so betrayed in her life. Then her new friend Shannon tells her she can help set things right. Chelsea's willing to listen, but what Shannon wants her to believe -- that she shared a past life with Drew -- is impossible. And what she wants her to do to get him back … well, it's downright crazy.

Could Shannon be telling the truth? And if she is, what lengths will Chelsea go if it means making Lizzie pay?

Find out in Vengeance, the second part of the Transcend Time Saga.

*Vengeance is the short story that bridges the events in Remembrance and the final novel in the Saga.

 
 
 
Timeless
Michelle Madow
Series: Transcend Time Saga #3
Publication date: November 14th 2012
Genre:YA Time Travel
Goodreads

IT'S A RACE AGAINST TIME.

In Remembrance, Lizzie and Drew changed the course of fate so they could be together.

In Vengeance, Chelsea set fate back on its original, deadly path.

 
Now, strange things keep happening to Lizzie. Things that are omens of darkness to come. A curse has doomed her to die an early death, just as she did in her past life. To make matters worse, even if she can figure out who cast the curse, it's irreversible. There's only one option left for her to save herself. It's crazier than anything she's heard yet, and to do it, she'll need Drew and Chelsea's help.

Because to make things right, they must go back to when it all began ... and Lizzie discovers that the final events in her past life were more sinister than she ever imagined.

_______
Where to Buy 
 

Remembrance
Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Kobo / iBookstore

Vengeance
Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Kobo / iBookstore

Timeless
Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Kobo / iBookstore

Transcendence
Available for free download! Smashwords

 
 
 REINCARNATION IN THE TRANSCEND TIME SAGA
Michelle Madow

An explanation of how reincarnation works in the series

To write the Transcend Time Saga, I had to create my own version of reincarnation. The first thing I did was research reincarnation on the Internet. Even though I don’t personally believe in reincarnation, I had fun learning about it. There are tons of websites on the topic—from ancient Buddhist beliefs to people who claim there are scientific ways to prove reincarnation. It was interesting doing the research, but I came across a problem: Nothing was fitting into the story I had started to create about Lizzie and Drew.

Then I realized something: Remembrance was going to be a work of FICTION, so I was free to create my own version of reincarnation!

The main thing I knew about Lizzie’s story was that she had a dramatic early death in her first life that made it so she couldn’t be with her soul mate, Drew. She and the people close to her who were negatively impacted by her death had been reincarnated to set things right. I decided to create my own version of reincarnation that revolved around that idea.

I created a Word document with bullet points describing the important aspects of reincarnation in the Transcend Time Saga. This document is called “Reincarnation Rules,” and this is the first time I am sharing it with readers.

Here are some of the basic Reincarnation Rules in the Transcend Time Saga:

1) The only reason a person will be reincarnated is if they have to change something dramatic that left them unfulfilled in their past life. They continue being reincarnated until they do this.

2) Most people are not reincarnated. Once they live one life, they go to Nirvana. Most people living on Earth are “New Souls.”

3) Major events in present day lives parallel past lives, so people will be thrown into situations with other reincarnated souls from their past.

4) Their physical features are similar to those they had in their past lives, although not so similar that they look the exact same.

5) A big part of initially remembering a past life is a recognition of the soul of a person they had a positive deep connection to, usually a soul mate. (In Lizzie’s case, this person was Drew.) If you were friends with someone in a past life (like Lizzie/Chelsea and Elizabeth/Catherine), you will feel very close to that person, but they will not trigger memories of the past to return.

6) Objects from the past will also serve as triggers. (Lizzie loved Pride and Prejudice in her past life, so reading the book for her English class triggered her memories. Drew built the music box for Lizzie in his past life, so seeing the music box again triggered his memories.) However, people usually believe their memories to be figments of their imaginations until they meet the person who is their “big trigger.”

7) A soul can only reincarnate into the same species it started in. (You cannot be a human in one life and a dog in the next.)

8) People remember images and scenes—they very rarely remember full conversations. They can, however, remember their feelings from those conversations.

9) People don't reincarnate immediately. They reincarnate during a good time for them to complete whatever it is they need to do to sort out the issues they had in their past life. Plus, if a spirit went through something traumatic in their life (usually resulting in death), they need time to recover.

10) Reincarnees have Memory Guides that help them remember their past life so they can make changes in their current life. These Memory Guides have been reincarnated, and successfully fixed what they needed to. They go through training, and then come into the Reincarnee’s life when they are ready to remember their past life.

After I had those basic ideas, Lizzie and Drew’s story pieced together as I wrote. I outlined the book before writing the draft, but it was still fun to see their story unfold.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In the fall of 2008, Michelle saw Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” music video for the first time. She thought up a story to go along with the video, and wrote the first chapter as a homework assignment for class. Her classmates and teacher loved it so much that they wanted to know what happened next, so Michelle continued writing, and that story eventually became Remembrance, the first novel in the Transcend Time Saga. She’s so happy to be able to share this series with you, and hopes you enjoy reading it as much as she loved writing it!

Check out her website, www.michellemadow.com, to add her on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and her many other social networking sites.

Michelle lives in Florida, and is hard at work writing more novels for young adults.



Cover Reveal: The Liberator by Victoria Scott

#VMafia @VictoriaScottya
Dante Walker #2
September 3, 2013


Bad boy, meet bad girl.

Dante has a shiny new cuff wrapped around his ankle, and he doesn't like that mess one bit. His new accessory comes straight from Big Guy himself and marks the former demon as a liberator. Despite his gritty past and bad boy ways, Dante Walker has been granted a second chance.

When Dante is given his first mission as a liberator to save the soul of seventeen-year-old Aspen, he knows he’s got this. But Aspen reminds him of the rebellious life he used to live and is making it difficult to resist sinful temptations. Though Dante is committed to living clean for his girlfriend Charlie, this dude’s been a playboy for far too long…and old demons die hard.

With Charlie becoming the girl she was never able to be pre-makeover and Aspen showing him how delicious it feels to embrace his inner beast, Dante will have to go somewhere he never thought he’d return to in order to accomplish the impossible: save the girl he’s been assigned to, and keep the girl he loves.

Check out some past Dante Walker fun

  
The Collector: A Dante Walker Novel
Dante Walker #1
Victoria Scott
April 2, 2013
Amazon / Barnes and Noble

He makes good girls...bad.
Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.




About the Author:

Victoria Scott is a YA writer with a die-hard affection for dark and humorous books. Her work is represented by the fabulous Laurie McLean of Larsen-Pomada literary agency. She has a master’s degree in marketing, and is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas and Teen Shiver.

Her first YA book, THE COLLECTOR, will be published by Entangled Teen in 2013. And her short story, FOUR HOUSES, is available now through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

She currently lives in Dallas with her husband, Ryan.

Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads / Youtube


Book Haul: Sunday Post


Hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
 
I wish there was a weekend I could say it hasn't been a crazy week, but once again it was. More people in and out of the hospital and doctor visits. Seriously someone at work jokes that there is black cloud over my house and I'm starting to think it's true. Besides that it's been a good week for books and I admit the more stressed I get the more I spend time in the bookstore......
 
On the Blog this week:
 
Cover Reveal: Wait for You by J. Lynn (Jennifer Armentrout)
 
Cover Reveal: Emancipating Andie by Priscilla Glenn
 
YA Review: Apollyon by Jennifer L. Armentrout
 
 
I've been changing my layout on and off too. I'm not sure why but I can't seem to get it to just how I like it. I just never have the time to really put into making it awesome. One of these days....
 


The end has come Chosen at Nightfall by C. C. Hunter. I think this is my favorite cover in the series. I really like the colors. It's release date is April 23, 2013 by St. Martin's Press. Pretty exciting. They are actually coming out with an edition that includes both books 1 & 2 together. I got pens with a cover of each book on them but my kids for some reason really like them and keep stealing them. I can't pry them away to even take a picture.

 
I was having a bad day and then this came in the mail from Pitch Dark Reads which made me feel better. Pulse by Patrick Carman
 
 
I'm going to the Stephanie Meyer book signing so I picked up the paperback version of The Host to get my ticket. The two guys on the cover are also going to be at the signing and I will be able to get a movie poster signed and then one other book.
 

 
The Triple Threat authors came to town but I wasn't able to go to the signing. Just not in the cards this week, plus it was crazy snowy weather. I did get my book signed though. Yeah! Hysteria by Megan Miranda


A couple weeks ago I went to another signing for Julie Cross, Jennifer Rush and Erica O'Rourke. They were all sweet and funny. I've already read Altered and I can tell you that it's full of cute boys galore. Besides my I love Trev and I love Nick pins. I also got a few signed poster of the cover of Altered.


I have an egalley of this to read. I'm such a Julie Kagawa fan girl!


I also got an ebook of Wait For You by J. Lynn (aka Jennifer L. Armentrout) which was addictive and I couldn't stop reading it when I tried. I love this cover too. The only part that confused me is why do they put Jennifer Armentrout writing as J. Lynn. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a pen name. She has the pen name to seperate her YA stuff from her Adult novels. (which are also great reads) So maybe since this is New Adult it's blending...