Showing posts with label Spotlight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spotlight. Show all posts

Saturday, 5 December 2015

Did I Mention I Love You? Spotlight Post

I absolutely loved Did I Mention I Love You? by Estelle Maskame, so I thought I would post a spotlight on it to get all of you guys excited about it too! You can check out my review of DIMILY here

Did I Mention I Love You?
By Estelle Maskame
December 1, 2015; ISBN 9781492632153
Book Info:
Title: Did I Mention I Love You?
Author: Estelle Maskame
Release Date: December 1, 2015
Publishers: Sourcebooks Fire

Praise for Did I Mention I Love You?

“Readers will root for them, like they would with Edward and Bella—the mutual attraction and need for one another is palpable. It rings of passion, excitement, and first love.” –VOYA Magazine

“An edgy young adult romance with dark layers” –The Examiner

“A believable coming-of-age story and an unconventional romance, set against a present-day California summer... . The fallout of divorce, the insidiousness of substance abuse and family secrets, and especially the pangs of first love drive this emotionally resonant tale.” – Publishers Weekly

“Written in first person, Maskame’s trilogy opener is an excellent portrayal of a teenage girl’s life in the 21st century. Eden has to adjust to her blended family, try to feel pretty, be body conscious, and make friends, all while falling in love for the first time. She is someone all young people can relate to...Romance fans will be captivated by Eden and her journey to finding herself and true love.” –School Library Journal

Summary:

Love is everything but expected.
Eden Munro came to California for a summer of sun, sand, and celebrities- what better way to forget about the drama back home? Until she meets her new family of strangers; a dad she hasn’t seen in three years, a stepmonster, and three stepbrothers.
Eden gets her own room in her dad’s fancy house in Santa Monica. A room right next door to her oldest stepbrother. Tyler Bruce. Whom she cannot stand. He has angry blue eyes and an ego bigger than a Beverly Hills mansion. She’s never felt such intense dislike for someone. But the two are constantly thrown together as his group of friends pulls her into their world of rule-breaking, partying, and pier-hanging
And the more she tries to understand what makes Tyler burn hotter than the California sun, the more Eden finds herself falling for the one person she shouldn’t…
Did I Mention I Love You? is the addictive first book in Wattpad sensation Estelle Maskame’s DIMIY trilogy: three unforgettable summers of secrets, heartbreak, and forbidden romance.
Goodreads Link:
Buy Links:
Barnes&Noble- http://ow.ly/SAmJH 
BooksAMillion- http://ow.ly/SAmR5  
Indiebound- http://ow.ly/SAnRt

About the Author:

Estelle Maskame started writing at the age of thirteen and completed the Did I Mention I Love You?  trilogy when she was sixteen. She has built an extensive fan-base for her writing by serializing her work on Wattpad. Fitting book writing between work, Estelle has amassed followers from all over the world. She lives in Scotland. For more visitestellemaskame.com
Social Media Links:
Did I Mention I Love You? Excerpt

I can almost see the road through the gaps in the fence by the side of the house, and I squint through. There’s music playing. More like blaring. I can hear it over the crappy music that’s already bouncing around the back yard, and as a sleek white car speeds up to the edge of the sidewalk and skids against the curb, I grimace in disgust. The music cuts off the second the engine is killed.

“What are you looking at?” Rachael asks, but I’m too busy staring to even attempt to answer.
The car door swings open roughly, and I’m surprised it doesn’t fall straight off its hinges. It’s difficult to see clearly through the fence, but a tall guy gets out and slams the door shut just as aggressively as he opened it. He hesitates for a moment, stares at the house, and then runs a hand through his hair. Whoever he is, he looks su-per depressed. Like he’s just lost all his life savings or his dog just died. And then he heads straight for the gate.

“Who the hell is this jackass?” I mutter to Rachael as the figure nears us.

But before either of us can say anything more, Jackass decides to hit the gate open with a fist, drawing the at-tention of everyone around us. It’s like he wants everyone to hate him. I figure he’s probably that one neighbor that everyone despises, and he’s only here in a fit of rage because he wasn’t invited to the lamest barbecue get-together that’s ever been hosted.

“Sorry I’m late,” Jackass comments sarcastically. And loudly too, with a smirk on his lips. His eyes flash green as emeralds. “Did I miss anything besides the slaughtering of animals?” He throws up the infamous mid-dle finger to, from what I can see, the barbecue. “I hope you guys enjoyed the cow you just ate.” And then he laughs. He laughs as though everyone’s expressions of disgust are the most entertaining thing he’s seen all year.

“More beer?” I hear my dad call out to the silent crowd, and as they chuckle and return to their conversations, Jackass heads through the patio doors. He slams them shut so hard I can almost see the glass tremble.

I’m stunned. I have no idea what just happened or who that was or why he’s just entered the house. When I realize I’m slightly slack-jawed, I close my mouth and turn to Rachael.
She bites her lip and pushes her sunglasses down over her eyes. “I’m guessing you haven’t met your step-brother yet.”

Enter to Win a Copy of DIMILY & an advance copy of DIMINY. This giveaway is active December 1st-December 31st. Open to US & Canadian residents only:
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Coming Soon!
Did I Mention I Need You (March 2016) & Did I Mention I Miss You (June 2016)
 Book Info:
Title: Did I Mention I Need You?
Author: Estelle Maskame
Release Date: March 1, 2016
Publishers: Sourcebooks Fire

Eden and Tyler have desperately tried to ignore their love for each other for the sake of their family. But they can’t seem to stay apart for long, especially once Tyler invites Eden to spend the summer with him in New York.

Away from their life in California and caught up in the excitement of the city, their summer fling turns into something much more serious. Unable to deny their feelings, Tyler and Eden must face reality. But how will their family react when they confess their romance? And is their relationship strong enough to survive the fallout?

Pre-Order Links:
Barnes&Noble-  http://ow.ly/Vkldc
BooksAMillion- http://ow.ly/Vklph
!ndigo- http://ow.ly/VklIC 
Indiebound- http://ow.ly/VklTu

 Book Info:
Title: Did I Mention I Miss You?
Author: Estelle Maskame
Release Date: June 7, 2016
Publishers: Sourcebooks Fire

Eden’s on her way back to Santa Monica for the summer, and she hasn’t seen Tyler since the devastating fallout of their forbidden relationship. Eden claims to have moved on—but Tyler wants to rekindle the flame.

He convinces Eden to visit his new home in Portland, Oregon, where he has set up a center for troubled teens. Eden’s proud of what he’s built, but the last time they were together, it nearly destroyed Eden and their family. Then a tragedy draws them together, and Eden must search her heart and decide if Tyler is worth the risk once and for all.

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Spectacle by S.J Pierce Book Tour Stop (Spotlight)

The book tour for Spectacle by S.J Pierce stops here today!(Through Xpresso Book Tours) I have a excerpt and general information all ready to go!



Spectacle by S.J. Pierce
Publication date: July 13th 2015
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Synopsis:
Hunger Games meets Avatar in this spellbinding new Young Adult, Science-Fiction novel by bestselling author Susan James Pierce.
Two hundred years after the Great Disaster, the day earthquakes ravaged Earth’s landscapes, humanity has finally regrouped and is working toward a better future. But in New America – one of three remaining landmasses – the threat of overpopulation makes a better future seem bleaker by the year.
Mira (Mirabella) Foster and her parents are citizens of New America, and with the threat of starvation and disease looming on the horizon, a new discovery threatens to push everyone to the brink of chaos: blue markings develop on people’s skin. Markings that allow them to camouflage their skin, but also make them feared, and eventually, targets of violence.
Mira’s dad is one of them.


Excerpt

Following the scent of cheese toast and eggs, I stop short when I see my mom standing in the kitchen doorway, her hands fidgeting with the frayed hem of her apron, a tight smile on her face. I don’t like the way she looks at me – worried and afraid and about to cry all at the same time. “Mirabella, dear,” she says, almost whimpers. “Daddy and I need to talk to you.”
Heat crawls over my skin, flushing my cheeks and leaving gooseflesh on my arms. Dread squeezes my lungs. “Okay,” I manage, but it takes me a minute to remember how to walk. Mom doesn’t move out of my way.
I notice the radio isn’t on again. Dad usually listens to it for his morning news.
She kneels to look me at me on my level, and I know now something really bad must have happened… or is happening. Yet again, the rings around the moon were right.
“Everything’s okay,” she lies, reading my worried expression, “But I want to warn you about your father before you see him.”
My eyebrows draw together. Warn me?
I hear dad shifting in his chair, and he grunts nervously. My chest clenches tighter. All I want is to see him. To know what’s going on. I can’t fathom what she would have to warn me about.
“His skin is… different than before.”
“Different?”

“Yes, baby,” she soothes. “And whatever you do, please don’t scream. You know how thin these walls are.”I muster a nod.
“Okay,” she says, clasping my hand and straightening, “It’s time.”
She leads me into the kitchen, my heart racing, eyes snapping right to my father. He’s sitting with his face behind his hands, his elbows resting against the tabletop. The skin on his arms and hands look the same to me – smooth and the color of coffee with milk. Still normal. I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Is she looking?” he asks through his hands.
I answer for her. “Yes, daddy.”
He lets out a long slow breath – a brooding sigh.
“Show her, Grant,” mom pleads.
Moments pass. He sighs again and slowly moves his hands away. Behind them, blue marks, starting at the corners of his eyes, branch out in a rough, jagged pattern - like webs of blood vessels, but more defined - over his cheekbones and stopping along his jawline. Smaller patches curl around his temples. It almost looks like a butterfly, almost beautiful, like these odd markings are meant to be there. Like someone had painted them for fun. I would assume this is all a joke had my mom not been acting so weird.
I look up to her questioningly. Why would this have made me scream?
Her hand meets her chest, and I can tell she’s relieved I didn’t freak out, but not all the concern is gone from her eyes. At least she’s smiling normally now.
“So you aren’t afraid?” she asks.
“Why would I be?”
Her lips press tight. She throws a nervous glance at my father.
“Because these are permanent,” he says. “And they’ll get worse.”

Thursday, 20 August 2015

Spotlight+Giveaway The Suffering by Rin Chepeco

The Suffering
By Rin Chupeco
Hardcover ISBN 9781492629832; 
Trade Paper ISBN 9781492629849
Book Info:
Title: The Suffering
Author: Rin Chupeco
Release Date: September 1, 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Praise for the Suffering:

"Rin Chupeco's The Suffering is a horror lover's dream: murders, possessed dolls, and desiccated corpses. I cringed. I grimaced. You won't soon forget this exorcist and his vengeful water ghost."
--Kendare Blake, author of Anna Dressed in Blood

“Chupeco deftly combines ancient mysticism with contemporary dilemmas that teens face, immersing readers in horrors both supernatural and manmade. The Suffering is a chilling swim through the murky waters of morality.” 
--Carly Anne West, author of The Bargaining and The Murmuring
Summary:

Breathtaking and haunting, Rin Chupeco’s second novel is a chilling companion to her debut, The Girl from the Well.
The darkness will find you.
Seventeen-year-old Tark knows what it is to be powerless. But Okiku changed that. A restless spirit who ended life as a victim and started death as an avenger, she’s groomed Tark to destroy the wicked. But when darkness pulls them deep into Aokigahara, known as Japan’s suicide forest, Okiku’s justice becomes blurred, and Tark is the one who will pay the price…
Buy Links:
Barnes&Noble- http://ow.ly/PrKLh
Books A Million- http://ow.ly/PrL7j
Indiebound- http://ow.ly/PrLXu

About the Author:
Despite uncanny resemblances to Japanese revenants, Rin Chupeco has always maintained her sense of humor. Raised in Manila, Philippines, she keeps four pets: a dog, two birds, and a husband. She's been a technical writer and travel blogger, but now makes things up for a living. Connect with Rin at www.rinchupeco.com.
Social Networking Links:

Excerpt from The Suffering:
It’s still early morning when our group is given clearance to enter. Aokigahara is a deceptive forest. It has all the hallmarks of a popular tourist destination: narrow but well-­maintained hiking trails with a surprising amount of litter, not to mention strips of tape and ribbon wrapped around tree trunks. The leader explains that hikers use them as markers to maintain their bearings. Later on, one of the other volunteers whispers to us that some of the tapes were left by those who came here to kill themselves, in case they decided to change their minds. The revelation horrifies Callie.
A few miles into our hike, anything resembling civilization disappears. Roots crawl across the hard forest floor, and it’s easy to trip if you’re not constantly looking down. We’re outside, but the trees make it feel claustrophobic. They reach hungrily toward the sun, fighting each other for drops of light, and this selfishness grows with the darkness as we move deeper into the woods.
It’s quiet. The silence is broken by the scuffling of feet or snapping of dry twigs as we walk. Every so often, volunteers call back and forth to each other, and rescue dogs exploring the same vicinity that we are will bark. But there are no bird calls, no sounds of scampering squirrels. We’re told that there is very little wildlife in Jukai. Nothing seems to flourish here but trees.
This deep into the woods, any roads and cleared paths are gone. At times, we’re forced to climb to a higher ledge or slide down steep slopes to proceed, and there’s always some root or rock hiding to twist an ankle.
And yet—­the forest is beautiful. I like myself too much to seriously think about suicide, even during my old bouts of depression, but I can understand why people would choose to die here. There is something noble and enduring and magnificent about the forest.
That sense of wonder disappears though, the instant I see them. There are spirits here. And the ghosts mar the peacefulness for me. They hang from branches and loiter at the base of tree trunks. Their eyes are open and their skin is gray, and they watch me as I pass. I don’t know what kind of people they were in life, but they seem faded and insignificant in death.
Okiku watches them but takes no action. These are not the people she hunts. They don’t attack us because they’re not that kind of ghosts. Most of them, I intuit, aren’t violent. The only lives they had ever been capable of taking were their own.
I’m not afraid, despite their bloated faces, contorted from the ropes they use to hang themselves or the overdose of sleeping pills they’ve taken. If anything, I feel lingering sadness. I can sympathize with their helpless anguish. These people took their own lives, hoping to find some meaning in death when they couldn’t find it in life. But there’s nothing here but regret and longing.
And there’s that tickle again, so light it is nearly imperceptible. Something in this forest attracts these deaths. It lures its unhappy victims with its strange siren’s call and then, having taken what it needs, leaves their spirits to rot. A Venus flytrap for human souls.
Something is wrong here, and suddenly, the forest no longer looks as enticing or majestic as when we arrived.

New in Paperback from this Author: The Girl From The Well
Praise for The Girl From The Well:
“[A] Stephen King-like horror story.” -Kirkus Reviews           

“Told in a marvelously disjointed fashion.”  -Publishers Weekly STARRED Review                              

“This gorgeously written story reads like poetry.” -Brazos Bookstore                                                                     

“Darkly mesmerizing.” -The Boston Globe

“A superior creep factor that is pervasive in every lyrical word.” -Booklist


Summary:
 The Ring  meets The Exorcist in this haunting and lyrical reimagining of the Japanese fable.
Okiku has wandered the world for hundreds of years, setting free the spirits of murdered children. Wherever there’s a monster hurting a child, her spirit is there to deliver punishment. Such is her existence, until the day she discovers a troubled American teenager named Tark and the dangerous demon that writhes beneath his skin, trapped by a series of intricate tattoos. Tark needs to be freed, but there is one problem—if the demon dies, so does its host.
With the vigilante spirit Okiku as his guide, Tark is drawn deep into a dark world of sinister doll rituals and Shinto exorcisms that will take him far from American suburbia to the remote valleys and shrines of Japan. Can Okiku protect him from the demon within or will her presence bring more harm? The answer lies in the depths of a long-forgotten well
Buy Links:
Barnes&Noble- http://ow.ly/PrQFa
Books A Million- http://ow.ly/PrQQU
Indiebound- http://ow.ly/PrQp2

Rafflecopter Giveaway:
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Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Dark Souls Tour Stop: Spotlight Post



Book Title:Dark Souls
Dark Souls Series
Volume 1
Ketley Allison

Genre: New Adult, Urban Fantasy
Date of Publication: July 19, 2013

ISBN 978-0-615-85755-8
Number of pages 280
Word count: 103, 000

Book Description 
    19-year-old Emily desperately wants a name for what she is. For what is consuming and torturing her. For what is changing her. But she's not crazy like her mother. She's not. Emily may not be as crazy as she thinks, because her body is no longer her own. Something is stirring inside her. It's soft, seductive, and tells her what to do to survive. As Emily learns that he world has been infected by demons that consume human souls and fit seamlessly into the bodies they empty, she must also accept that she is one of them. Yet she is different form the rest, because her darkness didn't inhabit her, it was awakened, and it doesn't just want the humans.

Short Excerpt
       I was never supposed to live.
       At least, that is what my mother would scream at me during her rages, her face twisted into savage fury as she lunged at me--either to kill me or to mutilate me, I could never really tell.
       "You are wrong"
       "You are an abomination" She cried before charging at me, her right arm raised high as if to slay me in one swift, ferocious plunge.
       Yet for reasons that still escape me, she could never make that one final move. She would always stop mid-leap, he face frozen and twisted for a few terrifying seconds before I would see her body slacken, her tendons snapping and releasing like broken cords as she fell heavily to the floor, just before reaching me. What I remember most clearly, was that moment of calm, chilling stillness, just before her legs would collapse beneath her, where her eyes, wide and unblinking, would focus solely on mine. Even when the rage turned into haggard despair, she would never look away.
       That memory, the image of my mother that I could never entirely erase, was the first thing that entered my mind when my world started falling apart.
       The beginning of my destruction started out suspiciously enough. White blurred into back in front of me, the steam rising like smoke and clogging my breath as I stirred, clink, click, clink. My face was heated, too hot, and I swiped a quick hand over my damp brow before I mustered a smile.
       "Here you are"
       "Oh, uh, no. I ordered a white mocha. Not a mocha, mocha."
       I lifted tired eyes to his face, lowering my chin in apology. "Shoot, sorry, just hang on a sec."
       "Yeah well, hurry up would you, I have class in like two minutes."
       Then maybe you shouldn't be stopping three blocks away for some chocolate coffee. My smile didn't transmit my thoughts as I grabbed the steaming cup. I adjusted my apron as I walked back to the coffee station, wincing as the hot cardboard began to scald my fingertips. I swore as the thunked it down on the counter and the coffee hit my hand.
       Holding my hand against my stomach, I used the other to grab a fresh cup and tried to ignore the sounds of impatient patrons behind me.
       What was wrong with me today?
       I felt normal, but not quite. My mind felt thick, my focus slightly wavering on the edges, enough to make me slightly dizzy. I blinked, trying to bring back clarity to both my vision and my thoughts as I fiddled with the espresso machine.Once started, I leaned my head against the cool cabinet doors above, waiting for my heated thick skin to finally cool down.
       "You okay? You look like you have found a hidden portal inside the espresso."
       Marcy Forrester's warm brown eyes were trained on mine as I glanced behind me at here.
       "Is it a portal back in time? 'Cuz I could really use a do-over this morning."
       I squinted, trying hard to focus on her. She went hazy for only a moment before my eyes readjusted.
       "No, I'm fine, it's just been a busy morning." I finally replied as I twisted the dial on the milk steamer. I couldn't even muster up the energy to banter with my best friend like I usually did.
       "You're not seriously stressed are you? You should have seen my morning. I usually bomb Natural Science, but this morning was a particularly epic explosion. Her eyes followed me as I walked past her and dropped the guy's white mocha. In front of him.

(The rest of this got cut off because of a picture that I couldn't move. I apologize.) 

About the Author
       Ketley Allison is twenty-something (maybe almost thirty-something) who believes that super natural love shouldn't stop at eighteen. She began her career writing books as birthday presents for her friends (with her friend as the main character opposite a super sexy lead, of course.) before ending it to walk down a path that she thought she was supposed to follow.
       The writing bug never left her--and in fact, would often bleed into the official papers she was supposed to write--so now Ketley is putting down her suit and finally following her dream. While her friends are no longer the stars of her books, she still throws bits and pieces of them into each and every one of her characters.
       As a result, her books tend to focus on friendships as well as love, because let's face it, friends are really what get you through--especially when your epic love turns into epic heartbreak.



Web Blog: here

Twitter: @KetleyAllison

Ketley's Facebook: here

Goodreads: here