Monday, September 30, 2013

Book Review: Casted by Sonya Loveday

 
 
Blurb:
 
“My mind absorbed everything in the spell book I clutched tightly to me. Pages ruffled inside of my head, urging me to remember things and then to forget them. Voices chanted with tempo rising at the breaking points of pain until the book vanished and words to an ancient spell scribed across my arms. Each stroke brought blood to the surface, imprinting words I could not read; words that would forever change who I was.”

Jade had spent the majority of her life running from the Triad. A powerful group, who would stop at nothing to obtain Jade and the missing spell book for leader, Lorenzo’s, nefarious plans. And now that she has absorbed the highly coveted magic contained inside the missing book, there is nowhere left for her to hide.

With the help of her friends, Jade steps out from the shadows and learns how to fight back. But no one is prepared for Elinor-the woman bound inside of the book that’s trapped in Jade’s mind. Now she not only needs to protect herself from the Triad, but from what’s hiding inside her mind as well.

Jade never expected the answer to it all would revolve around love.

Edge is dark, mysterious, and a sworn member of the Triad. He also hides a secret past that threatens the thin line he walks between good and evil. Lives are at stake when Jade and Edge’s two worlds collide. Can Jade learn to trust him when he says he is her pre-ordained and vows to do everything he can to protect her? But more importantly, can she trust herself and the woman in her mind?
 
My thoughts:
 
With a blurb like this (not to forget the amazing cover!), how could I turn down the chance of receiving a copy from Sonya? Let me tell you how my reading went….
Started reading late night and had to stop after only 10% done. It had been a long day, and I had my youngest home that day, due to some fever. So I was tired, but needed something to take my mind off things – and decided to start reading Casted. Turned out it was EXACTLY the kind of distraction I needed.
Next day: two kids home sick, which all parents out there know means running around the house making sure everyone get what they need, leaving little to no time left for much else. Right up to the point when lunch was closing in. Both my kids wanted pancakes – and seriously, so did I. I decided it would be an excellent time to try out my multi-tasking skills, and ran for the kitchen with my kindle.
The result? Most of the pancakes were perfectly made, a few slightly crispy – more than intentional. LOL But damn, I just couldn’t put Casted down. When the kids finally got tucked in, I turned right back to Casted and read until late night. My eyes were crossing, my head hurt, and I was soo tired, but it was worth every second.
I can’t possible explain to you how much I love this book. To follow Jade from being a timid, scared girl, to a woman who will stand down for nothing, who will fight to her death for her friends and loved ones. See how she tries to work and tame her magic, to control it, her desperation of being linked with Elinor (the woman in the book), her fear and anger towards the Triad for what they have done to her family, to herself and to countless others – all to get their hand on a book. And honestly, that book is…well, it’s creepy. Not only is Elinor bound inside the book, but some of the spells inside its pages….Phew… If they got in the wrong hands, they could cause more than havoc!
I enjoyed the connection between Edge and Jade, and the fact that he gave her space enough so she could try and understand what was going on between them, come to terms with a lot of the things going on around her. See, Jade didn’t know she was a witch. At all. Her mother bound her powers to protect her, which was all good and well, but things like that usually backfires.
The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, and I will be waiting “patiently” to read the second book, once Sonya is done with it – AFTER she’s done with her SUPER SECRET project (which I don’t know a thing about *cough,cough*).
Sonya creates a tale that draws you in and ensnares you without you even realizing it. Her writing style is captivating (yup – so make sure you’re loaded with everything you need in reach), complex with new twists around the corner (so don’t feel safe reading Casted) and is pure magic.
Seriously, if you’re looking for a captive story about witches, determination, stubbornness, magic, love, action, battle between good and bad (with all kinds of grey), interesting characters and fetching storyline – don’t look any further. Casted will certainly give you everything you’re looking for – and much, much more! And to tell you the truth… I can’t believe this is Sonya’s FIRST book. It is insanely good!!!
About Sonya:
 
Sonya Loveday, first and foremost is a reader, an avid one. It is of that love that brought her to the realization that this was the answer to the nagging persistent feeling that ‘there’s got to be something more’.
The dream came alive in 2009 when she purchased her laptop and began the tedious step of becoming a published author.
When she’s not reading, she’s writing. When she’s not writing, she’s reading. And when she’s not doing either of those things she’s sleeping, shuttling her children back and forth to school, letting the dogs and cats in and out of the house for the umpteenth time in the last hour and dreaming of a clean house.
 
Where to stalk eerh, find Sonya:
 
 
 
 
 
Where to buy Casted:
 
 
 
 
 
 


Cover Reveal: Seal of Awakening by Traci Douglass

About the book:
Socially awkward geneticist Quinn Strickland has willingly forgone the pleasures in life to reach her career objectives. Alone and approaching thirty, she uses her independence to mitigate any risk of a broken heart. Her strategy works until the day a handsome stranger bursts into her lab and her orderly plans shoot straight to Hades. He claims to be her personal divine protector, a powerful, ancient warrior sent to defend a prophetic time bomb existing within her own genetic code.
The Scion’s alpha-geek Wyck is offered the opportunity of his immortal lifetime as head of his own covert operation. He arrives at a Colorado lab expecting starched white coats and sterile surroundings—not a redheaded spitfire in charge of both his project and his libido. His skills have carried him from the battlefields of ancient England to the pits of Hell and he has no plans to be felled by one woman, regardless of her shag-worthy charms. Divine duty requires him to protect the apocalyptic Seal encrypted within Quinn’s DNA, but his heart has other ideas. When his personal feelings interfere with his age-old vendetta, he’s forced to decide between desire and retribution.
 
About the Author:
 
Traci is the author of paranormal romance/urban fantasy and contemporary romances featuring a sly, urban edge, including her current Seven Seals series. Her stories feature sizzling alpha-male heroes full of dark humor, quick wits and major attitudes; smart, independent heroines who always give as good as they get; and scrumptiously evil villains who are—more often than not—bent on world destruction. She enjoys weaving ancient curses and mythology, modern science and old religion, and great dialogue together to build red-hot, sizzling chemistry between her main characters.
She is an active member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), Indiana Romance Writers of America (IRWA) and Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Writers (FF&P) and is pursing a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Writing Popular Fiction through Seton Hill University. Her stories have made the final rounds in several RWA chapter contests, including the 2012 Duel on the Delta, the 2012 Molly Awards, and the 2012 Catherine Awards. An earlier draft of the first book in the Seven Seals Series, Seal of Destiny, won the paranormal category of the 2012 Marlene Awards sponsored by the Washington Romance Writers.
Other current projects include upcoming books in the Seven Seals series, a new contemporary novella series due out in early 2014, and a new futuristic suspense series with hints of the paranormal and plenty of romance.
 
Where to find Traci:
 
 
And NOW.... here's the cover!!!
What do you think?
 
 


Sunday, September 29, 2013

Book Tour: Children of the Plague - Review

 
My Thoughts:
 


A nanite plague hits the world, and very few survive. And then most are turned into husks – empty shells, of once humans, controlled by Hosts. Everything is being controlled by the Con. And then there’re the offsprings… Some of the first victims in the plague, where the unborn children. The ones who survived clawed their way out of their mother, forever changed into something different.



Then we have the ones who survived the plague, children, teenagers and adults. The nanites have infected some of these survivors and altered them. Just like Alex and his twin sister, Lanni. Alex is getting closer to be a Host each day, and Lanni has a shield so strong, the nanites can’t penetrate it. Lannie can manipulate the nanites, stabilize the infected people. This is what she has been doing with a pregnant woman – humanity’s last hope for bringing normal children to life.



But can a fourteen old girl make any difference in this new and dangerous world, where the lines are about to be drawn and the war is coming very close?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


 
 
The beginning was a bit confusing for me, I lost track of the timeline, due to some jump in time and place.  But once the jumping settled down, I had no trouble following the story, and found it interesting. 

The relationship between Lannie and her twin brother Alex is.. screwed. Alex is slowly turning into a Host, and all Lannie can do is sit back, try and stabilize the Con, manipulate the nanites, and then she know it isn’t going to cut it. At some point, she has to make the worst decision and kill her brother. At the same

time, Alexis trying to buy himself and others, some time. A big war is coming, and everyone is needed.



There are so many mysteries in this book that didn’t get solved.



The fight scenes are beautifully made, the characters – well, only the surface has been scratched when it comes to them (in my opinion), and I’m curious about what will happen. All in all, the book is good, the series has great potential, the author is amazing, and I’m curious enough that I want to read the next when it arrives.
 
About the Author:
 
 


 

Gregory Carrico is a former dental practice management consultant and software trainer. Abandoning his dream of working the daily grind until death, he was forced into the thankless life of a fiction writer. Now an Amazon.com Best Selling horror and science fiction writer, as well as a 2013 HFA Author of the Year Finalist, he finds a small degree of succor in crafting despicable bad guys and then tricking readers into caring about them.



When not creating new worlds and plotting their destruction, he advocates for adopting rescue dogs, and politely urges slower drivers to get out of the passing lane.

  
 
Where to find Greg:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Buy Links:
 
 

Take Chances Teaser Tour by KC Sprayberry


 
Good Morning! My name is KC Sprayberry. Sabina Bundgaard of Sabina's Adventures in Reading has let me hijack her blog today. The purpose is to tease all of her very dedicated readers with information about my soon-to-be-released YA coming of age novel, Take Chances.
 

Hang on, ladies, we're interviewing Julie's secret crush, Michael Taylor today. I'm told he's a pirate hottie. Let's see.

 

1. Introduce yourself to our readers. What should we know about you?

 

Hey, Michael Taylor here. I'm a photographer – of kids in action. Kind of like I was back in high school. Give me a raging river and a boat, the side of a mountain, hitting a home run, or making an end zone run, and I'm there. Love what I do, but tell you what. You'll never believe this. There's this girl I've loved since I was a senior, and she was a sophomore, but I didn't dare get close to her until she was eighteen.

 

The reason for that? Oh, you really want to know? Well, it was her mom. She caught me watching Julie one day while we were all playing basketball in Tom's driveway. You would have thought Lacey caught me undressing Julie in a public park, the way she went on and on about men like me. I'd just graduated Landry High, didn't have a clue what I wanted to do next, and well, I was just hanging out with my buds.

 

Now, Lacey, she decided that she didn't want me around, so she told me to get out town or go to jail. It took me two years to come back, but I'm glad I did.

 

2. What do you think about the author? Tell us everything. We want to know.

 

Did a fab job. I'm not much of a writer, but this lady is like Julie – just loves writing. And calling me a pirate hottie. Wow! I'm blushing just thinking about that. Never thought of myself that way. But all is good now. Julie called me her pirate guy just last night, while were having steaks at this great place in Wyoming. I guess being a pirate hottie is good.

 

3. What are your feelings about this story?

 

It's about time someone told this story. I really hated abandoning Julie, really hated losing her to Lukas … but well, I guess I never did lose her to Lukas, but that's why Julie is the way she is - being a good friend to everyone but herself. Then there's all the crap Charles and Lacey put on everyone, making them feel like pond scum just 'cause they didn't go around stabbing everyone in the back. I'm so glad those two will never hurt Julie again.

 

4. How do you feel about being a character in this book?

 

There I am, taking pics at the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania, and I got this urge to go home to Landry. The final game had just finished, everyone was celebrating, but not me. I booked onto the first flight to Atlanta, grabbed my SUV from where my folks live, and drove up to Landry. Then I had to come up with this lame story about stopping off to say goodbye to everyone before I went to Germany. That totally freaked Julie. Now that I know why, I'll make sure I don't freak her out again. All this means that I absolutely love being a character in this book. I might not have got a chance to be with Julie if I wasn't.

 

5. What do you see in your future? (No spoilers please!)

 

Going to college with Julie next winter. Sure, it's fun traveling the country, looking for Reboot locations and getting a ton of pictures for a new show with the two of us, but winter is no joy at all. Besides, I'll have time with her all to myself. Don't get me wrong. Lydie is a nice girl, but she's a fifth wheel when I want time with Julie.

 

6. Is there another Take Chances in the future? Will you be part of it?

 

Be kind of hard to do another Take Chances. We took the biggest chance of all, and we beat the odds. Now, I'd rather stick with my photography, some college, and lots of time with Julie.

 

7. Say a movie producer comes knocking. What actor/actress would you want to play you and why?
 
 

 I know just the guy. The guy that plays Silas Botwin on Weeds – Hunter Parrish. He'd be perfect as me!

 

Blurb:

 

Julie Bond grew up in Europe as a military brat. She found her very first permanent home in Landry, GA as a teen going into high school. Almost four years later, she's having pre-graduation jitters and flashing back to an incident of school violence she experienced in Europe. She attempts to convince herself that it can never happen again, but continually finds herself flashing back to that day no matter how hard she tries.

The people around her present any number of problems for Julie, and she's hard put to keep from drowning under all the issues. Then Michael--a cool guy she's had a crush on for the last three years—returns from traveling the US as a photographer, and Julie now has one more thing to distract her as she prepares to leave high school. One thing she firmly believes in: no one will ever invade her classroom with violence again.

Once again, the impossible happens. Once again, she's in a classroom with a madman holding a gun. Once again, she must survive.
 

Teaser Excerpt:

Landry High's walls fade. I again sit at the little table in kindergarten. The door opens. Three men and two women come through it. They have automatic rifles. One shoots into the ceiling. Another shouts.

Achtung!
 

Bio:

 

KC Sprayberry started writing young, with a diary followed by an interest in English. Her first experience with publication came when she placed third in a Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge contest while in the Air Force, but her dedication to writing came after she had her youngest child, now a in his senior year of high school.

Her family lives in Northwest Georgia where she spends her days creating stories about life in the south, and far beyond. More than a dozen of her short stories have appeared in several magazines. Five anthologies feature other short stories, and her young adult novel Softly Say Goodbye, released in 2012. During 2013, more young adult stories have been released: The Ghost Catcher, Who Am I?, Family Curse … Times Two, and Amazon Best Seller, Canoples Investigations Tackles Space Pirates.

You can find her on the web here:










 

 
Hello! Here's the day you were waiting for, through Sunday, September 29. You can pick up my other YA coming of age books, Softly Say Goodbye and Who Am I? free on Amazon:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thank you Sabina Bundgaard of Sabina's Adventures in Reading for hosting me today. Tomorrow you find the next Teaser Tour on K.C. Sprayberry's Out ofControl Characters.
 

 


Saturday, September 28, 2013

Tour: Dream Child by JJ DiBenedetto - spotlight

 
About Dream Child:
 
"I would give anything to take this away from her.  I would gladly go back to having the nightmares myself – the very worst ones, the ones that had me waking up screaming in a pool of my own vomit – rather than see Lizzie go through this..." 
As a resident at Children's Hospital, Sara can handle ninety hour workweeks, fighting to save her young patients from deadly childhood diseases.  But she's about to be faced with a challenge that all her training and experience haven't prepared her for: her four-year-old daughter has inherited her ability to see other people's dreams...
"Dream Child" is the suspenseful third novel in the "Dreams" series.
About JJ DiBenedetto:
 
J.J. (James) DiBenedetto was born in Yonkers, New York. He attended Case Western Reserve University, where as his classmates can attest, he was a complete nerd. Very little has changed since then.
He currently lives in Arlington, Virginia with his beautiful wife and their cat (who has thoroughly trained them both). When he's not writing, James works in the direct marketing field, enjoys the opera, photography and the New York Giants, among other interests.
The "Dreams" series is James' first published work.


Where you can find James:
Buy Links:
Excerpt from Dream Child:
 

Pete whistles.  “Wow,” he says to Lizzie.  “An engineer and a doctor.  You’ve got some pretty smart parents.”  He laughs.  “I’m a Congressman.  Do you know what that is?”
Lizzie answers immediately.  “We saw it today!  That’s the big white building with the big round top and the statue at the very tippy-top.” 
“That’s where I work,” Pete agrees.  “But do you know what we do there?”
Lizzie shakes her head.  I’m sure she got a running commentary about it from her grandmother, even if it probably all went in one ear and straight out the other.  “Didn’t Grandma Helen tell you about it, when you were out today?”
“She said a lot of stuff,” Lizzie admits, then she concentrates, trying to remember anything that Helen told her.  Compared to ice-skating for the first time, I’m not surprised that nothing else really stuck with Lizzie.  But I’m wrong.  “She said – she said – that’s where they tell everybody in the whole country what to do.”  She fixes Pete with a very serious stare.  “Is that your job?  Do you tell everybody what to do?”
Pete grins.  “It’s a little bit more complicated than that.”
Lizzie has an immediate answer.  “Com – com – comlickpated is what Mommy says when I ask her and she doesn’t want to tell me something.”  I look at Pete apologetically.  I guess I’ve kind of raised a monster.  On the other hand, she is sort of right.  It’s my own fault - if I don’t want her asking difficult questions, I shouldn’t bring her with me to the hospital. 
“There’s no getting anything past you, is there?” Pete says, still grinning.  “Let me explain it this way.  Your parents don’t tell you what to do every minute, but they make rules for you so you’ll be safe, and healthy and so you can grow up the way you should.  That’s kind of what the Congress does, except for the whole country.” 
Lizzie considers that.  “Like no ice cream before dinner and no running in the street and never ever ever ever touch the ox - oxy - oxygen machine?”
 

Friday, September 27, 2013

Cover Reveal: Saved by the Spell

 
Hello Lovelies!
Thank you for stopping by today. I have a cover reveal for you this morning, Hosted by the amazing Lady Amber Tours: Saved by the Spell by Casey Keen, her second book in the Anna Wolfe series. Let's talk about the book first, shall we?
 
Blurb:
Two worlds in danger.
 
A Grand Witch behind bars.
 
A stunning Werewolf and a devilishly handsome Warlock’s pursuit for her affections.
 
You think you have it bad? Grand Witch Anna Wolfe awakens to find herself imprisoned by Micah, the Prince of Darkness. Micah’s on a quest for world domination—and it’s not just the Netherworld that’s in danger. The human world is threatened as well. Now, it’s up to Anna to escape from Micah's clutches so she can locate The Scholars and an ancient book before both falls into the wrong hands.
 
With a fiercely loyal Werewolf and immensely powerful Warlock by her side, what can go wrong? 
 
A lot apparently. 
 
If fighting off the Prince of Darkness wasn’t enough, Anna’s emotions are a whirlwind, as she battles between what fate demands and what she actually wants.
 
About Casey Keen:
 
 
I was born in Philadelphia, PA and grew up in the suburban outskirts of this amazing city. I love anything paranormal and/or supernatural - seriously I live in Philadelphia! For those of you who don’t know, this city is an awesomely haunted place! This healthy paranormal addiction has provided me the motivation to write my first book, “I’ll Be Damned.” I graduated from Drexel University with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and I'm currently working on the Anna Wolfe Series
 
Where to find Casey:
 
 
 
 
 
And now.... the amazing cover for Saved by the Spell!!!!