Review Holding Out for Skye by S.R. McKade Blog Tour Start

Title: Holding Out for Skye
Author: S.R. McKade
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Release Date: Feb 6 2013
Edition: eBook
Blurb/Synopsis:
 Things are finally starting to look up for Skye Fletcher. She’s got a new job with a great salary, she’s finally out of the rat-trap she used to live in and into a decent apartment. She couldn’t be happier. Except for the thorn in her side, a.k.a. Cian Hunter, her arrogant and too good-looking co-worker whom she has the misfortune of being stuck with.
In spite of himself, Cian Hunter fell hard for the surly, unfriendly woman who made no secret of her dislike for him. He knows he and Skye are meant to be. Convincing her of that fact seems like an impossible feat. However, he’s utterly confident he’s up to the task. His future and his happiness depend on it, after all.
When Skye’s one impulsive, uncharacteristic little act changes the status-quo between them, her life gets entangled with Cian’s way more than she’s comfortable with.
That’s when her life really turns upside down…

Interview with Meglena Ivanova Author of The Legend of the Moonstone

Title: The Legend of the Moonstone
Author: Meglena Ivanova
Series: Sacred Stones Trilogy
Genre: SciFi /Fantasy
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Release Date: Aug 8 2013
Synopsis:

When Daniel first met Professor Stransky,
he was only fifteen. Daniel was amazed by everything in the hall. All gems and minerals the Professor had exhibited behind the glass panes seemed to bewitch him, and the story of the Moonstone changed his life and philosophy thoroughly. What happened the day they met, predestined events that would have happened anyway, but this was the best way to start them.
After his encounter with the Professor, Daniel improved his results and soon was admitted to the University where Stransky taught. It had been several years since the meeting between the mysterious Professor and the boy with extraordinary power. Some very important moments of this meeting were engraved in the memories of both of them, but they seemed to be replaced by others, required by the present. When they met again, the thought of these past memories lurked in their minds as if this meeting had not been fully completed and that gave them no peace day or night. For a long time none of them had remembered their first encounter. While Professor Stransky was telling the legend of the Moonstone, however, something had broken in both of them and they had started tying up the events of their lives that had led to this current moment when the story of The Moonstone was perceived as fact rather than fiction.

Giveaway & Review Atlas by Becca C Smith Blog Tour Start

Title: Atlas
Author: Becca C Smith
Series: The Atlas Series Book #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Red Frog Publishing
Release Date: Nov 2013
Edition/Formats Available In: eBook & Print
Blurb/Synopsis:
Kala Hicks never imagined she’d be fighting demons, angels and gods when she joined the Navy. But when her elite covert military team is on a mission aboard Air Force One and Kala is forced to shoot the President her life changes forever.
The moment the President is killed the Titan god, Atlas, speaks to Kala, telling her that she has to do his job by committing one act of atrocity every four days… or the world will end. Kala faces off against creatures of legend; from demons determined to make her fail and plunge the Earth into chaos, to angels who don’t trust her to do the job and are willing to kill her to claim it for themselves.
Pitted against the forces of good and evil, Kala must choose whether to save the world by doing the unthinkable, or sit back and let it burn.
Four days later, she’ll have to do it again.

Spotlight Conspirators of the Lost Sock Army and Loose Change Collection Agency by Dan O'Brien

You’re never too old to have one more adventure 

Brought to life by Steve Ferchaud’s vibrant drawings, this story for all ages by Dan O’Brien lets us know that it is never too late to have one more adventure. 

An Excerpt:

Robert Pendleton opened one eye as the light of a passing car flashed over the window, shattering the darkness into prisms. He rolled onto his back on the beat-up couch and yawned as he reached his hands up and rubbed his eyes unceremoniously. 

He looked out over the darkness at the digital clock. The red digits spelled out a quarter ‘til midnight––nearly fourteen hours of sleep. He smiled and grabbed one of the cushions of the couch, burying his head in it. Just enough sleep, he reminded himself. Robert felt that anything less than twelve hours of sleep was very nearly too little. 

He grasped blindly for the TV remote. 

Groaning as he lifted his head, he looked at the empty table––his eyes drawn by another flash of a passing car. He couldn’t see clearly, but he knew that the remote had been there before he had fallen asleep nearly half a day ago. 

“Could have sworn….” he mumbled as he pushed himself up and brushed his hand around the top of the table, finding nothing. “Where did….”

Another groan escaped his lips as he lifted his body to a sitting position and threw aside the cluster of pillows that he had gathered around himself. He reached out for the lamp, but instead knocked it to the floor with a resounding thud. 

Robert muttered as he stood up from the couch, and then sank to his knees to search around in the darkness for the fallen lamp. Reaching around on the shadowed floor, shards of the broken lamp scattered like pieces of light. 

He turned his head, peering beneath the large space underneath the couch and saw the reflection of the buttons on the remote. The off-gray piece of machinery was underneath the couch––only darkness lingered beyond it. He reached out as he spoke again. 

“How did it get all the way down there?” 

Robert flexed his hand and strained as he twisted his back to reach farther; yet, the remote remained just out of reach. He pulled his arm away with a huff and craned his neck to the side, staring underneath into the darkness below the couch. 

His eyes widened as he saw the impossible: there was something beyond the remote. He shook his head and closed his eyes, whispering to himself that he didn’t see what he thought he had.

“I saw a little man,” he whispered to himself as he opened his eyes once more and nearly gasped as he did so. 

The figure was closer now and he could make out the outline clearly. A tiny man rested just beyond the remote. 

“What in the name of…?”

“Not here in the name of nobody, laddie. I be a friend though,” crooned the miniscule figure as he interrupted Robert and stepped forward, placing a hand on the darkened and slick surface of the remote. 

A tam-o’-shanter crested his bright red hair, the shaggy mane blending perfectly into his equally crimson, neatly trimmed, beard. 

A billow of whitish smoke drifted from the long-stemmed pipe that he held clenched between his lips. 

Robert fell back and knocked aside the adjacent table. Rubbing his eyes, he spoke a single word: “Leprechaun.”

About the Author:

Dan O’Brien, founder and editor-in-chief of The Northern California Perspective, has written over 20 books––including the bestselling Bitten, which was featured on Conversations Book Club’s Top 100 novels of 2012. Before starting Amalgam, he was the senior editor and marketing director for an international magazine. In addition, he has spent over a decade in the publishing industry as a freelance editor. You can learn more about his literary and publishing consulting business by visiting his website at: www.amalgamconsulting.com. Contact him today to order copies of the book or have them stocked at your local bookstore. He can he reached by email at amalgamconsulting@gmail.com. 

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Would you like to win a remarked copy of Conspirators of the Lost Sock Army and Loose Change Collection Agency signed by the author and illustrator?

Simply follow the author here and here and a few winners will be randomly selected on March 20th!

Giveaway & Spotlight After Life Lessons by Laila Blake & L.C. Spoering

Title: After Life Lessons 

Authors:  Laila Blake & L.C. Spoering

Series: After Life Lessons #1

Genre: Post-Apoc Romance

Publisher: Lilt Literary

Release Date: April 8, 2014

Blurb/Synopsis:

Hulking shadows emerge out of the chaotic flurries of the blizzard. Something is dying, and so they come, like vultures.

After months of struggling south to escape the zombie-infested remains of New York, a snowstorm traps 23-year old artist, Emily, and her son in an abandoned gas station. Starving and desperate, they encounter Aaron, an Army medic on a mission of his own, who offers them a ride to ease the journey.

The road is a long and dangerous place to travel, and every day brings a new threat. But fear and adrenaline also drive the two closer together; they find laughter and a budding attraction that starts to thaw at their numb and deadened feelings. And that’s when the pain really starts to hit, when places long thought lost prickle back to life. Eventually, they will have to fight not just for survival, but for a future together, or their broken world will swallow them whole.

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Cover Reveal Complication by K.A. Salidas

Title: Complication

Author: K.A. Salidas

Series: Chronicles of the Uprising (#2)

Genre: Paranormal/Dystopian 

Publisher: Rising Sign Books

Release Date:  2014

Narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Magistrate, Mira travels west, toward the coast. With three weakened human fugitives accompanying her, she searches for the mythical land of Sanctuary. 

After encountering a pack of wolf shifters, headed by the charismatic—and brazen—Stryker, Mira learns that Sanctuary is real after all.  Caldera Grove: home of the Otherkin. Hidden in the mouth of a dormant volcano, it has protected its residents from humans since the early days following the great cataclysm. For Mira— a vampire— Caldera Grove is a land of peace; an escape from the relentless persecution of the humans who once enslaved her, and an end to the daily struggle and bloodshed of being a gladiator. 

For the humans accompanying her, Caldera Grove means death. Humans, greedy and untrustworthy creatures, are destroyed before they can penetrate its borders. 

To plead her case for entry into Caldera, Mira must abandon her companions, albeit temporarily, and follow Stryker into the heart of the city. What she finds within Caldera Grove presents her with an unenviable decision between her own desires for freedom and peace, or honor and the human companions who risked it all for her.

Places to find K.A. Salidas

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Cover Reveal Night Moves by Kristen Strassel

Title: Night Moves

Author: Kristen Strassel

Series: Night Songs Collection Series (#2)

Genre: NA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Foreword Literary

Blurb/Synopsis:

Melanie Vaughn’s job ruined everything. Her social life, nonexistent. Her relationship with her boyfriend, a hostile roommate situation. She resolves to fix everything one snowy afternoon, but instead comes home to discover her boyfriend is already exploring other options. Blonder, bustier options. Rage drives Melanie to do the unthinkable.

When Soul Divider was on the top of the world, so was Ryder Maddox. When the band faded into obscurity, Ryder’s luck plummeted with it. In a last ditch effort to rekindle the band’s heyday, Soul Divider teams up with powerful vampire clean leader, Talis de Rancourt. In return for her services, the band pays the ultimate price for never ending fame.

Now on the run, Melanie meets Ryder in a middle of nowhere hotel. She never expected her teenage rock star crush to be as lost and as in need of a companion as she is. Their connection is all consuming, even before they find they share another kinship: murder.

The newly turned vampires in Soul Divider still have a lot to learn. The police and public begin to connect the girls that go missing or die in sync with the band’s tour schedule. Back at home, clues are also adding up against Melanie as well. Between constant media coverage and unrelenting attention from the authorities, Melanie and Ryder find themselves in unchartered territory.

Kristen shares a birthday with Steven Tyler and Diana Ross.  She spends each day striving to be half as fabulous as they are.  She’s worn many hats, none as flattering as her cowboy hat: banker, retail manager, fledgling web designer, world’s worst cocktail waitress, panty slinger, now makeup artist and aspiring author.  She loves sunshine, live music, the middle of nowhere, and finding new things to put in her house.  Kristen is represented by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Foreword Literary.

Places to find Kristen

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St. Patty's Pinning Party

Join your favorite YA and NA authors as we celebrate being Irish for a day and play on Pinterest. There will be over 45 e-book giveaways! 

You can join the Facebook party HERE!

You won't want to miss it!

Participating Authors:

Lila Felix   A. W. Exley  Melissa Pearl   

Jessica Gibson  Cindy M. Hogan  Sarah Ashley Jones  

Marie Landry  Rachel Morgan  Jennifer Snyder 

Stacey Marie Brown  Jessica Therrien  D.L. Raver 

Stacey Wallace Benefiel  Marilyn Almodóvar  Angee Taylor 

A.O. Peart  Devyn Dawson  Rick Chiantaretto 

Raine Thomas  L.P. Dover  Tamara Hart Heiner  

Leigh T Moore  Meradeth Houston  Amber Argyle 

Tawdra Kandle  Carlyle Labuschagne  Lisa Collicutt

Christy Dorrity  Stephanie Fowers  Kristina Renee

Faith McKay  Charlotte Abel  Jamie Ayres

A.M. Hargrove  Charli Webb  Amy Harmon  

Alyssa Rose Ivy  Kristie Cook  Lani Woodland

T.M. Franklin  Laura Howard  Sharron Riddle

Eliza Tilton  S. M. Boyce  Bethany Lopez 

Dawn Leigh  L.A. Casey  Emma Adams  

Amber Garr  Liz Long

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The Harlot's Pen by Claudia H. Long Blog Tour Start

Title: The Harlot’s Pen 

Author: Claudia H. Long

Genre: Historical Romance 

Publisher: Devine Destinies

Release Date: Feb 1 2014

Blurb/Synopsis: 

San Francisco in the roaring 20s-- After World War I, San Francisco is a wild town. Abandoned by her lover, Violetta is swept up in the new, freer ways and becomes America's first "embedded journalist." She joins a brothel that caters to San Francisco's most powerful men in order to write her epic story on the conditions of working women. But federal agents looking to clamp down on both vice and workers' rights don't take kindly to her modern views. Shorter dresses, fair pay for women, and the dark and frightening worlds of sex and politics teach Violetta the lessons of a lifetime.

Claudia H Long writes fiction when she isn't mediating messy legal disputes. She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and as a change she recently tried to take up belly dancing. Luckily, she is a better mediator than she is a dancer, by far, but her real love is writing fiction.

The Harlot's Pen, her first venture into the roaring 20s, is a Devine Destinies book, an adventure in embedded (literally!) journalism and the rights of working women in the world's oldest profession. Claudia is also the author of Josefina's Sin (Simon & Schuster 2011). The Duel for Consuelo, which follows on Josefina's Sin, will come out in late Spring 2014 with Booktrope.

Claudia has two grown children, and lives in Northern California with her husband and far too many animals. 

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Giveaway & Blitz Fated Mates & Love Charms Boxed Sets

Title: Fated Mates

Authors: Adriana Hunter , Liliana Rhodes , Lynn Red , A.T. Mitchell , Michelle Fox , Skye Eagleday , Alexis Dare , Eve Langlais , Georgette St. Clair , A.E. Grace

Series/Stand Alones: The Alpha Shifters Box Set

Genre: Paranormal Romance/Shifters

Release Date: Mar 4 2014

Blurb/Synopsis:

If you like your men dark, dangerous and alpha, this exclusive shifter romance boxed set is for you. Featuring hot stories from popular New York Times, USA Today, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble bestselling authors, including Adriana Hunter, Liliana Rhodes, Lynn Red, A.T Mitchell and more, these steamy books and alpha shifters will be sure to whet your appetite and leave you howling for more.

12 scorching shifter romances for ONLY 99 cents! LIMITED TIME ONLY! (REGULAR PRICE: $9.99)

All American Wolf by Adriana Hunter: If Serena's not careful she may lose her heart to Brody Sullivan - the dangerously possessive stranger who is willing to break every one of her rules.

Charming the Alpha   by Liliana Rhodes: Hannah Crane's ordinary life changes after she meets Alpha wolf Caleb. As the center of a centuries old curse, is Hannah a wolf charmer or Caleb's fated mate?

Change For Me by Lynn Red: Motorcycle riding, tattooed bad boy alpha werewolf fights to save his mate from his terrifying rival. Steamy, seductive, sensual werewolf romance.

Bear King's Curves A BBW Werebear Shifter Romance by A.T. Mitchell: Curvy Lyla's bad attitude toward bears is about to change. Destiny blind Nick is the Alpha to do it, no matter how much passion, mystery, and danger it means...

The Alpha's Mate by Michelle Fox: Chloe Weiss has finally met the mate of her dreams, but jealousy in the pack and a murderer on the loose make for a dangerous 'happily ever after.'

Romancing the Wolf (BBW/Werewolf Romance) by Skye Eagleday: The romantic adventures of two curvy sisters and one hot pack: Can the werewolves survive Bree and her sassy sister?

Witchy Wolf by Alexis Dare: A brutal attack alters Chloe’s life. As her world crumbles, biker Gabe steps in to pick up the pieces. Can he save her from the danger lurking in the shadows?

Delicate Freakn' Flower by Eve Langlais: Can a pair of hunky shapeshifting jocks convince a not-so delicate freakn’ flower that they can handle her thorns—and her passion?

The Alpha Claims A Mate   by Georgette St. Clair: Curvy Ginger Colby accidentally insulted the Alpha of the local pack when she rejected him at the local honky tonk-and now he's seeking delicious, sexy revenge.

A Change To Bear (Last of the Shapeshifters) by A.E. Grace: Liam, shapeshifter, is on the run. Hunted by a man who will hurt anyone he cares for, it's why he can't fall in love. Until he meets a curvy Terry Spencer...

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Title: Love Charms

Authors:  Ava Catori , Selena Kitt , Cerys du Lys , Deanna Roy , Eve Langlais , Michelle McCleod , J.E. & M. Keep , Ty Nolan

 Series/Stand Alones: A Paranormal Romance Box Set

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Release Date: Mar 4 2014

Blurb/Synopsis:

Escape into the world of paranormal romance, a magical journey featuring delicious demons, wanton witches, zealous zombies and more that promise you a hauntingly good time! Featuring spell-binding novels from popular New York Times, USA Today, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble bestselling authors, including Ava Catori, Selena Kitt, Cerys du Lys, Deanna Roy and more, these enchanting books will be sure to charm, beguile and bewitch you!

 9 scorching shifter romances for ONLY 99 cents! LIMITED TIME ONLY! (REGULAR PRICE: $9.99)

Blinded by Magic A Witch Romance by Ava Catori: Raven's weakness is mortal men. She’s fallen hard for Derek. There’s just one problem, he doesn’t know she’s a witch. Can he accept her truth or will their relationship crumble? 

Blind Date by Selena Kitt: Selena Kitt’s Blind Date ventures into the strange and surreal realm of magical realism in a hot Valentine’s Day romance that takes on the classic Greek myth of Eros and Psyche.

Breathless by Cerys du Lys: Sadie and Evan live in different worlds. Brought together by fate, and held there by hope, can they bridge the gap dividing humanity, or will long held fears and prejudice force them apart forever?

The Passion Cure by Deanna Roy: Jet is a Nix, an outcast enchantress with zero power. To conjure a love spell to save her family, she seduces a handsome enchanter who is willing to break the rules, and possibly, her heart.

A Demon and His Witch by Eve Langlais: Remy’s seen a lot during his tenure in Lucifer’s guard, but nothing can prepare him for the witch with the acerbic tongue--and voluptuous figure. Can he convince her to love him and not kill him?

Psychic Appeal by Michelle McCleod: "Psychic Sofia Parker has fallen in love, a problem because her new relationship drives the lovesick ghost of her ex-boyfriend to come back from the dead...anyway he can.

The Warlord's Concubine by J.E. & M. Keep: As a servant to the princess for much of her life, Mirella sees the conquest of the land as an opportunity to elevate herself. Does she have what it takes to win the love of the brutal conqueror?"

Memoir of a Reluctant Shaman by Ty Nolan: When his love spell goes wrong, our hero is exiled to be fully initiated as a Shaman in this spicy tale of New Orleans Voodoo and Native American magic.

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Giveaway & Release Day Blitz Theirs To Cherish by Shayla Black

Title: Theirs To Cherish
Author: Shayla Black
Series: Wicked Lovers (#8)
Genre: Erotic Romance, Contemporary, Ménage, BDSM
Publisher: Berkeley
Release Date: Mar 4 2014
Edition/Formats It Will Be Available In: eBook & Print
Blurb/Synopsis:
The perfect place for a woman on the run to disappear…
Accused of a horrific murder she didn’t commit, former heiress Callie Ward has been a fugitive since she was sixteen—until she found the perfect hideout, Club Dominion. The only problem is she’s fallen for the club’s Master, Mitchell Thorpe, who keeps her at arm’s length. Little does she know that his reasons for not getting involved have everything to do with his wounded heart…and his consuming desire for her.

To live out her wildest fantasies…
Enter Sean Kirkpatrick, a Dom who’s recently come to Dominion and taken a pointed interest in Callie. Hoping to make Thorpe jealous, she submits to Sean one shuddering sigh at a time. It isn’t long before she realizes she’s falling for him too. But the tender lover who’s slowly seducing her body and earning her trust isn’t who he claims…

And to fall in love.
When emotions collide and truths are exposed, Sean is willing to risk all to keep Callie from slipping through his fingers. But he’s not the only man looking to stake a claim. Now Callie is torn between Sean and Thorpe, and though she’s unsure whom she can trust, she’ll have to surrender her body and soul to both—if she wants to elude a killer…

Giveaway !!!!

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You know what they say about curiosity and the cat…but if you still want to know, read below.
Shayla Black (aka Shelley Bradley) is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 40 sizzling contemporary, erotic, paranormal, and historical romances produced via traditional, small press, independent, and audio publishing. She lives in Texas with her husband, munchkin, and one very spoiled cat. In her “free” time, she enjoys reality TV, reading and listening to an eclectic blend of music.
Shayla’s books have been translated in about a dozen languages. She has also received or been nominated for The Passionate Plume, The Holt Medallion, Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, and the National Reader’s Choice Awards. RT Bookclub has twice nominated her for Best Erotic Romance of the year, as well as awarded her several Top Picks, and a KISS Hero Award.
A writing risk-taker, Shayla enjoys tackling writing challenges with every new book.

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Giveaway & Spotlight Chasing Prophecy by James Moser

Title: Chasing Prophecy
Author: James Moser
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Thriller
Ebook available at: Kindle | Smashwords  





Book Description:

Mo is a shy teen who is just trying to survive high school. He has secretly fallen in love with a girl named Prophecy who lives with a group that some call a commune and others call a cult. When she disappears, Mo must find the courage to face the monster that her family has become. Chasing Prophecy is a contemporary coming of age story that is heartwarming, suspenseful, and beautifully written. This book chronicles the adolescence of one boy who must transform himself to save the girl of his dreams.

Kirkus Reviews:

"A stellar read for teens and adults, full of hilarious growing pains, tenderness and a few surprises. Moser’s debut is an unflinching young-adult novel that sees a group of friends tested by bigotry and the illegal machinations of a religious cult. The author serves up an irresistibly wisecracking narrator in Mo Kirkland. Every page ripples with a controlled cleverness. There’s also a rawness to this tale similar to that which many teens face in the real world. Moser can wax rhapsodic about young love, but he shows that he knows how to raise the tension in the second half of the novel."

Excerpt:

Richard said, “Why are you even talking, Maureen, I mean Maurice? Go sit in your highchair and let the grownups work this out, OK, little guy?”

Even with my new growth spurt, he never missed a chance to let me know I lived every second of my life ten seconds from a surfing lesson.

Max said coldly, “Don’t you clowns talk to him that way.”

Kazzy said, “—or we will kick your cracker asses.”

I looked up at her and realized I’d been looking up to her my whole life. She was calm and still when she was standing up for herself. She didn’t have to stand on her tiptoes or raise her voice. When I tried to stand up for myself, I knew people saw the question marks in my eyes.

Kazzy’s eyes were full of answers, and I loved her. Deep inside me I felt something break, heal, and get stronger all at once.

Richard watched another carful of mourners pass us by. “Your little cult funeral all done?” he said.

Kazzy said, “Why do you say ‘Cult’? Do you see a fence keeping anyone in or out? Do you see us trying to blow anything up? There’s not a weapon on our whole ranch. You crackers have more guns than I’ve seen in my whole life.”

I pulled out my pocketknife, found a smooth spot in the pine railing, and pushed the blade into the sun-bleached log. I worked the blade up and down, back and forth, deeper and deeper.

Kazzy said, “So let me get this straight. One of us jumps, and you don’t say ‘cult’ for two years? You don’t say a word to any of us all the way til graduation night?”

“That’s the deal.”

I pushed the tip of the blade across the wood. I made a rectangle and rounded off the corners.

I pulled off my Seattle Mariners baseball cap and dropped in my keys and phone. I found a safe corner to stash my stuff near a gigantic steel bracket joining two logs. I walked to the other side of the bridge, across from the others.

Richard said, “We’re waiting, Kazzy, I mean Prophecy.”

“Hey, Richard!” I said.

He looked at me. They all looked at me.

“Catch!” I yelled, tossing him my knife. I said, “It’s August twentieth. If you can’t spell ‘August,’ just write eight-dash-twenty.”

They all stared at me. I held up three fingers. “Redneck Honor,” I said. I pulled off my shirt, dropped it to the ground, and ran right at Richard and Boo. They stepped back. Their eyes were full of questions.

For the first time in my life, my eyes were full of answers.

“He’ll never . . .” Richard started to say.

“Mo, DON’T!” Kazzy yelled.

Max screamed, “Oh, YEAH!!!”

My left foot landed on the orange Bigfoot “X”.

My right foot landed on the low rail. I pushed off.

I closed my eyes. I opened my eyes. I saw sky and mist kicked up by white water crashing into rocks.

I closed my eyes. I opened my eyes. I looked down. I was either going to just clear the boulder closest to the bridge or I was getting an ambulance ride, or I was about to die.

I screamed, “AAAAAAAAAAAAHH!”

The bottoms of my feet smacked the water hard, then all of me was underneath, then my feet hit the bottom. Knees and elbows on rock. I looked up through ten feet of clear, freezing water. Through the bumpy surface I could see the shapes of my friends, the colors of their clothes. I pushed off the bottom and shot through the surface.

Bloody. Dizzy. Alive. Icy water—snow the day before—stretched my skin tight.

I squinted up at the bridge, saw Max and Kazzy jumping up and down, arms over their heads, screaming. I pulled myself up to the flat top of a giant rock. I stood and raised my arms to the sky, the mist throwing little rainbows all around me. I held up the three-fingered redneck honor salute. My friends threw back their heads and laughed. They turned to Richard and Boo, showed them three fingers. The bullies walked slowly to their car. I stood on a rock but felt myself floating.

I thought, So this is what it means to fly.

About the Author:
James Moser has always loved stories in all forms. He is in his fourteenth year of working with high school students. The author’s goal was to write a book that would inspire even his most reluctant readers. Young adults have always inspired him. As such, he wanted to show teenagers transforming themselves to overcome obstacles, which is what he watches them do, every day.

Moser has a B.A. in English and a Master’s degree in Secondary English Education. He lives in Seattle with his beautiful wife and eight year old son. When he’s not reading and writing, or thinking about reading and writing, he’s watching way too much television while snacking on frozen treats from Trader Joe’s. Man, those things are good.


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Release Day Blitz The Fawn by Susan Griscom

The writing of The Fawn has been a bittersweet journey. This is a story very close to my heart and a story suffered by many women around the world. It's not a new story. It is one that has been told time and time again by many different people in many different ways and with many different experiences, but with the same old problem. Hopefully through my love of my characters and emotions I've made it an interesting one. I wrote the first twenty pages of this story back in 2008 shortly after finishing the first draft of Whisper Cape. Although the story of The Fawn is completely fiction, it does represent a time in my life when I was insecure and my self-esteem was at an all time low, sometime back in my late thirties early forties. Things changed, circumstances changed, and I was able to find my own self worth. One thing similar to The Fawn is that I didn't do it alone.  The people in my life had a huge influence on me, friends mostly. And my knight who helped me realize my own self-worth time and time again. Just as Jackson is there for Lena, my knight was there for me. That is where the similarities end. But the emotion is strong in this story and I hope I've been able to portray it well enough to be appreciated. Lena's journey is very different from my own, yet, holds so much weight in my heart.    

Released Date: March 1, 2014

The Fawn

A New Adult Novel 

Sexual content and mature subject matter, including domestic violence and abuse.

After a not-so-wonderful young adulthood—shuffled from one foster home to another—Lena Benton had hoped marriage would be her ticket to happiness. Wedded a year after high school graduation, Lena was certain she’d found her knight. But when Troy Harington’s true colors surface shortly after their glorious day of elopement, things aren’t quite as rosy as Lena had envisioned. When an unforeseen event turns ugly, all she can do is ... run!

But does she run far enough?

Jackson Beaumont prides himself on being a nature-loving, guitar-strumming carefree sort of guy, known for his eagerness to help injured animals find their way back into the wild. When Lena Benton walks into his bar, he’s once again swept off his feet with concern and desire to help the wounded. Will he risk having his heart torn apart again when the memory of the fawn he rescued as a child resurfaces?

Teaser Excerpt 

Lena

No more tears, I ordered myself. It’s over. Was he dead? I hoped he was dead. I had to have killed him. My emotions—convoluted with anger and fear—dominated my judgment, giving me courage to go on. I’d never considered myself weak, to allow a man to have such complete and utter control over me—to beat me whenever he had the whim. How the hell had that happened?

Well, that person was gone and I didn’t want to be weak anymore. I lifted my glasses, studied my eye again, and thought of my mother—she’d been weak, I remembered. The vision of my stepfather beating my mother to death invaded my mind. I was nine at the time, and sat cowering in the corner, praying he wouldn’t come at me when he’d finished with her. I’d watched him slap my mom around before, and she’d always been able to recover. But that last time, he’d gone too far. I watched as my mother fell to her knees, clutching her stomach as his foot came off the ground and struck her in the face. She’d fallen backwards and her head hit the edge of the red, brick hearth of the fireplace. I covered my eyes and screamed as blood spewed out all over the bricks and the worn out, dingy cream carpet. A neighbor heard the screaming and called the police. They’d gotten there in time for me, but too late for my mother. 

I’d been on my own since I was eighteen after enduring one foster home after another, never really fitting in. But at the tender age of fourteen I’d found my niche. An old discarded second-hand guitar I’d discovered in someone’s trash became my savior. As long as I had a guitar in my hands nothing else mattered. After a few months of living with some friends and several temporary gigs here and there, I’d been lucky enough to find a spot with a smalltime band singing and playing lead-guitar. They called themselves The Magic Crew. They were good too, on their way to stardom, and I was right there with them until Troy Harington showed up and swept me off my feet. 

It seemed as if it had all been a dream as I thought about how he’d manipulated me into believing he loved me. Handsome? Oh yeah, he was handsome.

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The Fawn

by Susan Griscom

Giveaway ends March 03, 2014.
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