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Friday, March 27, 2015

Giveaway: Unlovely by Celeste Conway


If he falls for a beautiful dancer, does he risk his heart? Or his life?

Accidents happen. But they happen more often when the beautiful ballet dancers return each summer to the island. When he hears the ruthless way that the loveliest dancer talks about boys getting what they deserve when they break girls’ hearts, Harley, home for the summer after his first year of college, wonders if he’s losing his mind. He knows for sure that he’s losing his heart to this girl . . . But then, strange incidents start happening all over the island and Harley is caught between desire and fear: could he also be in danger of losing his life?



 Praise for Unlovely:
“A perfect combination of romance and horror with (dare I say this?) some culture thrown in.”—Lois Duncan, author of Stranger with My Face and Locked in Time


“As Harley begins dating one of a group of ballerinas, he starts to become suspicious of the potentially threatening behavior of the rest. The narrative moves believably from . . . romance to somewhat chilling horror . . . .Recommended for those who want more than just a romance.”—Kirkus Reviews


Celeste Conway (New York) is the author of the Young Adult novel, The Melting Season, and the middle grade novel, The Goodbye Time. The Melting Season was listed on the New York Public Library Best Books for the Teen Age. Her most recent work is the young adult novel, When You Open Your Eyes, published with Simon Pulse. Celeste holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University and teaches creative writing at Borough of Manhattan College.
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Sunday, March 15, 2015

Promo & Giveaway: Pretty Wanted by Elisa Ludwig



Pretty Wanted (Pretty Crooked #3)
by Elisa Ludwig
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: March 17th 2015

Synopsis:
Willa’s string of good-hearted but ill-conceived thefts at her former high school catapulted her into a life she hardly knows. She became a cult hero, but soon afterward, her mom disappeared, leaving only a cryptic message. When Willa hit the California highway to find her, she discovered a dark family secret: Joanne Fox is not who she says she is-and neither is Willa. Now, Willa and fellow trouble-maker Aidan must race to St. Louis, Missouri, Willa’s birthplace. There, they hope to find answers about Willa’s past. But uncovering the truth requires solving a decades-old murder case.

Unfortunately, the perps are still out there . . . and willing to do whatever it takes to keep the case cold. With Willa’s face on the nightly news and the police hot on her trail, it might not matter that Aidan and her friend Tre are there to help. Willa’s only hope is to find the truth before it finds her first.

BOOK LINKS:Goodreads | Amazon | BN | BookDepository | iTunes | Kobo


OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES:
PRETTY CROOKED | PRETTY SLY



Praise for the PRETTY CROOKED series:“Fans of mystery and suspense will enjoy the fast-paced style of the Pretty Crooked series. Readers who enjoyed Ally Carter’s Heist Society and love romantic tension will relish this second entry and look forward to the conclusion in the last book.” —Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

“Crackling-good adventure.” —Kirkus

“A pretty twisted, modern-day Robin Hood story.” —Melissa de la Cruz, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Bloods

“Packed with romance, humor, and adventure, Pretty Crooked will steal your heart.” —Sarah Mlynowski, author of Ten Things We Did (But Probably Shouldn't Have)

“Tantalizing. For fans of Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars books.” —ALA Booklist

“A satisfying close to this trilogy that began with a clever high school prank and morphed into a full-scale action adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
My debut young adult novel PRETTY CROOKED (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins) was released in March 2012, and the sequel, PRETTY SLY, is out in March 2014. COIN HEIST, a YA thriller, is out in June 2014 (Adaptive Studios). I live in Philadelphia with my husband and son.

Visit me on Twitter, Facebook, and my website.


Win (1) of (3) signed copies of Pretty Wanted by Elisa Ludwig (US Only)


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Thursday, March 12, 2015

Excerpt & Giveaway: The Crimson Gate by Whitney A. Miller




Synopsis
Harlow must stop her evil counterpart in this thrilling sequel to The Violet Hour.

Harlow Wintergreen has just been named the new Matriarch of VisionCrest, the powerful religious organization previously led by her father. But there's one big problem. The real Harlow is trapped inside a Cambodian temple, and her double, the evil Isiris, has escaped confinement and is masquerading as her.

Now initiated as their leader, Isiris intends to unleash a killer super virus aimed at cleansing the planet of VisionCrest. In order to stop her, Harlow must find a way out of the temple and locate the Resistance...or the world will be destroyed.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Excerpt
It shouldn't be so easy to decimate a civilization. The threads that hold things together shouldn't be nearly so fragile. But they were. I wasn't sure if anyone could put it back together, least of all me. I was sure as hell going to try, but right now all I wanted was some comfort.
As if he could feel what I was thinking, he reached his hand out and unzipped my jacket. Even though it was freezing in the palace, here in front of the fire it was blazing hot. Or maybe it was just what was happening between me and Hayes that was causing my temperature to rise. Hayes pushed the too-big jacket off my shoulders and ran his hands down my arm, tickling the tender skin on the inside of my wrists as he pulled the jacket the rest of the way off. He looked at my face, then down the rest of my body as I shivered lightly in my threadbare t-shirt, not from cold but from desire. There was a hunger in his eyes; I knew he would see the same reflected back in mine. It was the hunger that came from feeling desperate and lonely for too long; the hunger that came from knowing that the minutes were dwindling, and every one had to count. It wasn't a feeling the old Hayes and Harlow could have ever felt, but it passed between us now, lighting what was kindling into a four-alarm blaze. 
"I can't believe you're really here," he said, his voice hoarse.
"Tell me about it," I said.
He made a low moan in the back of his throat and pulled me tight against him. I could feel his heart beating rapidly against his ribcage as he tipped his head down and his mouth found mine. The stubble on his chin scratched against my skin in a satisfying friction and the feel of his lips against mine was like striking a match to tinder. We were set to explode.
His hands slipped to the hem of my shirt as he kissed me urgently, lips crushing against each other, hands reaching. He pulled my shirt over my head and I did the same with his, opening my eyes just long enough to appreciate the now-pale outline of his defined chest and abs. 
"I didn't think you could get any more beautiful," he said. "But here you are."
"You're beautiful too. You always were," I said. 
But somewhere deep inside, I was thinking about Adam when I said it. Lightning bolts of longing for my lost love punctuated by pangs of lust for my current one. Adam and I could never go back to what we were, but Hayes still held the promise of something real. But still Adam remained, in every thought and every breath. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Whitney A. Miller lives in San Francisco with her husband and a struggling houseplant.

She’s summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, ridden the Trans-Siberian rails, bicycled through Vietnam, done the splits on the Great Wall of China, and evaded the boat police in Venice. However, her best international adventures take place on the page.Whitney is represented by Jennifer Laughran at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/whitneymillerwr/
INSTAGRAM: 
http://instagram.com/whitneymillerwrites




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Saturday, March 7, 2015

Spotlight & Giveaway: Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School by Jen Calonita



About the Book
OUR MISSION:
To turn WICKED DELINQUENTS
and FORMER VILLAINS
into FUTURE HEROES

Gilly wouldn’t call herself wicked exactly…but when you have five little brothers and sisters and live in a run- down boot, you have to get creative to make ends meet. Gilly’s a pretty good thief (if she does say so herself).

Until she gets caught.

Gilly’s sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School- where all of the teachers are former (super-scary) villains like the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother. Harsh. But when she meets fellow students Jax and Kayla, she learns there’s more to this school than its heroic mission. There’s a battle brewing and Gilly has to wonder: can a villain really change?
Amazon | B&N | BAM |!ndigo | IndieBound

Excerpt from Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School-


There’s a boy up there, standing on the crystal chandelier! He has slightly curly blond hair and is wearing a uniform—­a navy sweater vest over a white shirt with khaki pants—­but his boots are muddy. He’s stepping on priceless crystals with cruddy boots? Is he insane?

“Jax! What are you doing up there?” Kayla whispers heatedly.
“I’m cleaning the crystal for Flora,” Jax says and rolls his eyes. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m making
a break for it.”
Kayla applauds. “Yay! This time I know you can do it.”
I shade my eyes from the light bursting through the stained-­glass window next to the chandelier Jax is perched on. “Busting out? Why?” I ask Kayla. “I thought you said this place was cool.”
Jax laughs loudly and looks at me. I feel slightly stunned. I’ve never seen violet eyes before. “FTRS was fun for a while, but strange things have started happening and I don’t want to be here when something bad goes down.”
Strange things? What kind of strange things? Why does Kayla suddenly look pale?
“He’s exaggerating,” Kayla tells me, but she doesn’t sound convincing.
Drip. Whatever Jax is holding is leaking. Kayla and I move out of the way so we don’t get wet. “Grease,” Jax explains to me. “It lubes the window.” He swings the chandelier, and as it nears the window, he uses a fork to try to pry the window open. “A few more tries and I’ll have it.”
“Then what are you going to do, genius?” I ask. “You’re two stories up.”
Jax’s eyes gleam. “I’ve jumped from higher spots before.”
“It’s true,” Kayla says to me. “Jax once jumped from the gym to the dining hall turret. That was three stories up. We call him the Escape Artist. One time he even managed to break into Azalea and Dahlia’s rooms and borrowed their keys to the indoor pool so the whole dorm could take a midnight swim.”
“Impressive,” I tell him. “And I thought I was good at tricking obnoxious royals.”
“She stole a dragon’s tooth clip from one this morning,” Kayla fills him in.
“Nice,” Jax says. “Your first pull?”
“No, I’ve been doing it for a while,” I brag.
“Me too,” Jax says. “My father is a farmer. You can only get so far trading vegetables. I needed to kick things up a notch.”
For some reason, I don’t think any of us are going to make the transformation Headmistress Flora is looking for. “Why do you want to break out so bad?”
“I’ve got places to see, and Enchantasia isn’t one of them.” Jax swings the chandelier so hard the crystals clang together. The window latch pops open, and I watch Jax leap from the chandelier to the tiny window ledge. I’m in awe. Jax looks down at us smugly before pushing open the window. “Are you sure you two don’t want to join me?”
“There’s no time for us,” Kayla says. “Get out of here. Wait!” Her eyes widen. “You deactivated the alarm on the window, right?”
“There isn’t one,” Jax insists. “If there was, I wouldn’t be able to do this.” But when Jax lifts the window, we hear:
EEEEEE! EEEE! EEEE! Unauthorized exit! Unauthorized exit!
The shrieking sound is so intense that Kayla and I cover our ears. Within seconds, Flora is out of her office and running toward us.
Swoosh!
I feel something brush past me and I whirl around. When I look up at Jax again, a large, muscular man with a long mane of hair is hanging on to the window ledge, his furry hands pulling Jax back by his shirt. How did the man get up there without a ladder?
“Mr. Jax,” the man says in a low growl, “we really must stop meeting like this.”



Fairy Tale Reform School Quiz Link: Fairy Tale Reform School Quiz
If you get sentenced to Fairy Tale Reform School, it will help to have an ally. Take the quiz and find out who your mentor would be.



About the Author
Jen Calonita is the author of the Secrets of My Hollywood Life series and other books like Sleepaway Girls and Summer State of Mind, but Fairy Tale Reform School is her first middle grade series. She rules Long Island, New York with husband Mike, princes Tyler and Dylan, and Chihuahua Captain Jack Sparrow, but the only castle she’d ever want to live in is Cinderella’s at Disney World. She’d love for you to drop her a line at jencalonitaonline.com or keep the fairy tale going at http://books.sourcebooks.com/enchantasia/

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads



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Thursday, March 5, 2015

Blast & Giveaway: Liars Inc by Paula Stokes





Synopsis 
For fans of Gone Girl, I Hunt Killers, and TV's How to Get Away with Murder.

Max Cantrell has never been a big fan of the truth, so when the opportunity arises to sell forged permission slips and cover stories to his classmates, it sounds like a good way to make a little money and liven up a boring senior year. With the help of his friends Preston and Parvati, Max starts Liars, Inc. Suddenly everybody needs something and the cash starts pouring in. Who knew lying could be so lucrative?

When Preston wants his own cover story to go visit a girl he met online, Max doesn’t think twice about hooking him up. Until Preston never comes home. Then the evidence starts to pile up—terrifying clues that lead the cops to Preston’s body. Terrifying clues that point to Max as the murderer.

Can Max find the real killer before he goes to prison for a crime he didn’t commit? In a story that Kirkus Reviews called "Captivating to the very end," Paula Stokes starts with one single white lie and weaves a twisted tale that will have readers guessing until the explosive final chapters.

For more information, check out THE OFFICIAL LIARS, INC. WEBSITE.




ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paula Stokes writes stories about flawed characters with good hearts who sometimes make bad decisions. She’s the author of several YA novels, most recently Liars, Inc. and The Art of Lainey. Her writing has been translated into nine foreign languages. Paula loves kayaking, hiking, reading, and seeking out new adventures in faraway lands She also loves interacting with readers. Find her online at authorpaulastokes.com or on twitter as @pstokesbooks.




--Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter


2 Signed Copies of Liars, INC. by Paula Stokes.
2 Mini Swag Packs. Includes (2 Signed Bookmarks, 1 Magnet, 1 Signed Bookplate).