Cover Reveal - Skinless by L.M. Davis

Blurb

Looking at Luca, who’s just saved my life, I can’t respond. No explanation I might offer will satisfy after all of the extraordinary things he’s just witnessed. —Ankh

All I can say is when the girl I like looks at me with wide, freaked out eyes and then runs away, the only thing that I can do run after her. Even if she didn’t ask me, even if she told me not to, I’m not superman enough to fight the instinct to protect her — Luca

AnCaela Murphy's body is a ticking bomb that only her mom can defuse. The problem: her mother is missing and presumed taken by the Skinless, bogeymen from Ankh’s home world who've been hunting her family ever since they fled that world and certain death. With help from Luca, a boy whose touch confuses and who refuses to back down, Ankh races against time to find her mother before the bomb inside of her detonates, taking her life.  Tracking the Skinless across the country, the pair search for her mother and uncover the horrifying truth behind the generation's old war.

Bio:

M. Davis loves great storytelling. She needs nothing more than a good book and a comfy chair to be happy. She was born in the south, raised in the north, and has a few degrees under her belt. She doesn't like to admit it, but she may have something of a "shifter" fetish. She still hasn’t gotten her black cat, but she thinks about it everyday. Her thoughts go something like this: "I really should get a cat." For now, she contents herself with spoiling the pets of her friends and family.

She is the author of Interlopers: A Shifters Novel, Posers: A Shifters Novel, and skinless. 

Review - The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection by Kiera Cass
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kindle Edition, 339 pages

Published April 2012 by HarperTeen

Source: Own Copy
Challenges: Ebook challenge

Synopsis:
'For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.'

My Thoughts:
The fact that I loved this book as much as I did was such a surprise to me. I've never been that into young adult type books as they always seem to be a little immature to me but The Selection seriously ticked all the boxes in my head that make a good read.

The main female character, America Singer, is a very strong-willed and seemingly intelligent girl who is content with her way of life. As a main character I really liked America as she spoke her mind and wasn't influenced by the fact that she ends up having to move into the palace to live with the royal family and the Prince she is technically trying to win over as a contender in The Selection. She is a very level headed and mature girl which was a nice refreshing change.

Then there is Aspen, the boy who America has been having a secret relationship with for a long time and who is the one who convinces her to apply for The Selection. Poor Aspen just seems to be a whining and annoying character overall. I have to say that Aspen was the only downfall in this book for me. He just seemed so weak and pathetic that I was actually glad when America got chosen and was going to get away from him. Unfortunately, he turns up again further on in the book and then it's just irritating when he does.

Prince Maxon, the boy that all the girls in The Selection are trying to win over and eventually wed, is not your usual spoilt Prince who has been exposed to nothing but money, expensive material things and dinner parties. He actually assists his father with military strategies and decisions and is very willing to understand the hardships that exist in the rest of the country and act accordingly. He does show tendencies of being your young and awkward teenage boy in some parts, but this just made him seem a bit more real rather than if he was cocky and too full of himself because of his easy upbringing.

Once the actual Selection part begins, this book is near impossible to put down. It's so fast paced and sucks you right in like a TV reality show where you just can't wait to find out who gets eliminated next.

One point I have to make is that the world created by the author is very similar to that of The Hunger Games, where there are different classes of people and the fact that a lot of the poorer classes struggle with basic things like food and are ruled by crime. There are slight differences here and there, but overall the setting is very similar which could make it seem a bit unoriginal to some readers.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed reading The Selection and by the end I was so hooked that I was utterly disappointed that you don't get to find out what happens until the next book, The Elite, which I am now hanging by my fingernails in wait for it to be released next month.

Links:
Amazon
The Book Depository

Review, Excerpt & Giveaway - January Justice by Athol Dickson

January Justice by Athol Dickson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kindle Edition, 307 pages

Published December 1st 2012 by Author Author Inc. (first published November 30th 2012)

Source: Blog Tour

Synopsis:
'Reeling from his wife's unsolved murder, Malcolm Cutter is just going through the motions as a chauffeur and bodyguard for Hollywood's rich and famous. Then a pair of Guatemalan tough guys offer him a job. It's an open question whether they're patriotic revolutionaries or vicious terrorists. Either way, Cutter doesn't much care until he gets a bomb through his window, a gangland beating on the streets of L.A., and three bullets in the chest. Now there's another murder on Cutter's Mind. His own.'

My Thoughts:
January Justice has to be one of the better books I have read this year so far and I am so glad to have joined in as a participant in the tour for this book.
January Justice is your typical mystery/crime book that slowly builds itself up into an intriguing story that I ended up finding hard to put down after I was about halfway through.
The main character is Malcolm Cutter, a chauffeur and part-time private investigator who seems to be a very hard but still fairly interesting person when you first meet him. Gradually, as the story goes on you learn quite a lot about Malcolm's background and what has shaped him to be the person he is today and I really found myself liking him immensely as a lead character by the end. He's tough and headstrong when it's needed but can also be very kind-hearted when necessary as well.
The story is based around Malcolm's struggle with losing his movie star wife a few months earlier and the fact that he gets engaged in a complex investigation to clear up the details of an old kidnapping case. It soon becomes clear that there are people out there who don't want him snooping around old business and will stop at nothing to get him to stop his investigation.
What I loved the most about this book was the complex and intriguing characters it was full to the brim with. No-one was who they seemed and even the humble butler and gardener who live on the same estate with Malcolm end up being more than first meets the eye.
This is the first book I have read by Athol Dickson and certainly won't be my last. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed reading January Justice and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone interested in mystery or crime novels.

Excerpt:

ONE OF THE STRANGEST THINGS ABOUT THE CITY was the sudden way it disappeared around the edges. One minute you were down on Sunset Boulevard surrounded by glass and concrete, and the next thing you knew you were up on Mulholland Drive, alone in the rough country. From a high window or a rooftop almost anywhere in Los Angeles you could see the mountains, and there was always something ravenous up there looking down. I was up among the hungry creatures, standing at the edge of a cliff, with Hollywood and Santa Monica far below me in the distance. One step forward and I would be in midair. I was looking down and wondering if Haley had considered how suddenly you could go from city to wilderness. Then I wondered if it was a distinction without a difference, if the city might be the wilderness and the wilderness the city, and maybe Los Angeles’s edges seemed to disappear so suddenly because there really was no separation between sidewalks and mountain paths, buildings and boulders. Up in the mountains or down in the city, either way the carnivores were in control. I imagined Haley, out of her mind, running full speed off the cliff. I wondered what it had been like, that final second or two before she hit. Had she realized what was happening? Did she recognize the city lights below for what they were, or did she really think she was flying toward the stars? And did she think of me? Stepping closer to the edge, I slid the toes of my shoes into the air. I looked down two hundred feet, toward the spot where she had broken on the rocks. I stood one inch from eternity and tried to imagine life without her. I could not summon up a single reason why I shouldn’t take that final step, except for one. I thought about the kind of animal who would drive someone to do what my wife had done. Predators like that were everywhere. I should know. I had trained for half my life to be one of them. I was hungry, looking down on the city. If I was going to live, the hunger would have to be enough, for now. But I would sink my teeth into him, sooner or later. I would do that for Haley, and for myself, and then maybe it would be my turn to see if I could fly. I stepped back from the edge.

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Author Bio:

A master of profound suspense. Athol Dickson's mystery, suspense, and literary novels have won three Christy Awards and an Audie Award. Suspense fans who enjoyed Athol's They Shall See God will love his latest novel, January Justice, the first instalment in a new mystery series called The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs. The second and third novels in the series, Free Fall in February, and A March Murder, are coming in 2013. Critics have favourably compared Athol's work to such diverse authors as Octavia Butler (Publisher's Weekly), Hermann Hesse (The New York Journal of Books) and Flannery O'Connor (The New York Times). Athol lives with his wife in southern California. Please visit his website at www.AtholDickson.com, and like his Facebook fan page. Praise for Athol Dickson's novels: "Atmospheric, well-paced and powerfully imagined . . . a highly entertaining nail-biter." (Publishers Weekly) ". . . richly imagined . . . lyrically written . . . artfully constructed." (Bookwire) ". . . well-written . . . intelligent . . . suspenseful . . . engrossing." (Library Journal) ". . . elegant prose . . . very well written." (The New York Review of Books )

Websites & Links:

 

Thank you to Athol Dickson and Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for generously offering this book to me for review. If you'd like to join in on an upcoming tour just stop by their sites and sign up today!

 

Blogger is not allowing me to reply to comments

Hi all, I just wanted to say that I promise I'm not being totally rude lately but for the past week Blogger has not been letting me reply to any comments on my blog and just keeps signing me out.

For some reason my Google ID isn't registering when I open my blog to comment anymore and I have tried everything to fix it!

I can't even send Google any feedback because it keeps asking me to log in when I try and then keeps redirecting me back to the login page rather than moving forward.

Has anyone else ever had this problem? Any advice as to what I can do to fix this problem would be appreciated because it's becoming extremely frustrating now.

I hope everyone has had a better week than me!

Michelle xx

Tour Showcase & Giveaway - 'No Alternative' by William Dickerson

I am very excited today to be part of the tour for William Dickerson's new book 'No Alternative'.

NO ALTERNATIVE is a coming-of-age drama that drills a hole into the world of suburban American teenagers in the early 90's.

Thomas Harrison is determined to start his own alternative band, an obsession that blinds him to what's either the mental collapse, or the eruption of musical genius, of his little sister, Bridget. Bridget boldly rejects her brother's music, and the music of an entire generation of slackers, by taking on the persona of an X-rated gangsta' rapper named "Bri Da B."

NO ALTERNATIVE probes the lives of rebellious kids who transition into adulthood via the distortion pedals of their lives in an era when the "Sex, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll" ethos was amended to include "Suicide" in its phrase. 

AMAZON KINDLE

AMAZON PAPERBACK

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT IT

"A sympathetic coming-of-age story deeply embedded in '90s music. Reflective, unafraid of big-picture pronouncements--'nothing is more do-it-yourself than suicide.' The cool, casual tone results in knockout diagnoses of the '90s teenage condition: 'You feel older as a teenager than you will ever feel in your entire life.'" -Kirkus Reviews

"The novel--with its clear-eyed glimpse into the lives of a troubled family--satisfies." -Publishers Weekly

"Simultaneously brutal and funny, caustic and caring, 'No Alternative' is a sacrament to be shared by all the survivors who grew up at the tail end of the fragmenting century." -Jack O'Connell, author of "The Resurrectionist"

ABOUT WILLIAM

William Dickerson graduated from The College of The Holy Cross with a degree in English and received his Masters of Fine Arts in Directing from The American Film Institute. He is an award-winning writer/director whose work has been recognized by film festivals across the country. He recently published his first novel, “No Alternative,” and completed his debut feature film, DETOUR, which hits Theaters and Video On Demand (VOD) this year. He is currently finishing up his second feature, THE MIRROR.

He is hard at work on several new feature films and is writing another novel. In his spare time, he creates music for his band 9068dash39.

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Rachel, and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Duet.

 

Filmmaker
FACEBOOK | IMDB | YOUTUBE | TWITTER

Writer
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | AMAZON

Musician
SOUNDCLOUD |PODBEAN

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$50 Book Blast - Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out

 

 

Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out

Anya Michaels is having the time of her life. She has the man of her dreams by her side. She has graduated at the top of her class. She has the job others were lining up for. Between late night drinks at her favourite bar and fancy dinners at the most expensive restaurants, she has a string of adoring friends. Everything changes when she hears the dreaded words, "You are sick." Being diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder, her world starts to fall apart, one piece at a time. Now dumped, her four year relationship is nothing but a memory filled with pictures, thoughts and a very broken heart. Her job becomes an even further challenge as she tries to hide her condition. Her friends suddenly have more important things to do, what is a party without a party girl? Perfect could not crumble any faster. Soon, caught between situations, people and pieces of life that she never dreamed of planning for herself, Anya begins to wonder if her brain condition is all that bad. As she absorbs the changes in her life and realization sets in, she begins to wonder if she is the only one saying: Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out.

Amazon Kindle * Barnes & Noble * Amazon

   

 

Author Pandora Poikilos Pandora Poikilos has been writing for more than 10 years for various media which include newspapers, radio, television and various websites. A social media enthusiast who is passionate about blogging and finding her way around the virtual world, she wills away time in the real world by reading, writing and people watching.  

Facebook * Twitter * Website * Blog * Facebook
 

 

Book Blast Giveaway $50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 4/28/13 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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Cover Reveal - Never Let You Fall by Michele G. Miller

Never Let You Fall

Book One - The Prophesy of Tyalbrook

A YA Fantasy Romance Series

Expected Release Date- May 1, 2013

Blurb: Orphaned at 7, with no memory of her past or the family she lost, 17 year old Skye Martin is tired of being alone and afraid. After a hard night of partying, Skye wakes up alone in an unfamiliar hotel. All she can remember is the deep voice of her rescuer and his promise: “I am safe.” Xander has been tasked with watching Skye from afar for the past two years, in order to keep her safe from the demons that hunt her. An easy job - until a pair of red glowing eyes reveal themselves to Skye, and Xander, in a moment of weakness, is forced to break his cover to protect her. Never good at trusting people, Skye is inexplicably drawn to Xander and the immediate bond she feels for him. However, Xander is filled with secrets and ties to her past that threaten to thrust Skye into a world she could never imagine existed… As she begins to unravel the truth about who Xander is and the details surrounding her family, she discovers that she might just be the key to saving everything...  And, most importantly, she finds that there has always been someone by her side who would never let her fall…

About the Author 

Having grown up in both the cold, quiet town of Topsham, Maine and the steamy, southern hospitality of Mobile, Alabama, Michele is something of a enigma.  She is an avid Yankees fan, loves New England, being outdoors and misses snow.  However she thinks southern boys are hotter, Alabama football is the only REAL football out there and sweet tea is the best thing this side of heaven and her children’s laughter!  Her family, a doting hubby and three little minnions, have planted their roots in the middle of Michele’s two childhood homes in Charlotte, North Carolina.   Never Let You Fall is Michele’s first novel and she is beyond thrilled to have finally followed up on a dream she has held for over 20 years!  God willing there will be many many more books to follow.

Catch up with Michele online at michelegmiller.blogspot.com , on Twitter @chelemybelles or on Facebook

January Black Book Blast & Blog Tour

January Black

Sixteen-year-old genius Matty Ducayn has never fit in on The Hill, an ordered place seriously lacking a sense of humor. After his school’s headmaster expels him for a small act of mischief, Matty’s future looks grim until King Hadrian comes to his rescue with a challenge: answer a question for a master’s diploma.

More than a second chance, this means freedom. Masters can choose where they work, a rarity among Regents, and the question is simple.

What was January Black?

It’s a ship. Everyone knows that. Hadrian rejects that answer, though, and Matty becomes compelled by curiosity and pride to solve the puzzle. When his search for an answer turns up long-buried state secrets, Matty’s journey becomes a collision course with a deadly royal decree. He's been set up to fail, which forces him to choose. Run for his life with the challenge lost...or call the king’s bluff.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Amazon Kindle

Praise
Refreshingly intelligent and loads of fun!
I lost a few hours as I read this book. It's a Young Adult novel that is refreshingly and astonishingly intelligent, and the love story is perfectly played out.
~Christine Ashworth, Amazon Review

The mystery was intriguing - I loved how Wendy Russo weaved in all her secrets throughout the book, how she incorporated just enough to keep you reading, while never actually divulging much of anything. I was guessing for most of it and that's pretty hard to make me do.
~Julie, Clean Teen Reads

Wendy Russo has created a masterpiece.
~Ivan Amberlake, Author


Book Trailer

Author Wendy S. Russo

Wendy S. Russo got her start writing in the sixth grade. That story involved a talisman with crystals that had to be found and assembled before bad things happened, and dialog that read like classroom roll call. Since then, she’s majored in journalism (for one semester), published poetry, taken a course on short novels, and watched most everything ever filmed by Quentin Tarantino. A Wyoming native transplanted in Baton Rouge, Wendy works for Louisiana State University as an IT analyst. She’s a wife, a mom, a Tiger, a Who Dat, and she falls asleep on her couch at 8:30 on weeknights.

FACEBOOK * WEBSITE * TWITTER

GOODREADS * AUTHORGRAPH

Tour Schedule

BookBlast Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 5/5/13
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.


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Review - Seriously.....I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Paperback, 269 pages

Published October 1st 2011 by Grand Central Publishing

Source: Own copy
Challenges: Mt TBR Challenge, A-Z Title Challenge

Synopsis:
'Everyone loves Ellen! Television icon, actress and proud wife, Ellen is a star like none other. This comedienne is known for her talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which is going strong in its eighth season.

Seriously… I’m Kidding is a look at Ellen’s life through her humour.

In her own words, Ellen says, “I've experienced a whole lot the last few years and I have a lot to share ... I think you'll find I've left no stone unturned, no door unopened, no window unbroken, no rug unvacuumed, no ivories untickled. What I'm saying is, let us begin, shall we?”

Ellen was also most memorably the voice of Dory in Finding Nemo, hosted the Oscars and served as a judge on American Idol.'

My Thoughts:
First up I want to say just how much I admire Ellen and what she has achieved over the last few years. I absolutely love her show and think she is one of the funniest and generous women in the public profile today.
When I bought this book I didn't really know what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised by it. Seriously...I'm Kidding is a very lighthearted read that doesn't really discuss any topics in a substantial way, but instead contains short musings and snippets from Ellen on many random subjects in her life.
There were so many parts in this book that made me laugh out loud while reading it, much to the amusement of my husband, and the way it was written it was so easy to imagine Ellen reading out the words to you in her unique way.
I find her entire life, along with her rise and fall and rise again to being popular totally fascinating and am amazed at her determination and courage to put herself and her personal life in the spotlight as she has done.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any Ellen fan if you are interested in a light, quick read that won't weigh you down with too many details and will give you some 'laugh out load' moments. Be aware though, if you are after a more substantial memoir then this isn't the book for you.

Links:
Amazon
The Book Depository