[Release Blitz + Giveaway] Conviction by Corinne Michael‏

Liam and Natalie’s return in Conviction by Corinne Michaels!

Find out how their story continues….

NOW AVAILABLE

Amazon US ➙ http://amzn.to/1PFM9ey

Amazon UK ➙ http://amzn.to/1Q4VrLT

iBooks ➙ http://apple.co/1FNklAo

Barnes & Noble➙ http://bit.ly/1Lus8kL

Kobo ➙ http://bit.ly/1AnCzGz

Blurb

Book Two in the Consolation Duet

I fell in love with Liam only to be left shattered into a million pieces. Again. The idea of being without him cripples me but the reality is, he’s gone.

He doesn’t understand and I can’t make him.

If only he’d see the conviction behind my words—then he’d still be here.

 **************

Excerpt

************

His voice is thick and husky as he refuses to break from my eyes. “Tell me you’re real.”

“I’m real.”

“Tell me you’re really here.”

“I’m here with you.” My hand rises, and I press my thumb to his lips. “I’m here for you. I’m here with only you. I need you so much.”

His eyes close as I rub my thumb, savoring the rough feel on my skin.

“Stay with me,” he pleads.

Liam’s hands rest on each side of my face as I drag him down further. “There’s nowhere else I want to be.” Our lips meet, and I lose myself. 

Consolation (Book One)

Amazon US ➙ http://amzn.to/19dh9j6

Amazon UK ➙ http://amzn.to/1NMQOI1

iBooks ➙ http://bit.ly/16nXT0k

Barnes & Noble➙ http://bit.ly/1E9Krf4

Kobo ➙ http://bit.ly/1GHHL6G

Book Trailer ➙ https://youtu.be/FErL5y4_OhQ

Playlist ➙ http://spoti.fi/1cd3DfH

Blurb

Liam wasn’t supposed to be my happily ever after.

He wasn’t even on my radar.

He was my husband’s best friend—forbidden.

But my husband is dead and I’m alone. I ache for him and I reach for Liam.

One night with Liam changed everything. Now I have to decide if I truly love him or if he’s just the consolation prize.

About the Author

Corinne Michaels is an emotional, witty, sarcastic, and fun loving mom of two beautiful children. She’s happily married to the man of her dreams and is a former Navy wife. After spending months away from her husband while he was deployed, reading and writing was her escape from the loneliness.

Both her maternal and paternal grandmothers were librarians, which only intensified her love of reading. After years of writing short stories, she couldn’t ignore the call to finish her debut novel, Beloved. Her alpha Navy SEALs are broken, beautiful, and will steal your heart.

Contact Corinne

 Website: http://www.corinnemichaels.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CorinneMichaels

Instagram: http://instagram.com/authorcorinnemichaels

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCMichaels

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7753662

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/corinnemichaels/

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[Book Review] Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Magonia
by Maria Dahvana Headley

Neil Gaiman’s Stardust meets John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars in this fantasy about a girl caught between two worlds... two races…and two destinies.

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air. 

Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live. 

So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia. 

Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie? 

GOODREADS 

“Because every time someone finds a new animal, or a new amazing thing on earth, it means we haven't broken everything yet.”

With an incredibly rare lung condition, Aza Ray is scheduled to die before her 16th birthday. But with only couple of days left, she knows that she is getting worse. And that's okay. Because she's lucky enough to live this long and to see her parents, sister, and best friend Jason by her side every single day. 

When Aza sees a ship in the sky, she thinks she's hallucinating, again. But when it happens over and over, and suddenly hundreds of birds are on her lawn and one is flying into her lungs, it is more than hallucination, it is reality and what she finds when she opens her eyes after thinking she died, is a lot more than she might be able to handle. 

“Death is the Santa Claus of the adult world. Except Santa Claus in reverse. The guy who takes all the presents away.”

With an incredible writing, Magonia really was nothing I have ever read. I've seen a lot of reviews where they mentioned this but I really had to read it for myself. An entire colony of birds in the sky, a whole new possibility of the world we know and cannot see, it was really amazing. Also, since this was YA novel, I was expecting cheesy romance but even though there was a hint of love triangle, it was very genuine and I still enjoyed it. Jason was definitely was a lovable character, we all need to have a man like that in our lives.

[Author's Guest Post] When the Heavens Fall by Marc Turner

When the Heavens Fall
by Marc Turner

The first of an epic swords & sorcery fantasy series for fans of Patrick Rothfuss, When the Heavens Fall features gritty characters, deadly magic, and meddlesome gods.

If you pick a fight with Shroud, the Lord of the Dead, you had better make sure you end up on the winning side, else death will mark only the beginning of your suffering.

A book that gives its wielder power over the dead has been stolen from a fellowship of mages that has kept the powerful relic dormant for centuries. The thief, a crafty, power-hungry necromancer, intends to use the Book of Lost Souls to resurrect an ancient race and challenge Shroud for dominion of the underworld. Shroud counters by sending his most formidable servants to seize the artifact at all cost.

However, the god is not the only one interested in the Book, and a host of other forces converge, drawn by the powerful magic that has been unleashed. Among them is a reluctant Guardian who is commissioned by the Emperor to find the stolen Book, a troubled prince who battles enemies both personal and political, and a young girl of great power, whose past uniquely prepares her for an encounter with Shroud. The greatest threat to each of their quests lies not in the horror of an undead army but in the risk of betrayal from those closest to them. Each of their decisions comes at a personal cost and will not only affect them, but also determine the fate of their entire empire.

AMAZON | GOODREADS 

guest post: spiders, schmiders

Let’s start with a quiz. Below are three quotes that I found on Amazon about a well-known epic fantasy book. See if you can guess which one.

“The characters are weak and/or too obvious, the plot thin and contrived.”

“Chock-full of the banal and with nothing new to grab you.”

“. . . the worst book I have ever read.”

I suspect you’ve already worked out where I’m going with this. Yes, those quotes are about that worthless flop of a book, Game of Thrones. By some guy called George RR Martin, apparently. Maybe you’ve heard of him.

Martin is the new godfather of epic fantasy. Once it was Tolkien (to some people it still is), but Martin was the one who breathed new life into the genre twenty years ago and brought fantasy into the mainstream. Even if you haven’t read Game of Thrones, or watched the TV adaptation, you’ve probably heard some of the buzz about Martin’s books. The Red Wedding, for example? So when I read again those reviews above, it leaves me scratching my head. Game of Throneswas groundbreaking in all sorts of ways. Towards the end of the book, at the death of a certain main character, I had to reread the relevant section several times because I was sure I must have misinterpreted it. But according to one reviewer the book is “banal” and contains “nothing new”. If Game of Thrones has all been done before, I’d like to know where, because that’s a book I want to read. And Tyrion Lannister is a “weak” character, is he? I dare say a few people will disagree.

The topic I was given for this article was “my biggest fear”, and you’ve probably guessed what it is by now (at least from a writing perspective): reviews. My debut epic fantasy novel, When the Heavens Fall, was published by Tor last week. It marks the end of a ten-year journey, and the knowledge that it is now being reviewed by others inspires mixed emotions. On the one hand, a review means someone has actually read the book. And that’s the main reason authors write, isn’t it? Otherwise they wouldn’t try to get their books published. On the other hand, it stands to reason that the novel will generate a range of responses. There isn’t a book out there that everyone likes. There isn’t anything out there that everyone likes.

Of course, that doesn’t stop a writer wanting everyone to like their work. No one enjoys receiving criticism, however constructive, but I’d guess authors enjoy it less than most. Why? Because writing is such a personal endeavour. As Red Smith said, “There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” Every author bleeds a little onto the page. The themes in their book will be themes that are important to them. They will probably have put a little piece of themselves into some, if not all, of the characters. It’s not so easy, then, for an author to shrug it off when someone says that they don’t like their work.

Plus reviews are important to a writer. It’s all part of spreading the word about a book. As a new author, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. There are thousands of books out there for readers to choose from, so how do you get yours onto someone’s to-be-read list? An author called Mark Lawrence wrote an interesting blog post a while back on the importance of reader recommendations. I’ll spare you his maths, but the conclusion he reached was that a relatively minor difference in the number of recommendations that a writer receives can have a huge impact on sales. And a review – or at least a good one – is a recommendation that has the potential to reach lots of readers.

The bottom line? If you enjoyed a book recently, tell someone about it. Leave a review or a rating on Amazon, or Goodreads, or anywhere else. It may seem like a small gesture, but it could make an author’s day, as well as a big difference to the success or failure of that author’s book – and thus to the chances of you getting to read something else by that author.

Obviously I’d never stoop to anything so crude as to ask someone who’d enjoyed my book to write a review of it. But if they were so inclined, I guess there’s no way I could stop them from doing so here . . .

About this author

Marc Turner was born in Toronto, Canada, but grew up in England. He graduated from Lincoln College, Oxford University, in 1996 with a BA (Hons) in law, and subsequently joined a top ten law firm in the City of London. After realising that working there did not mix well with simple pleasures such as having a life, he fled north first to Leeds and then to Durham in search of a better work-life balance. Unfortunately it proved elusive, and so in 2007, rather than take the next step and move to Scotland, he began working part time so he could devote more time to his writing. Following the sale of his debut epic fantasy novel, When the Heavens Fall, he started writing full time.

Why writing? Because it is the only work he knows where daydreaming isn’t frowned upon, and because he has learned from bitter experience that he cannot not write. The authors whose work has most influenced him are Steven Erikson and Joe Abercrombie. Consequently he writes fast-paced, multi-threaded novels with a liberal sprinkling of humour; novels written on a panoramic scale, peopled by characters that stay in the memory. Or at least that’s the theory . . . He lives in Durham, England, with his wife and son.

Goodreads | Twitter | Website

Harper Lee Is Famous Again? Or Might Be?

WHO had to read this in high school?

I know I did! Or I think I tried to but then I decided to go hangout with some friends and then tried to make it look like I read the book lol Either way, Harper Lee wrote another book and everyone is FREAKING OUT about it! Seriously though, the author that created To Kill a Mockingbird (& is still alive) wrote another book. CAN YOU SAY THAT'S A MOMENT IN HISTORY??

Go Set A Watchman will be released on July 14th but already have everyone buzzing about it in the bookish world. Why wouldn't they be? The publicist is doing an awesome job on marketing this - from hundreds of parties to screening of the first book the night before the book actually comes out. Nobody is saying that the book might be as popular as the first one since it is a classic and is a must for school but everyone wants it to work. 

what are your thoughts? do you think go set a watchman will be as popular as the first one or will only have the overrated buzz among the readers?

[Book Review] Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen
by Victoria Aveyard

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win? 

GOODREADS 

Red Queen was one of the books that highly said: PROCEED WITH CAUTION! just because it was buzzing through the bookish world months before it was released. With my experience, the books that get the most buzz are either going to be my favorite ones or I will hate them. In this case, I'm very torn because I am somewhere in the middle. 

As the story starts, we are introduced to the world building which is pretty simple. You have this mixed between modern and 18th century feel to the society where the technology is advanced enough to have techy gadgets but there is still royalty & fancy dresses with their Queens and Kings and other "proper" politics. But this world is also a lot different since it is split between Silvers and Reds - the name coming from the color of blood that the people carry. 

Silvers are in charge. Being special, they also possess some powers that show Reds that if they do not behave, they will be put into their place. But the war between the two kinds have been raging for awhile and even though the army mostly consists of Reds, there are a lot of arguments. I couldn't really understand the whole situation that well because the book didn't go very deep into it. 

Mare belongs to Reds but since her flirting with the Prince, he decides to take her into the castle and portrayed her a Silver to bring some peace to politics and try to stop the war. Being betrothed to one of the Prince, she must be a part of the Silver Palace including training of the powers which she discovers are very powerful. 

She is special. She is the One. As always. 

And that is why I didn't really feel like it was that much special. Yes, the book cover made me fall in love with the book but the book itself made me realize that things simply will not workout between us. No matter how pretty the graphics are *pout*

[Release Day Blitz Gvieaway] The Fever by Megan Abbott

I am so excited that THE FEVER paperback by Megan Abbott releases today and that I get to share the news!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Megan Abbott, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blitz also includes a giveaway for some of the paperbacks courtesy of Megan, Little Brown, and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

Title: THE FEVER

Author: Megan Abbott

Pub. Date: May 12, 2015

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Pages: 336

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Goodreads

The panic unleashed by a mysterious contagion threatens the bonds of family and community in a seemingly idyllic suburban community.

The Nash family is close-knit. Tom is a popular teacher, father of two teens: Eli, a hockey star and girl magnet, and his sister Deenie, a diligent student. Their seeming stability, however, is thrown into chaos when Deenie's best friend is struck by a terrifying, unexplained seizure in class. Rumors of a hazardous outbreak spread through the family, school and community.

As hysteria and contagion swell, a series of tightly held secrets emerges, threatening to unravel friendships, families and the town's fragile idea of security.

A chilling story about guilt, family secrets and the lethal power of desire, The Fever affirms Megan Abbot's reputation as "one of the most exciting and original voices of her generation" (Laura Lippman). 

About Megan:

Megan Abbott is the Edgar®-winning author of the novels Queenpin, The Song Is You, Die a Little, Bury Me Deep, The End of Everything, Dare Me, and her latest, The Fever, which was chosen as one of the Best Books of the Summer by the New York Times, People Magazine and Entertainment Weekly and one of the Best Books of the Year by Amazon, National Public Radio, the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times.

Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Salon, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Believer and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan and received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. She has taught at NYU, the State University of New York and the New School University. In 2013-14, she served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at Ole Miss.

She is also the author of a nonfiction book, The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir, and the editor of A Hell of a Woman, an anthology of female crime fiction. She has been nominated for many awards, including three Edgar® Awards, Hammett Prize, the Shirley Jackson Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Folio Prize.

WEBSITE| TWITTER | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS 

Giveaway Details:

5 winners will receive a paperback copy of THE FEVER! US Only.

Ends on May 22^nd at Midnight EST!

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[Book Tour Review] Love is Red by Sophie Jaff

Love is Red
by Sophie Jaff

Katherine Emerson was born to fulfill a dark prophecy centuries in the making, but she isn’t aware that this future awaits. However, there is one man who knows the truth: A killer stalking the women of New York, a monster the media dubs the “Sickle Man” because of the way he turns his victims into canvasses for his mesmerizing, twisted art.

Unleashed upon Manhattan after lying dormant for centuries, the Sickle Man kills to harvest the precious hues of his victims. As his palette grows, so too does his power. Every death brings him closer to the one color, and the one woman, he must possess at any cost.

While the city hunts the Sickle Man, Katherine must decide what to do about two men who have unexpectedly entered her life: handsome and personable David, and alluring yet aloof Sael. Though she’s becoming increasingly torn between them, how well does she really know them? And why is she suddenly plagued by disturbing visions?

Told from the alternating viewpoints of Katherine and the Sickle Man,Love Is Red is a riveting thriller that unfolds into an intense story of obsession and control, desire and fate. Katherine may not realize it yet, but with this haunting novel—as arrestingly original as Marisha Pessl’s Night Film, Patrick Süskind’s Perfume, and Lauren Beukes’s The Shining Girls—her moment of awakening is here. And soon she will find herself fighting a battle at the edges of our world, among forces more dangerous than we can possibly imagine. 

AMAZON | GOODREADS 

Love is Red took me by surprised. A Mystery Thriller mixed with romance and a slight twist of fantasy, this book will leave you breathless and even if you decide to put the book down to do Earthly things like eat and sleep, the whisper of the words from the book still stay with you. 

Going between two different POVs of Katherine and the serial killer called the Sickle Man, the story stays disturbed and intense the whole way through. Through the chapter we discover that the Sickle Man is preparing some sort of ritual that involves Katherine, his "beloved, the only one". Being born to fulfill the dark prophesy, she does not know what impact she has on the universe. 

While Sickle Man is killing woman after woman and engrossing them with carvings using a unique knife, Katherine meets two attractive guys that she is attracted to but has different connections with them. David is sweet and caring, while Sael is dramatic and intense. But Katherine has more things happening in her life than trying to juggle two men - like pennies that appear under her bed every time a new girl is killed. 

………………………………………………………………………

This was book was intense. I don't think I could find any other word that would describe what was going through my head when I was reading it. One of the things that really got to me was the way the serial killer talked. He was smooth. OH HE WAS SO SMOOTH! The thoughts he could hear, the girls that he picked were all spoken by this smooth, a little disturbing and arrogant tone. I loved it. Love is Red is definitely a book to read, it has flipped my head upside down. 

About Sophie Jeff

A native of South Africa, Sophie Jaff is an alumna of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and a fellow of the Dramatists Guild of America. Her work has been performed at Symphony Space, Lincoln Center, the Duplex, the Gershwin, and Goodspeed Musicals. She lives in New York City.

Find out more about Sophie at her website and connect with her on Facebook.