Book Blitz & Giveaway: Time of Ruin by Shauna Granger

Time of Ruin (Ash and Ruin #2)

by Shauna Granger

Release Date: 07/22/14

Summary from Goodreads:

The world has ended, and hope is the most dangerous thing left.


Battered and bruised after barely escaping San Francisco with their lives, Kat, Dylan, and Blue press north – desperate to reach the possibility of a new home.


But strange, monstrous ravens are tracking the remaining survivors, food is becoming scarce, gasoline is running short, and people are becoming suicidal, making survival almost impossible.


And the Pestas are growing bolder. Somehow, their numbers are growing.


The further north they go, the harder it becomes to ignore the signs that they’ve made a fatal mistake. Kat must face the impossible truth that there is no escape, there is no safe haven, and their worst nightmares don’t come close to their new reality.

Excerpt: 

Sitting on the bumper again, my jagged nails scratch at the plastic as I fight the urge to tell Dylan to hurry. Blue looks up at me and whines. I shake my head at him and pet him with the toe of my boot. His eyes are dark blue in the evening light. Blue drops his head and looks at Dylan, his ears perked up into two triangles. I follow his gaze. Dylan’s still standing, holding his instruments of destruction, and staring at the raging fire.

Blue pushes to his feet and barks one sharp, loud yelp. My hand drifts over to the rifle by my leg as I let my eyes slide from Dylan’s back to search for the source of Blue’s panic.

“Dylan.” I mean to call to him, but my voice comes out in a strangled whisper.

I swallow as I stand and pull the rifle with me. Across the street, the shadows between the houses are taking shape. They’re no longer the snapping, twisting formless shadows from the fire, but something more, something substantial. Dylan lifts the can of fluid and squirts more onto the fire, making it spike and lick the air.

“Dylan,” I try again, my voice a little louder. The rifle is in my hands now. The stock is pressed into my shoulder as I aim at the shadows peeling away from the deeper black.

Still Dylan doesn’t hear me, or is ignoring me.

Blue barks repeatedly, backing up until he hits the car. I find my voice and scream his name loud enough that it hurts my throat. Finally he looks at me, his face cast in shadows with the light behind him. I can’t make out his features, but I can make out the horde of Pestas behind him.

“Run!” I aim the gun as I walk backward around the car.

Instead of listening to me, he looks back to see what has terrified me so. They shuffle forward, lines of them spilling out into the cul-de-sac. Dylan takes two steps backward, nearly tripping over his feet and making me scream again. I rip the rear door open for Blue to get in the car. Slamming the door behind Blue, I lift the rifle and fire a shot, aiming well away from Dylan. The Pestas cringe in unison, as though they are all puppets controlled by the same set of strings.

“Run, dammit!” I scream.

Book One:

About the Author

Like so many other writers, Shauna grew up as an avid reader, but it was in high school that she realized she wanted to be a writer. Five years ago, Shauna started work on her Elemental Series. She released the first installment, Earth, on May 1, 2011 and has since released four sequels, with the series coming to an end with Spirit. She is currently hard at work on a new Urban Fantasy series, staring a spunky witch with a smush-faced cat named Artemis.

Author Links:

   

GIVEAWAY:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz Organized by:

Book Blitz and Giveaway: Tortured Souls by Kimber Leigh Wheaton

Tortured Souls (Orion Circle #1)

by Kimber Leigh Wheaton

Release Date: July 2014


Summary from Goodreads:

Sometimes Rest in Peace isn't an option.


Kacie Ramsey sees ghosts—and it's ruining her life. Her mother left, her father blames her, and no matter how hard she tries, she can't keep the ghosts away. Now a new power has emerged. Nightly visions of grisly murders and a relentless predator draw her to the brink of insanity.


When the phantom appears at a party, Kacie's longtime crush, Logan, saves her. He invites her to join the Orion Circle, a group of supernatural hunters with chapters in schools all over the country. Through the Circle, Kacie learns to embrace her spiritual powers, and for the first time in her life she feels in control rather than a victim.


But the Foxblood Demon will not give up so easily. A demented serial killer in life who trapped the souls of the thirteen children he murdered, imprisoning them within the walls of his mansion. Now in death, he plots his return while drawing power from the pure souls of the children. He recognizes something in Kacie he's never seen before—a medium powerful enough to provide a vessel for his tainted soul.


Kacie can't ignore the tortured souls of the children crying out to her every night. With Logan at her side, she will fight the Foxblood Demon. But can they banish this powerful phantom, or will Kacie lose not only her body, but her eternal soul to the monster.

Available from:

Praise

“Tortured Souls was a
wonderful YA read. It was light and enjoyable all the way through. From the
romance, to the thrills, this book was fantastic. YA lovers, this is definitely
a book you'll want to check out.” ~ Farrah at Imagine a World

“Tortured souls by Kimber
Wheaton........ omg!! Great book!!!! This is one you don't want to miss out on.” ~ Paranormal Romance & Authors That Rock

“The
plot is wonderfully spooky with just the right amount of suspense and mystery
to keep the pages turning.” ~ James Luby– Amazon Reviewer


Excerpt from Chapter Eleven ~ Romance on the River Walk

“Careful,
the stone walkway is a bit uneven,” he says, taking my hand. “It’s easy to
navigate during the day, but without light…” he trails off as we walk farther
from the lights of the building.

The path
ends, and we hike across a grassy expanse leading to the River Walk. Light from
the nearby building filters through the leaves above us creating a speckled
pattern on the shadowed grass. Roots from the large oak trees have broken
through the ground, almost impossible to see in the darkness. When I trip over
one my face flushes, and I mutter a curse at my clumsiness. Logan chuckles
before righting me so we can continue. Within seconds he trips over another
root from the same tree. We both stumble a few steps then break out in
laughter.

“You
don’t think the tree is out to get us do you?” he asks as he glares up at it.

I giggle
when he kicks the root with his hiking boot. He moves closer until he’s inches
from my face, close enough that I can see his eyes in the faint light under the
tree.

“We’re
almost to the retaining wall. I didn’t consider homicidal tree roots when I
chose to walk this way. Sorry.”

“I love
the trees,” I comment. He takes my hand leading me through the old tree’s maze
of roots. “I’m glad these businesses didn’t just tear down the old oak trees.
How old do you think this one is?” I ask, running my hand along the rough
trunk.

“No
idea,” he says, stopping to gaze up at the tree. “I bet it’s been witness to a
lot through the years.”

As we
continue the hike to the river, he puts his arm around my shoulders, and I snuggle
against his side. At the bottom of the grassy hill a four foot retaining wall
keeps the earth from slipping onto the path running along the river. Logan
jumps down then holds his arms up to me, grabbing me around the waist to help
me down the wall. My arms fly around his neck as I jump down, and I end up in
his arms pressed against his firm chest. As he lowers my feet to the ground, I
breathe in the scent of his leather jacket and spicy aftershave. Once I’m back
on the ground, I expect him to release me, but his arms stay wrapped around my
body holding me against him.

My face
is still buried in his shoulder, and I lift my chin to glance at him. He grins
at me, a cute half-smile, while his eyes sparkle in the golden light from a
nearby lantern. I focus on his lips as he closes the distance between us.

His lips
meet mine—soft and warm, the kiss achingly tender. My eyes flutter closed and
my hand moves up to those curls I’ve been dying to touch. He releases a soft
sigh as my fingers caress the nape of his neck and tips his head to deepen the
kiss. My lips part under the gentle pressure of his tongue, granting him
entrance.

His hand
moves from my back to my neck, and he buries his fingers in my hair. I let out
a breathy moan, completely lost to the sensations. He uses my hair to tip my
head back then trails searing kisses down my chin to my neck.

When he
pulls his lips away from my neck, he continues to hold me in his arms for
several moments while gazing into my eyes. My lips tingle, and I cling to his
arms, feeling a bit lightheaded. After a few silent moments, he takes my hand,
and we stroll along the river. I feel like I’m floating while my mind replays
our first kiss over and over. No matter how I look at it, the kiss was perfect
in every way.

About the Author

Kimber Leigh Wheaton is a YA/NA author with a soft spot for sweet romance. She is married to her soul mate, has a teenage son, and shares her home with three dogs, four cats, and lots of dragons. No, she doesn’t live on a farm, she just loves animals. She is addicted to romance, videogames, superheroes, villains, and chocolate—not necessarily in that order. (If she has to choose, she’ll take a chocolate covered superhero!) She currently lives in San Antonio, TX but has been somewhat a rolling stone in life, having resided in several different cities and states.

Author Links:

   



GIVEAWAY:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz Organized by:

Cover Reveal and Giveaway: How to Be Manly by Maureen O'Leary Wanket

We're excited to be among the first to see, and to share, the brand new book How to Be Manly by Maureen O'Leary Wanket coming September 2014 from Giant Squid Books. How to Be Manly is a Young Adult Contemporary novel. The cover art is by Jillian Blazek at JillianBlazek.com. 

"When you start this program, your whole life will change."

When Fatty Matty Sullivan finds a self-help book by former football great Tad Manly at a yard sale, he secretly starts following the old pro’s advice to turn himself into the kind of guy super hot Cassie Bale will love.

But between taking care of his grandfather, trying to pass remedial Algebra, and getting caught up in his friend Jester’s half-bakedweed-dealing schemes, Matt’s summer isn’t quite the game-changer he’d planned. And when on top of it all his dad moves back in with his own plans to get rich quick, Matt suddenly has much bigger things to worry about. It turns out that there might be more to being manly than he thought.With the humor and insight of YA favorites Judy Blume and Louis Sachar Maureen O’Leary Wanket’s debut is a sharp, comic novel about trying to do the right thing...even when you’re not sure what that is.

Goodreads | Giant Squid Books & How to Be Manly

Maureen O'Leary Wanket on food in How to Be Manly:

In How to Be Manly, fifteen year-old Matty Sullivan loves nothing more than eating his grandmother’s cooking and playing video games with his friends. It isn’t until he suffers a stinging rejection from the girl he has a crush on that he decides to get in shape...with the help of a corny book at a garage sale.

I happened upon the seed for the weight loss aspect of this novel one day when I was dropping my daughter off at a school event. In the parking lot I saw the mother of one of my kid’s classmates offering her obese son a box of donuts. I knew enough of their story to know that his dad wasn’t around and that they had a hard time of it. I saw between them a tender moment of joy they were having around these donuts, absolutely not caring who saw them or what people thought. They reminded me of how comforting food can be when the rest of the world is harsh and unloving. Giving that up is hard for Matt, but he does it because he sets his mind to it. Something I can tell you from twenty years in the classroom is that once a young person makes an internal decision to do something, that thing gets done. Kids can be very single minded about goals that are important to them. I’m inspired by my students in this way every day.

How to Be Manly is a novel for anyone who has ever found comfort in a perfect slice of red velvet cake. It's about you if you’ve ever given up what comforts you, only to learn that you were stronger than you ever thought you could be.

Excerpt:

At dinner I said no to Grandma’s mashed potatoes.  She didn’t say anything about it until I said no to dessert.  She held the cake knife up and looked at me as if I had lost my mind and said goddamn.

“What did you say, young man?”

“No cake for me, please.”  

Grandpa had no reaction. He nodded over his own slice of chocolate fudge with rainbow sprinkles like the cake had asked him a question.

I wished she wouldn’t fight me on saying no to cake.  I was still hungry after only eating chicken and salad but Tad Manly’s directions on diet were pretty simple. Say no to desserts.  Most of your meal should be meat and vegetables with whole grains like brown rice.  This is the kind of food that will give you the Manly body you’re working for.  If Grandma was going to start fighting me about eating stuff I had a hard time saying no to in the first place, this was going to be a hard road.

About the Author:

Maureen O’Leary Wanket is a writer and teacher living in Sacramento, California with her husband and two daughters. How To Be Manly is inspired by the humor and courage of the students she’s met in her classrooms over the past twenty years.

Maureen's short stories have appeared in Esopus, Xenith,Fiction at Work, Blood and Thunder, Musings on the Art of Medicine and Prick of the Spindle. How To Be Manly is her first novel. Follow her on Twitter @maureenow.

Giveaway:

Giveaway of one paperback Advanced Reading Copy of How to Be Manly (US)

and 3 eARCs of How to Be Manly (INT)

Giveaway courtesy of Giant Squid Books.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

Teaser Tour and Giveaway: Firebird Alex by Orren Merton

Today we’re excited to introduce you to Firebird Alex by Orren Merton.  Firebird Alex is a YA/NA urban fantasy that is available now at all online retailers.

Firebird Alex by Orren Merton

216 pages

Alex knows she’s different; other girls don’t burst into flames when
they get angry. After she nearly burned the house down when she was
twelve, her mother confessed that her father was a demon.

Now
eighteen and mourning the death of her mother, Alex sinks inside
herself until she discovers a dagger that can open a portal into her
father’s realm. Although she yearns to meet her father, nothing
terrifies her more. When an unknown threat from across the portal
menaces her friends and her loved ones, Alex knows she must act.

Alex
will do anything to save her friends—even risk appealing to her father
in his strange universe of bizarre creatures, unfamiliar alliances, and
unimagined power. She knows that to face a tormentor from across the
portal, she’ll need to learn to fight fire with fire.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N 

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

Firebird Alex: Introducing the main characters

By Orren Merton

The protagonist of Firebird Alex is—wait for it—Alex. But she’s got a cast of characters around her which contribute to her journey and to The Sedumen Chronicles as a whole. Here’s a brief introduction to the main characters:

Alexandra Gold:  Smart
and compassionate, 18-year old Alex grew up with the love of a doting
published poet mother, and haunted by a horrible secret: that her father
was a demon. The fear that one day, despite how much she wanted to be a
good person, she might turn into an evil monster kept her from wanting to associate with anyone. So when cancer killed her mother, Alex felt that the cancer had also taken her only bridge
to the world around her. And yet, in the back of her mind, she knows
that her mother would want her to be part of the world, and so she
tries, slowly, to claw her way back.

Rachel Silver: Short and bug-eyed, 13-year old Rachel was orphaned young, but not before her mother asked Rabbi Normal Hirsch to foster her. She’s gregarious and snarky but sweet and caring to the core of her being—just the righ girl
to help pull Alex out of her shell. The two girls hit it off quickly,
not simply because of their mutual loss, but because of their love of
gaming.

Rabbi Norman Hirsch: Father of Rachel, rabbi to Alex, and a kindly, deeply spiritual man who wants only to facilitate the enlightenment and fulfillment of everyone he can, especially wayward souls. He doesn’t have a judgmental bone in his body, which makes him the perfect for Alex, who judges herself so harshly she initially retreats from everything and everyone.

Jacob Harman: The moment 19-year-old Jake may seem like a stereotypical computer science major—tall, gawky, too thin for his own good—but he has a soulful streak, alove of cars, and will own up to the occasional foray into electronic data harvesting on the less-than-completely-legal side. For all that Jake may flirt with hacking, however, he has an unshakable sense of loyalty and a strong moral code.

Detective Hector Godinez: A
lifelong friend of Rachel’s father, he repeatedly runs into Jake and
Alex when the pair decide to investigate a missing persons case of his.
Like most good detectives, Godinez knows far more than he lets on.
Before long, he ends up being a sort of mentor to Alex, trying to pick
her brain and keep her out of trouble at the same time.

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

Firebird Alex: Rachel Interviews Alex

By Orren Merton

In my novel Firebird Alex,
the main character is 18-year old Alexandra Gold. Early in the novel,
she befriends 13-year old Rachel Silver. If Rachel were to have
interviewed Alex after they’d first become friends, it would have gone
like this…

Rachel: Thanks so much for agreeing to this!

Alex: Sure, Rachel, you’ve been so good to me these past few weeks, I’m glad I can help you out. Just don’t…

R: I know, nothing too personal. So let’s start with your full name.

A: Alexandra Shoshana Gold.

R: Your middle name’s Shoshana? I can’t believe I didn’t know that! That’s beautiful!

A: Aw, thanks.

R: Were you named after anyone in your family?

A: Not really, but kinda. My mom just wanted to call me Alex, so she named me Alexandra. And Shoshana is
actually my mom’s Hebrew name. There’s no Hebrew translation of Stacy,
so they just gave her that because it was pretty. She never went by it,
but she liked it, so she gave it to me as a middle name.

R: Now I feel bad. I’m sorry if I made you upset. I didn’t want to bring up…

A: No, it’s cool. I mean, I still think about my mom every day, she only died a month ago,
you know? And your dad’s been great, taking me in and helping me get my
life together. And you’ve been a massive help, Rachel. I feel like I’m
finally becoming myself again for the first time since losing mom.

R: I’m so glad, Alex. And it’s been really good for me to talk, too. My mom died a long time ago, but…yeah, it’s always right there.

A: Yep.

R: Okay,
so are you thinking about the future? Do you want to get a job? Go to
college? Run off with Jake and have boatloads of super tall babies?

A: [laughs] Come on, Rachel! We’ve only met a couple of times. And I’m not that tall.

R: You’re tall and pretty and shut up or I’ll punch you.

A: You mean you’ll try, girlie!

R: Okay, so no babies yet. But he likes you. Maybe you could go to University of California, Irvine with him!

A: UCI is a good school. I think about it. I don’t really want to just get a job, I’d want to go to school first. I also think about…

R: About what?

A: Um…if you’re going to turn this in, let’s just say visiting my dad. You know, in...his place.

R: Do you think he wants to meet you?

A: I
don’t know. I mean, I guess so. He left me that…um…key to his
place. So he has to want to meet me, don’t you think? But I never met
him, and I have no idea what he’s like, so it’s pretty scary to think
about.

R: Yeah. But thinking about dinner isn’t scary at all—let’s eat!

A: Okay, sounds good!


Orren Merton started writing fantasy and science fiction at an
embarrassingly young age, mostly for his own amusement.  In 2001,
magazines, developers, and corporations began to pay him to write and
edit music software related articles, manuals, and  books. His music
technology articles have appeared in magazines and online
in Electronic Musician,Computer Music UK, Music Tech Magazine,MIX, Cubase.net and Gearwire.com.
His music articles and reviews have been published nationally and
internationally, online and off in Dark Angel, OC Weekly, and The Scene
LA. His Industrial rock group Ember After released their debut album,
Grasping At Straws, in 2008. Since 2010 he has written the urban fantasy
novel The Deviant and the science fiction novel Skye Entity. He lives
in Southern California with his family, pets, collection of
sci-fi/fantasy memorabilia, and curiously large stuffed animal
collection.

http://orrenmerton.com

Giveaway:

5 ebook copies of Firebird Alex (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

                                                       The Fault in Our Stars              
                                                             John Green
                                                         January 10, 2012
Synopsis:
    
Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at Cancer Kid Support Group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Tanya's Review:
    The synopsis of this book had me thinking, oh no I can't read this it sounds so depressing. Then it started getting all this great buzz and I thought ok well maybe its not that horrible if I see it I will get it. So when I found it at my local used bookstore I totally bought it and it went in my giant TBR pile, because it really did still sound depressing. Then it was being made into a movie and well I always read the book before seeing the movie as I always find the movie lacking. So to the top of the TBR  pile it went. I started reading it while I was visiting my mom in the hospital, and the nurse looked at me and said " I just finished that book I can't believe you are gonna read that book in public, you know you are gonna cry right? " 
   So all that being said, I can  not believe what a schmuckk I was leaving this beautiful book in my TBR pile for so long. Did it make me cry? Of course it did but it also made me laugh and made me want to be a better person. The story is of course sad, kids with cancer but they are still teenage kids and they are normal and want to be treated normal. This story was so beautifully written, it had everything hope, sadness, laughter, devastation and so much love.
    I know this is a YA book, but honestly everyone should read it. This book really is worth all the hype and please have tissues handy when you do read it. 

The Fault in Our Stars:   5/5  stars
                                                   

Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop! Enter to win The Hunger Games and Earthbound!

We here at The Revolving Bookcase for Young Readers are so excited to be participating in our first ever giveaway blog hop: The Freedom to Read Blog Hop! Thank you so much to I Am a Reader and Bookhounds for hosting such an amazing hop - there are over 140 blogs participating with so many awesome prizes up for grabs so be sure to visit each one (see the linky list at the end of the post - some posts might not be live until the official start date of July 2nd)! We are giving away TWO YA books to one winner - a paperback copy of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and a paperback ARC (advance reader's copy) of Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike (note that the cover of the ARC is different from the cover pictured). This giveaway is open to US Only.

Winning means fame and fortune.
Losing means certain death.
The Hunger Games have begun...

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, the shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before--and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Tavia Michaels is the sole survivor of the plane crash that killed her parents. When she starts to see strange visions of a boy she’s never spoken with in real life, she begins to suspect that there’s much about her past that she isn’t being told. 

Tavia immediately searches for answers, desperate to determine why she feels so drawn to a boy she hardly knows. But when Tavia discovers that the aunt and uncle who took her in after her parents' death may have actually been responsible for the plane crash that killed them--and that she may have been the true intended victim--she flees for the safety of Camden, Maine, where the boy she sees in her visions instructs her to go.

Now, Tavia is on the run with no one to trust. No one, that is, except for her best friend and longtime crush, Benson.

Tavia feels torn between the boy who mysteriously comes to her at night and the boy who has been by her side every step of the way. But what Tavia doesn't know is that the world is literally falling apart and that to save it she will have to unite with the boy in her visions. Only problem? To do so would mean rejecting Benson's love. And that's the one thing Tavia Michaels swore she'd never do.

a Rafflecopter giveaway