Book Blitz: Skin and Bone by Keary Taylor ~ Excerpt & Giveaway

Skin and Bone
by Keary Taylor 
Publication date: November 12th 2019
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

I’d do anything for him, even become the woman he loves…

HER
I tried my best for years, but all he ever wanted was for her to come back. So bit-by-bit, I evolved, transforming into someone he could love. But he didn’t take the bait until I went all the way.

I became her.

Now everything is perfect. We’re happy. So in love. And he doesn’t suspect a thing.

SAWYER

Someone claiming my name sent me a video. It looks to be me, returning to my hometown, reconnecting with my high school boyfriend, Ezra. Those are my clothes, that’s my laugh, and that’s my face.

She took my freedom next. And then she made me watch as she took over my entire life, fooling everyone like a perfect chameleon. It’s clear what she wants, and Ezra is all too quick to take me back.

Only one person seems to notice something is off.

Ezra’s brother, Davis—the last person I called. There’s a certain darkness in Davis’ eyes, and he’s not the type to let up until he gets his answers.

Somehow, I’ll make her pay. This impostor is going to regret the day she ever took the name Sawyer James.

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SKIN AND BONE EXCERPT

CHAPTER ONE

Eight surgeries, twelve hair dye experiments, 1,834 hours of video observation, two years of yoga practice to try to make up that extra inch of height, and the public loss of gluten.

That’s what I’ve gone through for love. That’s everything I’ve given up–all the money I’ve spent, all the hours I’ve invested–to finally be with the man I’ve loved for more than a decade.

They say nothing worth having comes easy.

Everything comes with a price.

I’ve paid my dues. I’ve been more patient than anyone could ever comprehend.

And now it’s finally my time.

I step from the closet into the bathroom. I check my makeup. What the surgeries couldn’t accomplish is made up for with some well-practiced cosmetic techniques. The contour is just right. The eyebrow lift did exactly what was needed. My jaw is still sore, even though all of the swelling and bruising has finally gone away.

But as I apply a coat of lipstick—Apple Sunrise, her default color—I smile at myself.

Even my teeth required altering. Thirty-five thousand dollars, and they look just right; are just the right shade of white.

It’s perfect.

I’m perfect.

I am my own creation and I have to admire my hard work.

It’s brilliant.

I press my lips together, blowing my own reflection a kiss, and step out of the bathroom. I cut through the nearly empty bedroom and aim for the dining room. My laptop sits on it, a cheap piece of technology, because after today, it’s going in the  crusher of the cement company down the road.

Can’t leave any evidence behind.

Which is tragic, because really, this amounts to the same amount of work as a doctoral degree.

It’s okay though. I’ll take the loss, so long as it gets me the prize, the reward for all my hard work.

I open the web browser and sign into my email.

iamsawyerjames@gmail.com

Just seeing the signature at the top of the page feels good. My insides flutter in excitement. Goosebumps wash over my skin.

Sawyer James at IMT Homes, I type in the address. I attach just one file and leave the body of the email empty. In the subject line, I type It was never really about you.

But that’s a lie. She may not be my main target, my main motivation, but there are fourteen years’ worth of resentment that brought us to this point.

My gaze re-focuses on the screen, and once more, I see my reflection.

Perfect, soft blonde hair. Blue eyes that border on green, thanks to contacts that are purely for color, not prescription.

A pretty face with hope in her eyes.

Here we are. One last out before it all goes down.

One last opportunity to change my mind.

I see myself smile in the screen.

Not a chance. I’ve worked too hard for this.

I press SEND and smile.

About the Author

Keary Taylor is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over twenty novels. She grew up along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where she started creating imaginary worlds and daring characters who always fell in love. She now splits her time between a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest and Utah, with her husband and their two children. She continues to have an overactive imagination that frequently keeps her up at night.

Connect with Keary Taylor 

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Website | Goodreads

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The Quirky Tale of April Hale by Cathy Octo ~ #BookBlitz & #Giveaway

Welcome, Donnie Darlings, to the Book Blitz for The Quirky Tale of April Hale! The title is so catchy; I just know this is going to be an awesome book. Plus it has a cute cover! :D   

The Quirky Tale of April Hale 
by Cathy Octo

Publication Date: October 27th, 2015

Publisher: Blvnp Publishing Incorporated

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Purchase: Amazon 

Synopsis

Tall, dark, and mysterious—Ryder Black is everything a girl wants. The catch? He’s trouble. Naturally, he’s irresistibly charming. Surprisingly, he’s impressively academic, too. But it’s his knack for getting into fights that makes him notorious.

Dorky, clumsy, and just plain odd—April Hale talks like Yoda, eats her food based on the day of the week, and prefers binge watching TV shows to partying. She has also spent the past few years eavesdropping on the Blacks’ morning fights. It was her daily routine. Until that one morning that Ryder catches her looking into his bedroom window… and she becomes all but anonymous in his eyes. 

Hell-bent on making contact, Ryder gets a sneak peek into the quirky world of April when she stuffs all of her fingers in her mouth and faints the first time he talks to her. 

She’s unusual. He’s captivated. 

In this delightfully wacky and fun story, we discover that sometimes what makes us outcasts from the world are the very things that make us special. Join April and Ryder in their journey to discovering more about life… and about each other. It will give you butterflies in the stomach, tickle your funny bones, and pull at your heartstrings until the very last page.  

About the Author

 

Part writer, part illustrator. Cathy’s life has always been filled with imagination and stories that will keep her up all night. For years, Cathy had read and written lots of stories, stemming from a deep love for flawed characterizations and interesting relationship dynamics. Finally, she started posting on Wattpad before getting discovered by BLVNP. Aside from writing, Cathy draws quite a bit and also plays a ridiculous amount of Dota 2. 


Read below for an excerpt from the book:

"Ryder 'Heart-Stopping' Black at two o clock, approaching us in alarming velocity!" Corinne was panicking.

"Oh my God, he looks so cute." Since Corrine and Marcy were mostly associated with books and the whiteboard, the closest thing that they could count as contact with the male was when they were dissecting frogs. 

They didn't know how to react around boys, especially the confident ones. Marcy would resort on twiddling endlessly at her sweaters and sputtering random Tumblr quotes. Corinne, on the other hand, would go to a total frozen state, and was only capable of talking in Science lingo. 

As for me, Quentin often had his hormone-crazed, rambunctious friends over so I could manage boys better than them. But Ryder Black was different. The closest I'd ever been from him was ten meters, and anything closer than that? 

I went into a Yoda-mode. 

"Stars, my darned." Said I. 

"Hey." Ryder's voice was now behind me. 

The total lack of commotion that my friends emitted confirmed me that both of them had already spiraled into temporary brain deaths. 

I stared at the wall. Ryder didn't say my name, so there was still possibilities that he was trying to talk with someone else. Maybe someone a little more normal. Maybe someone who hadn't just witnessed the way he and his family bickered earlier this morning. 

"Hey." He tried again. 

Closer, this time, and I could practically feel his breath fanned my back. 

"Neighbor." 

"Idon'tknowanyneighborsIwon'ttellanyonewhatIsaw, don't kill me, please!" I was shaking all over due to fear that blossomed uncontrollably fast. 

There was no record of Ryder hitting women, but everyone was talking about how good he was at transforming people's faces into unrecognizable pulps. My face quality certainly wasn't as good as Emma Watson, but I didn't want my face to turn into a blob of pulp. 

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ryder put a hand on my shoulder and spun me around, so that I was facing him. 

He wrinkled his nose a bit, when he saw that all ten of my fingers were inside my mouth in a sad attempt to control the quivering of my mouth. 

"You can.. You can take out all of your fingers, Neighbor. I'm not going to bite." He said, mildly amused and mildly disgusted at the same time. 

I took out all of my fingers, slowly. 

"Now, we need to talk." He said again, slower this time, as if he was trying to communicate with a starfish. 

And boy, I did feel like a starfish at this very moment. 

"Oh-uh." I shook my head. 

"No. Please? Scared I am. Talk we never." I hated myself for letting my Yoda-mode take over me like that. 

"It's about this morning." He took a glance at my friends, both were gaping at him and in the verge of drooling. 

"Can I kidnap your friend for five minutes? It's kinda important." Neither Marcy or Corinne looked like they were capable of answering. 

"Cool." Ryder said, before then, he once again shocked me to the oblivion by grabbing my elbow, and dragging me with him. 

It was even worse than I imagined. I thought that we were going to talk in the corner, but he went deeper than that. When I thought we were going to have audience for our talking at the stairs, he went even deeper than that. 

A few minutes, lots of tugging, and three near-death-experiences by heart failure later, the word 'Janitor' was approximately one meter above my head, and I stared at the door with aghast horror.  
We were going to talk in the Janitor's closet. As the realization was sinking in, I felt every hair on my body falling out. This place was legendary, not because of the smell, but because of the history that it preserved. This was where a lot of relationship was made. This was where a lot of innocence was lost. This was where women turned insane, and men showed their demons. 

And Ryder wanted me to talk with him here. 

"Let's talk here." Ryder said. "We'll have privacy." 

My whole existence wasn't built for this. 

In my whole seventeen years of living, I hadn't spent even one second preparing myself for this kind of experience. Talking with boys was a chore. Talking with bad boys was a torture. Talking with bad boys in a very secluded, very historical area, was... Well, it was pandemonium.  
And so my defense-mechanism took over, and I did something I never thought I would. 

I fell into Ryder's arms, and the moment my head crashed against his chest, I lost consciousness.

So much for talking to the Bad Boy for the first time.   

 (5) ecopies of The Quirky Take of April Hale 

by Cathy Octo

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Body & Soul by Jamie Loeak ~ #BookBlitz

Welcome, Donnie Darlings, to the Book Blitz for Body & Soul, organized by RBTL World of Books Blog Tours! I was meant to post this on the 24th but am late, so my apologies for my lateness! 

Title: Body & Soul

Author: Jamie Loeak

Series:  The Chronicles of Light & Darkness (#1)

Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy/Romance

Publisher: Self Published

Release Date: Aug 25 2012 (First Edition)

Edition/Formats Available: eBook

Synopsis

A demon searches for the source of his humanity.

Kate, the daughter of a lawyer and marine biologist, has just moved to a small beach town in Florida. She’s forced to start over in the middle of the summer, but is used to it by now, since she’s moved around her entire life. When Kate meets Rico and Adriana on her second day at the beach house, everything changes. Kate is introduced to the world of Light and Darkness, and is thrown into the middle of it when a mysterious being attacks her one night. As Kate’s nights continue to get weirder, her friendship with Rico and Adriana grows stronger, and for the first time Kate has real friends. When Rico sits Kate down to tell her what is really happening to her, things start to click for Kate, and she is forced to make a decision to quit or fight for her body and soul.

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Jamie Loeak is an aspiring YA author. She has written and published her trilogy and continues to work toward finishing the ideas for more novels that pop into her ever changing mind. Jamie resides in Florida, where she is a middle school teacher. Finding time for writing is difficult within the world of lesson plans, assessments, and students; however, Jamie makes sure to make time for all of the things that she loves in life, including her students, pets, and loving boyfriend. When Jamie isn't writing or grading papers, she is forcing her sister into photo shoots or playing her guitar. Her current goal is to become a bestselling author.

Author Links

Blog

FacebookAuthor Page

Facebook

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Goodreads

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Other Works by Jamie Loeak

The Chronicles of Light and Darkness

Body and Soul Book 1

The Keeper of the Keys Book 2

Fireand Ice Book 3

The Atlantis Novella Serial

FlightlessBird: The Descent into Atlantis Part 1

My Buddhist Christmas by Jeremy Phillips ~ #BookBlitz

Hey Donnie Darlings, welcome to the Book Blitz for My Buddhist Christmas! Below you'll find out info about the book and two excerpts. :D 

My Buddhist Christmas
by Jeremy Phillips
Published by: Limitless Publishing
Publication Date: September 8th 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary

Purchase: Amazon | B&N 

Synopsis

It's not surprising that sixteen-year-old Chris Jones has no idea where he fits in...

After all, he's a Buddhist kid in America - during the Christmas season. Add in the fact he plays guitar in a punk rock band called The Dharma Bhumz, and his life is one giant paradox. Caught between the principles of his religion and the influence of his hard-partying bandmates, Chris is in a constant struggle for balance. 

An upcoming talent show is his chance to shine - or fail spectacularly...

It's already hard enough preparing for the show, since his friends are more interested in getting high than practicing. And now Chris has to worry about impressing pretty Mary Simpson. To make matters even worse, Mary's parents are fundamentalist Christians, a few steps above his family on the social ladder, and they firmly believe Chris isn't good enough for their precious daughter. 

Conflicted about his friends, lying to his family, and still mourning a devastating loss, Chris wonders if being an American Buddhist guitar wizard wanna-be is worth it. Or does any of it even matter anymore?

Excerpts

I feel trapped. I know that I ought to just leave. I ought to just ditch the whole ridiculous Dharma Bhumz thing, despite what the other kids at school will say, despite all the fliers that are up around the building with my picture on it. I know that being the only straight one, the only one who cares enough about our band to keep trying to get it back on track, is only going to be a lot of irritating and frustrating work. To try to stay will be foolish. But, at the same time, I know that I can’t do anything else but stay.

* * * * *

I take a deep breath, and make a seriously conscious effort to actually go Buddhist on this situation. I think of the first Buddhist thing that comes to mind, which happens to be the thing that seems most appropriate in this situation, as in so many other times in life:

The mind of the past is ungraspable.

The mind of the present is ungraspable.

The mind of the future is ungraspable.

This is from the Diamond Sutra, the only part of it that I actually know right off the top of my head. It’s good stuff, and all it really means is to be here now, in this moment, the moment right here in front of you, because it’s the only time that you’ll ever actually get to live in, ever, in this life. At a moment like this, sitting with a prettily smiling Mary across from me, I can see that idea so very well. This moment, this second right here and right now, is the only fragment of time that I can actually have. Once it’s past, this time will be nothing but a memory. Thinking forward into the future is the same. It’s projecting what I want or fear or imagine, into just dreaming about how things are going to be. Even the present is ungraspable, a slightly harder idea to think about maybe, until you notice that “the present” is just another concept. When does this present come into being, shifting from the future into our present view? When does this present stop being present, and slide off into becoming the past? At no time, really. So, just like the others, the present is also just a concept. There’s really only this. This now, only this eternal moment right here, that every really does exist. So—Be Here Now, I tell myself. I mean, really, come on. This is the only moment you’re ever gonna live in.

About the Author

Jeremy Phillips has been interested in Buddhist philosophy for more than twenty years, and attends services at a Shin Buddhist temple in Spokane, Washington. When he isn't writing or keeping busy being a father and husband, he works as a Respiratory Therapist at several different hospitals. He lives in Spokane with his wife, children, dogs, and bonsai trees. 

Connect with the Author

Twitter | Facebook 

       

Blitz organized by:

Break the Spell by A.M. Bostwick ~ #BookBlitz: #Excerpt & #Giveaway .@yaReads

Hey Donnie Darlings!! Welcome to the Book Blitz for Break the Spell hosted by Ya Reads Blog Tours! We have a lot for you to check out today - there's an excerpt, book trailer, and a giveaway. So stick around and check out Break the Spell! 

Break the Spell 
by A.M. Bostwick 
Published by Fiery Seas Publishing 
Published in September 2015 
Genre: Young Adult

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iTunes

Synopsis

Alone. On the run. Until she came along. 

When Allison Evans walks out of high school the last day of her senior year, she has no idea that her carefully guarded life is about to unravel. 

Ethan Knight is on the run. Accused of dealing drugs and armed with nothing but a bad reputation and his motorcycle, he takes refuge for the weekend inside the old high school. Thinking no one will find him and no one does. 

Until Allison. Panicked and left with no other choice, Ethan takes her captive. It should be a nightmare, but together, both of their lives take an unexpected turn. It's time for them both to stop running from their problems. 

  Excerpt  

Storm clouds gather above me. I zip my jacket sleeves. I’m always leaving, but I never have anywhere to go. 

Where the hell are you, Steve? Why am I the one with all this cash? Why is this all up to me? 

He isn’t exactly beating a path to get to me and answer my questions. I shake my head and saddle up. Screw him. 

Damn it, I have to stop swearing so much. 

Get on the road again, I tell myself. Stay moving. Cursing is the least of my worries. Where to go? 

Where do I have left to go? 

Motor loud, iPod louder, pounding out my favorite band. My Darkest Days. 

You’re out for blood and you can smell the fear.

Miles and miles pass beneath me. The sky grows darker, threatening clouds silently rolling in. The single headlight illuminates my road to nowhere. These roads I’ve traveled all my life. It’s impossible for me to get lost, I know them so well. This both comforts and frustrates me. Lightening flickers across the sky on the western horizon. 

The music moves through me like electricity. 

You need poison, like it’s the only thing that keeps you alive. 

I’m two counties away now, down cracked and twisting county roads. The Wisconsin River snakes downstream alongside me - black, cold, dangerous. Inviting. 

Just a little bad habit that you hide from your friends. 

What the hell am I supposed to do? Ozone is in the air. Thunder rumbles. Chicken Little had been right. The sky is going to fall. Stay tough, Ethan. 

Said you didn’t want it, but you’re in a sick and twisted affair. 

I push the throttle in further. The Harley responds. A strike of lightening briefly lights up the eerie gray sky, thunder cracks, and the rainclouds break open. I can’t outrun the storm. I’m forced to slow as the road gets slick beneath my wheels. The drops are needles against my skin. I’m soaked in seconds. 

One taste and it can take control of your life. 

It hits me. 

Your dirty little drug, that you never get enough of. 

I know where to go. I know where to hide. Where they will never find me. 

You won’t be alone tonight. 

It will buy time. Which I sorely need right now. As the rain pelts down, I decelerate the bike on the highway, make a u-turn in the middle of the road and gun back toward Oakdale. Following the storm. 

You won’t be alone tonight.    

  Book Trailer

 

  

Teaser

About the Author

A.M. Bostwick writes Middle Grade and Young Adult novels. Her debut middle grade novel, The Great Cat Nap, earned the 2014 Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. An early draft of her young adult novel, Break the Spell, was a finalist in the 2013 Wisconsin Romance Writers of America Fab 5 Contest. She holds degrees in both art and earth science. A.M. Bostwick lives in northern Wisconsin with her husband, dog and thrill-seeking cat. 

 Connect with the Author

 Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Publishing Website   

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