Behind the Stars: The Complete Series by Leigh Talbert Moore ~ Blog Tour: #Review & #Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Behind the Stars Blog Tour hosted by YA Bound Book Tours. Click here to follow along with the full tour schedule.

 

Behind the Stars (Behind the Stars #1-6)
by Leigh Talbert Moore
Release Date: December 9th 2014
Source: Copy for review

Purchase: Behind the Stars Complete Set

Amazon | Google Play | iTunes | Nook | Kobo   

Synopsis
Prentiss Puckett is certain of three things:
- Graduation is two weeks away.
- Summer only gets hotter in south Mississippi.
- She's getting a job with air-conditioning.

She did not expect to be kidnapped walking to work. 
And she never expected to become a hero. 

Red Dawn meets LOST in this new action-adventure romance from Amazon bestselling author Leigh Talbert Moore.

Just a couple days ago I said I'm a fan of serials, and Behind the Stars is another reason why. Well written, intelligent, and mysterious, this series is the kind that keeps you in a constant state of holding your breath either hoping for or against the next thing to happen. And while you don't know what will happen, you do know there's enough tension to cut with a knife and keep you on the edge of your seat. 

I really liked trying to figure out the mystery behind Prentiss's kidnapping. One day she's on her way to work but never makes it there. Instead, she wakes up in a strange place with kids she knows from school - male and female. I couldn't tell who had kidnapped all of these kids and why. Was there a war? An invasion? What do the kidnappers want with these kids?  

In the meantime, Prentiss takes us back in her memories to her relationship with her boyfriend Jackson, the turmoil at home between her brother and their father, and losing her mom at an early age. I was able to get to know what Prentiss was like before she was taken as well as afterward. It's clear from the start she isn't going to go down without a fight. While everyone else seems resigned to their fate, she's thinking of ways to escape and bring help to get everyone else out, too. 

With so many people in their small town unaccounted for, no one knows if they've been taken, too, and whether they're dead or alive. I couldn't put this book down...I had to find out what was going on! What I wanted to know the most, almost more than if Prentiss could make a break for it, was who had kidnapped them and why. What were they planning on doing with those they had abducted and how were they able to get away with it? Neither the military nor the police comes to save the day, so why is that? 

The answers will surprise you, even shock you. There were so many moments where I really think I did hold my breath! I would have rated this five stars, but after the first episode, the story slowed down a bit; however, I realize this was to build up relationships between characters for what would happen later down the road. Not long after, the story picks back up again with speed. 

Behind the Stars is definitely the kind of series I look for when wanting something fresh and original to read. I loved losing myself in the pages and playing Sherlock as I tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Definitely recommend this! 

My Rating:

  

About the Author

Leigh Talbert Moore is the author of the popular young adult romantic comedy The Truth About Faking, its companion The Truth About Letting Go, and the mature YA/new adult romantic suspense novel, Rouge, a Quarter Finalist in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

She is an award-winning journalist and editor, who has also worked in marketing and public relations for many years. Her writing has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the southeast and Midwest U.S., and she runs the popular writing-craft blog That's Write. 

A southern ex-pat and beach bum, she currently lives with her husband, two young children, and one grumpy cat in the Midwest. 

Connect with the Author

Website | Facebook | Amazon Author page | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Blog Tour organized by:

Thicker Than Blood by Madeline Sheehan & Claire C. Riley ~ Release Day Blitz!

HAPPY RELEASE DAY!

 

A true friendship never dies.

Leisel and Evelyn lost everything. Husbands. Families. Friends. Lives that made sense. All they had left was each other, and a friendship that could withstand anything…

Even an apocalypse.

Until one fateful night, the marginal safety they’d come to rely on comes to a vicious and brutal end. With the help of Alex & Jami, both unlikely allies, Leisel and Evelyn are able to escape their shattered sanctuary only to find themselves face-to-face with a much altered, much crueler life where they have to find the way—and the will—to stay alive in a world they no longer recognize.

Traveling across a broken and infection-ridden country; the road-weary group are pitted against endless violence, improbable circumstances, and the ultimate loss. Everything comes at a price—especially safety, the cost of which could very well strip them of the one thing they’ve tried so hard to cling to: their humanity.

Yet along with all the trials they’re forced to endure, there’s also hope in the form of love. Having loved Leisel from afar, Alex attempts to put the pieces of her fractured heart back together.

But in such a savage world, is there room for love?

In a place of nightmares-made-reality, where the living should be feared far more than the dead, an unbreakable friendship and a love amongst all odds can mean the difference between life and death.

There are friends…

And then there are Leisel and Evelyn.

Amazon Links:

Paperback | Kindle

Barnes & Noble Link:

Nook

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/thicker-than-blood-15

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/x/id950440056

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/500392

Raven (Chronicles of Steele #1) by Pauline Creeden ~ Blog Tour: #Review & #Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Raven Chronicles of Steele Blog Tour hosted by Xpresso Book Tours! Click here to follow along with the full tour schedule. 

Title: Raven
Series: Chronicles of Steele #1
Author: Pauline Creeden
Publication date: October 28th 2014
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Steampunk
Source: Copy for review 

Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis

This is the complete Steampunk Fantasy novel - all four parts of the serial in one volume! Also includes bonus features not found in the episodes.

Human life has value. 
The poor living in the gutter are as valuable as the rich living in a manor. 
The scoundrel is no less valuable than the saint.
Because of this, every life a reaper takes must be redeemed. 

Raven has lived by this first tenet since she was trained by her father to become a reaper. But since his death, she's been spending years redeeming the lives she's taken. By her count, she's even and it's time for that life to end. If she settles down and becomes a wife, she might just feel human again. But on the way to the life she thinks she wants, the baron of New Haven asks her to complete a task which she cannot ignore... Just when Raven decides to give up on her life as an assassin, she's pulled right back in.

  

I'm a fan of serial storytelling where parts of the story come in episodes spread out over time. The Chronicles of Steele #1 contains four episodes, and I'll be reviewing all of them here. 

I really enjoyed reading the episodes and even better, I read them back-to-back. It would have been difficult to wait for each one, but I wouldn't have minded. My anticipation would have just built up, and all of this together means the wait would be worth it. After finishing The Chronicles of Steele, I know this is definitely true.    

I love Raven. She's a reaper who wants to settle down and become a wife but an incident early on ends up sending her on yet another mission. Once she's on this mission, that's all she focuses on though she had been on her way to give up being a reaper and live a "normal" human life.  

Reapers aren't magic, but they are highly trained to anticipate outcomes ahead of time and to fight and to be mentally prepared. They are so well trained they seem like they use magic. Raven was taught to save a life for every life she has to take, which keeps a reaper balanced and reminds him (with the exception of Raven, most reapers are male) all lives have meaning.     

The plot is captivating and laid out well, and the steampunk elements are seamlessly blended in giving the world Creeden has built vibrant life. Captain Jack caught my eye early on. I remember thinking I hoped to meet up with him again sooner rather than later. Though he's the enemy, it isn't quite that cut and dry as you'll find out.  

Jack and Raven are playing a game of cat-and-mouse. She's always one step ahead of him, and I couldn't help but be amused every time he realized that. He sees her strength and recognizes her vulnerability. There's more to him than just what you see on the outside. 

I think The Chronicles of Steele might just be my absolute favorite book by Pauline Creeden now - it's that fantastic!  

My Rating

About the Author

In simple language, Pauline Creeden creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long. Pauline is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy.

Armored Hearts, her joint effort with author Melissa Turner Lee, has been awarded the Crowned Heart for Excellence by InDtale Magazine. It is also the 2013 Book Junkie's Choice Winner in Historical Fiction. Her debut novel, Sanctuary, won 1st Place Christian YA Title 2013 Dante Rosetti Award and 2014 Reader's Choice Gold Award for Best YA Horror Novel.

Connect with the Author

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter     

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Blog Tour organized by:

Skin of My Teeth by Judith Graves ~ Blog Tour: #Review

Welcome to my stop on the blog Tour hosted by  me, my shelf and i. Click here to follow along with the rest of the tour. 

SKIN OF MY TEETH, Volume 1

Skinned Book 3, Vol 1

Author: Judith Graves

Release Date: December 23rd 2014

Publisher: Leap Books
Source: Review copy

Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis

HOW TO PLAY

* draw a card from the deck

* kill or be killed

* and if you're lucky, repeat...

Hidden agendas, deep, dark secrets, and monsters lurking around every locker. It's business as usual at Redgrave High for Eryn and her crew of paranorm hunters - although the two guys vying for her heart just might have to up their game.

A little healthy competition soon becomes all-out survival of the fittest as the crew are pitted against a pack of demons trading souls - for keeps. The student population is enamored with a new card game, Boroughs Quest. Kids are desperate to get their hands on gilded cards from a mysterious expansion deck, but when they do...

It's all fun and games 'til somebody dies.     

I read the first three books in this series - Under My Skin, Second Skin, and Skin of My Teeth. This review will cover all three books. 

I love Judith Graves's writing style. The main character, Eryn, drew me into her world with her snark and her wit, and I didn't want to leave. It would be hard being the new girl, with everyone gawking at you shamelessly. But she handles it like a pro, not letting it bother her. She has bigger problems than a bunch of fellow high school kids anyhow. 

She's half-human, half-wolven, and after something has happened to her parents (they disappeared without a trace), the Council sends her to live with her uncle. She starts going to school with her cousin, who's less than thrilled to have her living with them. The Council wants her to lay low, believing Redgrave is paranorm-free, but they couldn't be more wrong. 

She soon finds herself in the middle of all sorts of paranorm activity (haha!) and becomes torn between her attraction to a hunter, Alec, and a vampire, Wade. All sorts of secrets are being kept - ones from her as well as the ones she's keeping from others. She struggles with keeping her wolven side in check and needs to find a way to reconcile both sides of herself. 

"I pull the covers over my head and wonder what happens if you're both the beauty and the beast." 

There's plenty of action and some romance sprinkled in. Sometimes I didn't like how many times Eryn would go back and forth between her attraction to Alec and Wade; however, I remember having feelings at that age for more than one guy. I was young, and it wasn't like I was looking to settle down for the rest of my life at the age of sixteen. :P It still could be annoying reading about it in Eryn's for me, though, because her feelings switched in mere minutes.

I was desperate to find out what happened to Eryn's parents - were they still alive or had something really awful happened to them? How did the council tie into everything? If her parents were still alive, then I really wanted to meet them because they seemed like good parents doing the best they could just from her memories. And I was surprised that Alec and Wade were both still in the picture as love interests by the third book. I do love both characters, so I was okay with it. ;)

Aside from that, I'm looking forward to the fourth book, Hour of the Wolf. I love the characters in this series, the paranormal aspects of the story, and the moments that make you laugh and cry at the same time. There are always surprises around every corner, and you never know how things are going to turn out until you get there. 

My Rating:

About the Author

Residing in a northern Alberta community, similar to the fictional town of Redgrave, where Under My Skin is set - Judith unhappily endures snow in the winter and runs away from bees in the summer. 

A firm believer that Canadian teen fiction can be sexy, action packed and snarky as hell - Judith writes paranormal stories with attitude. 

Connect with the Author

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram 

An Announcement from Nazarea Andrews! #SHADESOFBLUE

Today we are revealing a special announcement from author Nazarea Andrews. Check out the author's note, excerpt, and teaser below for details!

 

NOTE FROM NAZAREA ANDREWS:

This year, I’m doing something super fun—I’m releasing an entire novel in serial format, with a new installment coming every week. And the only way to read it is to sign up for my newsletter!!! I know, I know! Newsletter—all the spam. But I promise. No spam. Aside from the weekly story updates, I’ll probably send one newsletter a month announcing new releases or upcoming events. And that’s it.

So here’s a bit about this sexy new thriller.

Shades of Blue

Caledon Peterson came to Northern University for one thing: to find his missing brother. But the college is a hive of secrets, and he’s quickly drowning in them.

Indigo Kennish is a junior, an activist and an enigma, someone he can’t quite figure out with electric blue hair, a bad attitude, and lips he can’t quit thinking about. Violet Rice is the picture perfect sorority girl, daughter of the dean and blatant about wanting him. But neither girl is telling him the whole truth.

And someone is killing students at the university.

As the body count grows, and the truth about his brother comes to light Caledon is drawn closer to both girls, and the secrets threaten to bury them all.

Go back to Northern in a new novel that tells the curse of Bluebeard in a modern dark thriller where you never know who to trust.

Newsletter link: http://eepurl.com/MtHwj

 

 

EXCERPT FROM SHADES OF BLUE:

I hate Northern. I hated it when I visited it the first time, when I told Dad to fuck himself and his alma mater. I hated it every time I came back, for one of my brother’s graduation.

I hate it now, more than ever. Because this time I’m here to find the brother who vanished on its fucking campus. I sit on the stone stoop, and stare at the students bustling around campus like it holds the secrets to their entire world.

Hell, maybe it does. For me, it holds the secrets of my brother, and that’s enough.

Freshman orientation is in an hour, and I stretch my legs. It wouldn’t do to be late, not at my first official function.

A few girls sashay by, and I can feel their eyes, hot and assessing.
It’s not terribly surprising. I’m a Peterson, after all. We are born lucky, blessed with wealthy and intelligence, and damn good genetics. I flash them a quick smirk, and one, the one in the middle, blushes, a deep bloom of color that trails down her neck. I laugh soundlessly as the ringleader pulls away her minions, gossiping as fast as they go.

Lane has been missing for six months. Since March. And the cops say nothing happened—he answers his emails, and he says he’s in Europe for a while, getting a fresh look on shit after a bad breakup.

But I know my brother. And Lane isn’t in fucking Europe. He hated Europe—we always ditched mom and dad, ending up in some shitty hotel in Amsterdam, blitzed out of our minds. Dad hated that I subverted Lane. The older guys never fell for my shit. But Lane—we were separated by three years, but he was the best friend I could ask for.

I shake my head, and glance down at the email again. It’s from last October, talking about a girl he had just started seeing, a girl who would break his heart. They’re saying he ran from her.  

AUTHOR INFORMATION

 

AUTHOR LINKS:

Site - http://www.nazareaandrews.com/ 

Blog - http://www.nazarea-andrews.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/NazareaAndrews 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nazarea-Andrews/43623123516

Street Team - https://www.facebook.com/groups/427502530700422/

Blood and Shattered Glass by Tyffani Clark Kemp ~ #Review

Title: Blood and Shattered Glass

Series: Book #1

Author: Tyffani Clark Kemp

Genre: Adult Psychological Romantic Thriller

Publication Date: January 5th 2015

Source: ARC from Girls Heart Books Tours 

Purchase: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA

Synopsis

Four months ago, a traumatic accident put Trista in the psych ward. They were supposed to help her deal with the events that transpired, but something happened to her in there. Something changed her and Jeremi Lloyd can't figure out what it is. As her guardian, it's Jeremi's job to make sure Trista is taken care of. During the day, Trista is happy and content with the best fiance in the world, but at night, horrible nightmares plague her sleep. 

But Jeremi has a huge secret, one the doctors say Trista isn't ready to handle. It's a secret that could shatter what little bit of happiness and stability Trista has been able to find.  

When Jeremi learns that strange things are happening at the psych ward where Trista was being helped, he starts to wonder if her nightmares and her mental instability aren't really her fault. And he wonders if the secrets he's keeping are worth it.

As the answers begin to surface in ways neither Trista or Jeremi could have imagined, so does a level of danger that could be the end of them and their friends. Can they figure out the truth before they're both committed?

With that synopsis and that cover, I knew I had to dig into Blood and Shattered Glass and find out for myself what the mystery was all about. It seemed too twisted and fun to pass up, plus I love Tyffani Clark Kemp's writing. I've read the first two books of her LeKrista Scott, Vampire Hunted series, and I love it when authors branch out into other genres.

I'm going to have to be really vague with this review because too much can be given away if I start getting into specifics. And I definitely don't want to give anything away, not one single thing. There were so many surprises around every corner that I wasn't expecting, and the plot blew me away. It's fantastic. I want you to have the opportunity to be blown away by this book, too. 

Trista and Jeremi depend on one another - I could tell that right away. At first it appeared he was the one taking care of her, but I think he relied on her almost as much as she did him. I couldn't wait to find out the secrets he was keeping - I had no idea what those could be. Plus I was looking forward to finding out if there was something fishy going on at the psychiatric hospital. 

Blood and Shattered Glass is full of secrets waiting to be found out. There were just a couple of small issues I had with it plot wise where things happened a bit too conveniently, but it didn't detract me from enjoying the story as much as I did. I highly recommend this romantic thriller - it'll keep you up reading way past your bedtime and is totally worth losing sleep over!  

My Rating:

About the Author

Tyffani Clark Kemp might be the quietest person in the room, but that just means she's probably the biggest freak too. She is a multi-genre author with a gift for the written word and a desire to help all Indies reach their full potential. 

In 2012, she and her best friend Kimberly Fudge started SideStreet Cookie Publishing for authors who want to remain independent, but don't have the time or the knowledge to do it all themselves. From the age of eleven she dedicated her life to writing and making sure she was good at her craft. Now, she passes that knowledge on to others. 

Her friends would describe her as determined and giving. She may be quiet, but she always has a story to tell. 

Author Links

Goodreads | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Happy New Year! Favorite Book of 2014! ~ Feature & Follow #60

Feature & Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read where two blogs are featured. Click the links above to follow the hosting bloggers and featured bloggers. Enter your own post's link in the linky, then hop around to as many blogs as you can - find new blogs to follow and gain new followers as well. Mingle and make some new bloggy friends! :D

Follow me any way you'd like 

as long as you keep coming back, lol! ;) 

I do like bloglovin' & GFC follows :D

Q: Happy New Year!!! What was your favorite book of 2014 - or books if you can't name just one? - Suggested by Alison Can Read   

A: This is such a hard question! It really took me some serious thought because 2014 gave me an amazing year of some seriously fantastic reads. I discovered many new authors and delved into new series which, by the way, one of my goals is to finish reading them this year. 

Honestly and truly there were only a couple of books I hated, and just a few I felt so-so about. Most of them I rated four and five stars - I chose what I read carefully and think this has a lot to do with what I see as a successful year in reading, lol. 

One book that stands out to me is one that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since I read it. And that book would be...

The Sham is a novel I read in December, but I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since for many fantastic reasons. A mystery for mature, older YA readers, it starts off with a bang and is written in a way that had me questioning what was going on right up until the very end. The situation that happens in the beginning is hard to read I must warn you, but if you make it past that, you'll be amazed this is a debut novel. The Sham blew me away in 2014, hands down.

Click here to read my review! :) 

What book(s) was/were your favorite(s)?