L.M. Preston's Blog, page 54

Love Sucks by Lauren Hammond

I got a copy of Love Sucks from the author to review. Stay tuned for my 2cents.

Amazon Synopsis:
In England during the seventeen hundreds, Cara Jones had her human life ended for her and she became a creature of the night. One moment she's an adolescent young woman living her life, the next she's lurking in the streets at night looking for her next meal. The vampire slayings in England became so brutal the whole race was nearly wiped out. So Cara and the clan she called her extended family fled to the U.S. to make a home. They kept to themselves and stayed out of trouble by feeding on recently deceased corpses and cleaning out blood supplies at local hospitals. When one of the clan members makes a mistake, they are once again being hunted and Cara is the only one who makes it out alive. Cara is officially the last vampire on earth. So when Cara awakes from a two hundred year slumber, she awakes to a new city, new people, and a new way of life. Cara sets out on a journey to find her soul mate, the one person who is designed for her. Along the way she encounters a zany new friend, a jealous co worker, and a man whom she can't live without. Dr. Jared Sayers is her destiny. Will Jared give up everything he knows to be with Cara? Or will she wander the earth for the rest of eternity alone?


MY REVIEW:
One of my reasons for continuing to read this was my love for the main character. Even though, Cara was a vampire, she had a sense of innocence that I simply fell in love with. This would be a decent read for a teenager because it didn't have large doses of gore or sex. The large part of the beginning of the novella centered around Cara getting used to her vampire tendencies. Her love afair with Jared was sweet mainly because of her innocence and apparent old fashion ways. I loved the way she decided to fight for his love even though she felt like a monster. Its a calm settle read with bouts of excitement thrown in just the right places. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Lauren Blog:
Blog: http://laurenhammondnovelist.blogspot... or http://punkinhouse.com/

Twitter: @NovelistLauren

Facebook Fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Laur...

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/86...

Book Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLY_qY...

Literary Agent Website: www.adamanagementgroup.comLM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

Book Signing and Latest Book Reviews of BANDITS

Okay, here's another week of excitement. Yeah, I've been furiously working on editing my MG novel and outlining a new series while anxiously waiting for reviews to come in on BANDITS.

MY BOOK SIGNING at BARNES & NOBLE

This was my first official bookstore signing of the year. It's a finishing off of my tour of THE PACK, my upper YA, but I was giving away a free ARC copy of BANDITS. It was a great crowd and I sold ebooks and paperbacks at the event. The owner even invited me back for the summer book festival. I was so honored.



Me with Eva, local Book Blogger. There were 3 other great Local Authors in attendance!



BOOK REVIEWS for BANDITS ARE COMING IN and SO FAR ARE GREAT!!!

I can say that I'm humbled to the point of tears. Yep, tears, that I got emails regarding reviews of Bandits.

Here's the first one:

Please drop in and comment.

Eva's Sanctuary:

5 out of 5 stars,
http://vampirekiss1967.blogspot.com/2...

The other is from Librarian, Dawn Lewallen

Her email quote: "Finished Bandits this weekend. LOVED it!!!! I especially liked how you were able to show the character's disgust and frustration without having them go into a swearing tirade and the romance between Jade and Daniel was gentle and romantic. A perfect YA novel!!"


YAY!!!

So if you want to review BANDITS, let me know :-D We still need some great blog reviewers to take a peek at it.

Also, stay tuned it goes for official review at Foreword Magazine this week...*I'm biting my nails for that one*LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

ARC Review jitters-Thanks Bergamot Book Diary for the shout out :-D

I'm so happy Orhedea offered to review the ARC for BANDITS

Please drop into her blog and say hello. I hope she likes it since she isn't into Scifi, but BANDITS is a character driven story, a coming of age, and a life changing story in a scifi/fantasy world of sorts. So I'm crossing my fingers she loves it.

Check out Bergamot Book Diary at http://bergamotbook.blogspot.com

I'm STILL LOOKING FOR REVIEWERS...if you are interested leave a comment :-DLM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

I Got an Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award!! Yippee!

On Valentine's Day I was lucky enough to receive The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award from Kelly Hashway at http://www.kellyhashway.com/apps/blog/. Thank you, Courtney!


Here's how the award goes:

1. Thank and link back to the person that gave this award.

2. Share 4 guilty pleasures that you have.

3. Pass the award along to 6 other sweet blogs


Guilty Pleasures:

1. Cereal for Dinner -- I'm a sweet cereal addict and have a bad habit of eating it for dinner.

2. Watching Foreign Martial Arts Flicks -- I go to the local flea market and buy these babies 4 for $20 it is an obsession I can't seem to outgrow ever since I saw my first Bruce Lee Movie.

3. Baking -- I love to bake and eat what I bake, but since I have to watch my weight as a writer I don't bake as often.

4. Playing -- I enjoy making up games and playing with my kids. Hide and seek is my favorite where we hide candy to seek and who ever gets the most wins. I also like playing the monster - cruel I know.


Six Sweet Blogs:

1. Bookish In A Box

2. The Owl

3. WordSmithsonia

4. Kate The Book Buff

5. Book Reader's Heaven

6. Emma MichealsLM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

SPEED DATING - Movie Review by Diva Monique

Movie Diva MONIQUE reviews Speed-Dating.


Three friends are at the heart of this story; the funny, but lazy guy Dog (Chico Benymon, Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story) and is-he-gay-is-he straight wallflower Beaver (Leonard Robinson, Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out) own a failing nightclub that needs to come up to code and Too Cool (Wesley Jonathan, Roll Bounce) only uses the facility to host speed-dating parties in order to get his macking game on. Just like with any romantic comedy, love, loss, family and learning lessons are in order.


I found the film quite charming, to be honest. It entertained me, and isn't that what you want from a movie? I thought many of the jokes were fun and entertaining, and the story weaves when you expect it to bob. I was actually surprised by the turns it took, which kept me even more entertained. Holly Robinson Peete's role in the film was subtle (probably too subtle for my tastes), but she puts a lot of emotion into the time she's given, providing a bit of solid ground for this film.


If you want to have a fun time watching a film, then this film is for you.LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW you WERE A Writer

It's funny, many people do various jobs, have hobbies and don't realize that hey…I'm a writer too. One of the main group of hidden writers are Bloggers. Yep, bloggers. Lately, there's been talk on the web about book bloggers, book reviewing and the strength of a bloggers review. Believe it, those book bloggers that read tons of books, have a following, and write reviews consistently are indeed WRITER's.

The HIDDEN WRITER

Bloggers

I mean I've gone to some blogs that probably get more reads per day than some online book review magazines. Not to mention, they read, manage contest, tweet, and promote their site – amazing!

Trip Review, Movie Review, and Others that leave reviews

Do you realize that lots of people that write a review for a hotel, car service, trip, location, movie or etc tend to leave reviews regularly? Those people may not consider themselves writers, but when you write something that someone else can't wait to read – you know what… you are a writer. I've gone to places like mousebuzz, tripadvisor, cruisecritic and etc to plan some of my trips and not only are there regular posters on those forums but some of the reviews are pretty darn extensive.

The closet writer

Many writers write only for themselves originally. Some only ever write for themselves. Others want to take it to the next level and get their stuff published. But the closet writer just likes to share the news, whatever that news is.

Did you start off as a closet writer? I DID. I used to write extensive Trip Reports for my friends, with pictures and itinerary included. They'd request them from me on a regular basis when they were traveling. I was also an avid forum hopper (on travel forums, Disney forums and movie spots). I just loved to share my experiences. Then one day, I came out of my hiding place and started to write, finish a book, started a blog, and still haven't given up all of my closet writing.

Are you a Hidden Writer?LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

CIN by Christina Leigh Pritchard

TEEN BOOK REVIEWER, Nyia's in the HOUOOOOSSSE!

We just finished the book C I N, by Christina Leigh Pritchard

Amazon Synopsis:
The Doctor said I should be dead. My heart beat furiously. I looked up at the flashes of lightning in the sky. Yes, I should be dead. Why wasn't I? Seventeen year old Lisa Brown's life is falling apart. First, her mother and father divorce, then their house forecloses and now, her mother has decided to commit herself to a psychiatric hospital. If that weren't enough, she must leave sunny south Florida to attend a boarding school full of geniuses in cold, Lynn, Massachusetts. The city where the locals taunt "Lynn, Lynn, city of sin; you never come out the way you went in." And, they aren't kidding. Lisa must live in a tiny shack with two strange teenagers, a dog named Pig who growls when you look at him and a cat named Rat. "Mind the cat," everyone says. What the heck is wrong with this place? Lisa thinks she's landed in her own house of horrors with the anti-social Alex and his facetious sister Ally. But, the real drama begins the day she is struck by lightning


NYIA's Review:

This was one of the best mystery books I have read in a long time. Lisa the main character had a mom that she knew didn't love her. When her mom lost her job she left Lisa with her aunt. For some reason Lisa's aunt stayed gone most of the time and told her to be nice to these two teenagers that lived in the house next to hers at this school her aunt ran called C I N. The kids were strange and acted old. I don't want to give the mystery away, but Lisa gets struck by lightning 2 times and lives. After that everything goes crazy. This book was slow in the beginning but got interesting really fast. The guy that's in love with Lisa though seems creepy to me, in a stalker way, but that was the only thing about the book I didn't really like. I give the book 4 out of 5 lightning bolts.

Purchase book here: AmazonLM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

That's YAmore Blogfest- Part 2

Thanks Oasis for YA for hosting this That's YAmore Blogfest since I'm a hopeless romantic I just had to share mine :-D

This is PART2 tease from BANDITS which releases, June 1st, 2011. If you want to see what led to this read here: CLICK

It's the first ever tidbit of romance that I've shared with anyone outside of my beta readers and editors for the book. I really hope you enjoy it.

If you want to review the ARC just send me a note in the comment with your email address. Otherwise, just enjoy :-D


***
THE KISS * To see the scene before this check previous post:

"Just don't touch me okay? I want you to feel just… the kiss. You touch me, and I stop." He swallowed. Putting both of his hands on the wall to secure himself, he fought against the desire to pull her to him.

His eyes traveled down her face as he drank in her beauty. He moistened his lips and reached out to stroke her cheek. His lightly tanned thumb caressed her cheek, a contrast to her exotic skin. He placed his hand back on the wall, closed his eyes, and leaned in to kiss her. The second his lips touched hers, he felt it - a burning in the pit of his stomach that snaked up his chest and clinched his heart. I'm in trouble.

She sighed, and Daniel slanted his eyes to watch her through his darkened lashes. Her fist balled as she fought against every natural urge to wrap her arms around him. She took a breath, and her lips opened slightly.

His eyes closed, and his knees were on the edge of buckling. The need to deepen the kiss seized him. Oh God! I better stop. Before he could stop himself, though, he dipped inside her mouth and then pushed away. Watching her, he had a deep desire to kiss her again – and again, and again. Dangerous, Jade, you're going to get me killed.LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

THAT's YAMORE Blogfest

Thanks Oasis for YA for hosting this That's YAmore Blogfest since I'm a hopeless romantic I just had to share mine :-D

This is a tease from BANDITS which releases, June 1st, 2011.

It's the first ever tidbit of romance that I've shared with anyone outside of my beta readers and editors for the book. I really hope you enjoy it.

If you want to review the ARC just send me a note in the comment with your email address. Otherwise, just enjoy :-D


***

He got to the door and glanced back at her over his shoulder. His heart caught in his chest while he spied Jade, who stood there with her eyes closed. Her fingers were pressed against her eyelids in an attempt to stop her tears. She was trembling slightly as whimper caught in her throat. Aww hell! It's just one kiss, for her birthday. I can give her that. Swallowing away his apprehensions, he turned around quietly and walked toward her.

She didn't move, didn't notice that he hadn't left. Standing directly in front of her, he took her hands from her eyes. He held them firmly to stop her from covering her face again. Slowly, she opened her eyes and frowned. Her long dark lashes held the moisture of her tears.

"I'm sorry, Jade. You just, just… caught me by surprise." He lowered his voice to a smooth, calming whisper. "I'll give you this one kiss –as a birthday present. This has to be the only one... and it's our secret, just between us," he said and released her hands.

She leaned back against the wall. Looking up at him, she gulped slowly. She licked her lips and replied in a hoarse whisper, "Do it," and closed her eyes.

LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

WINTER'S END by Jean-Claude Mourlevat

Guest TEEN BOOK REVIEWER NYIA is in the houuussseeee!

We just finished reading Winter's End and she's here to share her 2cents about it. It's a French book and she read the translated version.

Amazon blurb:
In a dystopian world, an oppressive revolutionary group has taken over. Four teenagers escape the "boarding school" where they have been held since their parents were murdered 15 years earlier for being part of the Resistance. Milena and Bartolomeo become romantically involved and run away together, as do Helen and Milos, separate from the other two. Ultimately, Helen, Milena, and Bartolomeo are reunited in the capital city where they find work at a restaurant doubling as a front for the Resistance movement. However, Milos is imprisoned and sent to a training camp from which he will be forced to compete in one-on-one, barbaric arena fights to the death. As a translation from the French, this book is successful, with only occasional minor awkward moments that do not detract from the story's compelling setting, mood, and tone. Most characters are adequately drawn but some disappear and never return.

NYIA's REVIEW:

I didn't know that I loved dystopian books so much. This book showed me that. I really liked Milos and all of the characters. I got attached to them. There was not many boring parts, because each character was in first person in some parts. Also, there were some parts that changed to 3rd person. It had me worried for each one of them and I really wanted them to get away from that terrible place. The only thing I wasn't prepared for was the ending. I even cried when I got to the end. I give it 3 out of 4 stars only because I wish it would have ended differently.LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS