Jessie Harrell's Blog, page 3

Happy Release Day Tiffany King! (+ giveaway)

I had the great pleasure of meeting Tiffany King at the Decatur Book Festival last year.  Not only was she from Florida (instant awesome) but she was sweet as can be!  Today, she's celebrating ANOTHER book birthday, this time with her sequel to Jordyn, called Jordyn and the Caverns of Gloom.

Sadly, I haven't had the chance to read Jordyn yet, but OMG does this sound good.



Lies.
My so-called family lied.
My friends lied.
The only guy I ever liked lied.
My mentor, the one I was supposed to trust lied.

My entire existence is built on lies and yet now they want my help. Scratch that, now
they need my help. I'll play the good soldier, but I am no longer the person I was before. This time it will be on my terms. I will trust no one.

I am a weapon. I am Jordyn.

To get your copy now, check out Amazon.
And to find Tiffany around the web, try these favorite haunts:

Twitter- @AuthorTiffanyFacebook- Tiffany KingPintrest- Tiffany KingBlog- authortiffanyjking.blogspot.comGoodreads- Tiffany King
  Author Bio: Tiffany King is the author of The Saving Angels Series, Wishing for Someday Soon, Forever Changed, Unlikely Allies, Miss Me Not and Jordyn: A Daemon Hunter Novel book one. Writer by day and book fanatic the rest of the time, she is now pursuing her life-long dream of weaving tales for others to enjoy.
She has a loving husband and two wonderful kids. (Five, if you count her three spoiled cats). Her addictions include: Her iphone and ipad, chocolate, Diet Coke, chocolate, Harry Potter, chocolate, and her favorite TV shows. Want to know what they are? Just ask.


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Free Download of Beautifully Broken by Sherry Soule

Hello readers - I have exciting news from author Sherry Soule on how you can get a FREE copy of her novel, Beautifully Broken, and enter to win a $10 Amazon gift card for leaving a review.
To promote the new edition of BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN (with more romantic escapades and additional bonus material!) and to give fans of the Spellbound series a chance to read the revised version without having to buy a new copy, I have decided to offer it as a free download at Story Cartel for a limited time. Readers who sign up at Story Cartel to receive the free eBook will also be entered into a random drawing to win a $10 Amazon gift card, IF they post an honest review of the book. Free book + Review = Gift cardSounds pretty awesome, right? A word of warning…BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN (Part One) does end with a major cliffhanger, so if you hate those, then you might want to skip the free download. However, on the plus side, the sequel SHATTERED SILENCE (Part Two) is available for purchase from all major online retailers for only $3.99, if you’re dying to find out what happens next.I will post reminders about this and other promos on my Facebook page and my Twitter: @WriterSherry so be sure that you follow me at both of these social media sites, and the Official Spellbound Site.So, anyone willing and able to read and review the new version of BB, would you be so kind as to leave an honest review on Amazon and/or Goodreads afterwards? (You don’t have to include that it was a “free read,” and actually, I’d prefer that you didn’t. But it’s fine if you do.)
Leave review at this Amazon page: http://amzn.to/18NB8CGgoodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11634793-beautifully-brokenIf you could do your best to get your review up by Sunday, September 8, 2013, I would greatly appreciate it. Win a $10 Amazon Gift cardI will be giving away three $10 Amazon Gift cards to reviewers. It's easy to enter. Just fill out this form with the link to your review.If you'd like to write something for your blog, you're quite welcome to do that at any time. If you do, send us the link here and it will count as an extra entry into the giveaway contest.Thank you for supporting the work of writers. I hope you enjoy the book!P.S. If you'd like to share this free book with your friends, visit http://storycartel.com/books/230/beautifully-broken-part-one/ and spread the word through Facebook and Twitter. Thanks!!!P. S. Please help me to promote this free eBook by posting it on your FB page, blog, or by sending out a tweet with a link back to this post. ;-D
NOTE: Please remove/delete the previous copy BEFORE uploading the new free version to ensure that you read the correct edition. Sometimes an eReader device will not upload another version of the same title if the old one isn’t removed first.

Debut YA Book Birthdays ~ Week of August 13th

Summer may be winding down, but there are a few last-minute summer reads you still may want to grab by debut YA authors.  I've had my eye on this first one for a LONG time... what turns your eye?

BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA by April Genevieve Tucholke

You stop fearing the Devil when you're holding his hand...
Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White's sleepy, seaside town...until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet's crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet's grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet's already so knee-deep in love, she can't see straight. And that's just how River likes it.
A gothic thriller romance with shades of Stephen King and F. Scott Fitzgerald, set against a creepy summertime backdrop--a must-read for fans of Beautiful Creatures, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and Anna Dressed in Blood.

DANCER, DAUGHTER, TRAITOR, SPY by Elizabeth Kiem

A new breed of spy novel combines classic thrills (The Americans, John Le Carre, and Alan Furst), Bolshoi intrigue, and elements of the paranormal.
Marina is born of privilege. Her mother, Sveta, is the Soviet Union's prima ballerina: an international star handpicked by the regime. But Sveta is afflicted with a mysterious second sight and becomes obsessed with exposing a horrific state secret. Then she disappears. 
Fearing for their lives, Marina and her father defect to Brooklyn. Marina struggles to reestablish herself as a dancer at Juilliard. But her enigmatic partner, Sergei, makes concentration almost impossible, as does the fact that Marina shares her mother's “gift,” and has a vision of her father’s murder at the hands of the Russian crooks and con artists she thought they'd left behind.  
Now Marina must navigate the web of intrigue surrounding her mother's disappearance, her ability, and exactly whom she can—and can't—trust.

ON LITTLE WINGS by Regina Sioris

Jennifer is an only child, and so were her parents—at least that's what she thinks, until she finds an old photo in the back of one of her mother's books. The woman in the photo looks just like Jennifer, down to the smattering of freckles across her nose. And her mother refuses to talk about it.
Compelled to find answers, Jennifer embarks on a quest that takes her from the wheat fields of Nebraska to the fishing town of Smithport, Maine, home to the one person who can help her solve this family secret—the woman in the photo. But Jennifer learns that it takes the entire village of Smithport to piece together the story of her mother's hidden past. She needs help from Nathan, the genius with the reluctant smile from across the cove; Little, the elderly town matriarch and former movie star; and The Jacks, three weathered fishermen who dabble in pyrotechnics. As Jennifer discovers the lost chapters of her mother's life, she unwittingly begins to write a few chapters of her own.
Elegantly written, On Little Wings is an evocative debut novel about self discovery, first love, and the power of family.

Summer Love Book Blast

I'm thrilled to be participating in Marysue Hobika's Summer Love Book Blast.  I recently read the book (not a review copy, I might add) and really enjoyed it. It was light and fun and a great summer read. It's definitely for more mature audiences though (17+) because some of the scenes are hot!

Carly and her best friend Becca are ready to drop a nuclear bomb on summer. It’s the last one before reality sets in and they’re off on their own. Carly is ready to break the mold and stop being known as a goody-two-shoes. In order to get the ball rolling, she agrees to a double date with Gavin – her good-looking, yet moody, lab partner.

Gavin doesn’t have summer plans except to work at his two jobs and hang out in his room drawing. He likes to keep to himself, but lets his brother Nate talk him into going on a double date. Carly isn’t like the rest of the girls at school that drive him crazy. She doesn’t ask a lot of questions and seems to know when to give him the space he craves. Gavin always thought that she was beautiful, but he believes that relationships and love are a lost cause.

Will their date prove that summer love is right around the corner or will it be a dead end?

Because that synopsis probably left you wanting more, here's an excerpt.  This one's from Gavin's perspective.  (The book is told in alternating perspective from Carly and Gavin.)
The band played and I held my breath, waiting to hear Carly’s voice. I thought maybe she’d lost her nerve. I was ready to rush in and rescue her, even if she didn’t want me to, when, like magic, she began to sing. The notes that came out of her mouth were full and sensuous, changing the band’s sound completely. It was harmonious, free flowing, and full. I’d heard the band last summer, and even though they were good, something had always been missing. That something was Carly. Her voice fit and molded perfectly with Nate’s, and I felt another tinge of jealousy. Their sound filtered through the cracks and walls of the garage and into the night air. For a second, I forgot how to breathe. I found myself slinking back into the garage as the song came to an end. I felt empty and lost when she hit the last note, and every cell in my body craved more. I’d been wrong. So very wrong. Everyone in the garage was silent, as if the music had cast a spell on them. All of a sudden, led by Ed, claps and cheers echoed. Carly looked elated until her gaze landed on me. I read in her eyes that she thought I was a jerk for not believing in her, and I couldn’t blame her. I was a jerk. “Damn!” shouted Ed. “That gave me goose bumps.” He hugged himself, rubbing his hands over his arms. “I told you Carly could sing,” Becca said, directing her words toward Nate.
To get your copy now, buy it here.  And be sure to add it to your list on Goodreads.
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Debut YA Book Birthdays ~ Week of July 30th

I have 3 distinct debut YA reads to share with you this week.  I love the sound of All Our Pretty Songs.  What sounds good to you?

ALL OUR PRETTY SONGS by Sarah McCarry

This is a story about love, but not the kind of love you think.  You’ll see…In the lush and magical Pacific Northwest live two best friends who grew up like sisters: charismatic, mercurial, and beautiful Aurora, and the devoted, watchful narrator.  Each of them is incomplete without the other. But their unbreakable bond is challenged when a mysterious and gifted musician named Jack comes between them.His music is like nothing I have ever heard. It is like the ocean surging, the wind that blows across the open water, the far call of gulls.Suddenly, each girl must decide what matters most: friendship, or love. What both girls don’t know is that the stakes are even higher than either of them could have imagined. They’re not the only ones who have noticed Jack’s gift; his music has awakened an ancient evil—and a world both above and below which may not be mythical at all.  We have paved over the ancient world but that does not mean we have erased it. The real and the mystical; the romantic and the heartbreaking all begin to swirl together in All Our Pretty Songs, Sarah McCarry's brilliant debut, carrying the two on journey that is both enthralling and terrifying. And it’s up to the narrator to protect the people she loves—if she can. 
CANARY by Rachele Alpine

In this debut novel, a high school girl tries to understand the world, figure out where she fits in, and learn how to stand up for herself when everything falls apart. With the passing of her mother, Kate Franklin’s life unravels at the seams as she loses the only emotional mooring in her family. Her dad shuts down completely, and her brother enlists in the army. Things start looking better when her dad is hired to coach at Beacon Prep, home of one of the best basketball teams in the state. In a blog of prose and poetry, Kate chronicles her new world—dating a basketball player, being caught up in a world of idolatry and entitlement, and discovering the perks the inner circle enjoys. Then Kate’s fragile life shatters once again when one of her boyfriend’s teammates assaults her at a party. Although she knows she should speak out, her dad’s vehemently against it and so, like a canary sent into a mine to test toxicity levels and protect miners, Kate alone breathes the poisonous secrets to protect her dad and the team. The once welcoming community has betrayed Kate, her family is disintegrating, and she’s on her own to grapple with whether to stay quiet or speak out and expose a town’s hero and destroy her father’s career.

IF I EVER GET OUT OF HERE by Eric Gransworth

Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games, the snow blowing through his roof. What he's not used to is white people being nice to him -- people like George Haddonfield, whose family recently moved to town with the Air Force. As the boys connect through their mutual passion for music, especially the Beatles, Lewis has to lie more and more to hide the reality of his family's poverty from George. He also has to deal with the vicious Evan Reininger, who makes Lewis the special target of his wrath. But when everyone else is on Evan's side, how can he be defeated? And if George finds out the truth about Lewis's home -- will he still be his friend?
Acclaimed adult author Eric Gansworth makes his YA debut with this wry and powerful novel about friendship, memory, and the joy of rock 'n' roll.

Cover Reveal - Such Sweet Sorrow

Today Jenny Trout and Entangled Teen are revealing the cover for SUCH SWEET SORROW, which releases on February 4, 2013. Also enter below for a paperback of the book or an eBook!
On to the reveal!
Never was there a tale of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo…But true love never dies. Though they’re parted by the veil between the world of mortals and the land of the dead, Romeo believes he can restore Juliet to life, but he’ll have to travel to the underworld with a thoroughly infuriating guide.Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, may not have inherited his father’s crown, but the murdered king left his son a much more important responsibility—a portal to the Afterjord, where the souls of the dead reside. When the determined Romeo asks for help traversing the treacherous Afterjord, Hamlet sees an opportunity for adventure, and the chance to avenge his father’s death. In an underworld filled with leviathan monsters, ghoulish shades, fire giants and fierce Valkyrie warriors, Hamlet and Romeo must battle their way through jealousy, despair, and their darkest fears to rescue the fair damsel. Yet finding Juliet is only the beginning, and the Afterjord doesn’t surrender souls without a price…Goodreads/Amazon/Barnes & Noble/
In case you're ready to get a preview before February, here you go!
Prologue
Two figures, both alike in stature and purpose, ducked beneath a bridge in Verona. The swollen river made mud of its banks. The men slid and fought against it, their torches flickering."Let's turn back, Romeo," Friar Laurence urged, pushing down the hood of his rough brown robe. "Can we not let poor Juliet rest in peace?"The younger man fixed his friend with a critical eye. "Peace? My Juliet knows no peace, only eternal torment. She took her own life, and that is my fault."They pressed on, Romeo's steps becoming more determined the weaker his limbs grew. The poison that had incapacitated him, but not killed him, had ravaged his body. Tonight, he traveled farther beyond his father's walls than he’d dared since the night he'd returned to Verona. Even though the prince had lifted his banishment, the streets still felt unfriendly. A truce had been called between Montague and Capulet there were plenty of young men who would like nothing more than to avenge their kin by killing Romeo.Their destination lay far from the city center, in a small encampment of hovels beside the river. Faces peeked from behind tattered curtains as Romeo and Laurence traversed the narrow lanes between the dilapidated buildings, coming finally to the very wall of the city itself. It was at this border that they found the strega.Her door was painted red, surrounded by talismans on long chains that hung from the recessed arch. Romeo ducked beneath a dried and crumbling chicken's foot and brushed aside a crudely shaped metal eye."I go no further." Friar Laurence backed away from the threshold, crossing himself. "Romeo, I warn you, this is a fearful path you tread. Your soul will be lost to darkness. You will perish in the flames of hell, I beg you not to do this.""I am already in hell." Romeo pushed open the door and stepped inside.The interior of the witch's house was hot. It smelled of earth and the wood-like scent of herbs not used for cooking. A bent shape stood before the hearth, where a sulfurous cauldron bubbled. Romeo covered his nose and coughed."Ah, I was expecting a visitor this night." The strega lifted her head, the veil of coins that obscured her face tinkling like fairy bells. "Your man of God could not dissuade you?""Nothing will dissuade me." Even as he said it, his doubtful eyes took in the squawking black bird in the cage near the fire, the jars and bottles lining the shelves, murky objects floating in their slimy depths. "Benvolio told me you can communicate with the dead. He said you made him a charm to ward off attacks by ghosts."The strega shuffled across the room, her coins and jewelry clattering. She pointed a bony finger at a chair, and bade Romeo sit. "You are unwell. Poison, was it?""Poison, yes." He could still taste the bite of it, still feel the stinging numbness in his veins. The physical evidence of it lay under his clothes, the dark stain of dying flesh spreading still, a little more each day. "Not enough.""That’s because you went to an apothecary," the strega sniffed. "If you want poison to kill a man dead, you must see a witch.""I'll... remember that. In the future." Romeo clasped his hands and rested his elbows on his knees. "I came to you for knowledge of the dead. I will pay whatever it takes.""The price depends on the knowledge." She rummaged through a trunk and produced a large, black bowl. Setting it on the floor, she reached into her clothes—it seemed she wore layers upon layers of tattered fabrics, in all shades and thickness—and withdrew a vial. The sight of it winking in the light caused something to recoil inside Romeo. Too recently, he had held a similar vessel.Then everything had gone so wrong..."What do you wish to know?" the strega asked, emptying the thick, black liquid into the bowl."My love, Juliet—" his voice trembled at her name, and he took a moment to repress his anguish."It was her you drank poison for." The strega swirled the liquid in the basin. "I see her.""How do you know it's her?" He leaned forward, peering into the dish. He saw nothing but his own reflection."The same as you know the sun rises in the east. I simply know." She clucked softly behind her veil of coins. "Bound to you by the thread of holy matrimony. A secret wedding."Romeo swallowed back unexpected tears. "Yes, she was my... she was my wife."It still sounded strange to his ears. A wife was something an older man had, a man like his father. He could not imagine being so old. Perhaps that had been the poison's cruelest jest, to let him believe his life would end in the vigor of his youth, only to return him with none of that youth left in body or mind."The young are foolish and brash." The witch's tone softened. "Black of hair, brown of eye. As fair as any maid from Verona.""Fairer," he corrected her, his hand clenching to a fist. His nails bit into his palm as he struggled to hold back his tears. "Is she happy?"The strega considered a moment, drawing one finger across the surface of the liquid. When she brought her hand away, it shone wet and red. "No. She is in despair. That is all I can see."His heart squeezed tightly. He couldn't find his breath. He had hoped to hear that she was in a better place, as friar Laurence had assured him so many times. "There must be some way to assuage her grief. Some way to tell her—""Her eyes and ears are as closed as any dead woman's. Whatever torments her will torment her for eternity." There was no comfort to be had from the strega's voice. She reached out one gnarled hand, palm up. "If that is all—""It is not all!" Romeo shot to his feet, placing his hand on the dagger at his side. He did not have the strength to use it, but the witch couldn't know that. "You know dark magic. You can bring her back."Slowly, the strega unhooked her veil, letting the net of coins fall to her lap. Her face was as aged and withered as her hands. One eye protruded grotesquely, a milky blue, while the other, shrewd and black, fixed on him. "I no longer do such magic.""But it can be done?" Romeo asked, and when she nodded, he unsheathed his knife and prodded her knobby chin with the point. "Then you had better do it, witch."The old woman did not tremble in fear of him. She grabbed the blade and pushed it away; it felt as though he cut himself instead of her. He dropped the dagger and stepped back, cursing as blood coursed down his arm from the slice that split his palm. Faster than he could have anticipated, the old witch grabbed his wrist and jerked his hand over the basin, letting his blood fall into it."I no longer work such magic," she repeated, swirling the blood in the bowl with her fingertip. "But there are others. To bring someone back, first you must find them. Are you prepared to walk with devils, boy?"He nodded, his quick breaths flaring his nostrils."Are you willing to brave serpents and fire, to fight the keepers of the dead and hear ghosts speak?" She pushed his hand away. At once, the blood on his palm stopped flowing, and the wound sealed itself, burning with invisible fire. He gasped and clutched his hand, watching with horror as the old witch's good eye rolled back in her head and she called out words he did not understand.In the bowl, the liquid lightened, then glowed and turned an unearthly blue. A maelstrom formed in the shallow basin, and lightning crackled on its surface. All the while, the old woman chanted and howled, until the room filled with a spectral wind that seemed to originate inside the blue light. The bird screamed in its cage, and jars and bottles rattled and broke on their shelves.The surface of the liquid rose in waves capped with frothy blue. As the peaks grew higher, the aquamarine light faded, leaving only a bubbling, roiling fount of blood rising as tall as Romeo himself. The burbling red took shape, into a form so familiar that Romeo at once recoiled from it and yearned to touch it.His Juliet stood before him, or at least, the shape of her, frozen in blood, monochromatic crimson, but unmistakably her. Thick chains bound her across her neck, her waist, manacles clasped her wrists. Her eyes were the worst of all, open, bloody, blank and unseeing, yet somehow still accusing. Still hating him, for having let her go before him."I'm so sorry," he whispered, his throat raw with emotion. He reached for her, knowing it a foolish thing to have done before his fingertips brushed her bloody cheek.The vision of Juliet opened its mouth impossibly, terribly wide and a bone withering scream burst from her at the same time the vision burst, raining blood over the room.The strega braced herself with her ancient hands on either side of the bowl, and lifted her head, the blood running in rivulets down her face. "You must go north. You will find the man who can help you there.""North?" He conjured up a map in his mind. "Grezzana?""Farther." The strega pushed up from the floor, righting herself. She looked smaller somehow, more fragile than fearsome."Erbezzo?"The eyebrow over her good eye arched in exasperation. "Farther. Farther than you have ever traveled. Over the mountains, to a castle by the sea. The seat of a murdered king."He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. "I know no more. In payment, I ask only that you never darken my door again." She lifted the dagger from the floor. He reached for it, and she threw it, so that the blade stuck in the lintel. At once, her terrible, craggy face transformed, her skin going smooth and youthful, her spider web hair turning to glossy black silk. She narrowed her eyes, no longer milky but deep black, and pointed to where the dagger quivered in the wood. "Leave it. Let its absence remind you never to cross a sister of the fortunes again."When Romeo emerged, Friar Laurence rose to his feet, the worry that creased his brow relented only a bit. "I heard such howling, I thought you must surely be in the grips of the devil himself.""No devils here." Romeo made no mention of the dagger. It embarrassed him now, to think he had threatened a woman so powerful. "To find those, I must go north."
About Jenny Trout: Jenny Trout is a writer, blogger, and funny person. Writing as Jennifer Armintrout, she made the USA Today Bestseller list with Blood Ties Book One: The Turning. Her novel American Vampire was named one of the top ten horror novels of 2011 by Booklist Magazine Online.Jenny also writes award-winning erotic romance as Abigail Barnette.When she's not writing, she's sleeping or otherwise incapacitated.She is a proud Michigander, mother of two, and wife to the only person alive capable of spending extended periods of time with her without wanting to murder her.Website/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads
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NIL - check out this cover!

My good friend and CP is having her official cover reveal on Icey Books today (there's a Rafflecopter to win 2 copies!), but since it's up, I wanted to help share the news about this fab book.  (I've had the pleasure of reading it already and it's got the WOW factor!)

In Lynne's words, "I love the LOST vibe, the sketched clothes, the tallymarks..."  (The tally marks are very significant - you'll just have to read it to find out why!)  But there's way more to love about this book besides just the cover.  Here's the synopsis:

On the mysterious island of Nil, the rules are set. You have exactly 365 days to escape—or you die.
Seventeen-year-old Charley doesn’t know the rules. She doesn’t even know where she is. The last thing she remembers is blacking out, and when she wakes up, she’s naked in an empty rock field.
Lost and alone, Charley finds no sign of other people until she meets Thad, the gorgeous leader of a clan of teenage refugees. Soon Charley learns that leaving the island is harder than she thought . . . and so is falling in love. With Thad’s time running out, Charley realizes that she has to find a way to beat the clock, and quickly.
Look for this book to hit the shelves March 4, 2014 from Macmillion/Henry Holt.  For now, you can add it to your TBR list on Goodreads!

Debut YA Book Birthdays ~ Week of July 23rd

This week has something for everyone.  I personally like the sound of Undercurrent.  What interests you?

UNDERCURRENT by Paul Blackwell

In Undercurrent, Paul Blackwell’s fast-paced YA thriller, sixteen-year-old Callum Harris survives a plummet over a waterfall, but wakes to find himself in a life that’s totally different from the one he knew.

His parents were separated. Now they’re together. His brother Cole was a sports star. Now he’s paralyzed. And Callum, who used to be quiet and sort of unpopular, is suddenly a jock with two hot girls after him.

But there’s one difference that matters more than all the others combined: His former best friend wants Callum dead. And he isn’t the only one.

Tense and original, Undercurrent is a psychological thrill-ride with sci-fi elements that will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman and Neal Shusterman.
OCD LOVE STORY by Corey Ann Haydu

In this raw and relatable romance, Bea learns that some things just can’t be controlled.
When Bea meets Beck, she knows instantly that he’s her kind of crazy. Sweet, strong, kinda-messed-up Beck understands her like no one else can. He makes her feel almost normal. He makes her feel like she could fall in love again.

But despite her feelings for Beck, Bea can’t stop thinking about someone else: a guy who is gorgeous and magnetic…and has no idea Bea even exists. But Bea knows a lot about him. She spends a lot of time watching him. She has a journal full of notes. Some might even say she’s obsessed.

Bea tells herself she’s got it all under control. But this isn’t a choice, it’s a compulsion. The truth is, she’s breaking down…and she might end up breaking her own heart.


THE COUNTERFEIT FAMILY TREE OF VEE CRAWFORD-WONG by L. Tam Holland

A hysterically funny debut novel about discovering where you come from—even if you have to lie to get there.
When Vee Crawford-Wong’s history teacher assigns an essay on his family history, Vee knows he’s in trouble. His parents—Chinese-born dad and Texas-bred Mom—are mysteriously and stubbornly close-lipped about his ancestors. So, he makes it all up and turns in the assignment. And then everything falls apart.

After a fistfight, getting cut from the basketball team, offending his best friend, and watching his grades plummet, one thing becomes abundantly clear to Vee: No one understands him! If only he knew where he came from… So Vee does what anyone in his situation would do: He forges a letter from his grandparents in China, asking his father to bring their grandson to visit. Astonishingly, Vee’s father agrees. But in the land of his ancestors, Vee learns that the answers he seeks are closer to home then he could have ever imagined.


STARGLASS by Phoebe North

Terra has never known anything but life aboard the Asherah, a city-within-a-spaceship that left Earth five hundred years ago in search of refuge. At sixteen, working a job that doesn't interest her, and living with a grieving father who only notices her when he's yelling, Terra is sure that there has to be more to life than what she's got.

But when she inadvertently witnesses the captain's guard murdering an innocent man, Terra is suddenly thrust into the dark world beneath her ship's idyllic surface. As she's drawn into a secret rebellion determined to restore power to the people, Terra discovers that her choices may determine life or death for the people she cares most about. With mere months to go before landing on the long-promised planet, Terra has to make the decision of a lifetime--one that will determine the fate of her people.


CONTAMINATED by Em Garner

"Relentlessly horrifying... a bone-chilling, riveting debut." (Ann Aguirre, USA Today best-selling author)  Gritty and grabbing, Contaminated is a harrowing, emotionally charged dystopic venture into YA. 

After the Contamination - an epidemic caused by the super-trendy diet drink SlimPro that turned ordinary citizens into shambling creatures unable to control their violent impulses - the government rounded up the "Connies" to protect the remaining population. But now, two years later, the government's started sending the rehabilitated back home, complete with shock collars that will either stop the Connies from committing violent acts or kill them before they do any further harm.

Since her parents were taken in the roundup, Velvet Ellis has struggled to care for her ten-year-old sister and maintain a sense of normalcy, despite brutal government rations and curfews. She goes to the "Kennels" every day searching for her parents, and when she finds her mother, she's eager to bring her home. Maybe, eventually, they'll be able to get back to the way things were before. But even though it seems that her mother is getting better (something that the government says is impossible), there will be no happy transition. Anti-Connie sentiment is high, and rumor has it that an even worse wave of the Contamination is imminent. And then the government declares that the Connies will be rounded up and neutralized, once and for all.

Sacrificing everything - her boyfriend, her home, and her job - Velvet will do anything to protect her mother. Velvet has to get the collar off her mother before the military comes to take her away. Even if it means risking all of their lives.

Happy Book Birthday to Perfection!

Today, I have the pleasure of wishing my Oasis for YA sister, J.L. Spelbring, a very happy debut YA book birthday for her new novel, PERFECTION.
The personification of Aryan purity, Ellyssa's spent her whole life under her creator's strict training and guidance; her purpose is to eradicate inferior beings. She was genetically engineered to be the perfect soldier: strong, intelligent, unemotional, and telepathic. 
Only Ellyssa isn't perfect. Ellyssa feels emotions--a fact she's spent her life concealing. Until she encounters the epitome of inferiority: a dark-haired boy raised among renegades hiding since the Nazis won the war a century ago. He speaks to her telepathically, pushing thoughts into her mind, despite the impossibility of such a substandard person having psychic abilities. But he does. His unspoken words and visions of a place she's never visited make Ellyssa question her creator. Confused and afraid her secret will be discovered, Ellyssa runs away, embarking on a journey where she discovers there is more to her than perfection.
I hope you'll join me in celebrating J.L.'s debut!

Cover Reveal: WINGS by Elizabeth Richard

Today I am super excited to share the cover to WINGS, the third and final book in author's Elizabeth Richard's BLACK CITY series!


Check out this beauty! 

Wings (Black City #3) by Elizabeth Richards



Get the first two books in the series! 





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