Lori L. Clark's Blog, page 215

Review: True

True by Erin McCarthy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I just finished this one this morning. I loved this book. I like the idea of a nerdy science geek girl being tutored by the tattoo'd bad boy, in -- of all things -- Literature. Role reversal at its finest. Although once, I'd like to read about the hot, popular girl falling for the nerdy guy. I'm sure there are books out there like that, I just haven't read any recently -- if at all. Tyler is great. All the way around. I can't think of one thing I didn't like about him. He wasn't your typical bad boy. Life just dealt him a shitty hand. Sometimes, making the best of bad situations seems impossible. I fell in love with the entire TRUE-R cast. I can see sequels coming from this story. Not necessarily for Rory and Tyler, but maybe for one of Rory's friends and Tyler's brother. Cry? You bet. Worth it? OMG yes.

Wide Awake Excerpt & Giveaway

Title: Wide Awake
Author: Shelly CraneRelease date: March 23, 2013Genre: Contemporary Age Group: Young AdultGoodreads | Amazon | B&N | Smashwords
Book Description:A girl.A coma.
A life she can't remember.


When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital.


Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror?
Excerpt:
He smiled that Mason smile that set me on fire all over. Then he put one hand on the other side on the hospital bed and the other lifted toward my face. I waited, bated breath, gulping, sweaty palms, fluttering eyes, the works. His face got so close before he stopped. I thought he had decided against whatever he was doing he waited so long. I began to pull back in disappointment, but he reached behind my neck gently and pulled me to him. The barest of touches was the best way to describe our first kiss. It wasn't really a kiss at all. His bottom lip barely brushed my top one. When he leaned back and opened his eyes, he must've seen the confusion and frustration in my face. 
He chuckled. "I just had to taste that coconut…" he licked his lips, "but I don't want to kiss you when you've been angry at me and I messed up our date." He said 'date'. Like…a date. "I want to kiss you when if we go another second without it, one of us will combust."
My breaths were raging. I tried to calm myself. "I…" I failed.
"I want to give you back your first kiss, the one that jerk stole from you. And I want it to be something that even a coma can't make you forget."
About the Author
YA author from a small town in Georgia and loves everything about the south. She is wife to a fantastical husband and stay at home mom to two boisterous and mischievous boys who keep her on her toes. They currently reside in everywhere USA as they happily travel all over with her husband's job. She loves to spend time with her family, binge on candy corn, go out to eat at new restaurants, buy paperbacks at little bookstores, site see in the new areas they travel to, listen to music everywhere and also LOVES to read.
Her own books happen by accident and she revels in the writing and imagination process. She doesn't go anywhere without her notepad for fear of an idea creeping up and not being able to write it down immediately, even in the middle of the night, where her best ideas are born.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N 
Giveaway per blog: (1) eBook copy of WIDE AWAKE. Winners will be sent a Smashwords coupon code. Open International.
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Cover Reveal: Geoducks are for Lovers by Daisy Prescott

Title: Geoducks are for LoversAuthor: Daisy PrescottExpected release date: May 15, 2013Genre: Contemporary Romance/Women's FictionAge Group: AdultCover Designed by: Okay CreationsCover Reveal organized by: AToMR Tours



Food writer Maggie Marrion is just getting back on her feet after a horrible year, or two, or three. With their twentieth reunion approaching, she invites four of her closest friends from college for a weekend at her beach cabin. What she doesn’t expect is her best friends, artist Quinn Dayton and part-time erotica novelist, Selah Elmore, to play matchmaker. The two plot a surprise that will make the weekend, and her life, a lot more interesting.

Gil Morrow, former grunge musician turned history professor, joins them as Selah’s date for the weekend. After coming face to face with the one who got away, he decides he's waited long enough to get the girl. With the support of old friends, a few wishing rocks, the world’s largest burrowing clam, and a hot lumberjack thrown into the mix, Gil reminds Maggie that forty-something isn’t too old for second chances.

Can we learn to love the life we have and let go of who we expected to be? What happens when the generation from The Breakfast Club and Reality Bites meets The Big Chill? Come spend a weekend with these Generation X-ers as they share laughter, tears, life’s ups and downs, old stories, and new beginnings.



[image error] About the Author

Before writing full time as a freelance content creator, Daisy worked in the world of art, auctions, antiques, and home decor. She earned her degree in Art History and endured a brief stint as a film theory graduate student. Baker, art educator, antiques dealer, blue ribbon pie baker, fangirl, content wrangler, gardener, wife, and pet mom are a few of the titles she’s acquired over the years.
Daisy and her husband (aka SO) currently live in a real life Stars Hollow in the Boston suburbs with their rescue dog, Hubbell, and an imaginary house goat. Geoducks are for Lovers is her first novel. She is currently at work on her second novel set in Ghana.
Twitter | Facebook | Website

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Cover Reveal: Working it Out by Rachael Renee Anderson

Author Rachael Renee Anderson



Rachael Anderson is the author of four books: Divinely Designed, Luck of the Draw, Minor Adjustments, and The Reluctant Bachelorette. She's the mother of four and is pretty good at breaking up fights, or at least sending guilty parties to their rooms. She can't sing, doesn't dance, and despises tragedies. But she recently figured out how yeast works and can now make homemade bread, which she is really good at eating.



Blog * Facebook * Twitter




Working It Out

A chance encounter . . . 

Grace Warren's life is safe and predictable—exactly the way she likes it. But when she gets roped into going to an auction to help out a friend, everything changes. She meets Seth Tuttle—a guy who unexpectedly kisses her then disappears, leaving her flustered and upset. If she never sees him again, it will be too soon.

A chance for love . . .  

Weeks later, when Seth limps into Grace's rehab clinic post surgery, she immediately recognizes him. Unfortunately, he's every bit as frustrating and annoying as she remembered. Yet there's something about him that makes her second-guess her carefully placed boundaries even though he's everything she's sure she doesn't want in a man. But maybe Seth is exactly what Grace has needed all along—assuming she's willing to risk safe and predictable for a chance at love.


Giveaway Details

Enter to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 5/31/13


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Monthly Recap: April 2013

Monthly Recap: April 2013








Books Reviewed on this blog:



1. Bitter Angel by Megan Hand



2. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones



3. A Different Blue by Amy Harmon



4. Belong to You by Vi Keeland

I actually read another book, but only posted the review on my new blog: She Reads New Adult. Giving birth to this other blog and finding several others to co-blog with me over there is one reason why my reading quantity suffered. That and I'm trying to complete my first draft of my 6th book: I Breathe You which is due at the editors the first week of June. I'm still promoting my other book, Different Roads, need to do an R&R of another book for Entangled Publishing AND I have a full time job outside the house. There are just not enough hours in the day to get everything I want to get done, done! 

Amy Harmon's A Different Blue was my favorite read for April. Bitter Angel by Megan Hand was quite an intriguing read. What My Mother Doesn't Know was a fast read and I really enjoyed it. Lastly, Belong to You. It got good reviews, but I found myself thinking it was too much of a Fifty Shades rip off. 

The following post had the most hits:


1. Cover Reveal: Untouched & Giveaway!
2. Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers Monday, April 29, 2013
3. Review Policy
4. Cover Reveal: Until I Break
5. Book Review: Beautiful Creatures

Author Interview: Megan Hand & Giveaway!

Author Interview: Megan Hand & Giveaway!


Torn between two realities.
A choice that will mean life or death.
But she won’t know anything…until she wakes up.

College sophomore, Lila Spencer lived Friday night twice. She doesn’t know how or why, just that she did. As if she split in half and went in two different directions.

Out clubbing with her friends, Heather and Nilah, the girls rock it out and party hard. What begins as an innocent night will lead to a deadly fight for their lives, and Lila might be their only chance for survival.

In bed with her boyfriend, Jay, Lila is safe and warm as she drifts to sleep in the arms of the man she loves. Until she is sucked into a horrifying nightmare of her friends' deaths.

As the sunlight warms her face on Saturday morning, the two scenarios collide. But there can be only one outcome. Will she wake up in her warm bed with Jay by her side, devastated and grieving for her friends? Or was she there to save them?

The answer is just the beginning.

Content Warning: This book is rated Mature YA/NA for language, sexual situations, and some violence.
File Size: 485 KB
Publisher: M Hand Publications (March 30, 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00C45BTA4
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Lending: Enabled




At twelve, Megan decided to write a novel. A month later, she quit. A reading junkie by nature, she started writing again in her twenties as a way to get the voices out, because who wouldn't want to create a Real Living Person out of thin air? Megan also plays the piano and sings. She teaches little kids and takes pictures of pretty butterflies. She eats way too much chocolate, is sort of a mad scientist with her blender, and spends an unhealthy amount of time LOLing on Facebook and Twitter. She lives in Ohio with her husband and very smiley son. Bitter Angel is her first published novel.

Welcome Megan, thank you so much for taking the time to answer a few questions for us!

Thank you for having me, Lori!

SRNA: Reading Bitter Angel, I got the strong feeling of precognitive dreams. Do you have them yourself?

MH: I do, all the time. In fact, that is usually how my stories come to me, in half-awakened dreams, I like to call them. But I have had actual real-to-life dreams that were much more like déjà vu.

SRNA: Where did you get the idea for Bitter Angel?

MH: Bitter Angel came to me in exactly that way, a half-awakened dream. However, it was originally supposed to be a short story. The story was supposed to end when she woke up. Since you've read it, I’m sure you understand now why I couldn't end it there. :)

SRNA: Did you set out to write a New Adult book, or did your characters tell you what to do?

MH: My characters are usually already in college, probably because I have a massive case of Peter Pan Syndrome. I would live in college if I could. Seriously. For the rest of my life. Because of this severe non-life threatening disorder, I have difficulties writing any other age group. And, at the time that I started writing as an adult, I wrote this age because there was so little literature in that age group. Now our Kindles and bookshelves are overflowing with the NA genre, and I am a super giddy girl because of it!

SRNA: Are you a panster or a plotter?

MH: I am definitely a panster, which goes against my Melancholy personality type. I live off of lists and schedules and diagrams in my regular life. I spend time everyday, plotting out my hours and minutes. But when it comes to writing, I can't go by an outline. I tried it once with my first book, and it was a major fail. Plot lines changed, new characters entered, background details threw me off. It was a disaster. Since then, I have not bothered with the outline, though he is my friend in other areas of my life.

When I start a new story, I will usually dream out the scenes in my head. When I have words but am not around a computer, I have a digital recorder that I carry with me everywhere I go, or a legal pad. I loves me some legal pads. :) Also, I tend to write in chronological order. I have written some stories out of order, and it was the same turnout as the outlines—disaster.

SRNA: Do you listen to music while you write? Are there any artists or songs that particularly inspired you during the writing of Bitter Angel?

MH: I do! You’ll probably laugh when I tell you I listened to some hardcore rap/hip hop to get me through those clubbing scenes in the first half. My two most played songs during those scenes were G6 and Black and Yellow (LOL). During some of the intense parts in the end, I listened to the Black Hawk Down soundtrack, because there were no words, just the intensity of the instruments.

SRNA: What else have you written/published?

MH: I have two novels under my belt that came before Bitter Angel. They are now deemed crap/learning manuscripts and will not see the light of day. I believe there is always a learning process with writing. I like to take time and perfect my work. That still doesn't mean everyone will love it, but hopefully they will at least think it is well-written.

Now that Bitter Angel is out, my goal is to put out two books a year. It usually takes about 3-4 months to write/tweak, then betas, editing, more betas, more editing, formatting, etc. Two books a year is a doable goal for me, I hope. :)

SRNA: Are you working on anything new?

MH: My next project is a very emotional NA Contemporary Romance. I’m very excited about this one!! It’s been a labor of love, to be sure. My first and second books were this same story. But they weren't great and needed much more than tweaking. I refused to give up on these characters! So this will be my third complete rewrite of my first novel, and I already feel that this third time is the charm.

SRNA: As a self-published author, what's your biggest piece of advice for promoting your book?

MH: I am a personable person. Everyone does this differently. From my perspective, I love connecting with bloggers and building relationships. I try to spend some time on Facebook and Twitter everyday, and if I see a post from a blogger I've been following, I like to take the time to say "hi" or respond to something they posted. I try. I'm not perfect at it, and maybe it won't score me any more points in the end, but that's the only way I can do it. I want people to know me as a person, not just for my book and vice versa.

SRNA: What made you decide to self-publish as opposed to seeking out an agent?

MH: The Indie decision was a thought-out, personal one. I did query a few agents about a year ago, and I was terrible at it. The idea was extremely daunting. Then the waiting and the waiting and the waiting. And then there's always the fact that someone else will control your story, that someone else controls the timelines of your publishing, etc. I want to publish more than one book a year. I want to put out what I love and what readers want, not what one tiny group of people think will sell (which is very little NA, a huge OOPS on the publishing side). Overall, I feel this is where I fit. I love it here, and I hope, in time, people will come to love my stories.

SRNA: What's the single best piece of advice you can offer aspiring authors?

MH: Write, write write! Read, read, read, then write, write, write. It's Numero Uno about the writing. Reading is secondary. All the rest will come. The publishing, blogging, connecting with bloggers and readers. Bottom line, if you don't spend time on your characters and love them like you know them, others won't love them either.

SRNA: What would you like to say to your fans?

MH: I would like to say a big fat THANK YOU to those who have bought and read the book so far!!! And big squishy hugs <3 I'm a hugger. Can't help it.
Thank you so much for having me, Lori!! *awkward hug*

Read my review of Bitter Angel!

Enter to win an ecopy of Bitter Angel and a $5.00 gift card from your choice of Amazon or B&N!

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Wide Awake - Excerpt and Giveaway!

Title: Wide AwakeAuthor: Shelly CraneRelease date: March 23, 2013Genre: Contemporary Age Group: Young AdultGoodreads | Amazon | B&N | Smashwords
Book Description:A girl.
A coma.
A life she can't remember.

When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital.

Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror?

Excerpt: 

"Hey, girl." I looked back at him while Mason took his wasted brother's shoes off. "You dating my big brother, or what? 'Cause he'll just ruin you, you know. He doesn't care about anyone but himself." I stared at him. Mason had just saved his ungrateful behind and this was how he repaid him?


He let his head fall back to the bed and Mason tossed a blanket over him. He guided me away from his room with a hand on the small of my back. I couldn't believe this was what Mason's life was like. All he did was take care of other people.
We retreated back to the shop. "The sad thing?" he asked as soon as he shut the door and sighed, pulling me by my hips. "He'll be gone by morning."


About the Author
YA author from a small town in Georgia and loves everything about the south. She is wife to a fantastical husband and stay at home mom to two boisterous and mischievous boys who keep her on her toes. They currently reside in everywhere USA as they happily travel all over with her husband's job. She loves to spend time with her family, binge on candy corn, go out to eat at new restaurants, buy paperbacks at little bookstores, site see in the new areas they travel to, listen to music everywhere and also LOVES to read.
Her own books happen by accident and she revels in the writing and imagination process. She doesn't go anywhere without her notepad for fear of an idea creeping up and not being able to write it down immediately, even in the middle of the night, where her best ideas are born.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N



Giveaway per blog: (1) eBook copy of WIDE AWAKE. Winners will be sent a Smashwords coupon code. Open International. 
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Book Review: Connected

Book Review: Connected by Kim Karr




What if a "Once in a Lifetime" could happen twice?

Suffering from a past full of tragedy, Dahlia London's soul has been left completely shattered. Happily ever after is a far cry from reality in her world. But, when she is reconnected with her past, the bonds that form are irrefutable.

When River Wilde, lead singer of The Wilde Ones, comes back into Dahlia’s life, the intensity that fires their relationship combined with underlying feelings that have never died lead her to believe she has met her soul mate.

Struggling with confusion as old connections fade and new ones begin, Dahlia's grief begins to lift—but guilt remains. River wants to be the one to mend all that is torn within her.

But with a past that is never really gone, can their future survive?
My thoughts: I started reading this book because it was so darn popular, the reviews were great and I saw it everywhere on a lot of the blogs I follow. It took me longer than normal to get through, because I got bored and put it down for awhile to read something else. I finally got back to it and it was good, but not great. The big thing with this one is the ending. There's a huge twist that leaves you wondering WTH? In a move similar to that movie with Bruce Willis from several years ago, you're mouth will drop open and you'll think to yourself, whoa I didn't see that coming. The book was well written and edited (and I have to say that because she used the same editor I use). The story was a little draggy at times and I felt like it was a matter of how many different ways and places can two people have sex. Sex is good, I'm just saying'. I did find myself skimming a great deal of the time just to get to this blockbuster ending everyone was talking about. It's an enjoyable read and a great premise. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers Monday, April 29, 2013

Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers Monday, April 29, 2013
(These are the top PAID SINGLE titles)

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1. The Bet by Rachel Van Dyken: "I have a proposition for you..." Kacey should have run the minute those words left Seattle millionaire Jake Titus's mouth. Instead, she made a deal with the devil in hopes of putting her past behind her once and for all.Four days.She could do four days! But she wasn't counting on Jake’s older brother Travis being there to witness their farce of an engagement. One thing is for certain. One brother is right for her. One wants a lifetime. And one is in league with the devil. She should have gotten Jake’s signature in blood."

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2. Real by Katy Evans: "REAL - A fallen boxer. A woman with a broken dream. A competition… IS HE FOR REAL? He even makes me forget my name. One night was all it took, and I forgot everything and anything except the sexy fighter in the ring who sets my mind ablaze and my body on fire with wanting… Remington Tate is the strongest, most confusing man I've ever met in my life."

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3. Twisted Perfection by Abbi Glines: "Life outside of her house was a new experience for Della Sloane. The dark secrets of her past weren't something she ever intended to share with anyone. They would never understand. No one would ever get close enough to find out. There was always a chance she’d go crazy sooner than they expected."


4. Rock My Bed by Michelle A. Valentine: "Everything always seems to fall into place for twenty-four year-old Aubrey Jenson, except for when it comes to her luck with men. Bad boys always draw her in and crush her heart, and Black Falcon’s lead guitarist, Riff, is no exception. After sharing a few wild nights together, she leaves him behind, knowing a guy like Riff isn't the relationship type, merely just a play thing." 


5. Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase: "Samantha Rousseau is used to getting her hands dirty. Working toward a master’s degree in wildlife biology while helping take care of her sick father, she has no time for celebrity gossip, designer clothes, or lazy vacations. So when a duchess from the small country of Lilaria invites her to dinner, Samantha assumes it’s to discuss a donation for the program. The truth will change the course of her life in ways she never dreamed."


6. Marrying the Master (Club Volare) by Chloe Cox: "Lola Theroux wanted Roman Casta the moment she saw him. She knows she isn't special in that regard--every woman wants Roman Casta the moment she sees him. But Lola is the only one who knows why Roman doesn't do relationships, and she knows that he'll never see her as anything other than his best friend's little cousin--he'll always be her protector, never her lover. Even after five years of working together running New York's exclusive Club Volare, she's never caught his eye, and never had a chance to show him her submissive side."


7. Breathe Into Me by Amanda Stone: "Eighteen year-old Kelsey Rien is more than ready to leave her past behind her. Wanting nothing more than to walk into a room without everyone knowing the horrific details of an event that changed her life six years ago, she vows to concentrate on school and make something of herself. But then she meets Kane Riley - the local bad boy. Kane's reputation is far from perfect, but is there more to him than what everyone else sees?"


8. Rock the Heart by Michelle A. Valentine: "For the last four years, good girl Lane has regretted breaking up with Noel Falcon. She thought she was sensible when she told him his dreams of being a rock star would get him nowhere, but now that he's a rock god and her career is stagnant, she realizes just how wrong she was. When Noel hires the marketing company where Lane is an intern, she’s forced to see him again. If she wants to land her dream job as executive within the company, she has to win him over and secure his account. Too bad Noel is still pissed at her for breaking his heart."


10. Rock the Band by Michelle A. Valentine: "After Noel Falcon professed his love to the one girl who truly holds his heart in the palm of her hand, he decides to try his damndest to keep Lane Vance in his life forever this time. There’s no way he’ll let her slip through his fingers again without a fight. The instant they are together Noel begins to plot a way to ask his headstrong lady-love to be his wife, but every attempt to pop the question is foiled by a string of mishaps that prevents him from the perfect moment to get the job done before he goes back on tour with Black Falcon."


  

Cover Reveal: Until I Break

Title: Until I Break (A Twisted Novel)Author: M. LeightonPublisher: M. LeightonRelease date: May 14, 2013Genre: Contemporary RomanceAge Group: AdultCover reveal organized by: AToMR Tours



Laura Drake is an author. She writes bestselling paranormal romances that continue to top the charts. She is sharp. She is confident. She is in control.

And she doesn’t exist.

Samantha Jansen is the woman behind the wig, the woman most of the world doesn’t know exists. She is shy. She is insecure. She is nothing like her main character or her alter ego. She is scarred—deeply scarred—by a past she can’t let go of and a present she can’t make peace with.

Samantha’s dreams are consumed by one man, the broken hero from her books. Mason Strait is both her wildest fantasy and her most terrifying nightmare.

When Samantha meets Alec Brand, a corporate consultant, it is as though Mason has come to life. Alec is handsome to a fault, as elegant as he is arrogant, and more intense than any man has a right to be.

Samantha is soon sucked into a world that mirrors the fiction she writes. Just like her main character, Daire Kirby, Samantha finds herself unable to resist the forbidden lure of Alec. And just like Daire, she also finds that she is faced with taking a chance on a man who could either set her free or destroy her.

The scale tilts toward destruction when Samantha finds out that Alec is as much a work of fiction as Mason. And he has scars of his own, scars that could ruin them both.



About the Author



New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, M. Leighton, is a native of Ohio. She relocated to the warmer climates of the South, where she can be near the water all summer and miss the snow all winter. Possessed of an overactive imagination from early in her childhood, Michelle finally found an acceptable outlet for her fantastical visions: literary fiction. Having written over a dozen novels, these days Michelle enjoys letting her mind wander to more romantic settings with sexy Southern guys, much like the one she married and the ones you'll find in her latest books. When her thoughts aren't roaming in that direction, she'll be riding wild horses, skiing the slopes of Aspen or scuba diving with a hot rock star, all without leaving the cozy comfort of her office.


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