Book Blitz: Dragonfly Nightmare (Once Upon A Secret, #1)

Dragonfly Nightmare (Once Upon A Secret, #1) by Erin Richards
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: September 12, 2016
Buy Link: Amazon
Summary:

To be a normal teenage girl.
To forget about the past.
To fall in love for the first time.
Is that too much to ask? 

Sixteen-year-old Allie Bailey just wants a break—a break from her overly-protected life. And Dragonfly Meadows summer camp is the answer. A summer away from her parents in the California Sierras with her best friend is exactly what she needs. 

But once at camp, Allie notices that things are a little off. Paid excursions are cancelled and staff is replaced with shady new people. 

When the camp’s founder goes “missing,” Allie starts to worry. Unable to let it rest due to her past, she starts to investigate, enlisting the help of Logan Montgomery, her best friend’s older and adorably geeky brother. 

When hauntingly familiar flowers appear in Allie’s cabin, she’s not sure what to think—has her past caught up to her? Yet, after Allie stumbles across a murder conspiracy and chases down the truth, she becomes a target. Pushing through her paranoia and fear to find strength, it’s up to Allie to save herself and the campers from a deranged killer before it’s too late.

♥ ♥ ♥

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—

EXCERPT:

My life turned a corner today to a kickass summer. A glorious day sliding past go and collecting $200 on the highway to my freedom, two days after the ultimate Independence Day. I wanted to shout my bliss to the world, but I refrained from killing my mother’s eardrums any further. Nerd, much?

For the first time in my short sixteen years, I was headed to summer camp.

How stupid exciting was that? For others it was no big deal, or even lame. For me, camp meant paradise, considering I’d begged my parents to let me go for the last four summers and got the big, fat no every flipping time. It wasn’t even about money. Just major overprotectiveness due to The Incident That Shall Not Be Cloned.

Although I was joining the Teen Leadership Program as a Cabin Leader, I was coming apart at the seams to revel in the whole camp experience. Not all would be work, though. My best friend slash partner in crime, Laurel Montgomery, and I had dibs on fun. Escaping the house for two weeks was a major step toward more freedom in my life. I just wished my parents held my same excitement. The thought deflated my insane joy.

My gaze bounced to Mom’s white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. I brushed my fingers over her thigh. “It’ll be okay. You have to let me go sometime.” The four black beads rolled on my leather cuff as I withdrew my hand from her leg. I spun the beads around the band, ignoring their significance for a change.

Book Blitz: Under A Million Stars

Under A Million Stars by Rita Branches
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: August 8th 2016
Buy Link: Amazon
Summary: 

Can a beating heart bleed from the shattered pieces? 

Her heart cracked when her best friend walked away; it completely shattered when she lost her family in a tragic accident.
Now orphaned at seventeen, Charlotte Peterson is forced to live with her former best friend, Jacob Parker. Charlie, a talented pianist, desperately wants their loving friendship back, but something is holding Jake back. The more she spirals into the darkness of depression, the more she needs him. 

Jacob vowed to stay away from her—no matter how much he still loved her. Armed with secrets that would have destroyed both of their families, he chose to end their friendship and walk away, which nearly killed him. As he watches the girl he once knew begin to fade away, however, he realizes that their relationship is more important than the truth he’s hiding. 

Now it’s up to Jacob to put the pieces of Charlie’s broken heart back together—even if it means revealing the secrets he so desperately wants to protect her from.
Will Jacob find a way to bring back the carefree, talented girl he once knew, or is it too late for both of them?

♥ ♥ ♥

EXCERPT:

Jacob

These two weeks had been hell for me.

I didn’t know how I was going to pull this off for the eight months I still had left in this hell of a town. My parents didn’t get me, and she was around all the time, suffocating me. My heart skipped a beat every time I heard her voice, and it doubled in speed when she was near me. I wouldn’t be able to stay away, I knew it. She was breaking my heart all over again.

I heard her at night, when she thought everyone was sleeping. I just sat on the floor, resting my head against the wall, and listen to her cry and throw up every other night.

I stayed there like a jerk, as if I didn’t give a crap about her or her feelings, but I cried. I missed her. I wanted to hold her at night and tell her that everything would be alright, but I couldn’t. I promised I would stay away—I couldn’t hurt her, anymore.

Book Blitz: Teenage Temptation & Personal Honor

Teenage Temptation & Personal Honor by Meena Jelks
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Teen Fiction/ Contemporary
Release Date: May 31, 2016
Buy Link: Amazon
Summary:

Fifteen year old Gaby swore she’d always put books before boys. She could solve an algebraic expression faster than anyone in her class, play Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor with better technique than her music teacher, but couldn’t tell her best friend Anna that she secretly adored her older brother, Josh.

Gaby’s secret feelings tormented her for almost a year. Now that they were all going to be counselors at Camp Sesquahade for the summer, Gaby wondered how long she’d be able to keep her own secret.

Surrounded by temptation, she worries about shattering her good-girl image. Will Gaby get through summer without falling victim to her furtive feelings?
How can she be with Josh while standing firm on her values and morals?

♥ ♥ ♥

My YA novel, Teenage Temptation & Personal Honor, is finally complete at 74,059 words. Fifteen-year-old Gabrielle Perez is a straight A good-girl musical prodigy. Gaby comes from a hard-working, two parent, loving home, lives in an upper-middle class neighborhood in a small town in upstate NY and has lived a pretty sheltered life up until now.

With her junior year ending and summer camp looming around the corner, Gaby isn’t sure how long she can keep her secret from her best friend, Anna. What’s her secret: she is in love with Anna’s older brother Josh. Gaby is forced to deal with her hidden feelings this summer as they all attend Camp Sesquahade as summer counselors.

Book Blitz: The Trouble With Family

The Trouble with Family by Heather Hobbs
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: March 3, 2016
Buy Link: Amazon
Summary:

Molly Anderson just found out her dad is getting married to a woman she’s only met once.

Fourteen-year-old Molly had planned to spend the summer before high school reading books, eating junk food, and napping. 

Instead, she’s forced to spend her days juggling four new family members, a grumpy older brother, a crazy grandmother, and Max, the new boy next door. 

Having lost her mother in a car accident a year before, she’s not sure how many more changes she can take before she hits her breaking point.

Based on an award-winning short story, The Trouble with Family tells the tale of a girl trying to make the most of her summer, not just survive it.

This is the first book in the Molly Anderson series.

♥ ♥ ♥

Excerpt:

The courtroom smelled like burnt popcorn. Holding my breath, I shifted in my seat, making the hard wooden bench creak.

 “This is taking forever,” Ben hissed into my ear.

I ignored him and glanced across the aisle at my soon-to-be stepsiblings. Clara cut her icy blue eyes at me without actually turning her head. She sat beside her brother Sam, stiff and plastic-looking with perfectly highlighted blond hair, only reinforcing my initial suspicion that she was, in fact, a living Barbie doll. Sam, on the other hand, actually looked over at me and offered a slight nod.

 “Children of the Corn,” Ben whispered. 
                                

I rolled my eyes and faced forward. “Just because they’re blond-”

“Blond and creepy,” he interjected.

The doors at the back of the room opened and Judge Newton walked in, followed closely by Dad and Susan.

Book Blitz: It Started With a Whisper

It Started With a Whisper by Shannon McCrimmon
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: June 1, 2016
Buy Link: Amazon 
Summary:

Five simple words: That's all it takes to change the course of 18-year-old Josie Graham's life in the summer of 1989.

Josie is a musical prodigy: She can sing, play guitar and is a natural on the piano. Instead of spending her last summer before college traveling the country with her rock star father, she's made a last minute decision to spend it working at her Aunt Bernie's inn, in Ambler's Fork, North Carolina. But what could have turned her life-long passion for music into a hatred for an industry she's worked so hard to get into?

Her aunt's inn seems like the perfect place to escape, to clear her head and figure things out, but on her first day there, she almost drowns before Chic Hobbs saves her.

Chic wants nothing more in life than to leave Ambler's Fork and his sordid past behind—at least not until that day Josie Graham swims into his life. The problem is, Chic's got a secret. It's a secret he's keeping from Josie, and he's worried if it gets out, it'll ruin everything, and she'll judge him for his past mistakes the way everyone else in town has.

Josie is carrying a burden of her own. One that made her run to Ambler's Fork - away from her family and everything she's ever known.

Chic saved Josie once. Can he save her again? Or will Josie rescue him this time?

♥ ♥ ♥

Book Blitz: Hope (Indigo Dreams #2)

Hope (Indigo Dreams #2) by Grier Cooper
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: April 26, 2016
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Indigo is living the life she’s always imagined at the famed New York School of Ballet. Or is she? Although she hopes she’ll be chosen for the company, her ballet teachers aren’t talking and their silence is confusing.

When Indigo is singled out for a coveted solo she feels her dreams are finally within reach, until she finds out she’s dancing with Felipe Gonzalez, the school’s smolderingly hot rising star. 

In the days that follow, Indigo questions everything she thought was true and finds herself making surprising choices.

After a fateful piece of paper reveals the truth, Indigo must ask herself the hardest question of all: can she take control of her own future to create the life she wants?

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

Madame Z cranes her head, looking for someone. “Brianna, dahlink, come to me.” Brianna is always first to be placed. She's the star of our class and the best dancer I've ever seen. It's not enough that she's gorgeous, with long auburn hair, perfect skin and legs that go up to her chin. She's also incredibly nice, which makes it impossible to hate her.

Five more dancers are placed, including Nikki, who slinks past me with a knowing smirk. My heart sinks further each time I'm not chosen.

I stare at my feet for comfort. Madame Z's selection process always makes me feel bad. It's like waiting to be chosen for grade school team sports all over again, misfits and losers last. Only it's much worse here because my future depends on it.

Book Blitz: Landry in Like (Landry's True Colors #3)

Landry in Like (Landry's True Colors #3) by Krysten Lindsay Hager
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: January 13, 2016
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Things seem to be going well in Landry Albright’s world—she’s getting invited to be on local talk shows to talk about her modeling career, her best friends have her back, and her boyfriend Vladi has becoming someone she can truly count on…and then everything changes.

Suddenly it seems like most of the girls in school are into hanging out at a new teen dance club, while Landry just wants to spend her weekends playing video games and baking cupcakes at sleepovers. 

Then, Yasmin McCarty, the most popular girl in school, starts to come between Landry’s friendship with Ashanti. Things take a turn when Yasmin tells Vladi that Landry is interested in another boy. Can Landry get her relationships with Ashanti and Vladi back or will she be left out and left behind?

♥ ♥ ♥
Except:

I gave up on my hair and went to get dressed. I tugged on my khaki pants and navy sweater, which made up my glorious Hillcrest Academy uniform, (it was just my luck my school picked colors which made me look like a dead goldfish), grabbed my bag, and went to join the rest of my class lined up to go to the cafeteria. I was almost fourteen and yet had to walk to the lunchroom in a straight line like Madeline from the storybook. Stupid Hillcrest.

Lunch was my favorite part of the day. For one, it meant the school day was half over. I went through the lunch line and grabbed a ham sandwich, some chips, and a bottle of water and went to join my two best friends, Ericka Maines and Tori Robins. The lunchroom was always extra noisy on Fridays because everybody was talking about their plans for the weekend.

Sometimes Ericka, Tori, and I went to a movie, but we didn’t do much else. Tori and I liked to go shopping, but Ericka’s parents thought hanging out at the mall would “morally corrupt” Ericka, blah, blah, blah. And they about had a stroke when she wanted to get a social media page. So I was surprised when Ericka said we should all go to the mall tomorrow.

Cover Reveal: Rainbows and Raindrops (Book #1)

Rainbows and Raindrops by Lynn and Morris

Before… They are the Musketeers–one for all and all for Rain, or however that saying goes.  

Now that Rain's sixteen, freedom is at her fingertips. Cliff jumping at the lake. Rain’s first tattoo. Spence finally asking her out. With her friends by her side, there’s no reason Rain can’t be happy in a world that constantly tries to extinguish her addictive, carefree spirit.  

Book Blitz: Landry in Like (Landry's True Colors #3)

Landry in Like (Landry's True Colors #3) by Krysten Lindsay Hager
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: January 13, 2016
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Things seem to be going well in Landry Albright’s world—she’s getting invited to be on local talk shows to talk about her modeling career, her best friends have her back, and her boyfriend Vladi has becoming someone she can truly count on…and then everything changes.

Suddenly it seems like most of the girls in school are into hanging out at a new teen dance club, while Landry just wants to spend her weekends playing video games and baking cup-cakes at sleepovers. 

Then, Yasmin McCarty, the most popular girl in school, starts to come between Landry’s friendship with her best friend Ashanti. Things take a turn when Yasmin tells Vladi that Landry is interested in another boy. Can Landry get her relationships with Ashanti and Vladi back or will she be left out and left behind?


♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

I wanted to call my friends and tell them about being on the talk show, but Mom said we had to be at the TV station super early — even before school started. She said I could text them, but I had to turn off my phone and go to bed.

“I’m waking you up at four a.m.,” she said. “You have to be there at five-thirty.”

“Can I just call Peyton and Ashanti? Please?”

“Fine, but you have five minutes and then that phone is mine and you’re in bed.”

I dialed Peyton, but her mom said she was in the shower. I told her mom about the show tomorrow and said my mom wouldn’t let me stay up any later to call Peyton back.

Book Blitz: Dust and Water

Dust and Water by Cassandra Webb
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: December 25, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Dust and Water is a Song For The Stained novella.

Hunter is living a hard life, as an orphan working for his unappreciative uncle he gets little respect. One day he see's a girl (Kemla) take a risk and ask a farming family a favor. 

He decides to try the same at the next house and winds up sleeping in their barn, eating good whole meals, working for his keep, saving them from bandits, helping Kemla with her slave trader problem though she'll never know it, and earning respect.

But will taking a risk be enough to change his life?

The Song For The Stained series are short reads, averaging 10,000 words, which spin off from the Kemla Saga but are perfectly readable as individual books. They're clean reads, with no sex, no swearing, and little violence with the main character trying to avoid violence and find other solutions. They are also diverse reads, aiming to have a variety of characters in each book.

♥ ♥ ♥
Teaser:

Book Blitz: Before Goodbye

Before Goodbye by Mimi Cross
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: January 1, 2016
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Music means more than anything to high school student Cate Reese; it’s also what unites her with Cal Woods. Devoted classical guitar players, Cate and Cal are childhood friends newly smitten by love—until a devastating car accident rips Cal out of Cate’s life forever. 

Blaming herself for the horrific tragedy and struggling to surface from her despair, Cate spirals downhill in a desperate attempt to ease her pain.

Fellow student David Bennet might look like the school’s golden boy, but underneath the surface the popular athlete battles demons of his own. Racked with survivor’s guilt after his brother’s suicide, things get worse when tragedy darkens his world again—but connecting with Cate, his sister’s longtime babysitter, starts bringing the light back in.

As Cate and David grow closer, the two shattered teenagers learn to examine the pieces of their lives…and, together, find a way to be whole again.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

Lifting the canoe off my shoulders, I use a rolling motion to bring it down the side of my body and onto the tops of my thighs. From there, I ease the boat into the muddy shallows at the edge of the opaque green lake.

Almost immediately, a thin trickle of water seeps into the bottom. This is not good.

There are still two days left till the end of the trip. Two days until we reach base camp, a laughable description for the cluster of flimsy wooden lean-tos poised precariously on the granite ledge of a pine- shadowed island in the middle of nowhere. Still, the island’s where the floatplane picks us up. Then we van it to the airport. But with one less canoe . . .

Book Blitz: A Bucket full of Awesome

A Bucket full of Awesome by Zainab T. Khan
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: February 14, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Summer Wallace is a wild, crazy girl who simply couldn't care less about her appearance. She strongly believe in the saying, "You Only Live Once", in teenage subculture also known as YOLO. 

She plays basketball like her life depends on it. Well, it sort of does, she loses one game and there's a dent in her ego, not a small one either.

Meet Blake Walker, her best friend and her partner-in-crime. Although he is just like his childhood best friend in acting-like-a-kid department, he can be a bit saner than her. 

Though, at times, he can be crazier than her. But a day changes both of their lives which leads Summer to make a bucket list and complete it before her whole life takes a 180 degree.

Whereas, Blake is determined to keep her as long as he can. And he is perfect for the job. After all, he knows her more than anyone else. And they have no room for regrets. As Summer Wallace says, "There shouldn’t be any space for regrets in our beautiful lives.”

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

"Hey do you want to dance?"

"Dance?" I burst into a fit of laughter. "Seriously, Blake? We're on an ice rink!"

"Exactly. Let's dance." Without waiting for my response, he led me to the centre of the ice rink and steadied himself first, still holding on to my hand. Then he put his right hand on my waist, while the other had my hand in his grip.

"Well, none of us knows how to dance but if I remember right, this is how people do, yeah? So let's begin."

Book Blitz: Just a Few Inches

Just a Few Inches by Tara St. Pierre
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: May 31, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

All Carrie Roberts wants is to be a little bit smaller.

To fit into the perfect dress for the Valentine’s Day Dance. To look beautiful for her boyfriend, the school’s star basketball player. To keep his jealous ex-girlfriend, a rival cheerleader, away from him. And to be noticed by her classmates.

Exercising and dieting don’t work, but an advertisement for weight loss pills promises a quicker solution to her problem. As time runs out, she takes more than the recommended dose until she’s just a few inches slimmer. Heads turn when she arrives at the dance, and the wonderful night with her boyfriend is beyond what she dreamed it would be.

Days later, Carrie discovers that her body is changing in ways that should be impossible. While her doctor searches for a cure, she desperately turns to her friends and family for support. Everyone is noticing her now whether she likes it or not, and even the media is intrigued by her incredible story. Getting everything she once wanted has created new problems—problems that are growing more terrifying every day.

Because Carrie Roberts is shrinking.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:
I looked up at Todd’s chin, which had always fit securely atop my head. It was a special part of our relationship, and that night, I’d have done anything to keep our relationship.

“Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

“Let’s go to your place, like we had planned.”

Before long, we were in his living room eating a pizza we had grabbed on the way there. I wasn’t hungry, and I nibbled on one slice while he wolfed down five. As I sat back and sank into the high sofa, my feet didn’t touch the ground—a sensation I wasn’t accustomed to yet.

When he finished eating, he dimmed the lights. If I had been thinking clearly, I would have realized he was setting a certain mood.

Book Blitz: The X Factor: Confessions of a Naive Fashion Model

The X Factor: Confessions of a Naive Fashion Model by Ivan Sivec
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: August 16, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

It takes three mistakes to be swallowed up and spat out by the fashion industry. You trust the wrong people.

You think you know everything there is to know about life. You take drugs.

Maja started off as a regular 17-year-old high-school kid, fighting her inner insecurities while dreaming to become an actress like Marilyn Monroe.

At a party her boyfriend Klemen introduces her to a renowned modelling agent. He sees a special X Factor hidden insight her. And a great business opportunity for himself…

Fast forward a few weeks later. Maja’s charm and talent land her a modelling contract in the trendy and exciting fashion capital of Milan. She’s completely enchanted and determined to make it in the fashion world.

But things don’t turn out the way she had planned.

Exhausting long photo shoots, stressful fashion shows, strict dieting and wild parties start taking their toll on her soon enough. In desperate search for help Maja reaches out to her agent and other false friends from the fashion industry that emotionally and physically exploit her to the point where ‘Maja the Great’ is merely a shadow of her former self.

She starts battling drug addiction that ends up in a tragic event.

Maja has been finally swallowed up and spit out by the fashion industry with its endless traps. What price will the girl with the X Factor have to pay for her naivety?

The young adult novel The X Factor by the bestselling Slovenian author Ivan Sivec is based on a true story and takes the reader on a frightening journey into the world of drug addiction among teenager fashion models.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

“I’ll give you a fourteenth of an ounce,” Monica was unusually generous and understanding. “For extremely difficult times. Stop by if you need more. But be careful not to get used to it too much. Heroin, for example, is only meant for critical moments, but can otherwise ruin a person.”

At the time she didn’t know the director was a drug trafficker. A true drug dealer. By selling drugs to models she lured their hard earned money into her own pocket. Business is business, of course.

Everything in the world is about business.

And exactly because of this Maja was now even more convinced that this was the first and the last time she would resort to the white powder. But destiny had other plans for her.

Book Blitz: A Horse Named Dog

A Horse Named Dog by Theresa Oliver
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: October 21, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Sam is a typical twelve-year-old boy who works on his parent’s farm, but is not as interested in horses as his horse-training family. 

However, he does his best to help out until an incident when he is riding with his mother. After saving her from becoming nearly trampled, his viewpoint changes … until a strange horse comes to their farm with quirks, earning him the name Dog.

Dog likes Sam right away, but Sam wants nothing to do with him, as he is the son of Trumpeter, the horse that nearly maimed his mother for life. Sam has a hard time dealing with not only the memory of the accident, but the extra chores and responsibilities suddenly thrust upon him, one of which is training Dog.

Because his mother is out of work and people are canceling orders, money is scarce. With the Indiana Classic coming up—a local horse race with a huge purse—will Sam be able to befriend Dog and save their farm, or will Dog go back to his present owner, never to be seen again?

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

His father slid the reins once again on either side of Dog’s neck and then held them on the saddle horn. Once again, he stood with one foot in the stirrup and Dog paced around the corral, but soon came to a stop. “Good boy!” Frank cooed, rubbing his back just behind the saddle with his other hand in a soothing gesture. “Now, let’s try this again.”

He quickly swung himself into the saddle and got his foot into the stirrup just as Dog started bucking wildly. He held on to the saddle as he started giving him voice commands, trying to settle him down, but Dog wanted no part of it. A moment later, Frank was lying face down in the dirt again.

Dog ran toward the other side of the corral, whinnying loudly as he paced nervously along the fence row, the reins dragging along the ground behind him. Then, he looked over at Sam and looked at him as if telling him what the humans were trying to do to him.

Book Blitz: Sweet Tea

Sweet Tea by Wendy Lynn Decker
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Coming of Age, Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: March 12, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

The fourth anniversary of Olivia’s daddy and John Lennon’s death is approaching. Like the shot heard ’round the world, TV and radio stations keep the frenzy alive and recognize Lennon’s life, while Olivia’s mama remembers Daddy’s death. Instead of healing, Mama’s strange behavior keeps getting worse.

After viewing an afternoon talk show, Olivia discovers her mother might have more than a case of eccentricity – she may be mentally ill. When those fears are confirmed, Olivia is faced with more decisions than any sixteen-year-old should have to make. With no adult family members to turn to, she is forced to trust the only people who’ve offered help: one strange man and a friend her mother makes at the mental institution.

Facing the intricacies of her mother’s illness one minute and the decision to have sex with her new boyfriend the next, Olivia finds that through faith and determination, she can conquer it all in this poignant story of love, intuition, compassion, and hope.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

“Well look at you, Miss Trailer Queen, all wrapped up in a fur coat. Did your little brother catch it live and skin it for you, too?” Luke had gone from a baseball-playing typical young boy to a backwoods hick since we’d moved to the trailer park, but insulting him like she did made my chest tight and my face burn.

At first, I felt a spike of anger, ready to thrust from my fist into Monica’s button nose. Instead, I fluttered my lashes and held my head high. “No, Monica. Only your daddy would accomplish such a task by hand. I got this as a gift.”

Monica’s face reddened. I could almost see smoke whistling from her ears as her mind spun fast, trying to outwit me. Regardless of her standing as Landon’s golden girl, my wit sparked of amber and sapphire. Monica’s smoldered like a windblown matchstick. I shared a subtle grin of satisfaction on my way out the door to the hallway.

Promotional Event: My Buddhist Christmas

My Buddhist Christmas by Jeremy Phillips
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: September 8, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

It’s not surprising that sixteen year old Chris Jones has no idea where he fits in…

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

An upcoming talent show is his chance to shine—or fail spectacularly…

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

Conflicted about his friends, lying to his family, and still mourning a devastating loss, Chris wonders if being an American Buddhist guitar wizard wanna-be is worth it.

Or does any of it even matter anymore? .

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

“So doesn’t it bother you?” I shudder, thinking of ending up like one of the various invalids that my father takes care of. Not to run and play anymore, or even to have proper control of your own bowels. Perhaps it would be better to lose your mind, like the one old fellow I’d seen earlier, staring blindly off into space. Only, perhaps that would be worse.

All of a sudden, I realize that what’s been bothering me is the Buddha’s so-called First Noble Truth, the one that set him onto the path of trying to find Enlightenment—Awakening, Satori, that type of stuff—in the first place.

Book Blitz: My Buddhist Christmas

My Buddhist Christmas by Jeremy Phillips
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: September 8, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

It’s not surprising that sixteen year old Chris Jones has no idea where he fits in…

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

An upcoming talent show is his chance to shine—or fail spectacularly…

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

Conflicted about his friends, lying to his family, and still mourning a devastating loss, Chris wonders if being an American Buddhist guitar wizard wanna-be is worth it.

Or does any of it even matter anymore?


♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

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

The mind of the past is ungraspable.

The mind of the present is ungraspable.

The mind of the future is ungraspable.

This is from the Diamond Sutra, the only part of it that I actually know right off the top of my head. It’s good stuff, and all it really means is to be here now, in this moment, the moment right here in front of you, because it’s the only time that you’ll ever actually get to live in, ever, in this life.

Book Blitz: The Heart’s Journey Home

The Heart’s Journey Home by Nikki Jackson
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: September 12, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

California Blend Summer Vacation is the first book of this series.

As book one it introduces the three main characters: Tori Logan, AJ Reynolds and Kalea Kinimaka.

It’s summer vacation, and all seventeen-year-old Tori Logan wants to do is hang out with her two best friends, practice her mixed martial arts and go to FBI spy camp. Summer means freedom (mostly from adults) and Tori plans to fill every spare moment of her last summer before graduating from High School with all the fun things she and her best pals can come up with.

The Heart’s Journey Home Book CoverTori, whose mom died of breast cancer when she was young, has always relied on her own strength to get by – especially because her Archeologist father tends to leave her behind with his live-in girlfriend while he gallivants around the world on digs. Thankfully, Tori can take care of herself. She knows exactly who she is and what she wants to do with her life. Her Lakota Sioux grandfather, a former Navy SEAL, trained Tori in self-defense from a young age. Now, as a teenager, Tori excels at mixed martial arts and the use of various weapons. During the summer she will be attending an FBI sponsored Summer Camp which she hopes will lead to her dream job – becoming an FBI serial killer profiler.

With her two best friends at her side, Tori believes she can handle anything. And with summer vacation stretching before them, the trio plans to find plenty of adventure.

But while Tori is determined to be independent, life has other plans for this fierce young woman, and they include coming to grips with some hard – and surprising – truths about both her past and her future.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

“I gotta go,” Tori said.

“I was thinking that for the first day of summer vacation maybe we could do something as a family,” Rachael faintly smiled. “When you dad wakes up...”

“Dad got home late and won’t be waking up until 4, by then it’ll almost be time for the bar-b-que so I’ll see you guys anyway.” Tori was talking and backing out of the kitchen.

“Then maybe you and I...” Rachael started but Tori cut her off.

“Look, you’re my dad’s girlfriend not my mother, we don’t have to hang. I gotta jet. I’m meeting AJ at Kalea’s.” And with that Tori bounded out of the kitchen and ran towards the front door.

Book Blitz: Legends (Skid, #3)

Legends (Skid, #3) by Doug Solter
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: September 2, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Looking for an exciting young adult read about a kick-butt girl that doesn’t revolve around high school?

Meet Samantha. She drove the car that killed her dad. Now racked with guilt, the 18-year-old-girl racer dedicates her life to becoming what her dad always planned her to be…a racing champion. Now demoted to number three driver, Samantha feels alienated from her friends on the crew and Manny. And the worst part of it is…she knows it was all her fault.

Determined to make amends and save her Formula One career, Samantha re-commits herself to winning the championship. But how? How can she convince her boss to give back her car? How can she convince the crew that she’s changed? And how can she win eight consecutive races against the best drivers in the world? That’s what it will take for her to have a shot at the world championship.

Manny doesn’t like to create waves. His uncle owns the racing team, but the crew teases the boy like one of their own. But that’s okay. Manny dreams of designing his own race cars and he thought his girlfriend Samantha would race them. But she tossed him to the side when the self-absorbed racing star took over from the small-town girl from Oklahoma that he fell in love with.

Samantha needs an edge. She needs that revolutionary new transmission Manny designed that made her car so nimble and fast. But Manny hates her. She neglected him so bad that he broke up with her. Why would the boy help her? Especially when Manny’s ex-girlfriend is making her move to take Samantha’s place.

The world now thinks Samantha Sutton is a joke. Solid proof that girls don’t belong in a race car.

She doesn’t have a choice. Samantha must prove the world wrong.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

Samantha

Munich, Germany

The human shell that bears my name wears jeans, a little makeup, and a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. She feels hollow. Like her guts have been scooped out. The guts that made her take risks. The jittery stomach that made her puke before a race. The pulsing heart that made her fall in love. The delicate tissues that made her human. Made her real.

It’s all been sucked out of her.

Shutting my eyes, I listen to the sounds around me in the first-class departure lounge. A man speaks to his wife in German. He’s flying to Toronto on business and must be on the phone since he’s telling her when his plane is scheduled to leave. A woman in a strong Jersey accent scolds her child for making a fuss over her drink. Yeah, she’ll be sitting right next to us on our flight, I bet.

I tune out the voices and stretch on this comfy leather couch I found.