Book Blitz: Hunter

Hunter by Renee Donne
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: November 4, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Moving across the country isn’t Hunter’s ideal start to her Junior year of high school. She has no friends to hang out with, no beaches to lounge on, and she’s living just a few miles from the secluded hiking trail where her father died when she was a baby.

Living in Wyoming isn’t all bad, though, thanks to Logan, the handsome veterinary assistant at the animal clinic where she lands an after school job. And he seems just as interested in her as she is in him.

As Hunter begins to settle into her new home, she learns more about the circumstances surrounding her father’s tragic death, and it may not have been the accident everyone believes. Something dangerous lurks in the woods, and Hunter might be the next victim.



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Book Trailer:

Book vs. Movie: The DUFF

The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Romance
Release Date: September 10, 2010
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ Barnes and Noble

Book Description:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. 

Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him. Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

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The DUFF
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: February 15, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Movie Description:

A high school senior instigates a social pecking order revolution after finding out that she has been labeled the DUFF - Designated Ugly Fat Friend - by her prettier, more popular counterparts.











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There's always a bit of anxiety whenever a book is adapted into a movie. Will the characters be the same ones you fell in love with, will the movie cut out your favorite scenes, will the actors deliver the lines the way the author intended (see Michael Gambon as Dumbledore asking Harry if he put his name in the Goblet of Fire for a failure on this one)? This, however, is not the case when it comes to the movie adaptation of Kody Keplinger's The DUFF. Not because the movie is an exact copy from the book, but the complete opposite in fact. The movie is a different story than the book, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

I admit that I actually broke my "Read the book before watching the movie" rule for this one. My sister and I went to see it when it was still in theatres, and loved it to the point where I just had to read the book. The movie was this great mix of Mean Girls, Easy A, and even a little bit of Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" music video. In other words, it's a cute and light hearted high school comedy designed to make you laugh and entertain you for the length of the movie. Both my sister and I came out of the theatre with big smiles on our faces because it was so enjoyable, and I turned to her and said, "Let's watch it again!"

Featured Website: Cooking With Kevin

Home Cooking With Kevin

So, lately I haven't been able to devote much time to scouring the web for new and awesome websites, but on occasion when I do find one, you know I've got to share it with you guys. And Kevin's website is definitely one of them. He cooks and bakes and oh my god the cakes. I can't even right now.

Book Blitz: Unexpected

Unexpected by Lilly Avalon
Age Group: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: July 21, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Ever had one of those days? Alina Lyons is having one. Everything keeps falling apart and going wrong. Just when she thinks it couldn't get worse, it does. 

After a case of mistaken identity and a broken heart, she finds herself questioning the things she thought she knew. She wonders who she can turn to or trust anymore.

An unlikely bond with her former best friend's ex, Ryan Wilcox, sends her life in a new direction. He offers her a place to stay while she gets her life back on track. 

His friendship is exactly what she's been missing—what she's been needing. Alina's never felt this alive. As time goes by, the dynamic of their relationship becomes more than either of them expected. A few innocent kisses could lead them in a new direction, but are they prepared for what's on the other side?

Only one way to find out.

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Excerpt:

Saturday is a short day at work because it starts raining in the afternoon. It throws a damper on the remainder of the work that needs to be done, so the supervisor tells us to head out and we can pick back up next week. It makes me happy because it has been a long week, not just work-wise, but also with everything else happening. I'm grateful for a chance to get caught up on other things.

When I get back to the apartment, Alina is curled up on the couch reading a book again. She's wearing those reading glasses, and looking sexy as f***. She's gorgeous already, but there's something about those glasses that makes her extremely sexy. I haven't quite pinned down what it is yet, but I seriously have to figure it out soon before I go crazy.

She peeks up at me and grins. “You're home early!”

Promotional Event: Finding the Cure

Finding the Cure by Cassandra Giovanni
Age Group: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: June 18, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Ellie Abela’s life has been anything but easy. Tragedy follows her where ever she goes, and she’s been a lot of places. At twenty she’s lived in over ten different states, all because of her dad’s career in medical research. His career is just another list of the causes of tragedies in El’s life. He’s dying, and with every breath he takes closer to Heaven, Ellie dies a little bit inside too. At twelve she lost her mom in a drunk driving accident, and in a matter of months she fears she’ll lose the last person she has in the world to cancer.

While Ellie’s life has been rife with sadness, Trent Wentworth’s has been a challenge. A drug-addicted mom and a dead-beat dad meant at twenty three he was the adoptive father of his two year old sister. Now at twenty five he’s working his way up the corporate ladder and a struggling single parent.

Each is searching for a cure to the things in their lives dragging them down. Not all cures are black and white; not all cures save us–and sometimes saving isn’t what we need. Sometimes we just need to realize how lucky we are to be alive, at least for this moment.

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Excerpt:

I walked over to the door leading to his room and pushed it open. I wanted a distraction. I didn't want to think about it. I heard Trent follow me, and I walked over to the guitars hung on the wall. I ran my fingers over the strings. I knew Trent was leaning against the door frame, watching me carefully.

"My dad used to play drums before he got sick," I explained. "I used to want to learn how to play guitar...then we could have our own band." Trent walked forward, going to sit on his bed, and I turned to face him.

"He's a scientist. He's been trying to find the cure for different types of cancer for as long as I can remember...and I don't mean little labs somewhere. Government labs...and all those tests...and chemicals--and whatever the fuck," I replied, stopping as my body trembled. "He was handling--that's what gave him it...the cancer. He was trying to find a cure," my neck pushed forward as I fought back the tears. "And he...he basically killed himself."

Book Blitz: Corner of Ocean and Bay

Corner of Ocean and Bay by Gina Azzi
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: June 15, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Nessa Moore has sought reliable stability since her father’s death. Now, she’s over it. Tired of always being the mature adult, constantly worrying about her alcoholic mother, stressing about being able to afford college, she wants to have one normal, carefree, fun summer. And be more like her best friend Jacie.

Jacie Hayes is struggling to overcome the recent breakup with her first love. The one that ripped out her heart and left her devastated. Frustrated and bored with her own self pity, Jacie wants nothing more than to forget about Dylan, to go back to her old ways, her old self. To be the fun loving, live-in-the-moment girl who gossips about boys and sips mojitos.

Best friends since childhood, Nessa and Jacie have been through all their ups and downs together. No matter what. Now, the summer before their senior year of high school, they accept an invitation from Jacie’s aunt to join her in Lockwood Quay, New Jersey, a summer beach getaway.

Determined to make this their best, most memorable, summer yet, both girls push their own boundaries, accept new challenges, and find themselves keeping secrets from each other.

But sometimes, stepping out of your comfort zone has consequences.

And some secrets can’t be forgiven.

Or forgotten.

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Excerpt:

The unique scent of the ocean, a fusion of sea salt and secrets, blows into the open windows of Jacie’s Jeep Wrangler minutes after we pass the sign welcoming us to Lockwood Quay, New Jersey, population 2,700. The wind whips my hair around my face, tying it in knots, and I breathe in deep, holding the air in my lungs, committing its deliciousness to memory.

I ride shotgun, sitting next to Jacie, as she reaches over and turns up the volume to Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long.” We sing the chorus in unison, Jacie’s fingers tapping the beat on the steering wheel, as we near Aunt Beatrice’s beach house. Jacie throws her arms up, dancing to the music, shaking her head as her long, straight blonde hair snakes down her back.

I immediately reach over and grab the steering wheel. We swerve slightly and the man in an oncoming car blares his horn, giving us the stink eye as he passes. Jacie giggles and waves to him. I join in her laughter as I try to squeeze the panic from my chest, reminding myself that this is my shot at a normal, carefree summer, my chance to have some Jacie kind of fun.

Promotional Event: Dying Embers

Dying Embers by Betty Adams
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Release Date: August 19, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Dying Embers tells the story of Drake McCarty; a sixteen year old boy with more than a few challenges in his life. As if it wasn't enough that he had begun seeing creatures that no one else could, he is suddenly thrust into the position of liaison to an alien race. He was just coming to understand that part of his life when he finds himself pronounced father to three Larian infants; embers.

They are injured, frightened, and carrying a pathogen with the capacity to destroy any technology it contaminates. Bole and the rest of the mature aliens are of limited help; exiled from their home-world following a bloody civil war, they arrived on Earth in a burned out spaceship just as the Cold War began, and for over half a century the military kept them a closely guarded, rather boring, and ultimately unproductive secret.

But when the other half of the conflict arrives, bent on continuing the war here on Earth Bole has no choice but to defend his new home and the family he has built here, leaving Drake to tend to the embers on his own. But Drake has other allies; a family with roots that stretch back into antiquity, and a reach that spans the world. They in turn know beings native to Earth, but far more alien than any of the Larians; creatures that hold no love for the species that they see as invaders, but might hold the key to his children's very survival.

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Excerpt:

“Was it really necessary to be that harsh?” Sever asked Healer as he turned to respond to yet another indicator on the main computer. Healer spun around, ready to lash out at the assassin, but stopped himself. He blinked his eyes for a moment and cleared his CPU.

“Sever,” he finally said, and the weight of all the deaths he had witnessed across the bitter civil war seemed to weigh in his tone, “if I were back on Lar with the full resources of the Imperial Cavern of Science, there would still be next to nothing I could do for those embers. Here…with this?”

His hand swept out to indicate his sparse lab and jury-rigged composite of human and Larian technology. “It would be far crueler to keep hopes up.”

The meaningful look Healer was giving him caused the assassin to tense defensively. He glanced to the side to make certain that O’Beirne was occupied. “Did you want me to take over the task for you? As I am so much better at administering cruelty than you?”