Book Blitz: The King in the Stone (Two Moon Princes, #2)

The King in the Stone (Two Moon Princes, #2) By Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: July 25th 2016
Buy Link: Amazon
Summary:

A full moon,
A silver key,
And the unbending passion of two young lovers
will bring hope to a defeated kingdom
and, through their sorrow, deliver a king
who will change its fate.

Vivid visions have haunted Andrea since her arrival in northern Spain. In her visions, the ruins of the medieval village she’s excavating comes alive, and, around the fires burning in the no longer buried hearths, she sees people dressed in furs sharpening old fashioned swords. 

Even more upsetting for her that the headaches her visions leave is the fact that Julián appears in them—Julián, the king from her world whose rejection she is trying hard to forget. 

But when a slide bury Andrea under the mountain, Julian comes searching for her. Soon after they are reunited under the mountains, the full moon opens a portal and sends them back a thousand years into the past, to a time right after the Spaniards have been defeated by the Arabian invaders. 

Separated by a bitter winter, Andrea and Julian are caught in opposite sides in the battle between the Spanish last unconquered settlements and the Arabian army. A battle for survival that will determine the fate of a kingdom and demand of them the ultimate sacrifice: As the Arabs close on the mountains, Julián makes a decision that will break Andrea’s heart and change them forever.

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Sequel to:

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EXCERPT:

In the following excerpt from The King in the Stone, Julián makes a fateful decision.

I don’t know how long I remained by the cliff staring down at Andrea’s broken body, so unnaturally still in her white shroud of snow. I don’t know how long I remained by the cliff lost in a world of my own. A world beyond feelings, beyond reason.

A world in which, I came to believe, time could flow backwards, and as long as I didn’t move, didn’t breathe, it was still possible to reverse its course. Andrea would rise from the ledge and climb to my side, and her blood would be warm again inside her body and not a red stain over the snow.

I don’t know how long I remained by the cliff dreaming impossible dreams. Then somewhere down in the valley, a horse neighed and broke the spell.

Book Blitz: Versions (Base Branch, #7)

Versions (Base Branch, #7) by Megan Mitcham
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: August 9, 2016
Buy Link: Amazon
Summary:

The truth doesn’t have versions. Or does it?
Rin Lee covered her childhood in dirt and danced on its grave. Only she pranced a little too hard and spent her young-adult life tiptoeing the straight and narrow. 

Things finally paid off in the form of a job with the Department of Defense, a home of her own, and a boyfriend muscled enough he put Zach Efron to shame. 

Until one text reveals a hideous truth that splinters her world. 

Suddenly she can’t trust Nate or their surrogate family of friends. Can she possibly trust Luck—the man who mirrors her soul, scares her beyond the neat confines she’s erected around herself, and makes her scrutinize the versions she’s always been too angry to see? 

Luck turned to the streets out of necessity, while Rin slapped on blinders and ignored those willing to help her. A stupid move for a sultry young woman. But the skills she learned in the rough and tumble underbelly of DC will serve his latest assignment well. Because people like them have the instinct to survive.

♥ ♥ ♥

You can also get Enemy Mine (Base Branch #1) for FREE on:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iBooks / Google Play / All Romance

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SNEAK A PEEK AT VERSIONS:

“Evening, gentlemen. Ladies.” The silken honey of the unfamiliar voice coated her nakedness in a soothing balm. The waiter cleared his throat. The low rumble vibrated very near her ear. “What can I get you, miss?”

She canted her head in his direction. Surprise smacked her square in the face. Smoldering bedroom eyes gazed into hers. The crystal blue orbs pierced through a strong brow and straight into her soul. Rin stepped back, stumbling over Nate’s feet. A thud sounded her landing against her boyfriend’s hard chest.

“Whoa, there,” the waiter said, maintaining an invisible grip on Rin that made it impossible to look away.

Blond hair only a shade darker than her own sat in disarray across his forehead, but was shorn close around his ears. The hint of a beard hugged the strongest jaw she’d ever seen. Lips the perfect shape and fullness for hours and hours of kissing would have softened the blow his appearance delivered, if he’d only smile.

“You startled me,” she said by way of explanation for her odd behavior.

“Wasn’t my intention.” He said the words, but his head ticked to the side and his eyes flared in a way that opposed them.

Book Blitz: The Can't-idates

The Can't-idates by By Craig Tomashoff
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Non Fiction
Release Date: January 2016
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

I’m not a political person by nature. Most of the time, it seems the political world plays out more like a lame ‘70s sitcom with all its predictable characters and routine storylines. 

However, last spring, I got tired of hearing friends and family complain about the lack of exciting, innovative candidates for president. 

Everyone seemed ready to vote for "None Of the Above." So, I decided to take a 10,000-mile road trip across America in May 2015 to meet several of the more than 1600 "real people" who are legit candidates for the presidency. Including a couple in New England.

The Can’t-idates is about dreamers -- not all of whom are tin-foil hat crazy -- who just want to fill a hole in their lives by running for president. And as I drove to meet them all, I realized a lot about not just my life but also about the country. If we could all take time to believe in what our parents always told us -- "Someday you can grow up to be president" -- maybe we wouldn't be in the shape we're in.


♥ ♥ ♥

Excerpt:

BARTHOLOMEW JAMES LOWER

“Look around,” Lower instructed as we walked, constantly pointing at one empty structure after another with the same sighing recognition one uses when seeing high school yearbook pictures of friends who’ve died since graduation.

“See the signs — ‘For Rent,’ ‘Available.’ That building’s empty. That one’s for sale. That one just switched hands again. See that green building? That used to be my in-laws, and it was a bar they ended up closing because of the economy. This whole corner building has been vacant for a decade. That one on the corner that kind of looks like a bank? That’s been vacant for a decade too. That one there? Empty. That one? Empty.” He stopped on a corner for a moment to take it all in. “Truck through downtown Ionia, and this is the rest of the country. The big cities are the big cities, but what you see here is the rest of the country.”

Lower has a very personal relationship with one of the town's drug abusers. When Nicole’s son was 16, she and Lower learned he wasn’t just using drugs. He was starting to deal them as well. A line had been crossed and Lower truly believed that “if you can’t hold people accountable in your own family, how can you expect to do it on a national or global level?” So, they turned their own child over to police custody.

Book Blitz: Lavender in Bloom

Lavender in Bloom by Lily Velez
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: July 25, 2016
Buy Link: Amazon
Summary:

It’s the year 1802 in Avignon, France…
Noah Capet has spent most of his young life living simple and unvaried days in the hushed countryside of southern France. 

Quiet, reserved, and diffident, his preference for existing is to do so in solitude, keeping to himself both in town and on his family’s farm—a predilection that’s altogether disrupted when a newcomer to town by the name of Jeremie Perreault begins an unremitting quest to befriend him. 

Jeremie is everything Noah is not. Charismatic and gregarious, he leaves a trail of charmed admirers in his wake wherever he goes. Expressive and idealistic, he talks without end about his deep love for old books and his spirited dream to one day travel the world on a literary pilgrimage. 

Over the course of a single summer, the two form an unlikely friendship, but just as quickly as it develops, it soon entirely dissolves as they’re forced to face the truth of what has unexpectedly emerged between them.
Lavender in Bloom is a tender and tragic coming-of-age story about first love and self-discovery, and a poignant reminder that time is fleeting and always takes with it the choices we’re too afraid to make.

♥ ♥ ♥

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EXCERPT:

“I think of you almost every moment, Noah. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. I am utterly tormented by these things I feel for you.”

It was as if lightning had struck Noah. He was paralyzed by the admission, stricken silent, and at his core, an inferno devoured him. Its heat filled his veins, spread from ligament to ligament, muscle to muscle. Jeremie had once read aloud a poem regarding a phoenix making its nest in a person’s bosom.

Noah felt the phoenix now, felt her awakening, shifting, extending her wings and beating them powerfully so that he was left breathless, but no more breathless than by what Jeremie did next.
Jeremie came to him at once, erasing the last of the distance between them, and this time, Noah didn’t back away.

Review by Melissa: "Floor 21"

 Floor 21 by Jason Luthor
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopia
Release Date: June 2nd, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ Barnes and Noble

Book Description:

As humanity lives out the remainder of its existence at the top of an isolated apartment tower, young Jackie dares to question Tower Authority and their ban on traveling into the tower's depths. Intelligent and unyielding, Jackie ventures into the shadows of the floors below. But will her strong will and refusal to be quiet—in a society whose greatest pride is hiding the past—bring understanding of how humanity became trapped in the tower she has always called home, or will it simply be her undoing?

♥ ♥ ♥

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when I agreed to read and review Jason Luthor's "Floor 21". I was drawn in, as I usually am, by a dystopian young adult book, and I was hoping that I wouldn't be let down. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the book and its premise more than I thought I would.

The Story takes place in a tower where only the top floors are inhabited, because the lower levels have been infested by this substance that they call "Creep". No one is sure how it got there or when, they just know to not ask a lot of questions and to follow the rules that were set by the Tower Authority. Of course, following the rules would make a bad and boring book, so "Floor 21" is what happens when one girl starts questioning their existence in the Tower and starts to look for answers.

What was cool about "Floor 21" was that it was different. The story was told in a first person narrative, as the characters recorded their story on voice recorders. I liked this idea, because it was a great way to show off the characters' unique voices in a way that is not commonly done.

The recordings, in my opinion, also added more suspense to what was happening. Since the characters are going through their own stories, they aren't able to speak knowingly on what else is going on, or why it's going on. Instead, the reader finds out more information along with the characters on the voice recorder, and everything has a stronger sense of immediacy.

 

I would recommend "Floor 21" to anyone who enjoys dystopian stories as much as I do. I read the whole book in about a day and a half (and that was even with me going out with friends and having a life for a change!), because I wanted to find answers. It seems like Luthor is setting up for another book to follow, and if that is true, I would love to continue reading and learning more about the Tower and the Creep.

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Author Bio:

Jason Luthor has spent a long life writing for sports outlets, media companies and universities. His earliest writing years came during his coverage of the San Antonio Spurs as an affiliate with the Spurs Report and its media partner, WOAI Radio. He would later enjoy a moderate relationship with Blizzard Entertainment, writing lore and stories for potential use in future games. At the academic level he has spent several years pursuing a PhD in American History at the University of Houston, with a special emphasis on Native American history.

His inspirations include some of the obvious; The Lord of the Rings and Chronciles of Narnia are some of the most cited fantasy series in history. However, his favorite reads include the Earthsea Cycle, the Chronicles of Prydain, as well as science fiction hits such as Starship Troopers and Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep?

Website ♥ Goodreads