Blog Tour: Release Day of The Debt by Tyler King

Happy Release Day!  Tyler King's book The Debt is on the shelves today!  Enjoy the sneak peek after my thoughts on the book.

Author: Tyler King
Publisher: Forever Yours
Date of publication: May 10, 2016

Hadley saved my life…and I ruined hers

Hadley's my best friend. We share a house, our friends, a life. She knows all my secrets…except one. My desperate need for her is inked on my body, it's the best I can do. But Hadley needs to hear the words…

Growing up as foster kids, Hadley made me feel whole—sane. And what did I do? I destroyed our chance to be together. I ran out on Hadley when I should have stayed, and something broke between us. Now I'll do anything to fix it.

I'll never leave her again. I won't ever let her feel afraid again. But the more I try to protect her from my pain, the more I just make things worse. I'm terrified that if I tell her everything, she'll never forgive me. I'm even more terrified that it may be too late to make her mine. I have to try to give her what she needs…it's a debt I'm determined to repay. 

Wow.  If you are in the mood for an emotional roller coaster of a story, then The Debt is for you.  I'm not sure I have read about two characters who are more equally as messed up as Hadley and Josh.  But, that is what makes them so right for each other.  The two have been best friends since they were little and in foster care.  Josh feels he owes Hadley a debt since she was the reason he got out of foster care and adopted.  Hadley feels the same.  When we meet the two, they aren't' exactly getting along though. Something had happened four years before and a mis-communication has them at odds.

I liked that these two were flawed and just struggling to get by day to day.  It made me root for them to find peace with each other all the more.  One thing that I liked about the book was that Josh was in therapy throughout the story.  It really made me connect with his character and believe that he could work through his stuff.  Because he had some serious stuff to work through!  I was also glad in the end that Hadley starts getting the help she needed as well.

I thought this was a solid debut book.  I think that Ms. King has a bright future and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.

Excerpt:

Hours later, just after 8:00 a.m., I was still awake when the woman next to me stretched and reached for her phone on my nightstand. Propped up against my headboard, I watched the silhouette of a leggy blonde dressing at the foot of my bed. She shoved her tits into a push-up bra and wiggled her way into a tight black dress.

“It was fun,” she said. “See you around, MacKay.”

“Later.”

She tiptoed away with her shoes in her hand and closed the door behind her. I knew I shouldn’t have brought Kate home, but at the time I didn’t have the clarity of mind to do otherwise. Women had always been transient in my life. This one was no different.

I pried myself from the covers, then crossed the room and stood at the floor-length mirror beside my dresser to inspect the new ink peeking around the right side of my rib cage. The skin there was still tender and swollen, a result of six hours under the needles to continue the design that decorated my back. Bear was an artist with an implement of pain.

My eyes fell to the framed photo lying facedown on my dresser: a younger me in a tux, standing onstage with my adoptive parents beside a piano before my first sold-out concert. It was one of the happiest days of my life, and I couldn’t bear to look at it.

I was skinnier then, and lanky. Hadn’t yet grown into my body. Next to my pale, freckled parents, I stood out like one of those exotic adopted children of yuppie celebrity parents. Dark skin. Black hair. Green eyes. People told me I was “interesting” to look at, to gawk at. So little by little I covered all the pretty bare flesh in tattoos.

The first piece I ever had done was of a raven with its wings spread wide across my chest. The tips of each broken wing nailed down. I was seventeen then. After my first sitting, I came to understand why people said tattoos were addictive. I suppose I became a glutton for pain, because when Bear’s wife offered to put a hole in my lip, I let her stick a needle through my face. For shits and giggles. At twenty-one, I had two full sleeves. My dad only asked that I keep the modifications within reason. I was a bit fuzzy on that definition.

From the top dresser drawer, I grabbed a tube of antibacterial ointment and applied two fingers’ worth to the new tattoo. My stomach growled. It was empty and angry from last night. So I sifted through the field of laundry-pile bunkers scattered around my bedroom until I found a black shirt and dark jeans on the passable side of clean.

When I hit the landing at the bottom of the stairs, I felt a pair of knowing brown eyes watching me from the living room. Nothing good ever came from the morning-after ritual. Even so, I couldn’t help but glance at my roommate curled up on the leather couch with her laptop open and earbuds hidden under her long dark hair. She held seven fingers over her head. Hadley averted her gaze back to the computer screen rather than look for my reaction. Like she didn’t give a fuck.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than wait for the walk of shame?”

“Don’t you have an appointment to get your dick swabbed for STDs?”

“Fuck off.”

“Get bent.”

And so everything was par for the course on a Sunday morning. I held out my middle finger as I turned toward the kitchen.  That was fun.  Let’s do it again next week, shall we? I had yet to decipher her scoring system. Asking for clarification would only validate her participation in my sex life.

Neither of us enjoyed living together. My parents’ house in the middle of nowhere was too big for two people and not big enough for the both of us. Since my dad left to take a job in New York during our freshman year of college, every day was a special kind of torture. But Hadley needed me. And as much as I couldn’t stand being near her, I wouldn’t abandon her again.

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1QTUztd

B&N: http://bit.ly/1TrX87b

iBooks:  http://apple.co/1WNNr8F

Google Play: http://bit.ly/1q3yTEV

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1OgOzuL

ABOUT TYLER KING

Tyler King was born and raised in Orlando, Florida and graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in Creative Writing. As a journalist, her work has appeared in Orlando magazine and Orlando Business Journal, among other publications. She is a proud army spouse currently living in Virginia with her husband.

Website: http://bit.ly/1s00Lf6

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Blog Tour: Must Love Dukes by Elizabeth Michels

Author: Elizabeth Michels
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Date of publication: February 2014

Lillian Phillips could not imagine how her quiet, simple life had come to this. Blackmailed by the Mad Duke of Thornwood into accepting one wild dare after another...all because of a pocket watch. Desperate to recover her beloved father's pawned timepiece, Lily did something reckless and dangerous and delicious—something that led to a night she'd never forget. When Devon Grey, Duke of Thornwood, runs into a mesmerizing, intoxicating, thieving woman who literally stole from his bedchamber—with his new pocket watch—Devon plots his revenge. If the daring wench likes to play games, he's happy to oblige. After all, what's the ruse of being the Mad Duke if you can't have some fun? But the last laugh might just be on him...       

Must Love Dukes is the debut novel in a new series by Elizabeth Michels.  I loved this book. I was able to read it in one siting because I couldn't put it down.  It was such a fun book.  Lillian "Lily" Phillips has a one night stand with Devon Grey just to get a family heirloom back.  One year later, Devon can't get her out of his mind.  Now she is back in London being forced to find a husband by her brothers.  Devon decides to have a little fun with Lily.  

I loved the way he blackmails Lily into playing pranks on her would-be suitors.  The outcomes were really funny.  I think my favorite one was the amorous horses.  Lily and Devon were very well suited for each other. Their relationship was effortless and really fun to watch.  I did feel bad for her in how her brothers treated her as no better than cattle.  I was happy to see justice done in the end for her. 

This is a great start to a new series.  I look forward to seeing what comes next.

About the author:

Elizabeth Michels grew up on a Christmas tree farm in rural South Carolina. After tip-toeing her way through school with her focus on ballet steps and her nose in a book, she met a boy and followed him a thousand miles away from home to Kansas City, Missouri, before settling down in North Carolina. She attended Park University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Interior Design. Elizabeth is a lover of happily-ever-afters; she invites you to read her stories, get lost, and enjoy.Please visit her website atwww.elizabethmichels.com

Blog Tour: Review & Interview The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers

Please welcome author Mary Ann Rivers who joins us today as she promotes her debut novella, The Story Guy.  Enjoy our interview with her after my thoughts on the book. Also make sure to check out her giveaway at the end of the post!!

Author: Mary Ann Rivers
Publisher: Loveswept
Date of publication: July 2013

Carrie West is happy with her life . . . isn’t she? But when she sees this provocative online ad, the thirty-something librarian can’t help but be tempted. After all, the photo of the anonymous poster is far too attractive to ignore. And when Wednesday finally arrives, it brings a first kiss that’s hotter than any she’s ever imagined. Brian Newburgh is an attorney, but there’s more to his life . . . that he won't share with Carrie. Determined to have more than just Wednesdays, Carrie embarks on a quest to learn Brian’s story, certain that he will be worth the cost. But is she ready to gamble her heart on a man who just might be The One . . . even though she has no idea how their love story will end?
 
My thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoyed The Story Guy.  I really knew nothing about it going into the book.  I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the story was a unique and well written.  I just wish it had been longer as I usually do with novellas I enjoy.  I wanted to see what happened next with Carrie and Brian.

Carrie answers a personal ad to meet a man in the park on Wednesdays to spend the time kissing only.  When she meets Brian for the first time, the kiss turns into something more than either of them expected.  The problem is that Brian has an obligation that doesn't leave him much time for himself.  Once the obligation is revealed, you can't help but feel so badly for Brian.  It's hard to see someone sacrifice so much of themselves and never take anything in return. I was really rooting for him. The ending for me was bittersweet and I found myself tearing up.  This is definitely a good debut and one worth checking out!

Kari& Autumn: What inspired you to become a writer?

Mary Ann: I actually cannot remember a time in my life when I wasn’t reading and writing stories. I wrote poems, little books, plays, movies. I was always thinking of stories, and I was always trying to get my friends and cousins to act out the stories in my head. 

I will confess though, that the ember that started to glow, deep down inside of me, the one that even if I banked it, it would always come back to life, was lit just the way Carrie’s was, in THE STORY GUY. I was in a library, deep in some pocket of the stacks, reading Wilson Rawls, and for the first time, a book made me cry, and I couldn’t believe it was possible. I couldn’t believe that something someone made with words could get inside of you and make you feel like that, even though I was so addicted to stories and story-making I would walk down the street with my nose in a book. I cried and cried in that little library nook and I felt it, the burn to do that, to make people feel something with the stories that I told them.

Kari& Autumn: Where do you come up with the ideas for your books?

Mary Ann: Ideas are the thing I have no trouble with. I collect ideas, I wonder about ideas, I make lists of them, and then throw away the lists, and think of ideas that I believe are better. Mostly, they come to me at night, when I’m trying to sleep, looking up into the dark room. It’s my favorite time of day, actually, and it’s when the best ideas come to me—usually in the form of a heroine.

Also, ideas come from people, from working with them, serving them when they are my patients, making friends with them, loving them, being interested in them. I write very realistic books, and so I pay a lot of attention to reality, happily.

Life is just so very interesting. Ideas are inevitable.

Kari& Autumn: What exciting projects are waiting in the wings?

Mary Ann: Late this fall I will appear in a holiday anthology with another novella. There are still reveals that are Loveswept’s to make about the anthology but, oh, readers are going to be so happy, and thrilled, and excited. I think it’s really special. I feel honored to appear with the other authors—so honored! I have a Christmas story for that anthology and there is a way the story is a variation of a few of the threads and themes of THE STORY GUY—what we see and don’t see, what choices we make for ourselves and love, what loss means in our lives, and of course, an extremely strong and smart heroine and the man who is fascinated by her.

January I debut with my first novel—it is a standalone, but will be followed by other books with interconnected characters. THE STORY GUY, the holiday anthology story, and my upcoming contemporary series share the same setting—a large, Midwest, rustbelt town. The series’ characters are siblings in a working class family—the Burnsides. I love this family, and in the first book the heroine is one of the middle sisters. I will leak ONE spoiler—Carrie has a little walk on.

Kari& Autumn: Who is your favorite literary character and why?

Mary Ann: Anne of Green Gables. I was so fascinated by her as a child. We both had difficult childhoods, and she found this home, on this beautiful island, and yet she never tried to forget all the things that had been so hard for her, all the ways she had been mistreated, it was a part of her. She let it be a part of her. Even as she loved her adopted family and her friends, even as she came of age and found herself, she let herself grieve for what she had lost.

She was just so tenaciously herself. It wasn’t always easy to be Anne. She could be awkward and strange and burdened by her own bigness. She just kept claiming it though. Over and over. She claimed herself, stood up for herself. Owned her place in the world.

She lost, too. She lost love, and friends, she lost her first child. Tremendous grief. But she was so in love with the world, and what was in it.

Both my husband and I are brunettes, and I had a little red-headed boy. Even though I know better, and that he has red hair because both my husband and I carry the red hair allele in our genes, I like to think it’s because of Anne, and what she taught me was possible about giving over to a belief that life is beautiful. My son’s red hair was that message, maybe. Just a little. In a magical Anne-girl sort of way.

Kari& Autumn: Just for fun, if you could be any animal, what would it be and why?

Mary Ann: A bonobo. For reasons. 

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About the author:

Mary Ann Rivers was an English and music major and went on to earn her MFA in creative writing, publishing poetry in journals and leading creative-writing workshops for at-risk youth. While training for her day job as a nurse practitioner, she rediscovered romance on the bedside tables of her favorite patients. Now she writes smart and emotional contemporary romance, imagining stories featuring the heroes and heroines just ahead of her in the coffee line. Mary Ann Rivers lives in the Midwest with her handsome professor husband and their imaginative school-aged son.

Connect with Mary Ann:  Website  |  Twitter |  Facebook

Blog Tour: The Registry by Shannon Stoker

Author:Shannon Stoker
Publisher: William Morrow
Date of publication: June 2013

The Registry saved the country from collapse. But stability has come at a price. In this patriotic new America, girls are raised to be brides, sold at auction to the highest bidder. Boys are raised to be soldiers, trained by the state to fight to their death.

Nearly eighteen, beautiful Mia Morrissey excitedly awaits the beginning of her auction year. But a warning from her married older sister raises dangerous thoughts. Now, instead of going up on the block, Mia is going to escape to Mexico—and the promise of freedom.

All Mia wants is to control her own destiny—a brave and daring choice that will transform her into an enemy of the state, pursued by powerful government agents, ruthless bounty hunters, and a cunning man determined to own her . . . a man who will stop at nothing to get her back.


I really wanted to like The Registry.  The synopsis made it sound very interesting. I like most dystopian future books and I really wanted to like this book. Sadly, it fell short for me.  It isn't a YA, but it had a very YA feel to it. It also had two things I don't like in books: a cliffhanger ending and the dreaded love triangle.

The book is set about 100 years in the future.  Something happened to make the US create a registry where women essentially are married off to the highest bidder at age 18. If they aren't married within a year, they are married to the government and put in crummy jobs.  As for the boys, the vast majority of them are given up right after their birth to live in orphanages.  When they turn 13, they are forced out on  the street to fend for themselves until they have to report for military service at age 18.  Twisted, right?  But that is what most dystopian futures are like, pretty twisted.  The problem with this system is that the boys (who make it out of the service) grow up to be men who think of women as only property and become abusive.  The girls are raised to be clueless slaves for their husbands who better churn out girl babies or else.  Apparently, they have forgotten in this future that it is the men who determine the sex of the babies.

My main frustration with the book is that there is no clear reason why the world became like this.  Mia, the main character, repeatedly asks people why the Registry came about, but no one can give her a clear answer.  I don't like when, by the end of the first book in a series, I don't have an inkling of what really happened.   I don't want to have to wait until the second book.

The other thing that fell flat for me were the characters.  I'm not sure I really cared for any of them. Whitney just annoyed me.  Mia was too wishy-washy.  I think I was most sympathetic toward Andrew.  In a way, I felt bad for him.  He gets roped into helping Mia and Whitney escape, when all he wants to do it serve his four years and move on with his life. I will admit that the bad guy is truly evil and I did like that.  The introduction of Carter and his Insta-love for Mia was just creepy.  I thought it was totally unnecessary.

It's a fairly quick read, but I don't think I would recommend it. You can check out what other people on the tour are saying here.  In the end, I'm not sure if I will continue with the series.

About the author:
Shannon Stoker lives in DeKalb, IL. She received her undergraduate and law degree from Northern Illinois

University where she now works as the Research Integrity Coordinator. It's not a stretch to say she's a die hard Huskie fan!

When she's not working or writing Shannon spends the majority of her time playing with her terrier mix Nucky or her husband.

She loves watching horror movies, including those straight to DVD classics most people never heard of. If she wasn't an attorney or an author she would have been a beautician and is constantly bugging her friends to come over and let Shannon play with their hair.

Blog Tour: Tumbleweed Heights by Joan Bird

Author: Joan Bird

Publisher: Borough Publishing Group

Date of publication: December 2011

Danger won't find Gilly in tiny Briarwood, Colorado. Right? Banking on her instincts is all she has left. That and a dream of a simpler life as a rancher. Luke Hudson has secrets. Living a lie, he recognizes a kindred spirit the moment he lays eyes on Gilly. What are her secrets quickly becomes how can he protect her when violence slams through her front door. Will truth ruin their fragile bond or will time run out before they have the chance to admit their love?

Moving to Briarwood, Colorado had not been in Gilly Casey’s original life plan. Sure, she’d dreamed of owning a horse ranch, but as kind of a part-time gig, in Topanga Canyon maybe. But the best laid plans of this high-powered L.A. attorney turn to dust when more than her bar card is threatened. Fleeing to a life she had never imagined quickly becomes a cat and mouse game just to stay alive.

Luke Hudson’s road to Briarwood was no less bumpy. Hiding from his own demons, he’s no longer able to float below the radar when he recognizes the feisty Miz Casey is in more trouble than she’ll admit. Donning the hero mantle years after he’d shed that skin, Luke realizes that rescuing Gilly might just save him, too.

With so many secrets between them, does love stand a chance? When the past trains its loaded gun on them, truth may not be enough to safeguard Gilly and Luke.

I was very interested in reading Tumbleweed Heights when I read the synopsis. While I liked the overall story, I found it was just OK for me.

What I liked:  The main characters, Gilly and Luke were very good together.  I really enjoyed their easy banter between each other.  There were a few times I couldn't help but giggle.  Their attraction was instant and I liked that they built up to loving each other.  I was intrigued by both of their secrets and I was rooting for them in the end.

What I didn't like:  I had a hard time getting through the book.  The writing seemed a bit disjointed to me.  There were times when I felt I had missed something or wasn't given a bit of information to figure out what was going on. Also, there was a lot of inner reflection in the middle of conversations and that made some scenes drag on longer than necessary.    

It is a pretty quick read and I think the characters are interesting.  Give it a shot and see for yourself.

About the author:

Joan Bird has been telling stories for years. In her first incarnation she was a singer/song writer with a rock band (yes, her Fender guitars are awesome), then she started writing books, mostly for herself.

Joan’s storytelling is legendary amongst her family and friends. For years she’s been including short stories with her holiday greetings each December and for years her friends and family have been encouraging her to write a book. Little did they know she had a storehouse of novels just waiting to be read by more than just her mailing list.

A couple of years ago she began working on polishing the stories she had already written, which sparked new ideas that led to writing more novels. Tumbleweed Heights is her first published book, but there are more on the way and she can’t wait for you to read them.

Her latest book is the contemporary romance, Tumbleweed Heights.
Facebook | Amazon Kindle Store | Smashwords | Boroughs Publishing Group

Blog Tour: The Priest and the Peaches by Larry Patterson

Author: Larry Peterson
Publisher: Tribute Books
Date of Publication: January 2012
  
Take a seven day journey with the five, newly orphaned Peach kids, as they begin their struggle to remain a family while planning their dad's funeral.

They find an ally in the local parish priest, Father Tim Sullivan, who tries his best to guide them through the strange, unchartered and turbulent waters of "grown-up world." A story that is sad, funny, and inspiring as it shows how the power of family love and faith can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book.  The synopsis looked interesting and I am always looking for new books to experience.  Sadly, I didn't love it as much as I hoped I would.   The general story was emotional and heartbreaking.  The Peach family has lost their father and they now have to learn how to make it on their own.  I liked the how the oldest siblings automatically jumped into trying to make things better for the younger ones and vowed to keep the family together.  I also liked how the community came together in the end to help the kids.

What I had a hard time with was the dialogue.  It felt awkward for me at times.  Some of the conversations that the characters had just didn't seem to fit the scenarios.  This made it hard for me to keep my interest in the book.  I also think I would have enjoyed the book more had it taken place over more time than just one week.  While the immediate problems were solved, I wasn't left with a sense of how the family would make out in the long run.   While it was a good concept, it just wasn't really for me.  But, try it out for yourself.

About the author:


Larry Peterson was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. A former Metal Lather/Reinforcing Iron-worker, he left that business after coming down with MS. He, his wife and three kids moved to Florida 30 years ago. Larry began doing freelance newspaper commentary after graduating from Tampa College in 1984.

His first children's picture book, Slippery Willie's Stupid, Ugly Shoes was published in 2011. In 2012, his full length novel, The Priest and the Peaches was released and he is presently working on the sequel.

He also has a blog (http://www.ThePriestandthePeaches.com) where he posts weekly commentary. He lives in Pinellas Park, Florida and his kids and six grandchildren all live within three miles of each other.


Larry Peterson's Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/larrytpbx

Larry Peterson's Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/slipperywillie

Blog tour: Review and interview Moon Over Alcatraz by Patricia Yager Delagrange

Today we have an interview with author Patricia Yager Delagrange, who is promoting her book Moon Over Alcatraz.


Welcome Patricia!

Publisher: Musa Publishing

Date of publication: January 2012

Following the death of their baby during a difficult birth, Brandy and Weston Chambers are grief-stricken and withdraw from each other, both seeking solace outside of their marriage; however, they vow to work through their painful disloyalty. But when the man Brandy slept with moves back to their hometown, three lives are forever changed by his return.

My take:
Both Brandy and Weston go through a heart wrenching ordeal when they lose their child at birth.  Nothing could be worse than that.  Both of them, in their grief, make a mistake and seek solace in other people instead of each other.  I'm not usually one for reading books with infidelity in them. So, I was a little wary when I went into this book.  After much thought, I decided that I did ultimately liked the book.  While I don't condone what either of them did, I was happy to see them go their separate ways.  I thought Weston was insensitive and a jerk from the beginning.  I liked the path that Brandy chooses to take in the end.  I think it was the right decision for her.  This is a pretty emotional book, but definitely one worth reading.

Kari: What inspired you to become a writer?

Patricia: In April 2009 my daughter came home from middle school and told me her friend had asked her why her mommy didn’t have a job.  I had been a stay-at-home mom since my son was born in 1994.  I realized that since my son was already 15 and my daughter was 10, I had more time to devote to working at something else.  I went to the Apple store, bought a MacBook, and decided to write a book.  I just finished my fourth novel.

Moon Over Alcatraz was published on January 6, 2012, and Love to the First Power will be published sometime this year.  I’m still searching for an agent to help guide my career for the other two books I have in the wings.

 

Kari: Where do you come up with the ideas for your books?

Patricia: I have followed a guideline I read several years ago: “write what you like to read”, and that’s what I do.  I love to write about families with problems and how the main character overcomes those problems, coming out the other side a better and happier person.

Kari: What is your favorite book so far?

Patricia: That I’ve written you mean?  I loved writing Taken Away.  It’s about a male veterinarian whose wife disappears along with their 9-month-old little daughter.  His search takes him through some real heavy emotional turmoil, but he ends up getting his “happily ever after”, so to speak.

Kari: What exciting projects are waiting in the wings?

Patricia: I’m editing my fourth book Brenda’s Wish.  This book is about a divorced mother and her 17-year-old son who live in San Francisco and how their lives are turned inside out and upside down after her cop ex-husband is murdered.  I love the venue and writing about a struggling single mom and her triumphs.

Kari: Who is your favorite literary character and why?

Patricia: I love Tom Booker in The Horse Whisperer.  I enjoyed reading about a man who believed so deeply that a horse could become friends with his owner again after such a horrific accident.  He’s my hero.

Kari: Just for fun, if you could be any animal, what would it be and why?

Patricia: I would be one of my own dogs.  My two chocolate labs live a life most humans would be envious of.  They sleep on our beds with down pillows, are fed twice a day, get to lounge on the couch all day long, get bones all day long, and are kissed and loved on all day long.  Who wouldn’t want that?

About the author:

Fascinated by broken-hearted couples and atypical families, Patricia weaves engaging tales of men and women who create cohesive families where love reigns supreme.  She sprinkles her books with intriguing characters who struggle to find balance in life after tragedy.  Whether an unwed teenager, desperate widow, abandoned father, or a couple who stray from their marital vows, her characters form relationships impacted by their desire to create a family.

Aside from writing, her favorite things to do include riding her Friesian horse, Maximus, dot-to-dot for adults, and watching Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington movies.  She spends a majority of her days writing while her two very large Chocolate Labs lounge on the couch cuddled next to her and her MacBook.

She writes a blog every Wednesday, so if you're interested, sign up to be on the mailing list and she'll notify you after she posts her blog on this website.  Or just drop by Wednesday mornings and leave a comment.

Website / Facebook

Blog Tour: Finding Alice by Andrea Digilio

Author: Andrea Digilio
Publisher: Self
Date of Publication: February 2012

Alice is cursed with an intense version of empathy; she runs from a wasted life to start a new one somewhere no one will know her, Hell, Michigan. Alice works at a hole-in-the-wall bar in the middle of nowhere mostly keeping to herself to avoid the overwhelming emotions of those around her. Alice allows her best friend to convince her into taking a few college classes without realizing it would drastically change her life forever. From her first day of class she was hooked on him; his scent, his eyes, the way he talked to her inside her head.


Throughout her struggles she learns about true love, true pain and the truth of her own heritage. Alice must quickly find out who she is because after all everyone else is out to find her. With Angels and Bounty Hunter’s in constant pursuit she finds protection within a group of Fallen Angels. These Fallen Angels vow to do anything to protect her; for it is their belief she will save their kind and all of mankind.

Finding Alice was a pretty good quick read.  I liked Alice's character a lot.  She is pretty strong for someone who has not had a lot of love in her life.  She is more mature than her age. I had to give her a lot of credit for striking out on her own and finding a place to call home.  Even if it is called Hell. I did like her relationship with Cole. He is the one person who can help her figure out who she really is and perhaps help her figure out why feathers keep showing up near her.

While I enjoyed the overall story, I felt a little like I was missing some things in the beginning.  I never felt like the author gave a good enough explanation of Alice's gift of empathy.  If I hadn't read the synopsis, I'm not sure I would have picked up on that.  Also, I would have liked more information about the world that Alice finds herself a part of. I'm hoping that the author expands more on it in future books.

I do recommend this one, especially if you like stories about angels. It is a good debut novel. I look forward to reading more about Alice in her fight for her fellow Fallen Angels.

About the author:

Andrea was born and raised in Michigan, she still resided there with her son. Andrea has always been a writer at heart. Over the last decade she has written, starred and directed in many screenplays. She recently in the last few years decided to venture in writing novels. She hasn’t looked back since, giving
it her full attention. She is very excited to share the wonderful words she creates, with the world.

Website- www.andreadigiglio.com

Email - dreadigiglio@gmail.com

Blog -  http://andrea-digiglio.blogspot.com/

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Trailer Link -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1x_DvGx4CA&feature=youtu.be)

Blog Tour - Giveaway! Ride with Me by Ruthie Knox

Today we welcome author, Ruthie Knox who is promoting her book, Ride with Me.

Giveaway Details:
Ruthie has kindly offered up  a digital copy of Ride with Me to one lucky winner. Winners will pick up their copy through Net Galley. Just leave a comment with a valid e-mail address.  This will run until February 10. Good luck to all!

Author: Ruthie Knox
Publisher: Loveswept
Date of Publication: February 13, 2012

In this fun, scorching-hot eBook original romance by Ruthie Knox, a cross-country bike adventure takes a detour into unexplored passion. As readers will discover, Ride with Me is not about the bike!

When Lexie Marshall places an ad for a cycling companion, she hopes to find someone friendly and fun to cross the TransAmerica Trail with. Instead, she gets Tom Geiger — a lean, sexy loner whose bad attitude threatens to spoil the adventure she’s spent years planning.

Roped into the cycling equivalent of a blind date by his sister, Tom doesn’t want to ride with a chatty, go-by-the-map kind of woman, and he certainly doesn’t want to want her. Too bad the sight of Lexie with a bike between her thighs really turns his crank.

Even Tom’s stubborn determination to keep Lexie at a distance can’t stop a kiss from leading to endless nights of hotter-than-hot sex. But when the wild ride ends, where will they go next?

My thoughts:

I devoured this story. Ride with Me is a sweet romance about two people who set out on a journey to reach the other side of the country and end up finding something they never bargained for...each other.   I loved the chemistry between Lexie and Tom.  What a better way to get to know someone, then to ride across the country with them. They both grew some much over the trip and I was rooting for their HEA.   There is more to this story than just the romance.  It's really a tale about finding the balance in life where you can be happy and learn to live with the choices you have made.    I loved the author's use of Thoreau's Walden to help Tom find out how to achieve this.  Ride with Me is a quick read and one you won't want to pass up!  

Ruthie stopped by to share some thoughts with us:

Inspired at Last

I am thirty-four years old. For thirty-three of those years, I was not a writer, which is an odd thing, because I had all the equipment. I’m a reader of the most obsessive, devoted, addicted variety. I did the English major thing in college. I’ve learned my literary theory (God help me). As a kid, I wrote stories and attended all the weekend events for budding writers and joined the seventh-grade writing club.

What kept me from writing was that I didn’t have any stories in my head. I understood that this was how it worked: the writer had ideas. The ideas demanded exit through her fingers. Lacking those, I just didn’t see how one would begin, or why one would bother. What would be the point?

I rediscovered romance novels a few years ago, and I read as many of them as I could get my hands on. One day, at a yoga class, I had an idea for a romance novel of my own. I worked my way through sun salutations and standing poses and corpse pose at the end, and I thought, for the first time since I was a kid, about my own characters. My own plot. I thought of how a few of my own experiences might be reworked to become the stuff of a novel.

The next day, I started writing.

For me, the structure of romance was itself inspirational. The genre gives the author boundaries to work in, so the project became almost an assignment: Write a novel of 65,000 words in which two characters meet, fall in love, and overcome obstacles to find their happily-ever-after. (Never mind that this was a ridiculously simplified notion of what romance novels are all about. At the time, I was both ignorant and arrogant—qualities that my friend Serena Bell has since convinced me are essential to writerly happiness.)

I have always been an excellent student. I like assignments. Give me boundaries, and I am happy to innovate within them. Give me a blank notebook and no guidelines, and I will stare at it, uninspired, and claim not to be artistic. So the form of the romance novel gave me the structure I needed to find my legs as a novelist. I wrote three novel manuscripts in the space of a few months. I discovered that I did, in fact, have ideas, and that I loved to develop characters. I discovered that I had a ridiculous amount to learn, but that’s okay. I like learning. All I needed to become a writer, it turned out, was a direction.

Since then, I’ve found inspiration from dozens of directions. It’s as if I flipped a switch, and now my previously dormant writer-brain seeks out the sort of conflicts and interesting situations that work well in romance novels. I got an e-mail one day out of the blue from the manager of a rock band asking whether I’d be willing to design a custom sweater for the star of this band. (I used to do a lot of knitting, including some design.) Instead of thinking about sweaters, I thought, Man, that would make a great set-up for a romance novel. Now, does the heroine fall for the rock star, or does she fall for the guitar tech? What do they fight about? My writer-brain started thinking, started playing, started asking questions.

It never shuts off now. I have a file full of ideas that will probably go nowhere, but there are seeds in there, and they find unlikely places to grow. The inspiration for the novel that became Ride with Me came from flipping through the magazine of the Adventure Cycling Association and thinking idly about the “Companions Wanted” column, which helps cyclists who are planning a trip find like-minded folks to ride with. What would happen, I wondered, if a hero and heroine got matched up through that column, but neither got what they were expecting? What if they had to ride four thousand miles together and didn’t like each other. Ooh! Fun!

I had to find out, so I sat down and started writing.

About the Author:

Ruthie Knox figured out how to walk and read at the same time in the second grade, and she hasn’t looked up since. She spent her formative years hiding romance novels in her bedroom closet to avoid the merciless teasing of her brothers and imagining scenarios in which someone who looked remarkably like Daniel Day Lewis recognized her well-hidden sex appeal and rescued her from middle-class Midwestern obscurity. After graduating from Grinnell College with an English and history double major, she earned a Ph.D. in modern British history that she’s put to remarkably little use.

These days, she writes contemporary romance in which witty, down-to- earth characters find each other irresistible in their pajamas, though she freely admits this has yet to happen to her. Perhaps she needs more exciting pajamas. Ruthie abhors an epilogue and insists a decent romance requires at least three good sex scenes. 

Blog tour: Fate's Second Chance by AJ Jarrett

Publisher: Silver Publishing
Date of Publication: November 2011

Marie Carter has lived a pretty average life, and she thought dying was the worst thing to happen, until informed by her guarding angel Ross that she was supposed to be born a man. Sent back as Marc, he has one month to heal his sister's suffering and get his soulmate Shawn to fall in love with him. If he fails, it's back to heaven he goes, the love of his life will eventually die of a broken heart, and Ross will be kicked out of heaven.

Marc has been in love with Shawn ever since he could remember, but is a month enough time to get someone to fall in love? And when faced with the knowledge of angels and body mix ups, can a skeptical Shawn believe what is so obviously in front of his face? Can Marc get his happily ever after? Or was what was written in the stars not meant to be?

Fate's Second Chance is an interesting debut novel.  I liked the premise of it. The powers that be make a mistake before Marc is born and he ends up in a girl's body instead of a boy's.  Because of this mix-up, she is given the chance to go back as her (or should I say, his) true self after an unexpected death.  I liked Ross's character the most I think.  He added some nice comedy to the story.

While I did enjoy the book, I didn't love it as much as I was hoping I would.  Marie comes back as Marc, yet most of the time that I was reading the story, I kept thinking that Marc was a woman.  His mannerisms and reactions just seemed too female to me.  So, I had a hard time buying Marie/Marc's change. I do see a promising future for Ms. Jarrett.  It's a cute story and one worth checking out.

About the author:

Hi to everyone! My name is AJ and I started writing about a year ago. So far I’ve been published through Silver Publishing and I just signed a contract for a book with Siren Publishing. So this past year has been busy for me. 
I’m the proud mother of four very active children. When they’re not driving me completely insane they have me laughing my butt off. Kids can do that to adults. I got lucky enough to marry one of the good guys. My husband is very helpful and takes on more of my stress than should be allowed. He supports me and understands all those nights that I don’t come to bed because I’m a slave to my muse.


Fate’s Second Chance is my first release and its part of a series. My intentions are to make this a three part series surrounding the characters from the first book. I already have the second book completed and Silver has accepted it for publication. I’m a fan of books that are part of a series so I wanted to do that with my writings.


I had a fun time bringing these character to life and I hope others enjoy them as much as I do!

BUY LINKS:

Silver Publishing - https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/new-release-c-1/fate-s-second-chance-ebook-p-653

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Fates-Second-Chance-Twists-ebook/dp/B0063CNE9S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321756359&sr=8-1

Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: Farsighted by Emlyn Chand

Giveaway Details:  
Ms. Chand has generously offered 1 copy of Farsighted to giveaway to one lucky winner. This will be a .PDF file so it can be open internationally.  I will run this until December 28.  Just leave a comment with a valid e-mail address.  Good Luck!

Author: Emlyn Chand
Publisher: Blue Crown Press
Publication Date: November 2011

Alex Kosmitoras’s life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead-broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he's blind. Just when he thinks he'll never have a shot at a normal life, a new girl from India moves into town. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Yes, sophomore year might not be so bad after all. 

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival—an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to “see” the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they begin to suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and new friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex must embark on a journey to change his future.


Farsighted is the debut novel by Emlyn Chand.  After reading the synopsis, I was very interested in reading it.  I had high hopes for Farsighted, but I will admit that I didn't like it as much as I was hoping I would.
What I liked:  I really liked the idea for this story.  I haven't read many books from the point of view of a blind person.  I thought that the author did a great job of getting you into Alex's life and getting a sense of how he "sees" the world.  I also liked the different types of "gifteds" that were in the book.  Each was unique and interesting.  I especially liked Simmi's gift of being able to influence people's emotions.  The twist at the end was unexpected and a nice touch to the ending.

What I didn't like:  I felt like the story was a little disjointed.  It didn't flow well for me.  I found parts of the book were a bit slow and didn't add much to advance the story.  I also thought that some of the scenarios in the story came out of nowhere and the reactions of the characters weren't ones that seemed logical to me.

The ending of Farsighted leaves room for a sequel, so I'll probably  pick up the sequel when it comes out.  I look forward to seeing what happens to Alex, Simmi, Shapri and Dax.

About the author:

Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). When she's not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb. Visit www.emlynchand.com for more info. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky! 

Check out the trailer for Farsighted here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZjskE5zjzM&feature=youtu.be

BUY LINKS:

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Farsighted-Emlyn-Chand/dp/0983930805/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

B&N - www.barnesandnoble.com/w/farsighted-emlyn-chand/1106607652

Smashwords - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/91611