Book Blast: Sisters in Love - Melissa Foster (+Giveaway!)

Danica Snow has always been the smart, practical, and appropriate sister. As a therapist, she prides herself on making reasonable, conservative choices, even if a bit boring, and as part of the Big Sister Program, she has little time for anything more in her life.

Blake Carter is a player. He never gets bored of conquering women, and with his sexy good looks and successful lifestyle, he has no trouble finding willing participants. When his friend and business partner dies in a tragic accident, he suddenly, desperately, wants to change his ways. The problem is, he doesn’t know how to stop doing what he does best.

When Blake walks into Danica’s office, the attraction between them is white hot, but Danica isn't the type to give into the heat and risk her career. Danica’s desire sets her on a path of self-discovery, where she begins to question every decision she’s ever made. Just this once, Danica wants to indulge in the pleasures of life she’s been so willingly ignoring, but with her Little Sister in turmoil and her biological sister’s promiscuousness weighing heavily on her heart, she isn’t sure it’s the right time to set her desires free.

SISTERS IN LOVE is a light, uplifting work of women's fiction and will resonate with readers who enjoy emotional journeys of the heart with strong heroines and sexy, lovable heroes. Readers of books by Jane Porter and Beth Kendrick will enjoy Danica and Blake's story.

Goodreads

Buy it from:

Barnes and Noble

Amazon (this is an affiliate link)

Author's Biography

Melissa Foster is the award-winning author of four International bestselling novels. Her books have been recommended by USA Today’s book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the Women’s Nest, a social and support community for women, the World Literary Café. When she’s not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on  Fostering Success. Melissa is also a community builder for the Alliance for Independent Authors. She has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine.

Melissa hosts an annual Aspiring Authors contest for children and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Melissa lives in Maryland with her family.

Visit Melissa on The Women’s Nest, Fostering Success, or World Lit Cafe. Join Melissa and the YaYa Writer Girls at their annual in-person event. Melissa enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups, and welcomes an invitation to your event.

Twitter / Website

GIVEAWAY

This giveaway is international!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Going Vintage - Lindsey Leavitt

Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

Publication Date: April 1st, 2013

Pages: 304

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: Bought it

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Sixteen-year-old Mallory loves her boyfriend, Jeremy. Or at least likes him more than she's ever liked any other boy. She's sure he feels the same way. Until she happens upon his online Authentic Life game and discovers he's cheating on her ...online Mallory's life is falling apart and technology is the cause. And then she finds a list, written by her grandma when she was Mallory's age. All her grandma had to worry about was sewing dresses and planning dinner parties. Things were so much simpler in the 1960s. And there's nothing on the list that Mallory couldn't do herself. Maybe it's time for Mallory to go vintage and find the answers to her modern-day problems.

I have been dying to read this book and I'm so glad I did! Even though it's very common for me to love all the books I read it's not so common for me to find a book where there isn't one single thing that I would change. Going Vintage is one of those books.

I found it really easy to connect with the main character, Mallory, who I think is very loveable. All the other characters are really well written and they all seem to have their own story (instead of just being there as "props" on Mallory's). I really liked Ginnie (her younger sister) and Mallory's friendship. Ginnie seemed to always be there to help Mallory with her crazy plans, even if it means going all 1962. Oliver was another great character. He was really unpredictable and well...absolutely hillarious! I also liked that he had his qualities but he also had flaws.

What really took me by surprise was the plot. It has a couple of nice twists and even though it's not very heavy and emotional it's not superficial either. I thought it was very easy to read and once I started, I was hooked! 

I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a light, really sweet and funny book!

You can buy the book from The Book Depository (this is an affiliate link, which means that if you buy something from there I get a small comition without any extra charges fot you! :D)

Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon Challenge (+ GIVEAWAY!)

This read-a-thon is hosted by Tressa's Wishful Endings and Colorimetry. I am very happy to annouce that I am hosting a challenge! I think that it's no secret how much I love book covers so it's only right that my challenge is based on them. For this challenge I will give you six pictures. All of them have a part of a book cover and it is your job to guess which cover it is! All covers are from books that I have read and which had been on my TBR list for ages! Good luck! :D

If you need any hints just let me know and I will post some! :)

HINT #1: Picture #3 belongs to the PAPERBACK cover of a novel set in the 80's! :)
HINT #2: Still about Book #3! It's not really a hint but I switched the edition on my read list so it shows the cover I used for the challenge :)

Rules:

• Prize: A book of your choice from The Book Depository (under 10€)
• Open internationally as long as The Book Depository ships to your country (you can check here)
• You have to be a participant on the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon. You can sign-up here (you din't have to have a blog)
• Fill the rafflecopter below (or click the link of the rafflecopter doesn't show up);
• This giveaway ends on September 22nd, at 12 a.m (WEST - Western European Summer Time);
• I will contact the winner by email, if I don't get a reply in 48 hours, another winner will be picked (don't forget to check the spam folder!);
• I will check all the entries!
• Have fun :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Trailer Reveal: Dead Girls Don't Lie - Jennifer Shaw Wolf (TRAILER + GIVEAWAY)

                               

Synopsis

 Rachel died at two a.m . . . Three hours after Skyler kissed me for the first time. Forty-five minutes after she sent me her last text. 

Jaycee and Rachel were best friends. But that was before. . .before that terrible night at the old house. Before Rachel shut Jaycee out. Before Jaycee chose Skyler over Rachel. Then Rachel is found dead. The police blame a growing gang problem in their small town, but Jaycee is sure it has to do with that night at the old house. Rachel’s text is the first clue—starting Jaycee on a search that leads to a shocking secret. Rachel’s death was no random crime, and Jaycee must figure out who to trust before she can expose the truth. 

In the follow-up to her powerful debut, Jennifer Shaw Wolf keeps readers on their toes in another dark, romantic story of murder and secrets.

Goodreads

Where you can find it (note that some of these are affiliate links):

Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Indiebound

The Book Depository

Author's Biography

Jennifer Shaw Wolf grew up on a farm in the tiny town of St. Anthony, Idaho. She spent cold Idaho mornings milking cows in the dark and attended a school where Hunter’s Education was part of the sixth grade curriculum. She’s always been a writer, whether it was sewing together books to read to her little brothers or starting an underground newspaper in sixth grade. She met the love of her life at Ricks College, (now BYU Idaho), after he dropped her on her head. She graduated from Ricks and then Brigham Young University, Provo with a degree in Broadcast Communications. Now she lives in beautiful, green, (rainy) Lacey, Washington with her husband and four kids. She loves to produce videos, ski, ride horses, and read, but really all she has time for is chasing kids and writing.

Twitter / Website / Facebook

GIVEAWAY

Must be 13+ To Enter

Shipping of physical Items in US Only

• One winner will get a signed copy of DEAD GIRLS DON’T LIE
• One winner will get a signed copy of BREAKING BEAUTIFUL

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon Goals!

This read-a-thon is hosted by Tressa's Wishful Endings and Colorimetry. Like usual I am not going to set a huge goal for myself, so I don't get disappointed! I won't specify which books I am going to read since I like looking at them and pick them as I feel like it! :)

1) Finish a book every 2-3 days (it will probably be every 3 days...);

2) Finish some of my netgalley books;

3) Review all the books I manage to read;

4) Enter all the challenges (except my own...obviously haha);

5) Try to comment on at least half of the author guest posts;

6) Visit all the participants!

Are you participating too? 

Netgalley Knockout August Check In

Since I joined this challenge quite late, this will be my July + August check in. I set a very little goal for myself so I am already half-way through! 

Books:

Call Me Crazy - Quinn Loftis

The Art Kids - Kate Spofford

Pity Isn't An Option - Jessica Brooks

Over The Rainbow - Brian Rowe

Vigilante Nights - Erin Richards

The Perpetual Motion Club - Sue Lange

The Bookstore - Deborah Meyler

Confessions of a Boy-Crazy Girl - Paula Hendricks

Books I Am Not Brave Enough To Put On The Official List But I Also Want To Finish:

Ostrich - Matt Greene

The Secrets She Carried - Barbara Davis

Parasite - Mira Grant

4 to 16 Characters - Kelly Hourihan

Sia - Josh Grayson

The Girl With a Clock for a Heart - Peter Swanson

Mind of Winter - Laura Kasischke

How many review books have you read so far?

Blog Tour: Over The Rainbow - Brian Rowe (Review + Guest Post)

 

Over The Rainbow by Brian Rowe
Publication Date: June 8th, 2013
Genre: YA Fantasy

Synopsis

16-year-old Zippy Green never meant to fall in love with a girl, but when she does, her ultra-conservative father tries to send her to anti-gay camp. At the Kansas City airport, however, she hides inside a giant suitcase and sneaks onto an airplane headed not to the camp, but to Seattle, where her online love Mira lives. Halfway through the flight, the plane barrels out of control and crashes into the ground, knocking her unconscious. 

When Zippy awakens, she finds that most of the passengers have vanished. She doesn’t know what’s happened, but she’s determined to find out. She begins a quest on foot toward Seattle, and along the way, she meets a teenager with a concussion , a homeless man with a heart condition, a child without a shred of bravery, and a terrier named Judy. Together the group discovers that more than two-thirds of the world's population has mysteriously disappeared. But that's only the beginning...

All Zippy wants is to find her Mira, but before she can she has to contend with two outside forces. The first is her homophobic father, who does everything in his power to keep her from the girl she loves. And the second is extinct creatures of all shapes and sizes, including living, breathing dinosaurs, which have replaced the missing population.

Excerpt

The end was coming, faster and faster, as the plane plummeted. I peered into the carrier to see a little white terrier staring back at me.

            When I closed my eyes for the final time I felt two ice-cold tears roll down my cheeks.

            “Mira… I love you… I love you… I—”

            The plane collided against the Earth, and I launched forward, struck my head against the cargo door, and blacked out.  

I know that I am usually not a big fan of fantasy novels but there was something about this one that sounded different. And I have to say that I wasn't disappointed. I think the story os very unique and different from everything I have ever read!

I think that the pacing of the story is very good and towards the middle it becomes really action packed and I couldn't stop reading until I found out whether or not the characters made it out alives.

I tried but I didn't "click" very well with Zippy (the main character)...I think that she was supposed to be smart but sometimes her actions were a bit irresponsible and crazy (even though she always succeeded in what she was doing). I also hated her father (but that is understandable). And I really liked the rest of the characters.

One of the interesting things in this novel are the little chapters from a few years before, that allowed me to understand Zippy's life better and also her relationship with her family.

Guest Post

So why draw from The Wizard of Oz so much in Over the Rainbow? The idea of re-imagining one of my favorite movies of all time was actually an accident. When I started outlining the book, I didn't think about The Wizard of Oz, but the similarities started popping up right away, and ultimately they had to either be embraced or dismissed. I knew the main character Zippy Green was going to meet three people on her journey, and I also knew I wanted to send her to Seattle, Washington. When I learned that a nickname for Seattle is The Emerald City, I knew that The Wizard of Oz was destined to become a major part of my book. 

I thought it was fun in the writing to incorporate elements of The Wizard of Oz just enough so that the fans would see how it's all a subversive, modern re-imagining, but I also made sure to have the references be subtle enough so that you could read Over the Rainbow without thinking about The Wizard of Oz, and the book would still work on its own. Some moments are obvious (Zippy says "I have a feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore" in Chapter 2), and some are super specific, the kind of in-jokes you'll blink and miss if you're not paying close attention (take note of Zippy's home address).

It took me the longest time to come up with a title for my newest book, and The Wizard of Oz helped me there, too. The first title was Once Upon a Time in Topeka, then I went with Enraptured for awhile. In the end I love that the book is called Over the Rainbow. Not only does it reference the classic film, and not only does a rainbow show up in the final scene, but the image of the rainbow brings to mind pride and tolerance in the LGBT community, which is the most prevalent and important theme that runs throughout the book. 

Author's Biography:

Brian Rowe is a writing fiend, book devotee, film fanatic, and constant dreamer. He's written nine novels, dozens of short stories, five feature-length screenplays, and hundreds of film articles and essays. His fiction has appeared in Dreamspinner Press, Mobius Magazine, and Wilde Oats Literary Journal. He is one half of the YA book blog Story Carnivores, where he reviews the latest in books and film. He is currently pursuing his MA in English at the University of Nevada, Reno, and is hard at work on his first New Adult novel, which will be released in November 2013.

Website | Goodreads

Where you can find it:

Barnes and Noble  

Amazon (this is an affiliate link which means that if you buy anything from here, I get a small comission without any extra charges for you)