Dead and Missing Blog Tour: Excerpt & Giveaway!

Thank You to AToMR Tours for being an awesome host, as always! I was supposed to review theses books for the tour but, as I have stated before, I have some medical issues that hinder that - but my doctors will tell you I am always reading, lol! So, my review of both books in the series will come soon. As a teaser, I will leave you with a tiny excerpt to get your minds tingling:) As a reminder, I am starting with the second book in the series so don't read the stats yet and scroll down to book one, Date with the Dead! And don't forget the Giveaway!!

Dead and Missing
(Ripsters, #2)
by Chris Myers
Released: July 13, 2013
Genre: Paranormal Mystery/Romance
Age Group: Young Adult
Tour organized by: AToMR Tours

Book Blurb:
Sixteen-year-old Brittany Howland only knows one other girl, Jolie Livingston, who can communicate with the dead like herself. When Brittany takes Jolie’s haunt fishing to get him out of Jolie’s hair, he mysteriously disappears. Brittany isn’t sure how she’ll tell Jolie she lost her stupid ghost. Jolie thinks her dead best friend Drew has finally crossed over, but Brittany knows better. Just before Drew went missing, he revealed why he hasn’t hitchhiked to the afterlife, a secret Brittany swore she’d take to the grave.

Amazon   -   Barnes & Noble

JOLIE
As I inch along the cave tunnel, cold chills wrack my body. Panic sets in as the water rises and tumbles over my mouth and into my nose. I cough out the water and turn my head to the side to catch my breath.If it gets any deeper, the water will cover my entire face. Using my hands, I feel a hole that veers off to my right and is big enough to crawl into. I scuttle out of the water to sit and rest. The hole goes back farther, but I just want to get out of the stream for a minute to warm up and calm myself before going any further. The thought of drowning, gasping for breath scares the bejesus out of me.I scoot backward until I bump into something that’s icy cold but soft and squishy—like ectoplasm. My body freezes deathly still.A whisper floats on an unnatural breeze that drifts over my shoulders, icing them. “Jolie. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”

Date with the Dead
(Ripsters, #1)
by Chris Myers

Book Blurb:
Sixteen-year-old Jolie Livingston’s closest and only friend Drew is this really hot dead guy, and it bites that the self-absorbed princesses at school cannot even see him. That’s right she can communicate with the dead. It’s the living she has trouble with. She and her mom inherited this awesome crib in Plymouth, MA. It’s quite a step-up from the homeless shelter in New Orleans, but there’s a catch. They can’t afford the past due mortgage, so Jolie’s working on that.

She starts a ghost hunting business called Ripsters. Somehow she’s managed to recruit Brittany, a glamour SAP smothered in pink, and a techie allergic to ghosts. Brit actually thinks he resembles the R&B singer Chris Brown. All that pink has clouded her vision. They both have special talents Jolie’s hoping will be useful to their venture. Right now, they’re working for a family in need of major therapy due to a dead guy with a hole in his head.

Chris Myers suffers from an overactive imagination. She spent her high school years writing torch songs for fantasy guys then moved onto writing thrillers and young adult. She has a real job but would love to write full time. Her books have won and placed in the finals and semifinals for several awards including Paul Gillette, Rocky Mountain Gold, and Amazon Breakthrough Novel. Chris lives in Colorado with her daughter, her better half, and BeBe, a rambunctious Bichon.

Twitter - Facebook - Website - Blog - Goodreads

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(3) Print Copies of Dead and Missing – US

(8) eBook Copies of Dead and Missing - International

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Cover Reveal: Very Bad Things by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Very Bad Things

(Briarcrest Academy, #1)

Ilsa Madden-Mills

Full Wrap Cover

Expected release date: September 10, 2013

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Age Group: Mature YA and NA

Cover Designed by: Toski Covey Photography,

Sommer Stein from Perfect Pear,

Model is Mariah Jane Scott

Born into a life of privilege and secrets, Nora Blakely has everything any nineteen-year-old girl could desire. She’s an accomplished pianist, a Texas beauty queen, and on her way to Princeton after high school. She’s perfect…
Leaving behind her million-dollar mansion and Jimmy Choos, she becomes a girl hell-bent on pushing the limits with alcohol, drugs, and meaningless sex.
Then she meets her soulmate. But he doesn’t want her.
When it comes to girls, twenty-five-year-old Leo Tate has one rule: never fall in love. His gym and his brother are all he cares about…until he meets Nora. He resists the pull of their attraction, hung up on their six year age difference.
As they struggle to stay away from each other, secrets will be revealed, tempers will flare, and hearts will be broken.
Welcome to Briarcrest Academy…where sometimes, the best things in life are Very Bad Things.

Ilsa wrote her first work at the age of twelve when she penned a little ditty about a handsome prince who had no sense. Since then, she’s written plays, poems, and numerous short stories. Very Bad Things is her first full-length novel and part of a new series called Briarcrest Academy.

She graduated summa cum laude with a master’s in English. After graduation, she directed plays, worked with autistic children, helped start a children’s clothing company, and eventually had a family. Now, she spends her days with two small kids and her Viking husband. When she’s not typing away at a story, you can find her drinking too much coffee, jamming out to Pink, or checking on her carefully maintained chocolate stash.

She loves to hear from fans and fellow avid readers. You can find her on Facebook and a soon to come author website.

Facebook | Goodreads

Comes the Night Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway!!

Comes the Night (Caster Series, #1) by Norah Wilson & Heather Doherty Release date: November 27, 2012
Published by: Something Shiny Press
Age Group: Young Adult/New Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Formats Available: Paperback, eBook ~330 pages
Tour Hosted by: AToMR

Book Blurb:
How far would you go to escape your own personal teenage hell? Would you run away, break away from everything you know—even your own body?

Alex Robbins, Brooke Saunders and Maryanne Hemlock could not be more different, yet they all have something in common — deep and soul-searing pain. They are also all students at Streep Academy, a boarding school just one step away from juvie, where they've come to complete high school. The three have been relegated to Harvell House, the residence reserved for the hardest cases, the so-called Rejects from Reject Row. In the forbidden attic of the old Victorian house-turned-residence, the girls discover the diary of Connie Harvell, a young woman who was confined and abused there some 50 years ago. In the end, Connie’s attic prison couldn't hold her—not completely. She found a way out. At least a dark part of her did. And after reading her diary, the girls discover they can escape at will too. A terrifying, thrilling flight from their bodies and their troubles.

But God help them, their pain isn't all they leave behind when they join with the night. And God help anyone who’s wronged them...

Amazon Print/Amazon eBook - Barnes & Noble - Smashwords

First I want to say just how stunning the cover of this book is. I am in cover love with the girl in the corset, sitting - almost in a prayer position - in the woods. I makes the book look dark and complex and witchy. However, despite the book being part of the Caster series, it is sadly not a book about witches. The casting is a whole different type of cast, one in which they "cast" their souls or essences outside of their bodies. Casting, in short, is just another term for astral projection.

The basics of the plot is that there are three high school girls who are all at boarding school and end up in the same house/dorm. This dorm is used to hold the rejects or those who have been deemed trouble in one  way or another. We first meet Alex after she has awoken to the realization that she had been raped, but has no recollection of who did it. I felt for Alex and her pain, but that was about the extent of how involved I got into the characters. The other two are Brooke and Maryanne. Brooke is a grade A bitch and she relishes in it. Maryanne is an escapist. After her brother passed and her parent's marriage was in trouble she found a way out and came to boarding school.  It was hard for me to get passed the lack of relatability the girls had. Aside from Alex, the girls were wholly unlikeable.

Alex finds a diary of Connie, a girl who lived in the house before it was turning into school housing and her story was the most relatable and harrowing of all the characters. She was abused and beaten, but found a way out by casting herself outside her body. Each of the girls learn to do this and use their astral bodies to wreck havoc on those who harmed them. This wasn't what casting was supposed to be used for, it was a way to get away, but the girls - namely Brooke - used it to punish those who jilted her. And this is where I found myself having a hard time with the story. They knew from the diary that in their astral states they could harm animals, but Brooke didn't care and used it against a guy by harming his horses. It was at this point that I just was sick. They do some good by helping the lost astral body of Connie find some peace and punish the person who raped Alex - the one person who actually deserved punishment.

Overall, I found the book Comes the Night somewhat of a mixed bag. I was expecting so much from it and it turned out to just not be my cup of tea. However, there will be a lot of people who will enjoy the book because it is a quick read and it did keep my interest all the way through. The writing was done well and it was edited nicely - a big plus. It also was an interesting concept using astral projection as a way to escape from the pains of regular life. You will have to decide for yourselves what your take on the actions of the girls were (my main beef with the book), but it is a book that will keep you guessing and trying to figure out the mystery that lies within. I will be reading on in the series to see where the author takes the plot, I have to see what, if anything, the girls learn about themselves and what more there is to casting.

FTC Advisory: I was given a copy of this book from the author for an honest review as part of a blog tour. No backroom deals or whispered promises were made.

NORAH WILSON is a Kindle best-selling author of romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, with her husband, two adult children, dog Chloe, and kitty, Ruckus.

HEATHER DOHERTY fell in love with writing while taking creative writing courses with Athabasca University. Motivated by her university success, and a life-long dream of becoming a novelist, she later enrolled in the Humber School for Writers under the mentorship of David Adams Richards. Her first literary novel was published in 2006. While still writing dark literary (as well as not-so-dark children's lit), she is beyond thrilled to be writing paranormal/horror with Norah. Heather lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick with her family. (No pets, but I swear Norah's dog, Chloe, calls me Aunt Heather).

Together, Heather and Norah write dark, edgy, frightening young adult paranormal/horror.

Twitter - Website - Facebook Norah - Facebook Heather

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#1: Five (5) unsigned print copies of Comes the Night sent from CreateSpace - open internationally; #2: Five (5) eBook copies of Comes the Night (Smashword coupon code) - open internationally; #3: Three (3) $10 gift cards - choice of Amazon, B&N, or Book Depository

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Nissa Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway!

Thank you to the awesome AToMR Tours and author Bethany Lopez for providing the book for review! Make sure to check out the Giveaway at the bottom of the page; some great prizes are being raffled off!

Nissa: A Contemporary Fairy Tale
by Bethany Lopez
Published: April 23, 2013
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Formats Available: eBook, ~216 pages

Book Blurb:At 900 years old, Nissa is finally ready to follow her mother's path and become the best Fairy Godmother she can. She’s not thrilled when her first assignment turns out to be a teenage human girl with self-esteem issues, but she knows she has to start somewhere. Her assignment has dealt with bullies since her freshman year and they haven’t let up. If Nissa can’t help her regain her self-confidence her future is bleak.

To complicate matters Nissa experiences all the signs that she's met the being fated for her. This impossibility distracts her from her purpose. After all, fairies and humans aren't meant for each other. How can her heart believe otherwise? Can Nissa successfully complete her first assignment as a Fairy Godmother? Will the fates allow Nissa and Levi to be together? And even if they do, will Levi believe Nissa once she reveals the truth?

Amazon   -  Barnes & Noble  -  Smashwords

The first thing that attracted me to Nissa was the cover, it reminded me of one of those smashed fairy pictures, but done in a beautiful and oh-so alluring way. It was a case of cover love from the very beginning. The plot of Nissa is interesting too, which also helps when I pick something just for the cover. I have been burned many times by my wandering eye! Nissa: A Contemporary Fairy Tale is just that, an almost Disney like tale set in modern times, but with Fairy Godparents - those who intervene in human lives to fulfill a purpose to help the human in need. Nissa's mother was a Godmother and Nissa always knew she wanted to follow in her footsteps. After rigorous training, Nissa is finally set out on her very first assignment as a full fledged Godmother.

Her first assignment is Vicky, a girl with low self-esteem due to bullying and ridicule at the hands of two boys at school who have made it their mission to make her life miserable and they have succeeded. It is Nissa's job to not only help Vicky and her self-image issues, but to find a way to infiltrate her life and gain her confidences. Which she does without incident, and then she meets Levi, Vicky's brother, and things become so much more complicated then she could ever have imagined.

I found Nissa to be a nice light-hearted story that will be perfect for the younger set. I enjoyed to story too, but it was a tad bit predictable for me. However, that didn't stop me from rooting for both Vicky to be the beautiful, talented girl she is, or from wanting to see love bloom for Nissa. But like I said, it was a good story that came together in a nice little bow. There wasn't a whole lot of obstacles or challenges that were not solved easily, but sometimes it is nice to not be stressed out the whole time. I actually got to keep my fingernails while reading Nissa.

Overall, the writing was fun and kept me captivated. In fact, I read the entire book in an hour. There were very few typos and it is a perfect book for a leisurely afternoon. It is definitely a book for the younger YA set, though it could be read by all. If there were some more descriptions and more character development and more bulk, it could have been turned into something for a more mature audience, but it is good as is. I would recommend Nissa to lovers of Fairy Tales, anything Disney, and Fairies in general. 

FTC Advisory: I was given a copy of this book from the author for an honest review as part of a blog tour. No backroom deals or whispered promises were made.

Bethany Lopez was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Michigan and San Antonio, Texas. She went to High School at Dearborn High, in Dearborn, Michigan, which is where she has set her Young Adult series. She is married and has a blended family with five children. She is currently serving in the United States Air Force as a Recruiter in Los Angeles, California. She has always loved to read and write and has seen her dream realized by independently publishing her novels through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. 
Bethany Lopez | Facebook | Twitter | IAN | Pinterest

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Residue Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway!

Thanks to AToMR for the opportunity to participate in the Residue Tour and working with my while I am sick. Also, a huge Thanks to the author, Laury Falter, for providing the review copy! And to my readers, Thanks for reading and I hope you like Residue too & make sure to check out the 2 Giveaways!!

Residue
(Residue, #1)
by Laury Falter
Published: April 13, 2012
Format: eBook ~300 pages

Book Blurb:
When Jocelyn Weatherford is whisked away from a preparatory academy in upstate New York to live with her extended family in New Orleans, she is unprepared to encounter the dangers awaiting her. Yet even as she is thrust into an unfamiliar world of witches and voodoo magic, the greatest threat of all may be the boy she has fallen for.

While handsome and charming, he is also a Caldwell... a member of the family the Weatherford's have been feuding with for centuries. As their forbidden love grows it becomes the volatile spark that forever changes their world and everyone in it.

Amazon   -   Barnes & Noble

Residue is one of those books that I am always on the look-out for. Witchcraft, Voodoo, Romance... everything I love to read about! And what I found was something I didn't quite expect. I have not read Ms. Falter's Guardian books, but I must go back and read them now because I feel like I am missing something. But, despite that what I found in Residue is a fun plot, a likable protagonist, and a nice take on magic.

After Jocelyn has a seriously weird thing happen to her in class, she is sent to live with family in New Orleans. However, her family in New Orleans are witches and apparently she is too, but no one decided to tell her anything about it until now. Curiosity peaked for me when I found out that she was never told, but her cousins were. Why? What makes Jocelyn so special? So many measures are taken: the boarding school, the secrets, the spies... Again, why? I had to find out! But don't fret, I'm not giving anything away here!

The one thing she is told is to stay away from the Caldwells; they are the Weatherfords' family enemies and that she should never go near any of them. Kinda hard to do when they attend the same magic school, but they generally keep their distances from each other unless it is to start a battle. However, Jocelyn has never met any of the Caldwells and wouldn't know one even if she did. Which leads to the next part of the story: Jameson. A Caldwell. But when Jocelyn met him, she had no idea and well, she sort of fell for him. I love it! Romeo and Juliet at Hogwarts! And not only do the families not like the idea of even a friendship - love? - out of the question. And what is worse? The Sevens, the higher power of the magical have something against them being together too and have sent down Vires to keep them apart.

Residue is full of laugh-out-loud moments, action, and magic. I found the book a very fun and quick read despite its 300 pages. I like that it is a series and I can keep reading about the characters and see how everything eventually unfolds - those are definitely on my TBR pile! I really liked Jocelyn, she is a girl who stands up for everyone and is genuine in her intentions. I would liked to see more of Jameson as a whole, but it is just the first book. The writing was done well, no egregious errors that made me stop reading, and I was easily drawn into their world. Overall, it is a great book for YA Paranormal and Urban Fantasy fans and for anyone who wants a little magic in their lives!

FTC Advisory: I was given a copy of this book from the author for an honest review as part of a blog tour. No backroom deals or whispered promises were made.

Laury Falter is the author of the bestselling Guardian Trilogy. She writes young adult paranormal romances and urban fantasy when she's not taking her stray dogs for a walk or enjoying a date night with her husband.
Laury has released two series, the Guardian Trilogy and the Residue Series (a spinoff of the Guardian Trilogy books), and is currently releasing her third series, the Apocalypse Chronicles.

Website  -  Facebook  -  Twitter  -  Goodreads

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