{Blast} Runaway @LEckhart

Runaway by Lorhainne Eckhart
Genre: Adult contemporary romance
Kindle edition published May 29th 2013

"Where's my wife..."
Andy Friessen has been looking for Laura for six months. After she walked out with her son, no goodbye, with no money and leaving everything he bought her, behind. But he knew she'd come crawling back, she needed him. After all he married her to protect her. And any woman would give their right arm to be his wife.
And then for six months his conscience poked at what an ass he'd been: Until he's served...for divorce.
 Even though Andy is the first man she's every truly loved, and the first to break her heart, Laura plans to never see him again. After all to him she was nothing but a nuisance, someone he could order around, just another woman to warm his bed at night.
But Laura is hurt and she's thought nothing through including the fact she's keeping the biggest surprise from him yet.
She's pregnant.
And when Andy finds out ... all hell will break loose.

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     Just watching the scene had something disturbing squeezing deep inside her. It wasn’t sudden; it had crept up throughout the day and through each second that Andy had spent with Gabriel tonight. He could be the perfect father, the perfect man and role model for her son. She cleared her throat but nearly choked when she whispered, “Goodnight, Gabriel. Have a good sleep.”

     This was all so confusing. What did Andy want? Why hadn’t he left, and why was he taking such an interest in Gabriel? Her throat felt all scratchy and tight, but that was only because she wanted to tuck her face in the pillow and cry those thousand tears she’d cried almost every night for Andy. All she’d ever wanted was to be loved.

     What he’d done today was horrible, cruel, and she wanted to scream and yell “Why?” He had stayed, caring for her tonight and today at the hospital in a way that made her feel important, special, but she also knew she wasn’t any of that to him, not in the way she wanted to be. It was the babies. She was just the vessel, a warm cocoon for a rich man’s babies, and that was something she could not allow herself to forget. He was powerful, he was rich, and his family was dangerous.

     “Are you all right?” He brushed his finger across her brows.

     “Yeah, fine,” she blurted as she pulled back, her skin burning from the spark of his touch.

     “You look worried about something, upset.” He was watching her, studying her as if he knew what she was thinking, and she couldn’t have that.

     “No, I’m just...” She couldn’t think of what to say when her brain suddenly blanked out. That always happened when Andy stood so close to her and watched her with compelling blue eyes that could set her soul on fire, so she shut her mouth and shook her head.

     He sat right beside her on the bed so his hip pressed into hers. She knew all too well what those slim hips and tight abs looked like naked and pressed against her hips, nestled between her thighs. It was almost too much heat for her, so she squirmed and tried to slide over and away from him.

     “You all right? You look uncomfortable.”

     He wouldn’t even look away. Uncomfortable, hell yeah. And it was all his fault. “Just stiff is all.”

     “Can I?” He rested his hand over her swollen belly, where the babies had been kicking furiously for the last hour.

     He was connecting with her babies. She wanted to scream and yell at him, “Hell no! Keep your hands off!” but her body was betraying her. The reality was that she wanted him to touch her, to run his hands over every square inch of her.

     He didn’t wait for her to say anything, but then, she couldn’t get her tongue to move. The damn thing had thickened, and her throat had completed dried up as he invaded her space. My God, he even smelled good, and his scruffy jaw...she longed to reach up and run her hands over it.

     His touch sent shockwaves through her, and the babies responded in kind. She’d swear they jumped from his touch, as if they knew that Andy was their daddy. He smiled that charming, boyish grin she’d only seen a few times. Never once had he smiled just for her.

     “Wow, that’s amazing. Did you feel that?”

     For a moment, she felt herself being pulled into his joy, just like a little boy’s first Christmas, but she had to look away, to move away from his touch, because she’d never again be treated as if she was nothing. Andy Friessen could turn on a dime, and she’d never play second again. “Yeah, I did. Listen, I’m tired.” She scooted over and lifted his hand off her belly. She couldn’t look at him even though she could feel the sharp change in him as if she’d just ripped away all his joy. So why was she feeling guilty? She wasn’t the bad guy here.

2012 was an amazing year in the publishing world for me, and it started with The Forgotten Child, which landed on the Amazon bestseller list for western romance and romance series. With the publication of each novel and short story, each one made its way to the top ten for its respective genre. 2013 has seen me posted in the top 100 authors on Amazon for romantic suspense and mystery/thrillers, police procedural.

Where did it all begin? In 2008, I published my first novel, The Captain’s Lady, a contemporary military romance, through The Wild Rose Press. This year I have a crazy writing schedule with four books scheduled for release and six short stories.

I write three genres, edgy romantic suspense (Walk the Right Road Series), western romance (Finding Love ~ The Outsider Series), and young adult mystery, and I warn my readers to expect the unexpected. I’m the mother of three children, one a special needs child. We live on a small Island in the Pacific Northwest, where I advocate for the environment and the rights of special needs children. Somewhere in my busy schedule, I do find time to write. I encourage you to contact me by email; I do answer every email I receive.

Stay tuned. There is more to come from the Walk the Right Road Series and Finding Love ~ The Outsider Series. 

And to my readers and all of you who have shared my stories with your family and friends, a big heartfelt thank you.

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{Blast + Giveaway} RUSH @Eve_Silver

Rush (The Game #1)

by Eve Silver

Release Date: June 11, 2013

Publisher: Harper Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

So what’s the game now? This, or the life I used to know?

When Miki Jones is pulled from her life, pulled through time and space into some kind of game—her carefully controlled life spirals into chaos. In the game, she and a team of other teens are sent on missions to eliminate the Drau, terrifying and beautiful alien creatures. There are no practice runs, no training, and no way out. Miki has only the guidance of secretive but maddeningly attractive team leader Jackson Tate, who says the game isn’t really a game, that what Miki and her new teammates do now determines their survival, and the survival of every other person on this planet. She laughs. He doesn’t. And then the game takes a deadly and terrifying turn.

Available from:

    

Teaser #1:

He smiles, a faint curve of his lips that reveals the barest hint of a long dimple carved in his right cheek. “No, but I can read your expression. And I’ve been doing this long enough that I know what most people tend to think when they first open their eyes.”

“Doing what long enough?”

“This,” he says, and nothing more.

A second of silence stretches into two. Though I can’t see behind his glasses, I have the feeling he’s not looking at me anymore, that he’s scanning the area, looking for…something. But as I stare at him, I see me—tiny distorted reflections of me in the shiny, convex lenses.

Copyright © 2013. Eve Silver. All Rights Reserved.

Teaser #2:

I stare at the things in front of me: the Drau. I can’t look away.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember Jackson talking about Medusa.

Don’t look at their eyes.

Their mercury eyes.

They’re poison.

They will kill me.

Copyright © 2013. Eve Silver. All Rights Reserved.

Teaser #3:

Color and sound explode, too bright, too loud. Even the air on my skin feels like it’s too much. My fingers go lax. The bag’s handle slides down my palm, then along my fingers to the tips, impossibly slow. The world tips and tilts and I flail for balance.

Luka grabs my hand and holds tight.

I blink. My house, my open front door, Dad, they’re all gone. My breath comes in short gasps and every muscle in my body feels like it’s knotted up tight.

I’m standing in a grassy clearing bounded by trees.

The lobby.

We’ve been pulled.

Copyright © 2013. Eve Silver. All Rights Reserved.

About the Author
Eve Silver lives with her gamer husband and sons, sometimes in Canada, but often in worlds she dreams up. She loves kayaking and sunshine, dogs and desserts, and books, lots and lots of books. Watch for the first book in Eve’s new teen series, THE GAME: RUSH, coming from Katherine Tegen Books, June 2013. She also writes books for adults.

Author Links:

     

***GIVEAWAY***

Signed copy of Rush, US and Canada only.

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{Review} Linked @imogenhowson

Elissa used to have it all: looks, popularity, and a bright future. But for the last three years, she’s been struggling with terrifying visions, phantom pains, and mysterious bruises that appear out of nowhere. 

Finally, she’s promised a cure: minor surgery to burn out the overactive area of her brain. But on the eve of the procedure, she discovers the shocking truth behind her hallucinations: she’s been seeing the world through another girl’s eyes. 

Elissa follows her visions, and finds a battered, broken girl on the run. A girl—Lin—who looks exactly like Elissa, down to the matching bruises. The twin sister she never knew existed. 

Now, Elissa and Lin are on the run from a government who will stop at nothing to reclaim Lin and protect the dangerous secrets she could expose—secrets that would shake the very foundation of their world. 

Riveting, thought-provoking and utterly compelling, Linked will make you question what it really means to be human.
› Visit Amazon's Imogen Howson Page

As a child, I loved reading so much that I not only read in bed, at the table and in the bath, but in the shower and – not so successfully – on my bicycle.

I enjoyed books in a slightly unorthodox way, too – many of my childhood books have ragged edges where I tore paper from the margins in order to eat it.

I wrote my first book at eight. It was entitled The Dragon in the Teapot and would probably have been a huge hit if I hadn’t lost the only copy on a family day out.

Some years later, armed with several different types of backups, I’m busy writing romantic science fiction and fantasy for young adults and adults.

I live with my partner, our two teenage daughters, and three cats, near Sherwood Forest in England. I still read in most places, but I no longer eat paper.

I’m a member of The Romantic Novelists’ Association, the group blogs The Lucky 13s and Author Allsorts, and the online writers’ community Romance Divas.  I’m represented by Mandy Hubbard of D4EO Literary Agency.

You can keep in touch with me on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/imogenhowsonauthor – or Twitter –http://twitter.com/imogenhowson.

I really had high hopes for this one.  From the beautuiful cover to the summary it sounded like a win for me!  But unfortunally it fell flat on all accounts.  From characters that were mediocre to world building that was very confusing this one just fell short of a great book. I did however make it to the end.  This one I would recommend to someone who loves a combo of syfy in a dinotopian setting and doesnt mind that the story is on the slow side with every few action packed areas.  So this one is a 2 stars for me.  

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."

BUY THE BOOK BAM | BN | AMAZON

"Thanks to the publisher or author for sending me this copy!"

{Cover Reveal} Demon Jack + Persistence of Memory

Title: Demon Jack

Author: Patrick Donovan

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Thriller

 

Title: Persistence of Memory

Author: Winona Kent

Genre: Sci-Fi, Accidental Time Travel, Historical Romance

Visit FABLE PRESS for more info! 

{Blast + Giveaway} Breaking Glass @lisa_amowitz

Breaking Glass
by Lisa Amowitz
Release Date: 07/09/13
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Summary from Goodreads:
On the night seventeen-year-old Jeremy Glass winds up in the hospital with a broken leg and a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit, his secret crush, Susannah, disappears. When he begins receiving messages from her from beyond the grave, he's not sure whether they're real or if he's losing his grip on reality. Clue by clue, he gets closer to unraveling the mystery, and soon realizes he must discover the truth or become the next victim himself.

Available from:

  

***Excerpt***

“So where is he?” She cranes her neck, trying to spot Ryan in the crowd.

Heart pounding, my mind hiccups through its storehouse of facts. I reposition myself to block her view. There’s no time to try texting Ryan a warning.

I could tell Susannah. Tell her how Ryan has been sneaking around behind her back for over a year, even hooking up with two college juniors in a motel room during one of our out of town meets. But defying the Morgan machine by pointing this out takes too much energy. Instead I blurt, “Did you realize the Watch Hill carousel was once part of a traveling carnival?”

She laughs and shakes her head. “What? Jeremy, sometimes you can be such a--”

But her voice trails off as her gaze wanders past mine, her smile crumpling like a paper bag. I follow her line of sight and I know this is it. The crowd has thinned around Ryan, enough for her to see him with his mouth smashed against Claudia’s.

“Oh, man,” I gasp. I turn to comfort Susannah, but she is already gone.

I stand, dithering; wanting to run after her and apologize for letting her walk into this ambush.

But, no. This is something Ryan needs to take care of. I might have signed on to sweep his mess under the rug, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to clean up after him. I push through the crowd to get to him.

“What? She what? Did you know she was coming back early?”

I feel my face heat. “No.”

Ryan pushes Claudia off of him, his stage makeup still glistening and thick, traces of Claudia’s lipstick smeared on his lips. “Good job, Jeremy. You could have at least texted me.”

My hand curls into a fist. I stuff it in my jacket pocket. “She ran out,” I say. “Maybe you can catch her.”

Ryan shrugs, and without a coat, stalks out of the theater into the night. I wait a few minutes then follow. Susannah’s car is gone, and so is Ryan’s. I try to call Susannah, but she doesn’t pick up.

I get in my car and focus on resisting the water bottle’s siren call, panicked glimpses of my waking nightmare crashing through the floodgates, the terrifying memories swept through with it. The rain and the torrents of water sweeping past, draining into the Gorge, forcing me to remember. To relive it. No. Not now. I need to stay clear.

Since eighth grade, when I discovered that liquor dulls my terrors, I have been a master thief and spy.

Not even Ryan knows.

Just a sip to calm my shaky nerves. One tiny sip to beat back the rising waters that threaten to drown me. I can do it. I pride myself on my steely self-control. My ability to remain stone-cold sober even when the track team holds a victory keg party. They call me Jeremy the Teetotaler. Jeremy, the History Nerd who never partakes.

I snap open the glove compartment. The innocuous silver bottle is shoved behind the owner’s manual, gas receipts and a collection of power bar wrappers. I raise it to my lips and gulp once, twice, three times; the cold liquid igniting as it hits my throat. It takes two, three more gulps to slow my heart to normal speed. The bottle is nearly empty. I cap it and return it to the compartment, warmth flowing to my cold fingers. I’d need to drink three times as much as that to lose focus.

Swerving the deserted black roads slick with rain over ice, I follow my usual running circuit. This is familiar turf. My backyard, practically.

Yes. I can do this. Susannah knows my route so I hope she’s come this way and parked, knowing I’d find her. She wants me to find her. To comfort her. I’ll tell her everything. How I’m sorry for lying to her. For letting Ryan hurt her. And maybe at last she’ll accept that it’s not Ryan she wants, but me.

But there’s no sign of her.

After driving and searching fruitlessly, my mind churning with outcomes, the now driving rain blurring my windshield, I can’t stand it anymore. My heart is racing. Just one last sip to fortify myself is all I need.

When I round the next hairpin curve, my headlights flash on Ryan’s car parked behind Susannah’s, engines running. I squint through the rain and mist and spot them behind the guardrail, illuminated in the headlamps’ cone of light. There’s no shoulder on this side of the road, so I pull over when I can, about twenty yards past them.

When I finally get out of the car I can hear her shouts over the racket the rain makes. My head is buzzing, but my thoughts are clear.

In fact, they’ve never been clearer, as the roots that entangle me fall away.

The damp air smells like freedom.

Susannah screams, and pounds at Ryan’s chest with her fists. He shoves her hard and she falls backward. I don’t see her get up again. Raucous arguments were nothing new between Susannah and Ryan, but I’d never seen him hit her before.

There’s a steep decline into the woods where they’ve chosen to have their argument and I worry Susannah could have gotten hurt. Ryan disappears now, too. What the hell are they doing?

I begin to run at full tilt. I still have some distance to cover, but that’s no problem for me, even with the Absolut pumping heat through my veins. But my boot heel catches on a wet leaf then slides out from under me.

I’m flying, but I land softly.

About the Author

Lisa has been a professor of Graphic Design at her beloved Bronx Community College where she has been tormenting and cajoling students for nearly seventeen years. She started writing eight years ago because she wanted something to illustrate, but somehow, instead ended up writing YA. Probably because her mind is too dark and twisted for small children.

BREAKING GLASS which will be released in July, 2013 from Spencer Hill Press, is her first published work. VISION, the first of the Finder series will be released in 2014, along with an unnamed sequel in the following year. LIFE AND BETH will also be released in the near future, along with graphic novel style art. 

Website│Twitter│Goodreads

***GIVEAWAY***

1-custom pendant like the one pictured on the book cover

2-signed ARCS

1-original work of Breaking Glass related art created and signed by the author.

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{Review} A Moment Comes @simonteen

As the partition of India nears in 1947 bringing violence even to Jalandhar, Tariq, a Muslim, finds himself caught between his forbidden interest in Anupreet, a Sikh girl, and Margaret, a British girl whose affection for him might help with his dream of studying at Oxford.













About the Author
Jennifer Bradbury is the author of A Moment Comes, Wrapped, and her debut novel, Shift. Shift—which Kirkus Reviews gave a starred review, calling it “fresh, absorbing, compelling”—was picked as an ALA and a School Library Journal Best Book for Young Adults and is also on numerous state reading lists. A former English teacher and one-day Jeopardy! champ, she lives with her family in Burlington, Washington.

This beautiful cover really caught my eye!  I adore peacocks!  This book was told in 3 POVs which were done very well!  I really loved Tariq the most.  I think maybe it would have been nice to have him on the cover but I love it all the same!  From inner issues to just trying to survive this book really deals with some hard issues from 1947.  Although I didnt know anything from this time I still found myself understanding and being immersed in the stories being told. I had no issues following the plot or story which was great.  I even love that at the end of the book the author adds a note which really filled in some information of the history.  It was a very interesting read and I hope that you will all join my end of the month giveaway for this as well as many other books!  

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."

BUY THE BOOK BAM | BN | AMAZON

"Thanks to the publisher or author for sending me this copy!"

{Blast} Playing Tyler @TLCosta1

When is a game not a game?

Tyler MacCandless can’t focus, even when he takes his medication. He can’t focus on school, on his future, on a book, on much of anything other than taking care of his older brother, Brandon, who’s in rehab for heroin abuse… again.

Tyler’s dad is dead and his mom has mentally checked out. The only person he can really count on is his Civilian Air Patrol Mentor, Rick. The one thing in life it seems he doesn’t suck at is playing video games and, well, thats probably not going to get him into college.

Just when it seems like his future is on a collision course with a life sentence at McDonald’s, Rick asks him to test a video game. If his score’s high enough, it could earn him a place in flight school and win him the future he was certain that he could never have. And when he falls in love with the game’s designer, the legendary gamer Ani, Tyler thinks his life might finally be turning around.

That is, until Brandon goes MIA from rehab and Tyler and Ani discover that the game is more than it seems. Now Tyler will have to figure out what’s really going on in time to save his brother… and prevent his own future from going down in flames.



About the Author

T. L. Costa is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and has a Masters of Teaching from Quinnipiac University who taught high school for five years before becoming a full-time mom and writer.

She has lived in Texas, New York, New Jersey and Spain. Currently, she lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children.

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{Review} Runt @noraraleighB !Pre-Order NOW!

This title will be released on July 23, 2013

An insightful exploration of middle school bullying from multiple perspectives, by the award-winning author ofAnything But Typical.

Elizabeth Moon grew up around dogs. Her mom runs a boarding kennel out of their home, so she’s seen how dogs behave to determine pack order. Her experience in middle school is uncomfortably similar.

Maggie hates how Elizabeth acts so much better than everyone else. Besides, she’s always covered in dog hair. And she smells. So Maggie creates a fake profile on a popular social networking site to teach Elizabeth a lesson.

What makes a bully, and what makes a victim? It’s all in the perspective, and the dynamics shift. From sibling rivalries to mean girl antics, the varying points of view in this illuminating novel from the award-winning author of Anything But Typical show the many shades of gray—because middle school is anything but black and white.


About the Author
Nora Raleigh Baskin is the ALA Schneider Family Book Award–winning author of Anything But Typical. She was chosen as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start for her novel What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows, and has since written a number of novels for middle-graders and teens, including The Truth About My Bat Mitzvah, The Summer Before Boys, and Runt. Nora lives with her family in Connecticut. Visit her at NoraBaskin.com.

I will be the first one to tell you that I LOVE DOGS!! This has to be the third or forth books ive read on bullies in the past week!  (I said I was on a roll!)  Ok so this one I really REALLY LOVED!  (yes she did write her review that way) The neat thing about this book is that we get to see all the sides to the issue.  From the person who is bulling, the person getting bullied, to even the bystanders!  We get to see it all!  This book is also about revenge!  And it really put in I think the word is perspective on what make a bully and what makes a victim!  5 Stars!

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."

BUY THE BOOK BAM | BN | AMAZON

"Thanks to the publisher or author for sending me this copy!"

{Review} His Clockwork Canary @BethCiotta

History is repeating itself.

For ambitious engineer Simon Darcy, winning Queen Victoria’s competition to recover lost inventions of historical significance is a matter of pride—and redemption. After all, it was Simon’s failed monorail project that left his family destitute, and winning the tournament would surely restore the Darcys’ reputation.

Simon sets his sights high, targeting no less than the infamous time-travel device that forever changed the world by transporting scientists, engineers, and artists from the twentieth century. The Mod technology was banned and supposedly destroyed, but Simon is sure he can re-create it.

His daring plan draws the attention of Willie G., the Clockwork Canary, London’s sensationalist reporter. Simon soon discovers that Willie is a male guise for Wilhemina Goodenough, the love of his youth, who left him jilted and bitter. He questions her motives even as he falls prey to her unique charm. As the attraction between the two reignites, Simon realizes that this vixen from his past has secrets that could be the key to his future…as long as he can put their history behind him.
BUY THE BOOK B-A-M | B and N | Amazon | iTunes

This is another wonderful book that I wish I had read the first book!  So again this review will be updated as soon as I snag a copy!  Anyway this one I fell in love with the cover first!  This book has a wonderful steampunk romance with unique world building and very interesting characters.  Although I didnt read the first book or the novella that I found out was out there this one I really did enjoy reading on its own.  This was a very fast paced story with characters who had been introduced previously.  I cant wait to see where Ciotta takes us next! 

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."

"Thanks to the publisher or author for sending me this copy!"