Sunday, December 1, 2013

GIVEAWAY: Kindle Paperwhite, Fall Frenzy Indie Authors - ends 12/16

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I've partnered up with a few other bloggers to bring you this great giveaway - you can enter to win a Kindle Paperwhite! Check it out and enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

With the cold weather of fall sweeping in, now is a great time to catch up on reading. Here's a list of some incredible trending indie authors. Be sure to pick your favorite and vote on Facebook! Then, go below for your chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite!

The Hollow Man by Paul Hollis



This new thriller, based on true events, follows a young field analyst from a U.S. government agency assigned to study emerging terror tactics. He's charged with watching over the unpopular prime minister of Spain, Luis Carrero Blanco. When a terrorist's deadly plot kills Blanco, the analyst begins a cat-and-mouse chase across Europe with Chaban, the mastermind assassin, narrowly escaping death again and again in this fast-paced thriller.
Genre: Thriller
E-Book Price $4.99

Chosen: Path of Heros by Kyla Price



In her first novel, Chosen: The Path of Heroes, Kyla Price weaves a tale of high school, high wizardry and high adventure, as four teenagers are drawn to the parallel world Kambia, whose Empress faces a great threat from an evil overlord. “Now is the time to assemble the Chosen.”

Genre: Fantasy Fiction
E-Book Price: $9.99


Night Chill by Jeff Gunhus



In his debut novel for adults, bestselling MG/YA author Jeff Gunhus (known for his Jack Templar Monster Hunter books) has won outstanding reviews for his supernatural thriller which has drawn comparisons to Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Come see why this novel is consistently on the Amazon horror bestseller lists. Also look for the new audio book from Audible.com and Amazon available mid-December.

Genre: Horror
Price: $2.99




Retired Magistrate pens memoir confronting feminist issues like sexim in the workplace, along with societal plagues like depression and divorce. This memoir is a story as well as a study of sustained resilience. You'll not find slavery, poverty or exile in the author's background. Her distress was not collective but individual, brought on by circumstances which fostered a sleep disorder and depression. Perhaps therefore harder to survive, and yet so common in our society, although hardly acknowledged.

B&N
Genre: Memoir
Price: $15.26


The Curious Caves of Honey Cove by Samantha McDermott


"A city girl is challenged by a handsome beachcomer to uncover what is going on in the ominous caves and which nice townspeople are involved in it."

"If you're exhausted from mankind's blood-and-gore history that continues into the present and will continue evermore, if you're weary from the savage stories in the news, which the Hollywood entertainment industry loves to pick up and produce; if you would like a gentle, heart-warming story--without the gratuitous grisly graphics--placed in a bracing rocky-beach setting, I recommend this shining and witty book, The Curious Caves of Honey Cove, by Samantha McDermott. This is a mystery but it's not just a mystery! This wise author will renew your faith in humanity.” - Bonnie Langhaar

Genre: Cosy Mystery
Price: $9.99

Aztlan by J.D. Parker


Four teenagers stumble upon a terrorist plot to spray nerve agent over Southern California from crop dusting planes, they video the planes getting ready to take off from the desert outside Los Angeles, steal the terrorist’s laptop and some antidote to the nerve gas, contact Homeland Security and flee across the desert pursued by the terrorists and Special Forces sent to rescue them as Los Angeles reels from the devastating attack from the one plane that wasn’t shot down before reaching the city.

Genre: Thriller
Price: $9.99

Ready For A Chance To Win?
Thanks to Reader Spoils, one lucky reader will win a Kindle Paperwhite!

Enter To Win a Kindle Paperwhite

One winner will be chosen at random from all valid entries to receive a Kindle Paperwhite valued at $139.00! To enter, complete the tasks on the GiveawayTools form below. Don't forget to vote for your favorite book AND come back for daily entries! The event ends on Monday, December 16th at 11:59pm and is open to US residents only. Good Luck!

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Monday, November 25, 2013

Book Review and GIVEAWAY: The Heavens Rise, ends 12/4

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The Heavens Rise, by Christopher Rice.

I was resistant at first. The idea of a gurgling, classical French fountain surrounded by all that wild foliage appealed to my teenage love of the Victorian gothic. But my father used a very simple and cogent argument to change my mind; I loved to swim, but with my mortal fear of snakes, I'd never so much as stuck a toe in the thick finger of black water that snaked through our property like the waterlogged path of some giant jungle serpent. But if I had a cool, perfectly clear pool of pure water, direct from the source ...

 Eventually, I gave in. Of course my father still asked for a show of hands, which seemed like a silly formality to me, but I cast my vote anyway. A swimming pool it was.

 It was a decision that destroyed our lives.

This is the first novel I've read by Christopher Rice, the son of Anne Rice, vampire and supernatural novelist. I received a copy of The Heavens Rise a while ago but just now got around to reading it, and I'm definitely glad I did. Even though it's pegged as a "horror" novel, the horror is expertly woven in and you might not realize until 3/4 of the way in that it's a horror/supernatural book, when things suddenly come to light that were not introduced before.

Official synopsis:
Christopher Rice, contestNew York Times bestselling author Christopher Rice brilliantly conjures the shadowed terrors of the Louisiana bayou—where three friends confront a deadly, ancient evil rising to the surface—in this intense and atmospheric new supernatural thriller.

 It’s been a decade since the Delongpre family vanished near Bayou Rabineaux, and still no one can explain the events of that dark and sweltering night. No one except Niquette Delongpre, the survivor who ran away from the mangled stretch of guardrail on Highway 22 where the impossible occurred…and kept on running. Who left behind her best friends, Ben and Anthem, to save them from her newfound capacity for destruction…and who alone knows the source of her very bizarre—and very deadly—abilities: an isolated strip of swampland called Elysium.

 An accomplished surgeon, Niquette’s father dreamed of transforming the dense acreage surrounded by murky waters into a palatial compound befitting the name his beloved wife gave to it, Elysium: “the final resting place for the heroic and virtuous.” Then, ten years ago, construction workers dug into a long-hidden well, one that snaked down into the deep, black waters of the Louisiana swamp and stirred something that had been there for centuries—a microscopic parasite that perverts the mind and corrupts the body.

 Niquette is living proof that things done can’t be undone. Nothing will put her family back together again. And nothing can save her. But as Niquette, Ben, and Anthem uncover the truth of a devastating parasite that has the potential to alter the future of humankind, Niquette grasps the most chilling truths of all: someone else has been infected too. And unlike her, this man is not content to live in the shadows. He is intent to use his newfound powers for one reason only: revenge.
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I liked this novel a lot because it had different themes throughout; the main theme being jealousy and revenge, as Marshall Ferriot was ultimately rejected by the teenage Nikki as a suitor. Within the few weeks they were dating, something happens to both of them ... to avoid spoilers, it's something that can't be undone, and then a little while later, Nikki and her family are in a car accident, never to be seen again.

I also liked that the book takes place in pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans - it starts off in 2005 and flashes to present-day 2013, with flashbacks to 2005 often too, so that we get the whole story. Ben, Nikki's best friend, and Anthem, her longtime boyfriend, both still keep in touch, and they start to realize that there might be more to Nikki's car accident than they originally thought.

I would definitely read another of Rice's books based on this one, even though overall I'm not a horror novel fan. This novel didn't really seem like a horror movie until 3/4 of the way in, as I said before, although the book trailer (see below) pushes its horror elements. I am not sure if his other novels are horror-themed or not, but I would still be willing to give them a try based on The Heavens Rise.

4 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this novel for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.



GIVEAWAY:

 I have one hardcover copy of this novel to give away, and this contest is open to international residents too! Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Contest ends Wednesday, December 4th, and the winner will be notified via email on December 5th, and have 24 hours to respond, or else another winner will be chosen. Open to all countries.

Good luck!

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Saturday, November 23, 2013

Book Review: Beautiful Player

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Beautiful Player, by Christina Lauren.

I'd always understood why women wanted Will in the first place. He wasn't beautiful in the same way Bennett was, and he wasn't tender like Max. He was visceral and imperfect, dark and knowing. He gave the sense that he looked at a woman and in an instant read every need she had.

 But now I knew why women truly lost their mind over him. Because in the end, he did actually know every need a woman had, that I had. He'd ruined me for any other man, even before the first touch. And when he leaned in behind me, dragging his lips across the shell of my ear - not a kiss, not exactly - and asked, "You think you'll scream when you come this time, too?" - I was lost.

 I believe Beautiful Player may be the longest of the books in the series, all of which I have reviewed so far, and although it was a little different than the others, I still ended up really liking it.

Official synopsis:
erotica, Christina Lauren, bookA bombshell bookworm. A chronic Casanova. And a lesson in chemistry too scandalous for school.

 When Hanna Bergstrom receives a lecture from her overprotective brother about neglecting her social life and burying herself in grad school, she’s determined to tackle his implied assignment: get out, make friends, start dating. And who better to turn her into the sultry siren every man wants than her brother’s gorgeous best friend, Will Sumner, venture capitalist and unapologetic playboy?

 Will takes risks for a living, but he’s skeptical about this challenge of Hanna’s…until the wild night his innocently seductive pupil tempts him into bed- and teaches him a thing or two about being with a woman he can’t forget. Now that Hanna’s discovered the power of her own sex appeal, it’s up to Will to prove he’s the only man she’ll ever need.
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 First off, I'm sad that the Beautiful Bastard series is ending - after this one, there's a novella, Beautiful Beginning, and then that's it. Christina and Lauren (who make up the pen name Christina Lauren) are on to a new series, which will be coming out soon.

As always, the characters and situations in this book felt incredibly real. Hanna, aka Ziggy, has known Will Sumner since she was a little kid - he's her brother Jensen's best friend. Jensen and her dad agree she needs to get out more and tear herself away from her work at the lab, and she gives Will a call, hoping he can maybe show her the city a bit. She ends up becoming his running partner, and soon, more than that.

Hanna is maybe the most inexperienced out of the Beautiful Bastard women (Chloe and Sara, from the other books), which made Beautiful Player interesting. She wants Will to teach her what he knows, for the most part, but he finds himself slowly falling for her; she's had a crush on him ever since she was a kid, and they have instant chemistry now that they are of appropriate dating ages (she's 24, he was 31; at flashbacks during the book, she was 12 and he 19, and she was 16 and he 23).

I liked the character of Hanna because she reminded me a bit of myself, in some ways, and I liked Will because although he used to be a player, he was also a geek; he always got Hanna's science references throughout the novel. I also liked that although he was a "bad boy" or "player," when he met Hanna he wanted to change his ways for her.

I'm hoping we see more of these two in Beautiful Beginning, at Bennett and Chloe's wedding, and I think we should, based on Player's ending. We also get a sneak peek of Beginning at the end of Player's paperback copy, so keep a look out for that.

4.5 stars out of 5.

My previous reviews, for your reference:
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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Book Review + Giveaway: Angelfall and World After, ends 11/26

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World After (Penryn & the End of Days, #2) by Susan Ee.

I know that soon I'll have to think about Paige, Mom, and Clara. My priorities will be all about survival and getting my family together and keeping them safe from monsters and people alike.

 But for now, for just this moment, I let myself be a seventeen-year-old girl in a strong guy's arms. I even let some of the what-ifs seep in, the kind of possibilities that might have blossomed between us in the World Before.

 Just for a little while.

 Before I carefully fold my dreams away into the vault in my head.

 When I got the email asking me to review World After, I initially declined, since it was the second in a series and I hadn't read Angelfall. I was then offered Angelfall so I accepted, even though my TBR pile is getting out of control these days.

All I have to say is: I'm SO glad I did!

Susan Ee, Penryn and the End of Days, dystopia


Official synopsis: Angelfall
It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

 Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

 Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

 Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Official synopsis: World After
In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

 When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

 Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

 Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?
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This is a review of World After, so there may be some spoilers if you haven't read Angelfall - you've been warned. The synopses above don't really give many spoilers, however, which is why I've included both.

I loved Angelfall and was so glad I had my advance copy of World After to delve in to the day after finishing the first book. Angelfall definitely ends with the plot wide open - anything could happen - so I was curious to see what would happen to Penryn and Raffe, her angel friend.

The world that Susan Ee has created here was a mix between the Blue Bloods series (Melissa de la Cruz), only with angels, and the atmosphere of The Walking Dead TV show (minus the zombies), in that Penryn is living in a post-apocalyptic world where she frequently has to hide out. The books take place in California, specifically the Bay Area, and as she hops from house to house, she sees the things that people have left behind: family photos, clothing, etc. (much like in the early seasons of TWD).

In World After, Penryn is trying to get her sister Paige back, who she was reunited with at the end of book 1, but who she has now lost again. Raffe is on the loose somewhere with new angel wings - actually, demon wings - and she would eventually like to reunite with him as well. She's been separated from her crazy mother as well, and wants to make sure she is safe.

These novels will be addicting for anyone who likes dystopian books, and I can't wait to read the third one in the series, which will be out in May 2014.

World After is in bookstores today, November 19th. 5 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received an e-copy of Angelfall and an ARC of World After for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

 GIVEAWAY:

You can win both books in paperback format! Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Contest ends Tuesday, November 26th at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified on November 27th via email and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen. U.S./Canada only, please.

Good luck!

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Monday, November 18, 2013

GIVEAWAY: Kmart toys for the holidays, ends 12/2

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Kmart Toys Giveaway Frenzy



In the spirit of the holidays we are joining with Kmart to Pay It Forward with Kmart Toys


This year, Kmart introduced a new way for you to do the same with a new program, Kmart has called Shop Your Way Charity Gift Registry. Kmart and Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry® campaign allows members and gift-givers the opportunity to donate Fab 15 Kmart toys to children in need at www.shopyourway.com/giftregistry.

This new gift giving option is a great way for people to pay it forward while shopping online for their holiday presents. The Kmart Toys Holiday Book is full of gift ideas and popular toys that ever child is putting on their holiday wish list.

I am happy to partner with Madame Deals to bring you this giveaway! Check out the toys available and then enter to win at the bottom of the post. The new Furby looks fun - I used to have one of the older ones when I was younger - as does the Disney Planes toy.

The Kmart Toys list is so wonderful, that my family decided to donate all of the Kmart toys sent for review to a local charity so they can be given to a family in need this holiday season. Although it is not much, we are blessed to know that children who would have gone without will have a gift this year.

Read our review on Kmart's Fab 15 Toy List.

Enter to win Kmart Toys

Madame Deals and all the bloggers featured in this rafflecopter are not responsible for prize fulfillment. Prizes will be sent out by the contest sponsor. 13 individual winners will be chosen at random and assigned a prize. They will have 24 hours to claim their prize from the time the winning notification email is sent. Winners will be drawn within 12 hours of the contest end time. If a winner does not respond within 24 hours a new winner will be drawn. Entries will be verified so please be honest when entering. Any questions about the giveaway can be sent to prmadamedeals@gmail.com, Topic: Kmart toys.
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Saturday, November 16, 2013

Book Review: Someone Else's Love Story

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Someone Else's Love Story, by Joshilyn Jackson.

I fell in love with William Ashe at gunpoint, in a Circle K. It was on a Friday afternoon at the tail end of a Georgia summer so ungodly hot the air felt like it had all been boiled red. We were both staring down the barrel of an ancient, creaky .32 that could kill us just as dead as a really nice gun could.

 I thought then I had landed in my own worst dream, not a love story. Love stories start with a kiss or a meet-cute, not with someone getting shot in a gas station minimart. Well, no, two people, because that lady cop took a bullet first.

What a great way to start a book, right? This novel had a major twist about 3/4 of the way through the book, too, and it completely fooled me; however, thinking back upon it, I realized there were clues sprinkled throughout the novel, one of which being the title. Regardless, this book had me captivated throughout, and it's one of the best I've read lately.

Official synopsis:
Joshilyn JacksonAt twenty-one, Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Natty, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced Catholic mother and Jewish father. She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up in a gas station mini-mart and falling in love with a great wall of a man named William Ashe, who willingly steps between the armed robber and her son.

 Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn’t define destiny the way other people do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in science and numbers, destiny to him is about choice.

 Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, in a funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness,; about a virgin birth, a sacrifice, and a resurrection; about falling in love, and learning that things aren’t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be. It’s a novel about discovering what we want and ultimately finding what we need.
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This is a love story, but it's not the usual type. Shandi is involved in a holdup at the Circle K, where she meets William, who she can tell has either been divorced or separated recently. After they finally escape from the scenario, she starts spending time with William, helping him with his house and other work, and his best friend Paula disapproves. Shandi's best friend, Walcott, also disapproves, although his disapproval is not quite as obvious at first.

Shandi has a 3-year-old son, Natty, and when she gave birth to him, she was a virgin; she states this fact plainly at first, and then slowly unravels the story so the reader will know what happened and how she got pregnant.

The writing here was both matter-of-fact and wry, and some parts had me laughing, even though the subject matter is serious. I haven't read any other books by the author but I hope to at some point - she's got 5+ other books in existence. The point-of-view in the book switches between Shandi's and William's, but the reader will get more insight from Shandi; William's brain just works differently than hers. It was definitely interesting to see her perception of situations and then see that same situation from William's, too.

Someone Else's Love Story will be in stores on November 19th. 4.5 stars out of 5.

[edit: apparently there's a prequel as well! It's called My Own Miraculous and is a novella, around 120 pages ... I will definitely be reading it!]

*Disclosure: I received a galley of this book from Edelweiss for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.
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Friday, November 15, 2013

GIVEAWAY: complete set of the Redhead series, by Alice Clayton - ends 11/22

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Last month, I reviewed Wallbanger by Alice Clayton, and it's just been announced that Clayton now has a major book deal for three full-length books and one novella.

Her new series, the Cocktail series, will start off with Rusty Nailed, the sequel to Wallbanger, and will be released in June 2014. The next two books in the series, Screwdrivered and Mai Tai'd Up, will be released in September 2014 and December 2014.

The novella, coming out in January 2015, will be the beginning of a brand new Hudson Valley series.

To celebrate this news, I have a complete copy of the Redhead series by the author to give away! I haven't read these, but I've heard they are hilarious, and based on my review of Wallbanger, I wouldn't doubt it.

Alice Clayton Redhead series


GIVEAWAY:

 Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Contest will end on Friday, November 22nd, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified on November 23rd via email. Winner has 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be selected. U.S./Canada only, please.

Good luck!

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