Emily's Heart Book Tour

Today I'm proud to be a part of the 'Emily's Heart tour', hosted by YA Bound. You can view the rest of the tour spots by clicking on the banner above. 

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Emily's Heart

by Natalie Wright

Release Date: 11/26/13

Summary from Goodreads:

**The long-awaited final book in this popular magickal, action-packed teen series! Seventeen-year-old Emily Adams unintentionally unleashed a shadow god's dark energy power into the world and started an Apocalypse. But Emily is also the only one that can end the dark god's reign. Though the powerful faerie magic of the golden torc is still coiled around her arm, self-doubt threatens to undo her.

Emily wants nothing more than to feel the soft kiss of her one true love, but he won't even speak to her. Her first crush is still quite dead and her best friend remains a prisoner in the dark god's house of nightmares. A growing legion of black-eyed shadow people, devoid of conscience, roam the streets. Emily needs help now more than ever, but redemption seems far off indeed as she faces the expanding darkness alone. Emily will need an army of her own if she is to save the world from being taken over by pure evil.

But will a small band of Lucent geeks and freaks be enough to send the dark god packing? Amidst chaos and ruin, will love blossom in Emily's Heart?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19134349-emily-s-heart?from_search=true

Links to books in this series:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13057436-emily-s-house

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16061046-emily-s-trial

Buy Links:

Amazon U.S.:

e-book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I2U3DWW

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Emilys-Heart-Natalie-Wright/dp/1493697587/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Amazon U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I2U3DWW

Barnes & Noble:

e-book: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/emilys-heart-natalie-wright/1117529273?ean=2940045480314

Paperback: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/emilys-heart-natalie-wright/1117529273?ean=9781493697588

Apple iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/emilys-heart/id775369037?mt=11&uo=4

Smashwords: *Please use discount code WX85L for 25% off Cover Price!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/384756

 

My Review

Natalie Wright has created a fantastic end to an exciting trilogy. Emily, now seventeen, has been isolated from all of her friends as the apocalypse has been unleashed. People are losing their souls, turning away from the light and being consumed by the darkness. Emily knows she needs to fight to end the darkness, but with only a small group of Lucents to help, she has her doubts whether she'll be strong enough. Will it be enough?

The one thing I really liked about this story was Emily. She's a strong heroine to follow through the series. She has really grown and evolved through the three books, and throw her into a daring situation and she is not afraid to do what needs to be done.

The strong action scenes, mixed in with teen angst and a hint of romance makes this story a thrilling page-turner with lots of twists and turns. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Emily's Heart, and would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a good apocalyptic action.

 About the Author

Natalie Wright

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Natalie is the author of The Akasha Chronicles, a young adult paranormal fantasy trilogy. When not

writing, blogging, Facebooking, Tweeting, Wattpadding or eating chocolate, Natalie nurtures her young daughter, plays with her two young cats, and feeds her dog too many treats.

Natalie enjoys walking in the high desert, snorkeling in warm waters, travel, and excellent food shared with family and friends. She was raised an Ohio farm girl, now lives in the desert Southwest, and dreams of living in a big city high rise.

Natalie enjoys chatting with readers, so stop by and say hi:

Blog: http://www.NatalieWrightsYA.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com.NatalieWright_

Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com.NatalieWright.Author

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/468945.Natalie_Wright

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/WritesKidsBooks

Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/NatalieWright_

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/natwrites/

***GIVEAWAY***

$20 Amazon gift card + winner’s choice of ebook or audiobook of Emily’s Trial (book 2)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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RULES AND RESTRICTIONS: 

Contest is void where prohibited. Entrants must be 13 or else have parent or guardian’s permission to enter. Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond  or another winner’s name will be selected. Winning entries will be verified for authenticity.

Sanctuary book tour

Today I'm proud to be a part of the 'Sanctuary tour', hosted by YA Bound. You can view the rest of the tour spots by clicking on the banner above. 

Sanctuary

by Pauline Creeden
Release Date: 09/10/13

Summary from Goodreads:

In a heart-racing thriller described as Falling Skies meets The Walking Dead, Jennie struggles to find a safe place for what’s left of her family. But it seems as though there is no place sacred, no place secure. First the aliens attacked the sun, making it dimmer, weaker, and half what it used to be.

Then they attacked the water supply, killing one-third of Earth’s population with a bitter contaminate. And when they unleash a new terror on humankind, the victims will wish for death, but will not find it…When the world shatters to pieces around her, will Jennie find the strength she needs to keep going?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18684843-sanctuary?ac=1

Buy Links:

http://www.amazon.com/Sanctuary-Pauline-Creeden-ebook/dp/B00FI2W6CK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394297623&sr=8-1&keywords=pauline+creeden

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sanctuary-pauline-creeden/1117001506?ean=9781491072066

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/sanctuary-72

http://www.bookdepository.com/Sanctuary-Pauline-Creeden/9781491072066 
 

My Review

Sanctuary was definitely not the kind of story I expected when I first picked it up, but I certainly wasn't disappointed. It starts with the world still anxiously waiting to see what's going to happen six weeks after aliens invaded Earth, still hovering in their space crafts without causing much harm except for contaminating the water supply. Everyone's waiting for that devastating moment to happen, and when it does, it's a roller coaster ride of action and suspense (mixed in with horror from alien creatures and zombies) as the three characters the novel follows (Hugh, a teacher, Jennie, the main girl and Brad, Hugh's brother) fight to survive.

I liked how Creeden used multiple perspectives to show the reader different angles of the story, and add another element to the character. All characters added an interesting slant to the story, and even though Brad was my least favourite, and sometimes I had to wonder about his purpose in the story, it was no less enjoyable reading. 

Sanctuary is a fast and chilling read, with plenty of twists and turns, I definitely didn't want to put it down until I was finished. Blending elements of sci-fiction, horror, thriller with a little bit of romance, and I would definitely recommend this to any fan of zombies or post-apocalyptic stories.

 About the Author

Pauline Creeden

In simple language, Pauline Creeden creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling

the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long.

Pauline is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy.

Armored Hearts, her joint effort with author Melissa Turner Lee, has been a #1 Bestseller in Christian Fantasy and been awarded the Crowned Heart for Excellence by InDtale Magazine. Her debut novel, Sanctuary is scheduled for release September 30, 2013, and has already been nominated for two awards in YA Science Fiction.

One of Pauline's short stories has won the CCW Short Story contest. Other short stories have been published in Fear & Trembling Magazine, Obsidian River and Avenir Eclectia. An urban fantasy short will appear in The Book of Sylvari: An Anthology of Elves from Port Yonder Press, and a vampire short will appear in Monsters! from Diminished Media Group.

Author Links:

http://paulinecreeden.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5284782.Pauline_Creeden

http://www.twitter.com/P_Creeden

http://www.facebook.com/PaulineCreeden

***GIVEAWAY***

$25 Amazon gift card (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 RULES AND RESTRICTIONS: 

Contest is void where prohibited. Entrants must be 13 or else have parent or guardian’s permission to enter. Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond  or another winner’s name will be selected. Winning entries will be verified for authenticity.

 

Book blitz: Being Hartley

Being Hartley

by Allison Rushby

Release Date: 11/2013

Summary from Goodreads:

Fifteen-year-old Thea Wallis was born to entertain. Her mother, Oscar winning actress Cassie Hartley, thinks differently and has kept her daughter out of the spotlight since day one. Coming from showbiz royalty, it hasn't been easy to go unnoticed, but mismatched surnames, a family home in Tasmania and a low-key scriptwriter father has made this possible.

Just like her cousin Rory on the hugely popular TV show Saturday Morning Dance, Thea loves to dance. She learns the show's routines off by heart each week, despite her mother's attempts to convince her that dentistry would be a far more fulfilling career choice.

However, when Rory goes off the rails in LA, Thea's mother is suddenly left with no choice at all – Rory needs them and to LA they must go. Within forty-eight hours, Thea finds herself a long way from Tasmania and living her dream – on the road to Las Vegas with the Saturday Morning Dance team.

It doesn't take long before Thea's talents are discovered and she's offered everything she's ever wanted on a plate, including the dance partner she's had a crush on forever. But, as her mother has always told her, Hollywood dreams come at a price. Thea soon realizes she will have to work out just how much she's willing to pay. And, ultimately, discover her own way to be Hartley.

Available from:

Request a copy of Being Hartley here!

About the Author

Allison Rushby is the Australian author of a whole lot of books. She is crazy about Mini Coopers, Devon Rex cats, Downton Abbey and corn chips. You can often find her procrastinating on Twitter at @Allison_Rushby or on Facebook.  That is, when she’s not on eBay, or Etsy, or any other place she can shop in secret while looking like she’s writing…

Author Links:

   

Excerpt
"Thea?" I hear my mom call out from the kitchen. Her voice distracts me from what I'm doing—what I've been doing for the last forty-five minutes—and I miss the step I've been getting wrong over and over again. Ugh. What is wrong with me today? I press pause on the remote and take a deep breath, trying to refocus. Okay, one more time. I rewind a few seconds, and it's only as I'm ready to start over that I frown, realizing that the "Thea" I heard might not have been the first time Mom has "Thea'd" me in the last ten minutes or so.

I take a couple seconds to think about how annoyed she sounded.

Maybe about a seven?

"Coming!" I yell back, hoping that I can buy myself a few more minutes. "I just need to…" I let my words trail off, because not only does Mom already know what I'm doing up here (the thumping on the floorboards is a dead giveaway), she doesn't entirely approve.

As I press play again, I decide, this time, to concentrate on my cousin Rory's image on the screen. She and her partner Noah aren't the lead dancers in the advanced segment on Saturday Morning Dance today, but it's easier for me to follow someone I'm so familiar with, even if she is in the background.

The only problem is, as soon as I focus on Rory, I don't get any further than before, because I simply lose it. The show today is a special eighties show, and the two songs we're dancing to in the advanced segment are both Michael Jackson. The first one was "Thriller," which was a whole lot of zombie fun. This one is a song I don't think I've heard before—"P.Y.T." I'm loving it, though. And Rory obviously thinks it's a find as well, because she is goofing around back there with her partner, trying hard not to laugh—if that smirk on her face is anything to go by. Fair enough, really. After all, there's some pretty weird stuff going on in that song, including…

"Michael Jackson's 'Pretty Young Thing,'" a voice says, and I turn to see my mom behind me, leaning against one of the house's tall metal columns. "I haven't heard that song in years. I thought I recognized that grunting and panting. Oh, and let's not forget the odd chipmunk vocals at the end…"
I press pause on the remote again and raise one eyebrow as I stare at her. "Um, I hate to bring this up," I remind her, "but you're the one who dated him."

"Once. One date. Before all the…fuss. And I was seventeen. It hardly even counts." She shakes her head with its tight cap of trademark blond Hartley curls.

My eyebrow travels even higher now. "Hate to break it to you, Mom, but I think any number of dates with Michael Jackson counts. Especially now."

She sighs at this, defeated. "Yes. Especially when people won't let you forget about them. Wait, hang on. Not that there was 'them' as in, plural dates. It was one date. I've told you before. We got ice cream. It lasted forty-five minutes max. It was nothing! A publicity stunt, really. Now, dinner in five minutes. Understand?"

"I'll be right there," I say, going back to the TV. There's no point quizzing her on how many scoops and what flavors MJ got, because I've asked her a hundred times before and she can't remember. Yet—and this is just unbelievable to me—she can remember the exact outfit my dad, the scriptwriter, wore on their first date. And every course that he ordered. And how she fell for him when he somehow accidentally dunked his tie in his glass of red wine, then tried to pretend it was some kind of sophisticated wine-tasting maneuver. (I'll stop here before I vomit.) Sure, I love my dad, but come on, Mom…really?

"Oh, and Thea?"

I look back at her now, in case she finally has remembered Michael Jackson's ice cream preference. "The problem is you're not hitting the fourth beat hard enough. Hold it for a half second longer and you'll get it." And, with this, she steps forward and pulls off the move effortlessly. "One, two, three and four. See? Don't be in such a hurry all the time."

"Um, okay." I rewind, ready to start over, my eyes wide. How long has she been standing there? And how can it be that easy? Anyway, I take what she said and run with it. After all, my mom's been in the entertainment biz for forty-one-and-a-half of her forty-two years. (She started at six months with a soap commercial—six months pretty much being the average age every Hartley enters show business. Oh, except me, of course. I'm banned.) She knows what she's talking about when it comes to stuff like this.

Ready to give it another try, I choose not to focus on my goofy cousin. Instead, I opt to follow Lucia and her partner Tobias. Nice and safe. And when I get to the step I keep messing up, I hit the fourth beat harder and hold it that half second longer.

And my mom's right.

I've got it.

With a big smile on my face, I press pause one more time and swivel around to see my mom still hovering. But she doesn't look equally happy that I've mastered the step that was tripping me up. In fact, she doesn't look happy at all—she looks kind of…deflated. She takes the few steps over to me then reaches out to push some of my sweaty curls back behind one ear. "Oh, Thea," she says with a sigh. "Honey, be careful what you wish for."

****GIVEAWAY***

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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