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Waiting On My Reason Sign-Ups

 

Expected Release: January 21st, 2014

For those of you who review through AToMR, WAITING ON MY REASON now has 2 signups available: Release Week Event and Independent Review Requests. This is for my upcoming New Adult Romantic Suspense about a single mom and a second chance at the guy she wanted but missed out on. Please sign up if you're interested!

Midwinter's Eve Giveaway Hop (INT)

Welcome to my stop for the

 Midwinter's Eve Giveaway Hop

hosted by Bookhounds and

I Am a Reader, Not a Writer.

Happy Holidays to you and your family! And so you can get back to them ASAP, you'll find no hoops to jump here!
 

Good Luck!

 

Up for grabs: up to $12 at the Book Depository!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

WAITING ON MY REASON Cover Reveal!

 

 ADD IT TO GOODREADS.

 

Waiting on my Reason

Expected Pub.: January 21, 2014

  Everything happens for a reason.
I just wish I knew the why behind mine.

Five years ago, graduation wasn’t what it was supposed to be. Publicly humiliated, Melanie was more than happy to kiss off her high school sweetheart. But in doing so, she lost more than just her boyfriend, she lost the only other guy she truly cared for – his best friend, Shane.

Shane loathed the idea of returning to his small hometown. He just wanted to get in, help his best friend manage a legal matter, and get the hell back out again. But he wasn’t expecting to run into the one girl who got away, who always held a piece of his heart despite the animosity that lingered. Melanie could’ve been the one, but after everything that happened, trust was a serious issue.

She just wanted to do right by her son. He just wanted to do right by his best friend. And just when they thought they could find the strength to forgive the sins of the past, more secrets and lies bubble to the surface, threatening to push them irrevocably apart.

New Adult Romantic Suspense
Language and Sexual Content

Sweet by Erin McCarthy (ARC)

Sweet (True Believers #2)
Erin McCarthy
Pub Date: October 15, 2013

Jessica Sweet thought going away to college would finally make her free of her parents’ constant judgments and insistence she play chastity club role model for their church events, but if anything, the freedom has made her realize she can’t go home and be a hypocrite anymore. Tired of dodging their questions, she stays at school over the summer and lands in an unexpected crash pad: Riley Mann’s house.

Sarcastic, cocky, and full of opinions, Riley is also sexy personified with tattoos and biceps earned from working as a roofer all day. Not the right guy for her even if Jessica was looking for a relationship, which she is definitely not. But Jessica knows that Riley hides the burden of having to raise his younger brothers behind that grin and as she helps him get his house in order for a custody hearing, they begin to fall hard for each other, and she is forced to question what she’s hiding herself.

Jessica has never had a problem getting naked with a guy, but when it comes to showing Riley how she truly feels inside, her fear of rejection may just ruin the best thing—the best guy—to ever happen to her…

Jessica Sweet doesn't want to go home for the summer and be under the constant scrutiny of her parents, who are the head of her church organization. She wants to just stay behind and work, so she tells a little white lie about volunteering to build houses for the less fortunate. Off the hook for the summer, Jessica just needs to find a place to crash for a week until her new place becomes available. Unfortunately, the only one who can step up and help her is Riley, her friend's brother, who she thought didn't even like her. But beggars can't be choosers, and she soon finds herself alone in the house with Riley. Trying to thank him for taking her in, she gets it in her head that she can do a little charity work after all - by helping Riley clean up the house in time for the social worker's inspection, who's deciding whether or not to place Riley's youngest brother into social services. And along the way, she realizes that Riley didn't quite hate her after all, and that maybe, just maybe, she's seeing him in a different light as well.

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (ARC)

These Broken Stars
Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner
Exp. Pub.: December 10, 2113 TODAY!!!

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

I heart Tarver and Lilac (though I'm not particularly fond of their names).

Tarver Merendsen is a war hero, though if  you asked him, he'd tell you it was undeserved. Unfortunately, he's now bound to mingle with higher society and put forth a good face for the military, which is why he even crosses paths with Miss Lilac LaRoux. Why is she high society? Because her father was the brains behind the spacecraft they were traveling in, which actually bends space in a manner that gets them to hyperjump huge distances. Even though Tarver is worthy to mix with Lilac's society, it's still his duty to know his place, and know that speaking with her will land him back into the war, right smack on the frontline where his life would expire rather quickly. The first time Lilac draws his attention, he didn't realize who she was. But she was kind until her party arrived, and she was forced to treat him like the dirt he apparently was from there on out.

 

When the ship begins falling out of hyperspace unwillingly, everyone is forced into their lifepods. On his way to his own, Tarver has the unfortunate displeasure of saving Lilac from a stampede which separates her from her party. Forced to let him escort her to safety, Lilac guides them to an area of the ship where she knows lifepods won't be assigned to those filling the jammed corridors. When the ship loses power, Lilac has to get down and dirty to get their pod activated and separated from the ship before it completely comes out of hyperdrive and kills them both. Long story short, their pod is the only one to break free and avoid a major crash, leaving them the only two people left alive on an unfamiliar world. The world was clearly terraformed for human life, but for reasons unknown, it's been abandoned. Deciding their best bet is to hike to the main spacecraft, they set off on a journey that will have them questioning their sanity and the rules of a society they may never be apart of again.

 

I absolutely adored this! If you liked Beth Revis' Across the Universe, These Broken Stars was even better! Tarver and Lilac have such strong, engaging personalities that they alone kept me glued to my kindle all night long. Right from the beginning you can sense their attraction bound by a leash, and although they try to avoid one another for both their sakes, getting stranded on a world with no one else kind of makes propriety a pain to deal with. Right now, they need each other. Tarver is the brawns, who has the survival skills to get them through the rough terrain and Lilac is the brains, who knows exactly how to get out an emergency S.O.S. signal to get them rescued. But their clashing personalities was only one entertaining part of this novel. There seems to be something inhabiting that world after all, and it has them constantly questioning whether or not what they're seeing and hearing is real, or if it's just PTSD or hallucinations from malnutrition and dehydration. Once they finally let bygones be bygones and begin to realize they may never get off that planet, emotions come into play, making them wonder if rescue is something they really even want anymore. Because really, who wants to live in a world where their love is forbidden?

Pick it up peeps. You won't regret this one.

ARC provided by Disney Hyperion for honest review.

Elect by Rachel Van Dyken (ARC)

Elect (Eagle Elite #2)
Rachel Van Dyken
Exp. Pub: December 10, 2013

Would you die for the one you love?

Nixon Abandonato made his choice. And now he has to pay the price. Tracey is the love of his life, but being with him has made her a target of his family's enemies. The only way to keep Trace alive is convince the world she means nothing to him.

Trace Rooks has fallen irrevocably in love with the son of her family's sworn rival, and she knows in her bones nothing can tear them apart. Until Nix suddenly pushes her away and into the arms of his best friend... But Trace isn't ready to give up on a future with Nix--and if he won't fight for them, she will.

In the end, a sacrifice must be made. A life for a life. For what better way to cover a multitude of sins than with the blood of a sinner . . .

Check out my review of Elect (Eagle Elite #1) here.

Trace had no idea that she came from a family of mobsters. Her parents long dead, all she had left was her grandfather, who just happened to be the head of her family, which was pretty much non-existent these days - hence the living under the rock part.

Nixon just happened to be the current mob boss for another family...one that used to be incredibly close to Tracey's. Long story short, being the head of the family doesn't exactly allow him to date another family, so when Sicilians come into town to investigate a couple of crucial murders, it's a relationship Nixon doesn't even dare to continue hiding. He pushes Trace into the arms of Chase, the only man he trusts to watch over her, who unfortunately also has a major crush on her. Pretending to be her boyfriend is tricky, and Chase finds himself pushing their romance to the max, trying desperately to win her over.

As painful as it is to watch, Nixon knows Chase is the better fit for Trace. And in order to keep her alive and protected, Nixon cuts a deal with the Sicilians that pretty much puts him on the receiving end of a life for a life policy anyways...

Ahh...the love triangle. He wants her, she wants him, he pushes her right into the other guy that also wants her, now she wants him too.... All I can say is thank God I got my Nix-fix before it all went to crap. However, I will say this. I kinda wish we would've been kept in the dark over a certain plot element that Tracey wasn't privy to. I felt like I got cheated on all the emotions she had to go through because I already knew the truth. Sorry, but I'd rather cry my broken little heart out too, ya' know? All in all, I still really like this series. It's original, it's crafty, and Nixon is a total hottie worth swooning over. If you haven't checked it out yet, pick it up peeps.

ARC provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for honest review.

Pawn by Aimee Carter (ARC)

Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1)
Aimee Carter
Pub.: November 26, 2013

You can be a VII. If you give up everything.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand. 

In this dystopian novel, Kitty is one of many Does in society, a child born after the first whose parents couldn't afford the fine to keep her. If being taken away from her family and orphaned wasn't enough, everyone is forced to take the same test to determine their place in society - I through VI, with VII being reserved for the family who leads their people. Unfortunately, Kitty bombs her test. Her new number: III, a level that will afford her enough to survive, but she'll have to move to Chicago for her assigned job in the lovely sewage industry. Not wanting to leave her boyfriend before he takes his test in one month's time, she sucks it up and decides to work at one of the many girlie clubs until then.

 

As luck would have it, Kitty gets more than she expects with her first client. Offered the chance to become a VII, she accepts without considering the consequences, and finds herself a different person upon waking. But not just any person. Lila Hart of the ruling family. Unfortunately, taking on her new identity is way more trouble than it's worth, especially once Kitty discovers Lila was the one secretly leading the rebellion against her family's rule.
 

Heads will roll...

I read the first two Goddess novels by Miss Carter and they really weren't my cup of tea, but I was pleasantly surprised by Pawn. It kept me intrigued and flipping pages well into the night. And I can honestly say that for a clean YA novel, it kept me glued to the kindle - something that usually only happens with those new adult novels I love so much. :)

ARC provided by Harlequin Teen for honest review.

Christmas Caption Contest!!! (INT)

I thought I'd do something different and fun for the holidays, so I've decided to run a caption contest. This is a pic of my little guy a few years ago. Back then he was all smiles, so to get a pic of Mr. Grumpy Face here was quite a rarity. Come up with what I deem the best caption for this picture and you'll win a $25 gift card to either Amazon, Barnes and Noble, ETSY, or the Book Depository.

 

Original Caption:

"I'm now accepting applications for my new mommy," griped Riley.

 

RULES

1. Be kind and respectful.
2. Only the captions on the AUTHOR facebook post will count (post is pinned to the top of my page). Please do not leave your caption on my blog, goodreads page or my personal facebook page.
3. Winning caption will be chosen by me (and possibly the hubby). Hint: We're partial to humor and sarcasm.
4. Contest will end on my birthday, Monday December 16th.
5. Contest is international. Winner can choose a gift card for Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or ETSY; or I can order the winner their choosing through the Book Depository (please make sure they deliver to your country).
6. If more than one person uses a caption and it becomes the winning caption, the first to use it wins.
7. BONUS: In addition to your comment, if you share the facebook post and you win, I'll add an additional $10 to your gift card. (Sharing will in no way effect who wins this contest).

Note: I'm shutting off comments for this post so you won't be tempted to leave it here.

GOOD LUCK!