Book Blitz: The Imparting (Ascension #3) by Heather Letto

Imparting
Heather Letto
(Ascension #3)
Publication date: December 15th 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia

The clock is ticking.
Chan has been chosen to deliver the good news and healing antidote… If his body doesn’t reject the antibodies.
Pete, who has been imprisoned and tortured by the Council, has been selected by Retter to be ambassador to the residents. But, does he possess the authority needed to persuade an entire city of skeptics?
And, while in the Open Air, Fran struggles with her own failures questioning whether she’ll always be an outcast living on the fringe of society.
In this final installment of The Ascension Series, love, sacrifice, and forgiveness go head to head with evil in an effort to save a city.
And a girl.

Goodreads / Amazon

Previous books in the series:

Ascension Series Book Trailer:

EXCERPT:

She smiled.

Although she couldn’t kill an inanimate object, Fran knew she could easily take out a small lens. She glanced around, hoping to distinguish the Graphie in front her from his life-giving light source. Because of the darkened backdrop, for the first time, Fran was easily able to follow one of his beams to a nearby potted palm. She hurried to the plant and squatted low, feeling around for anything plastic or metal. Her fingers lit under a green-tinged beam, and she moved her hand along the surface. When she felt the nub, Fran smiled and stood. With the toe of her hard boot, she kicked the lens until she felt it shatter. Fran shot a glance over her shoulder to check on the guard, thrilled to see he had taken on a strange, two-dimensional shape. She scanned the area for another beam.
The gaming board.
Fran hurried to the board and ran her hand along the pole that it sat upon. With her arm fully extended overhead, she felt the nub. Too high to kick. She looked around for something to hit it with when an idea struck her. After running back to the plant, she grabbed a handful of glass stones from the pot and pulled the sling from her side. Load, swing, and release.
Although Fran couldn’t hear the whistle of the stone over the Agora’s white noise, the undeniable crack of the lens reached her ears as bits of plastic flew from the pole. She whipped around to face the Graphie again, but now only a single red beam of light pulsed where he had stood. She followed the red beam to the leg of a nearby bench and laughed out loud as she wound up and launched her stone. The last ray died out and as the area darkened, Fran could hear a chatter rise from the small crowd of residents now released from the Graphie’s hold.

Author Bio:
Heather Letto was born in the hills of Ohio and raised in the 'burbs of Chicago yet fancies herself a stranger in a stranger world. She wears her creativity like a second skin and is immensely grateful to her heavenly Father who gives good gifts. Her debut novel, Impervious, is the first book of The Ascension series, a trilogy written for young adults.

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Book Blitz: The Insanity Series by Cameron Jace

Insanity
Cameron Jace
(The Complete Books 1-3)
Publication date: October 28th 2015
Genres: New Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal

A Top 100 Bestseller!
Amazon readers love it – over 500 reviews of 5* and 4* for the first book in the series.
‘Most absorbing fantasy read in years!’ W. McNaughton.
‘Insanity is A Summer Hit!!!’ Kindle Gram
‘An insane page turner’ – Kindle reviewer
‘Engrossingly fun!’ Rhonda Miller.
‘A truly twisted tale….fantastic!’ Sheri A. Wilkinsonon
Hannibal Meets Alice in Wonderland in this fantasy page-turning thriller.
After accidentally killing everyone in her class, Alice Wonder becomes a patient in the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum. No one doubts her insanity. All but a hookah-smoking professor named Carter Pillar who believes he can prove her sanity by decoding Lewis Carroll’s paintings, photographs, and finding Wonderland’s real whereabouts.
Professor Caterpillar persuades the asylum that Alice can save lives and catch the Wonderland Monsters now reincarnated in modern day criminals. In order to do so, Alice leads a double life: an Oxford university student by day, a mad girl in an asylum by night. The line between sanity and insanity thins when she meets Jack Diamond, an arrogant college student who believes that nonsense is an actual science.
Larger than life characters, intricate mysteries, engrossing fun, and intriguing historical locations. Insanity will thrill you, makes turns pages, and stay with you forever.

Warning: intended for insane audience only.

Goodreads / Amazon

You can also purchase book 5 – Wonder – today!

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EXCERPT:

Underground Ward, the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum, Oxford

The writing on the wall says it’s January 14. I am not sure what year. I haven’t been sure of many things lately, but I’m wondering if it’s my handwriting I’m looking at.
There is an exquisite-looking key drawn underneath the date. It’s carved with a sharp instrument, probably a broken mirror. I couldn’t have written this. I’m terrified of mirrors. They love to call it Catoptrophobia around here.
Unlike those of the regular patients in the asylum, my room is windowless, stripped down to a single mattress in the middle, a sink, and bucket for peeing—or puking—when necessary. The tiles on the floor are black and white squares, like a chessboard. I never step on black. Always white. Again, I’m not sure why.
The walls are smeared with a greasy, pale green everywhere. I wonder if it’s the previous patient’s brains spattered all over from shock therapy.

In the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum, politely known as the Warneford Hospital, the doctors have a fondness for shock therapy. They love watching patients with bulging eyes and shivering limbs begging for relief from the electricity. It makes me question who is really mad here.
It’s been a while since I was sent to shock therapy myself. Dr. Tom Truckle, my supervising physician, said I don’t need it anymore, particularly after I stopped mentioning Wonderland. He told me that I used to talk about it all the time; a dangerous place I claim I had been whisked away to, when my elder sister lost me when I was seven.
Truth is, I don’t remember this Wonderland they are talking about. I don’t even know why I am here. My oldest vivid memory is from a week ago. Before that, it’s all a purple haze.
I have only one friend in this asylum. It’s not a doctor or a nurse. And it’s not a human. It doesn’t hate, envy, or point a finger at you. My friend is an orange flower I keep in a pot—a Tiger Lily I can’t live without. I keep it safe next to a small crack in the wall, where a single ray of sun sneaks through for only ten minutes a day. It might not be enough light to grow a flower, but my Tiger Lily is a tough girl.
Each day I save half of the water they give me for my flower. As for me, better thirsty than mad. My orange flower is also my personal rain check for my sanity. If I talk to her and she doesn’t reply, I know I am not hallucinating. If she talks back to me, all kinds of nonsense starts to happen. Insanity prevails. There must be a reason why I am here. It doesn’t mean I will easily give in to such a fate.
“Alice Pleasance Wonder. Are you ready?” The nurse knocks with her electric prod on my steel door. Her name is Waltraud Wagner. She is German. Everything she says sounds like a threat, and she smells like smoke. My fellow mad people say she is a Nazi—that she used to kill her own patients back in Germany. “Get avay vrom za dor. I’m coming in,” she demands.
As I listen to the rattling of her large keychain, my heart pounds in my chest. The turn of the key makes me want to swallow. When the door opens, all I can think of is choking her before she begins to hurt me. Sadly, her neck is too thick for my nimble hands. I stare at her almost-square figure for a moment. Everything about her is four sizes too big. All except her feet, which are as small as mine. My sympathies, little feet.
“Time for your daily ten-minute break upstairs.” She approaches me with a straitjacket, a devilish grin on her face. I never get out. My ward is underground, and I’m only allowed to take my break in another empty ward upstairs where patients love to play soccer.
A big, muscled warden stands behind Waltraud. Thomas Ogier. He is bald, and has an angry-red face and a silver tooth he likes to flash whenever he sees me. His biceps are the size of my head. I have a hard time believing he was ever a four-pound baby.
“Slide your arms into the jacket,” Waltraud demands in her German accent, a cigarette puckered between her lips. “Slow and easy, Alice.” She nods at Warden Ogier, in case I misbehave.
I comply obediently and stretch out my arms for her to do whatever she wants. Waltraud twists my right arm slightly and checks the tattoo on my arm. It’s the only tattoo I have. It’s a handwritten sentence that looks like a thick armband from afar. Waltraud feels the need to read it aloud: “‘I can’t go back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.'” I was told I had written it while still believing in Wonderland. “That Alice in Wonderland has really messed with your head,” she says as she puffs smoke into my face.
The tattoo and Waltraud’s mocking is the least of my concerns right now. I let her tie me up, and while she does, I close my eyes. I imagine I am a sixteenth-century princess, some kind of lucky Cinderella, being squeezed into a corset by my chain-smoking servant in a fairy tale castle above ground, just about to go meet my prince charming. Such imagery always helps me breathe. I once thought that it was hope that saved the day, not sanity. I need to cool down before I begin my grand escape.

Author Bio:
Cameron Jace is the bestselling author of the Grimm Diaries and Insanity series. A graduate of the college of Architecture, collector of out-of-print books, he is obsessed with the origins of folk tales and the mysterious storytellers who spread them. Three of his books made Amazon's Top 100 Customer Favorites in Kindle 2013 & Amazon's Top 100 kindle list. Cameron lives in California with his girlfriend. When he isn't writing or collecting books, he is playing music.
Sign up for his mailing list here: http://bit.ly/1sxp3p1

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Cover Reveal: Darkness Fair (The Dark Cycle #2) by Rachel A. Marks

Review: Noir (The Illumination Paradox #2) by Jacqueline Garlick

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Title: Noir

Series: The Illumination Paradox #2

Author: Jacqueline Garlick

Publisher: Skyscape

Publication Date: January 26, 2015

Pages: 372

Genres: young adult, steampunk, science fiction, fantasy, romance, historical fiction

Source: Review copy from Netgalley

Rating: 4

I received this book for free from Skyscape via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis

Losing him would make her overcast world one shade darker.…

Navigating her way through nightmarish lands devoid of sunlight, Eyelet Elsworth races to free her beloved Urlick Babbit, the first person to understand and accept her—differences and all. Framed for murder and sentenced to execution, Urlick is running out of time. And the Commonwealth’s tyrannical new ruler, Penelope Rapture, is strangely eager to speed up the clock.

Aided by a band of unusual yet loyal associates, Eyelet stumbles upon a startling rumor. And as she unravels a secret that could challenge Penelope’s claim to the throne, Penelope vows to divert Eyelet’s journey—straight to a dark and deadly end.

In Noir, the second thrilling addition to Jacqueline Garlick’s Illumination Paradox series, familiar friends struggle against new and old enemies, shocking secrets come to light, and the truth that could save this captivating steampunk world is revealed…if it doesn’t destroy everything first.

My Review

The world that Garlick creates is so very involved and compelling. There are so many details and mysterious things to muddle over in your brain as you read. This book is a great sequel! This book is a non-stop adventure that you can't pull away from.

What I liked

I really loved the dual point of views. Hearing things from the point of view of each characters is awesome. It really helps to get a better feel for the story when you can see what's going on in each characters mind. It leaves less speculation and makes for a great story.

I also loved the introduction of new characters in this. We get to meet new characters and they are described so very vividly that it makes you feel like you are there with them. The details are what really make these characters come to life. I also loved the character development, not only of the new characters but of the characters from the first book as well. 

The world that Garlick has created is unique. It has so many different elements in it and it is quite involved. So much detail and great descriptions really make this world stand out as you are reading.

What I didn't like

I would have liked to have had more of the questions answered in this book that popped up in the first book. We have mention of a world in the clouds, but have not discovered if it exists and how. There really isn't a good explanation for her mother becoming a Valkyrie. What is the significance of the device and how did it make the world fall apart? How do these things fit together? These things aren't really answered and I think that a little more details or clues would have made the book that much stronger. 

I am not too keen on cliffhangers, and this book has a cliffhanger ending. Now please excuse me while I bang my head on the wall for a few moments. Argh.

Would I Recommend It

I would absolutely recommend this book to others. For those that are imaginative and love good twists and exciting adventures, this is just the book for you! Go get this series now. You will thank me later. Now bring on the next book, pretty please?

Book Blitz: The Seventh Hour by Tracey Ward

The Seventh Hour
Tracey Ward
Publication date: January 6th 2016
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult

When the Earth’s rotation slowed to a crawl mankind was plunged into a harsh world of burning hot days and endless, arctic nights. Some fled to the mountains for shelter. Others took to the seas, sailing forever in the perfect gold between the night and the day; a place known as the Seventh Hour.
Liv was raised aboard a ship chasing the Seventh. She’s never seen the night, never known true cold, and when a storm destroys her home she’s on land for the first time in her life. She’s alone, surrounded by strangers and perils she couldn’t have imagined in her worst nightmares. Her only chance at survival is Grayson.
He saved her. He’ll protect her. He hates her.
Old grudges run deeper than the sea, and Liv and Gray will have to overcome them together to make it to morning.
To survive the longest night.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

EXCERPT:

Change doesn’t happen overnight.
That’s what they used to say. I bet it used to be true.
Now it’s an idiom, a phrase we use out of six hundred year old habit that has no literal meaning anymore. Not since the world changed and everything was forced to change with it. The people, the animals. The weather and the landscape. The very nature of the Earth shifted, taking all of us with it.
And no, it didn’t happen overnight.
We adapted or we died, and if there was one good thing about the slowing of the Earth it was that it gave us time. Time to learn, time to prep, time to adjust. Time to save what technology we needed to survive and cast the rest aside. To build cities to withstand the bitter cold and the blistering heat.
Some burrowed into the mountains, building their homes and cities under the ground. They hid from the elements and they waited out the summers. The winters. The hours.
Others refused to hide. As the oceans pooled to the north and south, burying the old world and raising a new supercontinent that circled the Earth like a ring, they took to the sea. They built boats, set sail, and left the frigid night and burning day behind. They stay in the hours in between, in the half-light. That perfect hour. The golden hour.
The Seventh hour.

Author Bio:
"I don't write romances, I write relationships. One is pretty and perfect and all consuming. The other is real."
I was born in Eugene, Oregon and studied English Literature at the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!) I love writing all kinds of genres from YA Dystopian to New Adult Romance, the common themes between them all being strong character development and a good dose of humor.
My husband, son, and snuggly pitbull are my world.

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Dual Cover Reveal: Gyre by Jessica Gunn and Of Scions and Men by Courtney Sloan

Today's the day for a dual cover reveal: OF SCIONS AND MEN by Courtney Sloan and GYRE by Jessica Gunn! Both books are in the New Adult category and are being published by Curiosity Quills Press.

Here's a bit about each book:

OF SCIONS AND MEN by Courtney Sloan (February 22nd, 2016)

Geopolitical babysitting while arresting preternatural killers, it’s just the daily grind for Scion Rowan Brady. Brash and sarcastic, Rowan has sold her life, her career and her very blood to the controlling paranormal ruling class of America, all to make sure her kid brother can eat. Now she uses her powers as a scion to kick the ass of any preternatural creature idiotic enough to break the rules and prey upon humanity without a license. All it costs her is her freedom and a pint or two per week to her new Master.

But juggling her job and duties becomes even tougher when she is tasked with keeping a contingency of diplomats from Canada from getting gnawed on. However, negotiations for an International Blood Exchange are interrupted when bodies start showing up. Now Rowan must rely on her talent and wit to defend the society she despises to save the lives she’s sworn to protect. But as she stumbles into the truth, she chances becoming a target of not only these killers, but of her own government. With shifters, ghosts, vampires and psychics all watching her, can she stop the killings before she is silenced?

ADD OF SCIONS AND MEN TO GOODREADS HERE

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GYRE by Jessica Gunn (February 1st, 2016)

Trevor couldn’t believe his eyes when Chelsea teleported onto SeaSatellite5. The miracle is Trevor’s absolute worst nightmare. Chelsea is Atlantean, which would be fine if Trevor’s family weren’t Lemurian—enemies of Atlantis. Then SeaSatellite5 uncovers Atlantean ruins and stumbles into the crosshairs of an ancient war. The Lemurians want the artifacts inside the ruins, and Trevor’s the only one onboard who recognizes the relics for what they really are: Link Pieces, tools used by ancient civilizations to wage their time-travel war. Chelsea and Trevor must brave the gyre of lies surrounding them. If they can’t, Atlantis will be destroyed forever.

ADD GYRE TO GOODREADS HERE

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Are you ready to see the covers?

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Here we go!

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PRE-ORDER GYRE HERE!

PRE-ORDER OF SCIONS AND MEN HERE!

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ABOUT COURTNEY SLOAN

A New Orleans native, Courtney Sloan relocated to the hills of Central Maryland after Hurricane Katrina. There she lives with her husband and fellow author, J.P. Sloan, their son and their crazy German Shepherd pup. Adding to her writing life, Courtney is also a professor at the local college and enjoys learning a world of new ideas from her students as she teaches them about writing and communicating. Courtney’s New Orleans upbringing has left her with a love for the macabre and a flare for the next to normal. She writes speculative fiction with a variety of horror and sass mixed in for flavor.

She loves taking the world of politics that haunts us now, and adding the supernatural to create a gumbo of thrills to keep you up at night. A self-proclaimed lover of way too many fandoms, Courtney also loves crafting. From blankets to jams to stories, it’s always better homemade.

Author Links: Twitter | Website

ABOUT JESSICA GUNN

Jessica Gunn is a New Adult author and avid science-fiction and fantasy fan. Her favorite stories are those that transport the reader to other, more exciting worlds. When not working or writing, she can be found binge-watching Firefly and Stargate, or feeding her fascination of the ancient world’s many mysteries. Jessica also holds a degree in Anthropology.

Author Links: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Website

Cover Reveal: Stone Legacy Series by Theresa DaLayne & Giveaway

The Stone Legacy Series #1-3
by Theresa DaLayne
Published by: Limitless Publishing
Publication date: Winter 2016
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Add to Goodreads!

About Mayan Blood:
Their empires have fallen, but their mythology lives on…

Zanya Coreandero is a seventeen-year-old orphan with only a single friend and no hope for a normal life. Diagnosed with anxiety and night terrors, no one believes her cuts and bruises are a result of an evil entity, and not a brutal case of self-harm.

With the only home she’s ever known being the isolated institution—where breakfast is a handful of medications, the psychiatry sessions are mandatory, and her every move is watched—the only relief is her red-haired roommate named Tara, who’s more like a little sister than her best friend.

Free will is strong, but destiny is stronger.

When Zanya is kidnapped, she meets a group of gifted Mayan descendants, each with a unique ability. Gone from a nameless castaway to the only hope of mankind, Zanya is forced to make a grueling decision: bond with an enchanted stone and save humanity from rising underworld forces, or watch helplessly as Earth falls victim to a familiar dark deity from her dreams. This time, he’s playing for keeps.

A wicked secret hides behind a handsome face…

When Arwan, a dark-eyed timebender, takes interest in Zanya’s mission, it’s unclear if his intention is to help, or if he’s on a hell-bent mission for revenge. Wary of falling for another guy with major secrets and a tainted past, Zanya fights to keep her distance. If only her heart gave her a choice.

About Interlude:
Tara may have spent years in an asylum, but that doesn’t make her crazy–just fearless.

Dropped in Moscow with a the group of enchanted Mayan descendants, seventeen-year-old Tara is forced to wait on the sideline while her best friend—the Stone Guardian— battles to reclaim a friend’s soul trapped in the underworld.

It sucks being ordinary when everyone else is superhuman…

A mortal girl with a tainted past, Tara is left to deal with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. Her boyfriend, Peter, is a healer. Her best friend is The Guardian, and everyone else is a powerhouse of awesome strengths. Meanwhile, she struggles to leave her childhood of abuse in the past, and while Peter picks her up every time she falls, it becomes clear he deserves better.

When they opened Pandora’s Box, hell came pouring out…

When she’s given a chance to aid in the group’s mission, Tara is eager to pull her own weight, even if it means uncovering buried memories of being held prisoner by the underworld general. Now haunted with flashbacks of torture, Tara wanders from the safety of Peter’s arms into a city of depravity and corruption. And amidst all this evil is a young man with an agenda of his own, who leads her down a road that will either prove she is a hero at heart, or drag her into a world she’s always feared.

He wants revenge, she wants redemption. And in an underground ring of missing girls and bloody sacrifices, only the fearless can survive…

About Lights of Aurora:
After living her entire life in an orphan asylum, Zanya fears she may actually be losing her mind.

Following the discovery of her ancient Maya bloodlines, eighteen-year-old Zanya Coreandero is faced with a daunting responsibility. She must protect the relic stone while Sarian, the underworld general, ceaselessly drives her to the brink of insanity.

With the approach of an ancient bonding ceremony, Zanya struggles to control her abilities—and her desires…

As the winter solstice approaches, it brings an onslaught of unexpected side effects. While Zanya struggles to seize control over her supercharged powers, she must also face an overwhelming suspicion that her boyfriend, Arwan, is hiding a secret so dark it could destroy them both. And with her powers finally taking root, the struggle to pace their relationship takes on a life of its own.

Just when she thought life couldn’t get more complicated…

With the arrival of a surprise houseguest, Zanya’s deepest fears about Arwan are confirmed. And when middleworld deities intercede, the group of gifted Maya descendants are confronted with hardships they never saw coming—including an enemy more deadly than they have ever faced.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And when that woman has no soul and a taste for revenge, they will need the powers of every surviving ancestor simply to stay alive.

Author Bio:

Theresa DaLayne is a north-south-east-western kind of girl with a quirky personality to match her nomad life. Born in California, she migrated to three different cities in Washington State, a tiny island in Alaska, North Carolina, and finally to the suburbs of Ohio where she currently lives with her husband, three kids, vegetarian cat, and her ungrateful fish.

Always on the lookout for a new story, Theresa is a shameless eavesdropper and will take anyone who provides inspiration and mold them into a character without a second thought. She enjoys writing both paranormal and contemporary stories, considering her mind wanders between worlds of fantasy while she’s forced to live in the real world, very much against her will.

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