{Blog Tour + Review + Giveaway} Chasing Luck (A Serendipity Novel #1) by Brinda Berry

Chasing Luck by Brinda Berry
(A Serendipity Novel #1)
Publication date: May 1st 2014
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Suspense

Synopsis:

Sometimes surviving doesn’t feel lucky. Especially when you’re a sole survivor…
At the age of seven, Malerie walked away from a bombing that left hundreds dead—including her mother. When a crazed gunman kills her guardian on her eighteenth birthday, Malerie suspects there may be more to her survival than luck. A mysterious code holds the key to her future, and a reluctant white knight holds the key to her heart.
A loner wearing emotional armor…
Ace is a twenty-year-old entrepreneur focusing on two things in life: financial security and a life without ties. A life that doesn’t risk losing the ones who matter. When Ace is hired to secretly act as a bodyguard for Malerie, he faces an unwanted attraction that threatens to sabotage his heart. Can Ace find the courage to love a girl with a death wish?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22012857-chasing-luck

Purchase:

--Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Luck-A-Serendipity-Novel-ebook/dp/B00K1RBKTM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399565577&sr=8-1&keywords=Chasing+Luck+brinda

--B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/chasing-luck-brinda-berry/1119390920?ean=2940149261628

--Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/chasing-luck

Trailer: http://youtu.be/uOSg3FOC21M 

AUTHOR BIO

Brinda Berry lives in the southern US with her family and two spunky cairn terriers. She’s terribly fond of chocolate, coffee, and books that take her away from reality.  She doesn’t mind being called a geek or “crazy dog lady”. When she’s not working the day job or writing a novel, she’s guilty of surfing the internet for no good reason.

Author links:

http://www.brindaberry.com/

https://www.facebook.com/BrindaBerryAuthor

https://twitter.com/Brinda_Berry

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5053831.Brinda_Berry

Tour-wide giveaway (INTL)

• $25 Sephora gift card
• $10 iTunes gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/ZDA0MjUxMjM1OGRlZWRmZWM1YmUyMmFkYTM3OWE5OjU4MA==/

{Details} ebook. Published May 1st 2014 by Sweet Biscuit Publishing LLC (first published April 30th 2014). Ebook provided in exchange for an honest review

{Rating} 4/5 - I really liked it!

{Review}

"It's bizarre how one crazy psycho can break a heart and mind into an unforgiving pile of pieces." (page 1, line 1)

I liked the premise, the suspense, mystery, and action. I was intrigued from the first page in the story and interested in the characters and wanted to know what was going to happen next.

I felt for Malerie. Brinda Berry did an excellent job of showing how vulnerable she is, how much she's lost, how much she has survived and how those things have changed her into a recluse, a regimented, scared girl.

Ace is a good man. He has endured a lot too but he's determined to move past it. He's working hard, trying to start a new business, but he's in the wrong place at the wrong time and ends up in the middle of the mess that is Malerie's life.

While I liked Ace and Malerie together, they both desperately need each other, someone they can count on, someone to help push them out of their comfort zones, I never really felt the romance between them. The trust and commitment, yes, but not romance.

Although I thought the mystery was really interesting - and unique - I wish it had been drawn out a little more and that Ace and Malerie had to struggle more to figure out things, it felt a bit too obvious.

Chasing Luck also introduces us to Collin, the hero in Tempting Fate, the second book in the Serendipity series, and I'm definitely interested in reading it.

{Book Blitz + Excerpt + Giveaway} Evernight (Night Watchmen #2) by Candace Knoebel

 

Evernight by Candace Knoebel
(Night Watchmen #2)
Publication date: October 31st 2014
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult

Synopsis:

The stunning sequel to the thrilling paranormal romance novel Everlasting!
One lie will change everything.
Faye Middleton has secured the Dagger of Retribution for the High Priesthood, but in doing so, she’s opened the door to more demands set by them. She now has to break the Holy Seal, and soon. Trapped in the alluring Ethryeal City, Faye is pushed to the breaking point trying to discover just what she is truly capable of, even if it means destroying herself in the process.
With the clock ticking down to the war between both Covens, and the truth about her parent’s mysterious disappearance within her reach, Faye is faced with tough choices that will forever change her. Will Faye be able to handle the demands from the Priesthood, and still be able to continue her search for her parents?
But more importantly, can she survive the truth she finds?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21894440-evernight?ac=1

Purchase:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Evernight-Night-Watchmen-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00MUBWIB6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414517874&sr=8-1&keywords=Evernight+candace

 

{Excerpt}

Prologue

PEOPLE LIE. EVERY SINGLE DAY.

In fact, most of our world was built on the foundation of lies, some with the intent to serve the greater good, and others with the intent to serve one person’s giant ambitions. But the root of every lie is exactly the same. They’re all equally deceitful, treacherous propositions spewed from the mouths of men and woman alike.

Lies have the power to sound right, yet feel wrong. They have the ability to confuse your heart and twist your mind. The problem is, sometimes these lies become easier to believe than the truth. They become a sort of safety net from reality, a way to avoid what lingers in the back of your mind. And some say that over time, if you believe them long enough, they become real.

At least, that’s what my mother had hoped would happen in my case. But just like every lie ever told, all it takes is one small crack in that foundation for the whole thing to come crashing down.

And it did.

Because everything I thought I knew about myself was a lie. A beautiful and heartrending lie. I wasn’t the Defect my parents would regretfully see off to college before turning their backs on me. I wasn’t the weak friend who didn’t have enough backbone to stand up for what’s right, nor was I the loner without a purpose or a chance at real love. And I sure as hell wasn’t the weapon Bael and the members of the Darkyn Coven intended me to be.

But I am the weapon the Primeval Coven needs me be. Or so they keep saying.

In my Coven, there are two kinds of people: The Hunters and the Witches. They used to hate each other, even though they were on the same team, back in the old days when cars didn’t exist and time was tracked on a sundial. They hated each other so much that eventually a war was brought on by one of the original Witches—a Divine named Mourdyn.

The war was known as the Great Battle of the Covens. It was meant to wipe out the existence of every Hunter, and it devastated the population of my people, the Primevals. It annihilated the population of the Darkyns—the Witches who abandoned our Coven to follow the whims of Mourdyn and his persuasive lies.

But even though a lie can be struck down—imprisoned even—it can’t ever be fully erased. The scars it leaves behind on this earth and in our hearts are eternal, and somewhere along the way, someone will pick that lie back up and breathe life into it once more. Give it the wings it needs to rise again. Only, this time, that lie will be stronger, with an even greater purpose.

And that’s the part that scares me the most.

I glance down at my leg. The burn marks left behind from Bael’s wrath still tingle with echoes of the scorching fire he sent after me after I escaped with Weldon, reminding me that I’m nowhere near ready for the fight that’s sure to come.

And that has to change.

That’s part of why I agreed to come here to Ethryeal City—to the heart of our Coven. It’s where Hunters and Witches in an affinity bond enter as Night Watchmen and leave as Elites. Where those who have broken our Coven laws go to face the High Priesthood. Where those who need refuge… those like me… come to hide.

The only thing is, I never agreed to being separated from everyone I know. They call it debriefing, but with every day that passes, I’m beginning to wonder… to question how long it actually takes.

It’s been seven days and fourteen hours since my unfortunate and unplanned encounter with Bael—the Demon King of the Underground. In these last seven days, I’ve made more promises than I can count on two hands. And in those promises, I think I’ve told more lies than I ever have in my life.

Honesty seems to have slipped out of her bedroom from inside my integrity and, in her place, deceit has crept in with the offer of survival. If I just nod along with the many blending faces all interviewing me, then maybe somehow, I’ll make it out of this phase in my life alive. I’ll make it back into Jaxen’s arms and back into the graces of the friends I’ve come to trust.

But what deceit doesn’t offer is solace, because you can’t fool deceit. It knows every trick in the book.

Every day, twice a day, for the past four days, I’ve recounted in specific order how my friends and I nearly lost our lives in hopes that we’d gain an advantage on the Darkyn Coven and intercept them from taking the Dagger of Retribution. The one that has the power to initiate the removal of the Veil that separates the Underground and all its evil from the humans. The very Dagger that only I have the power to touch.

I’ve been singularly interviewed by every member on the Priesthood, and then by every general and Elder within the hierarchy of our Coven.

And I’m so very tired.

For the past four days, since I left the safe house beneath the church owned by the Night Watchmen, when I haven’t been in a laboratory undergoing strenuous testing, I’ve spent the remaining hours kept in a holding cell stripped of all personality. Chained down by claustrophobia. Shackled to the fears given free rein to destroy my hope.

I don’t have a home anymore. I have four white walls, one white jumpsuit, a white bed, white sheets… the color was bleached from my life the moment I crossed into the legendary Ethryeal City. I keep trying to remember the last time I saw Jaxen’s face, but my soul has fed so often on the happiness of that memory, I fear it’s disappearing. And I don’t know when I’m going to see him again.

They took everything away from me just to keep me repressed. Controlled. But what they don’t know is they cannot control what they do not own, and they do not own me. I can’t trust anyone. No one but myself, because all I know is I am more of a threat to them than I thought.

And the High Priesthood doesn’t know what to do with me.

AUTHOR BIO:

Candace Knoebel is the award-winning author of Born in Flames-book one in a young adult fantasy trilogy. She discovered in 2009 through lunch breaks and late nights after putting her kids to bed, a world where she could escape the ever-pressing days of an eight to five Purgatory. And an outlet for all the voices residing in her head.

Published by 48fourteen in 2012, Born in Flames went on to win Turning the Pages Book of the Year award in February of 2013. In January of 2014, the last book in the trilogy, From the Embers, was released, thusly completing the trilogy. She now works on the Night Watchmen Series, while guzzling Red Bulls and pretending to be a ninja on Heelys.


Author Links:
Website: https://www.candaceknoebel.com
Blog: http://candaceknoebel.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CandaceKnoebel
Twitter: www.twitter.com/candaceknoebel
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6458922.Candace_Knoebel

Blitz-wide giveaway 

• Paperback copy of Evernight signed by the characters (US only)
• e-Copy of the entire Night Watchmen Series (INTL)
• e-Copy of the entire Born in Flames trilogy (IINTL)
• Night Watchmen button swag pack (US only)
• 5 bookmark swag packs (US only)
• Bracelet with charms (US only)
• 5$ Amazon gift card (INTL

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Book Birthday! On the Edge of Destiny (Vampire SEALs #3) by S.B. Alexander

On the Edge of Destiny (Vampire SEALs #3) by S.B. Alexander 

Life has never been better for Jo Mason. Her powers are growing, and so is her relationship with the handsome Vampire SEAL, Webb London. Nothing can burst her bubble. Not her upcoming trial for the death of her nemesis, Blake Turner. Not even when she learns her DNA is the key for her enemy to build an army of vampires. Until she has a recurring dream that involves Webb’s future. 

Webb has an important SEAL mission looming. He and his team must rescue a comrade who has been missing in action. He hates to leave Jo, but duty calls. He can’t trust in an old myth that dreams could be the window to the future. Not when a life is on the line. Not even if it’s his own. (Blurb via Goodreads)

Buy it on Amazon now!

S. B. Alexander's Amazon page + Facebook + Twitter + Goodreads

I love S.B. Alexander's Vampire SEALs series - as well as her Maxwell series - go check them out, I bet you'll enjoy them too.

Waiting On Wednesday (71) The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, created by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on: 

The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons

The Handmaid’s Tale meets Blood Red Road in Glass Arrow, the story of Aya, who lives with a small group of women on the run from the men who hunt them, men who want to auction off breeding rights to the highest bidder.

In a world where females are scarce and are hunted, then bought and sold at market for their breeding rights, 15-year old Aya has learned how to hide. With a ragtag bunch of other women and girls, she has successfully avoided capture and eked out a nomadic but free existence in the mountains. But when Aya’s luck runs out and she’s caught by a group of businessmen on a hunting expedition, fighting to survive takes on a whole new meaning. (Blurb via Goodreads)

Expected publication: February 10, 2015

What are you waiting on?

Teaser Tuesday (69) Sealed with a Lie

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read(s)
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) -- or less or more -- “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

"In the end, I'm not sure who I'm madder at - myself, for being so careless, or him, for choking the life out of me.
Before I can decide, everything goes black."

page 5, Sealed with a Lie by Kat Carlton

{Book Blitz + Giveaway} Raven (Chronicles of Steele #1) by Pauline Creeden @P_creeden

Raven (Chronicles of Steele #1)

by Pauline Creeden 

Released Date: 10/2014

Summary from Goodreads:

This is the complete Steampunk Fantasy novel - all four parts of the serial in one volume!

Human life has value.
The poor living in the gutter is as valuable as the rich living in a manor.
The scoundrel is no less valuable than the saint.
Because of this, every life a reaper takes must be redeemed.

Raven has lived by this first tenet since she was trained by her father to become a reaper. But since his death, she’s been spending years redeeming the lives she’s taken. By her count, she’s even and it’s time for that life to end. If she settles down and becomes a wife, she might just feel human again. But on the way to the life she thinks she wants, the baron of New Haven asks her to complete a task which she cannot ignore… Just when Raven decides to give up on her life as an assassin, she’s pulled right back in.

Buy Links:

Amazon│Barnes & Noble

{Excerpt}

 

Two sets of footsteps clipped across on the cobblestone. Before they rounded the bend to the stable door, Raven’s fingers twitched over her knife. When she saw Gorman and the younger baron, she relaxed and continued attaching her weapons.

“Can I trust you?” Baron Darius’s voice rose hesitantly as he approached.

She smiled. “I’ve saved your life once and promise to do it as many times as necessary.”

“Why?”

“It’s the reaper’s way. A life for a life.”

“How many have you killed?”

Raven clinched her jaw. “Too many.” Her gaze met the butler’s. “Will he have his own horse?”

“No. The young master’s condition makes him subject to untimely fits. He would be in danger of falling.” His ice blue eyes held a fire unmatched by his frozen features.

“Right. I expected as much.” She placed her boot in the stirrup and mounted. “Hand him to me then.

The butler lifted him to the front of her saddle. She knew it would be an uncomfortable place to ride for a long period of time, but he’d only have to make it to Gregory’s house. On a horse, it should only be about four hours if they took it slow, less than three if needed.

A horn sounded, and the butler paled. “It’s him. The duke approaches.”

“Father is early.” The boy sounded happy but tentative.

Gorman gripped the horse’s rein and turned it toward the other stable exit. “We must leave by the north gate. The duke approaches from the south. You may have as much as an hour’s head start before he commands a pursuit.”

Raven swallowed hard. “That’s not enough time.”

“Follow me.” He released the rein and jogged forward.

The horse trotted in response. Even in the jarring up and down motion of the trot, the young baron remained silent. He gripped the chestnut mare’s mane with both hands. His knuckles glowed white under the lamps. Raven pulled gently on the reins to slow the horse to a more tolerable speed but followed the butler closely.

“Guards!” Gorman reached the gates, speaking in breathless tones. “Baron Solomon orders passage for this woman and the young baron.”

Raven recognized Grant’s red band before he turned around. He narrowed his eyes at her and barked the order to open the gate. Before she could urge her horse forward, Grant gripped the bridle by the cheek piece. He called back toward the butler, “Will she need guard?”

“That will not be necessary. She is capable of caring for the young baron on his errand.”

Even in the half-light, Raven could see the guard’s jaw tighten and nostrils flare in indecision. “Baron Solomon trusts this woman?”

The butler frowned and stiffened in disapproval. Still he answered softly, “Yes, with his brother’s life.”

About the Author

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:

   

GIVEAWAY:

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (52)

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme from Book Journey where we spotlight what we finished reading, are currently reading and plan to read next.

{Finished Reading}

{Currently Reading}

{Currently Listening To}

 
{What I'm Going to Read Next} 

What about you? What have you read lately? What's next on your list?