Showing posts with label Release Day Book Blitz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Release Day Book Blitz. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

{Release Day Book Blitz + Giveaway} Red by Alyxandra Harvey @entangledteen @alyxandrah


Red
Release Date: March 2015
Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:
Bad girls burn hot…

Red is the color of Kia Alcott's hair.
It's her temper, which blazes hot and always gets Kia into way too much trouble.
And it's the color of fire. Fires that Kia can start…just by thinking about them.

When her latest “episode” gets her kicked out of school, Kia is shipped off to her grandmother, who works for the wealthy Blackwoods. It's an estate shrouded in secrets, surrounded by rules, and presided over by a family that is far from normal…including the gorgeous and insolent Ethan Blackwood.

Ethan knows far more about the dangers of the forest surrounding the estate than Kia can ever imagine. For this forest has teeth, and Ethan is charged with protecting the outside world from its vicious mysteries.

But inside, even the most vibrant shade of red doesn't stand a chance against the dark secrets of the Blackwood family… 


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{Excerpt}

            The tower room had an iron gate, like something out of a horror movie. It was open at the moment, but I could see the impressive locks even from here.
            I wondered what could possibly need to be contained that carefully. Besides me. A tiny shiver danced over the back of my neck as I peered inside.
            Spears with decorative beaded bands, arrows, and swords, were all lined up with military, rather than museum, precision. And a lot of stuffed animal heads. There was a stag with chunks of turquoise stones for eyes, a crane standing on a log, a white bull with gold horns, and a horse head with a horn attached to its forehead to make it look like a unicorn.
            Rich people were weird.
            I was stepping inside when a hand closed tightly around my arm, jerking me to a stop. I shouted something that was definitely not ladylike enough for this house. My pulse thumped in my ears.
            “You shouldn’t be in here,” the person said.
            He flexed his hands suddenly, the way people do when they’ve touched something too hot. He wore a silver ring on his thumb. I tried to concentrate on that instead of the spark of panic smoldering in my belly. Burning down a private museum seemed like a really bad introduction to my new life.
            Had he seen the tiny spark that ate a hole in my sleeve? I rubbed it, making sure it wouldn’t flare up again. I wasn’t even sure if it was a new spark or a burn from an old one.
            I’d learned I didn’t need kindling—, I was kindling.
            My palms itched painfully. I shoved the guy to distract him from the heat coming off of me. “Who the hell are you?”
            “Ethan,” he replied.
            Ethan Blackwood. Of course. Way to make a first impression.
            “You must be Abby’s granddaughter.” He was standing very close. And I’d just known he’d be gorgeous. I assumed he’d have better manners, though. Possibly no one else noticed with that ridiculously beautiful face. His hair was blond, his cheekbones deadly. He was lean and muscular, like someone who knew exactly what his body was capable of. And I was thinking way too much about this.
            “Get out of here,” he said softly, intently. His mouth was distracting; it belonged to a villain in a movie full of secrets and temptation. “Now.”
            I was suddenly embarrassed, as if he could read my mind. A little more aggressive misdirection couldn’t hurt. “Have you considered taking up yoga?” I asked with patently false sweetness. “You’re a little tense.”
            “Just go,” he said. “You—”
            “Ethan!” Holden Blackwood interrupted us, sounding shocked and annoyed. “Leave the poor girl alone.”
            A muscle leapt in Ethan’s jaw as he clenched it. He didn’t look at his father, just kept staring at me. “Ethan!” Holden repeated, annoyance hardening to anger.
            Ethan shoved past me so suddenly I toppled into the door frame. I heard his footsteps stomp down the hall and then the slamming of his bedroom door. “I apologize for my son.” Holden sighed. “I fear I’ve spoiled him.”
            Yeah, I couldn’t exactly picture Ethan with an after-school job. Speaking of which, I was going to have to get one as soon as possible. Abby wasn’t the type to give out an allowance, even if she’d been able to afford it. I shrugged awkwardly at Ethan’s dad. “It’s fine.”
            “It certainly is not, but it’s gracious of you to say so.” I couldn’t think of a person more opposite to Abby than Holden Blackwood. Or more opposite to my dad, come to think of it. He screamed sophistication and wealth. The Alcotts just screamed. “Perhaps you’ll do him good, Kia.”
            I nearly snorted. He smiled briefly. “Sorry,” I said, motioning to the trophy room before I opened my big mouth and told him I didn’t do miracles and his brat of a son was beyond my help.



About the Author
Alyxandra Harvey lives in a stone Victorian house in Ontario, Canada with a few resident ghosts who are allowed to stay as long as they keep company manners. She loves medieval dresses, used to be able to recite all of The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson, and has been accused, more than once, of being born in the wrong century. She believes this to be mostly true except for the fact that she really likes running water, women’s rights, and ice cream.
Among her favourite books are ‘The Wood Wife’ by Terri Windling, ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte, and of course, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennet is her hero because she’s smart and sassy, and Mr. Darcy is, well, yum.

Aside from the ghosts, she also lives with husband and their dogs. She likes cinnamon lattes, tattoos and books.

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{Release Day Book Blitz + Giveaway} The Thorn and the Sinking Stone by C.J. Dushinski @entangledteen @cjdushinski


The Thorn and the Sinking Stone
Release Date: March 2015
Entangled Teen
313 pages

Summary from Goodreads:
Warring families. Forbidden love. And danger they can’t escape…

Daggers. Roses. Cowboys. Boat Men. Survivors of Earth's Last War, four “families” vie to rule the dreary streets of Rain City through violence and blood. Valencia Hara, Princess of the wealthy Black Roses, is raised in warrior ways with sharpened steel. But she is no ordinary Rose. She is Cursed—tainted with the ability to see seconds into the future…

To avenge his father's death, Sebastian Leold, of the rival gang Two Daggers, must face off against the Black Princess, he with his dagger, she with her katana sword. Yet a secret from a shared past leaves him unable to kill beautiful Valencia; nor can she kill him. For they once knew each other beyond their blood feud…and they have more secrets in common than they know.

But in a world filled with vengeance and violence, there can be no room for love…


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The Thorn and the Sinking Stone – 5 Sources of Inspiration

Along the way the story of the Thorn and the Sinking Stone changed quite a bit from one draft to the next, inspired by one source or another. Here are the top five sources of inspiration that helped me craft the Thorn and the Sinking Stone to what it is today:

1)      Romeo & Juliet: This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has already read the story. The Thorn and the Sinking Stone was heavily inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Two warring families, young, forbidden love… the general plot is true to the play. I’ve always loved Romeo and Juliet, like a lot of people, and I wondered what the story would be like told in a similar place several hundreds of years later, given similar circumstance and a whole new set of rules. And since Baz Lurhman is one of my favourite movie directors, of course I was inspired by his modern twist on the classic tale. Something about his version with guns and fast cars with a dark setting really inspired the world that Valencia and Sebastian call home.

2)      Gangs of New York: One of my favourite movies. It follows a similar storyline to Romeo and Juliet, in the forbidden romance category, but focuses heavily on the immigrant gangs of 19th century New York and the violence between them as they battled for territory. When I started to think about Sebastian and Valencia and their families, Gangs of New York constantly seemed to come to mind. This was how I imagined the settling of a new city after a major world war would be, with all types of religions and cultures clashing while struggling in chaos to find a place in the new world together. And in the middle of it all, young love still finds a way to thrive.

3)      The Decemberists’ Valencia: I talk about this song by the Decembrists in a playlist post I wrote as well, since the title alone was obvious inspiration for the story and the main character. The song itself, I can only assume, was inspired by Romeo and Juliet, which in turn inspired me. In fact, this is where it really all began. Not with the Shakespearian original or Baz Lurhman’s interpretation, but with this song. The rest drew from the lyrics. I won’t quote them here, but a quick read of them will showcase exactly how the Thorn and the Sinking Stone took shape from the very first seed of inspiration.

4)      Kristin Cashore’s Graceling: I try not to draw from other writer’s works for inspiration very often, but sometimes it just creeps in subtly when I am reading something I love and certain elements seem to just flow harmoniously into my work. It’s usually not until later that I realize it happened at all. In this case, it was Kristin Cashore’s novel Graceling and the unique ability she gave her female lead. I wanted Valencia to be strong, a warrior, and I knew where I was going with the overall concept of the Curses, but not exactly how to bring them to life. I didn’t want them to be big and exaggerated and overtake the story. I wanted them to be a woven addition, keeping the love story central. It was while I was reading Graceling that it clicked for me—that Valencia’s Curse didn’t have to be drastic or overtly powerful, it just had to be advantageous and complimentary to her skill with the Katana, similar to Kristin’s approach in Graceling.

5)      George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: Again, I try not to draw too much from other writer’s work, but it does happen organically I find, especially if I am reading something while writing my own work. In this case, after the final draft of the Thorn and the Sinking Stone was done, I noticed that the family dynamics of the different houses in George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones managed to inspire the warring families in my own story. I was trying to capture the essence of the many shades of good and evil and right and wrong into both the Two Daggers and the Black Roses, a very difficult thing to do in reality, especially in the 300 or so pages I was trying to stick to. I wanted none of the families to be the good guys or the bad guys. They’re all good and bad, right and wrong, in their own way, each doing what they believe is necessary in order to survive and take care of their own while coping with so many differences between them. George does such an incredible job of this in his series with the Lannisters, Starks, and other families in the world he created. I could never capture the intricacies of his relationships, they are so, so good, and have taken thousands of pages of development to get there, but I did find that they helped shade in some of the grey areas I had when writing the characters within the Black Roses an Two Daggers.

There are so many other things that inspired the Thorn and the Sinking Stone, from paintings to memories to people, but these are the ones that stuck out the most when I sat down to write this post. It always amazing me how creation inspires further creation. So thank you to all of those who inspired me. Without you, my story would not be what it is. 




About the Author
While attempting to navigate life as a responsible human being, CJ graduated from university with a B.Comm and worked her way along as marketer, copywriter, and graphic designer to earn a paycheck while pursing her passion for creating fantastical stories set in dark and wondrous corners of the world.  Born amongst the wheat fields and open skies of the Canadian prairies, CJ’s imagination has always run wild, taking her on adventures across the world from modeling in Seoul, South Korea to backpacking through Europe and surfing (poorly) in Hawaii.

After wandering through ancient cities and civilizations, learning from diverse cultures, and surrounding herself in new experiences, CJ was inspired and began work on her debut Young Adult novel THE THORN AND THE SINKING STONE, to be published by Entangled Publishing 2014/15. CJ currently resides in Calgary, Alberta Canada – home of the Canadian Rockies – and keeps one hand on her passport and pen at all times, ready to pick up, see the world, and weave her experiences into stories. 

CJ is represented by Marlene Stringer of the Stringer Literary Agency LLC.

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Monday, February 2, 2015

{Release Day Blitz + Excerpt + Giveaway} Pairing Off by Elizabeth Harmon

Pairing Off Release day

Release Day Blitz

9781426899508-COV
Book Title: Pairing Off 
Author: Elizabeth Harmon 
Genre: Contemporary Romance 
Release Date: February 2, 2015 
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

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Book Blurb

American figure skater Carrie Parker’s Winter Games dreams were dashed when her philandering partner caused one of the greatest scandals in skating history. Blacklisted from competing in the United States, her career is over…until she receives a mysterious invitation and is paired with the most infuriating, talented—and handsome—skater she’s ever met.

Russian champion Anton Belikov knows sacrifice. He gave up a normal life and any hope of a meaningful relationship to pursue his dream. And he’s come close—with a silver medal already under his belt, the next stop is the gold. All he needs is a partner. While he’s never forgotten the young American skater he seduced one long-ago night in Amsterdam, he never expected to be confronted with their past…never mind share the ice with her.


When what starts as a publicity stunt grows into something real, Carrie and Anton’s partnership will test their loyalties to family, country and each other. With only a few months to train for the competition of a lifetime, can they master technique and their emotions, or will they lose their footing and fall victim to the heartaches of their pasts?
excerpt

“Speaking of Lake Placid…we ought to consider a new costume designer. That yellow thing you wore at Cup of China?” Carrie grimaced.
        Anton looked up and grinned. “Is that why you didn’t want anything to do with me that night? Because of my ugly outfit?”
        “It’s hard to take a man seriously when he’s dressed like a giant flower.”
        He glared in mock offense. “I was not flower. We were birds.”
        “Well that makes all the difference, doesn’t it? Anyway, the guy Cody and I used did nice classic looks. No feathers. No sequins. I could see you in something dark and simple, maybe open in the front. Definitely short-sleeved to show off your…” Her eyes feasted on his gorgeous upper arms. What the man did to a faded T-shirt ought to be against the law. He grinned as he caught her looking. Again. Her face burned and she gave a guilty smile. “…hard work.”
        Anton shook his head. “For competition, no short sleeve, no low cut. I would have to get waxed. I hate wax.” He pouted like a little kid about to get a booster shot. “It hurts.”
        “You’re such a baby! I can’t believe you’re afraid of a little manscaping.”
        “Do you like it?”
        Well. Obviously she wasn’t the only one who’d been checking out their partner that day in the pool. Then again, he’d been involved with a skater for years. It wasn’t like he’d never seen a Brazilian before. Her cheeks flushed again. “Only in pair skating would I have a conversation like this with a straight guy I hardly know.”
        “What do you mean, hardly know? You know about my family, where I grew up, what music I like, what sports I like, what I studied at university. And now you know how I feel about man-wax.”
        “Fine, you win. No man-wax.”
        He leaned back, his arms crossed, regarding her with narrowed eyes. “Seems I’m the one who hardly knows you. Every time I ask something, you turn around and ask me instead. Why do you do that? Why do you want to be so much a mystery?”
        She rested her chin on her hand and smiled across the table. “What difference does it make?”
        He started to answer, then stopped. Shaking his head, he laughed. “God, you are aggravating!”

Meet the Author
elizabeth_harmon_5

I love stories that give a fresh take on classic themes, and feature characters and locations not often seen in romance. Give me a lovable, if less-than-perfect heroine, a gorgeous hero with a heart of gold, take them a little off the beaten path and I'm a happy girl.

I read a variety of genres-- romance to horror and just about everything in between. I am a member of Romance Writers of America. I have worked as a freelance journalist for a number of local publications and am a contributing writer to Romance Writers Report.

When I'm not writing, I love to ice skate, bike ride, hang out at the beach or on my front porch. I love vintage homes, adventurous cooking, spending time with my family and traveling.

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