A Life Through Books

Friday, June 6, 2014

Blog Tour Book Review

Blog Tour: Reach For Your Light by @Ces_Creatively

Blog Tour: Reach For Your Light by @Ces_Creatively
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Paranormal Romance
Date Published: May 29, 2014

   
Emma Williams is searching for a new direction. Leaving behind a dead end career and harrowing relationship in London, she makes a fresh start in Bournemouth bonding immediately with flat mate Denzil and enjoying coastal life. 

 Falling in love with delicious Jeremy White she soon discovers that her new life is not as uncomplicated as she’d hoped. It may look like she has the perfect beach apartment and gorgeous man of her dreams but when visions of a mysterious stranger become reality and manipulating exes are out to cause trouble in paradise, Em just wants to find the truth in a world of deceit. 

 The Light Direction will take you on a fast-paced roller coaster of hot sex, mind games and supernatural visions that will leave you hungry for more.

 **Contains explicit adult content. Not suitable for under 18 yrs.**


My Review
The paranormal aspect of the story was actually interesting. I liked the way it evolved. There was a good balance between the Romance and Paranormal.

 These characters each have their own personalities and depth to them. None of them felt one-dimensional or forced, they all shined through as individuals. Some of the characters were harder to appreciate than others, but I think its good that they had flaws. 

 This is the first in a series, so be prepared to anticipate the follow up!


Ces Creatively is an inspiring mum of three from Poole who loves to spend time at Poole Harbour, Sandbanks Dorset. Juggling being a mum with running graphic design business www.biz-brand-buzz.co.uk, popular website with a book blog www.supportivebusinessmums.co.uk and hand made gifts business www.prettyinspiring.co.uk she miraculously also finds time to write www.the-light-direction.co.uk novel series which she has dedicated to her son in heaven. A tireless champion of small businesses and other authors, Ces has won several awards for supportive innovation and dedicates time every week to promoting others online. In a unique twist, her debut paranormal romance novel The Light Direction - Reach For Your Light features real small businesses and talented creatives.
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Dystopian Excerpt

Release Blitz: An Etiquette Guide to the End Times by @MaiaSepp #excerpt + #giveaway

Release Blitz: An Etiquette Guide to the End Times by @MaiaSepp #excerpt + #giveaway
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An Etiquette Guide to the End Times - Cover Reveal
By Maia Sepp
Women's Fiction / Dystopian
Date Published: June 6, 2014

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   Good manners never go out of style…do they?

There aren’t any zombies (yet), but the world is still at the brink of destruction: It’s 2028 and global warming has led to rising oceans, crazy weather, and resource scarcity. On top of that, someone just turned the Internet off. Seeing as how it’s humanity’s last chance to turn things around manners are, understandably, a bit frayed.


Etiquette buff Olive O’Malley is busy microfarming her urban property and minding her own business (and her chickens) when the government comes calling. Their goal is to push the populace towards carbon-neutrality while keeping kvetching to a minimum, and they come with a proposal: transition Olive’s popular etiquette column to a radio show for the masses, and they’ll help Olive find her grandfather, who’s gone missing.


Olive doesn’t trust the hipster government officials who try to bribe her with delicious-but-probably-a-little-evil chocolate pastries, and declines their offer. (Politely, of course.) But they won't take no for an answer, and soon Olive is knee-deep in turmoil, eco-terrorism, and missing chickens. Now she has to untangle herself from their demands and figure out how to make sure her family (and her poultry) are safe before it’s too late.

 *Note* This Novel is Written in Canadian English. 

Excerpt
My superhero power is definitely not sleeping. When I was looking for a house, my realtor rhapsodized about this bedroom’s perfect southern exposure, about the tastefully herbaceous wall treatment and charming old-world feel. Right now my room could be more accurately described as a floral-wallpapered sauna, full of an impossible heat, like three Julys stuffed into one. It isn’t helping.
I watch the overhead fan stop again, gyrate, and then restart before I roll over, the sheets coming with me. After a minute I shift to the other side, flinging the covers away with a sigh. The fan finally grinds to a halt, probably the victim of a wiring problem I haven’t been able to pin down, although lately I’ve been thinking it might just hate me.
I relocate to the living room and angle the pedestal fan my way. God, it’s hot. I close my eyes and lean back on the couch for a minute, hoping sleep will take me. The sofa is a faux leather hand-me-down that’s supple after years of wear, smelling faintly earthy, soft against my skin.
Eventually I switch the TV on. Our cable hasn’t worked properly in months, service so erratic it’s like the people running the company are legless, as my grandfather Fred would say–a charming Irish way of saying spectacularly drunk, even though my grandfather hasn’t seen Ireland since he was a child. My eyes land on Fred’s easy chair, a pale green monstrosity he could barely squeeze through the front door when I finally convinced him to move in with me. His pipe, his books, and his old-man slippers are still where he left them.
After flipping through a bunch of static, I shut the TV off and switch to the radio, which promptly announces it’s five-thirty in the morning. I ponder what to do next, discarding juggling, mind reading, and origami, although I spend more time thinking about mind reading than I probably should, considering I’m the only one here. Finally I pull my computer tablet onto my lap and turn it on. I write an etiquette column for a spunky arts and culture website, and my latest instalment is due on Friday; other people’s problems are always a delightful way to get my mind off my own. I start to page through the letters, which all start with Dear Olive. Dear Olive, I’m convinced my neighbour is milking my goat. Dear Olive, my neighbour’s windmill is keeping me up at night. Dear Olive, my wife is hoarding solar panels. What do I do?
Three crashing noises erupt above my head, each more ominous than the next. I wait for it to stop, but twenty minutes later I’m clinging to the side of my house, staring down a pair of raccoons who seem intent on defiling my solar array. For a long while it’s just the three of us, locked in visual combat, but it’s my roof and unless they start paying rent, they’ve got to go.  Eventually they get spooked by the noise of the six a.m. domestic surveillance drone overhead, which would make this the first time I’ve ever been happy to see a drone. I watch as it starts its first pass of the morning. They’re smaller than the military version–sleek, modern, ever-watchful. Rumour is they’re even biodegradable, although that hasn’t exactly endeared them to the population.
After the raccoons finally lumber off I pull myself onto the roof and take a look at the solar panel they’ve sullied, the wires connecting the array to my house almost stripped. It’s not easy to carry out rooftop repairs quietly at six in the morning, and it definitely wouldn’t be polite to wake anyone up, but I don’t want to be back up here tomorrow, either. If I leave the panel like this, they’ll come back and finish the job, I know it. They’re organized.
I look up when a newfangled Town Car, still boxy and authoritarian but now electric-powered, turns onto my street. I watch it as it goes; there are almost no cars on the roads these days, and the sight makes a faint sense of unease pulse through me. I hope whoever’s in that car isn’t carrying bad news for one of my neighbours.
After it eases past my house I try to concentrate on how to get myself off this roof. I’ve brought my very last roll of duct tape with me and after a moment of conflict, I wrestle a piece off and start to fix the panel, but my foot slips and my right hip ends up bouncing off the shingles. I pull myself into a sitting position to gather my wits, my stomach clenched into the size of a peanut, my breath suddenly ragged and shaky. I don’t want to go splat on the driveway beside my house. It’s a bungalow, true, and not that far to fall, but it’s still a worry.
Over my left shoulder the sunrise glows on the horizon, beautiful in a terrifying sort of way. It’s hard not to be nervous about what the sun will do to us today; so far the summer of 2028 has broken four temperature records, slow-cooking our city under our feet, making everything smell like asphalt and failure.

 About the Author : Maia Sepp

Maia left the tech sector to write about sock thievery, migraines, and...the tech sector.

The Sock Wars is her debut novel. The first chapter of The Sock Wars was published as a short story/novel excerpt titled Irish Drinking Socks, and became a Kobo bestselling short story. The Sock Wars has been a top-100 digital bestseller on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the iBookstore, as well as a genre and Writing Life bestseller on Kobo.

Maia's second novel is The Migraine Mafia, a story about a nerdy thirtysomething's quest to come to terms with a chronic illness. It is available online everywhere.

Her latest is a humorous near-future dystopian novella, titled, An Etiquette Guide to the End Times, available June 2014. To be notified about new releases, please add yourself to Maia's mailing list: http://www.maiasepp.com/mailing_list.html.

Authors Links

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Blog | Mailing List Sign Up

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Thursday, June 5, 2014

Blog Tour Book Review

Blog Tour: State of Infection by @Zom_Novel_Frey #giveaway and #review

Blog Tour: State of Infection by @Zom_Novel_Frey #giveaway and #review
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Sci-Fi / Horror
Date Published: March 6, 2014
   
Just months before the Battle of Central Park and the onset of the Second Civil War, President Obama declares martial law in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut as Montoya’s encephalopathy spreads. Despite the military’s best efforts, the government falls and Manhattan is reborn as a city-state under a military dictatorship. Survivors Mike Calaf, and Avalon Calendar struggle to survive, caught between the zombies and the new ruler of New York. But long before the zombie infection, during the First Civil War, Doctor William Jackson (of the Confederate States of America) is trying to unravel the mystery behind this strange new sickness. He knows that if Complex P fails to work, there could be devastating consequences which might influence the future of mankind.


My Review

I liked the diversity of the novel. It pulls together Horror and Thriller aspects along with Humor and even Historical elements, all of which are executed well and come together seamlessly. 

I really enjoyed the fact that Michael J. Frey was able to surprise me a couple of times. I always like a novel that keeps me guessing.



Michael Frey is a physician and assistant professor in New York City. He has been published numerous times as a short storyist and poet, but this is his first zombie novel. He lives in New York with his wife, two children and two dogs.


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Excerpt Giveaway

PROMO: Late Night Campfire Chillers by Rajeev Bhargava #giveaway

PROMO: Late Night Campfire Chillers by Rajeev Bhargava #giveaway
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Late Night Campfire Chillers - PROMO Blitz
By Rajeev Bhargava
Horror
Date Published: November 19, 2013

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The Aztec demon is unleashed. The green bottle is his “trick.” They’re his bait.
When a group of friends decide to take a break for the night, pitching camp around a crackling fire, their team leader sees a creepy green bottle embedded in the ground. It looks ancient. He pulls it out, deciding to use it as a “spinner.”
And so, they all take turns to tell their tale, unaware that within this bottle abides an ancient creepy Aztec demon spirit, vowing to teach them all a lesson; one they will never forget.
Will they make it through the night? Or will the forces of evil prevail?




EXCERPT

The kitchen curtains were never drawn. They projected silvery moonlight onto Tom’s face. Tonight he was restless. He opened the fridge door and rooted around inside. His eyes lit up when he found a wine bottle.

“Caaw...Caaw.”

“What the hell!” He shuffled to his feet and plodded to the window. The crow still sat perched on the ashes of her love letters. As long as it stayed put, Tom didn’t mind the old crow. But wasn’t it odd that a stuffy old bird, black as night, should sit in solitude, cawing every night.

“Mother would have shot you. That’s why I won’t.”

Returning to the fridge, he uncorked the bottle with his long fingernails. It dripped all over his chest. But what he saw was not wine. It was blood.

“All right, Tom, take it easy old boy. You’re still under shock. That romantic old fluff is taunting you. Go back to bed quietly.”

Consoling himself, he lay down, humming.

 “Caaw! Caaw!” It was the old crow.

Tom shuffled to his feet again, upset. His stomach stiffened and a jet of blood trickled from his belly-button. “W-what’s happening? Am I cracking?”

It was 6:30 a.m. The dimming moonlight tempted Tom to peer outside to get a better look at the crow; that was not difficult. The darn thing never moved an inch. But why was it perched there, on her love letters?

“It’s not there. It’s...not there!” Now Tom really was scared. Overcome with giddiness, he fought back. “M-must...resist...mustn’t fall down.”

But the forces of evil were bent on destruction tonight of all nights. Nine days since the night. Nine days since his mother vowed to come back for her beloved son. It was then that the crow appeared before him...and for the first time, revealed its putrefied face.

“Nighty night, Tom.”

Tom screamed until the crow’s sharp beak tore at his throat, cutting off his cries.

About the Author:
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Rajeev Bhargava lives in Harrow, Greater London.

He enjoys writing stories on various themes, some of which include horror, science fiction, fantasy, mythology, adventure and for children. He also enjoys writing poetry and doing illustrations. His writing career began in 1991, and since then, to-date, his works have been appearing frequently in various small press and main stream magazines and books. His all-time favorite publication is Night to Dawn magazine, which he enjoys reading and writing for, and where his most recent works continue to appear.

To contact him, e-mail him at: TSilverPhoenix@aol.com.

Visit him at: silver.phoenix.3591@facebook.com

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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Blog Tour Book Review

Blog Tour: Clockworkers by @ramsey_isler #review

Blog Tour: Clockworkers by @ramsey_isler #review
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Urban Fantasy

Date Published: November 2013

   
Samantha Chablon is a self-proclaimed “gadget girl”. She runs the family watch repair shop while her eccentric old father spends his days researching fantastical stories of elves. Sam loves her father, but his odd habits have always been a mystery and a burden on the family. But that all changes after her father dies, and she discovers what he left for her.

Sam has inherited a real elf. 

Piv is his name, and he is far older than his boyish face and personality would imply. But he's also wise, and as an elf he is gifted with a preternatural proclivity for making things. Sam's father taught Piv everything he knows about making watches, and he works faster than human hands could ever move. Sam, being much more enterprising than her father, sees opportunity in Piv's talents. Soon Piv is not the only elf working for Sam as she goes about building a luxury watch empire powered by secret elf labor. 

But the elves have remained hidden from humans for good reason, and it's not easy to keep a factory full of territorial elves secret in the middle of a metropolis. One night when someone attempts to break into the factory, the elves take matters into their own hands. The incident gives Sam a glimpse of a dark and twisted side of elves that no fairy tales ever mentioned. Samantha will soon discover that great ambition often comes with great risk, and although her elf partners have agreed to work without pay, there are other costly consequences involved in striking a deal with elves.



My Review

Dark and edgy, Ramsey Isler's novel Clockworkers will have readers captivated by his world. 

The characters are real and very well developed, they make it easy for you as the reader to be drawn into. There are a lot of moving parts, but Clockworkers does a great job of keeping readers up to date on the characters and the plot. I never felt confused and that is a great testament when you are introducing readers to a new world for the first time. 

The only downfall I found was that it did feel a little choppy at times during the actual character conversations. 

 Overall a great Urban Fantasy read. 


Ramsey Isler is an author, software developer, and designer who lives in Los Angeles. He currently writes feature articles and media reviews at IGN.com, an entertainment site that focuses on TV, movies, and video games. Ramsey loves books, anything with circuits and wires, and cats.

For fiction, Ramsey usually writes urban fantasy that blends elements of science fiction and suspense. His stories feature young protagonists that are often unsure of themselves, but they find the strength to persevere when faced with extreme circumstances. Ramsey does not write traditional "evil" villains or black-and-white morality tales; he instead opts for antagonists and anti-heroes who have viewpoints and ideals that pose difficult moral challenges for the protagonists, and the worlds they inhabit.
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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Blog Tour Book Review

Blog Tour: Riveting His Attention by @maywilliams2 #giveaway and #review

Blog Tour: Riveting His Attention by @maywilliams2 #giveaway and #review
1:00 AM1 Comments

Historical Romance
Date Published: March 17, 2014

   
Lady Ella Harwich is capricious. At least that’s what her older brother thinks. However, when it comes to Jim Ferguson, Lady Ella is quite serious. One long, lingering kiss put Jim at the center of her romantic desires and at the top of her list of suitors. And she plans to keep him there. Unfortunately, Jim wants off her list because of a secret past, a career as a shipbuilder instead of a gentleman, and his own inability to resist her. Proving her love—and his worthiness for her love—is Ella’s only way to rivet his attention.
  

My Review

I want to start off by saying how unique I think this cover is. It shows Historical Romance in a way that is different than most novels like it. Its really beautiful!

 The characters are very different than what I am used to in Historical novels, which I really enjoyed. There were so many elements to this novel that really surprised me, in a great way. 

 I liked how easy this read was. Sometimes when reading Historical I feel like I have to think a bit. I'm not a history buff and so sometimes things go over my head, but May Williams has done a great job of writing in a way that makes reading effortless.




May loves romance. Big pink roses, chocolate hearts, sunset walks, but, most of all, she loves romance novels. She’s been reading romances since she first discovered the public library where the librarians didn't notice or didn't care what she was checking out even though she hadn't hit puberty yet.
Since then, May has continued to read every genre of romance, but she writes mostly historical. Places and time periods have stories to tell. And she likes to listen. Her most recent novels are Victorian era pieces where she can imagine beautiful gowns and elegant teas.

When May’s not writing, she manages a houseful of children, pets, and flowers grown in her garden.
Twitter: @maywilliams2

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Sunday, June 1, 2014

Book Cover Contemporary Romance

Cover Reveal from @RosalindJames5 for Just Not Mine

Cover Reveal from @RosalindJames5 for Just Not Mine
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Just Not Mine - Cover Reveal
Rosalind James
Contemporary Romance
Date Published: June 5, 2014

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Destiny has a way of sneaking up on you .  . . or of smacking you in the face.

Hugh Latimer's coping with a few problems just now. A broken hand, missing the European rugby tour . . . and a half-brother and sister who are playing havoc with his love life. Instead of packing down in the scrum, he's driving the carpool to ballet--or forgetting it's his turn. When he hears his neighbor wailing out bad pop in the wee hours, it's the last straw.

Josie Pae Ata is a fortunate woman. A new house, good friends, a gorgeous boyfriend--oh, and stardom, too. Getting involved with her new neighbors would bring risks she doesn't need. But life has a way of changing the rules. And when you get more than you can handle, sometimes all you can do is hang on for the ride.



EXCERPT
        
And then he was standing just the other side of the kitchen bench, and she was looking at the depth of his chest, being reminded about the size of his arms, and he was smiling at her, and her hands had stilled on her knife.

“Do the ballet run, then?” she asked him, forcing herself to start cutting through the dense orange flesh again.

“Yeh. I take it you finished the job? Get your swim?”

“Yeh.” She smiled herself. “Bet I had a better time.”

He laughed. “Bet you did. I was going to say I’d take the kids home, because we all need showers, but d’you need a hand here first?”

She needed to stop smiling at him. “Again, a hand’s what it’d be. Don’t think you could do too much with one.”

“I can do quite a lot with one,” he said, the look in his eyes letting her know exactly what he could do, and suddenly, her oven wasn’t the only thing warming up. All he was doing was standing there, and he was still sending tingles to places they had no business being, evoking every shivery, delicious sensation that the most heated on-screen kiss failed to arouse, and it took all the training she had not to show it.

She looked down again hastily, resumed her hacking progress. “Nah, got this. Go take your shower. Then come back and help me christen my new deck.”

He glanced sharply at her, opened his mouth to say something, then shut it, and she realized what she’d said and very nearly blushed. She never got flustered with men, and she’d worked with, dated, been chatted up for years by men infinitely more handsome, polished, and urbane than Hugh could dream of being, but she was flustered now.

All he said, though, was, “Right. See you in a bit. Hour or so OK? Enough time?”

“Perfect,” she said. “See you then.” And kept chopping her vegies, moving around her dark little kitchen in her bare feet, and did her best to pretend that this was about a thank-you and nothing more.


Rosalind James
Author Rosalind James photo Rosalind_zpsa49a53c9.jpg

PERSONAL STUFF: I met my husband Rick at UC Berkeley when I was 21, so I really do believe in True Love and Happily Ever After—which helps a lot in writing about them! We renewed our vows a few years ago with the help of our two grown sons. Our home base when we’re not having our own adventures is in Berkeley, California, where the summers are foggy and the food shopping is the greatest.

WHY NEW ZEALAND: My husband’s job as an engineer, and mine as a marketing consultant, have given us the opportunity to live in many different wonderful places in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. During the latest stint, 15 months living and working in Auckland, I fell in love with New Zealand: the beauty and diversity of the landscape (not to mention the seascapes), the Maori culture and its integration into the country’s life, and, perhaps more than anything, the people: modest, good-humored, unfailingly polite and hospitable, and so very funny.  I wanted to share what I loved so much about the country with everyone I knew—and didn’t know!

THE BOOKS: We had traveled to Wellington to watch the final of the Rugby World Cup in a pub as the start of a North Island holiday. I was absolutely overwhelmed by the intensity of All Black fever that gripped the entire nation during the World Cup, and the stature of the players themselves at all times. I had never seen anything remotely like it. I started wondering what it would be like to be so intensely admired and instantly recognizable in a country that has zero tolerance for bad behavior—and how hard it would be to find the right partner in that kind of spotlight. And that is where JUST THIS ONCE was born—walking through the rhododendron gardens of Mt. Taranaki, two days after the World Cup final. Writing that first page was terrifying, but within weeks, I knew that I’d finally figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up.

WHEN I’M NOT WRITING: I raise bantam chickens, foster Labrador Retrievers, and try to remember to cook dinner for my long-suffering husband.


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