Books for Company

21.11.14

Giveaway : Bulletproof by Melissa Pearl

Bulletproof by Melissa Pearl

Morgan Pritchett doesn't need anyone. Strong-willed and confident, she's the master of organizing and looking after everyone around her. In her mind, she's bulletproof.
But she has one weakness - men. She can't seem to live without them, yet is unable to find her perfect match. After yet another break up, Morgan promises her sister and best friend that she'll write off men for the rest of the year...but then she meets Sean Jaxon.
Sean Jaxon has worked hard to become a Hollywood actor, scoring minor roles and slowly making a name for himself as an action sidekick. After a chance encounter with the stunning Morgan Pritchett, he decides to take a risk and put his dancing skills to the test by signing on for the lead role in Superstar, a TV musical. He never thought he'd reconnect with the girl who urged him to ignore his manager and be honest with himself, but when Morgan shows up on the set as a production assistant, he realizes he's found his ultimate weakness - her.
Their passion for dance and music will bring them together, but will their relationship be able to withstand the forces determined to pull them apart? As Morgan comes face-to-face with her long-buried demons and Sean decides just how much he's willing to risk for love, these two songbirds discover something...they're not as bulletproof as they thought.

Amazon (UK/USA)

GIVEAWAY:

8.10.14

Extract + Giveaway - Black Ice

Giveaway

To celebrate the publication of Becca Fitzpatrick’s hot new thriller, Black Ice, Simon & Schuster has set up a blog tour with a twist. To be in with a chance of winning a Black Ice goodie bag, all you have to do is visit each of the five blogs in the banner over the course of this week.

Each blog will have one question associated with its content. Take the first letter from the answer of each of those questions to reveal the identity of a character in Black Ice. For example if the answers each day were Log, Under, Chilling, Idaho and Emergency the final answer would be LUCIE.

When you have the name of the character, please send your answer to blackice@simonandschuster.co.uk with the subject headerBLACK ICE BLOG TOUR. Entries will close at midnight on Wednesday 15th October.

Extract of Black Ice

If I died, it wouldn’t be from hypothermia.I decided this as I crammed a goose-down sleeping bag into the back of my Jeep Wrangler and strapped it in, along with five duffels of gear, fleece and woo blankets, silk bag liners, toe warmers, and ground mats. Satisfied nothing was going to fly out on the three-hour drive to Idlewilde, I shut the tailgate and wiped my hands on my cutoffs.
My cell phone blared Rod Stewart crooning, “If you want mybody,” and I held off answering for a moment so I could belt out the “and you think I’m sexy” part along with Rod. Across the street, Mrs. Pritchard slammed her living room window shut. Honestly I couldn’t let a perfectly good ringtone go to waste.
“Hey, girl,” Korbie said, snapping her bubble gum through the phone. “We on schedule or what?”
“Tiny snag. Wrangler’s out of room,” I said with a dramatic sigh. Korbie and I had been best friends forever, but we acted more like sisters. Teasing was part of the fun. “I got the sleeping bags and gear in, but we’re going to have to leave behind one of the duffels: navy with pink handles.”
“You leave my bag, and you can kiss my g-ass money good-bye.”
“Should’ve known you’d play the rich-family card.”
“If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Anyway, you should blame all the people getting divorced and hiring my mom. If people could kiss and make up, she’d be out of a job.”
“And then you’d have to move. Far as I’m concerned, divorce
rocks.”
Korbie snickered her amusement. “I just called Bear. He hasn’t started packing yet but he swears he’s gonna meet us at Idlewilde before dark.”
Korbie’s family owned Idlewilde, a picturesque cabin in Grand Teton National Park, and for the next week, it was as close to civilization as we were going to get. “I told him if I have to clear bats out of the eaves by myself, he can count on a long, chaste spring break,” Korbie added.
“I still can’t believe your parents are letting you spend spring break with your boyfriend.”
“Well—” Korbie began hesitantly.
“I knew it! There is more to this story.”
“Calvin is coming along to chaperone.”
“What?”
Korbie made a gagging noise. “He’s coming home for spring break and my dad is forcing him to tag along. I haven’t talked to Calvin about it, but he’s probably pissed. He hates it when my dad tells him what to do. Especially now that he’s in college. He’s going to be in a horrible mood, and I’m the one who has to put up with it.”
I sat on the Jeep’s bumper, my knees suddenly feeling made of sand. It hurt to breathe. Just like that, Calvin’s ghost was everywhere.I remembered the first time we kissed. During a game of hide-and-seek along the riverbed behind his house, he’d fingered my bra strap and shoved his tongue in my mouth while mosquitoes whined in my ears.
And I’d wasted five pages recording the event ad nauseam in my diary.
“He’ll be back in town any minute,” Korbie said. “It sucks, right? I mean, you’re over him, right?”
“So over him,” I said, hoping I sounded blasé.
“I don’t want it to be awkward, you know?”
“Please. I haven’t thought about your brother in ages.” Then I blurted, “What if I keep an eye on you and Bear? Tell your parents we don’t need Calvin.” The truth was, I wasn’t ready to see Calvin. Maybe I could get out of the trip. Fake an illness. But it was my trip. I had worked hard for this. I wasn’t going to let Calvin ruin it. He’d ruined too many things already.
“They won’t go for it,” Korbie said. “He’s meeting us at Idlewilde tonight.”
“Tonight? What about his gear? He won’t have time to pack,” I pointed out. “We’ve been packing for days.”

Continuing Reading

UK Giveaway - Splintered Light by Cate Sampson

Splintered Light By Cate Sampson

At four years old, Leah Martens was the only witness to the murder of two women in a London park. Now, twelve years later, as the man imprisoned for the murders walks free, Leah desperately tries to remember exactly what she saw that day. But she's not the only person whose life was scarred forever in that park and whose past now threatens to decide the future.

Two boys are also sucked into the treacherous investigation around the murders… Fourteen-year-old Charlie, who is plotting revenge with a ruthless man, and the enigmatic Linden, who befriends Leah all the while concealing his shameful past and leading her further into danger…

3.7.14

Blog Tour - Writing Process by Jennifer Chance

Thank you so much for such an awesome guest post. I am always so intrigued by the writing process and how much it takes to get to the stage of a finished book!

Fake It

By Jennifer Chance

The Ever-Evolving Writing Process

Thank you so much, Jodie, for hosting me today, and for asking about the writing process!

When I was an aspiring author, wondering if I would ever sell a book (this was in the days before Indie Publishing had become such a viable option for authors to reach readers), I never missed an opportunity to learn about a successful author’s writing process.

Surely, I thought, if I could JUST figure out what worked for these other authors, I would stumble upon the exact perfect formula for me. I listened to talks by Pantsers and Plotters and Plotsers, I pored over spreadsheets and index-card systems and project plans. I learned about “listening to your muse” and “honoring the process” and memorized acronyms like BICHOK (Butt in Chair, Hands on Keyboard) and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

And I wrote a book, then finished it. Wrote another book, and finished it. Wrote a third book, and finally sent it out. And a fourth. And a fifth. I generally followed the same process for each—loosely plotting the thing out, then writing it, then rewriting and rewriting and rewriting it.

With the very first book I sold, a YA historical called Maid of Secrets (published under the name Jennifer McGowan), I actually wrote the book—scrapped it, and then rewrote it again, this time with several very fast rounds of revision. That second version sold, and I thought “ah ha! I now know how to write a book successfully!”
Only when I wrote the second book in the series, Maid of Deception—I was on deadline. I didn’t have time to revise several times, and so I had to learn a new process. But it went very well and I thought “ah ha! Now THIS is the way to write a book successfully!”
And then I sold Rock It, the first book in my Rule Breakers series, on proposal. That means I’d written the first three chapters and a synopsis. . . but nothing else. So I had to write the rest of the book. . . in six weeks. And then draft the second book—and the third—in quick succession. So I had to learn a new process. “Ah . . . ha?” I wondered. “Is this how to do it?”
Just as I got a handle on that series of books, however, my next YA historical was due, and. . . you get the idea. J
So now, with three books and one novella published in just over a year, and two more on the way yet this year, and at least two more on the way next year, here’s what I’ve learned about the writing process!

1. It will evolve because your life will evolve.

That first book may have taken you five years to write—but the next one may require you to write it in five months. Or, heaven forfend, five weeks. Be adaptable and open to new ways of doing things, so that your process grows with you.

2. What works for Nora Roberts works because she makes it work. Ditto with your process.

Even if you stumble across the Holy Grail of writing processes, don’t be fooled: it’s still work. You still have to put in the time, show up at the computer, and put words on a page. The best writing process in the world won’t be effective if you never fire up your laptop. Even when—especially when—you don’t feel like it.

3. No process? No problem. You’re a professional. . . and that’s what counts.

If, like me, you study authors far and wide and still aren’t sure what the perfect plan is for you, that’s okay! Just show up anyway and put words on the page. It may not be elegant, it may not even be efficient, but no readers will ever read your spreadsheet . . . they will only read your finished book. So however you can finish that manuscript, finish it! And send it out to be edited and prepared for publication. That’s the only writing process that matters in the end.

Find Jennifer
Website
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter

2.7.14

Finding Us Excerpt and Giveaway

Tate & Low's story.

I'm loud, I'm proud, and I like to bust balls in my spare time. At least, that's what Low Parker would do. But, she is just a mask, one that I have perfected over years of running. I am Willow Knoxx. Master of deception, secrets, and lies. I am the girl your mother told you to stay away from, and the girl your father fantasized about. I have been running for years, always looking over my shoulder. Now, the mask that I have perfected is about to disappear, and everything I have done to keep myself hidden is about to be revealed.

Amazon

Amazon CA

Amazon UK

B&N

Excerpt

“Enough room?” He growled, his brow arching at my comment. “Baby, I don’t think you get it yet. I want to consume your every thought, every movement, every desire.”

His hands suddenly cupped my face as he leaned in close, his breath caressing my lips like soft silk. My pulse skyrocketed at his closeness, as it did every time he was near, sending me dizzy with lust. I could feel the vulnerability snaking its way through my body, latching onto my crimson blood as it slowly seeped through my skin. I could physically smell my vulnerability as it permeated the air around us. I could smell it, taste it, see it.

“Okay,” I squeaked, the fear of my secrets dripping from my soft voice.

“Listen, and listen good, Low. I will consume every part of you. I will consume every thought, every movement, every desire. You won’t be able to breathe without thinking of me, feeling me, wanting only me. Am I clear?”

Oh dear god.

I could feel the lump in my throat forming, choking me with every second that passed, seconds that felt like torturous hours.

“Yes,” I replied on a shaky breath.

Words had yet again failed me. I was sprouting one word answers because Tate did something to me that no man had ever accomplished. He made me feel.

His lips suddenly crashed against my own, the power he held over me pushing boundaries I didn’t know were there. His teeth scraped against my bottom lip, pulling and tugging as if pleading for entry. My head screamed, begged, and bartered, yelling at me to stop, to push back and leave. But his lips and teeth held me captive, my heart jumping at the chance to finally overpower my head, all too willing to be his victim.

HOSTED BY:

24.6.14

International Giveaway - Choose from 10 books!!!

As a thank you for sticking by Books for Company and continuing to read and visit me I have decided to do a giveaway!

Rules :

Winner can choose 1 book

International

Book Depository must deliver to your country

Must be Follower (As the giveaway is to thank my followers!)

Ends 11th July

23.4.14

Giveaway - Burn Out By Kristi Helvig

Burn Out

By Kristi Helvig

Most people want to save the world; seventeen-year-old Tora Reynolds just wants to get the hell off of it. One of the last survivors in Earth's final years, Tora yearns to escape the wasteland her planet has become after the sun turns "red giant," but discovers her fellow survivors are even deadlier than the hostile environment.

Holed up in an underground shelter, Tora is alone--her brilliant scientist father murdered, her mother and sister burned to death. She dreams of living on a planet with oceans, plants, and animals. Unfortunately, the oceans dried out ages ago, the only plants are giant cacti with deadly spines, and her pet, Trigger, is a gun--one of the bio-energetic weapons her father created for the government before his conscience kicked in.

When family friend, Markus, arrives with mercenaries to take the weapons by force, Tora's fury turns to fear when government ships descend in an attempt to kill them all. She forges an unlikely alliance with Markus and his rag-tag group of raiders, including a smart but quiet soldier named James. Tora must quickly figure out who she can trust, as she must choose between saving herself by giving up the guns or honoring her father's request to save humanity from the most lethal weapons in existence.

Giveaway

USA/Canada Only

Ends 1st May

21.3.14

2 Divergent Premiere Tickets To Giveaway!

Books for Company has a pair of tickets to giveaway. For you and a friend!

Experience the world of the hotly anticipated DIVERGENT movie in Leicester Square and attend the EUROPEAN PREMIERE!

On Saturday March 29th and Sunday March 30th Leicester Square will be transformed into the dystopian world of DIVERGENT, where fans will be invited to undergo initiation tests and, like Tris Prior, choose where they belong. Would you survive in Dauntless? Fans will be put through their paces with Dauntless training to see if you are brave enough to join their faction!
But that’s not all – we have a pair of tickets for the European premiere of DIVERGENT at Odeon Leicester Square on the Sunday at 1.30pm, attended by stars of the film Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Kate Winslet! So not only can you discover the world for yourself, you can walk the red carpet, mingle with the stars and watch the film before it’s released in the UK!Enter here for your chance to win this once in a lifetime experience!

The Divergent Fan Experience Timings

Saturday March 29th

11.00am – 6.00pm

Sunday March 30th

11.00am – 12.00pm

3.00pm – 6.00pm

Premiere timings

Sunday March 30th

Doors open – 1.30pm

Doors close – 2.30pm

Film starts 3.00pm

#Divergent

Please ONLY enter if you are sure you are able to attend on 30th March at: Odeon Leicester Square

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you aren’t lucky this time, you are still in with a chance - get down to Leicester Square early as we will also be giving out a limited number of premiere tickets to fans on both days!

27.2.14

Blog Tour - Unraveled by Jen Frederick

Blurb :

Twenty-five-year-old Sgt. Gray Phillips is at a crossroads in his life: stay in the Marine Corps or get out and learn to be a civilian? He’s got forty-five days of leave to make up his mind but the people in his life aren’t making the decision any easier. His dad wants him to get out; his grandfather wants him to stay in. And his growing feelings for Sam Anderson are wreaking havoc with his heart…and his mind. He believes relationships get ruined when a Marine goes on deployment. So now he’s got an even harder decision to make: take a chance on Sam or leave love behind and give his all to the Marines.

Twenty-two year old Samantha Anderson lost her husband to an IED in Afghanistan just two months after their vows. Two years later, Sam is full of regrets—that she didn’t move with her husband to Alaska; that she allowed her friends to drift away; that she hasn’t taken many chances in life. Now, she’s met Gray and taking a risk on this Marine could be her one opportunity to feel alive and in love again. But how can she risk her heart on another military man who could share the same tragic fate as her husband?

Excerpt :

THIS WAS ONLY TEMPORARY, I reminded myself, as Samantha so sweetly kissed me back. I'm only here for a short time I reminded myself but as I felt her tongue stroke the side of my tongue, as she nipped her teeth against my lip, I wanted to just drown in the sensation. Her scent filled my head and the air around us shrank until all I knew was her small body sitting so close to mine. I moved my hand from her shoulder to cup her neck and angled her face for deeper penetration. I licked every inch inside of her mouth until the taste of her was all that I knew on my tongue.

And all that time I stared in to her green eyes and not once did she look like she was anywhere but right here with me. I saw my reflection there. Her heartbeat was made wild by my kisses.

And temporary was the farthest thing from my mind.

Find Jen Frederick

Buy Unraveled

Amazon (UK/USA)

Smashwords

Barnes and Noble

8.2.14

UK Giveaway - The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson

The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson by Paige Toon

The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson (Jessie Jefferson #1)

My first Paige Toon book and I adored it! - Look out for my review.

Simon and Schuster are giving me the chance to give 3 lucky UK people to win a copy, Enter below for your chance to win a copy!

Rules :

UK Only

Ends 24th January

Prizes supplied by S&S (Thank You)

<a Rafflecopter giveaway Find Paige

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TOUR SCHEDULE.

25.1.14

Author Interview + Giveaway : Dahlia Salvatore

Body Language Blurb

Carmen Andrews hasn't spoken for a year, not since she was viciously tortured by a psychopath. Forced into silence by the trauma, she finds a new life in a new town. As a dancer, she can get away with not speaking. In her head is a mess of memories, withheld frustrations, and a host of wingless dreams. When her psychologist exhausts all of her resources, she sends Carmen to a speech therapist.
Fresh out of graduate school, Jacob Weller hopes to help those suffering from mutism and other speech disorders. When he meets Carmen, he finds her attractive, but his ethics keep him from acting on his impulses. When tragedy strikes, his own sanity is challenged and his professionalism takes a hit. Believing that he has failed and with few visible changes in Carmen, he considers referring her to a new doctor.
Carmen has other thoughts on the matter, but struggles with her demons, ones that keep her mouth firmly shut and her heart desperately wanting.

Interview

Dahlia Salvatore

Please tell me a bit about the idea and story behind Body Language
So the idea came from challenging both myself as a writer and having characters that were challenged, themselves. I basically took what I believe is the equation for a good long-lasting relationship and pulled out some of the elements. Among these elements are trust and communication. Communication is one of the things that both characters struggle with in the book. They also spend a good deal of time ignoring what their instincts and core feelings tell them and that hinders them both. Their growth comes from rising from the ashes of their own tragedies and becoming new people.

Jacob almost sounds like a character too 'good to be true' in sense of the word with how caring he sounds. What sort of character is Jacob?
I'm slightly confused as to what “too good to be true” means. If you mean that at face-value from what you read about him on the back of the book that he seems like a person with very few flaws and sins, you'd have to read much further into the book to realize that he is a deeply flawed human being. Most of his sins and character flaws come out of his being selfish in the past and being careless with those who love him. And while the incentive to his treating Carmen eventually becomes a general regard for her welfare, it begins as just another job.

What sort of research did you do into understanding mutism and was it hard to write Carmen's character?
I knew from the beginning that I didn't want her to speak. This was, again, because I wanted to remove the factor of communication that is essential to a healthy relationship. I wanted their love to develop despite its absence. Mutism is one of those conditions that comes from a myriad of causes, especially elective mutism. Carmen happened to be someone who had suffered this horrible event that changed the person she was. At first she was silent so she could heal and after, she was silent because she felt set apart from the rest of the world. Most of my research pertained to how mutism was treated. What I found out was that there isn't really a set way to treat it. There are some medications out there, but each case varies and the cause for the mutism varies.

It was hard to write Carmen, because there were many times that a normal person would have said something. Actually, during the first draft writing, I actually let her slip and have a single line of dialogue. My editor came back and said, “She speaks in this part of the story. Did you mean to do that?” I realized that I let it slip, went back and changed it. So, yes, it was hard because she is unlike any other character I've ever written. Dialogue is one of those important elements in a book that make it important, so I had to imply all of Carmen's dialogue through pantomime and facial expressions. This was my first novel and, thinking back, I feel I just might have picked one of the hardest character types for my book. But her character was important and unique in that way. I mean, how many characters in books nowadays don't speak?

What did you enjoy the most about writing this book?
Gosh, that's a hard one. I would have to say that creating the really intimate scenes—as in the ones that portray some of the hardcore emotions of the respective characters—was the most fulfilling thing about writing this book. There's something about being in the characters' heads, seeing their souls exposed, and knowing (hoping really) that that will translate to the reader. I know that the characters' emotions will hit me harder than most readers, because they live in my head, but if the readers can feel a fraction of what I did while writing Jacob and Carmen's story, I will consider this book a success.

Find Dahlia

Amazon (UK/USA)

I'm a thirty-two-year-old female author living in Seattle, Washington. I'm married to the love of my life and have been for ten years. I come from Coos Bay, Oregon and moved to Seattle six years ago. I love it here and don't see us going anywhere anytime soon. I've been heavily influenced by contemporary writers like J.K. Rowling, Mary Balogh, Christina Dodd, Stephanie Laurens, Laurell K. Hamilton, Anne Rice, Stephen King, and many many others. Indie authors who've influenced me (and these are just a few) are Jasinda Wilder, Michelle Hughes, Kristin Flynn, Katie Mac, Dawn Robertson, Ada Slow, Melissa Brodky, Brandelyn Harris, Brandy Dorsch, and Brandy Jellum.

The Body Language Virtual Book Tour is a Pure Textuality Public Relations promotion.

Buy Body Language
Amazon (UK/USA)
Createspace

CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

The Body Language Virtual Book Tour is a Pure Textuality Public Relations promotion.

12.12.13

Victoria Danann Blog Tour : Giveaway

Rules :

We must insist on one purchase per entry, but unlimited entries are allowed so please consider giving everyone you know the entire Black Swan saga for less than a dollar!

This giveaway is sponsored by Victoria Danann and her team. If you have any questions please ask and I will response as well as I can.

6.12.13

Guest Post + Giveaway - Victoria Danann

Thank you Victoria for this awesome post. I appreciate indie authors so much and this guest post is really interesting to me and definitely agree that authors are now needed to interact with their readers.

The State of Indie Publishing

by Victoria Danann

Last month I was the featured author at the first ever Indie Romance Convention where I was privileged to give the keynote speech on opening night and moderate a panel discussion for authors on Indie marketing.
The Indie Rom con is a convention with separate events (workshops, panels) for authors and readers. I didn’t attend any of the reader events because the con organizer had me busy working with other authors. During those exchanges I was able to discern a lot about the current state of affairs.
First, as I’m sure you’re aware, Independent Publishing includes a variety of approaches to book distribution such as self-publishing, small press, and independent imprint digital. I don’t usually cite my own case because it’s unique. When I began publishing my works of fiction, I did so under 7th House Publishing, which is a small press and was owned by me at the time. For about fifteen years its focus had been strictly calendars, planners, New Age niche books, and sidelines.
As a person who began as owner/operator of a small publishing company, I was fortunate to have many of the skills necessary to running an Indie fiction business before I began writing the fiction I would sell. For the vast majority of Indie authors, that equation is the other way around.
In other words I was familiar with marketing principles, time management, and had acquired useful tech skills so that I can manage my own website, do my own graphics (including covers), and format my books for publication in various e-versions.
Not every Indie author has or is going to want to acquire that specific skill set, but that’s okay. There are people who can be hired to perform those tasks. What every Indie author does need to understand is that an independent writing career is not only a business, it’s an entrepreneurial business. It’s a leap for risk takers and scramblers.
If the voice in your head says, “But I just want to write,” Indie publishing is not for you. Sadly, there may not be any place for you because, while traditional publishing may survive in some form, the days of authors contributing nothing more than manuscripts are over. Even big names are now expected to spend time on social media and engage readers, contribute earnings to various promotions, and participate in marketing activities where their predecessors were simply left alone.
For a time traditional publishing tried to deny that the gate was open for good. For four hundred years nothing much changed in the world of publishing, but the Kindle created a revolution that upended the stranglehold the New York gatekeepers had over which things did or did not get published. Don’t get me wrong. I understand investing. The people who are putting up the money get to say how it’s used, where, when, and why. I have no problem with that. It’s only right.
On the other hand, there’s something truly noble about having a global forum that allows anyone with something to say to put it out there and let the reading public – rather than book investors – decide what they want to read.
As to the fate of traditional publishing, let me paraphrase Mark Coker of Smashwords. “They’re like the Titanic. They know they’re going to sink, but they’re too big to turn. All they can do is brace and wait for impact. “
Meanwhile, a lot of authors like myself are benefitting from a readership with whom contact would have been possible. My books would never have been published – too different, too much of a risk. So I owe Amazon a lot. If they dropped the props that are holding traditional publishing up, so that we were on a level playing field with those authors, I would owe them even more. (Are you listening, Amazon? We, Indies, are your future.)
Next year the Indie Rom Con will be held in Nashville next year, September 11-14 with outstanding small events for both authors and readers. http://indieromancecon.com/

Find Victoria

Twitter

Giveaway
Signed Copy of My Familiar Stranger & Keychain

2.11.13

Ironskin Blog Tour - Giveaway

Blurb :

Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.

It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.

When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a "delicate situation"—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.

Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio…and come out as beautiful as the fey.

Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discover just how far she will go to become whole again

Ends 15th November

International

Find Tina

Buy Ironskin

Amazon (USA/UK)

Amazon Kindle (USA/UK)

1.9.13

Guest Post by Sara Polsky

Several of the characters in my debut novel, This Is How I Find Her, are artists. Sophie, the narrator, gets her love of art from her mother, who is an artist by profession. Sophie considers everything that happens in her life with an artist's eye, stepping back and framing moments as paintings or photographs. And she makes friends with a classmate, Natalie, partly through their shared love of art.

My own artistic ability stopped at stick figures, and my knowledge of artists and art history isn't much more advanced than that. So one of my favorite aspects of researching the book was trying to figure out what kinds of art and which artists my characters would like -- the research had the bonus of exposing me to some artists I'd never heard of before.

The artists who Amy, Sophie's mother, loves are also the artists with whom I was already most familiar, like Picasso, Matisse, and Marc Chagall.

Sophie prefers art that's more abstract, more geometric. She likes the shapes and colors of Piet Mondrian's work, paintings like Kandinsky's On White II, and some of the work of Joan Miro. While hunting for art for Sophie I also discovered all kinds of fun abstract sculptures (http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~sequin/SCULPTS/LONGHURST/ and http://helasculpt.com/gallery/) that seemed like the perfect match for Sophie's talents in math and art.

My own artistic tastes, it turns out, are most like those of another character, Natalie. Natalie, a classmate of Sophie's and eventually a friend, is a photographer. In one scene, she invites Sophie to help her with a photography project that involves people using ordinary, everyday objects in an otherwise rundown house:

"I end up in the living room with Zach, unfolding a rug and laying out a toy train track while he sets out a photo in a frame and tapes a curtain-like piece of cream-colored fabric to the window frame. The fake curtain flutters when a breeze blows through the broken window, and the effect is spooky."

I didn't discover the work of Rineke Djikstra until after I'd finished writing This Is How I Find Her. And as I walked through an exhibition of her work, I didn't just love it for myself -- I also found myself thinking, as if Natalie were a friend of mine, "Oh, Natalie would love this."

Giveaway

Find Sara
Website

Facebook

Buy This Is How I Find Her
Albert Whitman

Visit The Book Cellar tomorrow for the next spot on the tour!

15.8.13

Guest Post + Giveaway - What Inspired Me to Write Red Threads by Stacey J. Mitchell

What Inspired Me to Write Red Threads

by Stacey J. Mitchell

Put simply, my first novel was inspired by a blog post. It was one that I wrote when I was taking part in the 2012 A-to-Z Challenge. If you're not familiar with the A-to-Z Challenge, it goes something like this: for every day in the month of April (apart from Sundays), you write a blog post on a different letter of the alphabet. You start with A on 1 April and work through to Z, which should be posted on 30 April.

Many people write their blog posts around a theme, and this was something I chose to do. I love history and the subject I had selected was mythology. I chose to write about some cultures that I was familiar with (Greece, Rome, and Egypt) and some that I knew less about (the Native American Indians, Japan, and China). Being a challenge that revolves around the alphabet, anyone taking part also has to write posts on those awkward letters at the end of the alphabet such as U, X, Y, and Z—and that was when including Japanese and Chinese mythology really helped me!

When I was reading around the subject of Chinese mythology, I discovered the concept of the Red String of Fate. It states that two people who are destined to be together (soulmates in Western cultures) are connected by a red thread, which runs from the ankle of one to the ankle of the other (or little finger to little finger in Japanese mythology).

This became my 'R' post in the A-to-Z Challenge. It really stuck with me and I started thinking about how I might use it in fiction. What if the red thread didn't just join two soulmates? Perhaps it could be used as a more general indicator of someone's fate, connecting one person to the most important person in his or her life at that time (and not just romantically—after all, we have so many different kinds of relationships).

I thought it would be fun to write about a character who could see these fate lines, but didn't understand what they were. I decided it could become a kind of ability for her, which opened up a door into a completely different aspect of life. I added in beings called Fateliners who help to guide people through the biggest events in their lives, and evil entities who are intent on stopping humans from fulfilling their fate—and in doing so are trying to create chaos in the world.

As you can see, one thought led to the next and I got a little carried away—but the more I thought about it, the more excited I became. I still find it amazing that a novel (and the potential for a whole series) grew out of a short blog post, but inspiration sometimes strikes when you least expect it to!

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International

Ends 23rd August

About the Author

I am a tea drinker and history geek who lives in south Wales. I love reading, being outdoors, cooking, and stand-up comedy--but I don't like bananas and insects.
I have been writing stories ever since I could hold a pen (I know, I know--you've heard that a million times before). It's true, though, and I love writing so much that I even enjoyed my university coursework.
Red Threads is my first novel (but will be the first of many)

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29.7.13

Over The Rainbow by Brian Rowe Excerpt + Giveaway

Over The Rainbow Excerpt

The sun wanted to swallow me whole.
I lifted my arm, tried to block away the harsh light. I was sprawled on rocky dirt, not the cargo hold of the airplane. People typically don’t survive airplane crashes so I figured I was dead.
Except when my eyes adjusted to the light, I didn’t see Heaven or Hell. I didn’t see God—a woman named Rochelle, I always liked to imagine—in front of me. I saw the airplane, the back spitting out waves of smoke, the front protruding through a two-story home. I glanced all around. Not a single person. I listened for the screams. Nothing.
“Where am I?” I said.
I turned to my right to see the cargo area, the door to it teetering against the side of the plane. I wasn’t dead, at least not yet; I had been ejected on impact.
I stood up, shaken but in one piece. I glanced to my left, past the destroyed house, to see a medley of mountains. I had no idea where I was, but nothing surrounding me looked like Topeka.
“I have a feeling I’m not in Kansas anymore,” I said, as I brushed dirt off my Converse.
I moved toward the aircraft. The left wing had split away on impact, and the nose of the plane had destroyed almost the entire second story of the house.
“Hello?” I shouted. “Is anyone there?”
Nothing.
I couldn’t believe what was happening, and I had too many questions to count, so I just shuffled forward, past a small line of bushes and a faded welcome matt, and knocked on the front door of the dilapidated home.
As I waited for an answer, I cracked my neck and looked for a road. There was none. This was the only house around, surrounded in every direction by green-brown mountains, and a reservoir to the south of me. A dirt trail lined with daffodils ran in front of the house, but it looked to go back up into the mountains, not the nearest town.
I knocked again. This time the door opened a crack. “Is anyone here?” I said, and stepped inside.

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Infinityglass by Myra McEntire

25.7.13

US Giveaway - Infinityglass by Myra McEntire

Win a copy of Infinityglass + Infinityglass poster!

(#3 Hourglass)

Blurb :

SPOILER ALERT - If you haven't read the first two in the series.

The stakes have risen even higher in this third book in the Hourglass series.

The Hourglass is a secret organization focused on the study of manipulating time, and its members — many of them teenagers -have uncanny abilities to make time work for them in mysterious ways. Inherent in these powers is a responsibility to take great care, because altering one small moment can have devastating consequences for the past, present, and future. But some time travelers are not exactly honorable, and sometimes unsavory deals must be struck to maintain order.

With the Infinityglass (central to understanding and harnessing the time gene) at large, the hunt is on to find it before someone else does.

But the Hourglass has an advantage. Lily, who has the ability to locate anything lost, has determined that the Infinityglass isn't an object. It's a person. And the Hourglass must find him or her first. But where do you start searching for the very key to time when every second could be the last?

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Ends 2nd August
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22.7.13

Review + Blog Tour Giveaway - Camp Kiss by J.K. Rock

Camp Kiss by J.K. Rock

Series : Yes (#0.5 Camp Boyfriend)

Released : 26th March 2013

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Format : Free Online PDF

Source : Publisher Website

Read for free : Website

Overall rating

.................................... The Blurb ....................................

The Camp Kiss That Started It All…

Lauren Carlson, a fourteen-year-old expert on the cosmos, superheroes, and science fiction trivia has a crush on her longtime camp friend, Seth. Last summer she’d dreamed about upgrading their relationship to BF/GF status and this year she has a plan… if only her well-meaning cabin mates wouldn’t interfere before she’s ready. She hasn’t even adjusted to her new braces yet, let alone imagined kissing Seth with them. When a dare pushes her out of her comfort zone, will she and Seth rocket out of the friendzone at last? There’s only one way to find out….

.................................... My Thoughts ....................................

In Short
- Camp Kiss is a great introduction to the Camp Boyfriend series.

- Lauren is a great character who I feel a lot of teenagers will be able to relate to.
- After finishing Camp Kiss I can't wait to read Camp Boyfriend

In Long

Camp Kiss is part of the Camp Boyfriend series and is an introduction to the characters and series who are in Camp Boyfriend (Not all characters though!), which I think is awesome!

Camp Kiss is a pretty sweet and innocent read which I really enjoyed. Lauren is a very likeable character who I felt in some ways I could relate to, especially with the Truth or Dare game her and her friends are playing at the beginning. I am sure teenage girls as well as people more my age will read this and either be able to relate to their current feelings as a teenage or think back to memories and be able to relate. Being a teenage girl isn’t easy and Camp Kiss is the perfect example of this.

Seth is the main male character who I found very easy to fall in love with, at some points I questioned his motivates but I found it interesting to see how it all turns out and see how he reacted to certain situations.

The storyline isn’t anything particularly amazing but then it doesn’t need to be. Like I said, it’s more of an introduction to the series so didn’t need to have lots going on, hopefully that’s all saved for Camp Boyfriend!

Final Thoughts

Camp Kiss was an enjoyable read and I am now desperate to read Camp Boyfriend, J.K Rock (Joanne and Karen) are both promising authors and have really laid the foundations down for Camp Boyfriend to be an awesome read.

Giveaway

J. K. Rock is the pseudonym for YA writing partners - and sisters-in-law - Joanne & Karen Rock.

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