The Lovely Reckless Blog Tour: Interview with Cover Designer Natalie C. Sousa

Welcome to my stop on The Lovely Reckless Blog Tour! Author Kami Garcia was so nice as to ask all participating bloggers what type of content they'd most like to feature, and since cover design is such a point of interest for me (and I know so many of you as well), I asked if it would be possible to ask the designer a few questions. To my delight, Natalie C. Sousa, Creative Director at Imprint (Macmillan) and the cover designer for The Lovely Reckless, agreed to an interview and let me pick her brain about her overall process. I hope you guys enjoy!

How does a cover design typically start for you? Do you begin with sketches? Idea boards?

Natalie Sousa: I start by sketching concepts as thumbnails, and take it in stages. Usually I begin just after reading a summary. This puts me in the same mental space a consumer might approach the book from. I sketch some more ideas half way through reading the manuscript, and again once I've processed the ending. There have been times where the ending really changed the way I felt about a story, and I like to capture all of those reactions.

With The Lovely Reckless, did you have a specific concept or concepts going in? And if so, how did those change as you started designing?

Natalie: Erin Stein, the publisher of Imprint started the process with Kami before I was hired. They knew exactly the energy and style they wanted to convey from the very beginning. I love when designs work out to follow someone's original vision. When I started at Imprint this cover was in its sketch stage. From there we were playing with the chemistry between the couple and deciding what, if any, other elements would help to tell more about the book.

What stage of the design process is typically the most challenging for you (deciding on a design direction, image or font selection, first comps, revisions, etc.)?

Natalie: It used to be deciding on a direction, because what I visualize, or an editor envisions, or an author wishes, and a sales team needs for a cover are usually different. Erin and I have developed a close working relationship, and we're always talking about our books. That kind of dialogue helps me have very clear direction.

If you could tweak any one of your already published covers, which would you most like to get your hands on one more time?

Natalie: Recently I got to chat with Brenna Yovanoff and told her how I'd love to go back and place a hand rising from the baby carriage on her book, The Replacements. Although that cover is probably creepy enough as is!

Can you share a couple early versions of The Lovely Reckless and tell us what about them worked or didn’t work?

Natalie: Here is an early sketch from Loui Jover, the artist. We were missing some chemistry in this earlier sketch. Showing the characters full length helped because the body language said a lot more.

This is an early cover comp from Liz Casal, an incredibly talented designer. She had a clever solution to indicating the car by lighting the brick wall with “headlights”. That element was dropped because it didn’t quite work with the final color palette and title design.

QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS

Favorite font?

Font you wish you’d never have to see again?

Favorite cover you’ve done?

It does not exist yet.

All-time favorite cover?

A Wrinkle In Time

Cover designer who inspires you?

There are many, but Kristin Smith, an Art Director at Penguin, inspires me with her designs and her friendship! Back in our shared Penguin days we used to make elaborate costumes for Halloween and Coney Island's Mermaid Parade together. Kristin always inspired me to get into the details of a costume. Her book design for Danielle Vega's The Merciless is also one of my all time favorite book designs! I cannot resist a hot pink bible.

Favorite color?

My preference often changes, so I’ll say it’s the rainbow.

Must have when designing (food, music, etc.)?

Definitely music! I like to create playlists inspired by the stories I'm designing for. My favorite so far has been for Marcie Colleen's Super Happy Party Bears. Kami Garcia's next book is already inspiring a playlist; first couple songs on there have been Special by Garbage and Bulletproof by La Roux.

If you weren’t a designer you would be . . .?

Here’s my "card".

Number of projects you’re currently working on?

More than I have fingers and toes.

Next cover of yours you’re most excited to reveal?

Blind Item by Kevin Dickson and Jack Ketsoyan. Kevin and Jack are two Hollywood insiders writing a fictional tale with real-life scandals! It’s a super fun read. I got a really strong reaction to the cover from the Macmillan team and I'm curious to see how the public responds. 

Thank you so much Natalie! 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

THE LOVELY RECKLESS

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Kami Garcia, a contemporary romance full of loss, love and redemption…

Seventeen year-old Frankie Devereux would do anything to forget the past. Haunted by the memory of her boyfriend’s death, she lives her life by one dangerous rule: nothing matters. At least, that’s what Frankie tells herself after a reckless mistake forces her to leave her privileged life in the Heights to move in with her dad―an undercover cop. She transfers to public school in the Downs, where fistfights in the halls don’t faze anyone and illegal street racing is more popular than football.

Marco Leone is the fastest street racer in the Downs. Tough, sexy, and hypnotic, he makes it impossible for Frankie to ignore him . . . and how he makes her feel. But the risks Marco takes for his family could have devastating consequences for them both. When Frankie discovers his secret, she has to make a choice. Will she let the pain of the past determine her future? Or will she risk what little she has left to follow her heart?

Your own heart will race with each page turn of this heart-stopping star-crossed love story.

Buy The Lovely Reckless 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

KAMI GARCIA

Photo Credit: Vania Stoyanva

Kami Garcia is the #1 New York Times, USA Today & international bestselling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures and Dangerous Creatures novels. Kami’s solo series, The Legion, includes the instant New York Times bestseller UNBREAKABLE, and the sequel UNMARKED. Her forthcoming YA contemporary romance THE LOVELY RECKLESS releases on October 4, 2016, followed by THE X-FILESORIGINS: AGENT OF CHAOS, a novel about a teenage Fox Mulder, in January 2017, both from Imprint (Macmillan).

Kami was a teacher for seventeen years before co-authoring her first novel on a dare from seven of her students. If she isn’t busy watching Supernatural, Kami can teach you how to escape from a pair of handcuffs or bake a Coca-Cola cake. She lives in Maryland with her family, and their dogs Spike and Oz (named after characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Visit Kami at www.KamiGarcia.com and on Twitter and Instagram @kamigarcia.

Kami's Website 

This Adventure Ends Blog Tour: This Adventure Creates

Happy Friday Everyone!

It's been a tour kind of week this week, and I'm wrapping things up today with a very special tour for This Adventure Ends, the upcoming YA release from Emma Mills. A tour that involves Crayola markers and a teeny tiny canvas.

As part of the tour, a handful of us were asked to pick a verb to pair with "this adventure" and then create an artistic masterpiece (or not, as the case would be with me) that represents the theme we've chosen. Since I spend my days designing book covers, I went with "This Adventure Creates" as it so perfectly fits the job I love so very much.

As it turns out however, washable markers and canvas are not my medium, and my "masterpiece" turned out a little bit wonky. You see, I can't draw anything without sketching it out in pencil first, and when I went to color everything in, I quickly discovered that washable markers and pencil lines are not the best of friends. I had to stick with darker colors to try and hide the pencil otherwise I got a muddy mess, but oh well, I had fun with it anyway!

Behold the glory that is my "This Adventure Creates"!

Apparently my wand of creativity spews a bunch of upside down commas, who knew? O.o I hope you guys got a kick out of my piece and add This Adventure Ends to your must-have lists!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

THIS ADVENTURE ENDS

Releases October 4th from Henry Holt & Co.

Sloane isn't expecting to fall in with a group of friends when she moves from New York to Florida—especially not a group of friends so intense, so in love, so all-consuming. Yet that's exactly what happens.

Sloane becomes closest to Vera, a social-media star who lights up any room, and Gabe, Vera's twin brother and the most serious person Sloane's ever met. When a beloved painting by the twins' late mother goes missing, Sloane takes on the responsibility of tracking it down, a journey that takes her across state lines—and ever deeper into the twins' lives.

Filled with intense and important friendships, a wonderful warts-and-all family, shiveringly good romantic developments, and sharp, witty dialogue, this story is about finding the people you never knew you needed.

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N

Frazzled Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

I'm crazy excited today to be a part of the promotional tour for Frazzled, the Middle Grade debut from Booki Vivat. Booki is an amazing artist, and her doodles have been blowing me away on Twitter for years, so I knew I needed this book in my hands the minute I learned of its existence. Booki was so nice as to answer a few questions for me about creative inspiration, fictional best friends, and of course her protagonist Abbie Wu, so I hope you guys all enjoy the interview!

If you could introduce yourself to readers in doodle-form only, what doodle might best sum you up as an author?

I think this pretty much sums me up—after all, my book is called Frazzled.

What’s one aspect of Abbie’s character that you absolutely share with her? One that’s nothing like you at all?

Honestly, I can’t think of anything significantly different between Abbie and I! So much of Abbie’s character is based on who I was when I was a kid and who I am now. I guess, getting down to the details, Abbie is a middle child, but growing up, I was technically the oldest!

I think anyone who has seen my doodles or knows me in real life gets the sense that Abbie and I are very similar. Beyond our shared resentment towards piñata birthday parties and insatiable love of pastries, Abbie and I can both be a little… dramatic. In fact, the inspiration for Frazzled came from an especially dramatic doodle I had drawn in a moment of crisis. It said, “I live my life in a constant state of impending doom.”
Spoiler alert: Abbie feels the same. 



Inspiration can strike at the oddest and most inconvenient times. Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever felt the need to make a few quick doodles or jot down ideas to save them for later? The strangest medium you’ve ever used when paper wasn’t available?

The strangest place I’ve ever felt the need to doodle was this one time I went out dancing with a group of (relative) strangers. It was such a strange scene and there were so many hilariously awkward and interesting interactions happening around me. I got caught up observing the social dynamics within the space and I had this itching need to document it somehow. That night, I went home and drew a series of doodles about the culture of “going out.”

I usually just stick to pen and paper which isn’t unusual at all, though where I get that paper can range anywhere from receipts to candy wrappers to toilet paper. Contrary to what “toilet paper” implies, I have never doodled on the toilet. 



If Abbie were to write a story about you, what title might she give it?

She would probably title it something verbose and cheeky like, (Still) Frazzled: The Constant Confusion and Unavoidable Uncertainty of Adulthood. Something like that. 



Every once in a while I come across a character whom I know would be my best friend (obviously) if they were real. What one other fictional character might Abbie find a best friend in?

Abbie is the kind of kid who could probably spend all her time in her own head and drive herself crazy, so she really needs friends who can coax her out of that. I think someone like Harriet M. Welsch from Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy would make a fantastic best friend. They might have a rocky start to their friendship and it might take a while for them to warm up to each other. Harriet is a bit purposefully mischievous, whereas Abbie is more accidentally rebellious. But ultimately, Harriet’s sense of curiosity and unapologetic honesty is exactly what Abbie needs in a friend.

Thank you so much Booki!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

FRAZZLED

Meet Abbie Wu! She’s about to start middle school and she’s totally in crisis.

Abbie Wu is in crisis—and not just because she’s stuck in a family that doesn’t quite get her or because the lunch ladies at school are totally corrupt or because everyone seems to have a “Thing” except her. Abbie Wu is in crisis always.

Heavily illustrated and embarrassingly honest, Frazzled dives right into the mind of this hilariously neurotic middle school girl as she tries to figure out who she is, where she belongs, and how to survive the everyday disasters of growing up. With Abbie’s flair for the dramatic and natural tendency to freak out, middle school has never seemed so nerve-racking!

Packed with hilarious black-and-white illustrations and doodles throughout, Frazzled takes readers through Abbie Wu’s hysterical middle school adventures.

Amazon | B&N 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

BOOKI VIVAT

Booki Vivat has been doodling somewhat seriously since 2011 and not-so-seriously since childhood. She grew up in Southern California and graduated from the University of California, San Diego. She currently works in publishing and lives in Brooklyn, New York. This is her first novel. Follow her on Twitter @thebookiv and on Instagram @bookibookibooki.

Website | Twitter | Instagram

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

WEEK ONE:

9/19: Swoony Boys Podcast - Review

9/20: Such A Novel Idea - Guest Post

9/21: What Sarah Read - Review

9/22: Supernatural Snark - Q&A

9/23: Mundie Kids - Review

WEEK TWO:

9/26: The Irish Banana Review - Q&A

9/27: Fiction Fare - Review

9/28: Jenuine Cupcakes - Guest Post

9/29: Wiritng my Own Fairytale - Review

9/30: Reads all the Books - Review

The Gun Runner Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

Happy Friday Everyone! Today I'm joined on the blog by author Scott Hildreth as part of the promotional tour for his newest contemporary romance, The Gun Runner. Scott was nice enough to answer a few questions for me about bad boys, relationships, and crime families, so I hope you guys enjoy the interview and add this one to your lists:)

What are three things that make Tripp a true bad boy rather than a more romanticized version of one?

Tripp’s experiences as a US Marine have left him with the belief that he is invincible. This belief, be it accurate or not, have left him fearing no one. This lack of fear allows him to push boundaries that a normal man wouldn’t come close to even approaching. Three things that I believe support his belief are:

• When approached (and threatened) by the mafia boss, his response was “tell him to go f*ck himself”
• When provided many opportunities to walk away from potential harm, he repeatedly chooses to walk right into the middle of it (saving a woman from being raped, ridding a movie theatre of a man who is a nuisance, saving a woman from being assaulted, defusing a live bomb…)
• Saks Fifth Avenue dressing room sex scene.

Terra comes from a family capable of truly terrible things. What is her biggest fear regarding her family (other than that Tripp will find out who she is)?

Loss. Criminals are eventually captured. Considering the crimes her family commits, she realizes the strict penalty (should anyone be caught) would split her family apart.

If Terra could give her pre-Tripp self a few words of advice about what was in store for her in their relationship, what she say?

Regarding relationships, never keep secrets.

Looking forward to book two, what one word would both Tripp and Terra use to describe the events that unfold?

Unbelievable.

Thanks so much for stopping by Scott!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

THE GUN RUNNER

Tripp

Once, I took down terrorists on the front lines as a marine.

Now I'm in the business of bad.

I've sold guns to people others might not approve of.

I've eliminated the criminals, the lowlifes and the thugs who've tread on my turf.

And I looked the Sicilian Mafia boss in the eye and told him to f*** off.

No one tells me no, unless it's their last word.

I didn't just act the part of bad—I lived it. Then she stumbled into my life.

I tried to stay away from her. Tried focusing on moving my merchandise. But one smile from Terra was like a shot to the heart.

She's mine now. And no one threatens what's mine.

Terra

I've seen a lot of terrible things in my life.

I grew up around lies and deception, and I ran away from all of them.

Until I met him.

I knew he was corrupt. I knew he was dangerous.

I should have stayed away, but my attraction to him, my need for him, overrode my logic.

Now I love him.

If he finds out who I am, we're done and I'll be nothing.

I never wanted to be the Mafia princess they tried to make me, but mia familia had other plans. And what mia familia wants…it gets.

Only Michael Tripp can save me.

Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

SCOTT HILDRETH

Born In San Diego California, Scott now calls Wichita, Kansas home. Residing in Kansas with his wife, Jessica, and six children, he somehow finds twelve hours a day to work on his writing.

Addicted to riding his Harley-Davidson, tattoos, and drinking coffee, Scott can generally be found in a tattoo shop, on his Harley, or in a local coffee house when not writing.

Scott is a hybrid author who both self-publishes and conventionally publishes. Look for a three book (mafia erotic romance) series releasing in 2016 through Harlequin Romance.

Loyal to the fans, fan girls, and faithful followers who allowed him to make writing a full-time career, Scott communicates with his followers on Facebook almost daily. He encourages his readers to follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Facebook Author Page | Goodreads Author Page

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to the team at Harlequin and Carina Press, one lucky winner will receive the following:

• $25 Amazon Gift Card
• eCopy of The Gun Runner by Scott Hildreth

Please enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TOUR SCHEDULE

• Monday, July 25th - Bewitched Bookworms
• Wednesday, July 27th - BookHounds
• Friday, July 29th - Supernatural Snark 
  
  
• Monday, August 1st - Book Briefs
• Wednesday, August 3rd - Curling Up With A Good Book
• Friday, August 5th - Ramblings From Beneath The Sheets 
   
• Monday, August 8th - Alpha Book Club
• Wednesday, August 10th - Parajunkee
• Friday, August 12th - underneath the covers

Review: Places No One Knows

PLACES NO ONE KNOWS
Brenna Yovanoff
Contemporary-ish Young Adult
384 pages
Delacorte Press
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Waverly Camdenmar spends her nights running until she can’t even think. Then the sun comes up, life goes on, and Waverly goes back to her perfectly hateful best friend, her perfectly dull classes, and the tiny, nagging suspicion that there’s more to life than student council and GPAs.

Marshall Holt is a loser. He drinks on school nights and gets stoned in the park. He is at risk of not graduating, he does not care, he is no one. He is not even close to being in Waverly’s world.

But then one night Waverly falls asleep and dreams herself into Marshall’s bedroom—and when the sun comes up, nothing in her life can ever be the same. In Waverly’s dreams, the rules have changed. But in her days, she’ll have to decide if it’s worth losing everything for a boy who barely exists.

MY THOUGHTS
Places No One Knows is one of those reads that feels effortless, one about everything and nothing at the same time that flows from one page to the next with such ease that we have little choice but to lose ourselves in the quick slice of life detailed for us in black and white.

Waverly is a puppet. Perfectly maintained and beautifully flawless, dancing on her strings to a tune set by her best friend and the expectations of her peers. She's not empty-headed or oblivious, instead she's aware of her strings and wears her perfection like a suit of armor, fully capable of wielding a pair of scissors and setting herself free, but so used to having them wrapped around her that her hands have forgotten how to make a cutting motion. There's something completely absorbing about watching as a quiet but impactful earthquake named Marshall and a frenzied delight of a hurricane named Autumn rattle her foundations, introducing a little change into the monotony of her high school existence.

Marshall is wrapped up every bit as tight as Waverly, but where her strings are pristine and unbroken, his are frayed and doused in alcohol. He gets through his days by drinking himself into feeling better, his home life an absolute mess and the main reason he seeks escape at the bottom of a bottle or the end of a lit cigarette. When Waverly starts showing up inexplicably in his room late at night however, he's forced to see his world through eyes that may or may not have trouble discerning what's real from what's not, and in doing so finds a direction he would never have found otherwise. His relationship with Waverly is fragile, existing in stolen nighttime moments and then disappearing with the rise of the sun, but not without leaving a few small remnants of the two of them behind.

Overall Places No One Knows is a beautiful story, defining and then redefining relationships and friendships as they ebb and flow, and leaving us with a smile on our faces as Waverly and Marshall find a way to bring the truths shared only at night into the light of day.

Rating: 4/5

Find Brenna:

Website • Tumblr • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: The Long Game

THE LONG GAME
The Fixer #2
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Young Adult/Political Thriller
368 Pages
Bloomsbury
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Tess Kendrick, teen fixer extraordinaire, returns in a pulse-pounding thriller about a deadly conspiracy at the heart of Washington.

For Tess Kendrick, a junior at the elite Hardwicke School in Washington D.C., fixing runs in the family. But Tess has another legacy, too, one that involves power and the making of political dynasties. When Tess is asked to run a classmate's campaign for student council, she agrees. But when the candidates are children of politicians, even a high school election can involve life-shattering secrets.

Meanwhile, Tess's guardian has also taken on an impossible case, as a terrorist attack calls into doubt who can--and cannot--be trusted on Capitol Hill. Tess knows better than most that power is currency in D.C., but she's about to discover first-hand that power always comes with a price.

MY THOUGHTS
The Long Game is one of those reads that’s sheer entertainment, the political maneuvering and government conspiracies a bit over the top but in a fun, perfect-break-from-reality kind of way that has us flipping the pages as fast as possible to see which player on the board is going to make the next move.

Tess is easy-to-root for, a bit cocky at times thanks to her familial connections in the political arena, but she’s a Robin Hood whose currency just happens to be information, and it’s impossible not to smile when those who seek to exploit weakness get their just deserts. Though she has the same unfortunate habit of keeping certain secrets as her mother, on the whole she’s good about sharing information with those who are in the best position to help her, never running off to solve a problem on her own without first notifying someone of her plan. Her relationship with Ivy can be frustrating at times, their shared inability to give voice to the things that matter most a bit trying in this second installment, but the drama between them is never so extreme as to detract from our overall enjoyment.

As with the first book, there’s little to no romance in this second book, and while that might disappoint those readers like myself who live for a bit of swoon in whatever they read, Ms. Barnes ensures this story never feels as though it’s lacking. The life and death game-playing by political big wigs and terrorists alike keeps our attention throughout, and secondary characters like Asher with his absurdly endearing sense of humor plaster smiles on our faces in a number of very welcome moments of levity.

All in all, The Long Game is a strong follow-up to The Fixer, leaving us with an important revelation that has us looking forward to the next book without facing a brutal cliffhanger that tears the rug out from under us on the last page.

Rating: 4/5

Find Jennifer:

Website • Tumblr • Twitter • Amazon • Goodreads 

This book was sent to me by the publisher  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

 

Review: The Smell of Other People's Houses

THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES
Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Contemporary Young Adult
240 pages
Wendy Lamb Books/Penguin Random House
Available Now
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
In Alaska, 1970, being a teenager here isn’t like being a teenager anywhere else. This deeply moving and authentic debut is for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and Benjamin Alire Saenz. Intertwining stories of love, tragedy, wild luck, and salvation on the edge of America’s Last Frontier introduce a writer of rare talent.

Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.

Four very different lives are about to become entangled. This unforgettable book is about people who try to save each other—and how sometimes, when they least expect it, they succeed.

MY THOUGHTS
The Smell of Other People's Houses is a story that's deceptively simple, one that gives us a few fleeting moments with a handful of characters as their lives briefly intertwine before leaving us at the last page waving a fond farewell. Despite it's more slice-of-life feel, it's a story that's hard to put down, the easy flow to the writing and the richness of the characters drawing us in and ensuring we're fully engaged from first page to last.

Stories with multiple narrators can be sometimes be tricky, a favorite among the group making time spent away from them a source of anxiety, but despite the presence of weightier issues involving teen pregnancy and various forms of child abuse and neglect, each character's story has a sort of quiet hope to it, making it hard to favor one over the others. Ruth finds herself pregnant and shipped off to an abbey to serve out her pregnancy in relative isolation, Dora battles a neglectful mother and the ghost of an abusive father, Hank attempts to save his brothers from a steadily worsening home situation by running away, and Alyce struggles with the guilt of a dream that differs from that of her father. Each has their own set of problems, but they all share an incredibly strong mental fortitude, facing their demons as they arise with a quiet strength that's endlessly fascinating.

They don't yell and rage at their circumstances, cursing and blaming their families for putting them in their current positions, instead they all simply deal as best they can and take us along for the ride as their problems lead them to one another. Wondering how each of their lives are going to intersect is part of the joy of this story, and while the end gives us no concrete answers as to how their lives are going to unfold moving forward, somehow it's enough just to have had these couple hundred pages with them.

Overall, The Smell of Other People's Houses is not a story that rips our hearts out and stomps on them or bowls us over with non-stop action, instead it slowly invites us in thanks to everyday people living everyday lives that just happen to be marked by more darkness than most. None of them allow that darkness to win though, bringing a smile to our faces as they each fight in their own way to hold on to what matters most.

Rating: 4/5

Find Bonnie-Sue:

Website • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

  

Be sure and check out the other stops on this tour for more reviews of this outstanding debut!

2/16 – The Young Folks
2/17  – Reading with Cupcakes
2/18 – Jessabella Reads
2/19 – Across the Words
2/20 – The Hiding Spot
2/21 – Pretty Good Gatsby
2/22 – Once Upon a Twilight
2/23 – The Reading Nook Reviews
2/24 – The Social Potato
2/25 – The Cover Contessa
2/26 – Irish Banana
2/27 – Waste Paper Prose
2/28 – Page Turners Blog
2/29 – Collected Works
3/1 – Live to Read
3/2 – Supernatural Snark

This book was sent to me by the publisher  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

 

Harlequin Naughty or Nice Winter Blog Tour + Giveaway: Naughty Heroes

Happy Friday Everyone! Today I'm thrilled to be a part of Harlequin's Naughty or Nice Winter Blog Tour, a 4-week event featuring six romance authors and their exclusive holiday-themed guest posts. I have the pleasure of welcoming Maisey Yates to the blog to talk about something very close to my heart: Naughty heroes. What? I can't help it! I love a book boyfriend who has a few rough edges and isn't afraid to revel in them, so I will certainly be checking out every book on Maisey's list. I hope you guys enjoy her recommendations as much as I did!

MY TOP 5 NAUGHTY HEROES BY MAISEY YATES

All right, since it’s Christmas, I thought I’d devote a post to my favorite heroes who would absolutely get coal in their stocking.

My hero in A Copper Ridge Christmas, Ryan, would most definitely earn himself a lump of it. Why? He’s on the naughty list. A gruff, grumpy fisherman harboring illicit fantasies for his former foster sister, he’s certainly not going to qualify for presents from Santa.

But that’s okay! Because I like my heroes naughty.

Here are my Top 5 Naughty Heroes who are just as naughty…if not naughtier…than my hero.

1. Ajax from Make You Burn by Megan Crane. Naughty is kind of an understatement for Ajax, an MC President with hard language and a hard body. He’s possibly the naughtiest hero around ever. You’ve been warned.

2. Dan from Rebel Cowboy by Nicole Helm. Former hockey-playing, llama-ranching (yeah, you heard me), sexy, naughty cowboy hero who hires the heroine to help him figure out how to run his ranching spread in Montana.

3. Vin from Having Her by Jackie Ashenden. A very naughty, very…er…bossy hero who enters into a fantasy-driven relationship with his little sister’s best friend.

4. Rafael from Unwrapping the Castelli Secret by Caitlin Crews. Rafael is a very naughty hero who reformed slightly when he lost the love of his life in a car accident. But when he finds out she’s actually alive…it’s pretty clear he still retains his naughty edge!

5. Alex in What I Did For a Duke by Julie Anne Long. This hero sets out to seduce the much-younger sister of the man who stole his fiancée, all for revenge. Delicious, romantic and very, very naughty.

I can’t guarantee reading these guys won’t put YOU on the naughty list, but then I think they’re pretty good compensation. :)

Happy holidays,

Maisey

Thanks so much Maisey!

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A COPPER RIDGE CHRISTMAS

Snow is falling in Copper Ridge, Oregon—but the heat between a holiday-loving party planner and the town’s resident Scrooge is off the charts in this sweet and sizzling Christmas novella…

Holly Fulton is throwing a special Christmas Eve party for the foster parents who gave her so much. To finish the preparations in time, she needs to recruit her one-time foster brother, Ryan Masters. He may have a scowl that could curdle eggnog, but under that surly demeanor is a big heart. And amazing muscles. And a gorgeous chest. In fact, X-rated visions of Ryan have been dancing in Holly’s head for years, but she can’t risk complicating the only real family she’s ever known.

But maybe there’s a way for Holly to have her Christmas cake and eat it too. A no-strings affair, just until they’re done with the planning. Ryan is certainly willing. But from the first touch, it’s clear that this isn’t just a festive fling. It might just be a Christmas miracle in the making…

Find A Copper Ridge Christmas:

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Find Maisey:

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GIVEAWAY

One grand prize winner will receive:

• 1 print copy of The Harder You Fall by Gena Showalter, White Wedding Christmas by Andrea Laurence, A Cowboy Under the Mistletoe by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Wrapped in Red by Nana Malone and Sherelle Green
• 1 eBook copy of A Copper Ridge Christmas by Maisey Yates and Under the Spotlight by Kate Willoughby
• 100,000 Harlequin MyRewards points
• 2 Harlequin Classics limited edition notebooks
• 1 Brenda Jackson Westmoreland limited edition notebook

Please enter via the Rafflecopter form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cathy Reviews: We All Looked Up

Today I'm so pleased to welcome my wonderful mother-in-law Cathy back to the blog to share her latest review!

WE ALL LOOKED UP
Tommy Wallach
Contemporary/Sci-Fi-ish
370 pages
Simon & Schuster BFYR
Available Now'
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Before the asteroid we let ourselves be defined by labels:
The athlete, the outcast, the slacker, the overachiever.

But then we all looked up and everything changed.

They said it would be here in two months. That gave us two months to leave our labels behind. Two months to become something bigger than what we'd been, something that would last even after the end.

Two months to really live.

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
Tommy Wallach's teen debut novel, We All Looked Up, reminded me of a combination of The Breakfast Club meets Armageddon! All the teenage angst of high school is combined with the impending disaster of being annihilated by an asteroid. The story is told from multiple viewpoints and each voice belongs to a teen from a different high school clique. Mr. Wallach does a good job of giving us insight into each of the main characters lives. Teen readers are sure to identify with one or more of the characters as well as how the dynamics of high school are stressful and demanding.
 
Then Mr. Wallach drops the bombshell–or more accurately an asteroid–on the world. The world learns that an asteroid may hit the earth in two short months. We begin to see what our characters made of as the world is ending. The teens are already struggling with their identities and now they are further challenged. Do they become better versions of themselves or give in to the chaos? Mr. Wallach continues to develop the story and the characters without becoming maudlin but does darken the plot as impending doom nears. The intensity deepens quickly because we are not given much time and are not sure what the ultimate outcome will be.
 
It is a teen tale that will allow the reader to question their own identity, fears, morality and mortality. It is a story not about endings but finding meaning in life. I am giving this book a split rating based on whether the reader is a young adult or an adult. This book could be a good conversation starter between parents and their teens.

Rating: 3.5-4/5

Find Tommy:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the author  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my, or in this case Cathy's, honest opinion.

Against All Odds: Interview + Giveaway

I'm so pleased today to welcome author Patricia Vanasse to the blog as part of the promotional tour for her new release, Against All Odds. It's a Q+A kind of week here on the blog, so I hope you guys enjoy my temporary secondary career as a professional interviewer ;-) If Patricia's answers about Max and Loren pique your interest, please add Against All Odds to your TBR lists! Be sure and check the bottom of the post too for all the details on a special giveaway.

Max and Loren have a lot of obstacles to overcome in order to be together. If they wanted a break from the drama of their lives, what one other fictional couple might they read about in order to feel better about their own relationship challenges?

Oh, wow! I think the challenges Romeo and Juliet encountered would make anyone feel better about their own relationship challenges.

If Loren could write her father a letter that lays bare everything she’s been feeling since her friend Lily’s death, how would the first line read?

Dad, if there’s anyone in this world who can understand what I’m feeling right now, that person is you, and still, you’re failing me completely.

What’s one quirk or habit of Max’s that Loren never would have noticed if her dad hadn’t invited him to live under their roof? One of Loren’s that Max never would noticed?

Max has the habit of touching his watchband when he’s nervous, and Loren bites the inside of her mouth. The more they get to know each other, the more they come to understand their habits.

If Loren could talk to Lily one last time and ask her for once piece of best friend advice regarding Max, what would her first question be?

I’m sure Loren would ask Lily if she should keep their relationship a secret or face anyone who is against them being together. She valued Lily’s opinion more than anyone else’s.

What would Loren say are the top 3 most romantic books she’s ever read?

-Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare
-Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
-Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Thanks so much for stopping by Patricia!

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AGAINST ALL ODDS

Sometimes boy meets girl, and the stars align, and their future is laid out neatly before them. Together forever. Meant to be. But Max and Loren are not one of those couples.

Seventeen-year-old Max DuPont is on the verge of becoming a ward of the state and foster kid. Contrary to expectations, Max is not from the "wrong" side of town. He's from a good home in a nice neighborhood, but his mother left after his father lost his job and turned to drinking. Max has been struggling to keep his head above water ever since. All he wants is to survive his senior year, play hockey, and move on to college. When his dad lands himself in jail, Max has no choice but to accept an offer to live with his father's do-gooder attorney, Mr. Larssi. The only contingency is that Max must stay far away from Larssi's beautiful teenage daughter Loren.

Loren is aware that she's had every opportunity in her young adult life—at least, that is, every opportunity her parents designed for her. She excels in academics at a competitive prep school, she never parties, she never dates, and she's a budding ballerina and major hopeful for a Juilliard scholarship. But since her best friend Lily died tragically three months ago, Loren is lost. She knows just how precious life is. But she has no idea how to make the best of it. How can she live—really live—with obsessive parents breathing down her neck…and inviting the only guy who never noticed her to live right under their roof?

Loren's first step in living her own life might be to get Max to notice her. Max's only chance at a solid future without foster care is to keep his distance from Loren. But their chemistry is undeniable. And they can't fight the odds forever.

Goodreads • Amazon

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PATRICIA VANASSE

Patricia Vanasse was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Now she lives on a beautiful island in the Pacific Northwest. She has been through Culinary Arts, Psychology, Law School, and now has finally found her passion in creative writing. She also loves traveling, cooking, and is an avid reader. Her strength- believes that everything is possible. Her weakness- an obsessive relationship with caffeine.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads

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GIVEAWAY

Patricia is generously offering up a variety of prizes for this tour!

•     A $25 Amazon gift card (international)
•     A signed copy of AGAINST ALL ODDS (US only)
•     2 eCopies of AGAINST ALL ODDS (international)

Please enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• Monday, September 28th - Bewitched Bookworms - Guest Post
• Tuesday, September 29th - Supernatural Snark - Interview
• Wednesday,September 30th - Two Chicks on Books - Excerpt
• Thursday, October 1st - For The Love Of Books - Review & Good In The Stacks - Review
• Friday, October 2nd - The Bookmark Blog - Review together with Guest Post

• Monday, October 5th - Here's to Happy Endings - Review together with Interview
• Tuesday, October 6th - Curling Up With A Good Book - Review together with Interview
• Wednesday, October 7th - Book Swoon - Review
• Thursday, October 8th - Ramblings From Beneath the Sheets - Review  &  Fiksthun - Review together with Guest Post
• Friday, October 9th - Kindle and Me - Review together with Guest Post