Run To You Read-Along!

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to do a quick post today to let you all know about a really fun event coming up for Clara Kensie's paranormal young adult serial novel, Run to You. I had the opportunity a little while back to read and review the three parts of book one, and I highly recommend them if you're looking for quick, hugely entertaining reads.

To help celebrate the upcoming release of book two (also consisting of three parts), Clara is hosting a read-along for First Sight, Second Glance, and Third Charm to introduce new readers to the series before Tessa and Tristan's story continues.

I know a lot of you are probably going "I'm not a fan of serials, so this is not for me," but WAIT! What's so great about this serial in particular is one: All three parts of book one are already out, and two: This serial releases a week apart with part four (Fourth Shadow) actually releasing last week. Part five (Fifth Touch) releases this Tuesday, the 15th and the sixth and final part of book two (Sixth Sense) is out on July 21st. Hardly any waiting necessary. Win.

I've participated in a couple read-alongs and have had an absolute blast, so I encourage anyone who hasn't tried one yet to follow along, it's a fantastic way to share bookish excitement with fellow book lovers!

Below is the schedule for the read-along, but be sure and check out Clara's full blog post for all the finer details as well as a list of all the AWESOME prizes you can win for participating! From Clara:

The read-along is for Book One (FIRST SIGHT, SECOND GLANCE, and THIRD TOUCH).

• FIRST SIGHT: July 21 – July 27 (Moderated by Margie from Bumbles and Fairy Tales)
  
• SECOND GLANCE: July 28 – August 3 (Moderated by Patricia from The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club)
• THIRD CHARM: August 4 – August 10 (Moderated by Hannah from The Irish Banana Review)

As you read the corresponding installment each week, come to my Facebook page to discuss it with other readers. Margie, Patricia, and Hannah will ask some fun questions for you to answer, and you can ask questions of your own.

LIKE CLARA'S FACEBOOK PAGE TO PARTICIPATE!

Prefer Twitter? We will also post the discussions on Twitter, and you can participate by using the hashtag #readRunToYou. Follow @ClaraKensie and @HarlequinTEEN or save the #readRunToYou hashtag as a search for updates.

FIND CLARA:

Website • Twitter • Goodreads • Facebook • Tumblr • Instagram

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RUN TO YOU

 Part One: First Sight (from Goodreads)

Part One in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger…

Sarah Spencer has a secret: her real name is Tessa Carson, and to stay alive, she can tell no one the truth about her psychically gifted family and the danger they are running from. As the new girl in the latest of countless schools, she also runs from her attraction to Tristan Walker—after all, she can’t even tell him her real name. But Tristan won’t be put off by a few secrets. Not even dangerous ones that might rip Tessa from his arms before they even kiss…

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Review: Run To You: First Sight

RUN TO YOU
Part One: First Sight
Clara Kensie
Paranormal Young Adult
Ebook, serial novel
HarlequinTEEN
Available Now
Source: e-ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Part One in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger…

Sarah Spencer has a secret: her real name is Tessa Carson, and to stay alive, she can tell no one the truth about her psychically gifted family and the danger they are running from. As the new girl in the latest of countless schools, she also runs from her attraction to Tristan Walker—after all, she can’t even tell him her real name. But Tristan won’t be put off by a few secrets. Not even dangerous ones that might rip Tessa from his arms before they even kiss…

MY THOUGHTS
Run to You is a serial novel consisting of three parts released a week apart, each one delving us deeper into the life of Tessa and her family as they try to stay one step ahead of a hired assassin. A serial novel is somewhat of a unique and different reading experience, forcing us to examine the story in sections rather than as a whole, something that can be a bit tricky given an element or two that may bother us in the first installment could very well be remedied in the second–therefore becoming an irrelevant complaint overall–but because we approach each piece of this puzzle individually we’re left with our emotions a bit more in flux.

That being said, Run to You has us quite literally hitting the ground running, immediately caught up in Tessa’s terror over being discovered yet again. We as readers are the eye of a turbulent storm as it roars around us, Tessa and her family a whirl of movement of emotion as we sit quietly and try to make sense of the various pieces as they blow by us. Ms. Kensie teases us with fleeting glimpses of how Tessa and her family came to be in their current situation, showing us just enough to ensure our she has our attention and then quickly redirecting us before we can ask more questions than she’s prepared to answer in this first part.

Though we more than sympathize with Tessa and can’t fathom the fear she and her family live with day in and day out, as of this first installment the story seems to be more heavily plot-driven than character-driven, our emotional ties to them overshadowed by our immense curiosity as to what exactly happened that day eight years ago that started it all. There’s a romance between Tessa and a young man from her new school, and while a declaration of love seems to come far too early in their relationship, the fact that Tessa is keeping so much from him holds us captivated, wondering when the impressive dam holding her secrets back is going to crack and allow a few to slip through.

All in all, Run to You gets off to an intriguing start, light just barely beginning to shine on the complexities–personal and familial as well as normal and paranormal–to make a sometimes painful tangle of Tessa’s life, but there is clearly many a shadowed corner that remains as of yet untouched in this first installment, and I for one can’t wait to see how things develop.

Rating: 3.5/5

*Note: It was really difficult to rate this first installment individually since it's intentionally incomplete and leaves off mid-story, but I thoroughly enjoyed this serial it in its entirety (reviews of parts 2 and 3 posting tomorrow), and would give it a 4/5 when all three parts are read together!

Find Run To You:

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Find Clara:

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Run To You Blog Tour: Character Spotlight, Excerpt + Giveaway

Today I'm hugely excited to be a part of the promotional tour for Clara Kensie's new serial novel, Run to You. Run to You was my very first serial, and while I was a bit wary initially because I feared brutal cliffhangers, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Tessa and Tristan and can't wait for more from Clara (I'll be posting my full reviews for all three installments this weekend). For those of you who have yet to meet her, I have the pleasure of introducing Tessa and sharing an excerpt to both tease and taunt you. Be sure and check the bottom of the post as well for all the details on an epic HarlequinTEEN giveaway!

CHARACTER SPOTLIGHT: TESSA

Name: Tessa Lynne Carson
Current alias: Sarah Spencer
Age: 16
Hometown: Kitteridge, Virginia
Current hideout: Twelve Lakes, Illinois
Quirk: Slides her hands into her sleeves when she’s nervous or scared

Likes:

• Her family
• Jogging, cooking, and painting
• Tristan Walker, the boy with broad shoulders and blue eyes and brown hair that turns gold in the sun. He smells like soap and strength and safety.

Dislikes:

• Being the only member of her family without a psychic power
• Not being able to tell Tristan her secrets, not even her real name
• Being on the run from a telepathic killer

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EXCERPT

Please enjoy this excerpt from RUN TO YOU. Tessa and her psychically gifted family are on the run from a killer hired by the government. They flee from town to town, hiding behind aliases to stay alive. In this scene, Tessa’s siblings have plotted to set her up with a boy they know she likes, even though she won’t admit it, not even to herself:

Logan went with me to the park the next afternoon too, but just before we reached the entrance to the jogging path, he detoured to a picnic table and sat down.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He pulled a stack of index cards from the back pocket of his shorts. “I have a history test tomorrow and I need to study.”

That couldn’t be true. Logan never needed to study. He never even took notes.

“But don’t worry,” he said, shuffling through the cards. “I know you don’t like to run alone, so I asked someone to go with you.”

Oh no.

Logan raised his hand in a wave and shouted across the park. “Tristan, over here!”

And there he was, jogging over to us with an orange TLC shirt stretching over his chest, and his tousled brown hair turning gold in the sun, and his smile….
“This was Jillian’s idea, wasn’t it?” I muttered to Logan.

“Hers and mine.” He grinned and tapped the index cards on the table. They were covered with musical notes and treble clefs.

My stomach tumbled, and it was all I could do to keep my feet from sprinting me away. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I hate jogging, and you need a friend.”

“But what if…” I lowered my voice. “What if he comes?”

“If Dennis Connelly comes anywhere close,” Logan said, “Dad will see him. You have your phone. I’ll be sitting right here. You’ll be fine.”

As Tristan approached, Logan slid the cards under his leg, and I tried to remember how to breathe.

“Hey, Scottie,” Tristan said to Logan. “Big history test tomorrow?”

My brother pasted a miserable frown on his face. “I’m in Molinski’s class.”

“I hear she’s brutal. I’m pretty good in history, so if you need help, let me know.” He faced me next. “Ready to run, Sarah?”

I was always ready to run. I darted off, for a moment considering running home rather than down the path. But… a small part of me wanted to run with him. Just this once.

So I turned on to the path and ran alongside him. I could do this. Tristan and I were jogging together, that’s all. Not even that—we were jogging next to each other. Despite what my siblings were trying to do, Tristan would never be my friend.

But I couldn’t stop myself from sneaking glances up at him. Every so often I caught him peeking down at me too, and instead of running on concrete, I might as well have been soaring through the clouds.

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RUN TO YOU

Part One: First Sight

(Available now from HarlequinTEEN)

Part One in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger…

Sarah Spencer has a secret: her real name is Tessa Carson, and to stay alive, she can tell no one the truth about her psychically gifted family and the danger they are running from. As the new girl in the latest of countless schools, she also runs from her attraction to Tristan Walker—after all, she can’t even tell him her real name. But Tristan won’t be put off by a few secrets. Not even dangerous ones that might rip Tessa from his arms before they even kiss…

RUN TO YOU

Part Two: Second Glance

(Available now from HarlequinTEEN)

Part Two in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger…

Tessa Carson has unlocked her heart and her secrets to Tristan Walker—but Tristan has secrets of his own, and his might just mean the end of Tessa’s family. Unaware, Tessa embraces falling in love and being herself for the first time since she was attacked when she was only eight years old. But secrets can’t be run from forever, and sometimes love is too good to be true…

RUN TO YOU

Part Three: Third Charm

(Available February 15th from HarlequinTEEN)

Part Three in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger…

Betrayed, heartbroken, and determined to save her family, Tessa Carson refuses to give in to Tristan Walker’s pleas for forgiveness. But her own awakening psychic gift won’t let her rest until she uncovers the truth about her family and her past. And Tristan is the only one who can help her sift through the secrets to find the truth hidden in all the lies…

Find Run to You:

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CLARA KENSIE

Clara Kensie grew up near Chicago, reading every book she could find and using her diary to write stories about a girl with psychic powers who solved mysteries. She purposely did not hide her diary, hoping someone would read it and assume she was writing about herself. Since then, she’s swapped her diary for a computer and admits her characters are fictional, but otherwise she hasn’t changed one bit.

Website • Twitter • Goodreads • Facebook • Tumblr • Instagram

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GIVEAWAY

3 winners will receive a package of Harlequin TEEN books which includes:

• PUSHING THE LIMITS by Katie McGarry (print)
• INDIGO AWAKENING by Jordan Dane (print)
• a SOUL SCREAMERS volume by Rachel Vincent (print)
• All three parts of RUN TO YOU Book One (ebooks)
• Part One: First Sight
• Part Two: Second Glance
• Part Three: Third Charm

RULES AND RESTRICTIONS: 
Contest is void where prohibited. Entrants must be 18 or else have parent or guardian’s permission to enter. Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond  or another winner’s name will be selected. Winning entries will be verified for authenticity.

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