Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Jubilee's Journey Tour~ Interview

Title: Jubilee's Journey (Book #2)
Author: Bette Lee Crosby

When tragedy strikes a West Virginia coal mining family, two children start out on a trek that they hope will lead them to a new life. Before a day passes, the children are separated and the boy is caught up in a robbery not of his making. If his sister can find him, she may be able to save him. The problem is she’s only seven years old, and who’s going to believe a kid?

Book one: Spare Change (Does not need to be read before Jubilee's Journey)
A Woman who is Superstitious to the Core…

A Boy who claims his Parents are Dead…

A Murderer who wants to Silence the Truth of What Happened.

Olivia Westerly knows what she knows — opals mean disaster, eleven is the unluckiest number on earth and children weigh a woman down like a pocketful of stones. That’s why she’s avoided marriage for almost forty years. But when Charlie Doyle happened along, he was simply too wonderful to resist. Now she’s a widow with an eleven-year-old boy claiming to be her grandson.

Spare Change is a quirky mix of Southern flair, serious thoughts about the important things in life, the madcap adventures of a young boy and a late change of heart that makes all the difference in an unusually independent woman.

With a foul mouth, dark secrets and heavily guarded emotions, Ethan Allen Doyle is not an easy child to like. He was counting on the grandpa he’d never met for a place to hide, but now that plan is shot to blazes because the grandpa’s dead too. He’s got seven dollars and twenty-six cents, his mama’s will for staying alive, and Dog. But none of those things are gonna help if Scooter Cobb finds him.


Author Interview 


1. Who or what inspired you to become an author?

My mother, born and raised in the mountains of West Virginia, was not a writer, but, she was a wonderful storyteller. Not realizing that at heart I was my mother’s daughter, I studied art intent upon becoming a graphic designer. My first job was that of a packaging designer, but it was a short-lived career. Faced with an immediate deadline and a blank space where the copy should have been, I began to write. I never looked back, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that my love for words far outweighed any design skills I acquired along the way.     

2. Jubilee’s Journey is Book Two in the Wyattsville Series, but wasn’t Book One, Spare Change, written as a stand-alone novel?

Yes it was. Actually all of my books are stand-alone novels, but after Spare Change was published, I discovered that both I and my readers were not ready to leave Wyattsville and the people living there. That’s when I turned it into an ongoing series. Like many writers, I tend to favor the books that reflect the most poignant aspects of their life. For me, it’s my Southern heritage.

3. Will there be more books in The Wyattsville Series?

Although I do not have one currently planned, I’m sure there will be. Once you get involved with characters you are fond of, it’s hard to let them leave your life forever. I find that I think of characters like Olivia Doyle, Ethan Allen, Paul and Jubilee as friends. I might not get back together with them for six or eight months, but I always know they are there…waiting for me and ready to start off on a new adventure.


4. You’ve written six novels, in those books, which character is your favorite and why?

I suppose I’d have to say Ethan Allen of Spare Change and the reason why is because he is the type of kid I imagine my mom being when she was his age. She came from a family of eleven siblings and they were what many of us would consider poor; so she had to be resilient and determined to survive. And although she wasn’t one to toss around obscenities indiscriminately, she could cuss up a storm when she was really mad. When Mama started cussing we knew to step aside and mind our manners.

5.  Is Ethan Allen is modeled after your mom, is there a character that you’d modeled after yourself?

There is probably a bit of me in every character, but the one most like me would probably be Olivia Doyle in both Spare Change and Jubilee’s Journey. Like Olivia, I have quirky ideas about life, I am an eternal optimist and regardless of the odds, I will always go down swinging. When life takes a turn for the worse, that’s when you need to be strong, draw on your Faith and cling to the love of those around you…which is pretty much what Olivia does.

5. What is your next book project?

I am currently working on a novel titled “Previously Loved Treasures.” Although it is not a sequel, it does dovetail into the mystery that ended “The Twelfth Child.” One of the protagonists in this book is a delightful man of magical talents called Peter Pennington and much of the story centers around a very special second-hand store. I believe this book is scheduled for release in April or May of 2014.

6. What is your favorite quote?

It probably depends upon when and where you ask me. I would love to be deep and profound like so many brilliant writers, but I’ve learned over the years that I am still my mother’s daughter – sometimes irreverent, always a story-lover, but seldom brilliant. So here is the quote that most closely reflects my own thinking…"The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues." Elizabeth Taylor

7. What advice would you give to an aspiring author?

Be yourself. Discover what’s in your heart and create characters you love or love to hate. Never allow yourself to follow in the tracks of another author simply because he or she sold a million copies of their book. If you stumble on that pathway, your readers will know; your characters will sound shallow and superficial. But if you’re true to yourself and work to develop your own voice it will ring loud and true with believability. It isn’t something that happens overnight. I wrote four novels before the fifth was published, but the truth is that the first four didn’t deserve to be published, they were all part of my learning curve. So, stay with it and learn from the writers who inspire you, from the books you love, and from the books you hate. You learn something from every book you read, and sometimes that something is what not to do.  Most of all enjoy every minute you spend writing—because if you’re not writing for fun, you shouldn’t be writing.

 

Deeper by Robin York Blog Tour




Title: Deeper
Author: Robin York



DEEPER Synopsis:

In this New Adult debut by Robin York, a college student is attacked online and must restore her name—and stay clear of a guy who’s wrong for her, but feels so right.
 
When Caroline Piasecki’s ex-boyfriend posts their sex pictures on the Internet, it destroys her reputation as a nice college girl. Suddenly her once-promising future doesn’t look so bright. Caroline tries to make the pictures disappear, hoping time will bury her shame. Then a guy she barely knows rises to her defense and punches her ex to the ground.

West Leavitt is the last person Caroline needs in her life. Everyone knows he’s shady. Still, Caroline is drawn to his confidence and swagger—even after promising her dad she’ll keep her distance. On late, sleepless nights, Caroline starts wandering into the bakery where West works.

They hang out, they talk, they listen. Though Caroline and West tell each other they’re “just friends,” their feelings intensify until it becomes impossible to pretend. The more complicated her relationship with West gets, the harder Caroline has to struggle to discover what she wants for herself—and the easier it becomes to find the courage she needs to fight back against the people who would judge her.

When all seems lost, sometimes the only place to go is deeper.

Advance praise for DEEPER:

“The perfect new adult story . . . West will make you swoon!”New York Times bestselling author Monica Murphy

“Beautifully written and full of swoony tender moments, toe-curling chemistry, and delicious, twisty angst . . . Stop whatever you’re doing and read this book.”—Christina Lauren, author of the Beautiful Bastard series

Robin York Bio:
Robin York grew up at a college, went to college, signed on for some more college, and then married a university professor. She still isn’t sure why it didn’t occur to her to write New Adult sooner. Writing as Ruthie Knox, she is a USA TODAY bestselling author of contemporary romance, including RITA-finalists About Last Night and Room at the Inn. She moonlights as a mother, makes killer salted caramels, and sorts out thorny plot problems while running, hiking, or riding her bike.



Pre-Order Links:


Links:

 

Deeper Blog Tour
 
 
January 24
 
January 25
 
 
January 27
Shelf Pleasure-Author Interview
Stay Bookish-Review
Hooked On Books-Review
 
January 28
Anna’s Book Blog-Review
Steamy Guys After Dark-Character Interview (West) & Review
Sticky Reads-Review
 
January 29
 
January 30
All Romance Reviews-Review
Bookish Treasures-Guest Post & Review
The Reading Date-Review
 
January 31
XPresso Reads-Dream Cast & Review
The Indie Express-Review
 
February 1
 
February 2
 
February 3
 
February 4
 
February 5
 
February 6
Stuck in Books-Character Interview (Caroline) & Review
Keep Calm & Read Romance-Review
Lustful Literature-Review
Falling in Fall Book Blog-Review
 
February 7
 
February 8
Crazy Book Chicks-Review
A Life Bound By Books-Guest Post & Review
 
February 9
 
February 10
 



Monday, January 13, 2014

Chasing Forever Down Blog Tour ~Review & Excerpt

Title: Chasing Forever Down (Drenaline Surf #1)
Author: Nikki Godwin
Date of Publication: March 14, 2013
Genre: contemporary YA romance with sports
Blurb:
After seventeen-year-old Haley Sullivan meets a mysterious stranger who plays by his own rules, she's more than determined to learn every trick of the trade from the master himself. But her dream-chasing mentor disappears after that night, and according to the local newspapers, he's been dead for years. Knowing he's very much alive, Haley enlists best friend Linzi to join her on a scavenger-hunt-style road trip that ultimately lands them in the surf town of Crescent Cove, California. Mystery guy is no mystery here, though – he's Colby Taylor, the west coast's biggest professional surfer. 

If Haley wants to talk to the wave rider again, she'll have to get past his four intimidating bodyguards who are highly skilled in the business of sending starstruck fangirls back to where they belong. Haley is up for the challenge if it means chasing her dreams and escaping the perfectly corporate future that's been planned for her. But dealing with these bodyguards isn't exactly what Haley imagined it'd be. Sure, being thrown off a jet ski sucks, but falling in love with one of them might just be worse.

Excerpt:
I recount pieces of last night for Mom when I get home, leaving out the part where I snuck off with a stranger, and drill her on the families with college-aged sons. She digs out the last edition of the “corporate yearbook” and wishes me luck on finding him. Even if he’s in this book, it’s five years old and may fail me. Still, this is my only option right now. As I thumb the pages, I realize the A’s are unpromising, full of daughters and much older children. The B’s provide the same results until page twenty-seven. Burks.
He’s not the same disheveled emo-boy-wannabe from last night. He’s well dressed. And blonde. But his face is the same, down to the cheekbones and his jaw line and the way his smile does that crooked thing where it’s a little higher on the left side than the right.
I fold the corner of the page and slam the book shut. I can’t get downstairs fast enough to ask my mom. She’s standing at the stove when I burst into the kitchen.
“What do you know about the Burks family?” I ask.
I drop the book onto the table and flip back to their page, hoping the visual aid may help Mom with details other than what company the family owns or how big their house is. She doesn’t walk over to the table, though. A reminiscent gaze sweeps her face, and she says, “Oh, they’re nice people.”
That tells me nothing. “What about their son, Spencer?”
She turns toward me, sad-eyed and nostalgic.
“Spence,” she says. “They always called him Spence.”
“It’s him,” I say, pointing at his picture. “This is the guy from last night.”
This gets her to the table. She stares at the picture for what feels like too long, and I wait for her to say something, anything.
“Sweetie, there’s no way the guy you met was Spence Burks,” she finally says.
I shake my head. “I’m a thousand percent sure it was him.”
Mom shakes her head back. “It’s impossible, Haley. He died three years ago.”
 
My Review: *****
Haley goes on this cross country trip to find this guy who is supposedly dead. She follows a a gut instinct and a paper star. Getting to her final destination in California, she finds out that it would be practically impossible to get to Spence Burks/Colby Taylor. Haley, along with her best friend, go on an adventure with four guys and has to "friend" them just to get to Colby. During the next few days, she learns that Colby is not worth it and is a totally different person then the person she met that night before going on the trip. Friendships are made, love is found. 
I have no words to describe how much I loved CFD except that I was not expecting it to turn out the way it did. You just have to read it to find out what all this is about and why I can't describe it in words. I can't wait for book two in the Drenaline Surf series.
 
Purchase links: Amazon | B&N | Smashwords


About Nikki Godwin
Nikki Godwin is a Young Adult/New Adult author from the southern USA. She is a city girl who can't live without Mountain Dew, black eyeliner, Hawthorne Heights, and candles from Bath & Body Works. When not writing, she's not-so-secretly internet-stalking her favorite bands. She may or may not completely love One Direction.