Beautiful Burn by Adriane Leigh | Blog Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway|

 Beautiful Burn
by Adriane Leigh

Genre: Steamy Student Teacher Romance

Release Date: January 13, 2015

 

Blurb

I've broken him, bent him, and burned him, and each fevered moment was worth every ounce of pain. Auburn Lawrence has loved her English teacher, Reed West, since she was fourteen. Through brainstorming stories, reading classic literature, and plenty of fiery banter, they've forged a bond that neither of them expected. Propelled by a chance encounter after her graduation, they discover just how deep their connection runs, but love requires more than chemistry to flourish. They spend three electrifying summer months discovering each other under a veil of forbidden passion and desperate lust before they learn that the unattainable is often destined to remain exactly that. By the time temperatures dip and snowflakes fly, their relationship will face a deep freeze that threatens to snap the bond they thought they shared, shattering their lives one secret at a time. 

Intended for mature audiences.  

PURCHASE LINKS:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1z8K568

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/14YuCIK

Guest Post

'The Inspiration for Beautiful Burn'

Beautiful Burn is actually a very personal story, one that’s been in my head for a while but I was very hesitant to write. I’m glad I was finally able to write it—I learned so much about myself, love, life, marriage. Without revealing too much, the book deals with forbidden romance…the student/teacher taboo, and the repercussions of that forbidden love. I love student/teacher stories and coupled with my tendency to crush on my English professors, it was a natural progression! Much of Beautiful Burn is taken directly from my life in some form or another, I just won’t say which parts ;)  

     

About the Author

Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Pinterest | Website

Adriane Leigh was born and raised in a snowbank in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and now lives amongst the sand dunes of the Lake Michigan lakeshore. She graduated with a Literature degree but never particularly enjoyed reading Shakespeare or Chaucer. Adriane is married to a tall, dark and handsome guy, plays mama to two sweet baby girls, and is a voracious reader and knitter.  

Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner | Book Blitz + Guest Post + Giveaway|

Ice Massacre 

by Tiana Warner

Publication date: September 18th 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Synopsis:

 

A mermaid’s supernatural beauty serves one purpose: to lure a sailor to his death.

The Massacre is supposed to bring peace to Eriana Kwai. Every year, the island sends its warriors to battle these hostile sea demons. Every year, the warriors fail to return. Desperate for survival, the island must decide on a new strategy. Now, the fate of Eriana Kwai lies in the hands of twenty battle-trained girls and their resistance to a mermaid’s allure.

Eighteen-year-old Meela has already lost her brother to the Massacre, and she has lived with a secret that’s haunted her since childhood. For any hope of survival, she must overcome the demons of her past and become a ruthless mermaid killer.

For the first time, Eriana Kwai’s Massacre warriors are female, and Meela must fight for her people’s freedom on the Pacific Ocean’s deadliest battleground.

Purchase:

** Hey!!! FREE Just during the blitz! **

Guest Post

3  Creativity-Boosting Tips for Writers

Have you ever sat up in the middle of the night to write down a sudden stroke of inspiration? Or made a quick voice memo to yourself? Maybe jotted down a plot twist idea while you’re supposed to be working or studying?

For a lot of writers, creativity comes in waves. This is great if those waves are thrashing around like stormy seas, but at some point a writer is bound to hit a flat spot. And not the kind of flat spot that’s great for water skiing. This is the kind that leaves you stuck in the middle of the lake wondering how the heck you’re ever going to get back to shore.

Here are three tips to keep those creativity waves coming.

1. Write first thing in the morning

Writing when you’re half asleep has some pretty cool effects. You’re still partially in dreamland when you first wake up in the morning, so you end up writing stuff that you wouldn’t otherwise think of. Besides, it genuinely sucks trying to sit down and be creative after you’ve had all the day’s energy leeched from you.

The wee hours of the morning are also interruption-free—and if your attention span is anywhere near as pathetic as mine, this is vital to getting anything done.

2. Go for the third thing you think of

This applies to the big picture (overall plot turns or the outcome of a big scene) just as much as it does to small, seemingly insignificant details (a prop in your character’s bedroom, or a snarky line of dialogue). The first thing you think of is too obvious, and probably a cliché. The second thing is ok, but come on, you can do better. The third? Now we’re getting somewhere.

3. Step back. You’re looking at it too closely.

Seriously bro, give that story some space! Some aspects of writing can really kill your creativity jam—like spending twenty minutes trying to come up with the perfect synonym for “stumbled”. If you find your creativity IV drip running dry, you need to step back a little. Look at your outline, story notes, logline, whatever. Remind yourself of the overall goal of your story, and the original purpose you set out to achieve. Even better: get inspired by reading some books by other authors.

* * *

Summoning creativity is often just a matter of letting yourself go. Get crazy! Write down something totally weird. Don’t try and write perfectly—that comes later, in the editing stage. For now, embrace those waves of creativity.

What about you? What creativity-boosting tips can you share?

Giveaway

Blitz-wide giveaway

(INTL)

--Signed copy of Ice Massacre

THE AUTHOR

 

Tiana Warner was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada. She enjoys riding her horse, Bailey, and collecting tea cups.

Follow her in:

http://www.tianawarner.com/

https://twitter.com/tianawarner

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5825979.Tiana_Warner

 

First Love: Oakville Series: Book One by Kathy-Jo Reinhart |Blog Tour‏ Guest Post - Giveaway |

First Love: Oakville Series: Book One

by Kathy-Jo Reinhart 

Published March 21st 2014

Genre: New Adult

SYNOPSIS:

*****This book is recommended for ages 18+ (Strong Language, Violence, sexual content)*****

Six years ago, Amber fled her hometown and family heart broken and humiliated. Now, after walking in on her fiancé holding another woman’s

legs in the air and screaming her name, Amber is headed back home to Oakville, ready for a fresh start in the town she’s always loved.

Determined to get back to her life, Amber gets a waitressing job at KC’s Bar & Grille. After a few weeks of working there, she finally sets in to a happy routine with help from her new friend, Holly. That is, until she meets KC, the owner, her boss, and the man who just happens to be the reason she left so many years ago. The man she never got over.

Enter Kyle. He’s sexy, charming, the lead singer of a small town band, and owner of KC’s Bar & Grille. When Amber left all those years ago, he became a shell of the man he was. Broken, confused, and desperate, Kyle began his new life where nothing mattered aside from music and women, sometimes more than one at a time. Finally realizing that he hated the person he was becoming, he moves back to Oakville with his band to focus on the bar. Still playing a few small gigs here and there, Kyle and his band return home after a month only to walk straight into Amber, the girl who broke his heart and left without a word.

With a short, heated conversation revealing that it was all just a misunderstanding, Kyle and Amber are determined to start over again and let the past stay in the past. This is the second chance neither of them dreamed they would get and they aren’t going to waste it. Unfortunately, living in this small town isn’t as safe as it would seem. With people determined to tear them apart and old flings resurfacing, will Amber and Kyle be able to hold onto their second chance? Or will it all slip through their fingers?

***

Trailer Book

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLZBI7GVNg8]
*** 

THE AUTHOR:

After growing up in Saranac Lake, a small town in upstate NY, Kathy-Jo Reinhart returned to her birth place and where she spent her summers with her grandparents, St. Petersburg, Florida, after graduating High School. The sub zero climate and piles of snow definitely weren’t a loss, in her

opinion, and this is where she still resides with her Husband of fifteen years and their eleven year old son, who they lovingly refer to as their miracle baby. A name righteously earned after a very difficult and scary pregnancy with 7 1/2 months on complete bed rest.

By day, she works as an Office Manager for a construction company started by her grandfather and uncle. Like most people, she has a love hate relationship with her job, but cherishes all the years she was able to work side by side with her grandfather before he passed away.

Writing has always been something that she has loved. In school, creative writing was her favorite class. Writing a book was something she had always wanted to do, but was too afraid she didn't have what it took to make it happen. After going from working sixty hours a week to twenty, she found herself with a lot of extra time on her hands and decided it was time to take the leap. Crossing her fingers and closing her eyes, she jumped into creating the Oakville series and hasn’t looked back.

The first five star review she received after First Love, the first book in the Oakville series, was published, left her speechless, overwhelmed with emotion, and so blown away that someone really liked what she had written. Her initial fears seemed to calm and reassured her that others love her writing just as much as she loves doing it. How it will all turn out, still remains a mystery, but she’s having a blast seeing where these characters will take her.

When she isn’t spending time with her characters, she enjoys reading, spending time with her family, scrapbooking, and doing ancestry research.

  Facebook  Twitter

 Website  Pinterest  Goodreads

***

 PLAYLIST:

First Love Playlist

 

[spotify id="spotify:user:12139785902:playlist:4cWqkLvTj0IwafH6Uf38Tj" width="300" height="380" /]

Breathing Slowly - Crossfade

I’ll Fight - Daughtry

From Where You Are - Lifehouse

Die For You - Otherwise

I Remember You - Skid Row

Believe - Staind

Gone Forever - Three Days Grace

Broken - Seether (Featuring Amy Lee)

Tangled Up In You - Staind

The Reason - Hoobastank

I Will Be - Leona Lewis

  ***

GIVEAWAY 

***

 



 

TOUR HOSTED BY 

BOOK ADDICTS ONE STOP PR SHOP

 Facebook       Blog Website

Shadows and Light by Melissa Haag |Book Blitz - Guest Post - Excerpt - Giveaway|

Shadows and Light

by Melissa Haag

Publication date: May 15th 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Synopsis:

 Three paranormal novellas

 

Reap the Shadow, Slay the Light

I don’t know what I am, but I’m not human…and neither are the creatures that killed my mom. Running will only carry me so far because there’s a darkness within me, ready to destroy me, and a burning light, begging for escape. It’s the light that screams to my pursuers and works them into a frenzy. Though the darkness might kill me, releasing the light might kill us all…

WarWolf: Half breed

Ema fights to suppress her werewolf emotions and deny her warlock powers. It isn’t easy being a half-breed, but she is determined to slide through life unnoticed by either group. When the warlock leaders team up with humans to force paranormal registration, Ema believes she must choose between her two unwanted worlds. An unexpected companion shows her not all emotions are bad, and power has its benefits.

Moved
“Werewolves are real but the legends are wrong…”

It’s the secret Gillian’s father has tried to keep from her and the reason he’s so overprotective. But, he goes too far when he exiles Gillian to a house in the middle of nowhere. Her new landlord, Racer, is more like a cute jailer who has strict orders to keep her safely trapped.

Battle lines between independence and obligation are drawn as Gillian decides just how far she’s willing to go to win back her freedom. And Racer needs to decide what he’s willing to endure to keep her close.

GUEST POST - EXCERPT

Enjoy the darker side of Paranormal?

Check out Reap the Shadow, Slay the Light, the first novella in Melissa Haag’s Shadows and Light.

We all love reading about the hot, bad boy fighters and the tormented rock stars but what about the quiet book worms, the sensitive good guys, or the reclusive hobbyists? Shadows and Light, a new YA Paranormal release by Melissa Haag had is all.

Willam in Reap the Shadow, Slay the Light vowed to protect Pheobe from the moment he saw her. He knew the horde that would come for her. Declan in WarWolf: Half-breed knew Ema was perfect for him the moment he saw her. It was amazing he could even see with his beer goggles firmly in place! And, finally, Racer in Moved, reluctantly offered his apartment to Gillian. He regretted that choice until he discovered just how amazing Gillian could be.

This compilation of novellas gives you three unique heroes who each fight for their heroine. Not sure if this is your kind of read? Don’t worry…this captivating new release has something to please everyone! You’re guaranteed to swoon!

Reap the Shadow, Slay the Light

After suffering at the hands of her step brother, Pheobe runs to Willam and discovers

there’s more to the world than what she knew: Shadows will kill her if they find her light.

Excerpt:

I didn’t know he’d entered the room until he tried to say something to me. I didn’t wait to hear what. Instead, with hands curled into fists, I came up swinging. I wanted to punch him in the face to knock the whistle right out of him, but my right hand landed solidly against his chest. I almost stopped, surprised at my misjudgment. My swing had been really off. I’d never noticed we weren’t the same size. It just made me angrier that he was taller…by a lot. So, instead of stopping, I continued to rain blows on his chest.

He stood still, taking it all with silence.

Then, like a burst balloon, the rage left me. For several moments, I just stood there staring at my fists still rested against his chest. Neither of us moved as my breathing slowed. Drained and shaking, I lifted my tear-streaked face to his.

“I will hate them until I die. Someday, I might hate you too...but not today.”

His face held no judgment. He opened his arms and pulled me against the chest I’d just pummeled.

“I know,” he whispered against my hair.

***

GIVEAWAY

Blitz-wide giveaway

Open INTL - Ends May 25th

--50$ Amazon GC + 2 eBook copies

 

THE AUTHOR

Melissa Haag currently resides in Wisconsin with her husband and three children. Touch is her first published novel. She is currently working on book four of the Judgement of the Six Series...along with several other new books.

To learn more about her upcoming projects, and subscribe to her mailing list for deleted scenes, deals, and giveaways, visit her athttp://melissahaag.com

or connect with Melissa at:

Twitter: @imagine2live
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6908249.Melissa_Haag
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.MelissaHaag

Judgement of the Six:
Hope(less)
(Mis)fortune
(Un)wise
**Book 4--no set release date**

 

The Only Boy by Jordan Locke |BookBlitz + Guest Post +Giveaways|

The Only Boy 

by Jordan Locke

Publication date: December 17th 2013
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult

Synopsis:

Mary is stuck in Section One, living with three hundred women in a crumbling hospital. She wonders what life was like two centuries ago, before the Cleansing wiped out all the men. But the rules—the Matriarch's senseless rules—prevent her from exploring the vacant city to find out.Taylor's got a dangerous secret: he's a boy. His compound's been destroyed, and he's been relocated to Section One. Living under the Matriarch means giving up possessions, eating canned food and avoiding all physical contact. Baggy clothes hide his flat chest and skinny legs, but if anyone discovers what lies beneath, he'll be exiled. Maybe even executed.

Mary's never seen a boy—the Matriarch cut the pictures of men from the textbooks—and she doesn't suspect Taylor's secret. If she knew, she might understand the need to stop the girls from teasing him. If she knew, she might realize why she breaks the rules, just to be near him. Then again, she might be frightened to death of him.

Taylor should go. The Matriarch is watching his every move. But running means leaving Mary—and braving the land beyond the compound's boundaries.

 

Guest Post

 

How I Came Up With the Idea for The Only Boy

 

Usually, soon after I finish one novel, the idea for another comes, as if my mind automatically kick-starts in a new direction.

The concept for The Only Boy came a few weeks after watching the movie Children of Men. If you haven’t seen it or read the book, the gist is that babies have stopped being born, for some inexplicable reason, and the youngest living person is now an adult. This got me wondering what a world with only women would be like. How would they reproduce? Could they develop a technique to combine DNA from women to make more women?

After many years, centuries even, perhaps the women would no longer want men around? Maybe they would blame them for the disease that nearly wiped out humanity.

Introducing a boy into the mix would make the story more interesting, make the plot more complicated. Some of the women would want him dead. He would have to hide his identity.

I needed characters. Taylor, the only living boy, has just lost his family and friends, everyone he knew. Mary is an inquisitive girl with a yearning to learn more about life before the disease. The Matriarch, the figurehead for the group, is obsessed with making sure men never return. I tossed them together to see what would happen.

Of course, I thought the idea was totally original, but soon after I finished The Only Boy, I learned that the concept (just one living male) had been done before, in a comic book and a made-for-TV movie. It seems there are no new ideas, or at least very few of them. How many vampire books have been written? Avatar follows the same basic plot as Fern Gulley. Cinderella has been rehashed countless times.

A fresh take, however, can bring new life to the story. I haven’t seen the aforementioned comic book or made-for-TV movie, but I’m fairly sure The Only Boy is unique. Hopefully, my novel stands on its own.

GIVEAWAYS

Blitz-wide giveaway

Prizes - open INTL:

-A $50 Amazon gift card

-A signed copy

-10 e-book copies

THE AUTHOR 

Jordan Locke lives in Connecticut with his wife, two lively daughters and a well-behaved whippet.

A graphic designer by trade, his creativity spilled over into the literary world. After years of writing, reading and learning the craft,

his fifth novel, The Only Boy, brought him offers of representation from two well-known agents. Now, after the dog is fed and the kids are in bed,

you will find him tapping away at the keyboard.

Follow him on:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1494415593

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20339413-the-only-boy

Website: http://www.jordanlocke.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jordan1Locke

 

 



 

 

Book Blitz and Giveaway with Stim by Kevin Berry

 

Stim

by Kevin Berry
Publication date: October 16th 2013
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult

Synopsis:

Robert is different. He has Asperger’s Syndrome. He experiences the world differently to 99% of the population. Follow his entertaining and highly empathetic story as he struggles to realise and accept who he really is, try to understand other people—which he cannot—and find a girlfriend. Especially find a girlfriend—he’s decided it’s his special project for the year. Accompanied on this transformative journey by his quirky flatmates, Chloe (who also has Asperger’s, amongst other things), Stef (who hasn’t, but doesn’t mind) and their oddly-named kitten, Robert endures a myriad of awkward moments in his quest to meet a nice, normal girl…and not even a major earthquake will stop him.

This absorbing and humorous story is starkly told from Robert’s point of view, through the kaleidoscope of autistic experience.

Purchase:

--Amazon     --B&N     --Smashwords

 Excerpt from Stim, Chapter 4

There is a well-known equation, known as the Drake Equation, that is used to estimate the number of detectable, sentient, communicative races in the galaxy (besides us, if we consider ourselves as one of them). It works (or does not work, according to its critics) by guessing the value of a lot of variables, such as the fraction of stars which have planets, and the fraction of planets which develop intelligent life, amongst other things, and multiplying them all together. Depending on the values chosen, the equation produces a number between zero (we are alone in our galaxy) to billions (we have lots of intelligent neighbours in the galaxy).

I decided to modify this equation to estimate the number of potential girlfriends for me in Christchurch. Here is my Girlfriend Equation, for a Scientifically Calculated Reckoning of Eligible Women (or SCREW score):

G = P . fw . fa . fi . fs . fp . fr . fh . fg

where

G = the number of potential girlfriends for me in Christchurch;

P = the population of Christchurch, which is about 400,000 (I am not interested in a long-distance relationship, so I am restricting this variable to my home city);

fw = the fraction of the population made up of women, which is about 50% (I am not interested in a gay relationship, so I will calculate for females only);

fa = the fraction of the above women within one year either side of my own age, so aged about 18-20, which I estimate at about 5% (I do not want to date a schoolgirl, and women aged 21 or over will surely be too sophisticated for me);

fi = the fraction of the above women who are highly intelligent, say with an IQ within the top 5%, which is (obviously) a certain 5% (because we must be able to talk to each other at approximately the same level);

fs = the fraction of the above women who are currently single, which I…um…guess is about 50% (I do not want to date someone already dating someone else, as I do not want to get involved in threesomes or a trinogamous relationship);

fp = the fraction of the above women who I find physically attractive, which is…er…about 10%, at a guess. I do not know exactly (I think physical attractiveness is probably quite important for the sex aspect of the relationship);

fr = the fraction of the above women who reciprocally find me physically attractive, which is even more difficult to estimate…so about 20%, at a guess (yes, this is double the percentage I estimated I find attractive, but I am not unhandsome, you know);

fh = the fraction of the above women who I will like hanging out with, which I estimate at 100% (I am sure I would like hanging out with an attractive woman, and I am quite easy-going);

fg = the fraction of the above women who will get along with me and tolerate my Aspie ways… Hmm, hard to estimate… I will be generous and guess 20% (most women are likely to consider me too weird to go out with, as Chloe told me).

Treating all of the above as independent variables, which is maybe a little questionable as some of them are probably correlated, I plugged all of the values into the equation, which became:

G = 400000 x 0.5 x 0.05 x 0.05 x 0.5 x 0.1 x 0.2 x 1.0 x 0.2

Multiplying everything together, this equation of somewhat dubious credibility results in:

G = 1

That is it. I have calculated there is one unattached, intelligent woman of about my age in Christchurch who I will find physically attractive and who will find me physically attractive, and enjoy hanging out with. One.

AUTHOR

Kevin Berry is an indie author. His particular niche is writing Aspie New Adult contemporary novels set in an earthquake zone. The first of these is STIM, published in October 2013.

His first novels, co-written with Diane Berry, are Dragons Away!, Growing Disenchantments and Fountain of Forever (humorous fantasy). These are available as paperbacks and ebooks at Amazon and elsewhere.

Guest Post

Why negative reviews aren't bad

Let's face it. Every author gets mixed reviews, even (and perhaps especially) the top bestsellers.

Just like we're not all attracted to the same kind of people, we don't all like the same kind of books.

 Most readers know this. And a negative review, if constructively written, can help them decide to buy your book, because whatever the reviewer didn't like might be exactly what the next reader does like in a book. The only negative reviews that don't help are one like 'This book sucks' that tell you nothing about it.

Of course, every author likes to get lots of good reviews and 4 or 5-star ratings, but even those can be misleading. It's said that reviewers on Goodreads are harsher than those on Amazon, for instance. Individually, some people might give very few books a 5-star rating, but others might give every book they like a 5-star rating. It's hard to compare.

Even the overall rating can be misleading as to how good a book is going to be for you individually. Here's why. Imagine two books: the first is a well-written, but run-of-the-mill, novel that nearly everyone likes, with mostly 4-star ratings and a few 3-star and 5-star ratings to give a 4.0 rating overall. The other book is different, and half of the readers don't 'get' it and don't like it (and give it a 2-star rating), and the other half really love it and give it a 5-star rating. The overall rating for the second book would be 3.5, well below the first book, even though half of the people who read it gave it 5 stars, and half of new readers would like it at least as much as the first book. In this case, it comes down to a choice between a book you'll probably like and a book you'll either love or hate.

What is probably more important in choosing a book is the ratio of 5-star ratings to the total, or whether people who appear to like the same kind of books as you liked it or not.

Author Links:

Website: http://www.kevinberrybooks.com/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/kevinberryxxx
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1104822.Kevin_Berry

GIVEAWAY

Individual giveaways:

One E-book copy of Stim

. Open internationally.

 by latest December 13th, 2013.

If you would like read this book

FILL THE CONTACT FORM BELOW:

[contact-form][contact-field label='Name' type='name' required='1'/][contact-field label='Email' type='email' required='1'/][contact-field label='MOBI OR EBOOK' type='text' required='1'/][contact-field label='Comment' type='textarea' required='1'/][/contact-form]