Thursday, July 25, 2013

Cover Reveal : The Only One by Magan Vernon



Honor student, manager at the campus coffee shop, owner of an impressive sweater collection – Melanie Wilder has it all together. Then John “John Boy” Walden strolls into her life wearing nothing more than an impish grin and all-too-revealing loin cloth.

Soon, make-out sessions replace homework, lust triumphs over work. And to further crumble her perfect world, an unexpected phone call threatens to take away everything she’s worked for. 

Now, as Melanie struggles to pick up the pieces, she realizes that John may be the only one to put her life back together…unless he shatters it first. 



ABOUT MAGAN VERNON:

Magan Vernon is a Young Adult and New Adult writer who lives with her family in the insurance capital of the world. When not writing she spends her time fighting over fake boyfriends via social media.

You can find her online at www.maganvernon.com.


Excerpt:

I looked around the basement, sipping whatever concoction some guy poured out of a cooler. He called it a ‘magic potion’ and I hoped that didn’t mean he rufied it. I don’t know how Monica talked me into this.
A horde of girls clad in nothing more than lingerie pushed past me as if I were nothing more than another one of the paddles on the paneled wall. I tried to pull back but then I came face to chest with a set of abs and felt all of the magic potion cascade down my cardigan.
I gasped once the cold liquid soaked through both my layers and hit my skin.
“Too bad, that was such a nice sweater…” A deep voice said.
I looked up, all the way past the chiseled six pack and to a pair of cool blue eyes. “Maybe you should just take it off up in my room and I can help you dry off.” He leaned in, his full lips right on my ear. “Or make you wetter.”
My breath caught in my throat, rendering me speechless. Luckily my best friend Monica jumped between us, pushing the guy back so I got a full view of him and realized he was only wearing a loin cloth and a large smile.
"Down John Boy." She scowled at him and then turned to me, almost knocking her beret off. "What the hell happened to you?"
"I-I-I spilled my drink."
Monica's eyes narrowed as she looked down at the red liquid soaking through my gray sweater. She whipped her head around to the loin cloth clad guy. "Was this your fault? Are you trying to get my friend naked?"
He held up his hands, a cockeyed grin on his face. "Purely an accident, Lib."
Ah, now I knew where I’d seen him before. He had come into the coffee shop we worked at a few times. I don’t think he even glanced in my direction more than to hand me his student ID to pay, but was always calling Monica ‘Lib.’ I’m guessing because she was an extreme liberal.
Monica's boyfriend, the governor's son Trey Chapman, pushed through the crowd. When I usually saw him he was polished in dress pants and a dress shirt, but his Halloween costume was nothing more than a pair of American flag boxers, a dress shirt, and some gray hairspray. He looked ridiculous. I still don't know how Monica talked him into the Clinton and Lewinsky couples costumes.
"Hey, I’ve been looking for you." He slipped his arm around Monica's waist. "What's going on here?"
"Your big brother here spilled a drink on Melanie to try and get her naked."
"Hey!" John yelled.
"It wasn't his fault," I piped in. "It’s crowded here and he just ran into me. It’s fine."
"Fine?" Monica raised her eyebrows. "That Hermione costume you've been wearing since middle school is covered in ever clear and Kool aid. That’s not fine."
"I haven't worn this since middle school!" Okay, truth was, it was my go-to costume. I bought it for the first movie's midnight showing and wore it for every movie opening and Halloween since.

"Whatever." Monica turned her head to Trey and tugged on his shirt. "You can just wear Trey's shirt."


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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Sizzling Summer Kindle Giveaway: Three Tricks To Not Getting Eaten By A Werewolf, a Guestpost

 


Jenny Schmidt is a young woman with old heartaches. A small town Texas girl with big city attitude, she just doesn’t fit in. Not that she has ever tried...

Her life is thrown into chaos when she receives a message from her thought-to-be-dead grandfather, Billy Moonsong. After meeting with him, Jenny learns that her Apache ancestors were feared monster hunters on the plains of West Texas, and that she is next in line to take up the mantle.

Suddenly, she has a purpose and direction in life, but will she live long enough to fully realize it?

The Moonsongs Anthology 1 collects the first three Moonsongs books--a series of New Adult paranormal-horror-action novelettes--in one exciting volume. Follow Jenny and her best friend Marshal on their dangerous quest to unlock the secrets of her past.

These stories contain language and content better suited for readers 17+



Three Tricks To Not Getting Eaten By A Werewolf

By Jenny & Marshal


E.J. WESLEY: I recently sat down with Jenny—the leading lady and monster huntress from my Moonsongs series—and her best friend Marshal to have them share some tips on tackling werewolves. Here’s what they came up with:

JENNY: *scowls* I don’t know, run like hell? I’m playing Call of Duty here…

MARSHAL: Shush! These folks are after some serious advice. *whispers* And you do this for money now, so try to act like a professional. *primps hair* Will this be a video recording?


JENNY: *sighs* I just got knifed in the back by the biggest loser in the match. Thanks for that. Well, now that my Online reputation has been completely sullied, I guess I need to live up to something. Here goes…


1) Run Like Hell


JENNY: You thought I was kidding? Seriously, no one confronts these things on purpose. I was baited into my first encounter with a werewolf, and was damned lucky to get Marshal out alive—


MARSHAL: Me? I do recall you having a pretty close call yourself.


JENNY: Hey, you’re the one that hid in the truck.


MARSHAL: *crosses arms* I didn’t hide—


JENNY: *grins* Whatever you did, I’m pretty sure I saved your ass.


MARSHAL: True. Okay, what she said. Just run if you can.



2) Be The Aggressor


MARSHAL: *raises eyebrows* You just told them to run.


JENNY: Remind me, which one of us was appointed as an Apache monster huntress, and received a super secret, old as hell monster hunting journal handed down through the generations by her tribal ancestors?


MARSHAL: And remind me, who is helping you decode said journal, and sticking his neck out for you for no really good reason other than being a friend with no other friends in this little West Texas town?


JENNY: Touché. My point is, throw logic out the window. It’s about survival. A werewolf doesn’t have anything else on its mind other than turning you into a giant-sized Scooby Snack. Assuming you can’t get out of the confrontation, you need to have one thing on your mind: Make it dead. Fast.


3) Be A Good Shot



JENNY: Look, if you let a werewolf get close to you, it’s going to eat your face off.


MARSHAL: Truth.


JENNY: So, the best bet is to get real comfy with a rifle. Preferably one loaded with liquid-metal-filled bullets.


MARSHAL: *clears throat to sound official* And what kind of metal works best?


JENNY: You’re Anderson Cooper now? Sheesh. *shakes head* Mercury, silver—whatever. The point is, if you don’t get that metal into their bloodstream via a vital organ, it’s probably going to be game over for player one. Werewolves heal superfast, so superficial wounds really only tick them off. Put a bullet in their heart or brain and get on with the show.


MARSHAL: *pats Jenny on the shoulder* See, that wasn’t so bad. I think you gave some good advice!


JENNY: You want some good advice? If you want to keep that hand, you should probably quit touching me with it and let me get back to my game.


MARSHAL: *sighs* You’re so touchy.



You can read more of Jenny and Marshal’s exploits in: Blood Fugue, Moonsongs Book 1Witch’s Nocturne, Moonsongs Book 2Dark Prelude, Moonsongs Book 3Moonsongs Anthology 1 (collects all three stories)


E.J. Wesley resides in South Texas. He holds degrees in psychology and counseling, but prefers to examine the heads of fictional characters to the living ones. He likes his food and his stories spicy, and tries to give a little extra 'kick' to paranormal, horror, and the other genres he writes. In true Texas fashion, he is very neighborly, and enjoys chatting about books, movies, music, and family.


He is the author of the Moonsongs books, a series of speculative paranormal action novelettes, with a Texas twist. Say 'howdy' at: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads




GIVEAWAY

1 - Kindle Fire HD with NA/Adult e-book prize pack 


2 - Kindle Fire HD with YA e-book prize pack 






Enjoy! :)

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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer






Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Genre: Science Fiction, Retelling, YA
Format: Hardbound

Synopsis:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Review:

I didn’t expect myself to actually pick up this book. For one, I never really liked the story of the Cinderella and to read a retelling wasn’t really going to change my mind about Cinderella. But when I did start reading Cinder. I was excessively surprised when I realized it may have the vague skeleton of ‘the Cinderella Plot’ but it was a story that took it’s own life and originality.
Cinder is half-human half-robot aka a cyborg. Cyborgs, in this world, have very little rights and were considered nothing better than slaves. So, Cinder was the mechanic slave of her foster mother. All she does is work at the repair shop her family owns, eats, sleep and frequently get into arguments with her foster mother and her evil foster sister. 
I know, that sounds very Cinderella. But then the prince of New Beijing appears at her repair shop looking for the best mechanic in the city. He asks Cinder to repair his robot, Nancy. And Cinder manages to make an impression on him. Things escalate and the plague breaks out in the town center close to Cinder’s booth, her nicer foster sister gets ill, her foster mother throws a fit and volunteers Cinder to the draft system. The draft system is where cyborgs are sent to become lab rats. They are then injected with the plague then injected again with the latest antidote to the plague to see if it works or not. Most cyborgs don’t come out alive.
I’m not sure what part of the book I actually liked the most, the hint of romance or the controversies and the dispute between Earth and the Moon. I’m not one for politics but in this book. I just want to get into it so I can find the way to get the crazy and disgusting queen of the moon off the backs of every one on Earth. She is way to manipulative and irritating to just let her be like that.
Anyways, I linked Cinder a lot more than later because of her kick-buttery and her strength to keep going even after the only family she knew shunned her and society discriminating her because of her mechanical foot and hand. Having a strong protagonist like her to is one of the best factors a wonderful book needs to have. She was easy to relate to in one small way or another.
Overall, I applaud the author for ending the book with the worst cliffhanger ever, and her tenacity to include a little bit of everything for different types of readers out there. If you’re a big fan of Cinderella, Science Fiction and Dystopia, you will absolutely love this.
4/5 Stars
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