Thursday, September 12, 2013

Book Blitz: American Girl on Saturn by Nikki Godwin


Such a beautiful cover! This book sounds like fun. :D 

American Girl On Saturn
Release Date: 08/24/13

Summary from Goodreads:
The summer after graduation is supposed to be that first real taste of freedom - but not for eighteen-year-old Chloe Branson. Just as that breeze of freedom is making its way into her galaxy, her secret-service-agent dad drops a meteor-sized bomb of bad news on her and her sisters. An attempt has been made on the lives of Canadian boyband, Spaceships Around Saturn, during their USA tour, and the guys have to go into hiding ASAP. The only problem? In the midst of the crisis and media frenzy, their dad volunteered to hide the guys...in their house.

Six-year-old Emery is as ecstatic as any self-proclaimed Saturnite would be, but Chloe and her seventeen-year-old sister Aralie watch their summer plans crash and burn like a falling star. The SAS guys aren't happy with the situation, either. Bad boy Jules picks fights with Aralie about everything from his Twitter followers to his laundry, and heart-throb Benji can't escape Emery's fangirlisms for more than three minutes.

But after the super-cute Milo kisses Chloe during a game of hide-and-seek, she finally understands what Emery means when she talks about SAS being "out of this world." If this is what Saturn feels like, Chloe doesn't want to come back to Earth.



Mom enters the kitchen and shreds away all of my half-courage.
“Chloe, sweetheart, I need to talk to you,” she says.
There’s not a single social event I can think of that I may need to cancel today. No parties. No festivals. No lunch dates. Maybe Aralie had something planned, and I have to do damage control.
“This is really hard for me to say, but Ms. Sue called me this morning,” she says.
Who in the world is Ms. Sue?
“She said you stopped by their store last night,” Mom continues. “She wasn’t trying to rat you out, but she was very concerned and wanted me to be aware of what was going on.”
Oh God. The cigarettes! I ease over a few steps and look into the dining room. Jules stares back at me, wide-eyed and stupid. Then he looks away and buries his face. Noah hits Jules’s arm, and Jules motions for them to shut up. He’s seriously going to let me take the fall for this! I turn my back to the dining room because I have to keep my composure through this, and seeing Jules Rossi right now is not helping my composure.
“Chloe, I know things have been rough these last few months,” Mom says. It’s the sympathy tone. “But smoking isn’t the answer. If you need to talk to someone, you can always come to me or Dad or even Godfrey. Or we can pay for therapy sessions.”
“Mom, I’m not smoking,” I insist. “And I don’t need therapy. I’m completely fine. Really.”
She tilts her head and studies me like she did on graduation night, while she cried because her baby was all grown up. She has those same worried eyes now that she had when she talked about setting her baby bird out to fly on her own. Please, Mom. Don’t call me a baby bird while 3/5 of SAS is listening.
“Sweetheart,” she says. “I just know you went through a lot with that break up, and seeing Deacon the other day couldn’t have made things any easier, especially when he acted like he did. I know you had big plans this summer, and I wish things could’ve gone as planned.”
“I’m okay, Mom,” I say through my teeth.
“Then why were you buying cigarettes, Chloe? Ms. Sue wouldn’t just make that up,” she says.
Her voice pleads with me, like she’s truly heartbroken and worried. She doesn’t even seem mad about it. I don’t know who this Ms. Sue woman is or where she was hiding at that service station, but damn her all the way across the universe for running her big freaking mouth.
“They were for me.” The voice is directly behind me.
But it’s not Jules.



About the Author
Nikki Godwin is a Young 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 is slightly obsessed with rock stars and surfers. She no longer hides her love for One Direction.
***Author Links***
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***GIVEAWAY***
1 signed paperback + swag (US only)
3 e-book copies (INTL)


Book Blitz Organized by:


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Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Excerpt: The Other C-Word by M.K. Schiller

Watch out for some Sexiness! 

 

The Other C-Word by MK Schiller

Publisher: Total E-Bound Publishing

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: 23rd

Synopsis:


Can she overcome her consuming desire for him? Can he make her 

comfortable with the other C-word…commitment?

Marley Mason is dreading the arrival of the new business consultant. After 

all, this man will most likely outsource her job to China. The last thing she 

would expect is a case of mistaken identity, leading to false accusations of 

kidnapping when she attempts to pick up the wrong man at the airport, or 

worse…that she would have such a visceral reaction to the right man.

Rick Randy is super sexy, scandalously flirty, and perfect masturbation 

material, but a relationship is out of the question. Rick is contracted on a 

temporary basis to fix Marley’s ailing company, and then pull out, although 

as he expresses to Marley, pulling out is difficult for him, in more ways than 

one! Marley’s feelings range from utter confusion to intense contemplation 

as Rick charms his way into her life. All of those C-words Marley can control, 

but it’s the other C-word she fears—commitment.



MK Schiller

This is my debut novel, and I’m thrilled to share it with you. I describe myself as a hopeless romantic in a hopelessly pragmatic world. By day, I don a magic cape, calculator (sometimes an abacus), and an assortment of gel pens for my work in the world of finance. But by night, I sit by the warm glow of my computer monitor, and think of stories that will warm the heart, and cheer the soul. There is nothing better than the intimate journey and ultimate satisfaction that only a swoon-worthy romance can provide, especially if there are a few laughs along the way. Although writing is my passion, I am a reader first and enjoy nothing more than curling up with a good book and some tasty Italian (the food, of course!). I hope you will enjoy my work and please drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.


Excerpt 1


“Can you add these files?” he asked, grinning broadly at me. 

“Sure,” I said curtly, taking the files. 

“You were dancing.” 

The Other C-Word by MK Schiller Media Kit

“You were playing Santana,” I replied as if that was an explanation. 

“Oh, Santana makes you dance?” 

“I guess so. Does he make you leer like some kind of stalker?” I snapped. 

My indignation only caused his smirk to widen. 

“No, Marley, you manage to do that on your own.” 

I swallowed, but my throat was completely dry. I leaned against the cabinet. 

I hoped he would think it was for comfort, but in that moment, it was for 

complete support. 

“I’ll have to remember that.” 

“Remember what?” I tried to sound offended, but it came out breathless 

instead. 

“To download more Santana, of course. I really enjoyed the show.” 

I wanted to reply with some witty comeback, but before my brain could 

function, he walked back to his office. 

I allowed myself ten minutes to calm down, thinking I would need to buy 

new batteries for my vibrator since it was going to get plenty of use. I 

walked into his office when I was done filing to let him know I was leaving. 

I didn’t want to, but it was something I would have done with Mr Bellman.

I wouldn’t give Rick the satisfaction of knowing how he was affecting me,

although at this point, it was probably obvious.


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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Guestpost : When Stars Die: The Romance Element (by Amber Skye Forbes)

Hey all, Please welcome Amber Skye Forbes writing about the Romance element of her book 'When Stars Die'!

When Stars Die by Amber Skye Forbes
October 2013

Amelia Gareth's brother is a witch and the only way to save her family from the taint in his blood is to become a professed nun at Cathedral Reims. However, in order to become professed, she must endure trials that all nuns must face.

Surviving these trials is not easy, especially for Amelia, who is being stalked by shadowy beings only she can see. They're searching for people they can physically touch, because only those they can touch can see them. Amelia soon learns why she is being stalked when she accidentally harms her best friend with fire during the third trial. Fire is a witch's signature. The shadows are after witches.

Now Amelia must decide what to do: should she continue on her path to profession knowing there is no redemption, or should she give up on her dream and turn away from Cathedral Reims in order to stop the shadows who plan to destroy everything she loves?


When Stars Die: The Romance Element
I never used to be that fond of romance in books. I used to think that romance was something that eventually happened to everyone, and that romance was so messy anyway; thus, why would I want to read it in a book? I also used to think there were only so many scenarios one could write about romance before the entire genre became stale. I am still not fond of pure romance books. A prerequisite for these books is often a happy ending, and so if I know the protagonist and love interest are going to end up together, why should I care what happens in between? I like romance books where a happy ending isn't predictable--like The Fault in Our Stars, for example. For the most part, however, I love romance as a sub-plot because the main plot can screw with the romance in a thousand delightful ways that make the romance itself unpredictable.
This brings me to my own book, When Stars Die, being released by AEC Stellar Publishing in October. Originally I didn't even want When Stars Die to have any sort of romance label attached to it. When Stars Die is a very dark book, and I felt that by attaching the romance label to it would immediately water down what the entire book is actually about. But as I was writing the protagonist and her love interest, I realized that in order to have the ending work out the way I wanted it to, I had to develop the romance. I had to push it beyond a simple sub-plot and move it into the main plot.
So I began to make the changes necessary to have a fully-fleshed ending. As I was writing the development between main character, Amelia Gareth, and her love interest, Oliver Cromwell, I began to realize that the romance wasn't watering down the darkness of the book. If anything, the romance was making the book even darker--darker than I had originally imagined. Their love is forbidden, and while forbidden love isn't original, they're also best friends at the start of the book and have had feelings for some time. It isn't like Amelia and Oliver just met and fell in love one-hundred pages later. In fact, I want to argue that Amelia never really falls in love with Oliver. And, of course, Oliver's love is highly questionable as well. Their attraction for one another is arguably dark. Amelia is a witch and an aspiring nun, and Oliver is a priest. Witches are hated in her world, but, in the beginning, Oliver doesn't seem to care.
When I finished developing their romance, I began to fall in love with the idea of romance as a sub-plot. As I've said, the main plot has the potential to make sub-plot romances unpredictable. But for a while I did toy with whether or not to consider When Stars Die just paranormal or actual paranormal romance. I just didn't want to choose the latter because I didn't want to fall into any trend and make people think that the book was heavily romance-based. It does have romance, and the romance is a huge part of the book, but the book is steeped in darkness more than anything else. However, I began to accept that When Stars Die is a paranormal romance because the book can't function without that romance element. And it doesn't matter whether or not people think I'm falling into a trend and trying to capitalize off it.
I wrote the book I wanted, and that's all that matters to me. In any case, I started this story at fifteen before paranormal romance exploded. I just had to shelve it for a few years while I matured as both a human being and writer.

Place I can be Found:
Twitter: @AmberSkyeF

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