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Saturday, November 30, 2013

Questions with Toni Aleo Part 2 & Giveaway

You asked, and Toni Aleo answered!

Check out this weeks video where Toni Aleo answers readers questions, and announces winners of the INSTAGRAM party!

Plus, enter to win 5 signed paperbacks! 


And now over to Toni...







Opposites do more than just attract in Toni Aleo’s latest Nashville Assassins novel about a very bad boy and the good girl he can’t resist.

The instant Piper Allen sees Erik Titov, she wants him—wants his rock-hard body, sure, but the strength and mystery that lies behind that superstar hockey jock demeanor, too. So when he sidles up to her at a bar and slinks his arm around her waist, she’s lost. What follows is the wildest night of her life . . . followed by inevitable heartbreak the next morning. And then, a few weeks later, a very big surprise: two blue lines on a pregnancy test.

Only a check to the head could make Erik fall for a nice girl like Piper. But since their crazy-sexy night together, he’s been trying to forget about her alluring body by falling into bed with every woman in Nashville, and it’s not working. So when Piper shows up at his house with a baby-bomb to drop, it doesn’t take much for Erik to suggest the nuclear option: marriage. While it’s supposed to be all for show, the second they say “I do,” the ice between them starts to melt into sizzling steam.

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from these Loveswept titles: Taking Shots, Trying to Score, and Empty Net.












Don't forget -- If you post your review of BLUE LINES between December 9th - December 18th you could win some awesome prizes! Details can be found HERE.


Have a question you'd like to ask Toni Aleo? 
Click below. :)

Ask Toni Aleo...




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BLUE LINES BY TONI ALEO RELEASE PARTY





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Toni Aleo is the author of the Nasvhille Assassins series: Taking ShotsTrying to ScoreEmpty Net, Falling for the Backup, and Blue Lines.


When not rooting for her beloved Nashville Predators, she’s probably going to her husband’s and son’s hockey games and her daughter’s dance competitions, taking pictures, scrapbooking, or reading the latest romance novel.
She lives in the Nashville area with her husband, two children, and a bulldog. Read more about Toni here.

Website Facebook  Twitter  GoodReads  

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*[Book Spotlight & Giveaway] My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #2) by Tellulah Darling




Title: My Date From Hell by Tellulah Darling
Genre: Young Adult
Series: The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #2

Sophie Bloom’s junior year has been a bit of a train wreck. After the world’s greatest kiss re-awakened Sophie’s true identity as Persephone (Goddess of Spring and Savior of Humanity), she fought her dragon-lady guidance counselor to the death, navigated mean girl Bethany’s bitchy troublemaking, and dealt with the betrayal of her backstabbing ex, Kai (sexy Prince of Darkness). You’d think a girl could catch a break.

Yeah, right.

With Zeus stepping things up, it’s vital that Sophie retrieve Persephone’s memories and discover the location of the ritual to stop Zeus and Hades. So when Aphrodite strikes a deal that can unlock Sophie’s pre-mortal past, what choice does the teen goddess have but to accept?

The mission: stop media mogul Hermes from turning Bethany into a global mega-celebrity. The catch? Aphrodite partners Sophie and Kai to work together … and treat this suicide mission as a date. Which could work out for Sophie’s plan to force Kai to admit his feelings for her–if she doesn’t kill him first.

Add to that the fact that BFF Theo’s love life and other BFF Hannah’s actual life are in Sophie’s hands, and suddenly being a teenager—even a godlike one—seems a bit like … well, hell. Whatever happened to dinner and a movie?

The YA romantic comedy/Greek mythology fireworks continue to fly in My Date From Hell. Love meets comedy with a whole lot of sass in book two of this teen fantasy romance series. Breaking up is easy; dating is deadly.





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Aphrodite pointed her gun at me again, kind of casually. “Your problem is you’re too hung up on the past. You gotta move forward with yer life.”
I heard Hannah give a smothered laugh.
“You got this cutie pie in love with ya, and instead of enjoying his company, all you do is whine.” With a quick flick, Aphrodite opened the cylinder to reload.
“He’s not in love,” I said.
She peered at Kai. “Whattya talkin’ about? Sure he is. Everyone knows Kyrillos loves Persephone.”
       “I’m Sophie,” I ground out.
She waved the gun around. “Ya ya. That too.”
That too? I took a deep breath, folded my fingers over my palms and looked slightly to the left of her in case I accidentally started blasting. Didn’t want to go down in history as the girl who killed the Goddess of Love.
“Nope. It’s just desire,” I said with faked calm. “Kai is so resistant to the idea of being in love with me that your arrows don’t work. Besides which, when he actually does fall so hard for me that he doesn’t know which way is up, I want him to know he chose that of his own free will. That he chose me.” I threw him a sweet smile.
“Chose you?” Kai got this look of “have we had this conversation before?” on his face. My smile got tight.
Aphrodite scooped up a saclike pink purse laying on the ground. She rooted around in it. “Desire is part of romantic love, silly,” she said to me.
She pulled out a handful of bullets and dumped them in Festos’ hurriedly outstretched hands before turning back to Kai. She gestured with the still-open chambered revolver toward him. “Your body knows what’s what. Stop fighting it.”
Kai glowered at her.
She laughed it off, reloading. “And you,” Aphrodite said to me, as she plucked more bullets from Festos’ hand to load into the chamber. “Yer just as bad with your own issues.”
She couldn’t know about my insecurities around Persephone could she? Aphrodite narrowed her eyes at me.
I gulped.
Aphrodite shot me a look of disgust and popped the final bullets into the chambers. She gestured at each of us in turn with one pink, sparkly manicured finger. “I’m gonna start gettin’ real mad about how youse is all dealin’ with love.”
“There’s a whole bunch of drags around here where love is concerned,” Festos agreed.
“Thanks so much for inviting him along,” Theo said to me.
I grimaced an apology at Theo, then shot back at Festos, “Seems there’s a whole bunch of dogs here, too.” I looked between him and Kai.
“Oh don’t forget Pierce,” Festos replied cheerfully. “He’s a total mimbo.” “He is not,” Hannah defended. “He’s pure love.”
Aphrodite threw her a fond smile. “I like you, girlie.” “Love in name, hormones in game,” Theo countered. “Look at us all in agreement,” Festos replied.
“No, because you’re talking about lust,” I protested.
“Lust is pretty good too,” Aphrodite said, “but it ain’t nothin’ like the real thing.” She clicked the cylinder into place and looked at me. “We got a deal? You’ll get Jack to kill the campaign?”
“You’ll undo the love thing?” I asked.
“Nope. You could do with a little love in your life. Kyrillos is obviously brimming with love for ya now,” she ignored Kai’s snort, “so you’re gonna enjoy it.”
“Meaning what?” I asked.
“A date,” Kai piped up. “I’d say I’m ready now.” He arched an eyebrow as if to say “ball’s in your court.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” I slid my arm around his waist and pressed myself up against his side.
A look of surprise flashed across his face. “Perfect.”
I could outdate him any place, any time. I brightened. This was going to be fun. The touching part wasn’t a downside either.
“The fate of the world does dee-pend on you loving each other,” Aphrodite said. “So, good. We’ll start with a date.”
“Still say it’s a euphemism,” Festos burst out. “And Kai doesn’t date.”
Kai snaked his arm around my waist before pressing his fingertips into my hip. “Never wanted to before. Sophie’s the exception.”
“The euphemistic exception?” Festos asked. “Shut up,” Kai and I fired at him in tandem.
Festos took it in stride, waggling his eyebrows cheerfully at Theo who pretended to look disapproving but totally wasn’t. Even Hannah didn’t bother to hide her smile.
“Only thing is,” I told Aphrodite, “I have to be back at school by Sunday morning. I have a meeting I can’t miss. So I’ll have to get this thing with Jack done quickly to have time for the date.”
“Going together to find Hermes is the date.” Aphrodite looked at me like I was an idiot. “You two need as much together time as possible.”
No way. I needed all my wits about me to handle Kai. Something that couldn’t happen if I had to track down Hermes at the same time. I tried a new tactic. “A date involves dinner and a movie. Something romantic. Finding Hermes hardly counts.”
She pinned me in her gaze. “Had so miny of them, Miz Expert? All a date is, is two people spendin’ time to deepen their attraction.”
“Or kill it,” Hannah piped up.
Aphrodite scrunched up her nose. “Huh?”
“There are far more first dates than second,” Hannah explained. “Which means that after spending time, those people realized they were not a match.”
“What she said,” I seconded.
Aphrodite narrowed her eyes at Hannah. “I don’t get ya. You talk like that but you’re so brim up with love.”
“I’m a confounding enigma,” Hannah replied cheerfully.
Aphrodite threw her hands up. “Enough’a this nonsense. You’ll go together to find Hermes. And you’ll be date-like doin’ it.”
That sounded like a threat.
“Almost like you planned it that way,” I said to Kai.

His smile grew wider as he gave my waist a squeeze. “Told you I get what I want. Feel free to let that sink in.”




Tellulah Darling

noun

1. YA romantic comedy author because her first kiss sucked and she's compensating.
2. Alter ego of former screenwriter.
3. Sassy minx.
Geeks out over: cool tech.

Squees for: great storytelling.
Delights in: fabulous conversation.
Writes about: where love meets comedy. Awkwardness ensues.

Sassy girls. Swoony boys. What could go wrong?






Friday, November 29, 2013

*[Blog Tour Review & Giveaway] Taking Root in Provence by Anne-Marie Simons

Taking Root in Provence
Taking Root in Provence banner
 
Summary:
 
They agreed on one thing before retiring-they would travel, sniff around at other countries and other lifestyles, and discover along the way which place came closest to "having it all." There they would drop anchor and go with the flow. The going has been good, so much so that these former Washingtonians have decided to make France their permanent home. They chose the city over the countryside and took on the challenges and pleasures of Aix-en-Provence, where they have been doing as the locals do for more than a decade now. The daily markets, strikes, gypsies, curious villagers, ancient traditions, truffle cheaters, pagan and religious celebrations, secret swimming spots in the middle of Marseilles-it's all there to be suffered and enjoyed. Not to mention an interest in food that borders on the obsessive. Add good weather, a pinch of hedonism, a dose of culture, and it all adds up to that elusive prize: quality of life. In this collection of vignettes, take a ride in the slow lane with Taking Root in Provence, through la France profonde, ancient Roman cities, and that wonderful blend of the old and new worlds that is today's Provence.
Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 212 pages (Paperback)
Source: Review Copy
Available Formats: Print/E-book
Publication Date: March 1st 2011 by Distinction Press
 
I love a good, heartwarming memoir so that's exactly why I signed up for this tour, well that and the fact that I thought the cover was really cute. Simple, but I love it to pieces and it really does fit in with the book itself.
 
I'm obsessed with moving abroad myself and while France isn't where I want to move to I do want to visit it, and Anne-Marie's memoir just solidifies my resolve to visit there one day. After reading Taking Root, I'm feeling a little melancholy that I wasn't there to see all the sights and sounds that were happening.
 
I thought that Taking Root was a sweet, funny, heartwarming feel good read that I gobbled up yesterday afternoon. The way that it was written was just so honest, I couldn't help but like Anne-Marie and Oscar and was glad to be able to share in their adventures of living in Provence even though it was only through reading the book.
 
Overall, I thought this was a great read and I'm very glad I signed up for the tour because it was a great pick me up. I would recommend Taking Root in Provence to fans of memoirs and travelogues and who want to see what life is like in France.
 
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my free and honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.
 
I read this book for the following reading challenges:
 
2013 150+ Reading Challenge
 
Loved It!
★★★★★

 
To visit the book's Website CLICK HERE
To purchase the book via Amazon CLICK HERE
To purchase the book via Kobo CLICK HERE
To purchase the book via The Book Depository CLICK HERE
To purchase the book via Barnes & Noble CLICK HERE
 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11268884-taking-root-in-provence?ac=1
 
 
International Giveaway:
 
One Random Commenter will win paperback copy of Taking Root in Provence  just leave a MEANINGFUL comment on the post  about where you would move to if you could move abroad to be entered for your chance to win. Contest closes December 6th 2013 at 12:01 a.m.
(Leave your e-mail address)
 

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*[Book Blast] The League of Skull & Bones (The Grimm Chronicles #1) by MJ Fletcher



Jess Grimm has the ability to travel to any dimension in the multiverse. There’s only one problem... it’s killing her.

Jess is a in a race against time to find a device that can slow the progression of the power inside her, but she isn’t alone. Others want her power, and they don’t care how they get, or if she is dead or alive when they do.

The only person willing to help her is the mysterious Ronan Sparrow a member of the League of Skull & Bones, one of the very groups that want her power. But what does Ronan want in return? Can Jess trust him or will she find herself alone with enemies on all sides?

The League of Skull & Bones, Book 1 of The Grimm Chronicles


 
Prologue

I wasn’t alone in the dark.

Snarls and growls surrounded me, running my blood cold. I moved my head from side to side, scrunching my eyes, trying desperately to catch sight of the beasts before they reached me. My crimson swords weighed so heavily in my hands that I felt as if I’d been fighting for what seemed like eternity.

Claws and fangs suddenly slashed out from the darkness and I did my best to defend myself, though in my heart I knew it was a losing battle. The beasts were overpowering me and soon I wouldn’t be able to stop them. No one was coming to save me. I was alone.

Talons slashed across my back and warm blood trickled down as pain shot across my spine. I stumbled and the beasts—I was sure—tasted victory. They moved in at me in waves. I spun my blades trying to battle the never-ending tide, trying to survive. It was hopeless. For every monster I took down, another two took its place. I wanted to live, I wanted to fight, but the agonizing pain of my flesh being torn and sliced was too great to bear. I couldn’t go on. The jaws of one of the beasts clamped on my wrist, and I lost my grip on one of my swords. It fell from my hand and clattered to the ground and with it went my last vestige of hope.

Blood drained from my body and my vision faded. I would soon black out, and then the beasts would feast on me. A scream bubbled in my throat and my mouth fell open, but no sounds came out. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see my own death and hoped that darkness would take me before the beasts did.

I bolted out of bed, my mouth still open in a silent scream, and my sheets tangled around me soaked with sweat. I stood at the foot of my bed, my breathing coming in ragged gasps.
The nightmares came almost every night. I couldn’t escape them no matter how hard I tried. I yanked at the sheets, dragging them off me and tossing them back onto the bed.

I’d worn only an old t-shirt to bed, though now I wished I had worn more. I didn’t want to see my scars, didn’t want to be reminded yet again, but I couldn’t stop my fingers from tracing over the ugly scars that marked my arms and upper torso. I walked from the top floor of my loft, down the stainless steel steps to the kitchen area. I yanked open the fridge and grabbed the container of milk and took a gulp. I placed it back in the fridge and slammed the door closed. I slipped down onto the couch that faced the large windows dotting the walls of my loft and sighed at the breathtaking view of Paris. It always calmed me.

My fingers mindlessly drifted over the scars on my arms. They were a reminder of the very real night I had been trapped in a nearly unwinnable fight. Monsters had surrounded me and had almost killed me. If it hadn’t been for my friends, I would have died.

But I hadn’t died, or had I? I was far from the girl I had once been. Once I was the prettiest girl in school, and the girl who had hit every club and had had a blast when she had moved to Paris. But after the vicious attack everything had changed, most of all me.

My fingers suddenly stopped, settling on the edges of identical tattoos on both my forearms. I glanced down at the image of a Skeleton Key. My scars refused to cross paths with the tattoos, as if they knew that they dared not go near them. I slid my finger over the tattoo, and felt a buzz of power run through me. These unwanted tattoos were another reminder of something else entirely. But unlike my scar, I had chosen these.

The monsters may not have gotten me, but these tattoos were a different matter. They marked me for death.

I pulled my knees up into my chest and took a deep breath. Maybe I would wait here until dawn. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about any more nightmares or death that constantly stalked me.
I sat alone in the dark looking out on the City of Lights, awaiting the dawn and praying that I could keep death at bay and that I wouldn’t hear the sound of monsters.


Available on



Would you like to review The League of Skull & Bones? 
The blog tour kicks off January 13th - 17th. 






MJ Fletcher was born in New Jersey and now lives by the beach with his very understanding wife and daughter. He has been writing since he first stapled pages together as a child and called them a book. He finally realized his ambitions when his comic book series Adam Zero The Last Man of Earth was published by Ronin Studios. His other comic book work includes Digital Webbing Presents and The Hero Initiative. His first novel The Doorknob Society released in 2012 was nominated for a Cybil award in the young adult category. He has continued writing the Doorknob Society Saga his rollicking steampunk adventure series as well as working on numerous other writing projects.



 

Friday 56 #4


This is a fun meme to do hosted by Freda's Voice If you'd like to join on the fun go to The Friday 56

 Rules:

 *Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it.

Whispers
 
Summary:
 
Robert and Lynn Ferguson are a picture-perfect couple  with two beautiful daughters and a lovely home in  an exclusive Connecticut community. Robert is on  the fast track of a major corporation. Lynn is  devoted to her family and good works. But in the  Ferguson's closed doors hide a painful secret Lynn must  keep from the world-and her children-at any  cost... Not even the Fergusons's best friends, Josie and  Bruce Lehman, know of Lynn's shame. Social worker  Josie sees her bruises distrusts the  too-ambitious, too perfect Robert, and suspects the real cause  of the children's increasingly disturbed behavior.  But not even Josie can pierce Lynn's wall of  silence, a wall that will not crumble until Lynn is  forced to face herself-and the truth-at last. Belva  Plain's searing novel of a family's heartbreak, a  woman's courage, and a subject too often talked  about only in whispers.
Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 480 pages (Mass Market Paperback)
Publication Date: March 10th 1994 by Dell (first published 1993)     

Everyone turned to Emily. there was a fraction of a second's silence, no longer a collective indrawn breath, as if the for adults had simultaneously been struck by an awareness of the girl's beauty in her yellow dress, with her black silk hair flowing out under a cherry colored bandeau and the shaft of evening sunshine on her eager face.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Cat Thursday #25



Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s) and then link up at the host's site: The True Book Addict. It's all for the love of cats!
 
 

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Library Loot #2


Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!
 
Borrowed on Saturday:
 
Archangel's Legion (Guild Hunter, #6)The Husband's SecretSmutSin City, Vol. 2: A Dame to Kill For (Sin City, #2)The Battle of Blood and Ink: A Fable of the Flying CityThe Sword Volume 1: FireThe Sword Volume 2: WaterThe Sword Volume 3: EarthThe Sword Volume 4: AirA Flight of Angels
 
E-audiobooks Borrowed:
 
The Doublet Affair (Ursula Blanchard, #2)
 
Borrowed Yesterday:
 
Rude Bitches Make Me Tired: Slightly Profane and Entirely Logical Answers to Modern Etiquette DilemmasRichard Stark’s Parker: The OutfitRichard Stark's Parker: The HunterEden: It's an Endless World, Volume 1 (Eden: It's an Endless World!, #1)100 Bullets, Vol. 1: First Shot, Last Call (100 Bullets, #1)Under the Knife (Witch Doctor, #1)Sweet Tooth, Vol. 1: Out of the Deep WoodsBaltimore: The Curse Bells (Baltimore, #2)The Seven Wonders (Ancient World, #1)Lily of the Nile (Cleopatra's Daughter, #1)Omens (Cainsville, #1)