Sunday, March 31, 2013

Fool For Books Giveaway Hop



With the changes to Google Reader, I'm offering more ways to follow StuckInBooks and to celebrate I'm giving away...












$25 Gift card to Amazon or B&N
(Can be exchanged for equal value of TBD books)

INTERNATIONAL

Just follow StuckInBooks by email & fill out the rafflecopter below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Now hop along to the next blog...

Stacking MY Shelves ~ 3/31/13



Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  Make sure to checkout her post with links to all the other participates.

Review


Dare You To (Pushing The Limits, #2) By Katie McGarry
(From Netgalley - thank you)

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."


If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....




Faceless (Denazen #2.5) by Jus Accardo
(Received from publisher - thank you)

My name is Brandt Cross, and I died. Again… 

I'm living in the body of a Six named Douglass Cain, a certifiable scumbag whose ability is on Zendean Industries—AKA Denazen's—most wanted list. There’s some serious bad going down, and Ginger, the leader of the Underground, sent me undercover to obtain information because people are dying. 

My cousin, Dez, is dying…

Denazen thought they’d found a cure for the Supremacy decline, but they were wrong. That’s the bad news. The good news? Franklin Wentz. 

Wentz, the owner of a genetic research company, is brilliant and just a little bit crazy. He’s unwittingly created a formula that may cure the sick Supremacy kids, and everyone wants it—including Devin, the super hot Resident.

Get the formula. Save the day. Don’t fall for the hot spy. Piece of cake.





Twisted Summer by Lucy Morgan
(Received from author - thank you)

 A dark New Adult romance

You have to understand that we never meant for it to happen. We knew it was stupid. We knew it was wrong.

Eighteen-year-old Danni Warren has big plans for her last summer before college: a cool job, a concert she wouldn’t miss for the world, and spending time with her beautiful girlfriend, Esme. But after one hell of an argument, Danni’s mother packs her off to stay with her estranged step-uncle, Gabe, in his lodge on the English coast. So begins a weekend of the worst punishment imaginable: no phone signal.

With his sun kissed good looks and sarcastic manner, twenty-nine-year-old Gabe Asher isn’t anything like Danni expected. She wants to hate him—he’s her punishment for standing up to her mother—but between surfing lessons and beach hikes, Gabe and Danni grow close. Maybe too close.

Now Danni’s questioning everything: old family secrets, her future, her strained relationship with Esme. One sun stained afternoon, Gabe and Danni go too far. And then everything else falls apart…



Bought


Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker
(Picked it up for $1.99) 

 Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life.

Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now.

Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart?

Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to.





Miss Me Not by Tiffany King
(Picked it up for free)

Miss Me Not is a beautiful story of self-discovery, forgiveness, caring, and love.

Madison Hanson's past demons have given her a shadow of an existence with little hope. With the sudden tragic death of a fellow student, Madison questions her own life choices, and is now forced to evaluate everything she thought she believed in. When fate intervenes and partners her with Dean Jackson, a popular "all around good guy" from school, Madison gets a glimpse of a life that is filled with sunshine that has the power to break through the darkness she has cloaked herself in.
With Dean's help, Madison discovers a desire to finally step out of the shadows, and embrace life and all its gifts.






Blue Hearts of Mars by Nicole Grotepas
(Picked it up for free)

Note from author: Blue Hearts of Mars has been selected as a quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest. Longer excerpts are available through the ABNA page on Amazon. Reader reviews and ratings are welcome and encouraged.

Seventeen-year-old Retta Heikkinen is in love with a boy--a thoroughly gorgeous, captivating, and mysterious boy known as Hemingway. The situation is rather ideal: he likes her, she likes him. There's just one little problem.

He's a blue heart, an android.

Being in a relationship is its own complicated mess, but how long can a forbidden love last? Soon Retta discovers a secret that could destroy the uneasy truce between the blue hearts and humans, which makes life under the domes on Mars possible. Would exposing what she knows make things better or worse? And how can she know for certain without exposing the secret?




Gifts


The Collector (Dante Walker, #1) by Victoria Scott
(From Melanie at Entangled Teen for my classroom - thank you)

He makes good girls...bad.

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.




The Love Game (Games #1) by Emma Hart
(from Dani Morales - Thank you)


His challenge? Make her fall in love with him.
Her challenge? Play the player.
Until life changes the rules of the game.

Maddie Stevens hated Braden Carter on sight. Arrogant, egotistical, and the playboy of the University of California, Berkeley, he's everything her brother Pearce has taught her to despise. So why, when the girls challenge her to play the player, doesn't she say no? She doesn't know either.

Braden wanted fiery little Maddie the second he laid eyes on her - and he'd do anything to have her, hence why he's agreed to make her fall in love with him. After all, it's the only way he'll get what he wants. Sex.

But, as Braden discovers, there's more to the girl from Brooklyn than he ever imagined - and he can't help but care about the broken girl behind those pretty green eyes.

Maddie finds Braden isn't just a walking erection - he actually has feelings. He can be sweet, funny and his good looks don't exactly hurt. That means trouble - but when her brother Pearce turns up in Berkeley begging for her help, she realizes Braden and Pearce aren't so alike anymore.

And maybe, just maybe, they're exactly what each other needs.





I received this beautiful custom made necklace from Heather ( @javalotta ) as a thank you gift.  I absolutely LOVE it!  It was made by Nair & Bjorn just for me!


Isn't it perfect! Purple & books - so me!
Thank you!!!



Lots of awesomeness up there!  What about you?  What's stacking your shelves this week?  Leave me a comment.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Cover Reveal & EXCERPT ~ Everything for Us by M. Leighton

Available September 3, 2013



When it comes to passion this hot, it’s all or nothing.

Olivia Townsend’s wealthy cousin Marissa had everything a girl could ask for—a great job, a privileged life, and all the friends she wanted. Or, at least, all the friends money could buy. But one case of mistaken identity has turned her privileged world upside down.

An abduction gone wrong lands her right in the lap of the sexiest, most dangerous man she’s ever met. To Marissa, he’s an enigma, but one to whom she’s irresistibly, inexplicably drawn.

With him comes a new world of freedom and passion, of dark shadows and dangerous secrets, a world where nothing is what it seems—except for the blind passion that Marissa can’t escape—or maybe even survive.









One girl. Twin brothers. An uncommon triangle.

When college student Olivia Townsend returned home to help her father run his business, she never imagined a complication like Cash and Nash Davenport—twin brothers different in so many ways but with one thing in common: an uncontrollable desire for Olivia.

Cash is dangerous, sexy, and bad to the bone—a man whose kisses make Olivia forget she is playing with fire. Nash is successful, reliable and intensely passionate—and already taken. But all it takes is one soft stroke to make Olivia forget he belongs to someone else.

However, Olivia is in for a surprise. These boys have a secret that should make her run away as far and as fast as she can. If only it wasn’t too late. A sensual game between three players has begun, and it’s about to spin deliriously out of control.



M. Leighton’s Down to You was just the beginning. “Up to Me has even more shockers in store!” (Examiner.com)

For Olivia, romantic bliss has never felt so right as it does with Cash. Unpredictable, except when it comes to satisfying her desires, Cash’s ‘bad boy’ reputation is well-earned, but he’s turning his life around with the one woman who accepts him for who he is.

Until strangers from the past turn Olivia and Cash’s world upside down. What they want is something only Cash can give them. And if he doesn’t deliver, then they’re taking the one thing that Cash values the most.

Olivia always knew that in falling for Cash she was likely to get burned. But this new threat is beyond anything she imagined. Now she has to trust Cash with her life—and for Olivia that’s much easier than letting go, and trusting him with her heart.


****EXCERPT****

Warning:  Hot and yummy ahead .... from Everything for Us



“They’re just parts, like any other woman’s,” she replies breathlessly, trying to be casual.

“I’d be willing to bet your parts are exceptional. In fact, now might be a good time to warn you that if we come back to this library, I’ll find out for myself. In this very spot. I’ll push you up against the books in the corner and I’ll put my hands on you. I’ll do things to you. In the quiet. And you won’t be able to make a sound. Not a whimper, not a moan. You’ll have to bite your lip to keep it all inside. And you know what?” I ask, reaching up to trace my index finger along her full, trembling lower lip.

“What?” she whispers, her pupils two dilated dots of excitement.

“You’ll love every second of it.”

With a wicked grin, I take the books from her arms and turn to walk back the way I came.








The Clockwork Princess by Cassandar Clare ~ Review

Source:  Purchased audio book

Book Description:

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy

Tessa Gray should be happy - aren't all brides happy?
Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute.
A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her.




 Spoiler free for Clockwork Princess but not Clockwork Prince

My Thoughts:




5 stars - So emotional but so brilliant, I'd give this one more than 5 stars if I could.

Let me start with the narrator, Daniel Sharman.  His performance of this book was brilliant.  I loved his voices and could listen to him read to me for hours.  Truly, his efforts added to the book.

Never have I read a series that included a love triangle that was quite like this.  Every love triangle has it's teams and I have always seen a clear choice.  It seemed there was always the one that I felt would be the chosen one.  I'm normally always right.  But Will and Jem are different.  They love each other as much as they love Tessa.  Their bond makes this triangle so different.  At the end of Clockwork Prince, I was totally destroyed when Will willingly stepped aside to allow Tessa and Jem to be together.  I'm team Will.  He is so broken and Tess makes him whole but so does Jem.  I didn't get that at the end of Clockwork Prince but I do now.  I also became Team Will/Jem.  How can anyone choose between them?  They are two halves of one whole that loves Tessa.  All I can say about how things turned out is - BRILLIANT.

This book had me in tears from the beginning to the end.  I couldn't read it straight through, though I was desperate to know the end.  I needed the breaks to control my emotions.  Books don't do that to me very often.  Sure I cry sometimes but not like this.  I mean it.  Tears rolling down my cheeks, a sobbing mess.  Twitter friends helped, assuring me to keep going.  That's what I would say to anyone else working up the courage to read this one.  Keep reading.  Keep reading.  The middle half is hard.  The resolution is brilliant.  I loved it. 

I want to sit down and read the whole series front to back and enjoy every incredible minute of it.  This series combined with The Mortal Instruments is a work of art.  Crafted and plotted with perfection.  It's complex, intricate and beautiful.  Art. 

I love how this book resolved the infernal devices aspect but didn't end there.  There was more to resolve.  There was Will and Jem.  There were other wonderful relationships to figure out.  There was a connection to The Mortal Instruments to be made.  I'm impatiently for the actual book to actually arrive (I won a pre-order but TBD ships slow boat) so I can go over the family tree.  I know them now but I want to see it. 

I loved getting to know Magnus more.  His character is explained so much in this book/series.  I found myself wanting to re-read The Mortal Instruments just so I could see him again.  Remember what happens to him later.

Some of my favorite books are urban fantasy.  I love the fantasy hiding in the normal.  Cassandra Clare sets the highest standard for the best kind of urban fantasy.  If you haven't started any of her books, start here with The Infernal Devices series.  BUT have them all available because you will want to keep reading once you start.




Friday, March 29, 2013

Three winners...



Hollow May
Momo Xiong
Kelly Fox

Emails have been sent to the winners.
Thanks everyone who entered. 

Didn't win?

Check this book out here.

 

The winner is...



Sara Viti

She chose:

Chosen Ones (The Lost Souls, #1) by Tiffany Truitt ~ Review & GIveaway

Source:  Received eBook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Book Description:

Life is bleak but uncomplicated for sixteen-year-old Tess, living in a not-too-distant future where the government, faced with humanity's extinction, created the Chosen Ones, artificial beings who are extraordinarily beautiful, unbelievably strong, and unabashedly deadly.

When Tess begins work at Templeton, a Chosen Ones training facility, she meets James, and the attraction is immediate in its intensity, overwhelming in its danger. But there is more to Templeton than Tess ever knew. Can she stand against her oppressors, even if it means giving up the only happiness in her life?






My Thoughts:

3 stars - A believable dystopian world filled with secrets you will want to learn.

I'm not a huge fan of dystopia and that's mostly because they are often so far fetched.  This one, however, is eerily possible.  The world is enough similar to this one that I can see the events that would trigger it to happen.  That somehow makes it more interesting to me.

The Chosen Ones were interesting.  I particularity loved James.  He's different that the rest and I loved that.  I never quite figured him out but I have hopes of that in the next book.  He doesn't see Tess as a plaything but he loves her.  His love may have come too quickly but I was okay with that.  I felt connected to him and I want to read more about him.

Tess, on the other hand, was hard for me to connect to.  I'm not sure why.  Her life sucks in every sense of the word and she has locked her emotions away.  I know it's James that changes that but I just felt like she was too much of a before and after girl where I never clearly saw the change.  The Tess at the beginning is so cold and dispassionate but the Tess at the end is emotional and filled with passion.  The events between didn't connect the two for me.

I really felt like the book paced well.  I read it in a day and enjoyed it.  I just would have have liked to make a stronger connection with Tess.

If you love dystopia then this is a great choice.  Give it a go.



****Giveaway****


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover reveal ~ Of Silver and Beasts by Trisha Wolfe & GIVEAWAY

Of Silver and Beasts (A Goddess Wars Novel)
Release Date: June 1, 2013
Genre: New Adult Dark Fantasy
Cover Reveal Organized by: YA Bound
Cover Designed by: Steven Novak

Summary from Goodreads:
In the sand-covered queendom of Cavan, the goddess once saved a young Kaliope’s life, preventing the mercury her father attempted to hide in her blood from reaching her heart. Now, a cybernetic clamp filters it, but the silver streaks swirling faintly beneath her skin are a constant reminder that she’s different.

When nineteen-year-old Kaliope is chosen as head of the Nactue Guard, she becomes the sworn protector to her empress. In the midst of an invasion on a neighboring land, Kaliope is placed in charge of guarding Prince Caben, the last heir to his kingdom. But when they’re attacked by the feared Otherworlders, Caben and Kaliope are abducted and taken below to a realm where they must fight for their life in a caged arena. 

Kaliope struggles to protect her princely charge, keeping him and herself alive while battling inhumanly opponents, and trying to save the stolen, sacred relic that will restore her empress’s life force and all of Cavan. And if she can somehow awaken the goddess within her, she may save what’s most important.


***Excerpt***

I open my mouth to say something comforting, but I’m unsure of what. In this moment, I’m reminded that I know little about him. Other than the sarcasm and desire to understand nothing of my queendom, he hasn’t allowed me past the surface. But then, I have my own walls, hiding things I’d never want him or any other to know. And I understand that need to hide them. You can’t trust anyone. “Caben…” I start, but still can’t find the right words. He lowers his hand from his face, never taking his eyes off the glinting water top. “You’re right,” he finally says. “Let’s find the access to Lilly’s section.” A hollow pang hits my chest, and I’m not sure why. Something in his voice sounds lost, broken. I imagine the gears around my heart spinning faster, trying to keep up with my racing heart. When he sidesteps me, I reach out and grab his arm. “Caben, I didn’t mean—” “It’s fine, Kal,” he snaps. “We have work to do.” “No, I’ve said something to offend you.” I drop my hand, but keep close to him, not allowing him to leave my side. Goddess, trying to understand the male brain is harder than anything in protector training. I’ve heard people say that you have to tip-toe around a woman’s emotions, but a man’s ego is every bit as fragile, if not more so. He releases a heavy breath through his nose and walks back to the pool. He sits down along the edge and rolls up his pants, then slips off his boots. “I honestly don’t think Bax or his goons will be returning tonight.” He sinks his bare feet into the water and sighs. Glancing at the back of the cave, I plant my hands on my hips. We don’t have time for indulgencies, but the prince is still my charge. If it were my empress, I’d give her anything she’d ask for. Allow her as much time as she needed to collect herself. I have to watch over his mental state as well as protect him, so I try to push the pending need to find Lilly aside and sit down next to him. “Here,” he says, turning his hand out near my crossed feet. “You have to feel this.” A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth. “I can remove my own—” “Have you never been pampered a day in your life?” he asks, lifting an eyebrow. “I know that the Nactue are fierce and will put a hurt on any man for touching them. But try to relax.” “Is that the rumor in Perinya?” “What?” I bite my lip, suddenly regretting my blurt. “Nothing. Never mind.” From the corner of my eye, I see his lips pucker into a pinched smile, as if he’s trying not to. “Ah,” he says, like he’s made some great universal connection. “Well, there are many whisperings about the Nactue. Some I dare not repeat for fear I’d leave here missing a limb, but that’s one, yes.” He takes my booted foot and begins to unlace it. “I’ve heard that the empress’s protectors are untouchable—forbidden to give themselves to men. And that they’ll snap a man’s neck just for making an advance.” My mouth drops open. Appalled, I counter, “That’s not true.” “All right,” he says, as if he hasn’t just insulted my very existence. “It’s only rumors. Things men jaw about in pubs. The unattainable woman is a fantasy, Kal. Don’t be offended.” “Unattainable?” I grit my teeth, trying to maintain my composure. “Tell me, prince. Do men in your country just go around bedding every woman they can in order to keep them compliant?” I shake my head. “If their fantasy is a woman that would have nothing to do with them, it seems to me it’s their way of feeding their egos after being rejected.” His eyes widen. “No! How does your brain come up with these—” He bites off his words, his lips thin as he presses them together. “Look, it was a joke.” I nod, many times. “Another joke. I’m glad that our hard work and sacrifice is amusing to the men of Perinya.” Caben lets out another sigh and slowly pulls off my boot. His warm fingers skim my calf as he inches up my pant leg. “Just stick your foot in,” he says, then adds lower, “while I stick mine in my mouth.” Unexpectedly, I laugh. “At least it’s now clean,” I say. “Would you like some help getting it to your face?”

***GIVEAWAY***
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal: Made to Forget by Samantha LaFantansie & giveaway!


MADE TO FORGET by Samantha LaFantasie

There’s something that lies within my memory. Hidden in the dark. Something that can kill me and those that I love. But I was in an accident, covered in mystery and deception. And my memory…was lost. There are those who want me to remember. I don’t trust them. And those I do trust…are fighting for me to forget.

Elsabetha Ellery wants to get her memory back, even if it kills her.

After waking up in a hospital with no memory, Elsabetha quickly learns those who claim to be her friend are anything but. And those who are her true friends keep themselves unseen.

Stuck with piecing together her broken memories alone, Elsa struggles with having faith in those she trusts and heeding the warnings of the dangers in recovering her memory. Ignoring them, she faces heavy consequences. Ones she doesn’t see until it’s too late, and a life is lost.

If you'd like to be updated on the release of MADE TO FORGET -- sign up HERE.



A Kansas native, Samantha spends her free time with her husband and three kids. Writing has always been a passion of hers but she only took up writing seriously a few years ago. Among her writing credentials, she’s a board member of the Kansas Writer’s Association and has founded her own critique group lovingly named The Fighting Hamsters.

You can find her presence on...
Facebook † Twitter † WebsiteGoodReads






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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Giveaway Hop



You may have noticed that both Autumn (The Autumn Review) and I loved  
Beautiful Disaster!


INTENSE. DANGEROUS. ADDICTIVE.

Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.



HUGE Travis fans!


Since we're HUGE Travis fans, the idea of reading the story from his POV was exciting.





 Finally, the highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disaster. Can you love someone too much?
Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder.

In Walking Disaster, the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. But just when he thinks he is invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees.

Every story has two sides. In Beautiful Disaster, Abby had her say. Now it’s time to see the story through Travis’s eyes.


Book Trailer


Autumn has read/reviewed it.  Check out her review here.
I'm reading now and already love it.

Walking Disaster is available April 2nd.

Pre-order here ---->  Amazon | B&N

Since we both loved this series, we have banded together to GIVE away BOTH books!

FROM The Autumn Review & StuckInBooks

WIN Paperbacks of BOTH

Beautiful Disiaster

&

Walking Disaster

Fill out the rafflecopter below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now hop along to the next blog....