Bouncing Back

Hello everyone,
I want to take this time to apologize. I've been thrown off track here recently and had a really hard time pulling myself and this blog back together. I hear that happens to everyone in blogging every once in a while but it's no excuse. You guys are here supporting us and we should give you what you come to this blog for: great reviews, guest posts and all of the fun posts that come along with reading. And that is exactly what we're going to do. Crissy and Meg have been very patient and wonderful through my icky time and I can't thank them enough, so now is my time to step back up.

To to all of you, I'm sorry, but my head is back in the game. We have two reviews posted and I'm in the process of creating a layout for the weeks to come.

Love you guys!

Feature Friday: Sarah Ross

Hey everyone!
If you haven't read Awaken by Sarah Ross, I don't know what you've been doing with your time because this is a book you can not miss out on this one! And lucky for us, we have the wonderful author here today for a guest post! Everyone please welcome Sarah Ross...

 Death has always been a touchy subject to conquer. People don’t really like to talk about it, or even think about it sometimes. I think this is especially true for young adults. When you’re a kid, you think you’re invincible. Nothing can go wrong because I am going to live forever. And then one day, you don’t.
I taught eighth grade English for several years. While I was teaching, I was lucky enough to only lose a few students. But you never forget your first.

The school that I taught at in central Florida was in a rougher area of town. It suited me just fine because I loved those kids. They were so hungry to be appreciated and loved, and I think I learned just as much from them as they did from me. The year after I moved out of the area, I got word that one of my kids died. He was walking home from football practice with his little brother when a stray bullet from a gang shooting caught him. That’s it, just walking home.

I didn’t come up with the idea for Awaken because of this story, but as I wrote it I remembered this sweet kid. He always worked hard in class, and said thank you. He wanted football to be his second chance and fresh start. I think, if the world of the Patronus were real, he would have been given his second chance.
So many things in this world aren’t fair, but my absolute favorite thing about being a writer is that I can take any wrong and make it right. I can solve every problem and make every bad guy pay. It’s what we all want to do in real life, right? That bully from middle school: fat now. That guy that dumped you to go out with the prettier girl: bald! And that Spanish homework that you did but lost and the teacher didn’t believe you: she retroactively gave you an A (thanks Ms. Cruz!). Yeah, in my world I have all the power. Bwahahaha!

When I told my friends that I was writing a young adult novel where every character was already dead, they thought I was crazy. But in my novel, Awaken, I get to right all the wrongs. In my book, children who die are given a second chance. No judgments, no waiting. Just a fresh start. I know I write fiction, but I really hope it’s true. They deserve it. And while I don’t know what really happens when we die, but I am a believer in Karma. And I have faith.



~I’m dedicating this blog post to my step-dad, Tom, who passed away in December. He’d make the most awesome Patronus ever! And I’m sure he’s making a crank call to Elvis or someone right about now. ~

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Wow, thank you for opening up and being so honest with us Sarah, I truly enjoyed the insight into you personally as well as your novel. And I know I mentioned this before, but I can't wait to read book two. :)

So if all of you readers haven't had a chance to read this one, please do. Need prove of its awesomeness? Check out our review!

Review: Awaken by Sarah Ross

Lucy Donovan was supposed to have a weekend of fun in the sun, celebrating her upcoming graduation from college. In a split second, everything changed. A drunk driver ended Lucy’s mortal life.
Lucy opens her eyes to a world she never imagined possible and a new destiny: as a Patronus, a guardian of spirits. Adjusting to her new role and abilities while negotiating this confusing realm will test her limits and push her further than she ever dreamed she would go. From wayward spirits who don’t want her help to soul stealing vampires, and even a stuck-up British royal, Lucy must brave them all to save one spirit she can’t bear to lose. Further complicating her confusing life is an inexplicable yet growing connection she feels to a member of her team, Max, whose mysterious behavior leaves her both confused and intrigued.
Waking up dead was just the beginning of her problems. Lucy’s death is about to become the greatest adventure of her life.

I am a ridiculously slow reader, throw in going to college and working full time and it's a wonder how I keep up with this book blog, so when I zoomed through Awaken in less than 3 days, I shocked myself. But I could not put this book down! Awaken is filled with suspense, non-stop action, romance and just about everything you look for in a young adult novel.

Lucy is an AWESOME protagonist and a kick butt superhero. She may start at the bottom, but she will do anything it takes to pull herself to the top. Her friends are great too, each doing their own to challenge, console and of course, helps Lucy laugh. One of the super cool things Sarah did with this book was add in a few historical characters we know such as Queen Elizabeth and Amelia Earhart. Which, why not? Everything does take place in Lucy's afterlife!

The only couple of things that had me kind of eh was the beginning. I understood simply because the point wasn't who Lucy was in this lifetime, but rather the life she was about to begin as a Patronus. Still, it felt rather sudden. The other hesitation was Lucy and Max's relationship. Sarah plays up the insta-love but it doesn't feel like insta-love. It genuinely seems like Lucy and Max not only have known each other forever, but are just meant to be. However throughout the entire book, Max is holding a secret that has something to do with Lucy. The suspense is building and building until he finally reveals it to her and... what? I didn't see that coming. (No spoiler alerts here!) But I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that they expand on that situation further in the next novel because as much as I loved this book and loved the couple together, I was a bit let down with that outcome.

My favorite part of this book was the fact that Sarah was not afraid to have her characters fail, be slowed down or put in their place.

My Rating for this Book:

Sarah M. Ross started her obsession with reading at an early age, getting in trouble for sneaking Baby-Sitters Club and Nancy Drew books into math class in elementary school. She would read any fiction book she could get her hands on. She knew it was an addiction when instead of grounding her from TV or music, her mom would take away her books as punishment (The Horror!).

Her love of all things paranormal was inspired by her good friend Laurie, who convinced her that books with vampires, witches, and all things shifter were amazing. After a little reluctance, she gave it a shot with the Sookie Stackhouse books, realized her friend was right, and the rest was history. 

Ms. Ross grew up in Pittsburgh, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in English, and taught 8th graders to love reading as much as she does for several years.

She will always be a proud member of Steelers Nation, but couldn’t take the cold and moved her frozen tush to Florida where she now lives with her family and two cats.You will find her many days with her trusty Kindle in hand and toes in the sand!

 

Review: Feyland by Anthea Sharp

“WHEN A GAME...

Feyland is the most immersive computer game ever designed, and Jennet Carter is the first to play the prototype. But she doesn't suspect the virtual world is close enough to touch -- or that she'll be battling for her life against the Dark Queen of the faeries. 

TURNS REAL...   

Tam Linn is the perfect hero -- in-game. Too bad the rest of his life is seriously flawed. The last thing he needs is rich-girl Jennet prying into his secrets, insisting he's the only one who can help her.

WINNING IS EVERYTHING...

Together, Jennet and Tam enter the Dark Realm of Feyland, only to discover that the entire human world is in danger. Pushed to the limit of their abilities, they must defeat the Dark Queen... before it's too late.”

What do you do when a game starts to cross over into reality? What happens when everything you thought was imaginary turns out to be more real than you could possibly imagine? These are questions that Jennet must find the answers to after she loses a battle – and a piece of her soul – to the Dark Queen in a new game called, Feyland. Jennet is forced to wrap her head around the fact that her health is slowly deteriorating, and the only way to save her own life is to return to the immersive virtual reality game and win back her soul with the help of a champion. For this task, she enlists Tam, a boy from the other side of the tracks who is the best gamer at her new school. But the pair soon learns that Jennet’s life isn’t the only one in danger – the entire human world is in danger from the creatures of Feyland. Feyland: The Dark Realm is an interesting book that combines fantasy and reality together in such a way that it leaves the reader feeling completely immersed in the story, as well as the fictional game itself.

I rate this book:

What I really enjoyed about this book was the way that Anthea Sharp described the scenery inside Feyland. It felt as real to me as if I were actually standing beside the characters in the book when they were interacting with the game. I felt like this was a part of the book that was extremely well done and definitely contributed to my enjoyment in the story. I also liked how the author was able to incorporate many of the common myths and legends about faeries into the story, particularly the inclusion of The Ballad of Tam Lin. It was incredibly interesting to me and made me want to know about the myths themselves. The incorporation of The Ballad of Tam Lin was a crucial part of the plot and was also very well done in the book. If you enjoy books that combine fantasy and reality with a little bit of suspense thrown into the mix, then you should definitely check out Feyland: The Dark Realm.

Growing up, Anthea Sharp spent her summers raiding the library shelves and reading, especially fantasy. She now makes her home in the Pacific Northwest, where she writes, plays the fiddle, and spends time with her small-but-good family. Contact her at antheasharp@hotmail.com or visit her website – www.antheasharp.com

Guest Post: CA Freeburn

Today we welcome CA Freeburn with us to help promote her book, Dying for Redemption. Everyone please welcome Mrs. Freeburn!

 

The Working Shadow, Inc series came from a conversation I had with a woman after a mystery panel. She was telling me that she didn't read mysteries because people die during those types of books. Wanting to please all readers and being a chronic what-iffer, I started to think about her dilemma and a question popped into my head, "What if all the characters were already dead?"
Over the next few days, the voice of Callous Demar ... a tough PI who was murdered in 1955 ... filled my head and his story flowed onto the computer screen. He was a different character than any I had ever written and while I was having fun getting to know him, there were some bumps in the beginning. I had always written third-person point-of-view (POV), but because of the character's strong voice it wasn't working so I switched to first person POV. Third person felt a little removed and the true personality of the character was hidden. Plus, Callous just didn't speak to me the same way he did in first-person as third-person. And the first person voice was so 'alive'.
The fun part of creating this series was establishing the rules and guidelines for the afterlife in the Limbo where Callous resides: relationships between the ghosts, why some have jobs and others don't, the reason Limbo looks so similar to the world left behind. The challenge I had was making sure the detecting was done by the ghosts using traditional methods with a slight twist, an element of the story that was important to me. Interviewing was done by using a medium, haunting, or eavesdropping on the most likely to have done it. The ghostly detectives examined the scenes themselves or found ways to manipulate the living to look where you wanted them to. I wanted Callous' detective knowledge and skills to lead the way of solving the cases, not his paranormal abilities.
Callous has been in Limbo for over half a century when the first book in the series, Dying For Redemption, takes place. I knew there had to be a reason this would be the first 'documented' case and as I worked on the book another voice entered into the story. Abigail Harris, Callous' grand-niece, enters Limbo and it's her death that shakes up Callous' controlled world and invites the readers into their lives. Abby believes a college paper about the unsolved murder of Callous Demar might be the cause for her death. This is a perfect case for the beginning of the series as the reader learns about Callous' unanswered questions he'd rather never have answered.
I'm working on the second book in the series, Dying For Perception, which has Callous and Abby taking on a case of a recently murdered psychic who first has to be convinced she is no longer among the living.
Currently, Dying For Redemption can be purchased (or borrowed through Prime Lending) from Amazon.

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Thank you so much for stopping by! 

And everyone else, be sure to stop by Amazon today and pick up your free copy! For a limited time only though so be sure to jump on it! 

Thanks,

 

Feature Friday: Emlyn Chand

Today we welcome Emlyn Chand from Virtual Book Tours. Emlyn is the author of Farsighted. So to begin we ask her a question that I've been dying to know the answer of since I read this book.

1) How difficult was it for you to write a story with the main character being blind? How did you go about writing such a delicate subject? (I know you haven't read my review but I thought you did it very successfully!)

Oh, yay! Thank you for the praise :-D Well, to connect with Alex, I read books about coping with blindness in a school setting and spent a great deal of time pondering how I might behave if I couldn’t see. In the story, Alex has always been blind; he’s always known the world to be a certain way. Not everyone understands that, and they have trouble talking about it with him. I gave Alex a tendency to overcompensate. He knows who he is and what he’s capable of, and he wants the world to know it too, so sometimes he overdoes things a bit.

2) What convinced you to use the runes throughout the book? Especially when you have so many magical type items at your disposal to write about.

Ooo, good question. Runes are a device that can be used without site as Alex does. I also found shaping each chapter around a rune gave the story order, which made me feel happy and comfortable. Whenever I got stuck and didn’t know what should happen next, I was able to learn more about that chapter’s rune and get the inspiration I needed to continue. The runes themselves tell a story, one that is successfully completed. I felt that boded well for Farsighted. There will be other psychic story-telling devices later in the series too!

3) Shapri seemed to have the hardest time out of everyone in the book adjusting to the idea that she had an ability. Will we be seeing her develop more and becoming more accepting of herself in the next book? Will she finally have a breakthrough?

Yes, definitely. At the beginning of book #2, Shapri is already more in touch with her abilities and willing to discuss it openly. Each of the novels in the series is told from a different main character’s perspective, Shapri’s turn to narrate will be in book #3, and boy, will she have to grapple with her powers then!

4) The idea of your powers controlling you if you don't learn to control them, isn't necessarily new. But the way that you implemented it brought something fresh. As we watch all of the characters grow and develop, will there be more conflicts within themselves? Or needs to use their powers for selfishness? After all, it's a lot of responsibility to have for a few kids.

They will. Each character has his or her own private struggle. In the beginning of the next book, many new people begin to move into town and some of them do use their powers for personal gain in a way that hurts others. At least one of our main characters is not the best of guys either. Remember, “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

5) Now for a few simple, fun and silly questions, if you had to live off of 1 food for the rest of your life, what food would you choose?

Hmmm. Maybe pizza? It’s not necessarily my favorite food, but it’s so diverse. There’s a lot I could do with my pizza to keep it fresh :-P

6) Describe to us the place where your magic happens (where you write).

The comforting hum of its patrons wraps me in a warm embrace. Scents of vanilla, sausage, and coffee pour through my nostrils and make me feel at home. The springy cushion beneath me melds to my form. My keyboard is waiting. Ahhh, Panera.

7) When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew?

Oh, so many different things. The earliest one was a zoo keeper who takes care of elephants. The longest desire was to be a Disney animator. I used to be a pretty good cartoonist, but now I’m out of practice.

8) Favorite type of music?

Happy music! I love Frank Sinatra and all things croon. It just makes me “smile in my heart.” When I’m driving I listen to pop, so that I don’t fall asleep at the wheel… yeah, I totally have done that before.

9) When can we expect book 2? I saw at the end of this one that it 2012, but that's quite a vague answer... ;) Also, do you have anything else in the works?

Yes, yes, I do. Book #2 in the Farsighted series, which is called Open Heart, will indeed be coming in 2012. I’m hoping to have it ready sometime in the spring, probably later in the spring. I will also be releasing the first book in a new series called The Timewalker Chronicles this year. It’s of the YA science fiction persuasion, and I’m so so excited about it :-D

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Thank you, thank you, thank you for joining us Emlyn! It was so much fun and you were a joy to have. We hope you keep us in mind when you're looking for publicity on The Timewalker Chronicals, I know that I will be first in line for Open Heart so I can't wait to see what you do with this other series.



Review: Farsighted by Emlyn Chand

“Alex Kosmitoras's life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead-broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he's blind. Just when he thinks he'll never have a shot at a normal life, a new girl from India moves into town. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Yes, sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival--an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to "see" the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they begin to suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and new friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex must embark on a journey to change his future.”

When I began reading Farsighted, I have to be honest and say that I wasn’t sure what to think. I mean how many books are about a blind teenage boy with supernatural powers? Not too many from what I’ve seen, and it is exactly that that had me speeding through the pages, desperate to read more.

Alex was born blind, his whole life growing up relying on his other senses to move through life, experience and see what’s around him. We get to live in Alex’s shoes as he uses a cane to walk around, has to go to school ahead of time to learn the route before simply going in the first day of class, to see how other students act knowing that he’s different. One of the coolest things was that he read books in Brail. Which sounds ridiculous, I know that’s how people who can’t see read, but it was something that I had never thought about it to that extent. So for those of us who not have a friend, family member or personal experience with someone with a seeing disability, this book is an eye opener. I wasn’t sure how Emlyn was going to pull it off, not being able to truly describe scenery or the background around Alex, but she does, and she may even pull it off better than those with every sense to rely on.

On to the rest of the storyline, there are some fantastic characters in this book. From sweet Simmi to sassy Shapri, from Alex's strong, loving mother to a father who appears rigid and mean, but truly just has more to him than what meets the eye. Since the view is from a fifteen year old, you get all of those sweet first love emotions that comes with that first crush, a reminder of how pure things begin and how complicated they end up.

The way that Alex’s powers slowly progress is unique. I didn’t find it your typical run of the mill, bam! I have powers, and the whole “What I’m special?!” routine, I mean don’t get me wrong, it was there, but it wasn’t nearly as in your face as it usually is. What I'm getting at, if you haven't figured that out already is that this is a fantastic book that you will not be disappointed to read. I know that I pushed off reading this book far, far too long.

My rating for this book:

 

And if you want to see our interview with Emlyn Chand, click here!