Book Blast & Giveaway: Winter Reads $100 Book Giveaway

Sit back, relax in your favorite reading chair and enjoy 15 Winter Reads from 15 bestselling YA authors. There is something to delight every reader in this box set – paranormal romance, futuristic sci-fi, historical, time travel, and contemporary. Many of the Indelibles have given you access to both the first and second books in their series – you’ll be reading well into the New Year!

LIMITED TIME BOX SET - from 15 bestselling YA authors
ON SALE 12/29 - 1/11 for just $1.99

Sit back, relax in your favorite reading chair and enjoy 15 Winter Reads from 15 bestselling YA authors. There is something to delight every reader in this box set – paranormal romance, futuristic sci-fi, historical, time travel, and contemporary. Many of the Indelibles have given you access to both the first and second books in their series – you’ll be reading well into the New Year!

LIMITED TIME BOX SET - from 15 bestselling YA authors
ON SALE 12/29 - 1/11 for just $1.99

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

15 Winter Reads includes:

The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn

Escaping an experimental prison, Thalia tries to hide her past and her gifts, from her friends. But her past isn’t always easy to escape, especially when it hunts you down.

Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads * Website

Tremble (Celestra Series) by Addison Moore

Sixteen year-old, Skyla Messenger is a dead girl walking. When her newly remarried mother moves the family to Paragon Island, to a house that is rumored to be haunted, Skyla finds refuge in Logan Oliver, a boy who shares her unique ability to read minds.

Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads

Exiled by RaShelle Workman

Venus wakes to find herself no longer on her home planet of Kelari, but on Earth with a week to get back or she'll die.

Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Goodreads * Wattpad

Dragonfly by Leigh Talbert Moore

Gossip Girl meets VC Andrews in this contemporary family saga. Love, lies, and betrayal become the new normal when Anna enters the world of Jack and Lucy Kyser.

Amazon  * Facebook  * Twitter  * Goodreads  * Pinterest

Open Minds and Closed Hearts by Susan Kaye Quinn

When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

 Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Wattpad * Goodreads

Untraceable by S.R. Johannes

When Grace's forest ranger dad disappears on patrol, she fights town authorities, tribal officials, & nature to prove he’s alive. Torn between a new hot boy and cute ex, she heads into the wilderness to find her dad. Soon, she is caught in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder.

 Twitter * Facebook * Blog  * Goodreads

How to Date an Alien and How to Break Up With an Alien by Magan Vernon

Alex Bianchi takes an internship at an alien operations center to pad her college applications but doesn't plan on falling in love with one of its residents. But as Alex’s senior year progresses, everything changes and she can’t figure out if it is interstellar or if it is just time to break up with an alien.

 Twitter * Facebook * Website * Goodreads

Flutter of Luv by L.M. Preston

Dawn, the neighborhood tomboy, is happy to be her best friend’s shadow. Acceptance comes from playing football after school with the guys on the block while hiding safely behind her glasses, braces, and boyish ways. But Tony moves in, becomes the star Running Back on her school’s football team, and changes her world and her view of herself forever.

Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Goodreads

Watched by Cindy M. Hogan

It takes more than a school trip to change Christy's life. It takes murder.

 Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads

Clockwise and ClockwiseR by Elle Strauss

A follow up to Clockwise, Casey and Nate travel back in time and race against the clock to rescue Casey's rebellious brother Tim from frontline battle in America's civil war.

 Website * Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Wattpad * Goodreads

Glimpse (Zellie Wells #1) and Glimmer (Zellie Wells #2) by Stacey Wallace Benefiel

While working together to figure out what their shared vision means, Zellie discovers that Benjamin is a worthy friend and mentor. If only he could keep his hands off of her - if only she wanted him to...

 Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads

A Spy Like Me by Laura Pauling

After dodging bullets on a first date, Savvy must decide how far she'll go to protect the ones she loves.

 Blog * Twitter * Goodreads

Grasping At Eternity by Karen Amanda Hooper

An eternal soul mate, a supernatural family who has known her for centuries, and lifetimes of erased memories: this is Maryah Woodsen’s life. She just doesn’t know it yet.

 Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Goodreads

Lacrimosa by Christine Fonseca

In the world of angels and demons, one thing is clear - some sacrifices should never be made. Even for love.

 Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Google + * Goodreads * Pinterest

The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle

The town of Spruce Knoll hides many secrets—and many dangers, among them are that the untimely death of Eren’s parents was no accident and that she is far more than she realizes.

 Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Wattpad * Goodreads

Giveaway Details

$100 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends

1/11/14

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the authors. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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Article: Grab Button

The Problem

If you google the term 'grab button' you will find lots of resources to help you design your own button. Most use PicMonkey, though I find Pixlr easier to use. I found designing the button took me a while, and mine certainly isn't great, but the tough part was getting the code to work! Where a box is meant to display the code for others to copy and paste, mine kept coming up blank. No matter how many tutorials I tried, or how many times I checked the code it just wouldn't work.

Read more to read how I fixed it!

The Fix

I found a few comments on a blog suggesting people with this blank code problem use this website http://www.mycoolrealm.com/sandbox/gbgen/ to generate the code for you. I was sceptical, but it totally worked. It was quick and easy. Now I feel silly to have wasted all that time toying with code that didn't work!

I'm not sure why the codes in the tutorials didn't work for me, it seems to be a recent problem. Some people think it is to do with Google+. I just wanted to share a way to get your grab button code that definitely works.

<div align="center"><br /><a href="http://www.eveningebook.blogspot.co.uk" title="Evening eBook"><img src="http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr141/Gory11322/grabbuttonscopy_zpsb20cece3.png" alt="Evening eBook" style="border:none;" /></a></div><br />

Review: Meeting & Making (The Vampire Relationship Guide, 1) — Evelyn Lafont

An enjoyable novella with an interesting take on the vampire genre. Rather than horror, this book is falls more under the categories of fantasy-realism, romance and a hint of thriller, I suppose. I absolutely love the retro cover and series name.

GoodReads Summary

Josie wants what she’s never been able to have—sex with a vampire. When she receives an invitation to a party thrown by one of the world’s richest vamps, she doesn’t stop to question her luck; she just jumps into her favorite stilettos and heads out to the event of a lifetime, secretly hoping that she’ll come home with a party favor in the shape of a sexy coffin dweller.

But the great undead, much to Josie’s chagrin, aren’t just pale sexbots with pointy teeth waiting to satisfy her carnal desires—they are dangerous…and sometimes cranky. With a single-minded focus on fulfilling her sole sexual longing, Josie unwittingly entrenches herself in the twisted and sometimes antagonistic world of vampire relationships with no one to guide her, but herself.

My Review

From the cover and title I thought this book was going to be a witty satirical take the vampire love story genre, or perhaps just an amusing how-to ‘guide’ for vampire relationships. For me, it didn’t really meet either of these expectations. It was just another short, vampire love story with some humour and sex thrown in. While it wasn’t a bad book, I had high expectations of being amused so I was a little disappointed.

The main character in this novel has her own voice, she can be mildly amusing. She’s brash, independent, and a bit slow but does have some self awareness as seen when she comments on her desire for vampire sex: “Oh my God— I was a teenage boy”. I didn’t really feel she was a well rounded character, but as I said it is only a short book so she’s fleshed out relative to length. I found it difficult to believe that while she was trying to impress two sexy vampires she would use the word ‘yuppers’. I can’t imagine that word sounding sexy from anyone’s mouth. The character also seemed a little… old to be using that kind of word. But that was just a little thing that bugged me.

I really liked that vampires were explained in terms of why and how they drink blood. Even the apparently sexy vampire bite was explained with a bit of humour:

“Tell me, would that have been better for you if you’d eaten a salami sandwich while we did it?” “Ew, no . What an absurd question… oh. So then, you don’t like to suck blood while you have sex?”

I saw the end coming for the most part. Aren’t the ‘perfect’ ones always the evil ones? As it was a short book I didn’t mind the predictability, if I had invested five hours for a predictable ending, however, I would have been sad.

The relationships in this book seem to happen very fast and, as vampires live so much longer than humans, I would have thought they would be inclined to take their time to enjoy things. Perhaps some date stamps would have made the book feel less speedy. It seemed like everything happened within about 7 days.

Overall, it was an enjoyable short read, but it really didn’t intrigue me enough to want to read any further books in this series. I really like the book cover and title, it just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Book Tour & Giveaway: The Balborite Curse (The Dragon Stones Saga, 4) — Kristian Alva

Book stop tour time!

Today I bring you an intriguing fantasy book. It's gritty and part of a series! So if you're looking for something new to try, I would suggest checking out the Dragon Stones Saga.

Click read more to read the blurb, information about the author and enter into a $50 giveaway!

The Balborite Curse

The Balborite Curse is the fourth book in Kristian Alva's bestselling Dragon Stones Saga.

After five years of fragile peace, things are changing rapidly. The dwarf kingdom is crumbling into civil war in the midst of the worst clan schism in a thousand years. With the clans weakened by infighting, the entire dwarf kingdom is vulnerable to attack.

Tallin Arai, the dragon rider, must leave the desert and the city he loves when someone puts a bounty on his head. He suspects the Balborites--a fanatic cult that trains deadly mageborn assassins. He sets out on a journey to save the dwarves from civil war and stop the Balborite assassins once and for all. Is Tallin strong enough to save them all?

Barnes & Noble * Amazon

Author Kristian Alva

Kristian Alva was born into a family of writers and teachers. She worked as a staff writer and a ghostwriter before publishing her own manuscripts. She now writes young adult and middle-grade fantasy full-time. She currently lives in California with her husband and sons. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading all genres, especially epic fantasy.

Website * Blog * Facebook

BookBlast $50 Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 1/5/14

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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Author Interview: S.C. Rhyne

Recently I've been super lucky as I had the chance to interview S.C. Rhyne, the author of The Reporter and The Girl (Minus The Superman!). I would like to thank her for answering my questions and giving some great answers!

Please introduce yourself.
Hello, I formally go by S.C. Rhyne, or TheGirl. I am the creator of The Reporter and The Girl series at TheReporterandTheGirl.com and the debut novel of the same name. Thanks for interviewing me, Jessica.

This isn't a love story, says the synopsis. So how would you describe your novel?
I do categorize this as a romance adult genre, because it is a story about two people in a relationship, trying to figure out where the other stands. There is so many emotions that each character expresses, but this doesn’t follow the typical pattern of love stories. It’s a relationship story.

What made you decide against making your novel a rosy romance?
I wouldn’t say I’m hardcore against romance novels. I did portray some rosy essence in the book, the butterflies in the gut feeling, and the vulnerability of being “exposed”. However, I also added in what a lot of other romance books leave out; which is the fear of rejection, the awkwardness of first time…and not being perfect, and the longing to be perfect for that other person. To fit into the person’s life and be whole…only to decide where you truly fit.

What do you want readers to get out of this story?
Love can be messy, weird, awkward, stupid, and painful. Love can be at the wrong time. I wanted a book that real people could relate to (about falling in love). Real people who are not perfect, make mistakes, but are still rooting for that happy ending despite trudging through the war zone.

What motivated you to write this story?
So I was going through my break up, (yes and I really did it over the phone!) and I decided to write a letter, but it looked more like a short story. So I decided to expand on the short story, chapter by chapter. That was really hard, having to decide my characters’ fate. But I initially wrote down the personalities of Jon and Sabrien and illustrated their tango on the love floor.

One of the most important questions is: will there be a follow up to Jon and Sabrien?
Well, he is the other half…of the story.

Do you have a writing music playlist?
No, I don’t have a writing playlist. I can’t write and listen to music at the same time. Sometimes, I’ll take a break from writing and play a random song. Some of my favorite bands are OneRepublic, Timbaland, Greenday, and Staind.

Thanks again!

--S.C Rhyne

Book Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway: Both Sides Now — Shawn Inmon

Synopsis: Just as she was flowering into her teens, life uprooted Dawn from the tanned crowds and sunny beaches of southern California. It transplanted her into rainy, rural Washington, where she strove to adjust, mature and thrive. Love came to Dawn--and was ripped from her by events and manipulations she could not control. But Dawn had a core of steel. An emotional castaway, she battled grimly through life's trials and sorrows, safeguarding her heart against further ravages. Then love reached out to Dawn once more--if she could find the courage and spirit to grab it with both hands, and this time, never let go. This is her story.

Release Date: July 9th 2013
Publisher: Pertime Publishing
Average Rating: 4.5
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis

Just as she was flowering into her teens, life uprooted Dawn from the tanned crowds and sunny beaches of southern California. It transplanted her into rainy, rural Washington, where she strove to adjust, mature and thrive. Love came to Dawn--and was ripped from her by events and manipulations she could not control. But Dawn had a core of steel. An emotional castaway, she battled grimly through life's trials and sorrows, safeguarding her heart against further ravages. Then love reached out to Dawn once more--if she could find the courage and spirit to grab it with both hands, and this time, never let go. This is her story.

Excerpt

I took his sandwich and fries and put them in a brown bag, folding the top over so the food would stay warm if he didn’t eat it right away. I slid the window open and handed it through to him.

“That’ll be $8.66, please.”

He looked a little dazed, but gave me a half smile and handed me a ten-dollar bill. When I gave him his change, he had an odd expression on his face, like he’d seen a ghost.

“Did you go to Mossyrock High School?” he asked.

“Yes...”

“Class of ’82?”

“No, Class of ’81.” I stared at him harder, trying to place him. It wasn’t unusual for someone I went to school with to recognize me at the drive-through, since we weren’t that far from Mossyrock, but most were a year or two behind me. He didn’t look like any of the underclassmen I could remember.

He eased the car forward, like he was going to just drive off.

I wasn’t about to let him get away that easy. “And you are…?”

“We went to school together.”

I searched my memories, but I was coming up blank. I gave a small shake of my head, feeling a little helpless. I hated it when someone recognized me and I had no clue who they were.

“Dawn, it’s Shawn.”

I could tell he thought that would end the mystery, but it didn’t. Maybe it was the exhaustion of having been awake for nineteen hours, but whatever the reason, I wasn’t making a connection. I bit the inevitable bullet.

“Shawn who?”

That struck home. He had expected me to remember him, but I just didn’t.

“Shawn Inmon. We lived next door to each other…”

I don’t know if he kept talking after that, because I wasn’t able to hear any more. There was a sudden ocean’s-roar in my ears that blocked out everything else.

Shawn.

I had buried everything about Shawn so deep that I was sure it would never resurface. I had thought I would never see him again. Now here he was, right in front of me. The last I had heard, he was married, had kids, and had moved away. His Mom had never missed a chance to tell me he was happy. Memories and emotions churned through me, and I was helpless to stop them.

I took a step back and my hands flew to my mouth.

“Oh my God. Oh. My. God. OhmyGod.”

Somewhere deep inside, I knew I was losing it, but I knew that from a distance, watching myself freak out. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do anything. I was vaguely aware that Shawn was still talking, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. That rushing noise in my ears was blocking out everything else.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Connie walk over and smile at Shawn, and he was talking to her. Shawn is talking to Connie. Does he think she’s his? If he does the math, he should know she’s not… I was rooted to one spot, chanting “Oh my God.” I didn’t know if I would ever be able to stop repeating that. Memories flooded through me. I remembered laughing and talking and playing catch in our yard, dancing barefoot after Prom, soft kisses and feeling so safe in his arms. I was always safe when I was with him. Then I remembered that he left. He left and never came back.

Off and on over the years, I had tried to locate him, but had never found him. I didn’t want to talk to him, mostly because I didn’t want him to know how my life had turned out, but I wanted to know where he was, if he was doing well.

He and Connie eventually finished whatever conversation they were having, and I saw his car ease forward. He took one last look at me over his shoulder before he turned right onto Harrison, headed toward I-5.

“Mom, are you OK?”

I looked at Connie and finally found the ‘off’ switch for the constant repetition of “Oh my God.” I nodded a little, but was having a hard time focusing.

“Who was that?”

“That was my first.” Connie’s eyes widened. I didn’t have to explain.

My brain started to work again. He’d said “We went to school together.” Was that all I was to him? A classmate he left behind while he went on to bigger and better things?

“We went to school together,” I mumbled to myself, shaking my head. “I guess Mom was right. I can’t believe that’s all I was to him.”

I still had salt and pepper shakers to fill and tables to wipe down while Connie cleaned the grill. In just a few minutes, I was supposed to meet the guy who was taking me to the casino, but I had forgotten all about him.

All I could think about was the feeling I’d had when Shawn and I were together. I should have been getting ready to go, but I felt like I was stuck in the 70s.

About the Author

Shawn Inmon is originally from Mossyrock, a very small town in rural Washington State. Shawn used Mossyrock as the setting for his first bookFeels Like the First Time. He has been a real estate broker in Enumclaw Washington for the last twenty years. Prior to that, he worked as a short-order cook, travelling T-shirt salesman, radio DJ, Cutco Cutlery sales rep, department store buyer, video store manager, crab fisherman, Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman, business consultant and public speaker. Shawn has often said that he learned everything he needed in life by having 400 different jobs.

He married his high school sweetheart Dawn thirty one years after he first asked her for her hand. Together, they have five daughters, five grandchildren and two chocolate labs named Hershey and Sadie.

www.shawninmon.com | twitter.com/shawninmon

Giveaway

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Review: The Girl Who Couldn't Say No — Tracy Engelbrecht

I expected this to be a semi-preachy book with some humour. A ‘beware this bad life choice’ sort of autobiography. It was a spur of the moment reading choice. It turned out to be a relaxing read, written in a friendly conversational tone with just enough humour to make you smile and take the edge of what could have been a very dry story.

Read the synopsis on GoodReads.

I think the title is slightly misleading. I imagined a people pleaser or submissive personality, and while Tracy admits she finds it difficult to stand up for herself, the point of this story doesn’t come about due to peer pressure or people pleasing. I think the subtitle works a lot better and I always think of this book as “The Memoir of a Teenage Mom”.

Some negative reviews comment on the voice or ramblings, but I don’t agree with any of that being a bad thing. The voice is conversational and it is because of this fact that I kept reading. It was a friendly, welcoming book, with a conversational tone. It made it pleasant to read – the same feeling you get from talking to a friend. I rarely read autobiographies because the voice generally fails to appeal to me and I just don’t tend to care that much (at least for the popular ones, such as celebrity biographies you see every Christmas). I didn’t find any of the book to be wondering so far off track that I felt lost or disinterested. Everything felt related and was pretty interesting to read.

It was definitely interesting to read from the perspective of someone who felt that an unplanned teenage pregnancy was the ‘it’ they needed in their life to make it really worthwhile. While I don’t agree with any young girl who tries to get pregnant for whatever reason (keeping a boyfriend, need for unconditional love, a desire to show how mature they are and so on), I think for Tracy it was a positive life event, or at least one she made positive.

The chapter titles are amusing and there are parts in the book that I can relate to so much (just as progression from teen to adult, I’m not a mother). There are also bits which are gems of experience. Such as:

“Again, I was surprised to find that this forbidding man was just a person like me, muddling through life and doing his best. More and more, I was learning that adults were not the all-knowing, all-powerful supreme beings I’d thought they were.”

Because as children, at least, we all think that adults have some magical quality which we lack as young people. When we realise all they have is more experience and different thought processes it’s a shock. Tracy also highlights how, while she is pregnant and thus ceases to belong to her friends’ world, her boyfriend can carry on with life as normal, get a new girlfriend, go out partying and shirk the responsibilities of fatherhood.

There are a handful of typos in this book, but overall I think it’s a really pleasant short autobiography.