Thanks to Xpresso Book Tours, we have to opportunity to talk about Jennifer Anne Davis's debut novel, The Voice. We're going to share an excerpt from the first chapter, and I have to say, it sounds really good. I haven't read this book yet, but now I really want to! Then we've got two awesome giveaways for a copy of the book. But first, here's what it's about....
During her abduction and
assault, Audrey begins to hear a voice. She hopes she's not going
crazy, because after what she's experienced, that's the most logical
explanation. However, as she begins to listen to the voice, Audrey
realizes that someone may be telepathically trying to help her.
Unfortunately,
rescue isn't all she needs. In order to leave behind the constant
reminders, she flees to her Aunt Kate's house in San Diego, and assumes a
new identity. It works until the eighteen-year-old twin boys who live
next door threaten to break through the protective walls she's worked so
hard to build.
Between Caleb going out of his way to befriend her
and Justin avoiding her at all costs, Audrey doesn't know if normalcy
will ever find her again. But one thing is certain: When a familiar
danger resurfaces, it's the same voice that she turns to -- a voice that
is not only real, but a lot closer than she realizes.
Jennifer graduated from the
University of San Diego with a degree in English and a teaching
credential. Afterwards, she married her high school sweetheart, worked
as a legal assistant, and taught high school English. Jennifer is
currently a full-time writer and mother of three young children. Her
days are spent living in imaginary worlds and fueling her own kids'
creativity.
"Lying in the dark cabin, I tried not to think about the foul smell of body odor mixed with the stench of urine. I tried not to think about how hungry I was, or when I would eat again. About the plastic zip ties cutting into my wrists, or the spider crawling up my arm. I kept trying and failing. There was nothing to do but think.
Audrey? he spoke in my mind.
“Here,” I replied, still not understanding who or what the voice was, hoping I wasn’t going crazy. Though, after what I had been through, crazy wasn’t too far off. Instead, I focused on what the voice was saying. After weeks of being stuck here, he was the only thing keeping me grounded and giving me hope.
I need you to do something for me.
He sounded drained. “Are you okay?” I asked.
Scream.
“What?”
I need you to scream as loud as you can. Now, Audrey! Scream!
Bill had left the cabin only five minutes earlier, and I was afraid to make any noise. What if he was still outside and heard me? Would he come back in? I was so sore and bruised that I couldn’t handle anymore.
Scream! he urged.
Finally trusting the voice, I sucked in a deep breath, closed my eyes, and screamed as loud as I could. At first I sounded like a cat that was being strangled, the sound barely audible and grating on my ears. But I kept trying, and the noise transformed into something loud and fierce.
Yell the word “help.”
“HELP!” My throat was raw, but that didn’t stop me. I took all of my hurt and anger, and used those emotions for the energy needed to sustain the scream.
Then a thumping came from the other room—maybe the front door. My body shuddered. Shimmying to the edge of the mattress, I tried to stand, but my legs gave out, and I fell to the rough, wooden floor, landing on my knees. With bound hands, I inched my way to the corner of the room, as far away from the door as possible.
Keep screaming!
I wanted to curl into a ball and disappear, but I did what the voice said and let out a shrill, loud cry for help. The sound bounced off the walls, echoing.
Wood shattered in the other room. I kept yelling, wishing that I had the power to destroy Bill with my scream.
The doorknob twisted. Please don’t hurt me again . . . please don’t touch me . . . no more, please. No more.
The door exploded open. Instead of Bill, there stood three hunters dressed in camouflage and bright orange vests. One held a shotgun, and another held an axe. I froze in horror. The men looked at one another and then back at me.
Audrey, tell them who you are. Your name.
“I’m Audrey Marshall. Please help me.”
“The kidnapped girl?” the older guy on the right asked. I nodded. “I’m calling 9-1-1. You’re going to be all right now,” he said reassuringly, his cell phone already at his ear.
“Thank you,” I whispered to the voice. But he didn’t respond."
The Giveaways
The second giveaway is just for our blog, so your chances of winning are so much higher. Almost ridiculously so. All you have to do is leave us a comment saying:
why you want to read The Voice
the e-mail address we can contact you at if you win
If you'd like an extra entry into our giveaway, just follow Marked By
Books. RSS, GFC, e-mail, we don't really care. Just let us know in your
comment which it is and you'll be entered twice.
We're going to choose a winner via Random.org
on Monday, February 18th, so you have until then to enter. The winner
will be contacted and allowed to chose what format of eBook they'd like.
If they don't respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.
Welcome to our stop of Molly M. Hall's Reckoning book tour, hosted by Bewitching Book Tours.
I just finished reading this book a few hours ago, so I'm just going to start with the review right off the bat before I forget anything important. But first, here's just a little bit about the book....
"They say the truth can set you free. I found out it can kill you."
Seventeen-year-old
Kat Matheson has never revealed the dark secret that sets her apart
from everyone else: She can see and hear the dead. Until now, she has
been able to ignore the strange apparitions and whispering voices. But
it may not be that simple anymore. Haunted by eerie visions and
increasingly frightening nightmares, Kat begins to fear she may be the
target of a dark and ominous force from beyond the grave. Complicating
matters is the arrival of her new neighbor, a young man she
instinctively distrusts but is inexplicably drawn to. Gorgeous and
mysterious, he seems to hold a disturbing knowledge of her long-held
secrets.
As she desperately tries to maintain control, events
take an unexpected and violent turn. Discovering that nothing is what it
seems and that her psychic abilities may involve far more than just
communing with the dead, Kat may be forced to confront her worst fears
and the powerful curse that controls her destiny.
This book wasn't really what I expected it to be. I had thought that it was just going to be another book about some shy yet secretly strong girl who discovers that there's more to her past then what she believes. Of course, this has to be facilitated by the arrival of an undeniably attractive male. Said girl knows that, for her own safety, she should have absolutely nothing to do with him yet weakly succumbs to his masculine charms. Yeah, not this time. The thing that I admired the most about Kat was how practical she was. From a young age, she learned that telling people about her "gift" wasn't going to get her anywhere but a psych ward, so she never talked about it. And when the "gorgeous and mysterious" Lovell moves in next to her, she does not immediately fall in love with him. In fact, she doesn't really like him much at all. You know why? Because Kat is smart. My main problem with Reckoning was that it took a pretty long time for the story to actually get started. Now, don't get me wrong, once things did start moving along, it was hard for me to put the book down, I just wish that it hadn't taken so long. There were a few dry parts that I had to sift through to find the gems buried in there, but, overall, it was worth it and I really enjoyed reading about Kat and her destiny. Now if only I knew what that was.... Curse you, cliffhangers!
Rating: 4 stars
And here's a chunk of the novel to get you interested. This was one of my favorite parts from the story because this is the time when we see that some serious stuff is really about to go down.
The Excerpt
"A gentle breeze moves through the trees and gooseflesh creeps up my arms. I look around cautiously, my ears straining for even the slightest sound. Nothing. No dreaded flashes of a ghostly pink dress. No brain-numbing whispering. Just an empty expanse of green, dotted with trees, the stark silhouettes of houses rising behind.
My phone buzzes again, the vibration rippling through the nerve endings in my hand like a low-voltage jolt of electricity. I feel a sudden desire to fling it as far away from me as I can.
Reluctantly, I look down and click on the message.
RUN
Turning around, I see Rick, smiling back at me, waiting patiently. A scream of anguish and frustration begins to build deep inside of me and I hear a noise to my right, like the whooshing of wings. Jerking my head to the side, my eyes widen in shock, and I duck, narrowly missing a massive black bird as it sweeps past me, angling upward. I think I hear Rick say something, but his words are drowned out by the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears. I glance up, looking for the bird and see a large, dark shape sweeping past the top of the trees. I have no idea how any of it is connected – the girl, the texts, the bird – but instinctively I know they are. And it isn’t good.
I look at Rick again, the wonder and magic of this evening still singing through my veins, and my shock turns to anger. Hot, fiery, rebellious anger. This will not happen. Not tonight.
Clenching my jaw, I glare up at the sky. LEAVE ME ALONE, I scream in my head. Whatever issues this dead girl has, it has nothing to do with me.
Rick begins walking toward me. “Everything OK, Kat?”
I swallow, gathering my emotions back into a tight bundle. “Fine.” I force a smile onto my face, jogging back to him. “Just Rachel sending me another message.”
I step into the pool of light beneath the streetlamp, anxious to leave the darkness behind. Suddenly, the light flickers, an odd sizzling sound emanating from the globes. I stop and stare, watching as several sparks shoot out the sides. The bird, the largest crow I have ever seen, swoops down from the trees, one shining, jet black eye looking directly at me. Sound disappears and time seems to fold in on itself, slowing to half-speed. The same weightless feeling I’d experienced at school creeps over me, and I tense, fighting off the panic.
I stare at the bird, watching it descend lower and lower. It’s wings beat once, moving slowly down and back up again. Sparks continue to jet from the streetlamp, each brightly pointed flash of light spewing out in a torpid, glowing trail, before dropping slowly and silently to the ground. The bird is nearly on top of me. It sweeps past, close enough that I can feel the rush of air beneath its wings, gently lifting my hair. Then it arcs upward, higher and higher, before turning and diving back toward me again, it’s beak open in a silent cry.
I stand and stare, frozen in place, numb with shock and disbelief. My phone vibrates dully in my palm, and I slowly lower my head. As though acting strictly through muscle memory, my thumb pushes the message button.
NOW
I look back up at the bird. Then at the streetlamp. And suddenly, I understand. The obscure text messages melding into clear and precise meaning. But my legs won’t move.
I gasp, inhaling sharply as I struggle to break free of the torpor that has possessed me, and the world abruptly charges back into normal motion, sound and movement taking on a vivid clarity. The bird rushes toward me, it’s head cocked at an odd angle. The sparking and sizzling of the streetlamp grows louder, the globes glowing and flashing like some kind of deranged sparkler on the fourth of July. I take one slow step backward just as the globes explode with a loud bang, hundreds of tiny pieces of glass slicing through the air. I yelp and duck, lunging to the side."
About the Author
Molly M Hall is the author of Reckoning, the first novel in the Dark Prophecy series. She has spent most of her life in Colorado and currently lives just outside of Denver. She pursued a degree in English Literature at Columbia College, and worked in the corporate world for several years before turning to writing full time.
When not reading or writing, she can be found shopping for awesome boots, listening to music, exercising, working on her very inadequate French, playing piano, or looking for inspiring landscapes to photograph.
Welcome to our stop of Melody Manful's Dominion, hosted by ABG Reads Book Tours! I'm really, really, REALLY excited about this book. I absolutely jumped at the chance to read it because it sounded so good. And it was! But more on that later....
Okay, now usually, I save the book trailer for the end (I'm not really sure why, maybe it's more dramatic...?), but that's not going to happen this time. Want to know why? Listen.
Did you hear that? Please tell me you heard that. That piece of perfection, my friends, is called "Lux Aeterna," composed by Clint Mansell, and it is one of my favorite songs ever! And I really mean it when I say ever. Little known fact about me, not only am I obsessed with books, I'm also a complete music nut. And violins are my babies. I can't actually play (I know, I'm pathetic), but they are without a doubt my favorite instrument. Just ask Gabby.
But now back to Dominion because although the trailer is AWESOME, the book is even better. Trust me.
I Dare You. Look Over Your Shoulders. Do You See Them? They are behind you... They are always behind you.
Abigail
Cells had a nightmare the day before she met Gideon, the new guy in
school who has every girl drooling just to be near him. In her
nightmare, she was murdered by a magical creature. As she gets to know
Gideon, she begins to remember pieces of her nightmare, and was shocked
when Gideon turned out to be the creature from her nightmare. Who is
Gideon really? Should Abby allow herself to fall completely for him, or
is he the next disaster waiting to happen?
Dominion releases February 16th!
My Review
At first look for this book you're probably thinking something along the lines of "great, another damsel in distress." I can see where you'd get that. She is, after all, wearing a pink dress on the cover while being flanked by two guys with wings floating nonchalantly in the middle of a burning city. And the blurb might just sound like another stupid girl falling for some stupid guy just because he's stupidly hot when he actually just wants to kill her. Stupid, right? Yeah, no.
You see the thing with these "damsels" is that they usually don't run around with a bow strapped to their back and something that looks like the handle of a gun peeking out behind it. And they certainly don't knock the "drool-worthy" guy back up against a wall and put him in a choke hold in the middle of an empty classroom. Because Abby did that. And it was fabulous.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Unlike the more weak female protagonists, Abigail actually has a spine and, heaven forbid, a brain, and she's not afraid to use either of them. She is one mean, sharpshooting, ice cream loving, fire extinguisher wielding machine. That sentence will make more sense once you read the book. And you should, because it's good!
Abby doesn't just fall in love with Gideon from the moment she sees him, and he definitely doesn't just pledge himself to her either. There is actually a believable progression here, which is really nice to see. There are some very sweet moments, but you have to believe me when I say that this isn't just a romance novel. It's so much more.
The Cells family has a pretty big secret hidden behind their seemingly perfect life, and Abigail has been training for years to make sure that it doesn't become the death of them. But wait, that's not all! You think life threatening human issues are bad enough? Oh no, it gets much worse. Because what does Abby say when she's thrust into the middle of a war between Heaven and Hell? "Honey, hold my earrings. I'm going in."
Rating: 5 stars
My favorite quote: "Great! Now I'm becoming one of those guys with hearts and flowers and... feelings."
While the ending did make me a little mad (curse you, cliffhangers!), I'm really excited to read the next book, which I hope I'll have the opportunity to review as well whenever it comes out. Hint, hint....
Melody Manful was born on June 8, 1994, in a town in Ghana called Tema. She started writing at a very early age and has been doing it ever since. Melody has two siblings and lives in Denmark with her family. She loves music, reading, and writing, and she puts a great deal into making her friends happy.
And just because I was snooping around on Melody's website, found this, and thought they were beautiful, here are a few original songs for the book. The second one is my favorite. Great job, Melody, these are amazing!
A copy of the novel was provided for us in exchange for an honest review.
Welcome to our stop for Cynthia Woolf's Honora, hosted by Black Lion Virtual Book Tours. As part of the book blast, we've got an excerpt from the novel to share, but if you're looking for more, you can check out the book tour starting on March 4th. I'll leave the schedule for that at the bottom, so make sure you check it our for all of the reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!
They stole her love, her
life and want to steal the secrets secured in her mind. Secrets that
could topple world governments and decimate quadrant security forever.
Now she’s on an epic quest to find out why and make those responsible
pay.Honora Reyestat gave up everything to become a member of the
esteemed Gregarian Guard. No family, no friends, no
connections--nothing that can ever be used against her. Captured and
enslaved, she's become a prized gladiator for her master. Given the task
of training a new slave, she recognizes a fellow Zolthor and the son of
a tribal leader at that. Her mission changes from discovery of the
enemy's tactics and secrets to returning Joridan to his people. Drawn
to this fierce woman as no other, Joridan Dolana tries to explain she
is wrong. He's not Zolthor, he's Centauri. He was raised on Centauri
with his sister. Faced with proof of a father's ultimate betrayal, he
must choose between revenge and the protection of this woman who has
sworn to never return his love.
Cynthia Woolf was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends.
She worked her way through college and went to work full time straight after graduation and there was little time to write. Then in 1990 she and two friends started a round robin writing a story about pirates. She found that she missed the writing and kept on with other stories. In 1992 she joined Colorado Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America.
Unfortunately, the loss of her job demanded she not renew her memberships and her writing stagnated for many years.
In 2001, she saw an ad in the paper for a writer’s conference being put on by CRW and decided she'd attend. One of her favorite authors, Catherine Coulter, was the keynote speaker. Cynthia was lucky enough to have a seat at Ms. Coulter's table at the luncheon and after talking with her, decided she needed to get back to her writing. She rejoined both CRW and RWA that day and hasn't looked back.
"“Oww” a woman’s voice awash with pain reached his ears.
“You disappoint me, Honora. You continue to try to escape me. When will you learn?” asked a whiney voiced man.
The whip struck flesh. Again the woman moaned but didn’t scream. She didn’t scream.
When he woke again he was not alone but the man with the whip was gone. Chained across the room from him, hung by her wrists, was a woman. He could see the lash marks on her back. Lash upon lash, new over old. They obstructed the beautiful tattoo of a dragon on her back. The blood hard to see within the red of the dragon.
Crawling to her he released her hands from the chains holding her up. She collapsed in a heap on the floor. He crawled back to his side of the room as darkness overtook him once more.
*****
The dried blood on her back cracked with each movement, but she worked through the pain as she stretched. Breathed deep and accepted the pain. Her sword weighed heavier in her hand than usual. More evidence of the lashing two nights ago. She looked down at the unconscious man at her feet. A new recruit. A Zolthor, like herself. Another reason Perdor punished her for her attempted escape, her sixth try in as many months.
This last punishment was the worst. Five lashes. Not enough to incapacitate her but enough to make her remember. Perdor wanted her to be able to train the new slave. He wanted them to be a team, good enough to take on all contenders. He’d be the only owner with two Zolthor fighting for him. Not just one, but a team. He was practically wetting himself in anticipation of the beras that he’ll win with a team of Zolthor fighters.
Again she looked down on the naked man. Long brown lashes lay against his cheek. A nice contrast to his golden blond hair. What color eyes did they hide? Blue? Green? Brown perhaps. She’d find out soon enough.
He was a beautiful man. Well formed. Broad shoulders. Trim waist. Long muscular legs. He looked like a warrior. Would be a good fighter. Maybe even a good lover as he appeared well endowed there as well.
He’d awakened from the drug induced sleep long enough to crawl over and release her from the chains. For that she was grateful. Her wrists didn’t hurt as much as usual because of him. Using her blades was easier than it had been after her previous punishments.
Time to wake up the sleeping man and get him trained. Time was short and she intended to make the most of it. He would learn or he would die."
Thanks to Xpresso Book Tours, run by the wonderful Giselle of Xpresso Reads, we have to opportunity to talk about the awesome new book by C.J. Duggan called The Boys of Summer. And to make things even better, we've got two (count them, two!) giveaways to share with you at the end of this post. One is tour wide, but the other is just for our blog and our blog only, making your chances for winning very high. So let's get on with it!
It seemed only natural
to nickname them the ‘Onslow Boys’. Every time they swaggered in the
front door of the Onslow Hotel after a hard week’s work, their laughter
was loud and genuine as they settled onto their bar stools. I peeked
through the restaurant partition, a flimsy divider between my world and
theirs. I couldn’t help but smile whenever I saw them, saw him ... Toby
Morrison.
***
Quiet seventeen-year-old Tess doesn’t relish the
thought of a summertime job. She wants nothing more than to forget the
past haunts of high school and have fun with her best friends before the
dreaded Year Twelve begins. To Tess, summer is when everything
happens: riding bikes down to the lake, watching the fireworks at the
Onslow Show and water bomb fights at the sweltering Sunday markets.
How did she let her friends talk her into working?
After first-shift disasters, rude, wealthy tourists and a taunting
ex-boyfriend, Tess is convinced nothing good can come of working her
summer away. However, Tess finds unlikely allies in a group of locals
dubbed ‘The Onslow Boys’, who are old enough to drive cars, drink beer
and not worry about curfews. Tess’s summer of working expands her world
with a series of first times with new friends, forbidden love and
heartbreaking chaos.
All with the one boy she has never been able to forget.
C.J Duggan is an Australian author who lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia. The Boys of Summer is Book One in her Mature Young Adult Romance Series.
"“Don’t you dare.” I grabbed his arm, pulling him backwards. His eyes darted to where my hand rested on him. I didn’t move my hand, I couldn’t physically bring myself to break the contact; all of a sudden there were no smiles, no jokes, just him and me and our space on the couch. I could only hear the music and be aware of the heat of his skin and the rapid rise and fall of my chest in this moment.
The only thing that snapped me out of my daze was Toby’s words which seemed low and raspy.
“Is Adam your boyfriend?” His gaze flicked over my face as he waited for my answer. My mouth gaped open; I couldn’t hide the fact I was dumbfounded by the question.
I blinked quickly and took my hand from his arm. I struggled to construct a legible sentence.
“Oh – um, no, we’re just friends, it’s not like that.”
His stony expression didn’t falter, didn’t reveal any kind of emotion. He was so hard to read, and I wanted to read him so badly. He gave a small nod and handed me the CD cover.
“Better go and make sure these guys aren’t cheating.” And without another word, he got up and headed towards the pool table."
The Giveaways
So we've got two giveaways going on for this book. The one with the Rafflecopter form is tour-wide, and the other one is just for this blog. Go ahead and sign up for both to increase your chances!
And this one is just for us. We're giving away one eBook copy of The Boys of Summer. Just leave us a comment telling us:
why you want to read The Boys of Summer
the e-mail address we can contact you at if you win
If you'd like an extra entry into our giveaway, just follow Marked By Books. RSS, GFC, e-mail, we don't really care. Just let us know in your comment which it is and you'll be entered twice.
We're going to choose a winner via Random.org on Monday, February 18th, so you have until then to enter. The winner will be contacted and allowed to chose what format of eBook they'd like. If they don't respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.
Loss. For. Words. This thing is GORGEOUS. It's just so.... I don't know, I can't even describe it. Perfect. Then again, all of the Soul Screamers covers have been absolutely perfect. Not too long ago, I fawned over the cover for With All My Soul over here, and I'm still trying to come to terms with that one.
According to Rachel Vincent, the people that do her book covers for this series are Mira Ink, or something like that. Wherever they are, I just like to say thank you for all of the beautiful pieces of pure art you've put out there through these books. I absolutely love them all.
Don't even try to ask me which is my favorite. I'm trying.... and failing. Pretty pathetically. They're all so amazing. Though the cover for With All My Soul.... it's pretty high up there. But don't even get me started on the foreign covers.
What do you guys think of them? Do you have a favorite?
Yes, I know that little button up there says "February 4, 2013," but that obviously didn't happen. As you may have noticed, there were so many other awesome books I've been able to spotlight this week, so this one may have been pushed back a tad. Still, it looked awesome enough that I wasn't about to let it pass me by, so without further delay, here's the brand new trailer for Watcher!
Everybody ready to dance after listening to that music? Just me? Well, fine then....
Millennia ago, he fell from heaven for her.
Can he face her without falling again?
Fascinated
with ancient civilizations, seventeen-year-old Mia Crawford dreams of
becoming an archaeologist. She also dreams of wings—soft and silent like
snow—and somebody trying to steal them.
When a horrible creature
appears out of thin air and attacks her, she knows Michael Fontaine is
involved, though he claims to know nothing about it. Secretive and
aloof, Michael evokes feelings in Mia that she doesn’t understand.
Images of another time and place haunt her. She recognizes them—but not
from any textbook.
In search of the truth, Mia discovers a past
life of forbidden love, jealousy and revenge that tore an angel from
Heaven and sent her to an early grave. Now that her soul has returned,
does she have a chance at loving that angel again? Or will an age-old
nemesis destroy them both?
A Canadian-born author, Lisa Voisin spent her childhood daydreaming and making up stories, but it was her love of reading and writing in her teens that drew her to Young Adult fiction.
When she's not writing, you'll find her meditating or hiking in the mountains to counter the side effects of drinking too much coffee.
She lives in Vancouver, B.C. with her fiance and their two cats.
"Instead of saying more, he brushed his fingertips along my cheek, and his halo glimmered. I could hear the waves slapping the rocks behind us, the wind driving them in. That same wind whipped against my skin, but the touch of his hand on my face was all I could think about. It sent a current through both of us and filled me with longing for something I wasn’t sure I understood. “I’m sorry.” He stepped back and shoved his hands into his pockets as the light around him faded. “You don’t know what it’s like. Being near you now, remembering those moments we had…” His hair blew into his eyes, but this time he didn’t move. I wanted to brush it back, but I didn’t know how he’d react. Would touching him be bad? “You want to know who you were?” he asked. “You may look different, but you’re the same. I look into your eyes and see you.” He took in a deep breath, fixing his attention on the horizon. I’d seen and heard so much now that the logical part of my brain had long since given up arguing with me. I could feel what he was saying was true. All of it."
During her abduction and
assault, Audrey begins to hear a voice. She hopes she's not going
crazy, because after what she's experienced, that's the most logical
explanation. However, as she begins to listen to the voice, Audrey
realizes that someone may be telepathically trying to help her.
