Book Tour! In the Penalty Box!

The Cutting Edge meets Friday Night Lights in a sizzling new hockey romance from bestselling authors Kelly Anne Blount and Lynn Rush!

In the Penalty Box 
by Lynn Rush and Kelly Anne Blount  
Genre: YA Contemporary 
Release Date: January 5, 2021
Entangled Teen

Summary: 

Willow: Figure skating was supposed to be my whole world. But one unlucky injury and now I’m down…but I’m definitely not out. I just need to rehab—a boatload of rehab—and who’d have thought I could do it on the boys’ hockey team? Of course, the infuriatingly hot captain of the team seems to think I’m nothing but sequins and twirls. What’s a girl to do but put him in his place? Game on.

Brodie:  Hockey is my whole world. I’ve worked my tail off getting my team in a position to win the championships—hopefully in front of major college scouts, too—so what’s a guy to do when a figure skater ends up as our new goalie? Of course, the distractingly sexy skater thinks I’m nothing but a testosterone-laced competitive streak. And surely she’s only biding her time to heal, then she’s gone. Game over.

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link: https://bit.ly/InThePenaltyBoxUniversal  
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Penalty-Box-Lynn-Rush-ebook/dp/B0879HJ7MV 
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-the-penalty-box-lynn-rush/1136846457 
iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/in-the-penalty-box/id1509039516 
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/in-the-penalty-box-1 
Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/in-the-penalty-box/9781682815830
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=GdDdDwAAQBAJ
Thalia: https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/ID148113900.html
bol.de: https://www.bol.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/ID148073150.html
Angus & Robertson: https://www.angusrobertson.com.au/ebooks/in-the-penalty-box-lynn-rush-kelly-anne-blount/p/9781682815830 
Mondadori: https://books.mondadoristore.it/In-the-Penalty-Box-Kelly-Anne-Blount-Lynn-Rush/eae978168281583/ 

And here’s something special from authors, Lynn Rush and Kelly Anne Blount!

WHAT MUSIC IS ON WILLOW AND BRODIES’ PLAYLIST? 

Hi! We’re so excited to be here with you today! Thank you so much for featuring IN THE PENALTY BOX and allowing us to chat with you about our character’s favorite songs!

Music lovers unite! 

Hey everyone, Lynn Rush here. I LOVE talking music because it plays a pretty big role in my life, specifically my athletics. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m big into athletics and exercise. I played tennis in high school and then in college. After that, I jumped into competitive inline speed skating, mountain biking and now I’m into endurance running. Specifically ultra trail running. 

Music has followed me through all my sports. Most specifically on my trail running. I’ve been known to be out there for four or five hours, so I need tons of songs. Especially amazing pump me up songs that’ll get me up to that 12,000-foot summit or through that 30-mile run. It’s amazing how a good song can really change a mood. 

Kelly Anne Blount, my co-author, and I incorporated that into our characters, too. I wrote Brodie’s point of view, so we came up with an eclectic playlist that would keep him motivated during his training sessions yet show a little insight into his personality. 

I’ve got them listed below. And we even made a Spotify list, so head over there and give it a like.  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7wKzF0Iyv6CbIxnVRj6bJb 

Here are a few from that list: 

Let’s Go Crazy by Prince.Hey, I used to live in MN, how can I not put Prince on my list?

Stand in the Fire by Mickey Thomas: Youngblood theme-song because it’s the best hockey movie out there per Brodie. It’s old, but it’s good!

Thunder by Imagine Dragons

Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm

Fireworks by The Tragically Hip

What are some of your favorite songs? Maybe Brodie will add a few to his list…

Willow’s musical tastes definitely vary! She loves everything from old school hip hop and rap to country music. Willow has a nice selection of music to get her pumped for ice domination and a few songs that hit at the core of her feelings for Brodie. Check out Willow’s playlist over on Spotify and give it some love! Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0sx42wkN7sfVpLSvq6oUMd 

WILLOW’S TOP FIVE MUSIC LIST: 

1. Fight For Your Right – Beastie Boys
2. Just a Friend – Biz Markie
3. We Are the Champions – Queen
4. We Will Rock You – Queen
5. The Champion – Carrie Underwood

Thank you again to for featuring us and to all of you amazing readers for stopping by today. Go grab your copy of IN THE PENALTY BOX today and be sure to let us know what you thought of it by posting a review. 

Happy Reading! 

Much love, 

Lynn & Kelly Anne

 

About the Authors:

  Lynn Rush: New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author, Lynn Rush, is a full-time writer, wife, and trail runner living in the Sonoran Desert, despite her fear of rattle snakes. Known as #TheRunningWriter, Lynn can’t resist posting epic sunrise pictures while running in the desert with her trail sisters, even if she has to occasionally hop a scorpion.
When she’s not running or writing, she’s watching movies that fuel her everlasting love of superheroes, vampires, and all things Supernatural. The books she reads usually carry the same theme, but this former college athlete loves reading sweet sports romances as well.
She’s madly in love with her Ironman husband of 20+ years who is the inspiration for what true love is. You can find her on social media as @LynnRushWrites and her website is: www.lynnrush.com 

Website: www.lynnrush.com 
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/LynnRushWrites
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/lynnrush

Kelly Anne Blount: USA Today Bestselling author and Wattpad Star Kelly Anne Blount has more than seventy-three-thousand followers on social media. Her Wattpad stories have been read more than twenty-million times. She’s contributed to Tap, Wattpad’s new app for chat-style stories, where her work has been “tapped” more than fifty-million times. She is a writer and reviewer for SpoilerTV, which has allowed her to develop an incredible network of film and TV stars.
Two of her Wattpad works, including Captured (seventeen-million reads), have been optioned for film by Komixx Entertainment, and she is regularly invited to present seminars about social media at author events.
Stop by any of Kelly’s social-media platforms (@KellyAnneBlount) and stay tuned to this website for announcements and information about upcoming releases and events.
​Kelly Anne Blount is represented by Jennifer Wills (jennifer@theseymouragency.com) and Nicole Resciniti (nicole@theseymouragency.com) of The Seymour Agency.

Website: http://www.KellyAnneBlount.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KellyAnneBlount
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/kellyanneblount

Thanks for stopping by!
And thank you to YA Bound Book Tours for creating this tour!

Book Tour! Crowning Keys by Catherine Downen!

Today I am excited to host the Book Tour for

Crowning Keys

by Catherine Downen!

Crowning Keys 

(The Markings #2) 

By: Catherine Downen

Genre: Fantasy 

January 2021 

Summary:

Adaline has reached Libertas, but it isn’t the freedom she had imagined. A war is brewing between the gifted and the non-gifted, a line of separation that is slowly crumbling away.

Adaline and Alexander must learn how to use their gifts to fulfill the prophecy that declares them the saviors. But there is so much Adaline doesn’t know about her past and her future. While she feels in control of her actions, she soon learns that she’s at the will of another one of her father’s plans.

In this thrilling and emotional novel, Adaline rises to her new titles: the Princess of Libertas and the Savior of The Gifted.

“Maybe it’s in our blood to be fighters, but maybe we’ve never known to be anything else.”

(Love this cover!)

Buy Links!

Amazon

B & N

Signed Copies! (Paperback & Hardcover with sprayed edges!)

Excerpt!

Alexander gently nudges me off his shoulder and my eyes fall open. I must have dozed off. Darkness still blankets the outside world, so I couldn’t have been asleep for that long, but there’s a tight pain in my neck, which means I’ve been asleep for at least a couple of hours.

“I wanted to let you sleep, but you should probably get back soon,” Alexander says, his voice soft and hoarse.

I nod and stand, stretching out my stiff muscles.

“I’ll walk you back,” Alexander offers and I follow him out the front door.

My travel companions’ homes sit dark in a row. The only signs of life are the crunch of our footsteps. Up high above us, the sky rings out with a low, enormous grumble. I feel the first wet drop hit my forehead.

“Rain,” I say and laughter consumes me as the sky reels open and the sheets fall down on us. Immediately, I’m soaking wet, but it’s the most relieved and relaxed I’ve felt since we arrived in Libertas. Alexander and I take off running toward the castle, him avoiding the puddles and me running straight for them.

“You’re crazy,” Alexander yells over the pelting rain.

“I just know how to have fun,” I say, running past him with my arms spread wide. My wild laughter layers with the thunderous roar of the sky above.

“I love rain!” I scream to the world and splash into the nearest puddle. The sky echoes back to me and lets out another cry of thunder.

Alexander holds his hands above his head, as if that could keep him dry. I run back to him and pull his arms down to his side, forcing him to let the rain drench his blonde curls. He looks at me and a wide smile spreads, parting his lips.

Through the curtain of rain, my eyes trace his face. Wet droplets track down his cheeks, curling at the corners of his mouth.

In the bitter cold of the storm, warmth radiates from his body. Wrapping around me and crawling up my fingers that still tightly clasp his wrists.

The clouds let out another crack of thunder that mirrors my thumping heart. Alexander flinches at the sound, an excited laugh straining to be heard.

I look at Alexander, standing in the rain, laughing at me. My fingers slide down his wet wrist and I grab his hand, pulling him back into a run toward the castle. We take cover under my balcony, escaping the rain.

I turn back to Alexander, breathing deep through my wide grin. He is drenched, his hair dripping little droplets on his soft, pink cheeks.

“Do you want to come in and dry off?” I ask, gesturing up to my room.

“No, I should go back,” he says, and his voice holds a little bit of disappointment.

My green eyes search his as I take in this moment. Him and I. No training or threat of death. Stupidly soaking wet. The moonlight illuminating his damp features perfectly. He takes my hand in his and gives it a light squeeze, causing butterflies to explode in my stomach. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he whispers.

About the Author:

Catherine Downen is the author of The Markings series. She recently graduated from Bradley University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. She has always had a love for writing and a passion for telling stories. Currently, Catherine is working as a Sustaining Engineer in St. Louis MO by day, while continuing to write on the side.

For more information, please visit her website: https://cdownen.wixsite.com/website

Author Links:

Twitter

Website

Thanks for stopping by!

And thank you to YA Bound Book Tours for allowing me to participate in this tour! 🙂

Book Blitz! The Virus of Beauty by C.B. Lyall!

Today I’m happy to host the Book Blitz for
The Virus of Beauty
by C.B. Lyall!

Genre: YA Fantasy 
Hazel Publishing Company 

Summary: 

Wilf Gilvary is a teenage wizard who is terrified of using magic. When his father dies under mysterious circumstances, Wilf is plunged into the middle of a political struggle between the witches and wizards in the magical realm. He’d rather play soccer than practice magic, but he’s forced to make a choice between the life of a normal teen and one of wizardry after a powerful virus begins to decimate the witch community. The cure is spellbound in a journal Wilf inherited from his father and when his friend Katryna contracts the virus, Wilf understands that he must overcome his fear of magic to unlock the journal’s secrets – but will it be too late to save her?

Amazon

Goodreads

Excerpt:

“Ermentrude Wakefield is the name.” She glanced around the small store. “You may call me Witch Wakefield.”

Wilf stepped back, braced against the wall, and shoved his ringed hand into his pocket. His heart raced. The Wizard Council had dispatched this witch to collect him. Well, it didn’t make any difference who they sent. He wasn’t leaving Hong Kong.

“Now, I don’t usually deal with wizards” — her face wrinkled the way Myra’s did when she took his soccer kit out of its bag for washing — “but this time I have to. So, show me the rest of the place. We’ll need your father’s journal and then we’ll be on our way. There’s sure to be a portal nearby we can use. I can’t abide taking passengers on my broom. Although I’d rather not have to use the warehouse portals up in Sha Tin, but if needs must…”

“There’s been some mistake.” Wilf could hear the panic in his voice. “I’m not a wizard. That was my father. He died — I mean, evaporated — a few weeks ago.”

About the Author:

C. B. Lyall was born in Stockton-On-Tees, United Kingdom. As a child growing up in Northern England in the sixties C. B. Lyall loved sports, reading and amateur dramatics. She joined a renaissance group, practiced the broadsword and dreamed of visiting other worlds.At the age of 18, she took a role as typist for a nursing school in Middlesbrough. She then moved to London and enrolled in night school. She was quickly recognized for her ability to fit in anywhere, willingness to take risks and passionate belief that gender should never be a barrier to achieving your dreams. She eventually became a project manager in software development and micro-computers, bridging the gap between computer programmers and management.
Her dream to travel was finally realized in 1990 when she moved to New York City, USA with her husband and the first of three sons. This was the stepping stone to a lifelong adventure that has taken her and her family to India, Belgium and Hong Kong.
C. B. Lyall has used her passion for the fantastic to create a world where everyday gender inequalities are at the forefront of a world ending conflict. She shares this story through the eyes of a young man who is suddenly thrust into this new world along with all of his own woes and prejudices. The introduction to this world is in C. B. Lyall’s debut YA novel, “The Virus of Beauty”.  

Author Links:
Website: https://www.cblyall.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19000496.C_B_Lyall  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarolynBLyall
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cblyallauthor 

Thank you for stopping by! And thank you to YA Bound Book Tours for organizing this Book Blitz!

Book Blitz! Welcome to Velvet, AZ by: Sherry Rossman

Today, I’m happy to host the Book Blitz for,
Welcome to Velvet, AZ
by Sherry Rossman!

Amazon Link

Goodreads Link

Summary:

For the past eighteen years, the town of Velvet has been under a holiday curse. For them, Thanksgiving is not about turkey and family. It’s about the Nightmares. This year, the curse arrives early—a full five days before Thanksgiving—sending a menagerie of characters on a search for answers. It begins with Boone, a seventeen-year-old who was raised by an ageless eccentric; Nick, a man in the midst of a breakdown; and Toni, a girl who won’t let any man get closer than three feet. As answers unfold, suspicions arise, and the power behind the curse is a surprise no one could have imagined.

Excerpt:

My best friend is no girl next door. She’s a one-person parade sitting against the antiquated phone booth, barely visible in the eight o’clock twilight. Gray hooded coat, blood-red shirt ending in two violent points past her cuffs, trying so hard to look like anything but the china doll inside.
Wait ‘til Toni sees what this town will offer her during the holidays. She’ll think no more of her idle masquerade, poor girl. Unless she follows instructions. But I know she won’t.
Maybe she’ll think more of me. On second thought, I may become the thing of her nightmares. I’m the last person to want to mark her with that kind of fear. Anything but that. I slow my stride, not wanting to startle her.
In a snap, a stream of light catches her. She springs to her feet, her eyes squinting at the approaching headlights. Must be the new guy. He’s early.

About the Author:

Before I found the awesomeness of writing in the YA realm I dabbled in children’s stories and short works for adults. My first YA novel became an Amazon bestseller shortly before my publisher decided to close their doors. But I forged on, exploring fantastical ideas and discovering that our world is more magical than we give it credit for. These musings inspired The Water Man, which earned a spot in the anthology Mythic Orbits 2016. I live on the sunny-yet-piney side of Arizona with my family and sweet boxador, Bella. 

Author Links:
Website: https://sherryrossman.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4455392.Sherry_Rossman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sherry-Rossman-155850011109024
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sherryrossmanauthor

Thanks for stopping by! And thank you to YA Bound Book Tours for hosting this Book Blitz!

On the Eighteenth of May – Blog Tour! And GIVEAWAY!

Today on the blog, I’m happy to feature,

On the Eighteenth of May,

by author, Jordan R. Samuel!

Blog Tour! plus Excerpt!

On the Eighteenth of May

by: Jordan R. Samuel

Genre: Adult/YA crossover – Romance/Mystery
Release Date: March 2020

Summary:

On the evening of the eighteenth of May, a young woman named Cass walks alone into a small village with the intent to stay for exactly one year. Cass soon meets two precocious children, a caring and generous business owner, and the Chief of Police from the neighboring town. Family and loss are parts of many of their stories, and while these people, as well as others, attempt to know and help her, the history and troubled memories of what led Cass to this place begin to gradually unfold. As the potential for love and the pathway for healing become clearer, the date of departure approaches. Cass and those around her will be forced to decide how forcefully they are willing to hold on: to the past, to the pain, and to the person.

On the Eighteenth of May is the story of the people and events that are interwoven throughout Cass’ journey and her life. It is a story that examines the true test of strength in the deepest depths of sorrow, as felt by the human heart. It is a story that explores the perceived helplessness of those within the support structure, and the extent to which those we love can hinder or accelerate the healing process. Finally, it is a story that reminds us of the overwhelming power of comforting influences in all of our lives, as our human souls struggle, against all odds, to survive.

Add to Goodreads

Buy on Amazon!

Excerpt from Chapter 1

She then noticed a clearing ahead, on the right, amongst the never-ending curtains of forestry that lined the road. She passed a particularly massive tree, with huge limbs and large leaves, and then caught sight of a splotch of white. It was a house, sitting alone atop a small hill and gleaming subtly in the muted moonlight. It looked abandoned and quiet, even starkly quiet compared to the vast silence around it. There was a dark bridge that led over the river and merged into a long winding driveway that led to the house. She glanced back up, and she knew…

This house is the most peaceful…in this place.

She took out the single piece of paper and pen from her backpack. Over the span of a few rushed moments she sketched out the little she could see under the growing canopy of darkness. She wanted to draw the house right away, for there was no predicting what awaited her tomorrow or whether she would actually even see this house again. She had not found it to live in it, or even to visit it. She needed only to know that it existed. She would have the drawing as a reminder. A reminder that there was peace,and it was here.

Upon completion of the drawing, which she determined was a fairly accurate depiction, she folded and tucked the paper safely into the right pocket of her shorts while advancing further into the town in whose borders she was now fully immersed. She did so in full darkness, with no visible creature in sight and no available lodging to be seen. She saw a playground ahead and finally allowed herself to accept the weariness that had been gradually creeping into her mind and joints. Her last memories of the day were a slide, the sound of crickets, and a makeshift backpack pillow.

About the Author
Jordan R. Samuel is a former public school teacher and administrator who enjoys her current work as an Assistant Professor of Education. She spends her days with her husband, John, and her three children as she teaches, studies and writes. She enjoys travelling immensely, and penned many parts of this particular story while relaxing in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina.

GIVEAWAY!

Enter to WIN a

$5 Amazon Gift Card!

Blog Tour Organized By:

YA Bound Book Tours

Adverbs

 Pexels.com

I have come to believe adverbs are cigarettes for writers. We’re told they are no good for us, are highly-addictive, but yet they’re still around, tempting us. Why, oh, why?

 

I just received my latest manuscript back from my editor and have been on an adverb-eliminating quest ever since. By the time I send a book to my editor I try to make my manuscript fairly clean, but apparently this time around I was adverb-happy. 🙂

Are adverbs really that bad?

First, let’s be in agreement about the definition of an adverb. A quick Google search reveals the definition as : “A word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. (e.g., gently, quite, then, there ).”

In particular, my editor was after adverbs modifying verbs. (And yes, likes and dislikes do change from editor to editor, even within the same publisher, but more on that in another post.)

So the question is: Do we overuse adverbs in writing? And can we be descriptive without them?

A quick glance at a poster today at our local children’s museum argued in favor of adverbs:

Touch GENTLY. Yes, there’s a difference.

“He touched her cheek gently” is very different than, “He touched her cheek roughly,” or even, “He touched her cheek.”

Of course if he’s caressing her cheek, we probably don’t need the adverb. Most readers would agree a caress is gentle, making the word, “gently” superfluous.

 

 

And if you read many popular novels, especially Young Adult novels, adverbs are sprinkled all over the pages.

So, what about you? If you’re a writer, do you use adverbs? And as a reader, do you like them? Or do you agree with so many editors who’d like to banish the use of adverbs? 😉

Leave a comment and let us know!

Happy Reading!

Blog Tour! Chasing Nirvana by Ellyn Oaksmith !

This week on Nitty Gritty Romance,

we’re featuring the blog tour for

Chasing Nirvana

by Ellyn Oaksmith !

Chasing Nirvana
by Ellyn Oaksmith
Genre: YA Coming of Age Romance/LGBTQ
Release Date: November 3rd 2017

 

Fran Worth is just another girl trying to make it through senior year at Weatherwax High in Aberdeen, Washington. But it’s 1993 and Fran is gay. Her comfortably off the radar life turns vividly public when a student nominates Fran for prom queen. When confronted by angry parents Fran refuses to back down, promising to deliver her hometown heroes in hopes of winning prom queen votes.

Fran heads out on a 24 hour road trip to Daily City, California with four friends, including her crush who may or may not be gay.  Their plan? To sneak backstage to ask Kurt Cobain and Nirvana to come home and play prom. No problem. Unless something goes wrong.

 

Sounds great!

Add to Goodreads

Buy on Amazon! 

 

Want to check out a sample of Chasing Nirvana?

Download a three chapter sample here: https://bookhip.com/HLLPLA

 

Chasing Nirvana Giveaway!

Anyone who comments on any of the blogs during the tour is eligible to win one of 30 e-book copies of Chasing Nirvana !

Be sure to comment!

Anyone who signs up for the Author’s newsletter during the blog tour at this link: http://eepurl.com/2ZfTP  will enter to win one of 5 signed copies of the paperback!

 

About Ellyn:

I graduated from Smith College and have a very expensive MFA from The American Film Institute. Some writers will tell you that their MFA was a waste of money. I won’t. It gave me great editorial skills and colorful, crazy experiences working as a screenwriter in LA. Cooking on fishing boats in Alaska paid my tuition. Screenwriting and working in the middle of the Bering Sea have a lot in common: hard work, unpredictability and occasionally both make you want to scream.

Besides my family and friends, I love rescue dogs, cats, cooking, baking, open water swimming, kayaking and reading, reading, reading, reading. Did I mention reading?

 

Where can you find Ellyn?

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook│Instagram│Amazon Page

 

Blog Tour Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

Release Day Book Blitz & Giveaway! Broken Chords by Jessica Bayliss

Today on Nitty Gritty Romance, we’re thrilled to feature the

Release Day Book Blitz for:

Broken Chords

by Jessica Bayliss!

 

 

Broken Chords
by Jessica Bayliss
Genre: YA Horror (novella)
Release date: October 9th 2017
Leap Books

Summary: 

They rip, they tear, they FEED, and you never come back again.

Here’s how last year’s Gypsy Cob Music Festival should have gone. Lenora “Lenny” Ragno was supposed to rock her duet with her long-time crush, Jeb, during the open-mic competition. Then, swept up in the glow of success, he’d finally kiss her. Instead, Lenny choked on stage and spent the whole year dodging him online. And avoiding playing her fiddle in public. She thought her worst nightmare was behind her, but she was way wrong.

Now, she’s back at Gypsy Cob where avoiding a public performance is about as impossible as hiding from Jeb. She thinks facing him will be the scariest part of the festival, but when one of their friends talks everyone into trying astral projection, Lenny catches the eye of a demonic entity that marks her as its own.

Now, whenever it wants, the demon can pluck Lenny from her reality and transport her to a hellish between-world, haunted by its countless, gruesome victims. If she doesn’t want to become one of them, she must discover the nature of the demon’s hold on her and remove it. But how can she defeat a literal demon when she can’t even get over her personal ones?

Sounds great! A perfect Halloween read!

Add to Goodreads

Buy on Amazon!

 

 

Enter the GIVEAWAY for a chance to WIN a $10 Amazon Gift Card!

GIVEAWAY CLICK HERE!

 

 

About the Author

Jessica Bayliss is a fiction author who loves all things reading and writing. Her genre-bending fiction holds a little something for everyone. A lover of ghost tales and horror since her days scanning VHS rental shelves–admittedly with eyes half-averted from the gory covers–a touch of the mysterious always finds a home in Jessica’s work. Romance with a dash of supernatural. Horror with a bit of humor. You get the gist. Jessica also writes across age groups and is a firm believer in the motto, there is a new reader born every day, whether young or not-so-young. Because one cannot live on writing alone, Jessica also spends a great deal of time with friends and family. She is a lover of all animals especially one very special Havanese and one extremely ornery cockatiel. She also loves to eat, cook, and exercise–in that order–and is a firm believer that coffee makes the world a better place.

Jessica also has stories in several of Leap Books anthologies: Beware the Little White Rabbit and Fright Before Christmas.

 

Where can you find Jessica…?

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook

 

 

Book Blitz Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

Cover Reveal! Ignited by A.M. Deese

Today on Nitty Gritty Romance,

we’re thrilled to feature the cover reveal for:

Ignited

by A.M. Deese

 

 

Wow! It’s GORGEOUS!

Ignited

by A.M. Deese

Genre: YA

Release Date: March 2018

RadiantTeen

Cover Design by: https://www.desireedeortodesigns.com/

 

Summary:

A NOBLE DAUGHTER.

A FORMER SLAVE.

DARK MAGIC AND VOLATILE ALLIANCES COLLIDE IN A WORLD ON THE BRINK OF COLLAPSE.

“Jura imagined it sounded like rain.”

Juggling death is nothing new for seventeen-year-old Jura, daughter of the First of the Thirteen, successive rulers of the Republic of the Sand Sea. However, when a blood chain ensnares her father, she is thrust into the seat of power and forced to rule her elders.

“To Tylak, water had never tasted sweeter.”

Jura must track down her father’s assassin and balance a country on the verge of collapse. To find the Prince of Shadows and uncover the truth, Jura puts her trust in Tylak, a former slave accused of stealing from the Everflame—a man she once condemned to death.

In a world where water is currency and enemies lurk around every corner, Jura will use her wits or risk igniting a world war.  

 

Add to Goodreads!

 

About the Author:

Alexis Marrero Deese is an avid reader of young adult and fantasy. Her favorite authors include Brandon Sanderson, Jaqueline Carey, and Orson Scott Card. She graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing and a sun tan she misses dearly since her move to northern Georgia. She has a passion for cooking, spends entirely too much time on Pinterest, and is a self-proclaimed dog training expert to her family’s legion of dogs.

 

Where can you find Alexis?

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook

 

Cover Reveal Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

Blog Tour! The West Woods by Suzy Vadori

This week on Nitty Gritty Romance,

we’re featuring the blog tour for

The West Woods

by Suzy Vadori !

 

The West Woods

by Suzy Vadori

Genre: YA
Release Date: September 22nd 2017
Evil Alter Ego Press

 

Summary:

Magic, sacrifice and the quest for freedom.

Courtney Wallis wants nothing more than to escape St. Augustus boarding school. After uncovering a well-kept secret about the school’s founder, Isaac Young, Courtney turns to the school’s magic to convince her dad to let her leave. Things take a turn when she meets Cole, who lives in the nearby town of Evergreen. He gives her hope that things might not be so bad. However, the school’s fountain has other ideas, and binds Courtney to her ambition, no matter the cost.

As Courtney struggles to keep the magic from taking over, she and her friends get drawn into the mystery woven into the school’s fabric. Everything seems to lead back to the forbidden West Woods. Together, she and her friends seek out the spirits of the past to ask for help, and find themselves in much deeper than they’d bargained for.  If they succeed, Courtney could be free of the magic. If they fail, she may never be the same. 

 

Sounds great!

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Excerpt from Chapter One…

 

No Retreat
Courtney had one foot out of the car door, with her body still firmly planted
inside. Her throat tightened as the campus loomed before her. A dusting of snow graced the trees and roofs. Though she’d attended St. Augustus for ninth grade and half of the tenth already, it didn’t feel like home.

The school’s buildings were set well back from the road and Courtney stared at them now. The whole scene felt out of place in Massachusetts. She’d always thought the oldest building on campus could be a castle like you’d find in France or England. At one time, its coating of green ivy had fascinated Courtney, like it was being gobbled up by the vines. As the semesters had passed though, the plain red brick of the newer buildings seemed more in tune with the personality of the school she’d come to know.

Courtney sighed as she watched her dad walk away from the parking lot
toward the dorm with her older sister Hanna. Winter break had ended too soon.
“I’ll wash your car every night if you reconsider?” she called out.

As if he hadn’t heard her, her dad pulled the lapel of his suit jacket up over his face against the cold and continued walking toward the dorm. He didn’t turn back. She wracked her brain for something else to offer, but came up with
nothing.

After a long pause, Courtney hoisted her duffel bag from the car seat beside her up onto her shoulder. She pulled her long, bushy red hair out from under its strap. She could just stay in the car. Once her dad got Hanna settled in her room and returned to the parking lot, the two of them could go. Home. Courtney pictured his face turning a deep shade of red if she tried that. It wasn’t going to be that simple. She’d argued her case all last semester, the entire winter break, then the whole car ride up here from Boston today. He hadn’t given an inch.

Finally, she pulled herself off the leather seat of the car and stepped out into the staff parking lot where they weren’t supposed to park. Jim Wallis
regularly ignored No Parking signs. Besides, he wasn’t planning to stay long. Courtney shut the car door with a satisfying slam. …

 

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Don’t forget THE FOUNTAIN !

The Fountain on Goodreads

(The West Woods is the prequel)

 

 

 

About the Author:

Suzy Vadori is an Operations executive by day, Writer by night. The Fountain is her debut novel for Young Adults. Suzy is an involved member of the Calgary Writers’ community, service as Program Manager for Young Adult at When Words Collide (a Calgary festival for readers and Writers) since 2013. Suzy lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with her husband and three kids.

 

Where to find Suzy! 

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook

 

 

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