Kissed Blog Tour: Guest Post by Kimberly Loth

Favorite YA Couples ~ A Guest Post by Kimberly Loth

Thanks for having me here today. I read almost exclusively YA novels, but I read a wide variety of genres within that. Today I’d like to share with you my favorite couples in YA lit.

Historical Fiction: 

Jacky Faber and Jamie Fletcher From Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer. I could never write historical fiction and I’m not crazy about it as a genre but this is one of my all time favorite series. Currently there are nine or ten books in the series and I love every single one of them. Jacky is a feisty girl who pretends to be a boy so she can work as a ships boy in the early 19th century. She’s got serious spunk and attitude and poor Jamie can’t seem to hang on to her. In spite of the fact that they often end up on opposite sides of the globe, she still loves Jamie fiercely.

Contemporary: 

Alex and Brittany from Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkes. Poor sexy boy and rich popular girl, they are doomed from the very beginning. Full of tension and angst, their relationship leaves me on the edge of the seat for the whole book. Simone has written other books in this series using Alex’s brothers and they were very good, but Perfect Chemistry is magical.

Sci-Fi: 

Bree and Finn from Loop by Karen Akins. Technically this book isn’t released yet, but I managed to get my hands on an ARC. It comes out in October. I’m also not crazy about sci-fi, but this book is so fun to read. Bree is a time traveler from the 23rd century that meets Finn in a botched midterm to the 21st century. (Yep, she goes to time travel school, how cool is that?). Bree is fun snarky girl who has knack for getting herself into sticky situations and Finn just wants to keep her safe. He’s smokin’ hot and in spite of Bree’s reluctance he manages to win her over. Their first kiss is one of my all time favorites in YA lit.

Fantasy: 

Harry and Ginny from Harry Potter By JK Rowling. I don’t think I need to explain that one. Paranormal YA: Naomi and Kai from Kissed by me (Yep, shameless plug for my own book.) Wait, I meant to say Naomi and Puck. I love myself a love triangle. Naomi finds herself in middle of doozy in Kissed. Both are good guys, both have reasons for her to love them. Kai is broody and romantic, Puck is fun and crazy. Both are fantastic kissers. How is a girl supposed to pick???? If you want to read more about Naomi, Kai, and Puck, you can find the book here: http://amzn.to/1oeQAPf. It is only 99 cents.

Kissed (The Thorn Chronicles)

by Kimberly Loth

Naomi is rescued from her impending nuptials by the mysterious Kai who sends her off to Vegas with a sweet kiss and a promise of only a short time apart. But there Naomi meets Puck, a boy with wine colored hair and kisses that rival Kai’s. Soon Naomi is swept into a glamorous world where kisses hold power and not is all is at it first appears. Soon she must choose, freedom but heartache or love and captivity.

Buy the book: http://amzn.to/1oeQAPf Only 99 cents


About the Author

Kimberly Loth can’t decide where she wants to settle down. She’s lived in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Utah, California, Oregon, and South Carolina. She finally decided to make the leap and leave the U.S. behind for a few years. Currently, she lives in Cairo, Egypt with her husband and two kids. She is a high school math teacher by day (please don’t hold that against her) and YA author by night. She loves romantic movies, chocolate, roses, and crazy adventures. Kissed is her first novel.

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Blog Tour: Incantation Paradox by Annamaria Bazzi (Guest Post and Review)

I'm excited to have Annamaria Bazzi on the blog today with a Guest Post for the Incantation Paradox Blog Tour!

First... a little about the book!

Magic is an illusion. It doesn’t really exist. Or does it?

A horrible car accident destroys Dolores Reynard’s life. But instead of waking up in a hospital bed, she awakens in a teenager’s body. Soon, she discovers she is at the heart of the murderous mystery surrounding the death of Mona, the young girl whose body she occupies. Caught between an evil greater than she ever imagined and a wizard who heals her tattered heart, she is forced to play a dangerous game of intrigue in the hopes of finding a way to return to her previous life.

Will magic be her ally, or will it lead to her demise once and for all.

Book Links:

Amazon / smashwords / B&N

Now... let's hear from Annamaria!

Balancing the emotions of a teen with the thoughts of an adult...

When I was a teen, I struggled with my mother whose ideas I believed to be antiquated, but as an adult, I struggle with my children because I now understand that although fashion and slang may change the struggles teens go through to find their identity don’t change so much.

It was these conflicts in my life that made me want to revisit the struggle with a twist—two essences in one body.

Watching my children go through puberty made me realize that the new hormones cursing through their bodies, at times, made them resemble irrational, hormonal pregnant women. I knew what that felt like after having had four children. This became one aspect I played upon to bring forth Dolores’ struggle with the teen hormones in Mona’s body. It didn’t take too much to get the protagonist to realize this fact.

Hormones are powerful and, many times, they engulfed Dolores, pushing her into irrational acts she had a hard time reconciling because they came from the teenager. In many ways they felt familiar—the mood swings of a hormonal pregnant woman.

Sometimes it became difficult to find her adult feelings and rational.

At times, I had to sit back, close my eyes and just try to feel my way through a situation, thinking about my girls and how they would react. Although I have to be honest, it was easier to describe the reactions of the teen then those of the woman. Somewhere along the way, I think I forgot to grow up.

To find a good balance between the two women proved to be a bigger challenged than I had original thought when embarking on this adventure. Many times, even Dolores’ reactions were too childish and those kind souls critiquing the first drafts would chastise, wondering where the woman had disappeared too.

Throughout this journey I’ve come to have a greater appreciation for character driven novel—the inner struggles people have in their lives.

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

Although born in the United States, Annamaria Bazzi spent a great deal of her childhood in Sicily, Italy, in a town called Sciacca. Italian was the language spoken at home. Therefore, she had no problems when she found herself growing up in a strange country. Upon returning to the states, she promised herself she would speak without an accent. She attended Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan, where she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Computers with a minor in Spanish.

Annamaria spent twenty years programming systems for large corporations, creating innovative solution, and addressing customer problems. During those years, she raised four daughters and one husband. Annamaria lives in Richmond Virginia with her small family where she now dedicates a good part of her day writing.

You can visit Annamaria at:
blog : website : facebook page : email : twitter : goodreads : Kendíka’s facebook page

And now for the review...

Waking up with the body of a teenager might be a pleasant surprise for a forty-something year old woman. Except, it's not her body. More than a little freaked out, Dolores is desperate  to find out why everyone is calling her Mona and acting like nothing is wrong.

Right from the beginning chapter, I loved the premise for this book! The concept of a woman's  spirit, or essence, being pulled from her dying body into that of a complete stranger is captivating. The repercussions  are endless! Not only is Dolores utterly confused and frightened, she also has to deal with the conflicting and often irrational hormones of a teenage girl. Keeping hold of her real identity becomes more and more difficult as the days pass. She doesn't understand, and has a hard time escaping, the teenage lust felt toward Eric, even when he scares her and gives off a serious  creeper vibe.v At the same time, grown-adult-Dolores is finding herself inexplicably attracted to Mona's "uncle" Jason. It's a mess. One Dolores has no clue how to fix.

On top of the emotional conflict and confusion, Dolores misses the two teenage daughters she was pulled away from. She's desperate to get back to her old life, but reluctant to leave Jason behind. No matter what, she needs help to figure out how to set things right. Eric doesn't seem to be an option, despite her poured-on charisma. She fears Jason is hiding things from her, though, and doesn't know if she can trust him completely. Watching her figure out who to trust was very intriguing. I was pulled into the story and was very eager to see how Dolores would escape the danger she finds herself in. I loved the romantic elements in the story. It was a tricky situation to navigate, but the author handled it beautifully. The last chapter was agonizing as I couldn't wait to see how everything would work out. This is a great read for teens (very clean story) and for adults who want a bit of  magic and mystery!

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New Release: The Apostle by Dylan Hiler

The Apostle, by Dylan Hyler

New release in fantasy

The night sky adorned of two moons, Vera and Dawn, Tarthuria bathes in the silence of mystery and intrigue. One of the comets of Tiera Cylith has landed in the village of Fairwillow and has punctured the ground with an indelible prophecy. The Apostle were the words burned into the crater left after the willow tree had been destroyed. 

Through troubled times, of which Fairwillow experienced its fair share, an ancient witch by the name of Famora has cursed Sath and Elle’s family. Their first born, Raios, is condemned to be The Apostle – the one that would throw the destiny of the village into doomed days. 

Yet, Sath Eden is not to be swayed. But who is this other woman in his life? Who is Sibyl? Will she spell the final condemnation of the entire village? Sath had to vanquish the omen, dispel the augury, and destroy Famora.

Step into the world of The Apostle...

Get your copy of The Apostle now on

Amazon

B&N

Meet the Author

Dylan Hiler is an independent author and owner of I’m a Human Productions.  His current projects include ‘The Tarthurian Chronicles’ as well as ‘Lockland the Time Traveling Fox’.  Using his true to life experiences with poverty, addicts, friends turned family, love, loss, and illness he brings a unique element to the characters and stories he weaves.  He lives in Minnesota with his wife, two sons, and so many animals it may as well be a hobby farm.

Review: A Prayer Heeded (Samreen Ahsan)

The tumultuous relationship between Adam Gibson and Rania Ahmed had been heading for happily ever after at the end of the first book in A Prayer Series, but jealousy, insecurity, and mistrust threw everything into chaos, possibly ending everything they had built. Putting the pieces of their relationship back together will be anything but simple as secrets surface and lives are threatened.

Having been left on such a cliffhanger at the end of book one, I was glad to get back to Adam and Rania's story. The emotional upheaval I experienced in the first book was certainly continued through this one. Emotions are running even higher as Adam desperately tries to figure out how to make up for what he did and regain Rania's trust. Things are no better for Rania as she fights to overcome her past and figure out how to move on with her life and protect Adam when there are forces in her life that refuse to let her escape their grasp.

The supernatural, or spiritual, elements hinted at in the first book were brought into the spotlight in this book. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the truth behind Rania's dark past and the forces trying to control her future. I was very interested as I learned more about the traditional beliefs in jinns and other spirits. It was one of the bigger pulls of the story, learning more about the spirits Rania was caught up with. I was glad to see the glimpses in the first book panned out and were incorporated in the story more centrally.

The romance elements were well done, as I had come to expect from the first book. Readers are definitely in for an emotional and steamy journey as they follow these two. Even when the couple became more intimate, it was handled in a way that felt quite respectful of their relationship. As in the first book, there was a good deal of explicit language, but other than that, I really only had one issue with the overall story. That was that once some of the actions of certain characters were explained, I had a difficult time accepting them because their initial reactions had been so convincing. I felt a little misled when the truth was revealed, but even that was not enough to keep me from enjoying the story. Overall, it was a very captivating story or love and life and what it means to sacrifice for the people you care about.

You can get your copy of A Prayer Heeded here: 

Amazon

B&N

Goodreads

New Release: Fight or Flight by Chele Cooke

Chele Cooke's "Out of Orbit" series has a new release! Check out Fight or Flight today!

Fight or Flight by Chele Cooke

A single secret might change a war, but a lie can destroy those fighting it. 

Georgianna Lennox’s biggest fear has become reality: she has been sold as a slave. Caught in the middle of the brewing war between the Adveni oppressors and Belsa rebels, she is recruited to be the rebels’ eyes behind enemy lines. 

As the Belsa make bolder attacks against the cruel Adveni, Georgianna finds that the lies she is tasked to tell her owner are nothing compared to the secrets she must keep from her friends – secrets that could change the war in their favour, and lies that might destroy them all.

Get your copy today from:

Amazon : Kobo : Smashwords : Goodreads

And if you're new to the series ... You can get a FREE copy of book one, "Dead and Buryd" July 25th - August 8th!

A single life could liberate an entire race, but the life required may be her own. 

Georgianna Lennox has spent her life helping others. When a friend is sold into slavery, she must weigh this one life against the harsh consequences of defying the ruthless Adveni oppressors of her people. 

Putting her trust in a group of rebels, Georgianna becomes caught in a web of lies and cruelty, where the sparks of the revolution may consume them all.

Get your copy from Amazon!

Meet the Author

Chele Cooke is an English-born writer based in London. Starting out writing fan fiction, she soon moved onto her own fiction, releasing her first novel, ‘Dead and Buryd’, in 2013, the sequel ‘Fight or Flight’ following less than a year later. 

She is currently working on The Out of Orbit series, a number of short stories, a circus based sci-fi, and a paranormal serial currently released weekly on Wattpad.

Follow Chele here: 
Website : Facebook : Twitter : Goodreads : Wattpad

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