Romance Blogfest on My Crazy Corner!

Who's in the mood for some romance?

The answer should be...everyone!

I love a good romance, and now you can check out some of the hottest new books in a wide variety of genres on Apryl Baker's Blog "My Crazy Corner" for the Romance Blogfest!

The cast of Wicked Hunger will be stopping by April 21st!

Yes, that means Ketchup will be there too :)

So, enter the giveaway below for your chance to sin some of the awesome books participating in the blogfest and don't forget stop by 

My Crazy Corner

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Wicked Hunger Release Day!!!

WICKED HUNGER by DelSheree Gladden

Release Date: TODAY! Wicked Hunger is Finally Available!!!

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing

 

 

“Save him and hurt him, don’t save him and hurt him. Pain, either way. Delicious pain. Hunger will be the only one that wins. Hunger always wins.”

Vanessa and Zander Roth are good at lying. Their whole life is a giant web of deceit made in an effort to conceal the deadly secrets that plague their family.

Zander will do anything to forget his mistakes, including pushing everyone away. He was barely surviving in his self-forced solitude before Ivy Guerra entered his life. The new girl in school, with her pink-striped hair and unyielding curiosity, incites something wicked inside Zander that can only be blamed on his family genes. Now Zander is forced to fight an internal war and make a choice between loving Ivy Guerra and killing her.

Vanessa wants nothing more than to shed the strange powers she wields and be normal. Because if Van were normal, she’d be able to have normal things… Like a relationship with the boy she’s been secretly in love with for years. Unfortunately, her life is anything but ordinary. That boy who owns her heart just happens to be her brother’s kryptonite and a potential liability for her entire family. When choices between love and family loyalty have to be made, Van finds herself faced with an impossible decision.

As if the Roth family needs anything more to worry about, a vicious plot to expose Van and Zander for what they are is uncovered. When it becomes apparent that someone close to them is at the center of this devious plan, the fight to maintain control and keep their cover ensues. It's a seemingly impossible battle because something is causing their powers to stir stronger than ever before… and it won’t stop until Van and Zander give in to their wicked hunger.

Wicked Hunger is the first book in the all-new paranormal series, Someone Wicked This Way Comes.

KIRKUS REVIEW OF WICKED HUNGER

Teenage siblings with a dark secret find their lives complicated by the arrival of a mysterious girl.

Zander and Van are tougher and heal faster than ordinary teenagers. However, the price is a terrible, mysterious hunger—a bloodlust that becomes intensified by specific individuals. Younger Van does her best to suppress it so she can have friends and a normal life; Zander instead keeps everyone at arm’s length and warns Van that once her 16th birthday hits and her powers reach full strength, she should do so as well. Ivy, a new girl—cousin to one of Van’s friends—puts everything at risk. Both Zander and Van hunger to hurt her, but Zander falls for her in a push-pull love story reminiscent of Twilight, right down to Zander’s sneaking into Ivy’s room to watch her sleep. Van, however—when she’s not busy with a love triangle of her own, with a mysterious boy she’s just met and her trusty best friend, Ketchup—is suspicious that certain things don’t add up with Ivy. The conclusion, made strong by unraveling secrets and formula-shattering twists, sets up a sequel.

The pairing of a formulaic start and formula-breaking ending makes the book ideal for paranormal-romance readers seeking a new spin on the familiar. (Paranormal romance. 13-17)

EXCERPT FROM WICKED HUNGER:

“Oscar,” I snap. His mouth stops blabbering and he looks up at me. “I need to know if Zander’s in trouble.”

“Trouble,” Oscar says. He nods deeply. “Tell me everything.”

So I do.

I force myself not to look over at Ketchup once during my explanation. I hadn’t been planning on letting him in on the secrets of our family right now, or any time, to be perfectly honest, but what else was I going to do. There was no chance I was going to ask him to step out. Not only would that be incredibly unfair after I forced him to bring me here, but also, as much as I love Oscar, I do not want to be left alone with him. My mouth spills out the details of Ivy and Zander’s bizarre relationship as I pretend Ketchup isn’t listening to a word of it. I tell him about our hunger reactions, my suspicions, Zander’s love, his likely confession, and his slip that Ivy was somehow going to help him.

At that last part, Oscar’s entire body goes rigid. His eyes latch onto me like a barbed dart, painful and difficult to be free of. “She thinks she can help him?” Oscar says. “She won’t. She won’t help him. She doesn’t really want to. Ivy, Ivy. Ivy is lying. Ivy Guerra. I don’t like her name. Vines and War, that’s what her name means. She will wrap herself around Zander and strangle the life out of him, start a war that none of us can win. Ivy Guerra can’t be trusted.”

“I…what? Her name means war? What are you talking about?”

Oscar tsks at me, one finger of his bound hand bobbing up and down. “I told you to keep up with your Spanish, Van. It’s always useful to know languages. Shows you things that others miss. Guerra means war. Ivy is here to start a war.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Not that I disagree with him, but he’s actually crazy. I suspect Ivy is trouble because of what I’ve seen. I want to stop her, but I’m not going to launch a full out campaign against her on the word of my murdering, psychotic brother.

The dull thud of Oscar’s head hitting the metal table startles me. I look down at him. Panic creeps under my skin. Is this the end of his lucidity? It can’t be. I have more questions still. “Oscar. Oscar! How do you know Ivy is here to start a war? You have to tell me or Zander might get hurt.”

“Oh, Zander will get hurt.” The muffled slur of his words makes them even more ominous. “That girl is no good. If you want to save Zander, you have to stop her, but he’ll still get hurt. Save him and hurt him, don’t save him and hurt him. Pain, either way. Delicious pain. Hunger will be the only one that wins. Hunger always wins.”

My fingernails are digging into Ketchup’s skin. Pain ripples around his wrist, but I pay it no mind. All my focus is on Oscar. “How do you know about any of this, Oscar?”

“They didn’t want me to know, but I found out. Someone tried to help me, and I didn’t believe them. I searched and asked and demanded and screamed until someone told me. They didn’t want me to know, but I found out. I found out, and it made me angry. So, so angry. Furious. Irate. I wanted blood and pain and death when I found out. Nothing could feed my hunger enough, not after being starved for so long. I found out, and they paid for it. I made them pay.”

“Oscar,” I whisper, his words making more sense to me than I wish they would. He made them pay. They didn’t want him to know. He made them pay. My shaking rattles the uneven legs of my chair against the floor, a skittering noise that fries the last of my barriers. I ask my last, most frightening question. “Oscar, why did you kill Mom and Dad?”

“Because,” he hisses, “because, because they lied to us. They knew. All along they knew who we were, what we were, but they tried to pretend, change us, turn us into something we aren’t, starve us, deny us, make us suffer for years and years and years! They said they loved us, but they lied! They lied! They lied! THEY LIED!”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

DelSheree Gladden lives in New Mexico with her husband and two children. The Southwest is a big influence in her writing because of its culture, beauty, and mythology. Local folk lore is strongly rooted in her writing, particularly ideas of prophecy, destiny, and talents born from natural abilities. When she is not writing, DelSheree is usually reading, painting, sewing, or working as a Dental Hygienist. Her works include Escaping Fate, Twin Souls Saga, The Destroyer Trilogy, and Invisible. The first book in the Someone Wicked This Way Comes series, Wicked Hunger, is scheduled to be released through Clean Teen Publishing on April 1, 2014.

Want to READ MORE from Clean Teen Publishing?

Check out our huge selection of amazing reads! There's sure to be something for every reader!

Character Interview and Review: The Mind's Eye (KC Finn)

I'm so excited to welcome KC Finn back to the blog! Her new YA historical novel, "The Mind's Eye" is already out on B&N, and will be releasing on Kindle/Amazon tomorrow!

What is "The Mind's Eye" all about? 

A girl with a telepathic gift finds a boy clinging to his last hope during the war-torn climate of Europe, 1940.

At fifteen, Kit Cavendish is one the oldest evacuees to escape London at the start of the Second World War due to a long term illness that sees her stuck in a wheelchair most of the time. But Kit has an extraordinary psychic power: she can put herself into the minds of others, see through their eyes, feel their emotions, even talk to them – though she dares not speak out for fear of her secret ability being exposed.

As Kit settles into her new life in the North Wales village of Bryn Eira Bach, solitude and curiosity encourage her to gain better control of her gift. Until one day her search for information on the developing war leads her to the mind of Henri, a seventeen-year-old Norwegian boy witnessing the German occupation of his beloved city, Oslo. As Henri discovers more about the English girl occupying his mind, the psychic and emotional bonds between them strengthen and Kit guides him through an oppressive and dangerous time. 

There are secrets to be uncovered, both at home and abroad, and it’s up to Kit and Henri to come together and fight their own battles in the depths of the world’s greatest war.

Interview with Kit Cavendish

1. Your gift isn't something you typically tell people about. Can you explain how it works to my readers?

I suppose it’s something like a psychic takeover, although I don’t have any powers to control the minds of the people I can travel to. I just close my eyes, concentrate on my target and then (hopefully) take up residence inside their mind, where I can see and sense through their eyes and ears and also feel the surges of emotional energy that their body’s going through. Sometimes I can also speak into their minds, but that terrifies a lot of people so I don’t tend to do it too often!

2. When did you first discover your gift?

I think I was somewhere around nine years old when the power first manifested, but at the time I was visiting other people’s minds subconsciously whilst I was asleep, so I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just thought I was having strange dreams! I must have been around twelve when I came to conclusion that I could use this gift in my waking hours and start to hone it to do my bidding.

3. Can you tell us about how you and Henri became friends?

I’m not that good at targeting the right mind when I make a psychic journey, so Henri and I actually met by accident when I was trying to gain some information on the Nazi progress during the war. The Nazi soldier I had tried to find was situated in Oslo, which is Henri’s hometown, so when I was looking for a mind to settle in, I found his. He was remarkably unfazed by my presence in his mind, so I decided I would visit him more than once, the rest is history!

4. How did developing your gift compare to the exercises you are asked to do to strengthen your body and combat your physical ailments?

I suppose the mental training and the physical training were both as hard as each other, but I found the physical stuff more demanding because I didn’t really want to do it. I had the belief that I was weak and that physical strength was something too impossible to achieve, but my mental prowess showed instant results with a little work, so I was more inclined to spend time working on that than on my bodily health. Having a doctor with the sense of humour of a hot poker doesn’t help in these situations either.

5. Because of your physical difficulties, you were restricted to remaining indoors for a long time. Your gift gave you some freedom, but what really pushed you to suffer through regaining the ability to walk?

Growing up indoors and ‘cared for’ all the time, I didn’t see the need to be independent because my mother had built a very comfortable life around me. The war changed all of that totally, it threw me out of my comfort zone and forced me into a new world where people suddenly had all these expectations of me. I think it was a combination of loving encouragement from people like Mam and Henri as well as the tough love that Blod and Doctor Bickerstaff laid on that pushed me to want to succeed at being mobile again.

6. Can you describe how meeting Henri changed the way you used your gift?

Prior to the war I was a very purposeless young girl. I didn’t see that I could be any use to anyone in a career and I didn’t feel that any man would ever want to marry me because of my disability, so I didn’t really know where my future was going. Meeting Henri showed me the dangers of war and the dependency that people in wartime have on intelligence and surveillance. My gift really lent itself to those two things, so with Henri’s help and knowledge I was able to find purpose again and make a genuine contribution to the war effort.

7. What do you hope readers take away from your story?

That it doesn’t matter who you or where you come from, because anyone can find their hidden strengths and play their part to help the world be a better place. We all deserve love and a family despite our mistakes and the things that make us a little abnormal too.

8. What is in store for you and Henri next?

I’ll be following in my parents’ footsteps and it looks as though Henri will be doing the same until the war is over. To tell you the truth, it’s my little brother Leighton I’m worried about. He’s so young that we can’t really involve him in much of our new life together; I worry that he’s going to be a troubled teenager himself one day…

My Review

When Kit and her brother are sent out of London during the war to stay with a foster family, she has no idea how much it will change her life. Physically, emotionally, and mentally, she is pushed to her limits in the Welsh countryside. Her psychic gift, which she has kept carefully hidden all her life suddenly becomes her only source of freedom, and the only chance she has to help one of the people she loves most. 

I am certainly no expert on history, but it was obvious that Finn put a great deal of time into the research behind this book. Everything from rationing, cloth shortages, and the types of medical treatment available during that time was very well done. Finn did a great job of setting the scene and making sure readers felt like they were a part of war time Europe. The treatments Kit had to endure were so interesting to read about. At times it broke my heart to watch her suffer through her illness, but at the same time I felt so happy for Kit every time she met a milestone and persevered through a difficult situation. She was a great example of strength, and I hope readers learn from her. 

Kit's psychic abilities play a huge role in the overall story. One thing that really bugs me when books incorporate abilities like this is when there's no consistency or it doesn't make sense. That wasn't a problem here. Kit has limitations, and those frequently affect what she can do in the story. The rules and structure of the psychic ability were well crafted and added so much to the story. I hate to give spoilers, but at one point these limitations were almost unbearable. I was so frustrated with what was happening right along with Kit!

The characters almost always make or break a book for me. Having read some of Finn's work previously, I didn't expect that to be a problem, and I was right. I connected with Kit right off the bat. She was so realistic and had a great deal of depth to her character. At times it was difficult to watch her struggle, but that made her triumphs all the sweeter. Henri, well, I just plain adored him. His character was absolutely delightful and I was pulling for him all the way through. It wasn't just the main characters that will catch readers attention. Ever single side character was layered and complex and I got pulled into their stories easily. This is a beautifully rich cast of characters. 

The overall story was beautiful. Everyone is put into such a difficult situation. They have plenty of reasons to just give up, but they don't. They suffer through everything they are faced with, no matter how hard. The inspire each other and bear the weight of the other's burdens. This is one of those books that you will walk away from and keep thinking about it for days. 

Get your copy of "The Mind's Eye"

Nook

Kindle

Available soon on your favorite ebook store

Meet the Author

Born in South Wales to Raymond and Jennifer Finn, Kimberley Charlotte Elisabeth Finn (known to readers as K.C., otherwise it'd be too much of a mouthful) was one of those corny little kids who always wanted to be a writer. She was also incredibly stubborn, and so has finally achieved that dream in 2013 with the release of her first three novellas in the four-part Caecilius Rex saga, the time travel adventure The Secret Star and her new urban fantasy epic The Book Of Shade.

K.C. Finn has also recently been welcomed into the fold at Clean Teen Publishing as a debut Young Adult author for 2014 - look out for her epic Paranormal/Historical Adventure The Mind's Eye, coming early 2014!

As a sufferer with the medical condition M.E./C.F.S., Kim works part time as a private tutor and a teacher of creative writing, devoting the remainder of her time to writing novels and studying for an MA in Education and Linguistics.

Connect with KC Online

Website : Facebook : Goodreads

Cover Reveal: The Spirit (D. Nichole King)

Coming April 2014...

SYNOPSIS

* Book #1 in the Spirit Series *

While seventeen year-old Carrie Reese’s parents were working out the details of their divorce, she headed to Villisca, Iowa to stay with her grandparents.

Villisca was home to the infamous Axe Murder House…

It’s known to be haunted by the ghosts of the victims and their killer. Carrie doesn’t believe in ghosts, but the moving curtains and red flashes of light in the windows of Lot 310 were starting to give her reason to watch her back.

Then in walked Lucas…

Within days, Carrie knew she was in love. But Lucas seemed strange: his hands were cool and hollow, he barely touched his food, and there was sadness behind his brilliant green eyes.

Lucas was falling for Carrie but knowing that loving her puts her in grave danger, he reluctantly slips out of her life….

He struggles between staying away and telling Carrie his darkest secret. Unable to stand being apart from her any longer, he decides she must know.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born and raised in Iowa, d. Nichole King writes her stories close to home. There’s nothing like small-town Midwest scenery to create the perfect backdrop for an amazing tale.

She wrote her first book in junior high and loved every second of it. However, she couldn’t bring herself to share her passion with anyone. She packed it away until one day, with the encouragement of her husband, she sat down at the computer and began to type. Now she can’t stop.

When not writing, d. is usually curled up with a book, scrapbooking, or doing yet another load of laundry.

Along with her incredible husband, she lives in small-town Iowa with her four adorable children and their dog, Peaches.

CONNECT WITH D. NICHOLE KING

* Twitter * Facebook * Facebook "Like" Page * Website * Goodreads *

GIVEAWAY  

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Kiss My Math (Danica McKellar)

So with Danica McKellar starring on Dancing With The Stars, I began feeling a bit nostalgic. I loved watching The Wonder Years when I was growing up and the romance between Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper had me wishing for my own childhood romance :) That Danica went on to become an author and math guru made her a even cooler in my dorky opinion. In celebrating the re-emergence of Danica McKellar, I've joined together with a few other YA authors to host a giveaway!

Two lucky winners will receive a paperback copy of Kiss My Math by Danica McKellar!


The giveaway begins today and continues until Danica wins or is eliminated from Dancing With the Stars.

 From the author of the runaway bestseller Math Doesn?t Suck, the next step in the math curriculum-- pre-Algebra. 

 Last year, actress and math genius Danica McKellar made waves nationwide, challenging the "math nerd" stereotype and giving girls the tools to ace tests and homework in her unique just-us-girls style. Now, in Kiss My Math, McKellar empowers a new crop of girls, 7th to 9th graders, taking on the next level of mathematics: pre-Algebra. Stepping up not only the math, but also the sass and style, Kiss My Math will help math-phobic teenagers everywhere chill out about math, and finally "get" negative numbers, variables, absolute values, exponents, and more.

Each chapter features:   - Step-by-step instruction - Time-saving tips and tricks - Illuminating practice problems with detailed solutions - Real-world examples - True stories from Danica's own life as a student and actress Kiss My Math also includes more fun extras--including personality quizzes, reader polls, and real-life testimonials-- ultimately revealing why pre-Algebra is easier, more relevant, and more glamorous than girls think.

  There are multiple ways to enter including the option to tweet daily. The listed end date is subject to change and winner will be announced within 48 hours of Danica's win or elimination from DWTS. 

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Cover Reveal: Love Always, Kate (D. Nichole King)

Coming April 2014, a New Adult Novel from D. Nichole King...

SYNOPSIS

Dear Diary,

Leukemia’s been my life since I was eleven. Now, six years later, I want my life back. Only I’m not sure what that is. The test results came back today. 22,000. Which means I’m officially out of remission—again. I have three options:

1) Another round of chemo.

2) A super-new experimental drug.

3) Dump it all— forget the meds and treatments and enjoy the time I have left.

I think I know what I want. Then, in walks Damian, changing everything.

I mean, everything…

He’s got his own set of issues. It binds us together, you know? We understand what it’s like to lose what matters most in seconds. Still, the last thing I need is to have someone else to crush if I can’t fight hard enough. And the last thing he needs is someone else to grieve.

Never mind. I’m down to two options now.

Somehow I know that whichever one I choose, the result will be the same. With the sand in my hourglass seeping to the bottom, I hope there’s enough left to show Damian that life’s worth living.

Worth fighting for. Worth dying for.

Love Always,

Kate

Excerpt

Leslie sat down on the bed next to me and ran her fingers through my hair. “Your hair is beautiful, Katie. I really like this cut on you.”

My hair fell in layers framing my full, round face. “Thank you.” Last time, when my hair started falling out, Leslie sat with me, holding my hand as I cried. I knew it was just hair, but it was my hair. Soon, I’d look like a little bald old man. Wigs itched. I had one that matched my own hair color, but I hated wearing it. People stared when I went out in public because they felt sorry for me. And that was annoying. It wasn’t the stares or the whispers. Or even the silence. I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me. I was a warrior. I’d beaten cancer twice, and I could do it again—at least, that’s what I told myself.

Dr. Lowell walked in and gave us a slight grin. He held my chart in his hands, but he didn’t look at it. He probably had it memorized. Another nurse, one I didn’t know, stood next to him. She was young and pretty with dark brown hair and a reassuring smile.

“Hey, Kate,” he said, flipping on the overhead lights. “This is Tammy. I’m sure you two will get to know one another soon enough.”

“Hi.” I nodded at her.

“So, are you ready?” Dr. Lowell asked. 

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” Who was ever ready to be sliced open and have tubes put inside their veins? 

Leslie patted my shoulder. “You’re my hero,” she whispered.

I slipped my right arm out of my bra strap and tank-top sleeve. The procedure happened while I was conscious, but I really wished they’d knock me out. Because of the local anesthetic, I didn’t feel pain. I felt the tugging, though. Oh, and I could hear the little tools and the clanking on the metal tray. Those sounds alone were enough to make me nauseous. 

Leslie smoothed the skin on the right side of my chest with an alcohol wipe. The scent of rubbing alcohol would forever be burned in my nostrils like someone’s initials etched on a silver flask—which I was pretty sure wasn’t used for rubbing alcohol. 

“You’re going to feel some stinging,” Dr. Lowell said. 

Stinging? I didn’t think stabbing someone with large needles multiple times in the chest qualified as “stinging.” 

I took a deep breath.

Leslie held my hand, and I squeezed it harder each time the local anesthetic pricked me. 

Tears formed behind my lids, but I fought them back. I could be strong. This was nothing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born and raised in Iowa, d. Nichole King writes her stories close to home. There’s nothing like small-town Midwest scenery to create the perfect backdrop for an amazing tale.

She wrote her first book in junior high and loved every second of it. However, she couldn’t bring herself to share her passion with anyone. She packed it away until one day, with the encouragement of her husband, she sat down at the computer and began to type. Now she can’t stop.

When not writing, d. is usually curled up with a book, scrapbooking, or doing yet another load of laundry.

Along with her incredible husband, she lives in small-town Iowa with her four adorable children and their dog, Peaches.

CONNECT WITH D. NICHOLE KING

* Twitter * Facebook * Facebook "Like" Page * Website * Goodreads *

GIVEAWAY

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Cover Reveal: Incantation Paradox (Annamaria Bazzi)

Book: Incantation Paradox

Author: annamaria bazzi

Cover Designer: Natasha Brown

Release Date: Undetermined

Blurb:

A car accident cuts Dolores Reynard’s life short, leaving her with a long list of unfulfilled dreams. When she awakens in a strange bed, inside a much younger body, and living with a new family—she can’t worry she might be going insane. How can she be a teenager again?

Jason Richmond understands the danger awaiting his new houseguest. Wanting to ease her concerns, he works to earn Dolores’ trust. But attraction flares in the most unexpected way, and he finds himself caught between setting the situation right and following his heart.

An enduring evil threatens not only the blossoming love but their lives as well. As Dolores and Jason struggle to unravel the truth behind her resurrection, they find themselves tangled in a web of murder, intrigue and magic. Only together can they hope to overcome the incantation paradox holding them captive.

Dolores:

Hello, my name is Dolores and I'm a forty-something mother of two high school girls, Ella and Chloe. On my way to their recital, I was in a car accident that changed my life forever. We all desire to be young again, but never in someone else's body. If you think magic doesn't exist, think again. There truly are people in the world who can wield magic, and I'm not talking the illusion kind we see on stage, I'm talking real magic, the magic you read in books with wizards and sorceresses. You don't have to take my word, read my story and find out for yourself the ordeal I had to go through to find my way back home.


  Author Bio: 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 - twitter - Amazon - email

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