Blog Tour: Bitter Like Orange Peel by Jessica Bell (Excerpt + Giveaway)

Title: Bitter Like Orange Peel

Author: Jessica Bell
Publisher: Vine Leaves Press
Released: November 1st 2013
Pages: 179 (eBook)
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Six women. One man. Seven secrets. One could ruin them all.

Kit is a twenty-five-year-old archaeology undergrad, who doesn’t like to get her hands dirty. Life seems purposeless. But if she could track down her father, Roger, maybe her perspective would change.

The only problem—Roger is as rotten as the decomposing oranges in her back yard according to the women in her life: Ailish, her mother—an English literature professor who communicates in quotes and clichés, and who still hasn’t learned how to express emotion on her face; Ivy, her half-sister—a depressed archaeologist, with a slight case of nymphomania who fled to America after a divorce to become a waitress; and Eleanor, Ivy’s mother—a pediatric surgeon who embellishes her feelings with medical jargon, and named her daughter after "Intravenous."

Against all three women’s wishes, Kit decides to find Roger.
Enter a sister Kit never knew about.
But everyone else did.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
If Jessica Bell could choose only one creative mentor, she’d give the role to Euterpe, the Greek muse of music and lyrics. This is not only because she currently resides in Athens, Greece, but because of her life as a thirty-something Australian-native contemporary fiction author, poet and singer/songwriter/guitarist, whose literary inspiration often stems from songs she’s written. Jessica is the Co-Publishing Editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal and annually runs the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca. For more information, please visit her website: www.jessicabellauthor.com

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EXCERPT
KIT

His head is ripped off. In that photograph. Of him. Kit spots it buried among four years’ worth of undergraduate essays—the photo she stole from her half sister, Ivy, and misplaced in an effort to keep safe.
She drags her bottom dresser drawer out too far. The stiff wood clunks as it slips out of its casing and hits the floor with a thud. Sitting cross-legged and naked on the hot, itchy carpet, she stares at the photograph. At five-year-old Ivy’s carefree grin and trusting arms wrapped around her father’s knees at the Melbourne zoo. A drop of sweat tickles Kit’s crotch. She scratches herself and wipes her wet fingers on the carpet beside her thigh. Stares at her father’s hand placed delicately on the top of Ivy’s head, and Ivy’s sideways and upward glance toward his nonexistent face. Kit touches the top of her own head, imagining what his touch may have felt like, what she would give to have been Ivy those twenty-five years ago, before she was even born.

Blog Tour: By Blood by Tracy E. Banghart (Excerpt + Giveaway)

Title: By Blood
Author: Tracy E. Banghart
Released: February 18th 2013
Pages: 368 (Kindle)
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For 17-year-old Emma Wong, spending a summer in England should be a dream come true. Gorgeous scenery? Check. Lots of hot guys with accents? Yes, please. 

Throw in an estranged mom, annoying new stepdad, and drooling baby half-brother, and it’s a disaster even her favorite cherry red leather jacket can’t fix. Even worse, there’s (hot) live-in research assistant Josh to contend with. The only thing more embarrassing than   drunk-kissing him hours after they meet? Knowing he’ll be witness to her family’s dysfunction all. summer. long.

But when Emma meets a mysterious girl who happens to be a Druid, her vacation suddenly promises to be far more intriguing than she  anticipated. Powerful rituals, new friends, an intoxicating sense of freedom...and Simon, the sexy foreign stranger she was hoping for. It’s all a perfect distraction from dirty diapers and awkward family dinners.

Trouble is, intriguing doesn’t often mean simple. And Emma is about to discover just how not simple her life really is.

By Blood is a novel about the ways that blood can bind us to others – or tear us apart.

About The Author

Tracy E. Banghart is a cheesy movie–loving, fantasy football–playing (go Ravens!), globe-trotting Army wife who began “practicing” her craft at the age of five, when she wrote her first story. She loves visiting the international friends she met while pursuing her MA in Publishing and spends a portion of every summer at her family’s cabin in Canada, where she finds inspiration and lots of time to relax on the dock. She lives with her husband, son, two lazy dogs and one ornery cat. When not writing or spending time with her family, she is on a mission to bake the perfect cupcake.

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Excerpt
We reached a main street with a pink-washed pub on the corner. I paused, but Ash kept walking.
When she turned again, I had a flashback to lunch and the dim stairs leading to the Wisteria Café. Here we were at another dark passageway. Excitement shivered through me. We walked down a narrow alley between two buildings; my shoes wobbled on the cobblestones and Josh put a polite hand on my back to steady me. The path was lit by old-fashioned sconces built into the walls. Faintly, I heard voices, an occasional burst of laughter. We ducked through a low archway and the space opened before us.

Book Blitz: Kinetic by S. K. Anthony (Excerpt + Giveaway)

Title: Kinetic
Author: S. K. Anthony
Released: September 20thh 2013
Pages: 336 (Paperback)
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Being strong is one thing. Being an unlimited source of power is quite another.

Genetically altered by the Organization, Annie Fox takes down criminals CIA-style with her luminary strength. With nothing to mend but her broken heart, she is relentlessly pursued by her boss Derek Lake. Just when Annie is about to give him a chance, her ex-husband unexpectedly comes out of hiding.

A wanted man, Nick Logan is a cold-hearted murderer who is considered enemy number one, and orders are clear: kill on contact. He is more powerful than ever and threatens the lives of those she holds most dear. His plan? Get his hands on Annie and use her Kinetic energy to destroy them all. When Annie finds herself with an opportunity to end him, she pauses, horrified by the scars covering the face she once loved. A split second that will cost her everything...

About The Author
S. K. Anthony is a writer, a reader and a make-stuff-up-er who lives in New York with her husband and toddler twins. She is a wine connoisseur, which just really means she knows she loves it, and a caffeine addict. When she isn’t busy with her family she finds herself being transported into the world of imagination. Well, either that or running away from spiders…she is convinced they are out to get her!

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Excerpt
I knew what I had to do. Orders were clear… KILL ON CONTACT.

The thing is, it was Nick.

Before I knew what I was doing, I'd released my hold. He got up and rubbed his mouth.

“What did I tell you about giving second chances?”

15 Minutes by Jill Cooper (Review, Excerpt + Giveaway)

About The Author

Jill loves to blend horror, comedy, the supernatural, and love, through her novels. A fan of genre blending, her work strives to cross boundaries, but most of all strives to entertain. She loves soft cuddly cats, warm blankets, and paranormal romances. Jill resides in Massachusetts, is constantly renovating her home that she shares with her husband, young daughter, and two skittish cats.

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Review

Title: 15 Minutes

Author: Jill Cooper

Publisher: Self

Released: June 15th 2013

Pages: 236 (eBook)

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I have 15 minutes to save my mother’s life….

15 minutes is all the Rewind Agency gives you in the past, but for Lara Crane it’s enough time to race through the city, find her mother, and stop her from being killed in a mugging that happened over ten years ago.

But that’s not how it happened. The story she’s been told all her life is a lie and when Lara takes a bullet meant for her mother, her future changes forever.

The love of her life acts like a stranger. Her simple life is replaced with a giant house, glamorous clothes and a new boyfriend. 

Except someone knows her secret. And he will try to stop her at every turn as she races against the clock to unravel a dangerous conspiracy.

Science fiction stories featuring time travel can either go really, really well, or really, really badly. With an electrifying plot, an amazing concept and likeable characters, 15 Minutes is one of the best I've read yet.

Blog Tour and Giveaway: Steel Lily by Megan Curd (Excerpt)

About The Author
Megan Curd is a graduate of Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota. While having always enjoyed reading any books she could get her hands on, Megan didn’t begin writing until a friend encouraged her to do so while in college.

When not writing, Megan enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She loves to snowboard and travel to new places, and doesn’t turn down the opportunity to play xBox with her brother and friends when it presents itself.

Megan currently resides in Stanton, Kentucky with her husband, son, and Great Dane named Dozer.

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Book Info + Synopsis
Title: Steel Lily
Author: Megan Curd
Publisher: Self
Release: August 20th 2013 (TOMORROW!!!)
Pages: 293 (eBook)
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My review

AVERY PIKE is a commodity. No, more than a commodity. Her existence is guarded at all costs.

She’s a water Elementalist, the strongest of her dwindling kind. She creates steam to provide energy to fuel Dome Four: the only thing standing between humanity and an earth ravaged by World War III. No steam, no Dome. No Dome, no life.

Or so she thinks.

That is, until a mysterious man offers her a way out of having to donate steam. A way to escape the corrupt government of Dome Four. While the offer seems too good to be true, Avery is intrigued. But when she arrives to her new home, she realizes the grass isn’t any less dead on this side of the fence. Instead, the lies are just hidden better.

…Which means digging deeper.

When Avery enlists the help of her friends to uncover the truth, she learns that while some secrets are better left concealed, humankind was never meant to live in a cage. And when you can control the most sought after resource, you can learn to control anything…including the fate of your world.

Blog Tour and Giveaway: How to be Almost Famous in Ten Days by Kathleen S. Allen (Excerpt)

About The Author
Kathleen has been writing since she was eight years old when she self-published her first book. Okay, she hand-copied her poems onto plain white paper, paper punched three holes in the sides, made an orange and blue “book jacket” and threaded red ribbon through the holes that she tied with a bow. Ta Dah! Her first book! She’s been writing ever since. She writes in different genres but YA is her favorite.

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Book Info + Synopsis
Title: How to be Almost Famous in Ten Days
Author: Kathleen S. Allen
Released: March 15th 2013
Pages: 135 (Kindle)
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Seventeen-year-old Cassie Cee feels invisible because she's a double-digit size. She finds a book in a secondhand bookstore that she hopes will change her life. Her best friend's brother wants to make vlogs about how she is following the ten rules she found in the book, why she is doing it, and how she feels about being invisible for his school project. She agrees, but only if he promises no one but his college advisor will see the vlogs. He promises, but a friend of his posts them online and they go viral. When one of the "famous rules" puts her best friend, Rachel in a dangerous situation, Cassie makes one last vlog and Chuck posts it online. But emails begin arriving from other girls who have felt invisible, and she realizes she has to own up to being "the real Cassie Cee."