Shine Not Burn Blitz + Giveaway!

Shine Not Burn by Elle Casey

Publication date: June 30th 2013

Genre: NA Romance

Synopsis:

IT HAPPENED IN VEGAS. I can’t be held responsible. Things that happen there are supposed to stay there, right? Right? Yeeeah. Not so much. … Andie’s just days away from tying the knot, but there’s just ooooone little glitch. Apparently, she’s already married. Or someone with her name is married to a guy out in Oregon of all places, and the courthouse won’t issue her a marriage license until it’s all cleared up. Tripping her way through cow pies and country songs to meet up with a man who gets around places on horseback is her very last idea of how to have a good time, but if she’s going to get married, make partner at the firm, and have two point five kids before she’s thirty-five, she needs to get to the bottom of this snafu and fix it quick … before her fiance finds out and everything she’s been working toward goes up in flames.

 You can pre-order Shine Not Burn for only 0.99c right now! 

Mini Interview

1. You started out writing in YA. What brought you over to New Adult?

I’ve been a reader of new adult titles even before they were called ‘new adult’. And I love the age group it covers. 18-30 years old is such a great time in life, isn’t it? I mean, it’s when you sow your wild oats, learn about yourself in the context of the whole world and not just your family and friends; it’s where you figure out who you’re going to be. The adult-formative years I guess you could call it. And the sex part is awesome too, I won’t lie. You can only get so sexy with a YA book, so as a writer, I have to hold back. In NA, I don’t have to do that. It can be passionate, raw, sometimes awkward and full of bad decisions, but it can be REAL. I guess that’s what I love about NA most … it’s raw and real.

2. What’s your favorite part of being a writer?

My readers. Hands down, it’s the readers. I get emails and messages every day from devoted fans, and I can’t express how much that means to me. There are readers out there who’ve set up book blogs just because they were so excited about my books, people who make it a point to promote my books on their Facebook pages and Twitter just because they want to share the reader-love, and whole families who are reading my series and discussing them at dinner. It just blows my mind that people would be so generous and so involved in my made-up worlds. Recently I had a fan dress as one of my characters at a comic con event. I also occasionally get a very heart-warming message about how my writing has changed someone’s life – caused them to finally start reading or to go to college. To me, that’s the sign of a life well-lived – that I’ve somehow inspired another person to reach for something they want in life that they thought they didn’t have a chance at having before.

3. What’s the most important element in a romance in your opinion?

A sexy guy. Seriously, he just needs to be sexy as hell, and that doesn’t mean sexy can’t come in different packages. For example, in the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the MC, Ian, is very understated and shy, but man, he rocked my world. He reminds me a lot of my husband, actually. On the other hand you have your angsty fighters … guys who you’d never let into your world in real life but who are safe to fall for in books. Travis from Beautiful Disaster comes to mind. Boy, did he cause a lot of fuss in the reader world! Chemistry comes in all kinds of packages, which is awesome, but the chemistry has to be there or the book falls flat for me.

4. What kind of romances do you like to read?

The kind where bad boys are tamed by courageous girls. It’s really that simple for me. 🙂

 

Guest Post

I used to read constantly.  I never was without a book in my purse or backpack.  I’m a very fast reader, so I can read three full length novels in a day if I’m not doing much else.  And when I read, I cut off the outside world; I don’t hear or see anything else but the story when I’m reading.  It’s awesome to be in a mental reading cocoon like that!  Once I started writing, that stopped for a couple reasons: First of all, I don’t have the free time anymore; I write too much.  Second, I worried that other people’s words would seep into my own writing and influence it too much.  I’ve recently gone back to doing more reading just because I’ve missed it, but the problem is that now I’m a much more critical reader than I used to be.  I pick things apart and think about how I would have handled it, had I been the author.  I pick up on every single grammatical mistake and every awkward sentence.  I sometimes wish I could go back to being a reader like I used to be just so I could immerse myself in the story more. That is one of the few negative aspects of becoming a writer that no one tells you will happen, but it happens to everyone once they write enough.

Giveaway

But that’s not all! Thanks to Elle Casey, Chibi Reader is hosting a giveaway of 1 e-book copy of Shine Not Burn! The Giveaway ends on  12th July so be sure to enter!

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Author’s info

Elle Casey is a full-time writer of New Adult and Young Adult titles in several genres, including romance, urban fantasy, sci-fi dystopian, and action-adventure. She’s an American girl who’s been living in southern France with her husband and three children since 2010. She loves chatting with her readers, so feel free to drop her a line.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Ana’s Book Review: Find You in the Dark by A. Meredith Walters

Find You in the Dark by A. Meredith Walters (GR)

Series: Find You in the Dark (#1)

Published: October 10th 2012 (Kindle Edition)

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Goodreads: “Maggie Young had the market on normal. Normal friends, normal parents, normal grades…normal life. Until him.
Clayton Reed was running from his past and an army of personal demons that threatened to take him down. He never thought he had a chance at happiness. Until her.
Maggie thought their love could overcome anything. Clay thought she was all he needed to fix his messy life. That together, they could face the world. But the darkness is always waiting. 
Sometimes the greatest obstacle to true love is within yourself.”

Review

Did you ever want to like something but there was a little something that kept bugging you and just wouldn’t let you like that something? If so, congratulations! You know exactly my feelings on this book. Even though I wanted to find that thing that would give me peace and make me love Find You in the Dark, from 5 to 5 pages there was a scene or action that just kept managing to bring out my rage!

To be honest, it took me a MONTH! A MONTH to get through with this book. Just to give you an idea, I read a book in about 2/3 days. If I’m really engrossed in one I might even read it in a day! But this… THIS took me a whole month to read! That’s a bad sign guys, a really bad sign. Sometimes you have other things to do, sometimes you just don’t feel like reading. This wasn’t the case with Find You in the Dark. Imagine me with the book in my hand (ok, I read the digital version but that is just more classy and it seems nicer in my head) and I’m just sitting in the sofa, reading like there was nothing happening around me. And then, out of nowhere, I read a scene that brings out, not the worst in me, but some really strong feelings, and I’m not talking about the good ones. I throw the book in the air and just say “Fuck it. I can’t read this anymore. It’s so… GARRRGH!!!” This happened too many times in my head to count. But I just wouldn’t be with peace in myself while I didn’t finish the book so, after a couple of days I picked it up again. And after some time I just wanted to throw it out of the window.

I’m not saying this is a bad book, guys. It isn’t a bad book at all, I don’t know anything about bipolar disorder or how one should deal with it but from what I read it’s pretty hard on everyone and what happens in the book is really emotional stuff and I feel it’s not for anyone. I think A. Meredith Walters did an awesome job writing a book where a young girl falls in love with a boy who has this disease and describes every little thing they have to go through. It’s deep, it’s heart wrenching, it broke me into little pieces sometimes. But it wasn’t a book that called to me. I liked it but there were lots of times when I just didn’t know why I was reading this book. It just wasn’t the book for me, and for that I really feel like I have to say that this book has a LOT of good aspects to it but wasn’t my cup of tea. Basically I was like:

but…

About the book in specific and the characters. On the one hand, Maggie seemed like a pretty cool character to me. She never let the fact that Clay was a little bit different make her stay away from me. On the other hand, Clay was a difficult character for me to understand, obviously. He was constantly changing moods and turned at times into a violent person. Now, what bothered me the most was the fact that Maggie let him at the beginning be rude to her and, even though he wouldn’t be physical with her, he kind of threatened her several times throughout the book. Why, WHY would she excuse him because of his condition. I’m the kind of girl who if someone even raises the voice at me that person will most likely never get to even speak to me again. But Maggie let him treat her in a way that no human being should be treated and this happened most of the times in front of her friends! By the way, LOVED her friends! They were always there for her and when Clay’s head hit the fan they defended her right away. Shame she wouldn’t listen to them when they warned her of his behaviour.

Now, I’m not saying Clay didn’t love Maggie. He did, oh he fucking did! In my opinion it just wasn’t worth going through all that suffering to be with the one you loved. Some fucked up things, crazy things, happened and they are only SEVENTEEN! What kind of 17 year old girl has to deal with that stuff? Maggie did try to help Clay but her behaviour toward her parents was just a big no-no for me. They might have been a little “WE DON’T LIKE CLAY! GET AWAY FROM HIM!” but you don’t do the stuff she did.

On a final note, Clay’s parents suuuuuuuuuuckkkkkkkkkk. I wanted to get into the book and hit them in the face. Oh the feels!!!!

Because I really don’t know how to  rate this book I’m giving it

2.5 Chibis

Cover RevealTrying to Get Over You by J.D. Rivera

Today, Chibi Reader is happy to help in the cover reveal of J.D. Rivera’s book, Trying to Get Over You! I know I am adding this one to my To-Read list.

This beautiful cover was designed by Emily Mah Tippetts.

Synopsis:

College student Emily Reynolds has been in a three year relationship with Cooper Thomason but one awful night has left their relationship shaken. She soon finds out she is pregnant and Cooper can’t give up his partying ways. Emily leaves Cooper and tries to find a life without him. She finds out a life without Cooper is harder than she thinks. Will Emily be able to move on from Cooper and find a relationship with another man or run back to him?

Add to Goodreads

 

 

J.D. Rivera lives in Oklahoma with her husband and two boys. Her life consists of school projects, homework, cartoon shows and little league sports.  She loves Diet Mt. Dew, the OKC Thunder, costume jewelry, the beach, and of course reading.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Cover Reveal + Swag Giveaway: A Little Too Far by Lisa Desrochers

Guys, guys! Psst! Lisa Desrochers, author of the Personal Demons series, is releasing a New Adult book “A Little Too Far” (*claps claps claps*) and  I just couldn’t be happier in participating in the cover reveal. But you obviously don’t care about that! “Just show the cover already Ana!” Ok, Ok! Be amazed with the cover and try not to faint!

Synopsis:

“Have you ever gone just a little too far?

 Lexie Banks has.

Yep. She just had mind-blowing sex with her stepbrother.In her defense, she was on the rebound, and it’s more of a my-dad-happened-to-marry-a-woman-with-a-super-hot-son situation. But still, he’s been her best friend and confidant for better part of the last few years…and is so off limits. It’s a good thing she’s leaving in two days for a year abroad in Rome.But even thousands of miles away, Lexie can’t seem to escape trouble. Raised Catholic, she goes to Confession in hopes of alleviating some of her guilt…and maybe not burning in hell. Instead, she stumbles out of the confessional right into Alessandro Moretti, a young and very easy on the eyes deacon…only eight months away from becoming a priest. As Lexie and Alessandro grow closer, and when Alessandro’s signals start changing despite his vow of celibacy, she doesn’t know what to think. She’s torn between falling in love with the man she shouldn’t want and the man she can’t have. And she isn’t sure how she can live with herself either way.”

“More than a ridiculously sexy, HOT read, Desrochers takes you on a wild ride of self-discovery and bittersweet romance.” —Jennifer L. Armentrout (J. Lynn), New York Times bestselling author of Wait for You  

I can’t wait already! A sexy priest? Damn, girl. That is some serious hot stuff. But that’s not all! If you want you can participate in the Rafflecopter giveaway contest hosted by the author of a swagpack related to the book!

“I trace a finger along the lines of the tattoo over his heart—the kanji symbol for knowledge—as he grasps my thighs and rolls his hips underneath me.”

To participate click the link below:

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Book Review: True by Erin McCarthy

TRUE by Erin McCarthy

Published: May 7th 2013

Publisher: Penguin Group

Goodreads: “When Rory Macintosh’s roommates find out that their studious and shy friend has never been with a guy, they decide that, as an act of kindness they’ll help her lose her virginity by hiring confident, tattooed bad boy Tyler Mann to do the job…unbeknownst to Rory.
Tyler knows he’s not good enough for Rory. She’s smart, doctor smart, while he’s barely scraping by at his EMT program, hoping to pull his younger brothers out of the hell their druggy mother has left them in. But he can’t resist taking up her roommates on an opportunity to get to know her better. There’s something about her honesty that keeps him coming back when he knows he shouldn’t…
Torn between common sense and desire, the two find themselves caught up in a passionate relationship. But when Tyler’s broken family threatens to destroy his future, and hers, Rory will need to decide whether to cut her ties to his risky world or follow her heart, no matter what the cost…”

REVIEW

There seems to be a new concept in novels that is becoming really popular: “I’m almost being raped, here comes a really hot guy coming to help me”. In other words, “rape=meet cute guy”. How is this a good thing? Yeah, I wished someone would tell me because I really can’t see a good thing that can come out of this.