HUGE GIVEAWAY COURTESY OF JILL SANDERS!!

Coming September 13!

Jill Sanders is having a 3,000 likes giveaway on her Facebook page.

Stop by and check out the details! So many prizes to be won.

HERE'S THE LINK! 

https://www.facebook.com/JillSandersBooks?sk=app_228910107186452

Shadows of Valor by Elsie Park

    Known as The Shadow, Sir Calan Beaumont came to Graywall to find smugglers.  He had to be very careful no one knew his other identity.  While watching for smugglers, Calan heard a conversation about a kidnapping.  His first thought was the nobles daughter, Genevieve.  Sir Calan knew he must protect her at all costs.  After approaching the castle, he found out his childhood friend Elsbeth was living there as well.  Elsbeth  was a friendly person who helped serve the village and castle.  She was content with the knowledge she would never marry.  Sir Calan sent her thoughts in the other direction though.  

     The story is a good one and you'll enjoy the mystery and intrigue this book offers.   A little light on the romance, but that's okay. When it does have a romantic moment it's sweet and special.  I recommend this book for everyone. You'll enjoy the refreshing approach Ms Park takes.  For a debut novel, this one ranks right up there.

     I found only one issue.  It takes awhile to build up to the conflict and then ends quickly. Up to that point, it's a little slow in parts.

     When all is said and done, I gave this one 5 out of 5 cheers. Great debut Elsie Park!!  

      

Perry Road by Emi Gayle

     The year is 2132.  Nothing is as you remember it.  There is now the American Union and the United States. Two separate countries. A fifteen foot wall separates them.  It's also Erianna's eighteenth birthday. The day she becomes an adult.  She will register for a job. It's the law.  Then she will be required to go to the house listed on her email.  Once there she will be trained and readied for the world.  Somehow though things don't end up going as they should. Eri, or Anna as she is now known, will find out things no one else knows. She will come face to face with her past.  Anna wonders if she's adult enough to handle it all. With a leap of faith, she moves forward. 

     Another amazing book from Emi Gayle! She is a fantastic storyteller who engages your  mind, heart and imagination all at once.  This book gave me pause.  I couldn't imagine the world changing so in my children's lives.  Bold, straightforward and equal parts heartbreaking and empowering, this book is one you'll keep.  I think the readers will enjoy some of the changes in this world created by Emi Gayle. Others, they will be upset about.  I think one thing that stuck with me, among the hundreds of things, was that in this year 2132, breast cancer is still not cured.  GET THIS BOOK! Your TBR pile will be enhanced by it.

     I found no issues.

     I gave this one 5 cheers out of 5 because the thought provoking contents is still with me. 

WE WON A BOOK FROM ME-TV

      Several weeks ago, Memorable Entertainment Television- METV- gave away the book pictured.  To win you had to keep track of the code word for the day, then enter it at ME-TV.  We did just that and surprise, surprise, today in the mail we received this very book.  I can't wait to dive into it and learn more about one of my favorite shows from back when.  I'll do a review here once I get the chance to read it.  

    You never know if you will  win unless you try!! Enter the contests authors have on their page and Twitter. 

   Read on!!!

 Melanie and crew

Friday Showcase: Author Helen Stringer

   

           The author, Helen Stringer, grew up in Liverpool, England, and currently lives in Redwood City in northern California.  While in Liverpool, she was active in the music scene where she edited local music paper MerseySound while researching the life of the Countess of Sefton through her late 19^th century diaries for an exhibition on behalf of Merseyside County Museums. 

            After moving to the United States she studied film, winning several student film awards, including a student Emmy and the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers award for Best Entertainment Program for a Western version of “A Christmas Carol,” called A FISTFUL OF HOLLY (subsequently bought by CBS), and was a Directing Fellow at the American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies. She then worked as Director of Development for a Los Angeles television production company.  She has also written for the food section of the Los Angeles Times and Victoria magazine and founded and edited the eclectic web magazine The Mediadrome.

            Her first book, SPELLBINDER, was published in 2009 and chronicled the adventures of Belladonna Johnson, a girl who lives with the ghosts of her dead parents until the day when they, and all the ghosts in the world, disappear. This was followed by the sequel, MIDNIGHT GATE, in 2011. This year sees the publication of her latest novel, PARADIGM, set in a future in which everything we have been warned about has come to pass.

            Helen lives and works in an old barn that used to be a ballet school, along with an embarrassing number of cats and the occasional visiting raccoon.

                                                                 

Sam Cooper is seventeen. He drives a cherry red 1968 GTO that he won on a bet, and spends his days exploring the open roads of the great American West. He should be living the teenage dream, but post-collapse America is a hard place to survive. 

The United States is long dead, basic resources are getting scarcer, and no one on Earth has seen the stars since before he was born. Vast tracts of the country are now empty as people huddle together for safety. 

In all this chaos, Sam has survived on his wits and occasional luck. But a visit to the walled and prosperous Century City results in a split-second decision that changes everything. Soon Sam is on the run from the ruthless Carolyn Bast, and by something much more dangerous: MUTHA--a powerful artificial entity that has been watching and waiting for Sam's return from the barren outlands. Sam unknowingly carries the key to something MUTHA can't live without, something so dangerous that others are willing to kill him, or worse, to ensure that the great plex never possesses it. 

Sam can't stay one step ahead of them forever. His only hope is to unravel the secrets of his peculiar past and awaken the incredible power that sleeps within--because even in his beloved GTO, without the truth, Sam will never succeed in outracing the nightmare to come.

Thanks for stopping by. Come

 back for the review of this book!! 

BLOG TOUR: PERRY ROAD by EMI GAYLE

       

             In 2132, “We the people …” means nothing, and it hasn’t for a hundred years.

Like all the citizens of the American Union, eighteen-year-old Erianna Keating is not to ask questions. She is not to believe anything except what the A.U. tells her. More importantly, she’s not supposed to know what she doesn’t know, nor that she’s a pawn.

Like everyone else, though, she is, and like everyone else, she is a hundred percent oblivious to what’s going on.

Or is she? Are they?

               Erianna thinks going to Perry Road and joining the national registration program is her next step toward adulthood; the 2132 candidates for adult-classification, though, are in for a big surprise. Especially Erianna.

Thanks to Zane Warren, an awkward but hot guy who won’t shut up about a history that doesn’t—or shouldn’t—matter anymore, Erianna will know. Will learn. That includes finding out what actually happens after registration and doing something, anything, about it.

              Fixing what went wrong, what caused the U.S.A. to split into two countries, though, is not on Erianna’s bucket list, but as she faces her future, she must decide whether to fall in line with the American Union’s plan for her, or to consider that Zane might not be wrong, and the time for revolution begins now.

    Stop by  emigayle.com for any other information!!

BLOG TOUR: SHADOWS OF VALOR by Elsie Park

Debut Novel!!! 

 Blurring the psychological haze between justice and revenge,
Park's debut novel brings new meaning to the Dark Knight.

        On the surface, Graywall is content and booming. Lord Shaufton, who
presides over the city, is a fine ruler. The poor are well-cared for, the
area is popular, and morale is high—but within Graywall’s roots,
something dark is stirring. This darkness threatens to overpower the
once-peaceful town, until a mysterious figure appears: The Shadow.

         As much a figure of fear to the unruly as legend to the innocent,
The Shadow is an enforcer of justice and aid to the King. Due to an
outrageous export tax set by King Edward, smuggling has tainted the
kingdom, so The Shadow is sent to hunt the smugglers down. Contrary
to legend, The Shadow is simply a man known as Sir Calan who,
although talented and just, struggles to keep his dark thoughts of
revenge from becoming ruthless action.
          Due to sheer coincidence, The Shadow learns of a deadly plot
against Lord Shaufton on a journey to Graywall. Now, he must enter a
pseudo courtship with Lord Shaufton’s daughter under his original guise
of Sir Calan, all while old emotions are stirred by the lovely Elsbeth,
Lord Shaufton’s niece. Elsbeth, it seems, is the only woman who can
heal his troubled soul, but she has a story of her own. 
       What transpires is
a glorious tale full of deceit, greed, inner struggles, betrayal, and most of
all—love.