Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): Gated by Amy Christine Parker

Tour Schedule



Title: Gated
Author: Amy Christine Parker
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Acquired Via: Book Nerd Tours
Release Date: August 6, 2013
Do the gates keep the unchosen out or the chosen in?

In Mandrodage Meadows, life seems perfect. The members of this isolated suburban community have thrived under Pioneer, the charismatic leader who saved them from their sad, damaged lives. Lyla Hamilton and her parents are original members of the flock. They moved here following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, looking to escape the evil in the world. Now seventeen, Lyla knows certain facts are not to be questioned:

Pioneer is her leader.

Will is her Intended.

The end of the world is near.

Like Noah before him, Pioneer has been told of the imminent destruction of humanity. He says his chosen must arm themselves to fight off the unchosen people, who will surely seek refuge in the compound’s underground fortress–the Silo.

Lyla loves her family and friends, but given the choice, she prefers painting to target practice. And lately she’d rather think about a certain boy outside the compound than plan for married life in the Silo with Will. But with the end of days drawing near, she will have to pick up a gun, take a side, and let everyone know where she stands.

My Review

I know it is so cliche to call a book "gripping", but seriously, I read Amy Christine Parker's debut novel, Gated in less than six hours. I ignored my own mother, child, Mister, and friends because - let's be honest - finding out what happened to Lyla Hamilton and her community was so much more important. The poor girl is in a cult, for crying out loud! If anyone ever needed my full attention, it was her.

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): The Exemeus by Folami & Abeni Morris

Title: The Exemeus (Exemeus #1)
Author: Folami and Abeni Morris
Publisher: Royal Colours Ink
Acquired Via: CBB Book Promotions
Release Date: January 3, 2013
Hyalee Smith is dead, she just doesn’t know it yet.

Her short life was devoted to love and to hate. Love of the man who stole her heart, hate for the man who stole the world. Murdered by the government she swore to destroy, she's been given another chance to make it right. But to save the planet, she needs the help of the most powerful mystic the world has ever seen—unfortunately he hasn’t been born yet.

In a world where fear is the only currency, Dephon has committed the ultimate crime: inspiring hope. His only goal is to make it safely through ninth grade, but on a post-apocalyptic Earth run by the Treptonian government, it isn’t that simple. Heir to a legendary power, Dephon Johnson is the only threat to the government’s rule. And on Trepton, all threats must be eliminated. When hundreds of assassins are dispatched to neutralize him, Dephon is forced to fight back. His only chance of survival is to enlist the aid of the greatest warrior the world has ever known. The only problem is, she's been dead for 13 years.

My Review
I've been burned a lot lately with the indie books that I have agreed to review, so The Exemeus was a pleasant surprise. The story was way different than what I've come to expect from "fantasy" or "dystopia" tags. The characters were also odd, but easy to relate to. The humor that permeated the novel was fantastic, and the story itself reminded me a tiny bit of The Neverending Story.

Blog Tour (Review): Very Recent History by Choire Sicha

Title: Very Recent History: An Entirely Factual Account of a Year (c. AD 2009) in a Large City
Author: Choire Sicha
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: August 6, 2013
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
What will the future make of us?

In one of the greatest cities in the world, the richest man in town is the Mayor. Billionaires shed apartments like last season's fashion trends, even as the country's economy turns inside out and workers are expelled from the City's glass towers. The young and careless go on as they always have, getting laid and getting laid off, falling in and falling out of love, and trying to navigate the strange world they traffic in: the Internet, complex financial markets, credit cards, pop stars, microplane cheese graters, and sex apps.

A true-life fable of money, sex, and politics, Very Recent History follows a man named John and his circle of friends, lovers, and enemies. It is a book that pieces together our every day, as if it were already forgotten.

My Review

Welcome to this week's edition of "When Good Books Go Bad" featuring Very Recent History: An Entirely Factual Account of a Year (c. AD 2009) in a Large City by Choire Sicha. Yes, that is a bit harsh, but disappointing books are disappointing, and this one really didn't work for me. I enjoy the occasional bit of non-fiction and history is my favorite thing ever, and I was super duper excited to get my hands on Very Recent History. So where did it go wrong?

Cover Reveal: Through Glass by Rebecca Ethington

We are so excited to be able to bring to you the cover reveal for Rebecca Ethington’s Through Glass which releases in less than a month on September 20th, 2013.

Both the book’s cover and description are awesome and more than a little bit chilling and we cannot wait for its release.

If you’d like to know more about the author, Rebecca Ethington, be sure to check out her website, or any of the other places she hangs out online.

And if you can’t wait until September 20th for the release of Through Glass, the first book in her Imdalind series, Kiss of Fire, is now available in eBook format for free at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE and for the KOBO.



Title: Chaos (The Kardia Chronicles #1)
Author: Rebecca Ethington
Cover Reveal Organizer: Rockstar Book Tours
Release Date: September 20, 2013
Everyone remembers the day the sky went black. They remember the screams as the blackness ate those who were out in the open, those who surrounded themselves by light, and those who made noise.

Everyone remembers the voice from the sky, the way food disappeared.

Everyone remembers the day the sky went black, and the sun was wiped from the sky.

At least that’s what I hope. I hope that there is an ‘everyone’ that will remember.

I hope that I am not alone.

Because I remember.

I remember, because it was the day I became alone.

It was the day the house went silent, and the birds stopped singing. It was the day when everyone disappeared, everyone except the boy, the only person I have seen in two years.

The boy I talk to through the glass.

Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

Title: All Our Yesterdays
Author: Cristin Terrill
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Acquired Via: JKS Communications
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present–imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside.

Marina has loved her best friend, James, since they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Marina will protect James no matter what, even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it… at least, not as the girl she once was. Em and Marina are in a race against time and each other, and only one of them can win.

All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice.

My Review

I've read a lot of time travel and science fiction in the young adult realm lately, and I haven't been blown away. However, Cristin Terrill's debut, All Our Yesterdays, is the best example of each that I've read this year. All of the characters are intriguing and realistic, the plot kept me on the edge of my seat, and the science is believable.

Book Blast (Giveaway): Entangled's Covet August Release Day

Covet novels have all the sexiness, emotion, and happily ever after that readers have come to expect and love from Entangled. They are firmly grounded in the contemporary world, but each novel brings in supernatural twists, breaking the contemporary and paranormal rules, alike. To find out more about their titles, chat with authors, participate in special events, and to find out what books you’ll be coveting next, visit the Entangled website, follow them on Twitter, and LIKE their Facebook page.

Today I'm happy to be featuring Covet's August releases!

The Awakening: Liam by Abby Niles
The Awakening #2
Shifter, Liam Doyle knows Hell. At least he believed he did. The night he feels his mate die, he learns how very wrong he was. Nothing he’d struggled with since Ava’s rejection compares to the emptiness that fills his soul by her death. Lost in his grief, he’s taken by surprise and drugged. When he wakes, everything changes. Nothing is what it seems, and someone is dead set on making him pay.

When Ava Michaels is taken captive, she’s thrust into a dark and terrifying world along with the man she was forced to leave behind. While being near Liam again is heartbreaking, the motive behind her kidnapping is gradually revealed. The more she learns, the more she worries Liam isn’t the man she believed him to be. He has enemies willing to do anything to extract their revenge. Can their love survive a crazy man’s vengeance?

Cover Reveal: Inspired by Danielle E. Shipley

Title: Inspired
Author: Danielle E. Shipley
Genre: Fantasy
Target Audience: Adult
Publisher: J. Taylor Publishing
Release Date: March 17, 2014
For a muse like Lucianíel, one story’s end is another’s beginning.

In the wake of his author’s sudden death, Luc takes ownership of her surviving creations—four fantastical characters with tales yet to be told—saving them from unwritten lives crumbling around them and giving them a second chance at a literary future.

Luc finds that chance in the unsuspecting mind of Annabelle Iole Gray, a quirky teen with her head in the clouds, nose in a book, and imagination ripe for a brilliant muse’s inspiration.

Or so he hopes.

Neither Luc nor Annabelle, however, realize all they’ve undertaken. Even with a to-write list including accounts of a shape-shifting cat creature, gentle knight-in-training, vigilante skater girl, and a mystery boy smothering in unspoken fear, the most remarkable saga created between author and muse just may turn out to be one stranger than fiction.

Their own.

Back to Reading with Tiffany Truitt

Back to Reading with Tiffany Truitt
Author of the Lost Souls series
I am so excited to be stopping by today to announce my “Back to Reading,” contest. Like millions of teachers and students, I will be returning back to the classroom, and I thought this needed to be celebrated with a MAJOR book giveaway….and other fun goodies for all my fellow fans of Young Adult Literature.

What Do You Win

One lucky winner will receive copies of the following books (Only US residents need apply):


How Do You Win