Everafter by M. Lathan book blitz with giveaway
Everafter
M. Lathan
(The Immortals of Westchester Prep, #1)
Publication date: May 15th 2016
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
After years of battling leukemia, seventeen-year-old Sydney Long has made peace with her impending death. She expected pain, she expected tearful goodbyes, but she never expected to be turned into an immortal monster who can, with the slightest touch, control life and death.
Now, flowers are stirring when she walks by, she’s oddly drawn to death and the dying, and she must wear gloves to keep her living parents safe.
While her family toils with this supernatural nightmare and finding a way out of it, Sydney falls for magic and an equally as enticing boy who she can’t seem to stay away from.
But nothing comes without a price. When Sydney is targeted for her illegal magic, she’ll learn a whole new meaning of fighting for her life.
—
EXCERPT:
Dying hurt as much as I’d thought it would.
My burning lungs begged for relief as air hissed into my nose through a plastic tube. The shallow breaths wheezing out of my mouth somehow tasted like medicine and sweat.
They tasted like my life.
Instead of violins and the somber music that played on movies in moments like this, I was dying to the soundtrack of beeping monitors and the soft shuffling of my parents’ feet. They moved around our suite quietly, like ghosts, as they waited for me to become one and finally lose to leukemia.
I’d spent the last three weeks at an upscale ski resort in Lake Placid, just watching my health fade and my time on Earth dwindle to nothing. The view of the constant snow and the towering mountains in the distance usually distracted me from the pain. I needed that view more than ever tonight. Everything hurt, but in my mind, if I didn’t mention it, if I didn’t break, I would beat cancer in my own way.
We couldn’t afford to stay in this snowy paradise, but my parents didn’t want me to die in a sterile hospital. We’d moved to Lake Placid five months ago to chase another faint glimmer of hope, but the clinical trial had ended like all of the others—with me getting sicker. This time, we weren’t doing anything about it. After five years of giving cancer all we had, my parents had decided that we’d fought too much, cried too much, and hoped too much to do it again.
And that was okay. It had to be.
My final days were passing in a blur of tearful calls from my grandparents, long stares from my mom and dad, and smiles from my strangely exuberant hospice nurse. Sarah, with her endless energy and joy, was easily my favorite person on the planet. She supplied medicine that stopped me from feeling and long stories that kept me thinking, which made me feel alive.
Tonight, she was so busy gabbing about her ballerina days that she’d forgotten a dose of painkillers. I didn’t mention it. As she adjusted my oxygen tube, I stared at her beautiful, pixie-like face and the bright red hair framing it. Her tiny features and permanent smile made her a living fairy to me. My personal Tinkerbelle.
“It’s going to happen tonight, isn’t it?” She didn’t answer me. She draped another blanket over my legs without making eye contact. “They gave me a week to live … a week ago.”
“Sydney, I don’t want you to be concerned about death. Ever. Only focus on life and the living. Remember that, sweet girl.”
What a weird thing to say to an almost-corpse. I didn’t need to remember anything anymore. I laughed at her, and that disturbed my failing lungs. One cough turned into two, and soon Sarah had to hold me as my chest heaved relentlessly. The awful sound summoned my parents to my room.
They crept in with red eyes and rivers flowing down their cheeks, wearing yesterday’s clothes.
Nothing said that I was dying more than my dad being home. No matter where we moved, he worked, thanks to his special talent of finding a job within a day. He’d emigrated from China with his parents as a kid, and his entire family worked like one day off would mean certain death. So that was what he did—he spent his days toiling at dead-end jobs to barely keep us afloat. Except for today.
He squeezed my mom’s hand as they approached my bed. Her long dreads were down and wild tonight, and she looked beautiful despite her swollen face and runny nose. My mom had four piercings in each ear, an effortlessly cool hippy style, and a thick Trinidadian accent. Once, I’d wanted to be just like her, but now, I didn’t know what being like her meant other than crying a lot and receiving bad news.
“Mr. and Mrs. Long,” Sarah said, “I was just about to give Sydney her medicine. She’ll be asleep soon, and you don’t look like you’ve gotten much rest. I can watch her tonight.”
“Sarah,” I whispered, as my chest finally calmed. “Go home. Your shift is over.”
She pressed her warm hand to my cheek. I could’ve sworn, for a moment, I felt completely okay.
Author Bio:
M. Lathan lives in San Antonio with her husband and mini-schnauzer. She enjoys writing and has a B.S. in Psych and a Masters in Counseling. Her passion is a blend of her two interests – creating new worlds and stocking them with crazy people. She enjoys reading anything with interesting characters and writing in front of a window while asking rhetorical questions … like her idol Carrie Bradshaw.
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Shot to Hell by Cynthia Rayne book blitz with giveaway
Shot to Hell
Cynthia Rayne
(Four Horsemen MC #7)
Publication date: May 9th 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Love thy enemy.
Steele spent his high school years under the Friday night lights in Poteet, Texas. He went from hometown hero to jarhead in a matter of weeks, taking his best buddy, Abe, with him. After Abe died in combat, Steele quit the Corps and became a member of the Four Horsemen MC. Now his brother and best friend, Coyote, has been taken by a rival MC and Steele fears the worst. To save his brother, he calls in Ashton Calhoun. She works as a security contractor and specializes and kicking asses and crossing off names.
As a teenager, Ash fell hard for Steele. But that went south when his carelessness led to Abe’s death. They’re now bitter enemies and there’s plenty of unfinished business between them. Can Ash and Steele find Coyote before it’s too late? And will these enemies become lovers?
EXCERPT:
“Ashton Calhoun,” Steele whispered.
He couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t seen her since Abe’s funeral. Abe Calhoun’s younger twin sister. Abe had been born three minutes earlier, so he’d taken on the role of big brother.
“I ain’t seen you in a month of Sundays.” Steele stood and dragged her along with him.
He examined her more closely in the hazy light. He’d know Ash anywhere, even if she’d changed over the years. She stood about five and a half feet tall with brown hair pinned tight to her head and the same vivid green eyes. Most noticeably, she now had a long jagged scar on the right side from her hairline to chin. While the skin must’ve knit together long ago, it’d left a deep groove in her pretty face.
Ash stared right back at him, studying him. “As I live and breathe, Jack Steele. I thought you looked familiar, but I wondered if my mind was playin’ tricks on me.”
Or maybe she’d wanted to fuck with him. He certainly deserved it.
Ash didn’t look angry, exactly—more like stunned, a bit wary. The last time he’d seen her, she’d been empty, hollowed out by grief at her brother’s funeral. He’d tried to approach her afterward, wanting to say something—anything—to ease her pain, but she’d walked away from him and right out of his life. They hadn’t spoken since.
Damn, but the military agreed with her.
She was hotter than he remembered—sleek and sexy. She was leaner, meaner, and practically dripping bad-assery with her big gun and tight fatigues. She’d dropped a couple pounds and replaced it with whip-corded muscle. After he had a few minutes to get used to the scar, he might get into it—it gave her a dangerous air.
Justice still brandished his weapon. “You two know each other?”
“Yeah. You can stand down. She’s cool, man.”
“Chilly, you might say.” Then came her familiar sub-zero expression—colder than a cast-iron commode in the winter.
“Uh…Steele?” Justice piped up. “She don’t look so friendly.”
Yeah, he could read it in the curl of her lip, the indifference in her gaze. Ash hated his ass, and she had every right to, but at least she wasn’t empty. Pissed off was better than grief-stricken.
Steele smiled at her, giving her a taste of his charm, hoping he’d thaw her out some. “Naw. Don’t worry. Me and Ash go way back. Trust me, she’s not a threat.”
“Wanna bet?”
She socked him in the nose, snapping his head back.
Author Bio:
**Stay up to date on all things Four Horsemen by signing up for the newsletter at cynthiarayne.com.***
Cynthia Rayne is a USA Today bestselling author and co author of the Amazon bestselling Four Horsemen MC series. Cynthia Rayne’s first erotic book was written when she was thirteen. Of course, the most risqué scene involved kissing, but it was the talk of her middle school! In her spare time, she enjoys dating, shopping, reading way too many romance novels, and drinking a truly obscene amount of coffee.
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Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, #1)
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Jacob grew up hearing stories from his grandfather about the strange and peculiar children he knew in his childhood. His grandfather even had pictures that he’d shown Jacob to prove his stories were true. But as Jacob got older he became suspicious that they were nothing but fairy tales his grandfather had made up.
Unfortunately, Jacob loses his grandfather and in order to better understand him he attempts to get his father to take him to visit the remote island off the coast of Wales to see the places of his grandfather’s childhood. When Jacob goes exploring there he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and finds that all of his grandfather’s tales have been true.
I have seen so many reviews for this book that I finally decided to give it a try myself. For the most part I really enjoyed the story and the creativity with the whole peculiar world Jacob discovers. It did take a while to really get going but once getting into the heart of the story it’s a fun read.
I’m not sure I ever really took to the idea of Emma and Jacob though. Sure, they interact fine in the story and Emma by all accounts seems to be a young girl Jacob’s age but I just kept thinking to myself but she knew his grandfather… that’s just weird. But then again the whole read is a bit weird so I suppose it works.
Overall, I think for this first book I’d give it about 3.5 stars. Interesting story and characters where I enjoyed the idea of the time jumping and Jacob discovering he’s a part of something more.
The Neverland Wars by Audrey Greathouse
The Neverland Wars by Audrey Greathouse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sixteen year old Gwen is pretty much a normal teenager caught in that inbetween of being a child and becoming an adult. She’s worried about what to wear to the upcoming dance, will the boy she likes finally ask her out and all other normal teenage worries. But when Gwen’s younger sister turns up missing after a window is left open Gwen learns of a world of magic that her parents were aware of and had hidden from her.
The night after Gwen’s sister disappeared she returns begging Gwen to come with her and Peter to Neverland to continue to tell her the bedtime stories Gwen had been telling for years. Upon arriving in Neverland Gwen finds there is a war between the adults and the children of Neverland.
It’s usually pretty hard to make me dislike any kind of retelling that revisits one of the tales of my childhood but breathes new life into the story. The Neverland Wars did not disappoint on that in the least. Instead of focusing on Peter and the original story this focuses on a girl named Gwen who is on the verge of adulthood who followed her younger sister.
There are many adventures and action taking place in this read that will remind you of the original but take all on a life of their own. Gwen with her struggle between wanting to grow up and enjoying the childish nature of Neverland was a fun character to go on this journey with. With fairies, crocs, mermaids, Indians along with many other fun things I found this one quite fun to read.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Shark (Forgotten Files, #1) by Mary Burton
The Shark by Mary Burton
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Riley Tatum past is coming back to haunt her, as a teenager she was a runaway and found herself waking up on a bus not having any memory of what had happened to her the week before after being drugged. Other than playing cards in her pocket and a few strange dreams Riley had no clue of what had happened to her during the missing time.
After the incident Riley found a bit of help in her life and finished school and went on to become a state trooper. Now Riley finds herself investigating the murder of another young teenage runaway and the case hits a little too close to home when there are playing cards found with the victim.
The Shark is the second book I’ve read by Mary Burton and have found myself really enjoying her writing style and the cases involved. However with The Shark I didn’t quite like the wrap up to the case quite as much so I’ve decided to give it 3.5 stars. Still a great read I just find myself flying through the pages and completely engaged in finding out all the details in the case.
As usual the characters in this read were likable. Riley was a strong lead that had brought herself out of a horrible life and now fights to help other girls that are now in a tough situation like she herself had faced. There is a tough of a romantic connection between Riley and Clay Bowman which follows the formula of a Mary Burton read, it’s not overpowering and only touched upon while most of the read focuses on the investigation.
As far as the investigation is concerned, again the case involved is one that seems meant to shock the reader, a serial killer that kills based on betting on games of cards. I think that’s one thing I enjoy with the books I’ve read is the situations just seem so twisted to think of existing.
Overall, 3.5 stars for The Shark. Found this one a to have a tad bit less exciting of a wrap up to the case but still a good read overall.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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