Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Review of "Falling" By Jolene Perry

Kindle edition
Print

Synopsis (Taken from Amazon)

Dana is definitely not the kind of girl to be living in the dump of a wilderness lodge she finds herself waitressing in. But when Craig, the sexy cop who’s handling the murder case where she’s a witness, suggests it—it seems like a good idea. Now she’s got no BMW, no shopping and an assortment of hairy Alaskan men who definitely belong in a run-down old lodge. Her exciting visits from Craig are getting less exciting, and the lodge owner, Jason, is quickly moving from grouchy and judgmental, to funny, smart and unexpectedly complex. Jason knows exactly the type of girl Dana is—beautiful, spoiled, and high maintenance. She’s everything that hurt him in the past, and why he now lives as far away from city life as he can manage. If he wasn’t so hard-up for help, he would have never said yes to his friend, Craig. Despite his reservations, Dana becomes the perfect antidote to everything in his life—both his disaster of a divorce and precocious little sister who shows up on his doorstep. Jason realizes he’s falling for Dana too late to stop it, or even slow it down. As the trial approaches, Dana knows it’s time to move on with her life—but is her life back in the city she left or with a guy she never meant to fall for?

My Review

Jolene Perry writes so vividly that Falling plays out like a film, and a romantic comedy, at that. The beauty of Alaska and the inn where the story unfolds is the perfect, chilly setting for a cozy and classic love story to play out.

Dana and Jason are imperfect but over-all good people, trying to do the right thing, once they figure out what that is. The story alternates chapters from both their perspectives. Their flaws make them more relatable than characters you find in most fiction of a romantic nature. And this is technically New Adult, as opposed to young adult. So that -ahem- some steamy scenes take place. The intimate moments, and sexual tension in Falling are certainly nothing to dismiss, but the subtle humor woven throughout the plot is the cherry on top! Jason's friend, Boz, offers comic relief and fun interactions with Dana. (He's so Seth Rogen in my mind!) 

The down-to-earth love story and breath-taking, wintery setting make Falling a cool a pleasant read. If this novel was a food. It'd be mint-chocolate chip ice cream: Sweet and refreshing!

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Blurb:

Gabriella is a witch. The problem is, she doesn't remember. She repressed the memories of her powers years ago when her mother was murdered. Now, the warlock who was responsible for her mother's death has set his sights on Gabriella. He is determined to use her fear to turn her to the dark side of magick…even if it kills her. Her mother's spirit is reaching out to warn her, but even that she pushes away. Desperate to save her daughter, the spirit finds a male witch–one that just happens to be in love with Gabriella. Darron is more than willing to help but the two young witches will have way more to battle than just an evil warlock. There are overbearing jocks and petty rich girls who get tempers flaring and often set Gabriella and Darron at odds.

There is more to the story than Gabriella and Darron could even imagine. There are terrible secrets to be revealed, battles to be waged, and lives will be lost. Only after Gabriella and Darron both come to terms with who they really are, and open themselves up to the true meaning of magick, can they have any hope of fulfilling their destiny.


Excerpt:

Her eyes scanned the room, from the pale blue sofa to the bloody dent in the wall. But she didn't need her eyes to know Darron was there. Her heart sensed his presence before her eyes saw him lying in a heap on the ground. His body shuddered with occasional spasms, and even though he wasn't fully conscious, his lips were twisted in a grimace of pain.

Uttering a gasp of surprise, Gabriella flew to his side. She knelt beside him, and choked back a sob as she took his hand in her own. She saw his chest rise and fall and was glad to know was alive, but she felt helpless as she watched his face contort in pain. She noticed something wet and sticky on her fingertips. She gently titled his head and saw a large gash that looked like it needed medical attention. The skin around the gash was so deeply bruised it looked almost black.

"Darron, what happened to you?"

He didn't move or reply. Gabriella moved her hand from the cut on his forehead, and her fingers dripped with blood. She bit her lower lip with fear. She knew enough about head injuries to know that the wound could be serious. She grabbed a few tissues from a box on the coffee table, and tried to apply pressure to the wound, but it was useless. The tissues were soaked through in seconds.

"Darron?" She squeezed his hand, and fought back tears of fear and frustration. "Darron, please open your eyes. Please be all right!"

He squirmed and groaned a little in response. Looking at his contorted features, Gabriella felt incompetent and useless. She didn't know what to do to help him. The cut must need stitches. The blood was gushing through her fingertips, and she was sure his life was slipping away just as quickly.

More than anything, Gabriella wanted to help Darron, to end his suffering. Her thoughts, her desperation, caused something deep inside of her to stir. Something that had long been napping was awoken. The power she had fought so hard to deny was forcing its way to the surface. This time she didn't struggle against that power. Her instinct to hide from it was finally overcome by the thought of losing someone else she cared about.

Gabriella was pulling strength and warmth from the earth, as though her legs were tree roots taking nourishment from the element. A tingling sensation began in the tips of her toes and spread slowly though her body as she breathed in the essence of the element of air. Her blood flowed and grew warm, the element of water, bringing the power to the surface. She was overcome by a vigorous strength as she envisioned her spirit encircled by the element of fire. She felt so powerful that she thought she could stop the world from churning if that was what she wished. Gabriella focused the power, remembering for a moment her mother's lessons. She looked down at her battered friend. She willed him to open his eyes and look at her. She demanded it of him.

Gabriella would have thought it was impossible, but she felt herself grow warmer. Her face dripped with perspiration. The power within her reached a climax. Then finally, when she thought she might burst, she felt the energy release. It seeped through her fingers, and shined with an illumination that only she could see. She heard herself chanting unfamiliar words, and scarcely recognized her own voice.

"By the power of earth, water, fire and air,
Heal this man who's in my care.
Goddess, hear your daughter's plea.
As I will it, so mote it be!"

Gabriella repeated the words three times. Three was the number of power. Then she watched as the wound on Darron's forehead healed before her eyes, becoming smaller and smaller, until finally it was gone. The blood was still warm and sticky, but beneath the blood, the skin was smooth and unmarred. Even the horrible bruise had vanished. Gabriella stared in open astonishment, marveling at the work she had done.



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Author Bio:


Laura “Luna” DeLuca lives at the beautiful Jersey shore with her husband and four children. She loves writing in the young adult genre because it keeps her young at heart. In addition to writing fiction, Laura is also the sole author of a popular review blog called New Age Mama. She is an active member of her local pagan community, and has been studying Wicca for close to eight years. Her current works include Destiny, Destiny Unveiled, Phantom, Morrigan and Player.

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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Excerpt From Temptation




It's Karen Ann Hopkins week on my blog, and things are just getting warmed up. Today, I have a beautifully written excerpt from Tempation!


We reached the dark fairy woods as a gust of wind rustled the leaves of the trees, blowing the scents of the forest over the cornfield.  I deeply inhaled the sharp pine smell that was mingled with the aroma of decaying leaves.  Although an invisible force seemed to be pulling me to the path into the trees, I fought the impulse, and began to rein Lady around at the place we had turned the last time.
Unexpectedly, Noah shook his head, and holding my hand firmly, he tugged me along with him and Rumor as they sped up to a trot, entering the quiet shade of the trees. Excitement bubbled up in me as a blast of cooler air from under the trees tickled my skin.  I was immediately glad for my hoodie.
After a few minutes of hard trotting had forced me to start posting, Noah finally pulled up on his reins when we entered the sunshine of a small clearing in the middle of the forest.  Several huge old trees were randomly littering the ground like a child’s giant Lincoln log set creating an oasis of late afternoon light from the dark shade of the imposing trees that surrounded the clearing. With our sudden arrival, several squirrels bounded up the fallen trees, and rabbits scampered off in the undergrowth rattled by our appearance.  The feeling that this was a magical forest entered my mind again, and a peaceful kind of happiness filled me that I was here in this special place.  And especially that Noah was with me.
In a fluid action, Noah jumped off Rumor.  While I watched him, he amazingly took off the horse’s bridle, hanging it loosely on a broken branch of one of the felled trees.
“Are you going to just turn him loose like that?” I asked with concerned awe.
“Don’t worry, Rose.  He won’t go anywhere.”  Half smiling to himself, with his lips slightly twitching, he took my reins and motioned me to dismount.
 Which I did, but on the way down I informed him, “You aren’t turning Lady loose like that.  I wouldn’t trust her not to spook at something and bolt off into the trees. Then I’d never see her again.”
Laughing he pulled a halter and lead rope out of his saddle bag, and holding them up in front of me, said, “I figured you’d say that.  I came prepared.”
I let him take Lady, exchange the bridle for the halter and tie her to a tree, near where Rumor was standing.  While he was doing that, I found a smooth section of one of the logs and sat down, watching Noah take care of my horse.
Normally, I would have done that myself, but for some strange reason I let him do it.  Like I knew he wanted to take care of me—and a part of me wanted him to. That was mildly unnerving, I thought, admiring his tall, muscled body as he ambled over to me. Most guys his age weren’t built like that.  He was even bigger than Sam, and I envisioned him making a great football player.  It must be all the farm work and building houses he did, I guessed.  He hopped onto the log beside me, sitting very close, but not quite touching.  Glancing over at him, I wondered why he was just staring ahead into the trees with a pensive look on his sun-tanned face.  Impatience and frustration rolled together inside me as I watched him ignore me.  What was he waiting for?
As if he could read my thoughts, a grin appeared on his mouth, and breathing deeply he turned to face me.  I waited expectantly for him to do or say something.  I, myself, was way too chicken to move a muscle.
He licked his lips and said in a deep, smooth voice, “So you’ve never been kissed, and I’ve never kissed anyone.”
Relief washed over me at his words—we’d both be each other’s firsts.  But even though I was bubbling with happiness inside that he wouldn’t have a bunch of other girls to compare me too, I still could hardly breathe.  My heart was pounding my chest in mad fury.  When he leaned in closer, I swallowed hard, not knowing if I should keep my eyes open or close them.  I was suddenly scared to death.  I knew he knew it, when he softly went, “Shhhhhh,” to me.  Slowly he brought his face to mine, but instead of going for my mouth, he touched his moist lips to my neck, just below my jaw line.  The feeling sent a tickling that jolted every part of my body to attention, especially deep down in the pit of my belly. 
 
Doesn't Temptation sound delicious! I have a feeling you'll be needing buy links now!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Miss Fortune Cookie Review

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Find Miss Fortune Cookie

Book Description

November 13, 2012
  • Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (November 13, 2012)
Meet Erin. Smart student, great daughter, better friend. Secretly the mastermind behind the popular advice blog Miss Fortune Cookie. Totally unaware that her carefully constructed life is about to get crazy.
It all begins when her ex-best friend sends a letter to her blog—and then acts on her advice. Erin’s efforts to undo the mess will plunge her into adventure, minor felonies, and possibly her very first romance.
What’s a likely fortune for someone no longer completely in control of her fate? Hopefully nothing like: You will become a crispy noodle in the salad of life.


Synopsis:

Erin is a happy-go-lucky senior at Lowell, a high school for the gifted. Other than the mild stress of applying for colleges, her life is drama-free, so she delights in anonymously solving the more complicated problems of her classmates through her advice blog, Miss Fortune Cookie. As Miss Fortune Cookie, she offers her best friend some wisdom that might be a huge mistake. Erin goes on a zany adventure through China Town and Oakland, California, trying to undo the mess she's made.

My Review:

What a breath of fresh air Erin is! She's not the usual brooding, complicated protagonist we get in so many young adult contemporary novels. She seems to genuinely love her school, her friends, her mom. Life in general! Her friends aren't quite as bubbly and content. They are more caught up in typical teen issues of romance and identity so it seems natural that Erin should give her conflicted friends a little push in the right direction. When Erin feels her Miss Fortune Cookie advice might have caused her friend, Mei, to run away with a boy, she sets off on a whirlwind jaunt around The San Fran area with a cute college guy as her sidekick. This is when we really get to see Erin shine in all her quirky glory as she rescues a woman by acting as a get-away driver while getting an impromptu driving lesson from her passenger, befriends an overtly honest little boy who follows her around like a lost kitten, nervously shares a hotel room with her crush and inadvertently hooks her mom up with a homeless man named Cigarette Willie.

Erin also has to face down a hard choice about her future. Should she go to a more local college to be near her mom and the best friend she's relied on through high school? Or should she step out of her comfort zone and leave her beloved Chinatown? This novel very subtly deals with the issue young people are facing: Growing up! There comes a moment when we have to choose between keeping the good times, the status quo, going for as long as we can or leaving the nest. Ms. Bjorkman is able to present this idea slowly as it's weaved through all the head-spinning humor.

Miss Fortune Cookie is pure sweetness. It's fast-paced, dizzying and joyful, like youth itself. If you're sick of books with agonizing conflicts, characters who take themselves far too seriously and unbelievable protagonists, then Miss Fortune Cookie is your antidote. This book does what so many fail to do: Celebrate life!

Visit Amazon's Lauren Bjorkman Page


Biography
I grew up on a sailboat, sharing the tiny forecastle with my sister and the sail bags. Against all odds, we are still friends. We started sailing in California and ended in Argentina. My favorite stops along the way were Costa Rica, Panama, Isla Providencia, Key West, the Azores, the Canary Islands, and Brazil.
During our voyages, my sister drew beautiful paper dolls for the both of us. We sewed amazing wardrobes for our stuffed animals. We became excellent swimmers and beach combers. We made up new lyrics for old songs. Canned food dominated our meals on crossings, so we really appreciated fresh fruit when we came into port. I dreamed of ice cream on the open ocean. We kept up with school through a program called Calvert out of Maryland. My dad read to us at night by the light of a kerosene lamp. Since then, I've always loved stories and wanted to write my own. I live in Taos, New Mexico with my husband, and two sons. We often see coyotes outside our window.
For more, please visit my website at http://www.laurenbjorkman.com

Friday, December 7, 2012

A Day in the Life of an Amish Teen

Today, YA Reviews and News is honored to feature a guest post by the acclaimed author of Temptation and the soon to be released sequel, Belonging, Karen Anne Hopkins.



A day in the life of an Amish teen:  Hard work and responsibility are parts of every Amish teen’s life.  Whether girl or boy, they’re expected to contribute to the household’s income and livelihood.  After graduating in the eighth grade, Amish teens are finished with schooling and thrust into the workforce, either leaving the home for a forty hour work week or putting that much time into in a family business.    Jobs include carpentry, metal work, farming, and welding for the boys and butchery, bakery, woodworking, retail, teaching, child care, and housecleaning for the girls.  Usually, 90% of a teen’s income is given to the family as an intricate part of the family’s financial survival.  Part of the ten percent that the teens retain is saved towards the teen’s future married life, while the rest is for their own enjoyment.
Even though Amish teens work hard, they also play hard.  Oftentimes, they will take short trips with their church groups, visit relatives and friends, and participate in activities such as hunting, horseback riding and skiing.  A usual day for an Amish teen begins at five o’clock in the morning, followed by prayer, breakfast and morning chores.  After working an eight hour work day, the youth will arrive home to afternoon chores before dinner with the family.  The evenings are playtime for the young people.  They can be found at the church’s youth group gatherings, such as singings and ball games or they may be seen riding their horses or bikes on the roadways.   Five things I’ve learned from the Amish: Just a few random facts.


             1.) They are not taught geography or science in school.
2.) Their families deal with many of the same problems as everyone else, such
as marital, financial and child rearing. 
3.) If an Amish couple does divorce, which is highly unlikely, they are not
allowed to remarry. 
4.) Amish families often move around, relocating to another region or state
due to problems within their community. 
 5.) The Amish pay federal and state tax, but not social security tax.

Love stories that inspired Temptation:Romeo and Juliet, and Twilight are two stories that I can name that gave inspiration to Rose and Noah’s story.  There are similarities in all three romances from the forbidden nature of the affairs to the struggle for the couples to be together.   In TEMPTATION, however, the external forces are only part of the difficulties facing the young lovers.  The aspect of whether Rose and Noah are willing to give up their own world is the driving conflict of the story.

Karen Ann Hopkins is the author of Temptation and Belonging, published by Harlequin Teen.
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Temptation on Harlequin
Barnes and Nobles Link
Amazon Link for Temptation
Goodreads Link
Goodreads Link for Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Author Spotlight : Karen Ann Hopkins

                                                                                           


Karen Ann Hopkins resides in northern Kentucky with her five children on their farm, which boasts a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats. Karen’s main job is home schooling the kids, but she finds time to give riding lessons, coach a youth drill team, and of course, write books. She was inspired to write her first book, TEMPTATION, from the Amish community she lives in. The experiential knowledge she gained through her interactions with her neighbors drove her to create the story of the star-crossed lovers, Rose and Noah.

Karen grew up about a mile from Lake Ontario in Upstate New York. She was bitten by the horse bug at the age of five, and after diligently taking riding lessons for several years, was rewarded by her parents with her first horse at the age of eleven. The feisty horse’s name was Lady, a Quarter Horse-Thoroughbred cross, who became Karen’s steadfast companion. Through the years the constant force in her life were horses, from pleasure riding and showing, to eventually finding her place as a riding instructor herself. Before accepting her fate in the barnyard, she worked a short stint as a paralegal, traveled to Europe and Australia and guided tourists on horseback riding tours in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

Karen is currently working on, BELONGING, the sequel to TEMPTATION, along with other writing endeavors. (Taken from Facebook page)









Your heart misleads you.
That's what my friends and family say. 


But I love Noah. 
And he loves me. 


We met and fell in love in the sleepy farming community of Meadowview, while we rode our horses together through the grassy fields and in those moments in each other's arms. 


It should be 


ROSE & NOAH 


forever, easy. 


But it won't be. 


Because he's Amish. 
And I'm not.




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Temptation on Harlequin
Barnes and Nobles Link
Amazon Link for Temptation
Goodreads Link
Goodreads Link for Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins

Monday, December 3, 2012

Gift Basket Giveaway


As part of my fabulous tour with FMB, (Thank you, Holly, darling!) I'm doing a giving away a basket of winter goodies (chock full of wintery delights) and a print copy of the weirdest book you ever loved (from moi, naturally) to one lucky winner. Three runners up get hard copies of The Homeschoolers and little favor bags of yumminess. Be sure to enter the giveaway at one of the fantastic blogs, and check at all my stops for some good, old-fashioned Henry Circle craziness.


Tour Schedule:

December. 3rd-  The Insane Writings of a crazed Writer  (Character Guest Post)
December. 4th-  Juniper Grove  (Author Interview) 
December. 5th-  Musings of a Writing Reader  (Guest Post)
December. 6th-  Off the Page  (Book Soundtrack Post)
December. 7th-  Sweet n 'Sassi  (Review)
December. 8th-  Identity Discovery  (Excerpt)
December. 9th-  The Avid Reader  (Character Interview / Excerpt)
December. 10th-  A Bibliophiles Thoughts on Books  (Review)
December. 11th-  The News in Book  (Excerpt)
December. 12th-  A Book Lover's Library  (Review)