Book Blitz and Giveaway: The 13th Brigade by Ky Lehman

The 13th Brigade
Ky Lehman
(Rosefire Trilogy, #2)
Publication date: October 31st 2015
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult

The Light bore her.
The Earth whittled her.
The Air swayed her.
The Water cleansed her.
The Fire renewed her.
And after thirteen lifetimes, her blood still condemns her…
As the final battle between her ancient enemies and her kin rages around her, Ren must decide if it will be her first great love, or the great man who has loved her since the first, who will sacrifice their last life on Earth to bring the truth to light to save a world teetering on the brink of eternal darkness.

This second installment of The Rosefire Trilogy by Ky Lehman: a series created for all young adults at heart, answers many of the questions raised in Book 1, THE 13TH DESCENT, as the individual battles of Ren, Josh, Mike and the Tor all come to a head as they wage their final war against humankind’s greatest threat. Ren also must cross swords with the traitorous Tor Princess, Avira, who is determined to claim Mike as her own, so they can live, and forget, together under the Bloodstones dictatorship of the new world: a darkness Ren and The 13th Brigade will fight until their last breath to save Mike, Josh, and the people of Earth from enduring.
The third and final book in The Rosefire Trilogy, THE 13TH RISING, is in the making, and will be coming…soon…

Goodreads / Amazon

Book trailer:

In celebration of the release of Book 2, THE 13TH BRIGADE coming out on 31 October, Book 1, THE 13TH DESCENT, will be FREE on Amazon Kindle from 26-30 October!

Author Bio:
KY LEHMAN is a novelist, a children's author, a teacher of swimming and water safety and a swim school owner, wife to her high school sweetheart and the proud mother of their three very tall sons. She lives in the Yarra Ranges, Victoria, Australia with her husband and their children where she is currently writing the third book in The Rosefire Trilogy, THE 13TH RISING.

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 GIVEAWAY:

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Promo Post: Somewhere I Belong by Glenna Jenkins

SYNOPSIS

In Somewhere I Belong, we meet young P.J. Kavanaugh at North Boston Station. His father has died, the Depression is on, and his mother is moving them back home. They settle in, and P.J. makes new friends. But the P.E.I. winter is harsh, the farm chores endless, and his teacher a drunken bully. He soon wants to go home; the problem is how.

A letter arrives from Aunt Mayme announcing a Babe Ruth charity baseball game in the old neighbourhood. But Ma won’t let him go. P.J is devastated. The weeks pass, then there is an accident on the farm. P.J. becomes a hero and Ma changes her mind. He travels to Boston, sees his friends, watches Babe Ruth hit a home run, and renews his attachment to the place. But his eagerness to return to the Island makes him wonder where he really belongs.

PURCHASE

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Glenna's Website / Goodreads / LinkedIn

I am a writer, editor and indexer who lives in historic Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. A true Maritimer, I was born and raised in Nova Scotia and my Prince Edward Island roots hail back to 1830. My short stories have been published in Jilted Angels: A Collection of Short Stories (Broad Street Press), and Riptides: New Island Fiction (Acorn Press Canada), the latter which was nominated for best Atlantic book of 2012 and won the 2013 Prince Edward Island Book Award. In addition to placing first in the 2014 Atlantic Writing Competition’s literary non-fiction category, I received a mentorship from the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia to study under award-winning writer, William Kowalski. I am also a graduate of the Humber School for Writers, where I studied novel writing under two-time Governor General Award winner, David Adams Richards. My first novel, Somewhere I Belong, is based on a true story and was released on November 1, 2014 by Acorn Press Canada.

As a published author and fiction writer, I offer developmental writing services, coaching, and copy editing, structural editing to emerging writers of fiction and non-fiction in short-story, novel or book format. As an editor, I revise scholarly works written by academics whose first language is not English and who wish to complete their master’s theses, PhD dissertations, or publish in English-language academic journals. I also completed an indexing course at the University of California at Berkeley and index books on economics, politics, history, and topics of general interest.

Follow the entire Somewhere I Belong TOUR HERE

Brought to you by Worldwind VBT

Review: The Heir (The Selection #4) by Kiera Cass

When this book came out last May, I had to buy it right away.  But then, I didn't get to it until now.  I'm, of course, kind of mad with myself for that.  However as soon as I picked it up, I was sucked back into the world and had trouble putting it down to go to sleep each night.  I'd be like, okay I'll read to this chapter then go to bed. Then I'd find myself noticing I'd gone past that, and say I would stop at the end of the chapter I was in.  I've finished, and am now extremely eager for the next book to come out.  If you haven't read the original series, or finished it yet, I can't promise that there might not be some spoilers, so you might want to stop reading now.

This story takes place with Maxon and America's daughter, Eadlyn.  Because she was the first born, she will be the first female that will rule the country, probably ever.  All of this has partly come about from all of the changes that her parents have made.  Like getting rid of the castes, and trying to make things more equal for everyone.  Only things aren't going quite as smoothly as they could be.  There are people not happy with how things have changed.  And not just the ones who had been in the higher castes.  Eadlyn has known her whole life that she will rule, and has gone to work with her father every day as soon as she could to learn the ropes.  But with all the bad things happening, her parents decide that maybe it would be a bit of a distraction to hold a Selection for Eadlyn.  Something that supposedly they hadn't been going to do anymore.  Eadlyn is not happy about it.  She doesn't feel like she's ready for a husband.  And so at first she fights it, only agreeing to participate for 3 months to help with the distraction.  Eadlyn comes up with all kinds of plans on how to scare the boys away so that she won't have to vote any of them out herself.  When the selection occurs, the boys are picked randomly, much different than how they had been done.  And one of the suitors is a boy that she's grown up with in the palace, named Kile, a boy she's always kind of argued and competed with.  His younger sister is also a thorn in Eadlyn's side.  She has taken her crowns and broken or lost them.  Something she's not supposed to do at all. 

As you can expect, the dates and spending time with all the boys doesn't go perfectly.  Some are good dates, but then Eadlyn doesn't know if she wants them to be. She's never been one to open up to anyone really, and when one of the boys gets close, she leaves him abruptly and he is confused, and unhappy.  There are more things like this.  When she decides to do her first elimination, she ends up doing it in such a way that it doesn't turn out well.  When she goes out in a parade at the beginning of the Selection, the reaction from her people isn't what she expected.  Through all the boys and all the things going on, she learns a lot about herself, and how people see her.  The Selection isn't over in this one book, so we have at least one more to go.  I wish it was two more, but I think maybe there's just one? 

I loved being back with the characters.  I loved the friends who American and Maxon kept around, as family basically in the palace.  I enjoyed the family interactions for the most part.  But, like the suitors, I didn't quite "like" Eadlyn as much as I'd liked America.  She had been spoiled, although she didn't necessarily act as much like a brat as Kile's little sister did.  But she was so set on how she would lead, and feeling like that made her more important in that way, it was harder to like her.  I did feel for Eadlyn though.  Enough that I definitely could understand her feelings and sympathize with her when some of the boys turned out to be not so great guys, either violent, or a little too hands on.  And as I said, I'm ready to read on and see if what she's learned in this first book will help her to actually pick a good guy and make the Selection what it is supposed to be. And the big thing that happened at the end of the book, well I am ready to know how that turns out as well.  I'd call this another great addition to The Selection series.

Cover Characteristic: Eyes

The Cover Characteristic meme is hosted at  Sugar and Snark.   Here are the guidelines:

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great! Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!

There are a lot of books with eyes on the cover!  So I tried to narrow it down to books that it was mostly just the eyes, and not a whole face in the picture.  And again, I have 10 favorites, although a couple of the numbers are series where the whole group has eyes.  Here they are:

10.  This is a classic, had to be included.

 

9.  

 8.

7.

6.

 5.

4.

3.

 2.

 1.  And my favorite is actually a series:

So many books with eyes on the cover!  These are my favorites, what do you think of them? 

Ooh, almost forgot this one!!

 

Review: Willful Machines by Tim Floreen

First, thanks to Simon Pulse and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I really enjoyed it, and feel like it was a very unique type of story, with some themes that I'm beginning to see more and more of in YA.  It was also a good science fiction story, and I really liked what we learned about how the robots worked. 

The main character is Lee.  Lee's father is the President of the United States.  So he's got that to deal with.  And he is going to a prestigious school that his father went to, as well as his grandfather.  His grandfather is the headmaster of the school, and is a military veteran who is well-known for having had to kill his best friend in the enemy's prison and use his synthetic leg to get away and save himself.  This is a future story, maybe not too far ahead.  They have begun working and actually created a sentient computer.  Only that computer, named Charlotte, went a little crazy and killed someone, Lee's mother.  But somehow she escaped, into the World Wide Web possibly. And since that, Lee's father has been trying to get all kinds of laws put in place, defining what is a machine and what is human, but some of his laws are even taking back human rights, like women being discriminated against even. 

Lee is having to deal with all of this, along with being a teenage boy, and being gay.  But he has to keep it a secret, as it would probably cause problems for his father.  He's always under surveillance, at least one member of the Secret Service guarding him every minute.  And then, where we begin the story, a new student has arrived at the school.  His name is Nico, and he seems to be interested in Lee.  He seems to know Lee's secret, and flirts with him.  Lee finds that he really likes Nico, and so takes many chances to be with him.  But there are still dangers.  Charlotte has threatened more terrorism, as bad or worse than her last one that destroyed the Statue of Liberty.  And while Lee has always enjoyed working with robotics, like his mother, his creations have started to turn against him.  So it seems someone, maybe Charlotte, has found a way to take them over and use them against Lee.  And all along Nico also has a secret, one that could also cause Lee even more problems.

I really liked the story. While I kind of figured out Nico's secret pretty quickly, you probably will too, there were other things that were still surprises, and kept me reading to find out what exactly was going on.  I loved all the little gadgets and robots that Lee had created.  I really liked the relationship between Nico and Lee.  It was playful and fun like any relationship between a boy and girl in a book, and I felt that was very realistic and wonderful to be able to read.  I will definitely be ordering this book for my school library, and recommend it at the bookstore where I work.  I look forward to reading more from this author.

Book Blitz and Giveaway: Life After the Undead by Pembroke Sinclair

Book and Author Details:

Life After The Undead by Pembroke Sinclair
Published by: Booktrope Publishing
Publication date: October 27th 2015
Genres: Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult, Zombies

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Krista must quickly figure out how she’s going to survive in the zombie-destroyed world. The one advantage humans have is that the zombies hate humid environments, so they’re migrating west to escape its deteriorating effects. The survivors plan to construct a wall at North Platte to keep the undead out, and Krista has come to Nebraska to start a new life.

Zombies aren’t the only creatures she has to be cautious of—the other survivors have a dark side. Krista must fight not only to live but also to defend everything she holds dear—her country, her freedom, and ultimately, those she loves.

Join Krista in her quest to survive in this thrilling apocalyptic novel by Pembroke Sinclair.


Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26674459-life-after-the-undead

Purchase:
Will be found here come release day: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=life+after+the+undead+pembroke

AUTHOR BIO:

Jessica Robinson is an editor by day and a zombie-killer by night (at least in her books). Since the first time she watched Night of the Living Dead, she has been obsessed with zombies and often thinks of ways to survive the uprising. In addition to her nonfiction book, under the pen name Pembroke Sinclair, she has written YA novels about zombies and the tough teens who survive the apocalyptic world. She has also written nonfiction stories for Serial Killer Magazine and published a book about slasher films called Life Lessons from Slasher Films.


You can learn more about Pembroke Sinclair by visiting her at:
Blog:  http://pembrokesinclair.blogspot.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/jessicarobinsonauthor
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/PembrokeSinclai
Google Plus:  https://plus.google.com/102808614523341154478/posts
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3522214.Pembroke_Sinclair

Excerpt:


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PROLOGUE

I will never understand peoples’ fascination with the apocalypse. Why would you waste so much time and energy worrying about something you can’t change? Besides, most of the time, it never comes to fruition, anyway. Remember Y2K? I don’t. I was too young, but I’ve heard stories. What a hullabaloo that was. People were so afraid of computers failing and throwing society back into the Dark Ages, they stockpiled supplies and moved into the wilderness so they could get away from technology. Why would they move to the wilderness? If technology was going to fail, wouldn’t they be just as safe in a city? I guess they were afraid when it did, everyone would go crazy and start killing each other. Either way, it didn’t happen. I wonder how those people felt afterward.

Then there was the whole 2012 scare. This one was supposedly based on an ancient prediction, so you know it was reliable. Are you kidding? Even the Mayans didn’t believe their own ancestors’ “vision.” What happened was there had been a tablet that had the Mayan calendar carved into it. The end was broken and faded, so no one knew what it said. Our culture, being the pessimistic lot we are, automatically assumed it was an end-of-the-world warning, but, again, nothing happened on December 21, 2012. Christmas came and went, and I think everyone everywhere, even the skeptics, had a little something more to be thankful for. Life went on as usual, and all those doomsayers faded into obscurity.

The day the world did end was pretty nondescript. By that I mean there was no nuclear explosion or asteroid or monumental natural disaster. There weren’t even any horsemen or plagues to announce the end was coming. The world ended fairly quietly. I couldn’t even give you a date because it happened at different times depending on where you were. It was never predicted, and I’m sure a scenario no one even considered. Who really thinks the dead are going to rise from the grave and destroy the majority of the population?  No one but Hollywood, and we all know those are just movies, but that’s exactly what happened. Those of us who survived were left wide-eyed, mouth agape, trying to figure out what to do next.

There were a few who were able to pull their heads out and organize those left behind. They made sure the populace had food, shelter, and protection. They were saviors, the United States’ heroes. Life wouldn’t have gone on without them, and it was pretty difficult those first few years after the zompocalypse.

Sometimes it’s difficult for me to remember what life was like before the rise of the undead. I was a teenager, though I hesitate to say normal. I wasn’t deformed or anything, but my classmates thought I was strange. I had a fascination with the dark, the macabre, although I wasn’t a Goth or Emo. I read books and magazines about serial killers. I didn’t idolize them or want to be like them—hell no—I was fascinated with how evil and black a human’s soul could get.

I wanted to be a psychologist and work with the criminally insane, maybe figure out why they did what they did. Apparently, when you’re fifteen, your friends think you’re weird if you have desires to help someone other than yourself. While they were worried about becoming popular and getting the right boyfriend, I tried to figure out how to make society better.

Of course, those dreams will never come true. Society doesn’t exist. Everything I once held dear is gone. I lost my parents to the horde, like a lot of kids. Unlike some of the others, mine weren’t taken by surprise or in some freak accident. They were taken because of their own stupidity. Some days I miss them a lot, but others I believe they got what they deserved. I might sound callous and uncaring, but what about them? Why would they abandon their fifteen-year-old daughter? It used to keep me up at night, trying to find the answer to that question, but I’ve given up asking it. No reason wasting time on things that could’ve or should’ve been.

As I stare out the passenger side window of the semi, I’m reminded how bleak the future has become. The truck rolls down a once heavily traveled highway that has been reduced to a cracked trail. Gas stations and towns dotting the landscape have been abandoned and are crumpling into the weeds that are taking them over. There are a few areas that still resemble pre-zombie destruction, and these are the military outposts set up along the road, used for protection and refueling. I use the term “military” loosely because there is no formal military anymore. It’s a rag-tag group of men and women who were lucky enough to get guns. I chuckle to myself. It’s been two years since I was last out in the world, and a lot has changed since then. I still remember the day the zombies attacked. It’s as clear as if it’d happened yesterday.  

Giveaway:
Blitz-wide giveaway (US only) - ends November 5th

•  Paperback copy of Life After The Undead 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Post #40 and Stacking the Shelves October 25th, 2015

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted  @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Last week on the blog:

• Promo Posts:  Roses are Red by J.B. Kantt, Hawk by Marie Powell 
• Review:  Black Widow:  Forever Red by Margaret Stohl
• Audio Book Review:  Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
• Waiting on Wednesday:  Unforgiven (Fallen #5) by Lauren Kate
• Cover Characteristic:  Telephones
• Featured Review on Reading with ABC:  The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow

Got three reviews this week, even though one was on another blog.  Made my goal of one post a week as well.  Had my birthday this past week.  No book gifts, although I did get Pitch Perfect 2 DVD finally, and a gift card to the movies as well.  I had a writing date with my friend on Friday to get ready for NaNoWriMo.  I've got a few books started this week. One that I don't know if I'll finish.  It is really so much of just this background information about a tv show, one I do love, but it almost seems like that is at least 50% or more of the writing so far.  Will be thinking about emailing the publisher that I won it from and letting them know I'm not going to finish it.  I also got the new iPhone 6S this week! Getting used to it and getting it all set up with what I need. 

This week on the blog:

• Promo Post:  Life After the Undead by Pembroke Sinclair
• Review:  Willful Machines by Tim Floreen
• Cover Characteristic:  Eyes
• Promo Post:  Somewhere I Belong by Glenna Jenkins
• Promo Post:  The 13th Brigade by Ky Lehman
• Possible Reviews:  The Heir by Kiera Cass, Persuasion by Martina Boone, Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins

I should be less busy this week.  Hoping that means I can get more reading done. But that sounds like something I think almost every week.  I have been making sure to read more before bed, although I'm trying not to use my Nook, because they say that can make it harder to sleep if you look at those screens right before bed.  I have a Halloween party next Saturday night that I'm looking forward to. Then next Sunday NaNoWriMo starts!  I am not feeling as confident as last year, because I pretty much knew where my story was going. This year, I don't quite know how it's going to end. But I'm told I have to just start writing and see where it goes.  Also, my October New Release Giveaway Hop ends on Saturday, so make sure you go enter HERE.

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.  I didn't buy any actual physical books this week. But I did get several free e-books, and several cool e-galleys.

E-galleys:

 The first two I had to request, and I got approved.  I'd just set up Wax as a future WOW as well!  The other three I'm automatically approved for, so I will see if I actually download them.  

Free e-books:

   The first one was  Nook book, the others were all free on Amazon.  

So that's what I added to my shelves this weekend.  What did you add to your shelves? 
 

Cover Characteristic: Telephones

The Cover Characteristic meme is hosted at  Sugar and Snark.   Here are the guidelines:

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great! Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!

This was another week when I didn't find as many as I thought I would.  But I did come up with 5, although #5 isn't necessarily a phone.  

5.

I figure it can count because I'm sure it was hooked up to a phone.  Although some younger people out there may not recognize this as an answering machine.

4.

Another old fashioned phone, even older than the answering machine from #5!  And I just love pulling out all these old books!

3.

2.

1.  And I guess my favorite, more for what it says on the phone than because of the actual phone.

I have to have this page a day calendar every year.  And I can't read too far into this book or into any pages with these because I will get to laughing so hard that I lose my breath, start coughing, and have tears running down my face.

Those are my covers, can you think of any others?