Book Blitz: Drawn by Chris Ledbetter @Chris_Ledbetter @evernightteen @NereydaG1003 #YABOUNDBOOKTOURS #Giveaway

Drawn

by Chris Ledbetter 

Release Date: 06/08/15

Evernight Teen

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Jays Book Covers By Design

Summary from Goodreads:

Caught between the sweltering fall landscape of Wilmington, NC beaches and southern illusions and expectations, all sixteen year-old Cameron Shade thinks about is art. That, and for Farrah Spangled to view him as more than just a friend. Cameron longs to win her heart through art.

After several warm interactions with Farrah, including painting together at the beach, Cameron discovers just how complex Farrah's life is with her boyfriend and her family. Following a tense run-in with Farrah's father, she forbids Cameron to ever speak to her again, but Cameron's convinced there's more behind the request.

To impress Farrah with a last-ditch effort, Cameron sketches her portrait. But the sketchbook he uses hides a dark secret. Farrah's now in grave danger because the sketch he drew of her siphons her real-life's soul into the sketchbook. Cameron now has twenty days to extract Farrah. To save her, he must draw himself into the book.

If he fails… they both die.

Buy Links:
Amazon ~ Evernight Teen

About the Author
Chris Ledbetter grew up in Durham, NC before moving to Charlottesville, VA in 11th grade. After high school, he attended Hampton University where he promptly "walked-on" to the best drum line in the CIAA. And, without any prior percussion experience. He carried the bass drum for four years, something his back is not very happy about now.

After a change of heart and major, he enrolled in Old Dominion University and earned his degree in Business Administration. He's worked in various managerial and marketing capacities throughout his life. While teaching high school for six years in Culpeper, VA, he taught business management, business law, marketing, and sports marketing, and also coached football.

He has walked the streets of Los Angeles and New York City, waded in the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and climbed Diamond Head crater on Hawaii and rang in the New Year in Tokyo, Japan. But he dreams of one day visiting Greece and Italy.

He's a proud member of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) and a strong supporter of the Need for Diverse Books. As a self-described, young reluctant reader, he writes young adult stories specifically to reach other reluctant readers. As a participant in the prestigious Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program, he was blessed to be mentored by Suzanne Morgan Williams, 2012 SCBWI member of the year.

He now lives in Wilmington, NC with his family, including three cats.

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Cover Reveal: Born Savages by Cora Brent @StarAnge13

Born Savages

by Cora Brent

Publication Date: August 2015

Cover Designer: Mayhem Cover Creations

Synopsis

Passion. Scandal. And an infamously tragic celebrity family...

REN

Once the Savages were national darlings, undisputed Hollywood royalty.
But that was a long time ago.
Now we are penniless, scattered and ruined, nothing but a cautionary tale and tabloid fodder.
We've been offered a chance, an opportunity to redeem ourselves. All we have to do is open the door and let the cameras in.
This show embodies everything that I've ever tried to escape from. It will lay us bare. Yet I can't say no to family.
And there's another complication.
Oscar Savage.
He's not my blood. He's more. He is forever intertwined with my soul.
No one knows why he disappeared years ago.
But I do.
And I know why he's back.

OZ

I was never a Savage, not really.
I could never even understand them. A pack of lost puppies, aimlessly searching for something that's been f***ing lost for decades.
The show, a reality television debacle, is an act of desperation. They'll be exposed to the scorn of the world. Why don't they understand that?
I would never have returned for this.
No, I came back for her.
And to hell with the cynics this time.
She needs to hear the truth.
She needs to know that she's always been mine.

Meet Cora Brent

Cora Brent was born in a cold climate and escaped as soon as it was legally possible. Now, she lives in the desert with her husband, two kids and a prickly pear cactus she has affectionately named 'Spot'. Cora's closet is filled with boxes of unfinished stories that date back her 1980's childhood and all her life she has dreamed of being an author.  Amazingly, she is now a bestselling author of contemporary romance and begs not to be awakened from this dream.

Stalk Cora

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Virtual Tour: Trust in the Unseen by Seth Mullins @SethMullins1 @GoddessFish #Giveaway

Trust in the Unseen
by Seth Mullins

BLURB:

Following the rigors of their self-made tour of the West, the members of the groundbreaking and volatile band Edge of the Known - "hands down, craziest band on Earth" - have an unprecedented chance to finally expose their music to the world. Unfortunately, singer/guitarist Brandon Chane, founder member and erratic genius of the group, is weathering a spiraling trip through an abyss of heartbreak and despair.

His personal pain threatens to derail his band's progress even as it fuels some of its most incendiary songs. To further complicate matters, his mentor, Saul Mason, is weathering his personal crisis and no longer seems to be the all-knowing spiritual savant that Brandon first perceived him to be.

The road ahead looks bleak; and once more, he turns to the one thing that has sustained him throughout the course of his wounded, conflicted and inspired life: His Muse.

"We'd all thrown our fates to the wind, trusting in the unknown - in the Unseen, as our EP so proudly proclaimed - and that leap had thus far landed us in a place where we couldn't even grope our way forward in the dark anymore."

Discovering his voice was only the first step of the journey. Now he must somehow learn to trust the depths from which it comes, and the unknown horizons that it may sweep him away to, even as every part of his personal world seems to be falling apart.

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EXCERPT:

I gazed down at the street below and felt the whole spinning and sickening free-fall that could bring me to kiss that pavement. A couple walked by, hand in hand, oblivious to the clamor of Armageddon. I gave up in that moment. I couldn’t stop her. The gods had granted Janie complete executive power over my damned soul.

Her heart was turning away, shining its light elsewhere? I was never going to touch her again? Suddenly the fall from the balcony seemed the much kinder terror.

“You need someone who can really meet you in those places. And I…”

“Don’t!” I managed. “Don’t act like you’re doing this for my sake. I can decide what’s good for me!”

“Fair enough.” Her voice was wispy, insubstantial: An echo of the distance that had already claimed us. “I need to feel like I can keep up.

“It’s like… you’re living in this world that’s being totally reinvented every day. And I’m sort of stumbling along trying to figure out what the rules are.”

“There aren’t any rules!” I protested. “Just be with me, and…”

“I can’t.”

Janie bit her lip. One fat tear slid down her cheek. I doubt that she’d wanted to say it so bluntly. But what gentle way is there?

Folding chairs, and a wooden rail rife with splinters; cigarette smoke lingering in the still spring air. Nothing there to cling to, to spare me from the plunge.

This can’t be happening!

I’d once told her that if it ever came to this I would understand. I’d been a goddamn liar. The death of something so beautiful and divinely inevitable could never be understood; it was incomprehensible.

Janie reached over and squeezed my arm. “Hey. I do treasure what we’ve shared.”

“Then don’t turn your back on it and let it die!” I growled. I could feel my face curling into a snarl. I couldn’t stop it. Janie withdrew. Having lost the focal point of my anger, I reverted to teetering on the edge of the precipice.

“I really tried, Brandon,” she said.

It was that voice both forlorn and resolute, and every man hears his end in it. 

AUTHOR BIO:

Seth Mullins first conceived of his dream to write novels in his early teens, and this one desire has stayed with him throughout all the other myriad twists and turns of life. His inspirations include methods of inner exploration such as dream-work and shamanism and his experiences as a songwriter and performing musician. He studied creative writing at Santa Fe Community College in New Mexico and Lane Community College in Oregon.

Seth has lived in Connecticut, New Mexico, Oregon and (currently) Vermont.

Website ~ Facebook ~Twitter ~ Goodreads

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Virtual Tour: Forbidden Things: Book One - Dissident by Nikki McCormack @Author_NikkiMc @GoddessFish #Giveaway

Forbidden Things: Book One - Dissident

by Nikki McCormack

BLURB:

Ascard power can strengthen, heal and create. It also has great potential to destroy, enough to topple entire governments. Indigo’s country places strict limitations on the use of ascard so she must channel her talents into the healing arts or risk severe punishment. An orphan from a disgraced family, trapped by her father’s treason, Indigo struggles to reclaim her place in a society that has driven her into an abusive engagement.

Then a mysterious stranger from a neighboring country contacts her using ascard. He needs help escaping his prison so he can bring an end to his emperor's oppressive rule or die trying. His unshakable devotion to his cause and the passion hidden behind his cool arrogance move her to help him at the risk of being branded a traitor herself.

When the politics of society bring them together a second time, Indigo decides to use her growing powers to help him fight his war. If only she dared fight for her own future with such passion. Perhaps she can find the courage to do so by helping the man she has fallen for win his revolution. She might have exactly the power he needs to succeed.

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EXCERPT:

Her attention wandered to the fountain sprouting up in the center of a nearby courtyard, simple and elegant like a great stonework lily. A man stood by the fountain, watching water droplets falling with the shimmer of multicolored gems in the bright sunlight. Long silver hair hung to the middle of his back like a frozen waterfall. His smooth pale skin and unusual hair marked him as Lyran, but his regal bearing and rich attire didn’t befit a slave or merchant.

Curious. “Have you seen him before?”

Andrea turned, following her gaze. “Who?”

“The man beside the fountain.”

“There’s no one by the fountain.”

Andrea’s reply tugged at her awareness, but the silver-haired Lyran was turning toward them now. His pale eyes met hers and the air pressed from her lungs as if a corset were being pulled too tight. The buildings lurched and spun in her vision.

“Indigo?”

She sank to her knees. Andrea crouched down with her, her eyes wide and frightened. She held Indigo’s shoulders tight, her lips moving. Indigo heard only the pounding of blood in her ears.

GUEST POST:

Research in Fantasy Writing

When asked about writing fantasy, I’ve had people comment that it must be hard because you have to make up so much. I’ve also had people say that it must be easier because you get to make everything up. I think there is a false perception that fantasy is all flights of imagination and no research. I’m here to say that this isn’t true.

No matter what genre you write in, there are some common elements that always need research unless you know the subject well. For example, if someone breaks a bone, whether you’re writing a thriller, a historical romance, or an epic fantasy, you still need to understand how such an injury will affect your character in the moment and going forward in the story. Not only that, but you need to understand how treatments might vary depending on the technology and culture of the society your writing about. In the case of a thriller or historical romance, this is a matter of researching the appropriate time period and location. In the case of fantasy, unless you have magical means of dealing with the injury, you can research cultures that are, or were, similar to the one you have created for your story to get an idea of how they might handle such an injury. Using the real world as a starting point can give your story a feeling of authenticity.

In the Forbidden things series, I looked to historical conflicts, including two different falls of Constantinople and numerous other battles throughout history, to gather ideas for strategy, location and other such details to give my battle scenes a more realistic feel. I also spent hours researching poisons and torture to gather ideas and information for a few other scenes in the book. Like any good author, I’m probably on several government watch lists by now.

No matter what the genre, the research you do can help you provide grounding in the real word and make the book more relatable for readers. If you’re lucky, you might also stumble on occasional amazing historical tidbits that give you ideas to make your story even better. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction after all.

AUTHOR BIO:

Nikki started writing her first novel at the age of 12 (which is still tucked away in a briefcase in her office). Despite a successful short story publication with Cricket Magazine in 2007, she treated her writing addiction as a hobby until a drop in the economy left her with an abundance of free time to focus on making it her career.

Nikki lives in the magnificent Pacific Northwest tending to her awesome husband, two sweet horses, three manipulative cats, and a crazy dog. She’s a wine and tea fanatic who loves sitting on the ocean in her kayak surrounded by open water or hanging from a rope in a cave, embraced by darkness and the sound of dripping water. She also enjoys horseback riding, archery, PC gaming, dancing, good anime, etc. She studies Japanese and practices Iaido because she believes we should never stop learning.

Twitter ~ Facebook Page ~ Goodreads Author Page ~ Blog ~

Amazon Author Page ~ Barnes and Noble Author Page ~ Elysium Palace

Giveaway:

$50 Amazon/BN GC

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Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better

your chances of winning.