Bad Luck Girl

Fans of Libba Bray's The Diviners will love the blend of fantasy and jazz-hot Chicago in this stylish series.

After rescuing her parents from the Seelie king at Hearst Castle, Callie is caught up in the war between the fairies of the Midnight Throne and the Sunlit Kingdoms. By accident, she discovers that fairies aren't the only magical creatures in the world. There's also Halfers, misfits that are half fairy and half other--laced with strange magic and big-city attitude. As the war heats up, Callie's world falls apart. And even though she's the child of prophecy, she doubts she can save the Halfers, her people, her family, and Jack, let alone herself. The fairies all say Callie is the Bad Luck Girl, and she's starting to believe them.

A strong example of diversity in YA, the American Fairy Trilogy introduces Callie LeRoux, a half-black teen who stars in this evocative story full of American history and fairy tales.

Supports the Common Core State Standards.

Praise for Bad Luck Girl: 

"All the powers that be want to use Callie's magic to win the war for their side, and nobody cares what happens to Callie, Jack or the Halfers, raising the stakes to frighteningly high levels. Callie and Zettel bring this stellar trilogy to a satisfyingly sentimental conclusion." --Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"[Zettel's] strong characterizations, historical detail, and carefully constructed fantastic elements create a high-energy literary fusion that fans will devour." --SLJ

Goodreads

Love, God & Tattoos Bundle

Love, God & Tattoos Bundle

by Aleshia Robinson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Love, God & Tattoos is a series of young adult novels written by American author Aleshia Robinson. The story chronicles the spiritual journey of 21 year old Alcatraz, a troubled tattoo artist, and her struggle to have a positive relationship with God and herself.

ALCATRAZ THE LOST PEARL

Fifteen year old Alcatraz is being chased. Born and raised in a loving family, she suddenly finds herself fending for her life on the streets of Los Angeles. Consumed with anger, hurt and confusion, Alcatraz turns to the spiritual realm to find life’s answers. While experimenting with pagan spells, Buddhist chants, and yoga sutras, she continually encounters a spirit who claims He is God. The Truth she learns from this spiritual quest introduces her to the unexpected world of divine healing, acceptance and unconditional love.

ALCATRAZ THE RIGHTEOUS PEARL

After two years of spiritual searching, Alcatraz has finally decided who the One true God is for her life. But trouble soon follows. Being rejected by her new found religious organization because of her appearance and discharged from the tattoo shop for her beliefs, Alcatraz is forced to enter the Hollywood adult entertainment life with her best friend Kuriko. The nightmares she experiences living on the dubious streets of Los Angeles causes her to struggle to keep her faith.

KURIKO THE DAMAGED PEARL

Alcatraz has desperately wanted to learn more about the mysterious past of her street-smart Japanese best friend, Kuriko. Now her wish has come true, but not in the way she expected. Kuriko handed Alcatraz a black bamboo box before the tragic accident. Inside, Alcatraz finds the diary of a nineteen-year-old girl's struggle with sex trafficking, powerful men, abuse, betrayal, and surprisingly, a burning desire to know God. After two years of living with the secretive, over-protective high-dollar prostitute, Alcatraz learns the dark truth of Kuriko's inhumane journey. Now she wishes the past could have been buried with her best friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt Two:

ALCATRAZ THE RIGHTEOUS PEARL- BOOK 2 IN LOVE, GOD & TATTOOS SERIES

 “What!” I shouted. I couldn’t believe it.

“I’m sorry, kid, I have to let you go,” Moon said.

“What do you mean, let me go? I have appointments booked for the next two weeks.”

Blue Moon stood guard at the reception desk. He wouldn’t let me go to my booth.

“Alcatraz, I believe you are a very talented and promising tattoo artist who will no doubt go far in the field, but I can’t have outbursts like I had yesterday in this shop, kid. Highly unprofessional. That makes people here extremely uncomfortable, and I’’m one of them. So I went ahead and packed up your station for you. All your supplies are here. I even threw in some extra materials so you can freelance. Sorry it had to end this way, kid, but I’m in a tough spot here.”

“Moon, come on, surely we can work this out. I experienced a supernatural love yesterday. I didn’t know that was gonna happen to me or else I would have waited until I got home. Come on, man.”” I threw up my hands. “You can’t fire me because of that. I work too hard here and I know you see that. I’ll keep it under control from now on. I promise.”

Moon hesitated for a moment. “Here.” He slowly reached behind the desk and handed me my stuff. I could tell he didn’t want to do this. He must have felt strapped because Josh was a cash cow. Moon looked back towards the other tattoo artists then turned to me. “If you need a recommendation just have ’em call me. I’ll refer you to any shop in town. You won’t have a problem getting another gig. I’m sure of it.” He turned around and walked towards his office in the back.

I walked slowly back to my condo with several thoughts running through my mind: What am I supposed to do for work? How am I gonna pay rent? Where am I gonna get a job at fifteen years old? Moon did Kuriko a favor by offering me an apprenticeship but there’s no guarantee another shop owner will extend the same favor. I wouldn’t even turn sixteen for another three and a half months! I didn’t have any legal identification, social security card or birth certificate to even apply for a real job. I didn’t even know what state to begin digging for those documents. California, where I was allegedly born? Illinois, where I was state property or Utah where the Robinsons adopted me last July?

Losing my job at the tattoo parlor turned my world completely upside down. Other fifteen year old girls loitered around in the tenth grade in their cute plaid skirts, studied for SATs, borrowed their daddy’s car for driver’s ed and worked at Forever 21. I was an eighth grade dropout, runaway, semi-tattoo artist rooming with a battered Japanese stripper. I didn’t have a mommy or daddy to get me out of difficult situations in life. The only person I had was three years, three months and twelve days older than me, and I decided to wake up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Aleshia Robinson was born in Chicago, Illinois and enjoys writing edgy inspirational fiction, traveling, decoupaging, empowering women in the sex trade and providing clean water for mankind.

WEBSITE: www.lovegodandtattoos.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/authenticityink

TWITTER: @lovegodtattoos

AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Aleshia-Robinson/e/B0054E39PU/ref=la_B0054E39PU_af?rh=n:283155,p_82:B0054E39PU

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/aleshia-robinson?store=allproducts&keyword=aleshia+robinson

APPLE: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/aleshia-robinson/id444790036?mt=11

KOBO: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/Search?Query=aleshia+robinson

Aleshia will be awarding a print copy of the Love, God & Tattoos Bundle (US and Canada only) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/04/virtual-blurb-blitz-tour-love-god.html

The Fox's Mask Book Blast

The Fox's Mask (Kitsune Trilogy #1)

by Anna Frost

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Demon hunter Akakiba keeps many secrets from his human companion. The fact he's a werefox isn't the worst one.

In feudal Japan, magic is dying. As a demon hunter, Akakiba finds this problematic. The evil he's been trained to destroy is disappearing and, along with it, the shape-shifting abilities of the clan he left behind. With his only companion, a determined young human named Yuki, Akakiba traverses the country slaying demons and performing odd jobs.

But when an army of demon-possessed humans masses to exterminate his clan, Akakiba must put aside old feuds and protect his family–-all while hiding an important secret from Yuki. Will they find a way to defeat the demon possessed before it's too late? With magic dwindling, will it matter either way?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt Three:

Akakiba found Jien and Sanae waiting outside, the latter wearing an expression too perfectly innocent to be genuine.

Jien, on the other hand, wasn’t even trying to hide his eavesdropping. “I take it you’re still not interested in marriage, Aki?”

“Don’t make me hit you.”
“I’ll try. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Sanae giggled, and Akakiba gave her an alarmed look. When a young woman started giggling at a man’s stupid jests...

It wouldn’t be bad news for Sanae to be interested in the opposite sex since, as his dear mother said, they needed to produce all the kits they could, but Jien wasn’t a suitable candidate!

Whirling round, he kicked Jien’s legs from under him. By the time the monk hit the floor, there was a sword inches from his face.

Jien peered up at him. “Ow. What was that for?”

“If you ever touch my sister,” he warned with all the threat he could muster, “I will dismember you, piece by piece, and I will leave the remains to feed wild beasts.”

Sanae gripped his sword arm, trying to force it up. “Brother! Put that away!”

“Please, Aki,” Jien said with a snort. “I knew that without you saying it.”

“Good.” His sword slid home. What was it about Jien that rubbed him the wrong way? Everything, possibly.

Lifting himself from the floor, Jien brushed and straightened his clothes. “You make it hard to be your friend.”

“I’m not your friend.”

“You saved my life. In my opinion, that makes us friends for life.”

“If I’d known you’d be pestering me forever, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

“Hindsight is such a wonderful thing, isn’t it?”

Sanae was glaring. “Brother, that’s no way to behave with a guest! Jien is an honorable man, and I need no protection from him. I would also say you have no right to pretend to care about my virtue after abandoning me for three years! Honestly! What’s the matter with you?”

It wasn’t his habit to defend himself, but in this case, it seemed important to tell the entire truth. “Jien’s about as honorable as a snake! When we first met he told me he’d been wounded by a demon and beseeched me to carry him over the hill to a village where he might get treatment. I later learned that, in truth, he’d been caught spying on bathing girls. Their guardian had beaten him up and thrown him out of the village so he couldn’t get treatment there!”

“It was an accident,” Jien said. “I got lost, and hearing voices, tried to follow them. That’s how I plunged headfirst into the hot springs. And that old woman was as frightful as any demon I’ve ever seen!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Anna Frost is a Canadian girl who spends winters writing and dreaming of summer. An overdose of Japanese culture and media has led her to write fantasy inspired by Japanese mythology. In a shocking break with literary tradition, Anna does not live with cats. Instead she lives with chinchillas, which can be just as demanding and evil as cats.

Author links:

www.annafrost.ca

https://twitter.com/Frostanity

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6452110.Anna_Frost

Buy links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Foxs-Mask-ebook/dp/B009SZNN5W

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/247839

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-foxs-mask-anna-frost/1113580803

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/ebook/the-fox-s-mask-1

Follow the tour and comment for a chance to win a $30 gift card. Enter in the form below.

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/03/virtual-book-blast-tour-foxs-mask-by.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Possession

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding winner's choice of two ebooks from Lachesis Publishing (http://lachesispublishing.com/) to a randomly drawn winner via the rafflecopter at the end of this post.

Daphne Wentworth is almost seventeen, definitely a red head, and most likely the tallest girl in her class, which is awkward to say the least when it comes to dating boys in her school. But she doesn’t have to worry about school for the next two months since she’s spending the summer at her aunt Dwill’s lighthouse in Maine.

What she does have to worry about is seeing ghosts in the lighthouse cemetery, having strange dreams, and hearing the voices of star-crossed lovers who lived two-hundred years ago. And then there’s a local boy named Zach Philbrook who works for her aunt. He’s too gorgeous for his own good. He’s also very tall, with midnight black hair, and the most beautiful indigo blue eyes Daphne has ever seen.

Zach is treated like an outcast by the local teens in town. He’s Micmac and therefore not “one of the gang”. Daphne can’t help being drawn to his strength, especially considering that he’s had to live his entire life dealing with ignorance. But the local teens aren’t the only trouble-makers in town. As Zach and Daphne get closer, the lighthouse ghost lovers begin haunting them. When Daphne and Zach try to figure out how to fight them, the spirits get bolder and more dangerous. So how do you protect yourself from something that isn’t really there?

Enjoy an excerpt:

It wasn’t the first time a good idea had come back to bite me in the ass, but I was afraid it might be the last.

The plan had seemed harmless enough. I never intended things to get so out of hand, and I certainly hadn’t expected Zach to get involved. No, wait. If I’m going to tell this tale, write it down so it’s never forgotten, I must tell the truth—the whole truth.

I should start at the beginning . . .

I had always resisted being a redhead.

“My hair is brown,” I’d declare, “with red highlights.”

When you were one of six heads that spilled out onto the sidewalk every morning though, the sun unmercifully spotlighting the fact that you varied in shades from the red section of the crayon box, you eventually had to let that notion go. When I was twelve—we were only four heads bobbing off to Catholic school at the top of the hill by then—Mom tried to soothe me by pointing out my hair was auburn.

Auburn. I’d liked the sound of that. It wasn’t red, it was auburn.

Auburn sounded regal and refined.

So did Daphne Wentworth. That’s my name, but I can tell you truthfully I’m neither regal nor refined. I favor t-shirts and jeans and my battered sneakers. I usually have a basketball in my hands. Or a softball bat. I’m tall, always have been. Do you know what it’s like to go through school like a giraffe above the crowd? Above the boys?

But I digress.

My point is, I’m not at all what you’d expect from my name. And what happened to us last summer, what waited at the lighthouse, in that small copse of trees, well . . . you’d never expect that, either.

Not in two hundred years.

Jeanine Duval Spikes is a spinner of romantic tales with a touch of the supernatural. Lifelong research and experience with the paranormal infuse her stories with ethereal spirit, while her belief that love conquers all suffuses them with heart.

She is a paranormal investigator with a small local group, aspiring to help those in need by advancing this exploratory field both spiritually and scientifically. When not writing, you can find her cooking, gardening, horseback riding, or forever getting lost in secondhand shops. The mother of two grown sons, she lives in Rhode Island, the Ocean State, with her very own hero-husband Tim, and two crazy cats. She is the proud recipient of the Jo Ann Ferguson Service Award for selfless assistance and dedication to fellow writers and the craft.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeanine.duvalspikes?fref=ts

Website: http://jeanineduvalspikes.wix.com/jeanineduvalspikes

Buy Link:  http://lachesispublishing.com/?product=the-possession-by-j-d-spikes

a Rafflecopter giveaway

School of Deaths

School of Deaths

by Christopher Mannino

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

A timid girl finds bravery as the first female Death.

Thirteen-year-old Suzie Sarnio always believed the Grim Reaper was a fairy tale image of a skeleton with a scythe. Now, forced to enter the College of Deaths, she finds herself training to bring souls from the Living World to the Hereafter. The task is demanding enough, but as the only female in the all-male College, she quickly becomes a target. Attacked by both classmates and strangers, Suzie is alone in a world where even her teachers want her to fail.

Caught in the middle of a plot to overthrow the World of Deaths, Suzie must uncover the reason she’s been brought there: the first female Death in a million years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt Two:

She wanted to scream but no sound came. She wanted to run, but her legs wouldn’t move. The hooded man grinned.

Suzie’s heart pounded as she opened her eyes. Laughter echoed in the back of her head. The terrible laughter she heard every night. She wiped the sweat from her face, pushing aside the sheets. Sunlight spilled into her room from between frilly curtains. Mom would be knocking on the door to wake her soon.

She turned to one side as the dream started to fade. Every night the same nightmare. Every night she heard the laughter. The hooded man with a scythe. The feeling of complete terror.

What did it mean?

Above her clock radio, a worn teddy bear stared at her with its single eye. She pulled the bear to her chest and clutched it with her bony fingers.

Suzie Sarnio. The hooded man had written her name down. He always wrote it right before the laughter began. The man looked like Death. But why would Death have a stammer?

“Suzie,” said Mom, knocking on the door. “Come on, you’ll be late for school.”

“I’m coming.”

Suzie changed, staring at the mirror in her pink-wallpapered room. Each rib stuck out from her chest; she counted all twenty-four. The skin on her face stretched tightly over her skeletal face, and dark patches surrounded each of her gray eyes. As much as she tried to comb it, her long black hair tangled into stringy knots.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Christopher Mannino’s life is best described as an unending creative outlet.  He teaches high school theatre in Greenbelt, Maryland.  In addition to his daily drama classes, he runs several after-school performance/production drama groups.  He spends his summers writing and singing.  Mannino holds a Master of Arts in Theatre Education from Catholic University, and has studied mythology and literature both in America and at Oxford University.  His work with young people helped inspire him to write young adult fantasy, although it was his love of reading that truly brought his writing to life.

Mannino is currently working on a sequel to “School of Deaths” as well as an adult science fiction novel.

links:

http://www.ChristopherMannino.com (main)

http://poetsfire.blogspot.com  (blog)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8108129.Christopher_Mannino  (goodreads)

https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/museitup/fantasy/school-of-deaths-detail (publishers buy link

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/School-Deaths-Christopher-Mannino-ebook/dp/B00K2GC12M/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1399457365&sr=8-8&keywords=school+of+deaths

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/school-of-deaths-christopher-mannino/1119059176?ean=2940045799010

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/423893/1/school-of-deaths

https://twitter.com/Ctmannino

https://www.facebook.com/CTMannino

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXSSZN6L128

Enter to win a $20 Gift certificate! Follow the tour for more chances to win!

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/05/virtual-book-blast-tour-school-of.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Just Sing Blog Tour

Just Sing

Book One
of the
Seven Oaks Series
by 
René Gilley
“Follow you dreams, follow your heart, love your family and Just Sing."

Release Date: 5th June 2014
Genre: Young Adult/Performing Arts/Music
Published by: The Writers Coffee Shop

Available from: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and TWCS PH

Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Lily O’Brien has one goal in life—to sing. Her dream is to get into a top notch college vocal program, but the summer before her junior year, her high school cuts their awarding-winning vocal ensemble. She might as well kiss her dreams goodbye.

When the snobby new neighbors move into their mansion up the hill, Lily is positive summer can’t get any worse, and she’s determined to hate and ignore them—until she meets Aiden.

He’s broken and beautiful, and they become reluctant friends. Through her newfound friendship, she finds the strength to step outside the comfort of her plan and follow her dream.

But when Lily’s family is about to lose their home, she puts her wishes aside and finds the answer to save their generations-old ranch in the last place she expected.

Author Bio: 

By day, René Gilley works as a portfolio manager for a Fortune 50 company, but her nights and weekends are spent writing young adult and new adult romance books. Her brain never shuts off—always dreaming up new situations her characters can get into. 

Her California home is often the backdrop for her books. Her debut novel, Just Sing of the SEVEN OAKS SERIES, was years in the making. Like her character, René seeing Just Sing being published is a dream come true.

She’s a wife, mother to two beautiful daughters, and four dogs. She’s proud to be a triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) survivor and believes in giving back through book profits to charities that support breast cancer. 

Connect with René Gilley on: 
Facebook, Twitter, Website and Goodreads

Video Trailer:

            

Praise:

Just Sing evolves mostly around Lily’s struggle with her family, the reality of her dreams, and her first relationship issues with the neighbors’ son Aiden. Honestly Lily is a truly amazing... She is strong-willed and her loyalty and love for her family is admirable. -Between Dreams and Reality Blog

With the popularity of shows like American Idol and The Voice, Gilley's Just Sing promises to bring high engagement to any YA reader who dreams of the stage, lives the stage, or enjoys the stage as a spectator... -Fictionally Yours Blog

Just Sing was a complete and pleasant surprise. There's not many YA novels out there that can capture my heart and soul wholly. And this book is definitely one of them. -Goodreads Review

How to Date Dead Guys Cover Reveal

How to Date Dead Guys by Ann Noser

Series: Under The Blood Moon

Genre: new-adult, urban-fantasy

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press

Date of Publication: July 15th, 2014

Cover Reveal: June 2nd, 2014

Blog Tour: July 14 - 25th, excluding weekends

Cover Artist: Alexandria Thompson (http://alexandriadior.deviantart.com/)

How to Date Dead Guys on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21856356-how-to-date-dead-guys?from_search=true)

Description:

College sophomore Emma Roberts remembers her mother’s sage advice:  “don’t sleep around, don’t burp in public, and don’t tell anyone you see ghosts”.  But when charming Mike Carlson drowns in the campus river under her watch, Emma’s sheltered life shatters.

Blamed for Mike’s death and haunted by nightmares, Emma turns to witchcraft and a mysterious Book of Shadows to bring him back.  Under a Blood Moon, she lights candles, draws a pentacle on the campus bridge, and casts a spell.  The invoked river rages up against her, but she escapes its fury.  As she stumbles back to the dorm, a stranger drags himself from the water and follows her home. And he isn't the only one. 

Instead of raising Mike, Emma assists the others she stole back from the dead—a pre-med student who jumped off the bridge, a desperate victim determined to solve his own murder, and a frat boy Emma can’t stand…at first.  More comfortable with the dead than the living, Emma delves deeper into the seductive Book of Shadows.  Her powers grow, but witchcraft may not be enough to protect her against the vengeful river and the killers that feed it their victims.

Inspired by the controversial Smiley Face Murders, HOW TO DATE DEAD GUYS will ignite the secret powers hidden deep within each of us.

How To Date Dead Guys Purchase Links:

Amazon US: Forthcoming

Amazon UK: Forthcoming

Barnes & Noble: Forthcoming

Kobo: Forthcoming

--

About the Author:

My to-do list dictates that I try to cram 48 hours of living into a day instead of the usual 24.  I’ve chosen a life filled with animals.  I train for marathons with my dog, then go to work as a small animal veterinarian, and finish the day by tripping over my pets as I attempt to convince my two unruly children that YES, it really IS time for bed.  But I can’t wait until the house is quiet to write; I have to steal moments throughout the day.  Ten minutes here, a half hour there, I live within my imagination.

Like all busy American mothers, I multi-task.  I work out plot holes during runs.  Instead of meditating, I type madly during yoga stretches.  I find inspiration in everyday things:  a beautiful smile, a heartbreaking song, or a newspaper article on a political theory.  For example, a long drive in the dark listening to an NPR program on the SMILEY FACE MURDERS theory made me ask so many questions that I wrote HOW TO DATE DEAD GUYS to answer them to my satisfaction.

I’d love to have more time to write (and run, read, and sleep), but until I find Hermione Granger’s time turner, I will juggle real life with the half-written stories in my head.  Main characters and plot lines intertwine in my cranium, and I need to let my writing weave the tales on paper so I can find out what happens next.

Social Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

(website: http://annandersonnoser.blogspot.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnMNoser

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnMNoser

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8124757.Ann_M_Noser)