Curling Up With A Good Book

Monday, March 14, 2016

Blog Tour & Guest Post: The Winning Kiss (Marie Rutkoski)

THE WINNING KISS

celebrating Marie Rutkoski's The Winner's Kiss

and all the best kisses in your favorite books

Hardcover, US, 496 pages
Expected publication: March 29th 2016 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.
At least, that’s what he thinks.
In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her.
But no one gets what they want just by wishing.
As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover that the world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and they are caught in between. With so much to lose, can anybody really win?

Amazon * B & N * Indigo

Marie Rutkoski is the author of The Kronos Chronicles, including The Cabinet of Wonders and The Celestial Globe. The Cabinet of Wonders, her debut novel, was named an Indie Next Kids’ List Great Read and a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, among other honors. Rutkoski grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), as the oldest of four children. She attended the University of Iowa, where she took Writers’ Workshop classes and studied with Pulitzer Prize-winner James Alan McPherson. After graduating, she lived in Moscow and Prague. Upon receiving her Ph.D. from Harvard University, she held dual appointments as a lecturer there in both English and American Literature and Language, and History and Literature. Rutkoski is currently a professor at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Renaissance Drama, children’s literature and creative writing. She lives in New York City with her husband and cat.

Website * Twitter * Pinterest

What book is your favorite literary kiss in?

Wendy Higgin's Sweet Evil series

Who is kissing?

Kaidan and Anna

Why is it your favorite?

Wendy Higgin's Sweet series is one of my all-time favorite young adult romance novels. The romance between Kai and Anna is breath-takingly swoonworthy and I loved each and every page of all three books. I literally felt sadness when the series ended because it was just that amazing.

I Am A Reader Book Blast & Giveaway: If We Were A Movie (Kelly Oram)

If We Were a Movie by Kelly Oram (Power of the Matchmaker #3) Music meets Movies in this sweet college romance from the bestselling author of Cinder & Ella. NYU freshman Nate Anderson is a triplet who is desperate to escape his wild and crazy brothers. After they screw things up for him one too many times, Nate flees his housing situation and takes the first available room for rent as far from his brothers as he can get. Enter his new roommate Jordan--a quirky LA girl who believes that everything in life has already been done in the movies. In this heartfelt tale of love, friendship and family, Nate learns how to deal with his new adult life using Hollywood films as a guide.

What readers just like you are saying about If We Were a Movie:

"WOW! This book is great! The concept is so inventive, and the writing is brilliant."

"I thought Cinder & Ella jerked with my emotions too much but this one might have it beat."

"I finished reading If We Were a Movie yesterday. I loved it! I fell hard for Nate. Jordan was amazing! And Pearl's timing was perfect! "

"Amazing concept with movies as chapters, and fantastic storyline." "I loved this story and was humming along to the songs from the book whilst reading. I can see this book becoming the movie it was written to be." "If We Were a Movie made me want to binge watch movies, listen to old playlists and re-read it all at once."

TEASER: “So this is what a Pearl-approved guy looks like.” She shook her head once and cracked a smile. “She’s got good taste, I’ll give her that. You’re an odd mix of sexy and adorable. Don’t see that often.”

I was a little taken aback by the compliment, if that’s even what it was. She may have just been stating what she considered to be fact. She laughed at my surprise and held out her hand to me. “Nice to meet you. I’m Jordan Kramer.”

I’d been afraid of that. “You’re a girl.”

Jordan laughed. “That’s what it says on my birth certificate, but I’m really glad you were able to figure it out without needing to read it.”

Nope. I definitely didn’t need that.

TEASER: I handed Jordan the electric guitar that I’ve had since I was twelve, and laughed when her eyes got really big. “You play the electric guitar, too?” “Music major,” I teased, picking up my keyboard. “I play this, too. A little. And the bass guitar.” “Awesome.” She examined the electric guitar with awe. “Why do you seem so surprised?” She looked at me as if the answer to that question should be obvious. “Hello. Have you met yourself? You with an acoustic guitar singing soft songs around a campfire or in a coffee house makes perfect sense. But I can’t picture you up on a stage, jamming on your electric guitar like a rock star.” She studied me a moment, then shook her head. “You’ll have to play for me, or I’m not going to believe it.”

Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen--a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which her family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and likes to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, four children, and her cat, Mr. Darcy.

Don't miss the latest news from Kelly Oram! Sign up for her newsletter to receive e-mail notifications for all of her new releases, events, sales, & giveaways. This is a monthly newsletter often with exclusive giveaways and freebies from some of her favorite authors.

Signed copies of V is for Virgin & A is for Abstinence (1 winner, 2 books)

Open Internationally

Ends 3/18/16

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Me, My Shelf and I Book Blast & Giveaway: Becoming Jinn (Lori Goldstein)

What’s better than a new book? How about a new book that only costs $2.99? If you haven’t had the chance to start the BECOMMING JINN series by Lori Goldstein, or even if you just want to have a eCopy as well, now is the perfect time to pick it up!

About The Book

FFBC Blog Tour, Review, & Giveaway: The Yearbook (Carol Masciola)

The Yearbook
by Carol Masciola
Publisher: Merit Press
Release Date: October 2015

Genre: Historical Fiction, Time Travel, Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary

Misfit teen Lola Lundy has every right to her anger and her misery. She’s failing in school, living in a group home, and social workers keep watching her like hawks, waiting for her to show signs of the horrible mental illness that cost Lola’s mother her life. Then, one night, she falls asleep in a storage room in her high school library, where she’s seen an old yearbook—from the days when the place was an upscale academy for young scholars instead of a dump. When Lola wakes, it’s to a scene that is nothing short of impossible.
Lola quickly determines that she’s gone back to the past—eighty years in the past, to be exact. The Fall Frolic dance is going full blast in the gym, and there she makes an instant connection with the brainy and provocative Peter Hemmings, class of ’24. His face is familiar, because she’s seen his senior portrait in the yearbook. By night’s end, Lola thinks she sees hope for her disastrous present: She’ll make a new future for herself in the past. But is it real? Or has the major mental illness in Lola’s family background finally claimed her? Has she slipped through a crack in time, or into a romantic hallucination she created in her own mind, wishing on the ragged pages of a yearbook from a more graceful time long ago?

Carol Masciola got the idea for her novel The Yearbook (Merit Press, Nov. 2015), after inheriting a 1924 yearbook that had belonged to her grandmother. She is a former newspaper reporter and winner of the PEN/West Literary Award in journalism. Two of her screenplays, THE FIERY DEPTHS and THE UGLY STICK, are in development.She is a graduate of Oberlin College.

I absolutely LOVED this book!! Reminded me a little of the movie Age of Adaline.

Lola Lundy has been moved to a group home back in the town she use to live in with her mother. Lola can't seem to remember that time of her childhood when she was with her mother. When is takes an unexpected job in the school library she discovers a whole new world, or should I say old world! What has happened to Lola?!

Can she really travel time or is she suffering from the same mental health issues as her mother?! I highly recommend this book! I give The Yearbook 5 stars!

A Reading Nurse & The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club - Welcome Post

YA Obsessed - Review

Life of a Female Bibliophile - Promotional Post

Her Book Thoughts - Review

Ink of Blood - Review

soycazadoradesombrasylibros - Lola's Birthday Presents

Avid Reader - Review

A Dream Within A Dream - Promotional Post

Mama Reads Hazel Sleeps - Review + Favorite Quotes

When Curiosity Killed The Cat - Review + Favorite Quotes

Boricuan Bookworms - Review + Playlist

Curling Up With A Good Book - Review

Win (1) of (3) copies of The Yearbook

US/Canada Only

Ends March 15th

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FFBC Blog Tour, Excerpt, & Giveaway: A Daring Sacrifice (Jody Hedlund)

A Daring Sacrifice (An Uncertain Choice #2)
by Jody Hedlund
Publisher: Zondervan
Release Date: March 1st 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Romance, Retellings, Christian

In a reverse twist on the Robin Hood story, a young medieval maiden stands up for the rights of the mistreated, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. All the while, she fights against her cruel uncle who has taken over the land that is rightfully hers. Forced to live in the woods and hide with the poor people she's grown to love, she works to save and protect them, but she never anticipates falling in love with the wealthy knight who represents all she's come to despise.

Jody Hedlund is an award-winning and bestselling author of inspirational historical romances including books for adults and youth. She currently makes her home in central Michigan with her husband and their five busy children.
As a busy mama-writer, she has the wonderful privilege of teaching her crew of 5 children at home. In between grading math papers and giving spelling tests, she occasionally does a load of laundry and washes dishes. When she's not busy being a mama, you can find her in front of her laptop working on another of her page-turning stories.
She loves reading almost as much as she loves writing, especially when it also involves chocolate and coffee.

I didn’t know what about him drew me, except that he was kind and concerned about me in a way I hadn’t experienced in a long time. Even though Bulldog cared about me as fiercely as if I were his own daughter, he never hugged me. He expected me to be tough, like a man. And I always had been.

But with Collin . . . He had a way about him—a tenderness—that seemed to break through the hard walls I’d built around myself.

I nestled my nose against the silkiness of his tunic and breathed in his spicy scent.

His hand cupped the small of my back and pressed me nearer, so that his chin rested against my head. In the short time I’d known him, it hadn’t taken me long to realize he was kinder and sweeter than any man I’d ever known.

“Tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it,” he whispered again. “I’ll do anything for you.”

I closed my eyes at the comfort that came from his words. I’d had to be strong for so long. I’d had to fight and scrap and struggle to stay alive. Everyone else depended upon me. And it felt so good to lean on someone else for a change and to know I wasn’t alone.

He held me quietly for a long moment. In a distant stable, the baying of a hunting hound rose in the night air. But otherwise, the orchard was silent, and the steady thud of Collin’s heart filled me with peace.

What would it be like to stop fighting? To stop thieving? To stop living in the woods? What would it be like to return to a normal life, one where I wasn’t hunting every day or being hunted by those who wanted me dead?

I shook my head and pulled back from Collin. “No. There’s nothing you can do.” I spoke the words sadly at first. But then the hopelessness of my life crashed back into me and renewed my anger. As long as Uncle lived, there was very little chance that my friends or I would ever be able to move out of our secret homes deep in the forest. We would have to hide there for the rest of our days, continuing to find ways to survive as best we could.

Revolt was out of the question. Look where it had gotten Father—he’d been mortally wounded during the uprising he'd led. Friends had brought him back to his hut where I'd been able to say good-bye to him before Bulldog had dragged me away into hiding. I'd heard that not long after our leaving, Father had been captured. Even though he'd been bleeding to death, Uncle’s men had still tortured him in the most hideous fashion.

Collin brushed a wisp of hair off my cheek. “There’s got to be something I can do to make you happy. Something I can give you.”

I wished there was. I wished there was a way to change everything. But the reality was that I would have to return to the forest at the end of the week. And maybe with Collin’s purse of gold and the diamond necklace, I wouldn’t have to resort to thieving for a while.

“Let’s just follow through with our bargains to one another,” I said, putting more distance between us. “That’s all I want.”

If only that really was all I wanted.