DUST by Devon Ashley

Just finished this book last night - DUST by Devon Ashley - and it kept me up way too late reading several nights in a row.  If you enjoy dark paranormal with a smidgen on romance, this is a book you don't want to miss.

Goodreads review.

Passion Blue Blog Tour - fun author interview!

Thanks for dropping by today to read about PASSION BLUE and meet the author, Victoria Strauss.  I'm sure you'll enjoy her insights into the past as much as I did.

SUMMARY:Be sure you know your true heart’s desire, or you may find yourself surprised by what you receive.

This is the warning the Astrologer-Sorcerer gives Giulia when she pays him to create a magical talisman for her. The scorned illegitimate daughter of a Milanese nobleman, Giulia is determined to defy the dire fate predicted by her horoscope, and use the talisman to claim what she believes is her heart’s desire: true love and a place where she belongs–not likely prospects for a girl about to be packed off to the cloistered world of a convent.

But the convent of Santa Marta is full of surprises. There are strict rules, long hours of work, and spiteful rivalries…but there’s also friendship, and the biggest surprise of all: a workshop of female artists who produce paintings of astonishing beauty, using a luminous blue mixed from a secret formula: Passion blue. Yet even as Giulia begins to learn the mysteries of the painter’s craft, the magic of the talisman is at work, and a forbidden romance beckons her down a path of uncertainty and danger. She is haunted by the sorcerer’s warning, and by a question: does she really know the true compass of her heart?

Set in Renaissance Italy, this richly imagined novel about a girl’s daring journey towards self-discovery transports readers into a fascinating, exotic world where love, faith, and art inspire passion–of many different hues.

INTERVIEW:

If you could go back to Renaissance Italy:

What would you like to try?

The food! There's a dinner party in Passion Blue, and I did some research on Italian Renaissance recipes. They sound awesome. Italy was unusual in Renaissance Europe for the variety of its food, and for its abundance of fruits and vegetables. 

What would you like to see?

Venice. I visited it when I was a teenager, and fell in love with its exotic, mysterious beauty. The alleys and the squares, the palaces, the Piazza San Marco, the soft light, the constant presence of water...it's just a place like no other. You can feel the past—there are so many places you can go in Venice and it's as if you've stepped back a hundred, two hundred, even five hundred years. I'd love to go back for real and see Venice at the height of its power and wealth in the 15th and 16th centuries, when it was considered one of the wonders of the world.

Who would you want to talk to?

This will probably sound like a cliché answer, for someone who loves Renaissance art as much as I do...Leonardo da Vinci. His exquisite paintings and drawings were just the beginning of his incredible creativity. For such a famous man, not very much is known about his life. I'd like to learn more.

What would you avoid like the plague (other than the plague)?

Florence, while Girolamo Savonarola was in power there (late 1400s). He was a charismatic preacher and prophet who waged a campaign against the "vice" of the city and whipped the inhabitants into a puritanical frenzy. He and his followers instituted new laws, organized bonfires of the vanities in which thousands of books and artworks were destroyed, and recruited gangs of youths to patrol the streets looking for immodest dress and behavior. It must have been a terrifying place to be. (On the other hand, I'd love to set a book there.)

So now that you're all in the spirit of Renaissance Italy, you can pick up your copy of PASSION BLUE or learn more on Victoria's website:

BUY LINK  |  WEBSITE LINK

BROKEN Trailer

My dear friend and Oasis Sister, A.E. Rought, has her debut YA novel, BROKEN, coming out from Strange Chemistry in January.  But right now, she has the trailer all ready for your viewing pleasure.  Sit back, make sure your volume is on for the mood music, and enjoy.

Jingle All the YA

Don't you just love that title?  I think it's adorable and I couldn't be more proud to be included in this sampler, featuring 13 HOT YA authors (plus me).

But here's the really cool part of this sampler:
1. It's FREE
2. If you read it and find the secret code by December 31st, you can enter to win a Kindle Fire HD or any other e-reader up to a $200 value.

Here is the description of contest

WIN A KINDLE FIRE HD (199$) or ereader of your choice up to value of 200$

It's easy to enter!

1) Download the free ebook, 

2) find the secret phrase (hintL there is one character in each book bolded)

3) Enter secret phrase (14 characters) into the contest link embedded in the ebook.

Contest ends on Dec 31st. Winner announced on Jan 7th

Book description

Curl up this holiday season and sample 14 bestselling young adult books. 

14 YA authors compiled this special gift for their readers. The holiday sampler includes excerpts from YA's bestselling books - all wrapped up in one neat little package. 

Whether you like paranormal, romance, mythology, or thrillers, "Jingle all the YA" gives you a taste of it all.

This sampler includes:

Chelsea M. Cameron - Nocturnal (When seventeen-year-old Ava-Claire Sullivan meets a mysterious boy in a cemetery who isn't human, she'll have to decide whether a relationship with him is worth the risk to her own mortality.)

GP Ching - Grounded (A modest seventeen-year-old girl discovers she's the product of a government experiment, when her father's illness causes her to leave her isolated community.)

Shelly Crane - Significance (Because you are my significant, my soul mate, and I'm yours.)

Chelsea Fine - Anew (Sometimes love is meant to be, but sometimes...love is the death of you.)

Jessie Harrell - Destined (When Psyche destroys the one relationship she can't live without, she must journey alone through ancient Greece and face the wrath of the gods if she wants to reclaim an immortal love.

Ella James - Here

S.R. Johannes - Untraceable (When Grace's forest ranger father goes, missing, she fights officials and nature to find out what happened, uncovering a conspiracy that changes her small town forever.)

Tiffany King - Forever Changed

M. Leighton - Fragile (Her heart, as delicate as glass. His love, as strong as steel. Can either survive life and death?)

Addison Moore - Ethereal (An entire faction of earthbound angels wants 16 y/o Skyla Messenger dead, at least she still has Logan, a boy who shares her gift of telepathy, or does she?)

Jessica Sorenson - Ember (What if you knew when someone was going to die?)

Raine Thomas - Becoming (When Amber Hopkins discovers that ancient gods, avenging angels and other beings of myth and legend all exist, she doesn't realize that her life is only going to get more complicated from there.)

RaShelle Workman - Exiled (Worlds divided them. Chance brought them together. Only love will save them.)

Samantha Young - Smokeless Fire (One girl's fiery battle with ancient deadly creatures, epic family drama and heart-wrenching romantic entanglements.)

And if you want to enter the contest, you can do it right here!  So go download your sampler, find the hidden letter in each story, and enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Destined's Birthday, Your Presents!

I CANNOT believe that it's been a year since I let my book baby - Destined - lose into the world.  I had no idea the amount of support I would get for the novel or the number of new friends I would make.  365 days ago, I would have been ecstatic to think I could sell even 5,000 copies.  You've helped me almost double that number.  I'm awed and humbled by all of you who've thought enough of me and my book to spend your time reading, reviewing or blogging about it.

I TRULY CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH.  But I'm going to try.  I have loads of birthday presents for you!

You can check out the rafflecopter forms below and enter as many of the raffles as you would like.  This celebration will continue for a week before I pick the winners.  Since this is my way of thanking you, there won't be any tasks or hoops to jump through.  Just free entries (of course, if you want to tweet or share about the contest, I'd love you dearly).

Seeing as how this is about me being THANKFUL for all of you, I'm going to go ahead and count this for INDIE-giving too.  Why not?

And that's it.  I'm passing around the virtual cupcakes.  Go forth and celebrate!

(Oh, did I mention that Destined is still only $.99? Talk about a great Christmas present... just saying.)


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RENEGADE!!!

I totally dropped the ball because I didn't tell you yesterday that my friend and Oasis Sister, J.A. Souders, was celebrating the release of her debut YA novel, RENEGADE!

You simply must read it.  I participated in the blog tour, so you probably read my review there.  But if not, here's the short summary: It's awesome.  Go get a copy.

Here's the summary ~
Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie.

Her memories have been altered.

Her mind and body aren’t under her own control.

And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.

To celebrate with Jess, here are some simple steps:

* Add RENEGADE to your TBR list on Goodreads.
* Read the first chapters and order a copy on Amazon.
* Like Jess (J.A.) on Facebook.

No go!  You don't want to wait to get your copy!

Indie Author Spotlight: Cindy Hogan

Hi!  Thanks for joining me today as I shine the Indie author spotlight on CINDY HOGAN!

Names of Books:  Watched series: Watched, Protected and Created

Synopsis for Created: Despite her lack of advanced training, the director of Bresen Academy convinces Ari she would be the best fit for a mission that surfaces in Prague with a group calling themselves Division 57. Uncertain, but wanting to please, she agrees. She quickly discovers there is nothing easy about being a spy and finds her very life on the line. 

Who will love it: young adults and adult women, although several men have reviewed it on Ama

What's next for you: The first book in my next series is with my agent. Crossing my fingers for an amazing deal to come my way. Working on Book 2 and 3 in that series as well as a new series that secretly I'm more excited about than the one my agent has. :) 

Favorite part of being an author: There is nothing better than having fans come up to you at signings, giggling, squealing, and shaking while telling you they can't believe they are meeting you.

Favorite song right now: Avril Lavigne-Smile

Last book you read for fun: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

So there you have it ~ if you're interested in learning more about Cindy and her books, check out her blog.

Happy Debut YA Book Birthday

While there are quite a few book birthdays this week, not many of them are from debut authors.  Personally, I'm excited about getting my hands on Days of Blood and Starlight (sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone).

But here's the interesting debut book of the week ~

COLIN FISHER by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz

SOLVING CRIME, ONE FACIAL EXPRESSION AT A TIME

Colin Fischer cannot stand to be touched. He does not like the color blue. He needs index cards to recognize facial expressions.

But when a gun is found in the school cafeteria, interrupting a female classmate's birthday celebration, Colin is the only one for the investigation. It's up to him to prove that Wayne Connelly, the school bully and Colin's frequent tormenter, didn't bring the gun to school. After all, Wayne didn't have frosting on his hands, and there was white chocolate frosting found on the grip of the smoking gun...

Colin Fischer is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, and his story--as told by the screenwriters of X-Men: First Class and Thor--is perfect for readers who have graduated from Encyclopedia Brown and who are ready to consider the greatest mystery of all: what other people are thinking and feeling.

"Colin Fischer is like an alien anthropologist stranded on Earth, with no choice but to master the local social codes and try to pass as human, or perish." --Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author of The Magicians
“Evok[es] Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time . . . Readers will be drawn into the mystery and intrigued by Colin’s vision of the world.” --PW