ALPHA GODDESS teaser + giveaway

Hardcover, 400 pages

Expected publication: March 4th 2014 by Sky Pony Press

In Serjana Caelum’s world, gods exist. So do goddesses. Sera knows this because she is one of them. A secret long concealed by her parents, Sera is Lakshmi reborn, the human avatar of an immortal Indian goddess rumored to control all the planes of existence. Marked by the sigils of both heaven and hell, Sera’s avatar is meant to bring balance to the mortal world, but all she creates is chaos. A chaos that Azrath, the Asura Lord of Death, hopes to use to unleash hell on earth.

Torn between reconciling her past and present, Sera must figure out how to stop Azrath before the Mortal Realm is destroyed. But trust doesn’t come easy in a world fissured by lies and betrayal. Her best friend Kyle is hiding his own dark secrets, and her mysterious new neighbor, Devendra, seems to know a lot more than he’s telling. Struggling between her opposing halves and her attraction to the boys tied to each of them, Sera must become the goddess she was meant to be, or risk failing, which means sacrificing the world she was born to protect.

"Dev grasped her hand and drew it over to him, running his thumb over the mark on her left palm. Sera felt her cheeks redden at his gentle touch. Something electric unfolded inside of her, and her vision tunneled into a memory. This time it was different, though, full of light instead of darkness.

A flutter of firelight from the magical little clay pots lit all around them . . . the discordant aching sounds of a sitar strumming in the background. It was a glorious display, a triumph of good over evil in celebration of their love. His kiss was light upon her cheek, his touch a gossamer caress. She spun in a slow circle, the light on her beloved’s face glowing from within him. She laughed because she was glowing, too."

Amalie Howard also has an upcoming release with HarlequinTeen on October 29th for her brand new series, the Aquarathi, WATERFELL. To celebrate the upcoming release she is hosting an EPIC giveaway! And we mean EPIC. Readers have THREE chances to win an iPad mini! Check out the post here on how you could win: www.AmalieHoward.com

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Seventeen Magazine Summer Club author Amalie Howard grew up on a small Caribbean island where she spent most of her childhood with her nose buried in a book or being a tomboy running around barefoot, shimmying up mango trees and dreaming of adventure. 22 countries, surfing with sharks and several tattoos later, she has traded in bungee jumping in China for writing the adventures she imagines instead. She isn’t entirely convinced which takes more guts. She currently resides in New York with her husband and three children.

She is the author of The Aquarathi series from Harlequin TEEN (Waterfell and Oceanborn), The Almost Girl from Strange Chemistry, Alpha Goddess from Sky Pony Press, and Bloodspell from Langdon Street Press. She is represented by the Liza Royce Agency. Visit her at www.amaliehoward.com or on Twitter (@AmalieHoward).

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Debut YA Book Birthdays

Well, I know I've been MIA (or perhaps AWOL) lately, but life has been busy, so there you go...

To get back into the spirit of things, let's celebrate some debut YA book birthdays!

TUMBLE & FALL by Alexandra Coutts

A novel about the end of days full of surprising beginnings

The world is living in the shadow of oncoming disaster. An asteroid is set to strike the earth in just one week’s time; catastrophe is unavoidable. The question isn’t how to save the world—the question is, what to do with the time that's left? Against this stark backdrop, three island teens wrestle with intertwining stories of love, friendship and family—all with the ultimate stakes at hand. 

Alexandra Coutts's TUMBLE & FALL is a powerful story of courage, love, and hope at the end of the world. 

THE BURNING SKY (The Elemental Series) by Sherry Thomas - her fame as come as a writer of adult romance, but this is her debut YA novel

Just before the start of Summer Half, in April 1883, a very minor event took place at Eton College, that venerable and illustrious English public school for boys. A sixteen-year-old pupil named Archer Fairfax returned from a three-month absence, caused by a fractured femur, to resume his education.

Almost every word in the preceding sentence is false. Archer Fairfax had not suffered a broken limb. He had never before set foot in Eton. His name was not Archer Fairfax. And he was not, in fact, even a he.

This is the story of a girl who fooled a thousand boys, a boy who fooled an entire country, a partnership that would change the fate of realms, and a power to challenge the greatest tyrant the world had ever known.

Expect magic.

And as an aside, I just finished The Raven Boys last weekend and pre-ordered The Dream Thieves, which comes out this week.  So even though it's a long ways away from Maggie Steifvater's debut book birthday, I have to give her a shout out (and squee) anyway.

What I've been reading lately

I have been devouring books these days... you read my review of DARKER DAYS by Jus Acardo.  But there have been a ton of other fun reads on my Kindle lately too.

Most of these are older, but if you haven't read them yet, I'd recommend them to you.  Here are my mini reviews for each.

PIVOT POINT by Kasie West

This book blew my mind just a little bit. It was so awesome and I couldn't wait to read it every night. I highly recommend this to any fan of YA literature. It has everything, from love to angst to danger and one great, big impossible choice.  (I know, it's not much of a review, but there aren't really words to describe how much I enjoyed watching the two alternate realities play out and how well they were woven together.)

WRECKLESS by Bria Quinlan

I enjoyed this fun, little read about a wall-flower coming out in a big way after being betrayed. Even though the story takes place over just one night, the character arc is pretty dramatic and liked watching the main character come into her own. I could understand why she had been hiding herself for so long, but it was nice to see her move forward too. I also enjoyed the male lead too. He had some baggage of his own, but a heart of (perhaps tarnished) gold.

THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Steifvater

I really enjoyed this story. It was hard for me to put down at night and go to sleep. I kept wanting to come back and see what would happen with the Raven Boys, Blue and their quest. The uniqueness and intrigue of the story really resonated with me. What I didn't like was how little was tied up at the end. I get that it's a series, but we get introduced at the very end to an entirely new plot line without any real resolution to biggest plot in this story. I docked it a star because of this. But, of course, I pre-ordered the next book, so I wasn't put off enough that I didn't still want to know what happened. Plus, Maggie's writing is beautiful. I love how she turns a phrase, as it were.

So, those are my short thoughts on each of these enjoyable books.  What have you read and loved lately?

Happy Book Birthday to A Missing Peace

My blogging buddy, Beth Fred, is celebrating her YA book birthday today for her new novel, A MISSING PEACE.  The reviews coming in on this book are fantastic!

A turbulent, emotionally charged YA novel that breaks down barriers and challenges the status quo...

Angry, seventeen-year-old Iraqi war refugee Mirriam Yohanna hates her new life in Killeen, Texas, where the main attraction is a military base, populated with spoiled army brats like Caleb Miller.

Caleb has much to be angry about too, including Mirriam who turns him down flat in front of everyone. Eager for retribution, Caleb agrees to a dare that will see him take Mirriam to the prom and regain his pride.

But their relationship soon moves beyond high school antics. Mirriam and Caleb are bound together by more than location, and as they are forced to work closely together on a school assignment, they start to uncover an explosive story that has the potential to ruin lives — and both of their futures. One single truth changes everything and strengthens their bond.

When Mirriam's family discovers their relationship, they decide it's time to arrange her marriage to a proper Iraqi man. Caleb must convince Mirriam that he is in it for forever — or risk losing her for good.

 To learn more about Beth, check out her blog.  You can get your copy of A MISSING PEACE today on Amazon (when I checked it was only $.99).

Ember Blog Tour & Review of DARKER DAYS (+ contest)

"Our fires burn brightly for our readers and as a way to say thanks to our readers we've launched our latest division of Entangled Teen and it's name is Ember. We have two exciting launch titles: Darker Days by Jus Accardo and Chaos by Christine O'Neil. Read away!" Entangled Teen Ember is a division of Entangled Teen that specializes in digital-first YAs.

Chaos by Christine O’Neil

My name is Maggie Raynard. After sixteen years being just plain me, suddenly, when I lose my temper, my fingers become weapons of mass destruction. Turns out I'm a semi-god, descended from Aphrodite. Sounds cool in theory, but when I accidentally put my ex-boyfriend in a coma, things go downhill pretty fast.

Now some new guy named Mac Finnegan has made it his mission in life to continually piss me off. I'm stuck learning how to use my new powers while also dealing with regular high school problems, and with this annoying and super-hot—guy all
up in my business, I'm about to flip out.

But it gets worse. I just learned there's this watchdog council of semis who keep an eye out for any bad apples. They think I'm the baddest one in the bunch and want to take me out before I do any more damage. My nemesis Mac might turn out to be my salvation, only he's got secrets of his own...and they may just kill us both.

Darker Days by Jus Accardo 

A little sin can be deadly...

Jessie Darker goes to high school during the day, but at night she helps with the family investigation business. 

Cheating husbands and stolen inheritances? They’re your girls—but their specialty is a bit darker. Zombie in your garage? Pesky Poltergeist living in your pool? They’ll have the problem solved in a magical minute. For a nominal fee, of course...

When gorgeous new client, Lukas Scott, saunters into the office requesting their help to find a stolen box, it sounds like a simple case—until the truth comes out. The box is full of Sin.

Seven deadly ones, in fact.

They’ve got five days to recapture the Sins before they're recalled by the box, taking seven hijacked human bodies with them. Easy peasy—except for one thing...

There’s a spell that will allow the Sins to remain free, causing chaos forever. When the key ingredient threatens the life of someone she knows, Jessie must make the ultimate choice between love and family—or lose everything.

REVIEW

I was given an ARC of Darker Days in exchange for my honest review.  This was my first Jus Accardo novel, but I "knew" her from #yalitchat and was really excited to dive in.  The synopsis sounded awesome!  And I wasn't disappointed.  From line 1, I knew I was going to like Accardo's writing style.

Jessie (awesome name, btw!) Darker takes teen snark to a whole new level.  This girl has a quip for everything and can't manage to keep her mouth shut unless a witch is forcing her to.  But it wasn't annoying at all.  Jessie just had that kick butt personality and when you're a teen, sometimes your only (or best) weapons are words.  Not that Jessie has a shortage of weapons, because when it comes to "monster mashing" (her term), she and her mom are on top of their game.  They take down zombies, possessed dogs, and any sort of Otherworlder that comes their way.

The book sort of reminded me of a teen version of Kim Harrison's The Hallow Series (starting with Dead Witch Walking).  Jessie is tough at nails even if not completely competent.  She's got a bit of a hidden power -- she's not a witch but her abilities are arguably cooler.  And there are a collection of cool paranormal creatures in the mix.

Perhaps the best paranormal creature is Lukas.  Sweet, yummy Lukas.  Lukas is full of Sin himself (at least it's not Lust), but he does a really good job of keeping his inner evil at bay (I can't tell you more than that without spoiling things). But the best part about Lukas is how at peace he is with his fate because just a small amount of time with Jessie has given him peace. Who doesn't want someone to love them like that?  Jessie and Lukas felt so star-crossed, it made me root for them even harder.

The plot was relatively complex, meaning I didn't guess precisely how the ending was going to come down.  That's a good thing!  And it certainly kept me flipping the pages.  It's action-packed and I never once felt bored or wanting the pace to move along more quickly.  But then again, with 7 deadly sins rampaging your town, there's never going to be a dull moment.

In short, if you like snappy dialog and a fast-moving plot with paranormal hotties and baddies, you won't want to miss Darker Days.  I'll be very interested to see where the next book in the series goes.

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