Wednesday, October 31, 2012

WWW Wednesdays #12 / Waiting on Wednesday #12: Pivot Point



To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?





Currently Reading:
Crewel by Gennifer Albin (Crewel World #1)
Seeing Crewel on my Currently Reading pile saddens me. A bit. Because with as wonderful book as this, I would've finished it in no time. The only two things that slows me in reading this are: (1) I'm reading it on my laptop. It's hard, really hard, to read here. I want to read it while lying on my bed instead. I can't read it from my phone because it doesn't support the file nor can't it support ADE. *sigh*; (2) Hectic! I'm so busy these days. Even if we're on a sem break. And it has nothing to do with Halloween. I swear.




I'm near the end and I'm enjoying it. Can't wait to find out what happens in the end! (Got an ebook copy from the author.)









Recently Finished:
(Hundred Oaks #2)
I only borrowed this one. I'm not sure when the review will be up coz I've got tons scheduled already. But I got accepted for the book tour of Things I Can't Forget (Hundred Oaks #3), I'll be posting it sooner.

Anyway, did you noticed? The trilogy(?)'s got a name! Hundred Oaks. :)
Well, if you're a fan of Miranda and have read Catching Jordan and SP, you might have. ;)


Read Next:
Since I'm changing books to read, I don't want to set a word (or a title, rather). BUT..if I would, I'd pick The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. :) I honestly can't wait to read this one. I HOPE I would be reading it soon. I'm so lucky to have a hardcover from the giveaway I won last month(?). :D

















"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, originally started by Jill at Breaking the Spine , that highlights upcoming book releases everyone is waiting on...hence the title.












Pivot Point
by Kasie West
(Pivot Point #1)

February 12th 2013 by HarperTeen

Summary (Goodreads):


Addison Coleman's life is one big "What if?" As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It's the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie's parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with–her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the "Norms," or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it's not.


In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school–but she never wanted to be a quarterback's girlfriend. When Addie's father is asked to consult on a murder in the compound, she's unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she's willing to live through...and who she can't live without.

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I want this. Because it looks sooo good (the sypnosis and cover). And, could you head over Goodreads now? First few reviews are consecutive 5-stars. Wouldn't you want to read a book that good? I'd like to start my year with amazing new books, new series. I feature them here on my WoWs and hopefully get my hands on them. Have them. Own them. (I WISH.) Oh, HarperTeen, let me have an ARC! >.<


Anyways, what books you've got on your list this week? Please leave your links below! :)
Happy Halloween!!!




Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Book Review: Wingless by Cydney Lawson

Wingless by Cydney Lawson, paperback edition book cover

Wingless
by Cydney Lawson

Series: Wingless #1
Genre: YA, paranormal, urban fantasy, sci-fi, romance
Editions available: Paperback, ebook, Kindle
Date published: March 6, 2011
Source: author
Rating:


Summary (Goodreads):

Charlie thought his summer was going to end like every other summer before it. With a growing sense of forboding and a waning sense of freedom. Until Tane landed on his front lawn in a crumpled heap claiming to be from heaven. A place much darker and much greater than he’d ever imagined. Tane is on a mission to find a Septar, a citizen of Fismuth that was left behind when she was supposed to have been taken. And when she enlists the help of Charlie and his friends, she pulls them into a world of danger, love, and ultimately, heavenly rewards.

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My Thoughts:

As the title says it: Wingless. This book is not about angels. But they do come from Heaven. Who landed--practically landed--on Earth. Tane, a not-angel-but-Fismuthian girl has landed from Heaven to Earth to retrieve the Septar. A Fismuthian as well.

I don't quite get the story at first but eventually I've understood it. The next chapter (and a different POV) was fun (and funny) that hooked me up right away. The world building was well-thought, the characters are pretty cool but I was hoping for more action. More unforgettable scenes like the near-end and ending have.

I can really say that this is a good book. It was fun and new and mysterious and well-written. The ending was so amazing that made me want to read the next book. I must say that I'm really impressed with Cydney Lawson's debut book. The only thing I want to demand was..more

Recommendations:
For everyone who loves reading paranormal, urban fantasy (and every where this book's genre landed). Try this if you're feeling like you've had enough of angels. Good for your pre-Halloween!

Book cover comment/s:
I don't think the feathers matters coz it's already on the title itself: Wingless.


Thank you so much to the author, Cydney Lawson for providing me an ebook copy of Wingless.



Saturday, October 27, 2012

Blog Tour (Review + Guest Post + Giveaway): Stitch by Samantha Durante

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Stitch by Samantha Durante, paperback edition book cover

Stitch
by Samantha Durante

Series: Stitch #1
Genre: YA, new adult, dystopian, sci-fi, romance, paranormal
Editions available: Paperback, ebook, Kindle
Date published: August 1, 2012
Publisher: Samantha Durante
Source: author
Buy: AmazonBarnes & Noble
iconIndieboundiTunesSmashwords
Rating:



Summary (Goodreads):

Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa's body screams at her to run... but yet she's powerless to move.

Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees - and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell - Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.

Because what Alessa hasn't figured out yet is that she's not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university's idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface...

The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.

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My Thoughts:

Can I first tell you how lucky I am to be part of this tour? This tour is hosted by the author herself, Samantha Durante. I've got an event invitation from Goodreads and I checked out the book before signing in. I saw that it has very nice feedback from the readers, the sypnosis is intriguing and it caught my interest. Man, they were right. Glad I signed up.

The book started with a mystery that made my heart pound. Already. I was instantly in love with it. The first chapter confuses me because it jumped to a world different from the prologue. I thought the author had got it wrong. But I kept reading, because I wanted to find out.

I was beginning to worry because the world from the prologue didn't came back. I'm like, Was I reading the wrong book? But that's impossible, of course. And then a revelation came up halfway through the book and I. Was. Not. Prepared. I was shocked, you could say that. And I almost screamed, Ohmygod. This is SO good! But really, it is.

Stitch took a big swerve and turned to be a book I wasn't expecting. The world and story building is just so good and it keeps me wanting more. Though there are few things that I didn't quite grew fond of. The third POV is fine but I hope it has less narration and more scenes/events/talking for the characters. I also want to learn more about the characters and their world.

Just like this book having several genres, it also offers you a lot of ingredients such as a feeling of thriller and mystery, amazing sci-fi world and sweet romance. I would definitely wanted to find out what will happen next on the second installment of the trilogy, Shudder. I feel like I will be getting more answers and more heart-stopping scenes from the promise it made on the ending of Stitch

Recommendations:

For everyone who likes dystopian-sci-fi-paranormal-romance read. You should really try this.

Book cover comment/s:

I think it was amazing. I loved the emphasis made to their green and blue eyes. I thought it would caught anyone's own eyes.

***

For the guest post, I asked author Samantha Durante if she can tell why she chose the Stitch's genre on her first book. And look at the irony, there are two of us bloggers who is scheduled for the tour stop today--and we have asked the same thing (genre) for the guest post. Samantha talks about why she chose dystopian here, while she discusses why she chose paranormal to Stephanie @ A Dream Within A Dream. Check it also out!

Why I Chose Dystopian by Samantha Durante, author of Stitch

Thanks so much to Michelle for hosting the Stitch Blog Tour today! I’m so excited to be here and to share a little about why I chose to write Stitch – my very first book – in the dystopian genre.

There are literally HUNDREDS of book genres to choose from, but when I started coming up
with ideas for Stitch, there were only two that I knew right away Stitch might fall into: paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi. (And in fact, I wasn’t able to choose just one, so it’s actually a little bit of both!)

Dystopian stories have been incredibly popular lately, particularly in the young adult market (see: Hunger Games, Divergent, Pandemonium, etc.). And though I didn’t realize it until I discovered all these new dystopian series recently, I’ve always been drawn to dystopian settings – The Giver, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 were some of my favorite books as a kid. So this begs the question of what exactly it is about dystopian books that’s got me and all these other readers so excited.

And after giving it some thought, I think it comes down to a few factors: uncertainty, morality, and hope.

1. Uncertainty. We’ve all seen the news reports the past couple years – between the economy, the environment, and the unending global violence, it’s pretty obvious: our world is on a downward spiral. At least, it certainly feels like that sometimes. And when you look into the future and it’s all of a sudden unclear where things are going, it gets you thinking: what if things actually got worse? Like, much worse? What would it be like? Am I prepared? Could I survive?

2. Morality. So the media has got us down on ourselves and wondering if our civilization can
even make it, and as soon as you open that can of worms, all kind of difficult questions present themselves. What would I do to survive? With limited resources, how do you decide who gets to survive? Who makes that decision? What happens if I don’t like the answers to these questions? How could I do things differently? But am I any more qualified to come up with answers than the next guy? We all know what’s right and wrong in the normal day-to-day but what happens when the world gets turned on its head? Do the rules change?

3. Hope. And I think this is really the crux of the whole dystopian genre – when the world ends, and everything is terrible, and you’re forced to do things you don’t even want to think about just to keep on living, what do you have left? Hope. Only hope.

I think this is a fundamental feature of human beings – that inner optimism, the ability to remind ourselves that there’s something out there worth living for even when our world crumbles beyond our wildest nightmares. So we start thinking about how we can solve the problem – how would I structure our society to make something better? What could I change that would create a better outcome? After all, every dystopia is just a failed utopia – someone’s unsuccessful attempt at making the world a better place. So dystopian books force us to ask ourselves what we would have done differently, and thereby tap into that inner well of hopefulness, that unbreakable conviction that somewhere there is a right answer, even if we haven’t figured it out yet.

For me, dystopian books are all about the “What If,” and that’s a game I love to play. So with the Stitch trilogy, we’ll get to play “What If” through (the protagonist) Alessa’s eyes – to see how she answers these questions, how far she’s willing to go, and what factors will push her to bend her own rules. And as we watch Alessa struggle to find her place in a transitioning society, we get to ask ourselves: what would I do?


***

About the Author:

Samantha Durante lives in New York City with her husband, Sudeep, and her cat, Gio. Formerly an engineer at Microsoft, Samantha left the world of software in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and a lifelong love of writing. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology, Samantha is currently working full time for her company Medley Media Associates as a freelance business writer and communications consultant. Stitch is her first novel. Learn more about Samantha at www.samanthadurante.com.



Social Media Links:
Facebook:

Goodreads:

LibraryThing:

Shelfari:


GIVEAWAY!
-open internationally (!)
- 1 winner will receive ebook copy of Stitch (winner's choice of format)
- ends December 2nd







Friday, October 26, 2012

Feature & Follow #11

I'm back in Feature and Follow!!! YES! I've been absent with this Friday meme for a couple of weeks due to my busy schedule in school and blogging. Okay, now you can scroll down to for the question of the week and my answer. :D



Q: What writing device or trick most irritates you when reading a book? For example, if an author employs an omnipotent narrator that is sometimes considered bad form.

A: There wasn't really things that irritates me when reading a book. I guess they only make me feel one step away from the book I'm reading, and it just...saddens me. Especially if I can see the book a lot of potential or is just really good.

One is when on the very beginning of book, the female protagonist expresses her obsession on this guy. Even if that's the guy she'll end up with or it is, indeed, a love story, it always made my face turn into like sour one--especially if since beginning up to the end--all throughout the book, she's obsessing this guy. Um, can't she have a life?

Next up is having third POV yet throughout the book, the scenes are focused only on one character. I think the connection between the reader and the main character loses with this. Third POV is fine if the scenes and the character focus changes every now and then. We'd understand that.

Another thing that bothers me is when I can predict a book. I hate it when I always do. I don't like it when I know what will happen next, or what'll be the ending, or who is who. Most especially when I'm still in the middle of the book. I want surprises, I want new, I love guessing. It's such a great feeling when after reading that book you feel contented because it didn't just reach your expectations--it goes beyond it.


How about you, what bothers or irritates you when reading a book? Share your thoughts below on the comments section if you're not a blogger. If you are, please leave me your links! And oh, since this is Feature and FOLLOW, I'd like to be followed via GFC. And if you're that generous enough or you liked my stuff, follow via email/RSS. THANK YOU! I follow back. Just tell me everything below. :)

T.G.I.F!

P.S
Don't forget to hop on the other blogs!





Wednesday, October 24, 2012

WWW Wednesdays #11 / Waiting on Wednesday #11: Dualed




To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?






Currently Reading:
Duplicity by Nikki Jefford
(Spellbound #2)
- ebook gift from the author!









Recently Finished:
Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover
(Slammed #2)
- e-ARC from Netgalley. I'm not sure yet with the review date, but it will be soon!
Stitch by Samantha Durante
(Stitch #1)
- paperback copy from the author for blog tour. Check out my review, guest post and giveaway on the tour stop, October 27th (Saturday)! ;)



Read Next:
Since I've been, once again, changing books to read, I started and finished Point of Retreat last week and hasn't picked Crewel by Gennifer Albin yet. So this time, I'm gonna read it. And no, I'm not changing books again. Well, at least for this week. XD











"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, originally started by Jill at Breaking the Spine , that highlights upcoming book releases everyone is waiting on...hence the title.







Dualed
(Dualed #1)
by Elsie Chapman

Expected publication: February 26, 2013
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Summary (Goodreads):


You or your Alt? Only one will survive.

The city of Kersh is a safe haven, but the price of safety is high. Everyone has a genetic Alternate—a twin raised by another family—and citizens must prove their worth by eliminating their Alts before their twentieth birthday. Survival means advanced schooling, a good job, marriage—life.

Fifteen-year-old West Grayer has trained as a fighter, preparing for the day when her assignment arrives and she will have one month to hunt down and kill her Alt. But then a tragic misstep shakes West’s confidence. Stricken with grief and guilt, she’s no longer certain that she’s the best version of herself, the version worthy of a future. If she is to have any chance of winning, she must stop running not only from her Alt, but also from love . . . though both have the power to destroy her.

Elsie Chapman's suspenseful YA debut weaves unexpected romance into a novel full of fast-paced action and thought-provoking philosophy. When the story ends, discussions will begin about this future society where every adult is a murderer and every child knows there is another out there who just might be better.


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"Elsie Chapman's suspenseful YA debut weaves unexpected romance into a novel full of fast-paced action and thought-provoking philosophy." - I'm so ready to start my 2013 with a bang. Hopefully I could get this book soon as I can. Not the year the second book will be published. XD

What books are on your list? Don't forget to leave your links below! If you're not a blogger, you can still tell me which books are on your list. Happy Wednesday, everyone! :)




Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Blog Tour + Giveaway: Matt Archer: Monster Hunter by Kendra C. Highley

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Matt Archer: Monster Hunter
by Kendra C. Highley

Series: Matt Archer #1
Editions available: Paperback, ebook
Date published: August 18, 2012
Publisher: Kendra C. Highley


Summary (Goodreads):

Fourteen-year-old Matt Archer spends his days studying Algebra, hanging out with his best friend and crushing on the Goddess of Greenhill High, Ella Mitchell. To be honest, he thinks his life is pretty lame until he discovers something terrifying on a weekend camping trip at the local state park. 

Monsters are real. And living in his backyard. 

But that's not the half of it. After Matt is forced to kill a strange creature to save his uncle, he finds out that the weird knife he took from his uncle's bag has a secret, one that will change Matt's life. The knife was designed with one purpose: to hunt monsters. And it's chosen Matt as its wielder. 

Now Matt's part of a world he didn't know existed, working with a covert military unit dedicated to eliminating walking nightmares. Faced with a prophecy about a looming dark war, Matt soon realizes his upcoming Algebra test is the least of his worries. 

His new double life leaves Matt wondering which is tougher: hunting monsters or asking Ella Mitchell for a date?


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Buy Matt Archer: Monster Hunter now!



icon
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Indiebound




***
Guest post from the author, Kendra C. Highley



Boys Read, Too
      As a writer of YA fiction, it always frustrates me when I hear a fourteen-year-old guy say, “I don’t read.” It frustrates me more when I ask him why and he says, “’cause all those books in the teen section have girls in fancy dresses on the cover.” 
“All those books” is a wee bit of teen hyperbole of course--the cover for The Hunger Games is about as non-gender specific as you can get--but it speaks to a bigger problem we have in YA today: boys don’t think YA fiction is written for them. The thing is, they’re wrong, but they don’t see it because at Barnes & Noble, most of the “cover out” books in the teen section have pretty girls in fancy dresses on the front. 
     And here’s the real pity: Big-6 publishers are acquiring fewer and fewer YA novels with male main characters (or those that might be considered “boy-focused”). A number of editors and agents I follow online have made statements to that fact, primarily because “girl-focused” YA sells better. I understand publishing is a business--absolutely. My day job is in corporate America, and I get that profits matter. I just worry about this prevalent belief that boys don’t
read. My middle-school aged son reads six to eight hours a week, and I’d love it if he becomes a lifelong reader. Unfortunately, it’s getting harder and harder to find age-appropriate books that hold his interest. 
      But it’s more than that. I worry the belief that “boys don’t read” leads to fewer books targeted at boys, who then quit reading due to lack of content. What’s the chicken, and what’s the egg? 
     To combat this notion, I often show up at the high school youth group I sponsor with mental lists of books to suggest to the students. When the guys roll their eyes about reading, I point them toward Ender’s Game or Leviathan. A lot of times, they come back asking for more book suggestions. It’s not hard to encourage boys to read more; it’s really just a matter of knowing where to look for books that hit home. Once the guys are sent in the right direction, they’ll
mysteriously start reading again. And that’s awesome.

***

About the Author:
Kendra C. Highley lives in north Texas with her husband and two children. She also serves as staff to two self-important and high-powered cats. This, according to the cats, is her most important job. She believes chocolate is a basic human right, running a 10k is harder than it sounds, and that everyone should learn to drive a stick-shift. She loves monsters, vacations, baking and listening to bad electronica.

Website:
http://www.kendrachighley.com
Twitter:
@KendraHighley


GIVEAWAY!

Grand prize is a Nook Simple Touch and a $25 B&N card plus a paperback copy of Matt Archer: Monster Hunter. (US only)
(3) 1st place winners get a $10 Amazon Card plus a paperback copy of Matt Archer: Monster Hunter. (Open Internationally)



a Rafflecopter giveaway








Sunday, October 21, 2012

Book Feature: The Lure of Shapinsay by Krista Holle



The Lure of Shapinsay
by Krista Holle

Genre: Paranormal, romance, new adult
Editions available: Paperback, Kindle, ebook
Date published: December 16, 2011
Publisher: Sweet River Romance

Summary (Goodreads):

Ever since Kait Swanney could remember, the old crones of the village have been warning her to stay away from the selkies. They claim that like sirens of old, the seal men creep from the inky waters, shed their skins, and entice women to their deaths beneath the North Sea. But avoiding an encounter becomes impossible when Kait is spotted at the water’s edge, moments after the murder of a half-selkie infant. 

Unexpectedly, Kait is awoken by a beautiful, selkie man seeking revenge. After she declares her innocence, the intruder darts into the night, but not before inadvertently bewitching her with an overpowering lure. 

Kait obsesses over a reunion deep beneath the bay and risks her own life to be reunited with her selkie. But when she lands the dangerous lover, the chaos that follows leaves Kait little time to wonder—is it love setting her on fire or has she simply been lured?

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Trailer:


Excerpt:


     A hand slid over my mouth and stifled my scream before I was even fully awake. When my eyes sprung open, I was ready to be filled with the image of a most ghastly villain, but instead it was forewarned magick that filled my eyes, and I was filled with awe. A man in the lightest sense of the word, loomed over me with eyes so wide and feral, I thought he might howl to the moon. His words came out rough and breathy. “If you make a sound, I’ll snap your scrawny neck.”
     The sensible fear one should first feel when they are first assaulted, oozed reluctantly into me, and my eyes strained towards the darkened bedroom. Wake up, Blair. 
     “He sleeps like the dead,” the selkie hissed as if he read my mind. 
     Oh, bloody, bloody, the fire had done no good at all. I silently cursed my ignorance and Blair’s lame advice. The man above me was pearly white and as naked as the day he was born. Even in the blushing light of a dying fire, I could see the smooth skin of his chest and the tiny folds at his tight stomach as he curled over me. It was instantly clear why the women in the village laughed when I asked how I might recognize a selkie man. He would wear a lein and trousers no more than a fish. 
     The selkie man slipped his hand from my mouth then sniffed his palm. 
     “What?” I squeaked. 
     His dark eyes turned on me with such wildness and intensity; I believed his promise to break my neck. I pressed my lips together too frightened to move, but also mesmerized by the extraordinary sight of him—a wildebeest about to be eaten by a majestic lion. I was frightened—wasn’t I?
***

Visit Krista Holle: http://kristaholle.blogspot.com/

BUY THE LURE OF SHAPINSAY NOW!








Saturday, October 20, 2012

Blog Tour + Giveaway: Elemental series by Shauna Granger

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Click here for the complete blog tour schedule, hosted by YA Bound.



Earth
(Elemental #1)

Editions available: Paperback, Kindle, ebook
Date published: May 1, 2011

Summary (Goodreads):

Shayna and her two best friends have the abilities to manipulate and control the four elements, earth, air, water and fire. While learning to hone their growing powers, they discover a new and malicious presence in their sleepy beach town. Someone is performing blood magic and threatens to expose their small magical community. So far only small animals have been slaughtered, but then the nightmares start. 

Shayna suffers nightmares of being chased and sacrificed only to wake up bloodied and bruised. She thinks her magical blood is the ultimate target for the final blood rite. When an innocent girl, Tracy, is kidnapped Shayna knows it's only a ploy to draw her out; she can't let someone die because of her.

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BUY EARTH NOW!




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Air
(Elemental #2)

Editions available: Paperback, Kindle, ebook
Date published: October 31, 2011

Summary (Goodreads):
It was a rough start to the school year for Shayna and her friends, Jodi and Steven, but thankfully summer break is near. Trying to sort out her feelings for the new guy in town, Shayna agrees to let Jensen join her on a group date with her friends. While out they end up at a local coffee house where their classmate, social outcast Jeremy McCormick, is humiliated by his baseball star brother. When Jeremy runs away from the jeering crowd, Shayna and Jodi hear the unmistakable sound of a thousand wings chasing after him, but no one else seems to hear them. These are not like any air elementals that Shayna or Jodi have ever encountered before and they fear Jeremy has gotten himself tangled up in something too dangerous for him to handle. But when Shayna tries to help Jeremy control his magical abilities she realizes it might be the biggest mistake of her life.

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BUY AIR NOW!




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Water
(Elemental #3)

Date published: June 19, 2012
Editions available: Paperback, ebook

Summary (Goodreads):


Shayna's first surfing session of the summer is interrupted by the screams of a mother who has lost her little boy in the water. Without regard to her own safety, Shayna swims out, rescues the boy, but must escape the clutches of something far worse than she could have ever imagined – mermaids.

Compelled to answer the sirens' call, the boys of Shayna's town are drawn to the sea, but when they return are afflicted by an unknown illness, a sickness which is draining them of their life force. Unable to tell anyone about the mermaids, Shayna and her friends are forced to solve the mystery before it's too late, and in doing so, Shayna will finally have to face the full force of her powers. Whether she’s ready or not, she will have to face her true nature.


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BUY WATER NOW!


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Fire (Elemental #4) - coming soon!


Ten Facts about the Elemental Series


1. The entire series is set in and around Ventura, California. Ventura is a real town, where I now live that is about an hour north of Los Angeles.
2. The ehaoehaoThe high school the characters go to is entirely fictional. It is in fact kind of a mash up of all the high schools in the county, including the one I went to in a neighboring city.
3. Most of the teachers mentioned in the books are based on my own high school teachers.
4. Steven’s middle name is Ignacio which is derived from the phrase “to burn” in Spanish.
5. While Shayna can make up and write spells, neither Jodi nor Steven possess that ability.
6. Shayna gets her empathetic abilities from her maternal grandmother but she gets
her elemental powers from her maternal grandfather who was a “water witch” in
life.
7. Steven gets his elemental power from his maternal great-grandfather though no one
else in the family knew he had any special abilities because he kept them secret for
fear of being accused of witchcraft in his small village in Mexico.
8. Jodi gets her elemental powers from her paternal grandmother, for whom she is
named, however she died before Jodi was born and therefore could not teach her
how to use her powers.
9. Shayna’s mother has the gift of Taro Card reading; however her gift was so strong
that she once saw the death of someone she knew. It frightened her so much she
packed her cards away and refused to ever read them again.
10. Shayna can cause earthquakes when she has a huge emotional upheaval, which is
why her first earthquake occurred when she was born. Jodi’s emotions will lash
out in gusts of winds and bolts of lighting, she can even harness lightning in storms
if she concentrates. Steven’s emotions culminate in wild fire, living where they do;
he has to be especially of this because due to the ever constant Southern California
droughts, making the landscape pure kindling during the summer and autumn.


About the Author:
I don't do well talking about myself. So as basics go, I have recently self-published the first two books in my Elemental Series, Earth and Air, Young Adult Urban Fantasy novels. Look for the third installment, Water, coming in 2012!

I have been working on the Elemental Series for the last four years and plan for it to be a 5 book series. It was a hard decision to self-publish but it's been an exciting and terrifying ride. 

You can find me on Facebook:

And to my readers (or fans of my covers), I have beautiful bookmarks that I would love to share with you. If you'd like one, drop me a note with your contact info and I'd be happy to send you one!

Author Links:


GIVEAWAY!
- signed copy of each paperback (Earth, Air, Water) and a matching bookmark for each, mini Jack-o-lantern and an awesome, sparkly candle (electric) and some fun Halloween treats that include candy, stickers and copy of one Shauna's favorite Halloween movies, Monster House. (US only)
- 3 other winners will also receive a ebook from the series, winner’s choice from Earth, Air or Water.  (Open Internationally)