Blog Tour [Review & Giveaway]: Addicted For Now by Krista & Becca Ritchie

Tour stop of Addicted For Now by Krista & Becca Ritchie! This stop is supposed to be a review stop. But as I am still reading it... I'll give you my insight about the book.

Title: Addicted For Now
Series: Addicted #2
Author: Krista & Becca Ritchie
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, Abuse
Release Date: 30th November 2013
Rating: 
Review Copy: Blog Tour @ YA Bound Book Tours
Book Blurb:

He's addicted to booze. She's addicted to sex...staying sober is only half the battle.

No. More. Sex. 

Those are the three words Lily Calloway fears the most. But Loren Hale is determined to be with Lily without enabling her dangerous compulsions. With their new living situation—sleeping in the same bed, for real, together—Lily has new battles. Like not jumping Lo’s bones every night. Not being consumed by sex and his body.

Loren plans to stay sober, to right all of his wrongs. So when someone threatens to expose Lily’s secret to her family and the public, he promises that he’ll do anything to protect her. But with old enemies surfacing, Lo has more at stake than his sobriety.

They will torment Lily until Lo breaks. 

And his worst fear isn’t relapsing. He hears the end. He sees it. The one thing that could change everything. Just three words. 

No. More. Us. 

New Adult Romance recommended for readers 18+ for mature content

REVIEW
*Thank you for the review copy YA Bound Book Tours!*

For now, I'll talk about this book based on the 30% or so I have read. Let me first explain as to why I'm not yet done with it... I didn't expect it to be this long. And I thought I could do finish it in two days but well, I have not. I started on Monday but I'm still not done. Add the workload I got for the past days. I do work and I didn't just expect the Ricochet novella to be long too. :o I thought it'll be less 150 pages. But it neared to 300. Anyway. Long story short, I think I'll be done with it by tomorrow or early Friday.

I can't say that I love the story. I mean, it's not bad. Ugh. I can't seem to phrase it correctly. Okay.. Let's try again... The way it was written is so good that I had an epiphany that THIS is how an addict are. THIS IS ADDICTION. It is NOT easily removed into your system, especially if you did it for years.

I liked that they TRY their damnest to battle their own addiction. I know it is hard but they just have to keep on trying. I love how supportive their friends are. I love Rose and Connor, two power couple. I enjoyed reading their intellectual battles. I feel like Lily whenever she looks at those two couple. :P I am rooting for them too!

Now, I'm off to read some more! Will do a full review soon!!! Thank you!

EDIT (12.22.13):

I loved this book. It makes me smile, laugh, smirk, angry and bawled like a baby. This was written beautifully. All the right words was said without making it cliché. I do believe that this is how addicts act. I love that it is real. Lily and Lo struggled to get past their addiction. It is most especially hard for Lily. I get them. And I love them for trying their best to do the right thing. Also, I liked the way the authors made their characters. Lily and Lo are growing to be good persons. 

You know, I do not think that Jonathan Hale is that bad, actually. I know what Ryke says about him but thinking about it, I do think, like Lo, Jonathan Hale loves him in his own f**ked up way. It might not be right but that was the only way Jonathan knows how to show it. So yes, I don't see him as a big bad monster, really. Cause at the end of the day, if Lo really needs him, he'll be there. Well except in dealing the alcoholic thingy.

I am so looking forward to reading Rose and Connor's story. :) Those power couple is really something. Loved Rose! :)

Definitely a MUST READ book. :)

PURCHASE LINKS

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Becca Ritchie is a carnivore of pop culture, television, film and of course YA and NA books. While in college, she worked at The CW television network and put her vampiric knowledge to good use, blogging about hit series and swooning over actors’ abs. When she’s not blogging, she writes novels and has teamed up with her twin sister for their New Adult novel ADDICTED TO YOU. Available July of 2013.
Krista Ritchie is the mind behind popular trading website YA Book Exchange and created Nawanda Files, a book blog that also features books into movies news. When not pouring over entertainment news and the newest releases, she spends her time conducting research in a genetics lab. She’s happy to join forces with her sister, harnessing their twin powers to produce the first in a New Adult series.

Author Website│Nawanda Files│YA Book Exchange

Becca’s Links:

Goodreads│Twitter

Krista’s Links:

Goodreads│Twitter

***GIVEAWAY***
1 - $25 Amazon Gift Card, Paperback copies of Addicted to You and Addicted for Now (Open Internationally)

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Blog Tour [Review & Giveaway]: Crystal Fire by Jordan Dane

Welcome to my tour stop of Crystal Fire by Jordan Dane~! This is the second book of her series, The Hunted. I have read the first one this year and reviewed it in my other blog, Ramblings of a YA Reader. Please take a look if you are interested. :)

Title: Crystal Fire
Series: The Hunted #2
Author: Jordan Dane
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Release Date: 26th November 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Rating: 
Review Copy: NetGalley & YA Bound Book Tours
Book Blurb:

Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.

A storm is brewing on the streets of LA, one that has intensified since a tragic and deadly confrontation claimed an innocent life.

While Gabriel Stewart trains his army of teen psychics to stop Alexander Reese--the obsessed leader of the Believers--the fanatical church becomes more bent on the annihilation of all Indigo and Crystal children. They're silencing the voices of the telepathic hive, one soul at a time, with frightening experiments cruelly executed on vulnerable minds.

When the Believers torture a mysterious homeless boy, Oliver Blue, they brainwash him into betraying his own. The boy becomes a deadly pawn to take Gabriel down. As the fires of chaos burn around him, Gabe is running out of time. He'll need to confront his past--and the man who made him--before the hope of peace for the future is silenced forever.

*Thank you for the ARC copy NetGalley and YA Bound! :)* 

This is a huge step up for me. I rated the first one 3 stars but for this I gave it a 4 stars. I quite liked it. It makes me feel on edge. Wanting to know what will happen next, I need to keep on reading it. I need to understand why they did what they did. 

I started to like the multiple POV. I got glimpse of each main characters. I see Oliver Blue, Calia, Gabe, Rayne, Lucas, Rafe and Kendra. They each got their own baggage. We know that being an Indigo kid, they faced hardship, from their own parents and from the Church who doesn't stop hunting them. I was introduced to that hardship they have experienced.

The story actually continue where it left off. Maybe some weeks after or so. Gabe was training the Indigo kids for the soon-to-be battle with the Church. I love that one lesson they got. It's like in Harry Potter where he needs to defend his mind from Voldemort and therefore Dumbledore had Snape teach him Occlumency/Legilimency. The difference is that the defender wouldn't know what memory did the attacker see. We all know that if Legilimens was used against you, you'll see the memory the attacker saw. I liked that part in Crystal Fire too. Especially for Lucas and Gabe's training. 

I also liked the new characters the author, Jordan Dane, introduced to us. Like the first book, in Crystal Fire, Gabe and the others crossed paths with Oliver Blue. And that the ending for Caila was liked that. I do think she deserved it too and it was the right thing to do. 

I spilled a bit of tears too. When it was time for Rafe's POV and he met someone. You'll know what I was talking about if you read the book too. It's just heartbreaking. And the ending? I honestly thought that it this will be a two book series. But I guess the root of the cause is not yet eradicated. So yes, it is not yet over. But I liked the ending. More are coming.

PURCHASE LINKS

  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Jordan Dane’s gritty romantic thrillers are ripped from the headlines with vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense novels to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag, naming her debut novel NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM as Best Books of 2008. She also pens young-adult novels for Harlequin Teen. Formerly an energy sales manager, she now writes full time. Jordan and her husband share their Texas residence with two lucky rescue dogs.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Blog

GIVEAWAY
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Sizzlin Summer Giveaway Event: Guest Post featuring Andrea Heltsley

Welcome to the Sizzling Summer Giveaway hosted by YA Bound Tours, featuring over 50 authors.  You can check out the participating authors and blogs here.  The giveaway is for two Kindle Fires with the giveaway packs listed below.

My stop features the author, Andrea Heltsley and her book, Dancing with Deception.

Blog Tour + Giveaway: Nearly Broken by Devon Ashley

Welcome to my stop on the Nearly Broken blog tour hosted by YA Bound Book Tours. Click HERE to see the full blog tour schedule!

Title: Nearly Broken

Author: Devon Ashley

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, Abuse

Release Date: 4th June 2013

Rating: 

Review Copy: Devon Ashley (YA Bound Book Tour)

Book Blurb from Goodreads:

We’d both gone missing at one point, but Claire had one thing I didn’t. Someone to notice. So why was I the one still here and she the one still gone?
Nineteen year old Megan Smith has spent the past year working in a small town diner in the middle of nowhere. Life is quiet, simple, safe. Then comes the news that her look-a-like has gone missing.
Claire.
Still damaged both physically and mentally, Megan's not looking to be noticed. Wherever she goes from here, it's a road she needs to take alone. But when Nickolas Ellis takes the job as the new nightshift cook, it scares her how easily her defenses crumble down, down, down for him. But there are secrets she can't bear to share with just anyone, unspeakable acts that continue to haunt, and when the similarities of Claire’s abduction couples with the fear of an unwanted visitor in town, the urge to run before it all happens again intensifies, threatening the only happiness Megan's ever found.
New Adult Romantic Suspense / Realistic Fiction
Recommended for 17+ for mature and disturbing situations, language and sexual content.

REVIEW:

I didn't really expect anything from this book. I just started reading it because July 22nd was just around the block. So when I did, I was hooked. I wanted to know the whys. All the whys surrounding Megan. Why is she hiding. Why is she scared. Why does she kept to herself. Why does she have all those physical deformation. Did she do it herself? I was under the impression that she did. But of course, I don't, will not say if what I thought about was right. You have to find it for yourself.

This book got such a gripping story that I can't help myself but cry. It's not only a one time cry. Every damn scene, every time she relive her past, when she spilled it all, I got so teary eyed. I have to stop myself for a minute before continuing it. It's so intense that I could somehow feel what Megan's feeling.

When she reconnects, I feel happy for her that I got tears again in my eyes. I love how it was written. Love how Devon Ashley created this world. I know. This is fiction. It might not be realistic enough for other readers, but it was for me. I could feel all the emotions Ashley hope a reader could feel. I am happy, sad, devastated for them, for the life stolen from her and her loved ones. 

Ashley created a world that a lot of people didn't really thought about too much. I mean, yes, there are lots of news about it all over the world, but do we really did something to help? To take notice? I could say yeah, I did when it was on news and then I forget about it. I like how the author make us see what the families of those persons who got abducted, feel when their loved ones went missing one day. It makes my heart shatter for all those families. For the families that never gave up, never loses their hope of one day, they might find them again.

My only complaint would be how it was on the climax. I mean, I didn't like it that much on how it was created. It might be necessary but I just don't want her to be that way again. Or in this case, much more. :( But overall, I do like it a lot. 

Will I recommend it to other readers? YES, but only for readers who is mature enough to read this kind of story.

BUY IT AT:

   

*ABOUT THE AUTHOR*

Devon Ashley was born in Huntington Beach but has spent most of her life residing in Texas. She spends a great deal of her time taking care of her husband and son but always seems to find time to write, knit and create unique decorative pieces. She particularly likes to write Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance.

Interesting Fact: Devon Ashley shares her birthday with her favorite author, Jane Austen.

  

*GIVEAWAY*

2 signed paperbacks and 2 e-books (epub or mobi) of Nearly Broken, open Internationally!

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Book Blitz + Giveaway: Endure by Laura Diamond

Title: Endure (Book One of the Endure Series)

Author: Laura Diamond

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Release Date: 12th July 2013

Book Blurb from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Justin's anemic blood is a blessing. Or a curse. It all depends on who you ask. 

To most of the immortal Vie, his blood is a scourge: untouchable and useless. To some Vie, his blood is a drug. To Justin, it’s something that gets him in a lot of trouble. Being poisoned by a Vie is just one example. His sister getting kidnapped is another. Whether it’s being coerced by a deluded cult leader, or negotiating with Alex—an Vie scientist addicted to Anemie blood—Justin struggles to keep every mutated drop of blood he’s got.

His fight for survival gets more complicated when he meets Alex’s slave, Cara. Despite coming from different worlds, they’re both prisoners, at risk of being drained by a hungry Vie any moment. When she risks her own neck to help Justin find his sister, he's left with a terrifying choice.

Saving what's left of humanity.

Saving his sister. Saving the girl he loves.

Or sticking a stake in Alex’s chest. 

Justin can't decide which option will get him killed first.

  

*ABOUT THE AUTHOR*

Laura Diamond is a board certified psychiatrist and author of all things young adult paranormal, dystopian, horror, and middle grade. Her short story, CITY OF LIGHTS AND STONE, is in the DAY OF DEMONS Anthology by Anachron Press (April 2012). Another short story,  EGGING DEATH, is coming soon in the CARNAGE: AFTER THE END Anthology by Sirens Call Publications. Her Young Adult Paranormal Romance novelette NEW PRIDE was published November 2012 and her novel SHIFTING PRIDE is coming December 7, 2012 from Etopia Press. When she's not writing, she is working at the hospital, blogging at Author Laura Diamond--Lucid Dreamer (http://lbdiamond.wordpress.com/), and renovating her 225+ year old fixer-upper mansion. She is also full-time staff member for her four cats and a Pembroke corgi named Katie.

  

***GIVEAWAY***

One e-book copy of Endure, Open
Internationally!
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Book Blitz hosted by:

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Breaking Glass by Lisa Amowitz

Title: Breaking Glass
Author: Lisa Amowitz
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Mystery
Release Date: 9th July 2013
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Book Blurb from Goodreads:
On the night seventeen-year-old Jeremy Glass winds up in the hospital with a broken leg and a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit, his secret crush, Susannah, disappears. When he begins receiving messages from her from beyond the grave, he's not sure whether they're real or if he's losing his grip on reality. Clue by clue, he gets closer to unraveling the mystery, and soon realizes he must discover the truth or become the next victim himself.

Available from:

  

***EXCERPT***

“So where is he?” She cranes her neck, trying to spot Ryan in the crowd.

Heart pounding, my mind hiccups through its storehouse of facts. I reposition myself to block her view. There’s no time to try texting Ryan a warning.

I could tell Susannah. Tell her how Ryan has been sneaking around behind her back for over a year, even hooking up with two college juniors in a motel room during one of our out of town meets. But defying the Morgan machine by pointing this out takes too much energy. Instead I blurt, “Did you realize the Watch Hill carousel was once part of a traveling carnival?”

She laughs and shakes her head. “What? Jeremy, sometimes you can be such a--”

But her voice trails off as her gaze wanders past mine, her smile crumpling like a paper bag. I follow her line of sight and I know this is it. The crowd has thinned around Ryan, enough for her to see him with his mouth smashed against Claudia’s.

“Oh, man,” I gasp. I turn to comfort Susannah, but she is already gone.

I stand, dithering; wanting to run after her and apologize for letting her walk into this ambush.

But, no. This is something Ryan needs to take care of. I might have signed on to sweep his mess under the rug, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to clean up after him. I push through the crowd to get to him.

“What? She what? Did you know she was coming back early?”

I feel my face heat. “No.”

Ryan pushes Claudia off of him, his stage makeup still glistening and thick, traces of Claudia’s lipstick smeared on his lips. “Good job, Jeremy. You could have at least texted me.”

My hand curls into a fist. I stuff it in my jacket pocket. “She ran out,” I say. “Maybe you can catch her.”

Ryan shrugs, and without a coat, stalks out of the theater into the night. I wait a few minutes then follow. Susannah’s car is gone, and so is Ryan’s. I try to call Susannah, but she doesn’t pick up.

I get in my car and focus on resisting the water bottle’s siren call, panicked glimpses of my waking nightmare crashing through the floodgates, the terrifying memories swept through with it. The rain and the torrents of water sweeping past, draining into the Gorge, forcing me to remember. To relive it. No. Not now. I need to stay clear.

Since eighth grade, when I discovered that liquor dulls my terrors, I have been a master thief and spy.

Not even Ryan knows.

Just a sip to calm my shaky nerves. One tiny sip to beat back the rising waters that threaten to drown me. I can do it. I pride myself on my steely self-control. My ability to remain stone-cold sober even when the track team holds a victory keg party. They call me Jeremy the Teetotaler. Jeremy, the History Nerd who never partakes.

I snap open the glove compartment. The innocuous silver bottle is shoved behind the owner’s manual, gas receipts and a collection of power bar wrappers. I raise it to my lips and gulp once, twice, three times; the cold liquid igniting as it hits my throat. It takes two, three more gulps to slow my heart to normal speed. The bottle is nearly empty. I cap it and return it to the compartment, warmth flowing to my cold fingers. I’d need to drink three times as much as that to lose focus.

Swerving the deserted black roads slick with rain over ice, I follow my usual running circuit. This is familiar turf. My backyard, practically.

Yes. I can do this. Susannah knows my route so I hope she’s come this way and parked, knowing I’d find her. She wants me to find her. To comfort her. I’ll tell her everything. How I’m sorry for lying to her. For letting Ryan hurt her. And maybe at last she’ll accept that it’s not Ryan she wants, but me.

But there’s no sign of her.

After driving and searching fruitlessly, my mind churning with outcomes, the now driving rain blurring my windshield, I can’t stand it anymore. My heart is racing. Just one last sip to fortify myself is all I need.

When I round the next hairpin curve, my headlights flash on Ryan’s car parked behind Susannah’s, engines running. I squint through the rain and mist and spot them behind the guardrail, illuminated in the headlamps’ cone of light. There’s no shoulder on this side of the road, so I pull over when I can, about twenty yards past them.

When I finally get out of the car I can hear her shouts over the racket the rain makes. My head is buzzing, but my thoughts are clear.

In fact, they’ve never been clearer, as the roots that entangle me fall away.

The damp air smells like freedom.

Susannah screams, and pounds at Ryan’s chest with her fists. He shoves her hard and she falls backward. I don’t see her get up again. Raucous arguments were nothing new between Susannah and Ryan, but I’d never seen him hit her before.

There’s a steep decline into the woods where they’ve chosen to have their argument and I worry Susannah could have gotten hurt. Ryan disappears now, too. What the hell are they doing?

I begin to run at full tilt. I still have some distance to cover, but that’s no problem for me, even with the Absolut pumping heat through my veins. But my boot heel catches on a wet leaf then slides out from under me.

I’m flying, but I land softly.

*ABOUT THE AUTHOR*

Lisa has been a professor of Graphic Design at her beloved Bronx Community College where she has been tormenting and cajoling students for nearly seventeen years. She started writing eight years ago because she wanted something to illustrate, but somehow, instead ended up writing YA. Probably because her mind is too dark and twisted for small children.

BREAKING GLASS which will be released in July, 2013 from Spencer Hill Press, is her first published work. VISION, the first of the Finder series will be released in 2014, along with an unnamed sequel in the following year. LIFE AND BETH will also be released in the near future, along with graphic novel style art. 

Website│Twitter│Goodreads

***GIVEAWAY***

1-custom pendant like the one pictured on the book cover

2-signed ARCS

1-original work of Breaking Glass related art created and signed by the author.

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Book Blitz + Giveaway: Rush by Eve Silver

Title: Rush (The Game #1)

Author: Eve Silver
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia

Release Date: 11th June 2013

Publisher: Harper Teen

Book Blurb from Goodreads:

So what’s the game now? This, or the life I used to know?

When Miki Jones is pulled from her life, pulled through time and space into some kind of game—her carefully controlled life spirals into chaos. In the game, she and a team of other teens are sent on missions to eliminate the Drau, terrifying and beautiful alien creatures. There are no practice runs, no training, and no way out. Miki has only the guidance of secretive but maddeningly attractive team leader Jackson Tate, who says the game isn’t really a game, that what Miki and her new teammates do now determines their survival, and the survival of every other person on this planet. She laughs. He doesn’t. And then the game takes a deadly and terrifying turn.

Available from:

    

***Excerpt***

There’s a flash of light, blindingly bright. Colored halos obscure my vision. They dance and flicker and then disappear, leaving only a rectangle of light boxed in by the dark door frame.
I see then that the door’s gone and in front of me are people. No…they aren't people. They have limbs, hair, faces, but they aren't human. After the first glance, they don’t look even remotely human. They’re pure, painful white, so bright they throw off a glare. They look like they've been dipped in glass, smooth and polished, but fluid. And their eyes…they’re a silvery color, like the mercury in the antique thermometer that my mom used to have at the side of the front porch.
When I was ten, I knocked that thermometer off with my wooden kendo sword, shattering the glass. The little blobs of mercury went all over the porch. I was a kid. I didn't know better. I touched them, prodding the little balls until they joined the bigger blob. My mom swooped down on me and snatched me away, telling me it was poison. It could kill me.
I stare at the things in front of me: the Drau. I can’t look away.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember Jackson talking about Medusa.
Don’t look at their eyes.
Their mercury eyes.
They’re poison.
They will kill me.

Copyright

© 2013. Eve Silver. All Rights Reserved.

*ABOUT THE AUTHOR*

Eve Silver lives with her gamer husband and sons, sometimes in Canada, but often in worlds she dreams up. She loves kayaking and sunshine, dogs and desserts, and books, lots and lots of books. Watch for the first book in Eve’s new teen series, THE GAME: RUSH, coming from Katherine Tegen Books, June 2013. She also writes books for adults.

     

***GIVEAWAY***

Signed copy of Rush, US and Canada only.

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