Tuesday 31 May 2016

Blog Tour: Grimm and White by Emily Ann Hansen

Grimm and White

Heartless
Book 1
Emily Ann Hansen

Genre: Fairytale/ Urban Fantasy

Date of Publication: January 26th, 2016

ISBN:  978-1522860259

Number of pages: 287 kindle
Number of pages: 245 Print

Word Count: 89,000

Cover Artist: Murphy Rae

Book Description:

How far would you go to save your own life? Would you kill the one you love? 

I want you to put your hand over your heart. Press down against the skin, meld your fingers into the flesh, and listen to the beats. Can you hear how that one organ is keeping you alive? One pump. Two pumps. Three. 

Alice White Cabot would consider you lucky. She can press down in that same exact spot and she would feel … nothing. She is under the curse of the Heartless, and on her nineteenth birthday she will have to rip out the heart of the one she loves or she herself will die. 

Kallin Grimm is a regular nineteen-year-old guy from the Chicago suburbs. He’s completely normal, except for the strength he can’t explain. Not to mention, Kallin is in love with a girl that he has never met. The only means of communication between the two of them is through an enchanted journal. Whatever is written in one can be seen in the other. For the past year Allie and Kallin have shared their secrets and their souls, which is why Allie knows they can never be together. It is the only way to keep his heart safe. 

Enter the dark world of curses, secrets, and a history as old as time. The novel opens on Allie’s eighteenth birthday. With one year left, she, along with her best friend Miles set off from California to find out more about the curse, her past, and to stay as far away from Kallin Grimm as she can. Their first lead is in Chicago. Maybe this curse is stronger than she thinks. Tick-Tick-Tick. 

Who would you choose?



Prologue: “Happily Never After” 

  On Lighthouse Avenue, inside the house at the end of the street, lives a girl with no heart. This is not to say she is cold or unloving, but it is literal and true. If you peeked inside her pale skin, peeled back her veins and muscles, you would find a cavernous hole of sorts. 
  Her name is Alice White Cabot, and she is eighteen-years-old today.
  A light turns on in the shed behind the Cabot house. Beyond the roses that line the aged rocks on the side wall of the large house, past the stepping stones, a few feet farther than the toad rot, gundly flax, and verbena flowers (I’m sure we will get to that later), and finally we reach a small wooden box. What served as a gardening shed, now is filled to the brim with papers, maps, pens, various supplies, two pictures, one knife, and the girl in question.
  Allie sits at the window on a small black stool with the knife in her hand. Her dark hair and blue eyes are the only vivid colors in the otherwise grey shed. She is absentmindedly cutting her finger again and again. Three droplets of blood bead off of her fingertips and fall on to the white carpet. Not flinching, she stares out the window at the snow falling like feathers from the sky. Allie thinks she must have heard that somewhere, some time ago. When and where are lost to her. 
  It’s Christmas and almost time for dinner. She looks around the ancient space, with its empty flowerpots and cobwebs, and knows this is the last time she will be in this room that has given her solace for so many years. When her mother first died she hid under the desk in the corner and read every book she could find; mostly adventure stories, like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Robinson Crusoe. The ceiling leaked and mice occasionally set up house, but it was her special place. 
  The gash on her finger has closed and all that remains is dried blood crusted on the knife blade.
  On top of the cluttered desk is a purple music box. She gets up from her seat and places the knife on a dilapidated shelf. She gingerly opens the golden latch. A ballerina springs to life, and a haunting song echoes throughout the four walls of her sanctuary. 
  She pulls out a note. On the front of the folded paper, the words Happy Birthday are scrawled in pretty script.
  My darling Allie,
  I wish more than anything I could have given this to you myself, but I know Gram will be there to do it for me. You must feel the time slipping away like I did. There is so much I want to say and so much that I, myself, don’t know how to explain. I cannot tell you what to do my love. Whatever you decide, no matter what, you are my sweet bean. I know you will choose to be better, to be good. You are so loved and that will never change. 
  -Mom
  Her face is scrunched up, her nostrils flared and forehead taut, but she will not cry.
  Allie grabs the knife again. She cradles it in both of her hands for several seconds before she takes the hilt and turns the blade towards her stomach, so close that the tip digs into her belly button.
  Her breath mingles with dust in the unheated shed. Allie holds the knife like one would hold a brush or maybe a spoon—casually, yet calculated.
  With no other thought she plunges the weapon into her stomach, causing blood to immediately pool onto her white sweater. She makes no sound, not even a whimper. Both eyes are popped open, wide and surprised, while her other expressions remain suppressed. As quickly as she put the blade in, she pulls it back out.
  Allie drops the knife, and it clatters across the floor. She raises her hands and clutches them to her stomach, probing the area gently. 1 … 2 … 3 seconds pass.
  “Damn it.”
  She lifts her T-shirt revealing a smooth layer of skin, like the day she was born. The wound is gone; not so much as a scar to remind her of the pain.
Today, Allie White Cabot does not feel like celebrating because in one year’s time, she has to rip out the heart of the one she loves, or she will die.
  “Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”
  But, until then she is cursed to breathe and live and what she doesn’t want more than anything else, she is cursed to love and be loved.
  The curse of the Heartless.
  What do I know? I’m just the mirror who watched the curse come to life. I’m just a mirror who is trapped like the rest … destined to bend to the will of the curse or break under its power like so many before. 
This is not just her story, but it is his as well. Kallin Grimm, the boy who loves the girl.
The boy who can save us all.
  Allie walks over and snatches a map of Illinois from the clutter on the desk. There is a bold red circle around the city of Chicago. 
  “See you soon,” Allie says. She opens the door. A gush of cold air blows inside, causing the music box to slam closed. The melody stops abruptly. She wonders if that’s what it will sound like when she dies. 
  A snowflake lands on her lip and she licks it off. It will all be worth it. If she can keep him safe.


About the Author: 


Emily Hansen is a writer currently living in Baltimore City. She grew up in Illinois and will always call Chicago home. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Fiction. She is a 9th grade English teacher. She became a writer because she thinks that people should not have to look far to find magic in their lives. Her obsessions range from depressing poetry to one or ten cups of coffee a day. Grimm and White is her first novel.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/City.Writer.Emily

Twitter: www.twitter.com/Emilyhansen5  

Blog: http://emilyannhansen.weebly.com/

Blog: http://itsnotyou-itsme.weebly.com/



Tour giveaway:


3 print copies Grimm and White

I can't get the giveaway to work, so go check out BookwormBridgette's World who is also hosting this tour today to enter!


Monday 30 May 2016

#SundaySeven (29/05/16)

So this week saw me leave sixth form at DHSB. I've had a fantastic two years there (besides a couple major bumps in the road) and it's really sad to leave school behind. I'm now on study leave ahead of my 14 exams in June so I may not be updating the blog much next month because of that.
I actually had this started on Saturday night to finish on Sunday, but I was really sick yesterday so I apologise that it has been uploaded a day late. 
1. 
@nickmafra


Nicoly constantly makes it into the shortlist for Sunday Seven, but has actually only made it to the top 7 once so it's with great pleasure that I give her the top spot this week with this gorgeous photo of A Court of Thorns and Roses! I'm currently reading this books and can see why the bookstagram community love it so much. I thought the British covers were pretty, but look at this one! I want to say Portuguese is the language? (Correct me if I'm wrong!) I think I've mentioned before how I also love photos of books in different languages, and this one is no different. And look at the colour scheme with the flowers and candles!  Pretty sure I'm just rambling now but ahh I love this photo!


2. 
@demmi_writist

Last week I mentioned that I had just seen a photo of Demmi's that would probably feature this week and look, here it is! This week she did her own little Rainbow Project and seriously, all of the photos are absolutely gorgeous! I very nearly ended up with a whole #SundaySeven dedicated to those gorgeous photos (although there were 9, so that wouldn't add up...) This one really caught my eye as I find it so difficult to take pretty photos of white books without piling loads of extra colours in, but she pulls it off so well! 

3. 
@sammyreadsbooks

I seem to be having a bit of a colours theme this week as we finally welcome Sammy, another of my favourite accounts, to #SundaySeven with this gorgeous brown photo! Five years of wearing a horrific brown school uniform really turned me off the colour, but I am drawn to this photo for just how seemingly effortlessly the colours go together. The Outliers is a book I'm very intrigued about. Have any of you read it?

4. 
@mylibrary1

Yep, I know I'm a sucker for these beautiful book covers, even though I don't even own the books themselves (they're on my very long list okay?) This stunning photo was taken by Leena, who has joined the #SundaySeven club. I love the olden feel to this photo and the page background just suits the style. Although the book cover feels a bit too modern to match the background, she's pulled it off in this photo and it all goes together so well!

5. 
@freerangereader

The true path to a girls heart? Combine two of her favourite book series of course! Seriously, if you haven't read the Gone series by Michael Grant or Harry Potter by Rowling, I'd totally forgive you if you stopped reading this to go read them right now. Not only did the colour combination (oranges) catch my eye in this photo, have you seen that henna! It's amazing! Man, I want that as an actual tattoo. Welcome to #SundaySeven Emily!

6. 
@book.lover14

This gorgeous photo of some of Riordan's books sees Eleni feature for her fourth time. Although I prefer the cover of my edition of Magnus Chase, I do love the colours on this one! In such a simple yet stunning photo, Eleni has captured the colours on the cover well and even thrown in some Percy Jackson which gives me a little feel of nostalgia as the first books by him that I read.

7. 
@bookishconnoisseur


To wrap up this week, we have this simple yet stylish photo snapped by Elizabeth. One thing I particularly love about this photo, and her account in general, is that she really shows off the fact that you can take lovely photos of books without piling it with props and accessories. Sometimes, less truly is more. I do also really love her wooden slat background, something I've just tried out in my latest instagram photo. Granted, there's a small part of me that wishes the writing on the third book was red to make it all symmetrical, but I'm ignoring that. Just a great simple photo of some books that I really need to read.

Thankyou for reading, and thanks to all the bookstagram accounts (both those featured, and the countless others I poured through in order to decide on my seven). 

None of these photos are mine, and I have credited the account. Occasionally, it is known for accounts to repost photos without crediting the original owner. I do not support this. All photos are, to my knowledge, original to the accounts credited. If not, I will happily amend and assist in reporting accounts that are stealing photos. (To the accounts featured: I am not suggesting this applies to you, I am merely covering myself. This paragraph shall feature on all #SundaySeven posts in the rare and unfortunate case problems may occur.)

Thursday 26 May 2016

Book Blitz: Under My Skin by Laura Diamond

Under My Skin
by Laura Diamond
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Release Date: April 12th 2016
Swoon Romance

Summary from Goodreads:



Bookish Brit Adam Gibson is one wonky heartbeat away from a fatal arrhythmia. He's torn between wanting to live and knowing that someone else must die in order for him to do so. He needs a new heart.

Adam stops talking to his friends, refuses to meet kids at his new school, and shuts his parents out entirely. His days are spent wondering if can cope with having a dead man's heart beating inside his chest, or if he should surrender to the thoughts of suicide swirling around in his head.

And then a donor is found.

Outspoken artist Darby Fox rarely lets anything stand in her way of achieving her goals. She also happens to be the twin sister to a perfect brother with good looks, good grades, manners, and the approval of their parents - something Darby has never had.

Darby's always had bad timing. She picks the worst time to argue with her brother Daniel. In a car with bald tires, on an icy road in the freezing cold, the unthinkable happens. In a split-second, everything changes forever.

When life forces Adam and Darby together, undeniable sparks fly, and a deep connection is made. But the secret inside of Adam may be the thing that pushes them apart forever.



Buy Links:

Excerpts:
ADAM:
I clutch my well-worn paperback of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein close to my heart. The doctor robbed graves, stealing body parts to create his monster. I suppress a shiver. In a way, the transplant surgeon does the same thing by harvesting a donor’s organs when they’re on the brink of death. If I get prioritized on the list, I’ll be waiting for that poor victim to arrive. Then I’ll steal his or her heart and with it, their life.
Then I’ll be the monster.


DARBY:
Images blur on a merry-go-round from Hell that spins faster with each turn. Sleet pounding the windshield. Daniel fighting with the clutch and brake. The truck’s headlights impaling us. Crunching steel. Daniel’s bloody face.
Pain stretches from my head, dragging its dirty talons down my neck and across my shoulders, ending in cold numbness at my chest. Something presses my body down. I can’t move. I can’t escape it. 

About the Author
Laura Diamond is a board certified psychiatrist currently specializing in emergency psychiatry. She is also an author of all things young adult—both contemporary and paranormal. An avid fan of sci-fi, fantasy, and anything magical, she thrives on quirk, her lucid dreams, and coffee. When she’s not working or writing, she can be found sniffing books and drinking a latte at the bookstore or at home pondering renovations on her 225 year old fixer upper, all while obeying her feline overlords, of course.

If you’re interested in reading more about Laura, or interacting with her on the web, check out the following links:


Author Links:

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GIVEAWAY:


***Readers Giveaway***
Want to review UNDER MY SKIN? The author will send swag (bookmark, etc) to those who review the book. All you have to do is message her via Facebook or send an email to authorlauradiamond@gmail.com

Wednesday 25 May 2016

Cover Reveal: Caught in the Ripples by S. McPherson

Book Blitz: Mystical by Michael Weekly

Mystical (Mystical #1)
by Michael Weekly
Genre: YA/NA Urban Fantasy
Release Date: December 8th 2015
Limitless Publishing

Summary from Goodreads:



When Eliza Rose found out she was a witch, she thought she’d be casting spells…

However, it turns out Eliza is on her way to becoming a mystical assassin. But first she has to start college with her best friend Dawn Roberts and her feline familiar Jared. If you think college is stressful, try finding your best friend being seduced—nearly to death—by a venomous fairy. Something is horribly wrong, and Eliza must find out what it is.


Knowing who’s who in the Mystical world can be a burden—or save her life…



Murderous mermaids, seductive fairies, and manipulative elves are terrifying enough, but pure witches can become corrupt…and they’re the most dangerous creatures of all. Eliza struggles to discover the source of this chaos, but is repeatedly attacked—and saved by a shadowy figure. On a very personal note, Eliza must learn whether corruption is beginning to claim her mother.

Her strongest ally might be handsome, enigmatic Donovan—but he is hiding a shocking secret…

Donovan wants nothing to do with his old gang—not after the things they’d made him do. But when he meets Eliza, he’s both frustrated by her amateur skills and impressed by her emerging strength, and he feels compelled to help her grow into the assassin she’s meant to be.

Every answer has a price, and there are beings born to corrupt the pure.

Eliza fights to master her skills before it’s too late, while Donovan must determine whether Eliza can be saved…or if she must die to keep her out of the hands of those who would use her powers to reign over all of Mystical.


Buy Links:



About the Author
Michael Weekly is a professional writer known for his ability to construct detailed, believable worlds and then to inject them with captivating stories and relatable characters. His big break came three years ago when he started writing on a site called Wattpad. Prior to that, he had written mainly as a hobby and as an exercise in relaxation and meditation, using writing as an escape out of the world and into his own mind.

Writing in the genres of Urban Fantasy, Dystopian YA, and NA, Michael is the author of Mystical, which has earned a ton of positive feedback. Mystical was picked up by Limitless Publishing in 2015, and since then, Michael has been working on additional entries to the series.

When he is not writing, Michael also enjoys playing video games such as League of Legends and World of Warcraft. He enjoys being a shopaholic and a professional foodie. He lives in Virginia with his imaginary fury companion CoCo, where the two live happily.

Author Links:
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GIVEAWAY: