The Tenth Girl by Carrie Aarons…Release Day Blitz & Review

 

Title: The Tenth Girl
Author: Carrie Aarons
Genre: New Adult/Young Adult
Release Date: September 9, 2018
Blurb
Never play a game
you can’t win.
For Cain Kent, that rule is golden. Losing is not in his vocabulary, and up until
now, everything has come easy. Football, school, girls … his charm-laced ego
may just be bigger than Texas itself.The competition he started freshman year with his friends, to make ten notches
each in their bedposts by graduation day, is practically in the bag. One more
to go, and then it’s off to college fame and eventually, the big time.
Attachments aren’t something he wants to form, but when the quiet new girl
challenges him in front of his classmates, his curiosity is peaked. She would
be the perfect final score, and what fun to break her in the process.Too bad Harper Posy has no intention of being just another warm body,
especially to the bad boy quarterback. Even if he does quote Forster and Huxley
when no one is listening. An aspiring author herself, Cain and his hidden soft
side are dangerous to her heart. She’s seen men ruin her mother’s dreams time
and again, and she’s determined to fly far away as soon as she has that diploma
in her fist.

But as the school year’s end looms closer, both realize they didn’t quite
understand the rules to begin with. Is winning a dirty bet worth the gamble
when the stakes, or the other’s heart in this case, are so high?

Harper is the one girl who isn’t up for playing games. And she just might make
Cain lose. Everything.

 

ADD TO GOODREADS

Purchase Links

99c for release day ONLY!

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited

“Life is about mistakes. It’s how we correct them that matters.”

This book can be pretty much summed up by that quote.

The Tenth Girl has the plot of books and movies that I have read before. But it’s the characters and the writing that makes me really enjoy this story and Carrie’s take on the idea of “boy makes stupid bet, falls in love and possibly loses girl.”

Cain is the star quarterback in his senior year, prepping to go to the most best college he can for football. Harper is the new girl at school after she and her mom move back to Texas for her senior of high school. Harper becomes Cain’s next target, but what ensues is nothing either expected.

I love that Harper maybe innocent in some aspects, she has a good head on her shoulders and doesn’t always fall right into the “stupid girl” daze. Cain has his douchebag moments, but I like that Carrie paints him a different light than most books too. He has the jock vibe, but he’s not a complete dick either.

“I am what you designed me to be. I am your blade. You cannot now complain if you also feel the hurt.”

Harper and Cain are fairly mature for their age with certain aspects, but sometimes do act a bit childish in their actions at times. As with all teenage love, they don’t talk things through and the need to create more drama than necessary is added in, but I think it helps add to the overall vibe of this story.

There is a lot to this story that I enjoyed reading and found entertaining because it just added more to the book. The cliché secondary characters, the parties, the nastiness coming from the school’s queen bee – I love these additions in this book – without it, the YA vibe would have been lost and felt too mature for kids still trying to figure out what the hell they are doing in life.

If you are in the mood for an easy and entertaining read – I highly recommend this one.

Author Bio

 

Author of romance novels such as Red Card and Privileged,
Carrie Aarons writes books that are just as swoon-worthy as they are sarcastic.
A former journalist, she prefers the stories she dreams up, and the yoga pant
dress code, much better.
When she isn’t writing, Carrie is busy binging reality TV, having a love/hate
relationship with cardio, and trying not to burn dinner. She lives in the
suburbs of New Jersey with her husband, daughter and dog.

 

 

Author Links

 

Keeper of the Bees by Meg Kassel…Blog Tour & Review

Keeper of the Bees
by Meg Kassel
Genre: YA Paranormal
Release Date: September 4th 2018
Entangled Teen

 

Summary:

“Beauty and the beast like you’ve never imagined!” —New York Times bestselling author Pintip Dunn

KEEPER OF THE BEES is a tale of two teens who are both beautiful and beastly, and whose pasts are entangled in surprising and heartbreaking ways.
Dresden is cursed. His chest houses a hive of bees that he can’t stop from stinging people with psychosis-inducing venom. His face is a shifting montage of all the people who have died because of those stings. And he has been this way for centuries—since he was eighteen and magic flowed through his homeland, corrupting its people.

He follows harbingers of death, so at least his curse only affects those about to die anyway. But when he arrives in a Midwest town marked for death, he encounters Essie, a seventeen-year-old girl who suffers from debilitating delusions and hallucinations. His bees want to sting her on sight. But Essie doesn’t see a monster when she looks at Dresden.

Essie is fascinated and delighted by his changing features. Risking his own life, he holds back his bees and spares her. What starts out as a simple act of mercy ends up unraveling Dresden’s solitary life and Essie’s tormented one. Their impossible romance might even be powerful enough to unravel a centuries-old curse.

Add to Goodreads

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37638219-keeper-of-the-bees

Purchase Links: https://entangledpublishing.com/keeper-of-the-bees.html

 

 

She closes her eyes. Her breath hitches. Then, she does the improbable and throws herself against me, wrapping her arms around my waist.
I am paralyzed. Motionless, breathless in my first embrace in a millennium. To be touched… My eyes close as I tremble from head to toe. The pain is glorious, excruciating.
“Thank you,” she breathes against my chest. “You calm my mind. Why is that?”
“I don’t know.” Speech takes an unbearable effort. I’m overwhelmed in every single possible way—destroyed on a level she can’t begin to comprehend. My arms hover, uncertain how to return her embrace and unsure if I should. Unable to push her away. I feel as though I will shatter if I move, but my arms slowly close around her. One of my hands falls on her hair, where her elastic has loosened. The thin band slips from her hair and falls into my hand. My fingers close around it.

 

Meg Kassel has another smashing hit on her hands!!

This is a companion novel to Black Bird of the Gallows. They can be read separately and not in order and I loved each of these book equally as they very unique in their stories.

Keeper of the Bees is a YA fantasy novel about Dresden who is cursed as a beekeeper and Essie who is bound with her own curse.

As a beekeeper, his life curse is too infect those who have been marked with a bee sting and then once they pass, he takes on their face – sounds creepy but it is quite interesting.

Essie’s curse is one that has been passed down through he family for generations. And it’s only considered a curse because it a condition only affects select members within her family.

I love the whole vibe of this book – fantasy and mystery with a bit of romance tied in. The whole aspect of how Essie’s family curse began and what has happened over the decades with them is very interesting and how Dresden plays into it all makes for quite the entertaining read.

The characters, the writing and the the mystery of what is going on in the town; how the Harbingers, Strawman and Beekeepers play into everything – it’s ever element playing their intricate part to make up a this amazing fairy tale. I couldn’t stop reading this book.

Meg has definitely made a name for herself in the YA fantasy genre an I cannot wait to see what she brings us next!

About the Author

 


Meg Kassel is an author of fantasy and speculative books for young adults. A graduate of Parson’s School of Design, she’s been creating stories, whether with visuals or words, since childhood. Meg is a New Jersey native who lives in a log house in the Maine woods with her husband and daughter. As a fan of ’80s cartoons, Netflix series, and ancient mythology, she has always been fascinated and inspired by the fantastic, the creepy, and the futuristic. She is the 2016 RWA Golden Heart® winner in YA and a double 2018 RITA® finalist for her debut novel, Black Bird of the Gallows.

Website: http://megkassel.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/megkassel
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seemegwrite/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megkasselauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8353652.Meg_Kassel
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Meg-Kassel/e/B0756Q8N2L/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1524085261&sr=1-1

GIVEAWAY:

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Organized By:

Dare You To Lie by Amber Lynn Natusch

BOOK SYNOPSIS

The first installment in the Hometown Antihero series by Amber Lynn Natusch.

When her FBI agent father is framed for murder, Kylene is forced to move in with her grandfather, back to the small town that turned its back on her, and the boy who betrayed her.

All Ky cares about is clearing her father’s name, but someone won’t let her forget the photo scandal that drove her away two years ago. As the threats gain momentum, Ky finds an unlikely ally in the annoyingly attractive rookie FBI agent sent to keep an eye on her.

Determined to expose the town’s hidden skeletons, Ky unwittingly thrusts herself into a much bigger plot. They thought she’d forgive and forget. They’re about to learn they messed with the wrong girl.

DARE YOU TO LIE, a young adult mystery read perfect for fans of Veronica Mars, Pretty Little Liars, or Riverdale.

 

BOOK INFO

Dare You To Lie by Amber Lynn Natusch

Series Hometown Antihero Book One

Genre Young Adult Mystery / Suspense

Publisher Tor Teen

Publication Date September 4, 2018
Amazon  https://amzn.to/2GZbmC1
Barnes & Noble  http://bit.ly/2zCMPjA
Kobo http://bit.ly/2uJ55SX
iBooks https://apple.co/2LhS24S

Indiebound  http://bit.ly/2NhJR68

TOUR WIDE GIVEAWAY

To celebrate the release of DARE YOU TO LIE by Amber Lynn Natusch, we’re giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to one lucky winner!  

LINK:  http://bit.ly/2NWtBJ0

GIVEAWAY TERMS & CONDITIONS:  Open to internationally. One winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card. This giveaway is administered by Pure Textuality PR on behalf of Amber Lynn Natusch.  Giveaway ends 9/18/2018 @ 11:59pm EST. Limit one entry per reader. Duplicates will be deleted.

I raced through town and into Gramps’s neighborhood. When I got to the house, there was a generic-looking sedan, not unlike the one my father used to drive, parked outside. I hadn’t even pulled all the way into the driveway before Agent Douchecanoe was out of his vehicle and headed my way, file in hand.

“So you’re the errand boy,” I said to him as he scowled at me.

“You know you can hear that environmental hazard coming from a mile away, right?”

“Weird . . . kinda like your hostility and hubris.”

His frown deepened as he extended the file in his hand toward me. I reached for it, but he pulled it back at the last second.

“Striker said to make sure you got this.”

“Hence the errandboy comment—”

“Do you know what’s in here?”

“Do you know what’s in there?” I countered, knowing damn well he would have looked. The suspense would have killed him.

“They’re copies of evidence from you father’s trial.”

“Ding, ding, ding!” I exclaimed, snatching the file from his hand. “Consider your errand complete. I’d tip you, but . . . I don’t get paid until next week.”

“Why did Striker want you to have those?” he asked, totally unfazed by my jab.

“Because I asked for them.”

He shook his head.

“That’s adorable. You think you can find something that a defense lawyer and a team of FBI agents couldn’t find.”

“They weren’t really looking, though, were they? They approached his investigation as if he was already guilty. Hard to be objective when your singular focus is to bring down the fall guy.”

“Says the girl with the singular focus of freeing her daddy,” he replied. “What a sad day it’s going to be for you when all you find in those files is the truth of your father’s guilt.”

“We’ll see about that.”

 

 

I had the opportunity to read this book as a beta reader and see the transformation of this book go from “I am loving the whole idea of this book” to “holy shit, you really nailed YA Mystery with the whole Veronica Mars vibe.” I did read the final version of this book and even book a physical copy because I love it so much.

The only way to describe this book and not give anything away is saying it is a great blend of Veronica Mars and Riverdale . If you are a huge fan of Veronica Mars, then you will love this book. It has all the mystery and suspense along with the “take no shit” attitude and some very hilarious moments with other characters and you get one hell of an amazing story.

Kylene is kick-ass heroine who decides she is not going to sit back and just take her father’s guilty sentence lightly. She knows that truth but needs to somehow prove it. But she has her own hands full starting back at the school she left because of her own problems there.

This book moves at a fast pace with a lot of moving parts and I love it. There is no slow down and you find yourself getting caught up in the witty and snarky comments from Kylene as well as her friends. I loved every single bit of this book and can’t wait for the next book to release.

This is Amber’s first dive into an genre outside of her normal writing and she delivers a page turner. If you love YA, mystery or just a great book that will keep you glued to the pages, this book is for you.

 

 

 

ABOUT AMBER LYNN NATUSCH

AMBER LYNN NATUSCH is the author of the bestselling Caged series for adults. She was born and raised in Winnipeg, and is still deeply attached to her Canadian roots. She loves to dance and practice Muay Thai―but spends most of her time running a chiropractic practice with her husband, raising two young children, and attempting to write when she can lock herself in the bathroom for ten minutes of peace. Dare You to Lie is her debut YA novel with Tor Teen.

AUTHOR LINKS

Website https://amberlynnnatusch.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AmberLynnNatusch
Twitter https://twitter.com/AmberLNatusch
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5399219.Amber_Lynn_Natusch
Amazon http://amzn.to/2DIKNze

Newsletter  http://www.subscribepage.com/AmberLynnNatusch

 

Cover Reveal…The Tenth Girl by Carrie Aarons

 

 

Title: The Tenth Girl
Author: Carrie Aarons
Genre: New Adult/Young Adult
Cover Design: Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations
Release Date: September 9, 2018
Blurb
Never play a game
you can’t win.
For Cain Kent, that rule is golden. Losing is not in his vocabulary, and up until
now, everything has come easy. Football, school, girls … his charm-laced ego
may just be bigger than Texas itself.

The competition he started freshman year with his friends, to make ten notches
each in their bedposts by graduation day, is practically in the bag. One more
to go, and then it’s off to college fame and eventually, the big time.
Attachments aren’t something he wants to form, but when the quiet new girl
challenges him in front of his classmates, his curiosity is peaked. She would
be the perfect final score, and what fun to break her in the process.

Too bad Harper Posy has no intention of being just another warm body,
especially to the bad boy quarterback. Even if he does quote Forster and Huxley
when no one is listening. An aspiring author herself, Cain and his hidden soft
side are dangerous to her heart. She’s seen men ruin her mother’s dreams time
and again, and she’s determined to fly far away as soon as she has that diploma
in her fist.

But as the school year’s end looms closer, both realize they didn’t quite
understand the rules to begin with. Is winning a dirty bet worth the gamble
when the stakes, or the other’s heart in this case, are so high?

Harper is the one girl who isn’t up for playing games. And she just might make
Cain lose. Everything.

 

ADD TO GOODREADS 

Author Bio

 

Author of romance novels such as Red Card and Privileged,
Carrie Aarons writes books that are just as swoon-worthy as they are sarcastic.
A former journalist, she prefers the stories she dreams up, and the yoga pant
dress code, much better.
When she isn’t writing, Carrie is busy binging reality TV, having a love/hate
relationship with cardio, and trying not to burn dinner. She lives in the
suburbs of New Jersey with her husband, daughter and dog.

 

 

Author Links

 

The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young…Blog Tour & Review

 

 

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Impossible Vastness of Us and the On Dublin Street series comes a heartfelt and beautiful new young adult novel, set in Scotland, about daring to dream and embracing who you are. Order your copy of THE FRAGILE ORDINARY today!

 

 

About THE FRAGILE ORDINARY:

I am Comet Caldwell.

And I sort of, kind of, absolutely hate my name.

People expect extraordinary things from a girl named Comet. That she’ll be effortlessly cool and light up a room the way a comet blazes across the sky.

But from the shyness that makes her book-character friends more appealing than real people to the parents whose indifference hurts more than an open wound, Comet has never wanted to be the center of attention. She can’t wait to graduate from her high school in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the only place she ever feels truly herself is on her anonymous poetry blog. But surely that will change once she leaves to attend university somewhere far, far away.

When new student Tobias King blazes in from America and shakes up the school, Comet thinks she’s got the bad boy figured out. Until they’re thrown together for a class assignment and begin to form an unlikely connection. Everything shifts in Comet’s ordinary world. Tobias has a dark past and runs with a tough crowd—and none of them are happy about his interest in Comet. Targeted by bullies and thrown into the spotlight, Comet and Tobias can go their separate ways…or take a risk on something extraordinary.

 

 

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound | Amazon Kindle

iBooks | GooglePlay | Kobo

 

 


“Endearing and relatable, Comet-the girl who is searching for her place in this world-will shoot through the sky and into your heart.”

— #1 New York Times bestselling author Erin Watt


 

 

 

 

Every so often a book hits me in ways I never expect and The Fragile Ordinary is one them.

While I was expecting a very well written and interesting YA read (and I did get that), I was blown away by Samantha’s poetry throughout this book. Reading her words had me stopping and reflecting on things in life that I never expected. For me, that made this book stand out even more.

The Fragile Ordinary is a story of growth for these young characters. Growing up in world where drugs are more easily accessible, high school tormentors are harsher and trying to be confident in ones’ self in a more judgemental world is hard for anyone, let alone a blossoming teen.

Comet and Tobias may come from different backgrounds, but their struggles are the same – to be accepted as they are. The main plot is a story of friendship between two polar opposites and shifting into more as they overcome their own obstacles. Life is the same no matter where you are – whether it be in Scotland where this story is set or in America. But Samantha also throws in the obstacles friends face and how to handle the outcomes of their decisions. There are so many interconnected small plots within this story that make this book as a whole really great.

I do have that point out that I loved the dialogue in this book. I am so used to reading books that are set in America, that the change in the dialogue and then settings, made this book all the more entertaining. I could hear the diverse and unique language in my head as I read the words and I loved it – kept me in the story more.

Samantha has written another sensational book that stands out amongst the rest!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

I became so preoccupied with the thought of meeting Tobias after school and walking to Stevie’s and his flat with him, and then working in close proximity in their bedroom again, I was utterly useless as a friend. I barely had any recollection of anything Vicki or Steph said to me all day, and it became clear to them why when we walked out of school at the end of the day and I told them I had to wait for Tobias.
“So that’s why you’ve been so distracted all day,” Steph said, sounding put out. “You get to spend the afternoon in Tobias King’s bedroom.”
My God, was she jealous?
It sounded like she might be a little envious.
“Oh, Comet, please don’t tell me you like him,” Vicki said, not sounding jealous at all, but very concerned.
“I don’t,” I lied.
“Good. Because he’s a bad boy. And you’re…”
“Comet,” Steph supplied, like that explained everything.
Ugh. It did explain everything.
Total opposites.
“Well I don’t. Now go, before he thinks we’re standing here gossiping about him.”
Steph laughed and threaded her arm through Vicki’s to lead her away. I gave Vicki a reassuring smile and a wave when she looked over her shoulder at me, still plainly concerned.
“Ready?”
I almost jumped out of my shoes as I spun around to find Tobias towering over me. He was alone.
Hmm.
I’d been partly nervous about meeting him to walk him to his flat because I’d suspected Stevie would be joining us. Relief moved through me. “No Stevie?”
Tobias’s brows drew together. “No. Why would there be?”
I shrugged, confused by his somewhat belligerent response. “You live together.”
“He skipped out after lunch.”
Of course he had. I turned away so Tobias wouldn’t see me roll my eyes. “I suppose we better go then.”
If I’d thought last night’s walk was quiet, this one was positively dead. We said not a word to one another. I was going to start up conversation, attempt to not be socially awkward, but Tobias seemed lost in his thoughts and his silence made me lose my nerve.
“You’re not afraid of me, are you?” He spoke up suddenly, only a street away from the flat.
The question surprised me so much my tongue loosened. “What? Why would you think that?”
“The way you reacted when Mr. Stone made me sit next to you. Your hands were shaking yesterday. You were nervous at Stevie’s flat. The way you’re acting now.”
“It’s not that I’m afraid of you.”
“So you’re just shy as shit?”
What a charming adjective. I wrinkled my nose. “Maybe.”
Tobias chuckled. “You don’t have to be shy around me. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not actually Satan.”
“No one thinks you’re Satan.” I shook my head. “Just…maybe not the kind of boy who would talk to a girl like me. I get that.” I wanted to assure him that I knew we were just presentation partners and not actually friends. “So let’s just get to your place and get our work done.”
“First…go back. The part about me being a guy who wouldn’t talk to a girl like you. Explain.”
I frowned at the demand. “I’m academic. I like school. You…you may be smart, but clearly you don’t like school.”
“I can see where you might think that.” He nodded and then flashed me that boyish grin. “But maybe you’re wrong.”
“Possibly.” I nodded. “I don’t really know anything about you.”
“I don’t know anything about you either. Most girls are pretty talkative about themselves. You’re not. You’re kind of a mystery.”
Tobias King thought I was a mystery.
That made me laugh, and his eyes widened as he watched me, his mouth curling up at the corners in that way it was wont to do in lieu of an actual smile. “I’ve never seen you laugh before.”
Did he think I was some emo, miserable teenager incapable of it? “It’s been known to happen once in a while.”
This time he full-out grinned at my dry tone. “Apparently.”

Samantha Young’s’ THE FRAGILE ORDINARY – Review & Excerpt Tour Schedule:

June 25th

A Book Nerd, a Bookseller and a Bibliophile – Review & Excerpt

Book Freak – Review

For The Love of Fictional Worlds – Review & Excerpt

Garden of REden – Review

Reading Between the Wines Book Club – Excerpt

The Book Boyfriend Addict – Excerpt

June 26th

Blog of Books – Review

Bookalicious Babes Blog – Review & Excerpt

Kick Back & Review – Review & Excerpt

liber_lady – Review

Miss Riki – Review & Excerpt

Read more sleep less – Review & Excerpt

White Hot Reads – Review

June 27th

A Literary Perusal – Review & Excerpt

Book Bitches Blog – Review

Kindle Friends Forever – Excerpt

LoveFades – Review

MrsLeif’s Two Fangs About It Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt

Smut Book Junkie Reviews – Review & Excerpt

June 28th

A British Bookworm’s Blog – Review

bad boys and bedtime stories book blog – Review & Excerpt

Catty Jane Book Lovers – Review & Excerpt

Novel Addiction – Review & Excerpt

the lovely teacher addictions – Review & Excerpt

Smokin’ Hot Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

The Reading Faery – Review & Excerpt

June 29th

Ali’s Reviews and More – Review & Excerpt

Bookish Proclivity – Review & Excerpt

Confessions of a Pinay Bookaholic – Review & Excerpt

Ficwishes – Review & Excerpt

Read Love Blog – Review & Excerpt

The Bookish Sisters – Review & Excerpt

June 30th

Lisa Loves Literature – Review & Excerpt

Movies, Shows, & Books – Excerpt

Nose Stuck in a Book – Review & Excerpt

Pervy Ladies Books – Review & Excerpt

Read. Eat. Love. – Review & Excerpt

The Escapist Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

July 1st

Crazy Chaotic Book Babes – Review

KDRBCK – Review & Excerpt

Once Upon A Page – Review & Excerpt

Reading with 2 book lovers – Review

The Coffeeholic Bookworm – Review & Excerpt

The Wandering Bookaholic – Review

July 2nd

Alpha Book Club – Review

Book Babes Unite – Review

Crazii Bitches Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Naturally Nerdy Books – Excerpt

Rad Babes Read – Review & Excerpt

Spellbound Stories – Review

The Book Dutchesses – Review & Excerpt

July 3rd

Adventures in Writing – Excerpt

Book Lovers Hangout – Review & Excerpt

gata leitora – Review & Excerpt

KM Sultry Reads – Review & Excerpt

Relentless Romance – Review & Excerpt

Sweet Red Reads – Review & Excerpt

July 4th

Bookaholic Confessions – Review & Excerpt

Margaux – Excerpt

Obsessive Book Nerd – Review

Sofia Loves Books – Review

Sultry Sirens Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Tales of the Ravenous Reader – Review & Excerpt

What Is That Book About – Excerpt

July 5th

After Dark Book Lovers – Review & Excerpt

Book Lady’s Reviews – Review

Literary Misfit – Excerpt

More Books Than Livros – Review & Excerpt

Ramblings From This Chick – Excerpt

Romance Book Explosion – Review

July 6th

Audio Killed the Bookmark – Review

Liezel and Angie’s Book Blog – Review

mustreadbooksordie – Review & Excerpt

Romance Schmomance – Review & Excerpt

Sentranced Jem – Review

The Bookish Introvert – Review

Witchy Richey’s Booktastic Reviews – Review & Excerpt

 

About Samantha Young:

Samantha Young is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of adult contemporary romances, including the On Dublin Street series and Hero, as well as the New Adult duology Into the Deep and Out of the Shallows. Every Little Thing, the second book in her new Hart’s Boardwalk series, will be published by Berkley in March 2017. Before turning to contemporary fiction, she wrote several young adult paranormal and fantasy series, including the amazon bestselling Tale of Lunarmorte trilogy. Samantha’s debut YA contemporary novel The Impossible Vastness of Us will be published by Harlequin TEEN in ebook & hardback June 2017

Samantha has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award 2012 for Best Author and Best Romance for On Dublin Street, Best Romance 2014 for Before Jamaica Lane, and Best Romance 2015 for Hero. On Dublin Street, a #1 bestseller in Germany, was the Bronze Award Winner in the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2013, Before Jamaica Lane the Gold Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2014 and Echoes of Scotland Street the Bronze Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2015.

Samantha is currently published in 30 countries and is a #1 international bestselling author.

 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

 

Release Day Blitz…The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young

 

 

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Impossible Vastness of Us and the On Dublin Street series comes a heartfelt and beautiful new young adult novel, set in Scotland, about daring to dream and embracing who you are. THE FRAGILE ORDINARY is now available where all fine books are sold. Order your copy of THE FRAGILE ORDINARY today!

 

 

About THE FRAGILE ORDINARY:

I am Comet Caldwell.

And I sort of, kind of, absolutely hate my name.

People expect extraordinary things from a girl named Comet. That she’ll be effortlessly cool and light up a room the way a comet blazes across the sky.

But from the shyness that makes her book-character friends more appealing than real people to the parents whose indifference hurts more than an open wound, Comet has never wanted to be the center of attention. She can’t wait to graduate from her high school in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the only place she ever feels truly herself is on her anonymous poetry blog. But surely that will change once she leaves to attend university somewhere far, far away.

When new student Tobias King blazes in from America and shakes up the school, Comet thinks she’s got the bad boy figured out. Until they’re thrown together for a class assignment and begin to form an unlikely connection. Everything shifts in Comet’s ordinary world. Tobias has a dark past and runs with a tough crowd—and none of them are happy about his interest in Comet. Targeted by bullies and thrown into the spotlight, Comet and Tobias can go their separate ways…or take a risk on something extraordinary.

 

 

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound | Amazon Kindle

iBooks | GooglePlay | Kobo

 

 


“Endearing and relatable, Comet-the girl who is searching for her place in this world-will shoot through the sky and into your heart.”

— #1 New York Times bestselling author Erin Watt


 

 

 

EXCERPT:

By the time we got to the house and I let us into my bedroom, I was a jittering wreck. Massive waves of nervous energy were emanating from Tobias, making me worse. He was rarely nervous about anything. Once inside my room, I waited impatiently as Tobias slumped down on my bed, elbows on knees, head in hands.

I shrugged out of my jacket and unwound my scarf. Still waiting.

“Comet,” he huffed, not looking up. “Sit down, okay, you’re making me nervous.”

“You’re making me nervous.” I sat on the armchair across from him. “You and Stevie didn’t kill someone, did you? Did Dean dispose of the body for you and now he’s blackmailing you?”

Tobias’s broad shoulders shook and he lifted his head to stare at me with amusement tinged with sadness. “You’ve got to stop reading so many books.”

“Never.”

He smiled at me, his look so tender that I squirmed with the need to shoot across the room and throw my arms around him. Instead I met his gaze and asked directly, “What happened back there?”

“I just chose you over Stevie,” he said.

I swear my eyebrows must have hit my hairline at this pronouncement. “What?”

“Stevie and some of the guys have been hanging around Dean more and more. Dean is a dealer. And he’s part of something bigger—we’re talking an adult-sized, criminal gang who deal drugs and steal cars for a living. Dean deals cocaine to kids. Blair Lochrie High School is one of his grounds. He sells to quite a few kids there.”

At our high school?

Class A drugs at our high school?

“Bloody hell,” I whispered, “Where have I been?”

“Where I prefer you—safe with your nose stuck in a book.”

“Tobias…Stevie?”

Hearing the worry in my voice, he winced. “I tried, Com. I tried to keep him out of it, but he’s so messed up and I couldn’t stop him. I hung around to make sure he was okay.”

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?” God, please let that be why he was avoiding me.

“Yes.” A million apologies swirled in his gorgeous eyes. “I didn’t mean for Stevie to find out about you, because I didn’t want you anywhere near the stuff he was getting involved in. But then you two got along, so well I thought you might…have feelings for each other, so I told him that he either stopped hanging around Dean or he stopped hanging around you. He agreed keeping you out of that stuff, away from the boys, was better for you. So we stopped coming around as much and then stopped coming around at all. Tonight was his initiation into Dean’s crew. It was supposed to be both our initiations, I guess, because Dean was sending Stevie to some other party with drugs, and I was following Stevie as backup. Now I’m not.”

There was so much to process in what he’d just said.

My brain blurted out the first thing it wanted to deal with. “Stevie and I don’t have feelings for each other. I don’t like Stevie, Tobias.”

His eyes widened as my tone implied that I liked someone else. “No?”

“No.”

“Good. Because I just left him to that hell.” He stood up and started pacing back and forth. “I tried to help him even if it meant hurting you, and he just let himself get pulled further down into that crap.”

I stood up, reached out to touch him, to slow him down. He stilled, looking at my hand on his arm. “What did you mean? You chose me over Stevie?”

“Comet, Dean made it clear that if I left with you, I couldn’t go around there or anywhere near him again. So I either had to stay and go with Stevie as his backup on a drug deal and leave you to handle Dean on your own, or I could walk out of there with you and leave Stevie to do it alone. For good.” His gaze moved over my face, as if he were committing each feature to memory.

My heart started thudding so hard the blood rushed through my ears. “So you chose me.”

“Of course,” he choked out. “I’d never let anything happen to you. And seeing you there…I never want to see that crap touch you again. It was a wake-up call for me. I don’t want to be a part of that shit either. That’s not me.”

Seeing something in his expression made me brave in a way I never thought I could be. Knees trembling, I stepped up to him and placed a hand on his chest, over his heart. His chest was strong and hard beneath my hand, his body heat surrounding me and that woodsy, spicy, citrusy scent he wore teasing my senses. I wanted to sway into him, hold him tight, and never let go, but I had something important to say first now that I had his absolute attention. “Being a good student, working for something, achieving something, playing hard at football…it wasn’t all for your dad, Tobias. There is no maybe about it. Deep down you want those things for yourself, too. You’re smart and good and such a special person.” I gave him a tremulous smile, wondering if how I felt for him was as obvious to him as it was to apparently everyone else. “You deserve the life you really want.”

His chest rose and fell faster beneath my hand as we stared into one another’s eyes. Tobias licked his lips, as if he was nervous. “What if I want to get my grades back up?”

“Then I’ll help.”

“And join the rugby team?”

“Then you’ll try out.”

He nodded and slowly lifted his hand to cover mine. He took a step closer to me, his breathing sounding a little shaky. The thud of his heart racing beneath my palm made mine accelerate. My legs shook and my fingers curled into Tobias’s shirt. “And…what if what I really want…is you?”

Joy flooded me. I can’t truly describe the feeling. The euphoria. The excitement and thrill and fear and worry that cascaded through me at the thought of being with Tobias King.

No matter the plethora of emotions that came with his question, my answer was instant and absolute. “Then you have me.”

 

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About Samantha Young:

Samantha Young is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of adult contemporary romances, including the On Dublin Street series and Hero, as well as the New Adult duology Into the Deep and Out of the Shallows. Every Little Thing, the second book in her new Hart’s Boardwalk series, will be published by Berkley in March 2017. Before turning to contemporary fiction, she wrote several young adult paranormal and fantasy series, including the amazon bestselling Tale of Lunarmorte trilogy. Samantha’s debut YA contemporary novel The Impossible Vastness of Us will be published by Harlequin TEEN in ebook & hardback June 2017

Samantha has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award 2012 for Best Author and Best Romance for On Dublin Street, Best Romance 2014 for Before Jamaica Lane, and Best Romance 2015 for Hero. On Dublin Street, a #1 bestseller in Germany, was the Bronze Award Winner in the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2013, Before Jamaica Lane the Gold Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2014 and Echoes of Scotland Street the Bronze Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2015.

Samantha is currently published in 30 countries and is a #1 international bestselling author.

 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

 

Almost Impossible by Nicole Williams….Blog Tour & Review

 

 

 

 

 

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Fans of Sarah Dessen, Stephanie Perkins, and Jenny Han will delight as the fireworks spark and the secrets fly in this delicious summer romance from a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.

When Jade decided to spend the summer with her aunt in California, she thought she knew what she was getting into. But nothing could have prepared her for Quentin. Jade hasn’t been in suburbia long and even she knows her annoying (and annoyingly cute) next-door neighbor spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

And when Quentin learns Jade plans to spend her first American summer hiding out reading books, he refuses to be ignored. Sneaking out, staying up, and even a midnight swim, Quentin is determined to give Jade days–and nights–worth remembering.

But despite their storybook-perfect romance, every time Jade moves closer, Quentin pulls away. And when rumors of a jilted ex-girlfriend come to light, Jade knows Quentin is hiding a secret–and she’s determined to find out what it is.

 

Let me start off by first saying that in my personal opinion, a 3 star book is a good book and one that I would recommend to people. I find that people cringe when they see 3 star and think the book isn’t that great. It’s not that, it’s more along the lines of the book was a good read, but not one that will stick with me forever.

Almost Impossible is a sweet and easy read for just about anyone. There isn’t any over the top drama and nothing too hot and heavy for a YA read.

Jade was my favorite part of this book. She has grown up in a world most of us would find fascinating and amazing. She is bit more mature than most at her age, but at the same time, she is slightly naïve on certain things because of her upbringing. You’d think she’d be more of a rebellious kid or something along those lines, but she appreciates everything she’s been given and has a great head on her shoulders.

Quentin was an interesting character to me. He’s got younger siblings at home that he helps take care of and also works full time during the summer. From everything we learn about him, he seems like a pretty decent kid who keeps to himself and doesn’t get into too much trouble.

I enjoyed the buildup between Jade and Quentin – it was the typical summer romance between two teens – nothing is too fast and flows well between them. They take jabs at one another and even try to move things in a certain direction, even while life tries to stop it.

While I did enjoy reading this one, it’s a not a story that left me reeling, and that is ok. Not all books need to leave with me that feeling way. This was a very light and sweet story overall. However, based on the blurb I was expecting more of bad boy with Quentin than we got and I was expecting a more dramatic story line where the ex-girlfriend came into play.

Even though I had expected more, with this being a YA read, it is a fine line for an author to give a story that edge of naughty teenage boy and a secret about his past and still make it relatable to the YA reader. With that being said, I personally feel that Nicole did her best in portraying Jade, Quentin and his ex-girlfriend without making it too heavy of a story for characters that were heading into their senior year of high school.

Overall, Almost Impossible is definitely a story I would think any teenager would enjoy along with fellow YA lovers who are looking for a non-angsty and dramatic story. This one hit right down the middle for me, which in my opinion, makes is a good read.

 

 

Anything was possible. At least that’s what it felt like.
Summer seventeen was going to be one for the record books. I already knew it. I could feel it—from the nervous-excited swirl in my stomach to the buzz in the air around me. This was going to be the summer—my summer.
“Last chance to cry uncle or forever hold your peace,” Mom sang beside me in the backseat of the cab we’d caught at the airport. Her hand managed to tighten around mine even more, cutting off the last bit of my circulation. If there
was any left.
I tried to look the precise amount of unsure before answering. “So long, last chance,” I said, waving out the window.
Mom sighed, squeezing my hand harder still. It was starting to go numb now. Summer seventeen might find me one hand short if Mom didn’t ease up on the death grip.
She and her band, the Shrinking Violets, were going to be touring internationally after finally hitting it big, but she was moping because this was the first summer we wouldn’t be together. Actually, it would be the first time we’d been apart ever.
I’d sold her on the idea of me staying in the States with her sister and family by going on about how badly I wanted to experience one summer as a normal, everyday American teenager before graduating from high school. One chance to
see what it was like to stay in the same place, with the same people, before I left for college. One last chance to see what life as an American teen was really like.
She bought it . . . eventually.
She’d have her bandmates and tens of thousands of adoring fans to keep her company—she could do without me for a couple of months. I hoped.
It had always been just Mom and me from day one. She had me when she was young—like young young—and even though her boyfriend pretty much bailed before the line turned pink, she’d done just fine on her own.
We’d both kind of grown up together, and I knew she’d missed out on a lot by raising me. I wanted this to be a summer for the record books for her, too. One she could really live up, not having to worry about taking care of her teenage
daughter. Plus, I wanted to give her a chance to experience what life without me would be like. Soon I’d be off to college somewhere, and I figured easing her into the empty-nester phase was a better approach than going cold turkey.
“You packed sunscreen, right?” Mom’s bracelets jingled as she leaned to look out her window, staring at the bright blue sky like it was suspect.
“SPF seventy for hot days, fifty for warm days, and thirty for overcast ones.” I toed the trusty duffel resting at my feet.It had traveled the globe with me for the past decade and had the wear to prove it.
“That’s my fair-skinned girl.” When Mom looked over at me, the crease between her eyebrows carved deeper with worry.
“You might want to check into SPF yourself. You’re not going to be in your mid thirties forever, you know?”
Mom groaned. “Don’t remind me. But I’m already beyond SPF’s help at this point. Unless it can help fix a saggy butt and crow’s-feet.” She pinched invisible wrinkles and wiggled her butt against the seat.
It was my turn to groan. It was annoying enough that people mistook us for sisters all the time, but it was worse that she could (and did) wear the same jeans as me. There should be some rule that moms aren’t allowed to takes clothes from the closets of their teenage daughters.
When the cab turned down Providence Avenue, I felt a sudden streak of panic. Not for myself, but for my mom.
Could she survive a summer when I wasn’t at her side, reminding her when the cell phone bill was due or updating her calendar so she knew where to be and when to be there? Would she be okay without me reminding her that fruits and vegetables were part of the food pyramid for a reason and
making sure everything was all set backstage?
“Hey.” Mom gave me a look, her eyes suggesting she could read my thoughts. “I’ll be okay. I’m a strong, empowered thirty-four-year-old woman.”
“Cell phone charger.” I yanked the one dangling from her oversized, metal-studded purse, which I’d wrapped in hot pink tape so it stood out. “I’ve packed you two extras to get you through the summer. When you get down to your last
one, make sure to pick up two more so you’re covered—”
“Jade, please,” she interrupted. “I’ve only lost a few. It’s not like I’ve misplaced . . .”
“Thirty-two phone chargers in the past five years?” When she opened her mouth to protest, I added, “I’ve got the receipts to prove it, too.”
Her mouth clamped closed as the cab rolled up to my aunt’s house.
“What am I going to do without you?” Mom swallowed, dropping her big black retro sunglasses over her eyes to hide the tears starting to form, to my surprise.
I was better at keeping my emotions hidden, so I didn’t dig around in my purse for sunglasses. “Um, I don’t know? Maybe rock a sold-out international tour? Six continents in three months? Fifty concerts in ninety days? That kind of
thing?”
Mom started to smile. She loved music—writing it, listening to it, playing it—and was a true musician. She hadn’t gotten into it to become famous or make the Top 40 or anything like that; she’d done it because it was who she was. She was the same person playing to a dozen people in a crowded café as she was now, the lead singer of one of the biggest bands in the world playing to an arena of thousands.
“Sounds pretty killer. All of those countries. All of that adventure.” Mom’s hand was on the door handle, but it looked more like she was trying to keep the taxi door closed than to open it. “Sure you don’t want to be a part of it?”
I smiled thinly back at my mom, her wild brown hair spilling over giant glasses. She had this boundless sense of adventure—always had and always would—so it was hard for her to comprehend how her own offspring could feel any different.
“Promise to call me every day and send me pictures?” I said, feeling the driver lingering outside my door with luggage in hand. This was it. Mom exhaled, lifting her pinkie toward me. “Promise.”
I curled my pinkie around hers and forced a smile. “Love
you, Mom.”
Her finger wound around mine as tightly as she had clenched my other hand on the ride here. “Love you no matter what.” Then she shoved her door open and crawled out, but not before I noticed one tiny tear escape her sunglasses.
By the time I’d stepped out of the cab, all signs of that tear or any others were gone. Mom did tears as often as she wrote moving love songs. In other words, never.
As she dug around in her purse for her wallet to pay the driver, I took a minute to inspect the house in front of me.
The last time we’d been here was for Thanksgiving three years ago. Or was it four? I couldn’t remember, but it was long enough to have forgotten how bright white my aunt and uncle’s house was, how the windows glowed from being so
clean and the landscaping looked almost fake it was so well kept.
It was pretty much the total opposite of the tour buses and extended-stay hotels I’d spent most of my life in. My mother, Meg Abbott, did not do tidy.
“Back zipper pocket,” I said as she struggled to find the money in her wallet.
“Aha,” she announced, freeing a few bills to hand to the driver, whose patience was wilting. After taking her luggage, she shouldered up beside me.
“So the neat-freak thing gets worse with time.” Mom gaped at the walkway leading up to the cobalt-blue front door, where a Davenport nameplate sparkled in the sunlight.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say most of the surfaces I’d eaten off of weren’t as clean as the stretch of concrete in front of me.
“Mom . . . ,” I warned, when she shuddered after she roamed to inspect the window boxes bursting with scarlet geraniums.
“I’m not being mean,” she replied as we started down the walkway. “I’m appreciating my sister’s and my differences.
That’s all.”
Right then, the front door whisked open and my aunt seemed to float from it, a measured smile in place, not a single hair out of place.
“Appreciating our differences,” Mom muttered under her breath as we moved closer.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing as the two sisters embraced.
Mom had long dark hair and fell just under the average-height bar like me. Aunt Julie, conversely, had light hair she kept swishing above her shoulders, and she was tall and thin. Her eyes were almost as light blue as mine, compared to Mom’s, which were almost as dark as her hair. It wasn’t only their physical differences that set them apart; it was everything. From the way they dressed Mom in some shade of dark, whereas the darkest color I’d ever seen Aunt Julie wear was periwinkle—to their taste in food, Mom was on the spicy end of the spectrum and Aunt Julie was on the mild.
Mom stared at Aunt Julie.
Aunt Julie stared back at Mom.
This went on for twenty-one seconds. I counted. The last stare-down four years ago had gone forty-nine. So this was progress.
Finally, Aunt Julie folded her hands together, her rounded nails shining from a fresh manicure. “Hello, Jade. Hello, Megan.”
Mom’s back went ramrod straight when Aunt Julie referred to her by her given name. Aunt Julie was eight years older but acted more like her mother than her sister.
“How’s it hangin’, Jules?”
Aunt Julie’s lips pursed hearing her little sister’s nickname for her. Then she stepped back and motioned inside. “Well?”
That was my cue to pick up my luggage and follow after Mom, who was tromping up the front steps. “Are we done already? Really?” she asked, nudging Aunt Julie as she passed.
“I’m taking the higher road,” Aunt Julie replied.
“What you call taking the higher road I call getting soft in your old age.” Mom hustled through the door after that, like she was afraid Aunt Julie would kick her butt or something.
The image of Aunt Julie kicking anything made me giggle to myself.
“Jade.” Aunt Julie’s smile was of the real variety this time as she took my duffel from me. “You were a girl the last time we saw you, and look at you now. All grown up.”
“Hey, Aunt Julie. Thanks again for letting me spend the summer with you guys,” I said, pausing beside her, not sure whether to hug her or keep moving. A moment of awkwardness passed before she made the decision for me by reaching out and patting my back. I continued on after that.
Aunt Julie wasn’t cold or removed; she just showed her affection differently. But I knew she cared about me and my mom. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t pick up the phone on the first ring whenever we did call every few months. She also wouldn’t have immediately said yes when Mom asked her a few months ago if I could spend the summer here.
“Let me show you to your room.” She pulled the door shut behind her and led us through the living room. “Paul and I had the guest room redone to make it more fitting for a teenage girl.”
“Instead of an eighty-year-old nun who had a thing for quilts and angel figurines?” Mom said, biting at her chipped black nail polish.
“I wouldn’t expect someone whose idea of a feng shui living space is kicking the dirty clothes under their bed to appreciate my sense of style,” Aunt Julie fired back, like she’d been anticipating Mom’s dig.
I cut in before they could get into it. “You didn’t have to do that, Aunt Julie. The guest room exactly the way it was would have been great.”
“Speaking of the saint also known as my brother-in-law, where is Paul?” Mom spun around, moving down the hall backward.
“At work.” Aunt Julie stopped outside of a room. “He wanted to be here, but his job’s been crazy lately.”
Aunt Julie snatched the porcelain angel Mom had picked up from the hall table. She carefully returned it to the exact same spot, adjusting it a hair after a moment’s consideration.
“Where are the twins?” I asked, scanning the hallway for Hannah and Hailey. The last time I’d seen them, they were in preschool but acted like they were in grad school or something. They were nice kids, just kind of freakishly well
behaved and brainy.
“At Chinese camp,” Aunt Julie answered.
“Getting to eat dim sum and make paper dragons?” Mom asked, sounding almost surprised.
Aunt Julie sighed. “Learning the Chinese language.” Aunt Julie opened a door and motioned me inside. I’d barely set one foot into the room before my eyes almost crossed from what I found.
Holy pink.
Hot pink, light pink, glittery pink, Pepto-Bismol pink—every shade, texture, and variety of pink seemed to be represented inside this square of space.
“What do you think?” Aunt Julie gushed, moving up
beside me with a giant smile.
“I love it,” I said, working up a smile. “It’s great. So great.
And so . . . pink.”
“I know, right?” Aunt Julie practically squealed. I didn’t know she was capable of anything close to that high-pitched.
“We hired a designer and everything. I told her you were a girly seventeen-year-old and let her do the rest.”
Glancing over at the full-length mirror framed in, you bet, fuchsia rhinestones, I wondered what about me led my aunt to classify me as “girly.” I shopped at vintage thrift stores, lived in faded denim and colors found in nature, not ones manufactured in the land of Oz. I was wearing sneakers, cut-offs, and a flowy olive-colored blouse, pretty much the other end of the spectrum. The last girly thing I’d done was wear makeup on Halloween. I was a zombie.
Beside me, Mom was gaping at the room like she’d walked in on a crime scene. A gruesome crime scene.
“What the . . . pink?” she edited after I dug an elbow into her.
“You shouldn’t have.” I smiled at Aunt Julie when she turned toward me, still beaming.
“Yeah, Jules. You really shouldn’t have.” Mom shook her head, flinching when she noticed the furry pink stool tucked beneath the vanity that was resting beneath a huge cotton-candy-pink chandelier.
“It’s the first real bedroom this girl’s ever had. Of course I should have. I couldn’t not.” Aunt Julie moved toward the bed, fixing the smallest fold in the comforter.
“Jade’s had plenty of bedrooms.” Mom nudged me, glancing at the window. She was giving me an out. She had no idea how much more it would take than a horrendously pink room for me to want to take it.
“Oh, please. Harry Potter had a more suitable bedroom in that closet under the stairs than Jade’s ever had. You can’t consider something that either rolls down a highway or is bolted to a hotel floor an appropriate room for a young woman.” Aunt Julie wasn’t in dig mode; she was in honest mode.
That put Mom in unleash-the-beast mode.
Her face flashed red, but before she could spew whatever
comeback she had stewing inside, I cut in front of her. “Aunt Julie, would you mind if Mom and I had a few minutes alone?
You know, to say good-bye and everything?”
As infrequently as we visited the house on Providence Avenue, I fell into my role of referee like it was second nature.
“Of course not. We’ll have lots of time to catch up.” Aunt Julie gave me another pat on the shoulder as she headed for the door. “We’ll have all summer.” She’d just disappeared when her head popped back in the doorway. “Meg, can I get you anything to drink before you have to dash?”
“Whiskey,” Mom answered intently.
Aunt Julie chuckled like she’d made a joke, continuing down the hall.
I dropped my duffel on the pink zebra-striped throw rug.
“Mom—”
“You grew up seeing the world. Experiencing things most people will never get to in their whole lives.” Her voice was getting louder with every word. “You’ve got a million times the perspective of kids your age. A billion times more compassion and an understanding that the world doesn’t revolve around you. Who is she to make me out to be some inadequate parent when all she cares about is raising obedient, genius robots? She doesn’t know what it was like for me. How hard it was.”
“Mom,” I repeated, dropping my hands onto her shoulders as I looked her in the eye. “You did great.”
It took a minute for the red to fade from her face, then another for her posture to relax. “You’re great. I just tried not to get in the way too much and screw all that greatness up.”
“And if you must know, I’d take any of the hundreds of rooms we’ve shared over this pinktastrophe.” So it was kind of a lie, the littlest of ones. Sure, pink was on my offensive list, but the room was clean and had a door, and I would get to stay in the same place at least for the next few months. After living out of suitcases and overnight bags for most of my life, I was looking forward to discovering what drawer-and-closet living was like.
Mom threw her arms around me, pulling me in for one of those final-feeling hugs. Except this time, it kind of wasa final one. Realizing that made me feel like someone had stuffed a tennis ball down my throat.
“I love you no matter what,” she whispered into my ear again, the same words she’d sang, said, or on occasion shouted at me. Mom never just said I love you. She had something against those three words on their own. They were too open, too loosely defined, too easy to take back when something went wrong.
I love you no matter what had always been her way of telling me she loved me forever and for always. Unconditionally. She said that, before me, she’d never felt that type of love for anyone. What I’d picked up along the way on my own was that I was the only one she felt loved her back in the same way.
Squeezing my arms around my mom a little harder, I returned her final kind of hug. “I love you no matter what, too.”

 

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Nicole Williams is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of contemporary and young adult romance, including the Crash and Lost & Found series. Her books have been published by HarperTeen and Simon & Schuster in both domestic and foreign markets, while she continues to self-publish additional titles. She is working on a new YA series with Crown Books (a division of Random House) as well. She loves romance, from the sweet to the steamy, and writes stories about characters in search of their happily even after. She grew up surrounded by books and plans on writing until the day she dies, even if it’s just for her own personal enjoyment. She still buys paperbacks because she’s all nostalgic like that, but her kindle never goes neglected for too long. When not writing, she spends her time with her husband and daughter, and whatever time’s left over she’s forced to fit too many hobbies into too little time.Nicole is represented by Jane Dystel, of Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency.

 

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Almost Impossible by Nicole Williams…Release Day Blitz & Review

 

 

 

 

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Fans of Sarah Dessen, Stephanie Perkins, and Jenny Han will delight as the fireworks spark and the secrets fly in this delicious summer romance from a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.

When Jade decided to spend the summer with her aunt in California, she thought she knew what she was getting into. But nothing could have prepared her for Quentin. Jade hasn’t been in suburbia long and even she knows her annoying (and annoyingly cute) next-door neighbor spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

And when Quentin learns Jade plans to spend her first American summer hiding out reading books, he refuses to be ignored. Sneaking out, staying up, and even a midnight swim, Quentin is determined to give Jade days–and nights–worth remembering.

But despite their storybook-perfect romance, every time Jade moves closer, Quentin pulls away. And when rumors of a jilted ex-girlfriend come to light, Jade knows Quentin is hiding a secret–and she’s determined to find out what it is.

 

Let me start off by first saying that in my personal opinion, a 3 star book is a good book and one that I would recommend to people. I find that people cringe when they see 3 star and think the book isn’t that great. It’s not that, it’s more along the lines of the book was a good read, but not one that will stick with me forever.

Almost Impossible is a sweet and easy read for just about anyone. There isn’t any over the top drama and nothing too hot and heavy for a YA read.

Jade was my favorite part of this book. She has grown up in a world most of us would find fascinating and amazing. She is bit more mature than most at her age, but at the same time, she is slightly naïve on certain things because of her upbringing. You’d think she’d be more of a rebellious kid or something along those lines, but she appreciates everything she’s been given and has a great head on her shoulders.

Quentin was an interesting character to me. He’s got younger siblings at home that he helps take care of and also works full time during the summer. From everything we learn about him, he seems like a pretty decent kid who keeps to himself and doesn’t get into too much trouble.

I enjoyed the buildup between Jade and Quentin – it was the typical summer romance between two teens – nothing is too fast and flows well between them. They take jabs at one another and even try to move things in a certain direction, even while life tries to stop it.

While I did enjoy reading this one, it’s a not a story that left me reeling, and that is ok. Not all books need to leave with me that feeling way. This was a very light and sweet story overall. However, based on the blurb I was expecting more of bad boy with Quentin than we got and I was expecting a more dramatic story line where the ex-girlfriend came into play.

Even though I had expected more, with this being a YA read, it is a fine line for an author to give a story that edge of naughty teenage boy and a secret about his past and still make it relatable to the YA reader. With that being said, I personally feel that Nicole did her best in portraying Jade, Quentin and his ex-girlfriend without making it too heavy of a story for characters that were heading into their senior year of high school.

Overall, Almost Impossible is definitely a story I would think any teenager would enjoy along with fellow YA lovers who are looking for a non-angsty and dramatic story. This one hit right down the middle for me, which in my opinion, makes is a good read.

 

 

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Nicole Williams is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of contemporary and young adult romance, including the Crash and Lost & Found series. Her books have been published by HarperTeen and Simon & Schuster in both domestic and foreign markets, while she continues to self-publish additional titles. She is working on a new YA series with Crown Books (a division of Random House) as well. She loves romance, from the sweet to the steamy, and writes stories about characters in search of their happily even after. She grew up surrounded by books and plans on writing until the day she dies, even if it’s just for her own personal enjoyment. She still buys paperbacks because she’s all nostalgic like that, but her kindle never goes neglected for too long. When not writing, she spends her time with her husband and daughter, and whatever time’s left over she’s forced to fit too many hobbies into too little time.

Nicole is represented by Jane Dystel, of Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency.

 

 

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Excerpt Reveal….The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young

 

 

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Impossible Vastness of Us and the On Dublin Street series comes a heartfelt and beautiful new young adult novel, set in Scotland, about daring to dream and embracing who you are. Don’t miss THE FRAGILE ORDINARY releasing on June 26, 2018, and get a sneak peek of the book below!

 

 

About THE FRAGILE ORDINARY:

I am Comet Caldwell.

And I sort of, kind of, absolutely hate my name.

People expect extraordinary things from a girl named Comet. That she’ll be effortlessly cool and light up a room the way a comet blazes across the sky.

But from the shyness that makes her book-character friends more appealing than real people to the parents whose indifference hurts more than an open wound, Comet has never wanted to be the center of attention. She can’t wait to graduate from her high school in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the only place she ever feels truly herself is on her anonymous poetry blog. But surely that will change once she leaves to attend university somewhere far, far away.

When new student Tobias King blazes in from America and shakes up the school, Comet thinks she’s got the bad boy figured out. Until they’re thrown together for a class assignment and begin to form an unlikely connection. Everything shifts in Comet’s ordinary world. Tobias has a dark past and runs with a tough crowd—and none of them are happy about his interest in Comet. Targeted by bullies and thrown into the spotlight, Comet and Tobias can go their separate ways…or take a risk on something extraordinary.

 

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“Endearing and relatable, Comet-the girl who is searching for her place in this world-will shoot through the sky and into your heart.”

— #1 New York Times bestselling author Erin Watt


 

 

 

 

EXCERPT:

Hearing and feeling Tobias’s heart beat beneath my cheek was the most wonderful feeling in the world. Despite my worry for him and for Stevie, I couldn’t help but feel happy as the boy I loved slept in my bed with his arm around me.

The morning sun woke him around nine in the morning. He groaned and then grew still, maybe realizing I was curled up against him. For a moment I tensed, fearing he was going to regret everything he’d said last night.

Instead he trailed his fingers down my arm. “You awake?” his voice rumbled above me.

I smiled, liking the tingles that bubbled and fizzed in certain parts of my body at the mere sound of his voice. “Yeah.”

“What time is it?”

I told him.

“Crap.”

“What?” I asked, sitting up as he reached across the bed to where his phone lay on the bedside table.

“Stevie and my mom.” He cursed again as he flicked the screen. “They’ve texted and called a bunch of times. I better call my mom back first before she calls the police or something.” He pressed the screen and held the phone to his ear. “Mom,” he said almost immediately. “I’m fine.” Tobias scowled. “I’m a big boy…no…no, I didn’t…I’m with Comet…” Streaks of color appeared high on his cheeks, surprising me. Tobias rarely got embarrassed. “No, we just fell asleep…yeah…I’m on my way.” He hung up and gave me an apologetic look. “I have to go.”

At his beleaguered tone, I placed a reassuring hand on his arm. “She’s your mum. It would be weird if she wasn’t worried you didn’t come home.”

“Yeah, whatever.” He shook his head and got off the bed, leaving me to frown at him.

Tobias seemed to be in a continually bad mood with his mother. I wish I had the guts to tell him to talk to her about why he was so mad, but I didn’t want to push too hard too soon on such a delicate subject.

“I’ll go appease her,” he said, slipping his trainers on. “Then come back?”

I opened my mouth to agree and then remembered my promise from the night before. “I’m going over to Vicki’s this morning.”

“Right. How about I meet you outside the Espy around three o’ clock?”

Relieved and delighted that he not only didn’t regret saying what he had last night but that he wanted to see me again so soon, I grinned and got off the bed. Tobias gave me that boyish smile of his and I reached for his hand, needing to touch him.

He squeezed mine, a solemnity entering his gaze. “I want to invite Stevie to meet us. I’m hoping that together we can talk him out of this bullshit. When it was just me I wasn’t getting anywhere, but he cares about you. Maybe he’ll listen.”

I nodded, loving him even more for wanting to help his cousin. “Definitely. If we let him know we’re here to help him through everything with his mum but that we can only do that if he walks away from Dean and the drugs…maybe he’ll see sense.”

I hoped.

Tobias hoped, too. I could see the turmoil in his eyes and I wanted desperately to be able to take it away.

It was as I was leading him from my bedroom to the front door that I heard the hallway floor creak behind us. I turned ever so slightly, catching sight of my dad in my peripheral. Ignoring him I hugged Tobias goodbye and waved him off down the garden path. I closed the door and turned to face my father. He stood frowning at me in his pajamas, a cup of coffee in one hand, a piece of toast in the other.

“Did that boy stay over?” he asked, sounding incredulous.

His tone suggested I’d done something wrong. I stiffened. “Yes.”

Dad took a step toward me, glowering now. “Don’t you think that’s something you should run past us first? You’re only sixteen, Comet.”

“Almost seventeen.” I bristled. How dare he suddenly play the parental card! Just when I was happy and didn’t need him, he wanted to stick his nose in where it was not wanted! A fire lit inside me and swept out of me before I could control it. “And let’s not play the concerned parent act, Kyle.” I strode toward my bedroom and shoved open the door. “You don’t get to decide which parts of my life you want to take an interest in. Having a kid? Kind of an all-or-nothing deal.” I stepped inside, gripping the door in my hand as I sneered at him. “You decided long ago it was nothing for you. No changing your mind now.” And with that I slammed the door in his shocked face.

 

 

About Samantha Young:

Samantha Young is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of adult contemporary romances, including the On Dublin Street series and Hero, as well as the New Adult duology Into the Deep and Out of the Shallows. Every Little Thing, the second book in her new Hart’s Boardwalk series, will be published by Berkley in March 2017. Before turning to contemporary fiction, she wrote several young adult paranormal and fantasy series, including the amazon bestselling Tale of Lunarmorte trilogy. Samantha’s debut YA contemporary novel The Impossible Vastness of Us will be published by Harlequin TEEN in ebook & hardback June 2017

Samantha has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award 2012 for Best Author and Best Romance for On Dublin Street, Best Romance 2014 for Before Jamaica Lane, and Best Romance 2015 for Hero. On Dublin Street, a #1 bestseller in Germany, was the Bronze Award Winner in the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2013, Before Jamaica Lane the Gold Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2014 and Echoes of Scotland Street the Bronze Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2015.

Samantha is currently published in 30 countries and is a #1 international bestselling author.

 

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Paperback Release…..Roar by Cora Carmack

 

 

From New York Times bestselling author Cora Carmack comes her debut young adult fantasy, ROAR! Now available in paperback, ROAR takes readers on an adventure filled with charismatic characters in an enthralling world sure to keep them turning the pages. Grab your copy today!

 

 

About ROAR (Stormheart #1):

New York Times bestselling author Cora Carmack’s young adult debut: Roar.

In a land ruled and shaped by violent magical storms, power lies with those who control them.

Aurora Pavan comes from one of the oldest Stormling families in existence. Long ago, the ungifted pledged fealty and service to her family in exchange for safe haven, and a kingdom was carved out from the wildlands and sustained by magic capable of repelling the world’s deadliest foes. As the sole heir of Pavan, Aurora’s been groomed to be the perfect queen. She’s intelligent and brave and honorable. But she’s yet to show any trace of the magic she’ll need to protect her people.

To keep her secret and save her crown, Aurora’s mother arranges for her to marry a dark and brooding Stormling prince from another kingdom. At first, the prince seems like the perfect solution to all her problems. He’ll guarantee her spot as the next queen and be the champion her people need to remain safe. But the more secrets Aurora uncovers about him, the more a future with him frightens her. When she dons a disguise and sneaks out of the palace one night to spy on him, she stumbles upon a black market dealing in the very thing she lacks—storm magic. And the people selling it? They’re not Stormlings. They’re storm hunters.

Legend says that her ancestors first gained their magic by facing a storm and stealing part of its essence. And when a handsome young storm hunter reveals he was born without magic, but possesses it now, Aurora realizes there’s a third option for her future besides ruin or marriage.
She might not have magic now, but she can steal it if she’s brave enough.

Challenge a tempest. Survive it. And you become its master.

 

 

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EXCERPT:

“This life is not glamorous,” Duke told her. “We travel constantly. We sleep on the ground most nights. When we’re not in danger from storms, we’re in danger in cities where we are considered criminals. This life is not for the faint of heart.”

“There are things I do not know, things I will have to learn. But I am capable. I am familiar with sacrifice. I know what it is to make hard choices.”

“Tell me you’re not considering this,” Locke said to Duke.

The old man was silent for a long moment, both Locke and Roar looking to him for support. Duke rubbed at his mustache, a habit of his when he was thinking deeply. “Let’s think about this, Locke. She’s smart. And determined.”

“She’s a child.”

Roar’s shoulders hunched in Locke’s peripheral vision, and he swallowed back the guilt. He could apologize later. For now, it was imperative that he won this argument.

You were a child when I brought you into the fold,” Duke said. “She’s a young woman with a good head on her shoulders. And if this is what she wants, I’m inclined to at least hear her out.”

Just like that, Roar’s shoulders straightened, and Locke turned to watch a devastating smile bloom across her mouth. His weakness when it came to her only made him more cross.

“What skills do you have?” he snapped at Roar.

“Skills?”

“Yes, skills. What can you do? Or do you just plan to tag along for the ride?”

A flush spread over her cheeks, and her voice was tentative when she answered, “I’m good on a horse. Very good.”

Where in the world would she have learned to ride? He quickly hardened his expression. “Horses are fine for travel, but they don’t do well in storms. They, unlike you, have good survival instincts.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Locke could have sworn he felt an updraft—the first sign that bad weather could occur—and he knew that this time he had pushed too far.

Roar marched toward him, spearing a finger into his chest and said, “I can read and write. I can speak Taraanese, Finlaghi, and Odilarian. I can read maps. I know enough about grassland vegetation and wildlife to survive without a market to buy food and drink. I’m good with knives and a bow. I learn quickly, and I’m not afraid of hard work. And I’ve spent my entire life reading as much about storms as I could get my hands on.” For a moment, her voice cracked under the weight of her anger, but she took a huffing breath and continued: “I’m good with numbers. It’s been a while, but I think I can probably still draw the constellations from memory, which should make me decent at navigation. I can—“

“Enough.” Locke’s voice came out in a deep rasp. He captured her long, delicate finger in his fist before she could continue poking him. He felt short of breath at the sight of her—livid and lovely. “Enough.”

The old Locke might have kept arguing, and Roar would have met him toe-to-toe. But if becoming a storm hunter had taught him anything, it was that fighting head-on wasn’t always the way to win. Sometimes strategy was required. He met Duke’s eyes over her shoulder, and if he had thought Roar looked smug before, she had nothing on his mentor. The man raised his eyebrows in a challenge and asked, “You?”

He hated the idea of bringing someone into this dangerous life, but if it was going to happen regardless, he sure as hell wouldn’t hand her safety over to anyone else, not even Ransom. And at the very least, it would give him the opportunity to change her mind. He gritted his teeth and nodded his acceptance.

 

 


And the Link:https://youtu.be/3fIxbHRHnGc

 

 

 

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About Cora Carmack:

Cora Carmack is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Since she was a teenager, her favorite genre to read has been fantasy, and now she’s thrilled to bring her usual compelling characters and swoon-worthy romance into worlds of magic and intrigue with her debut YA fantasy, Roar. Her previous adult romance titles include the Losing It, Rusk University, and Muse series. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages around the world. Cora splits her time between Austin, TX and New York City, and on any given day you might find her typing away at her computer, flying to various cities around the world, or just watching Netflix with her kitty Katniss. But she can always be found on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and her website www.coracarmack.com.

 

 

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Cover Reveal…The Warrior Princess (Alinthia #3) by Siobhan Davis

 

The Warrior Princess
Siobhan Davis
(Alinthia #3)
Publication date: August 30th 2018
Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

She’ll tear the galaxy apart to save them…

Captured by a special, secret government agency, Alinthia is now facing another new reality—one where she’s separated from the four guys who have come to mean so much to her. But she has faith in Dane, Coop, Maddox, and Beck, and she refuses to give up hope.

Until she discovers General Arantu, and his despicable daughter, have imprisoned her protectors and time is running out to save them.

Desperate to escape the government’s clutches and rescue her loved ones, Alinthia finds unlikely allies in the strangest of places. With their help, she finally understands what is required to assume full control of her powers and fulfill her legacy.

However, the more she discovers about herself and her abilities, the more she understands how fragile the line is between good and evil, darkness and light, right and wrong.

Will she make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of love or are there some lines that can’t ever be crossed?

The third book in the captivating Alinthia series is intended for readers aged seventeen and older. This is upper YA/NA crossover reverse harem paranormal romance which gets steamier as the series develops.

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Previous books in the series:

 

Author Bio:

USA Today bestselling author Siobhan Davis writes emotionally intense young adult and new adult romantic fiction with swoon-worthy romance, complex characters, and tons of unexpected plot twists and turns that will have you flipping the pages beyond bedtime! She is the author of the international bestselling Kennedy Boys, Saven, and True Calling series’.

Siobhan’s family will tell you she’s a little bit obsessive when it comes to reading and writing, and they aren’t wrong. She can rarely be found without her trusty Kindle, a paperback book, or her laptop somewhere close at hand.

Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Siobhan forged a successful corporate career in human resource management.

She resides in the Garden County of Ireland with her husband and two sons.

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