BLOG TOUR: The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick

Title: The Good Luck of Right Now

Author: Matthew Quick
Genre: Adult Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Harper Collins

Release Date: February 11/2014

Adquired: Print ARC provided by publisher

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository

Call it fate. Call it synchronicity. Call it an act of God. Call it . . . The Good Luck of Right Now. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook comes an entertaining and inspiring tale that will leave you pondering the rhythms of the universe and marveling at the power of kindness and love.

For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday mass, and the library learn how to fly?

Bartholomew thinks he’s found a clue when he discovers a “Free Tibet” letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother’s underwear drawer. In her final days, mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection. Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of highly intimate letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy, the Catholic Church and the mystery of women are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man’s heartbreakingly earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own.

A struggling priest, a “Girlbrarian,” her feline-loving, foul-mouthed brother, and the spirit of Richard Gere join the quest to help Bartholomew. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the cat Parliament and find his biological father . . . and discover so much more.

BLOG TOUR: The Taste of Apple Seeds by Katharina Hagena

Title: The Taste of Apple Seeds

Author: Katharina Hagena
Genre: Adult Magic Realism/Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow

Release Date: February 4/2014

Adquired:  e-ARC provided by publisher

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository

An international bestseller, The Taste of Apple Seeds is a story of love and loss that will captivate your heart.

When Iris unexpectedly inherits her grandmother's house in the country, she also inherits the painful memories that live there.

Iris gives herself a one-week stay at the old house, after which she'll make a decision: keep it, or sell it. The choice is not so simple, though, for her grandmother's cottage is an enchanting place where currant jam tastes of tears, sparks fly from fingertips, love's embrace makes apple trees blossom, and the darkest family secrets never stay buried.

As Iris moves in and out of the flicker between remembrance and forgetting, she chances upon a forgotten childhood friend who could become more.

The Taste of Apple Seeds is a bittersweet story of heartbreak and hope passed down through the generations.

BLOG TOUR: Timestorm (Tempest #3) by Julie Cross

Title: Timestorm (Tempest #3)

Author: Julie Cross
Genre: Young Adult Time Travel/Sci-fi
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Release Date: January 28/2014

Adquired: e-ARC provided by publisher

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository

The breathtaking conclusion to the time-travel trilogy that is “both tender and electric” (Publishers Weekly)

The battle between the Tempest division and Eyewall comes to a shocking conclusion in this final installment of the Tempest trilogy, where the need for survival stretches the boundaries of history, both past and future, and the world Jackson once knew is a place forever marked by the detrimental effects of time travel.

As Jackson recovers from his brush with death, he’s surrounded not only by the people he loves most—his dad, Courtney, and Holly—he’s also amongst a few of the original time travelers. As he learns more about their life and how this world began, it becomes apparent that they need to put a stop to Thomas and Doctor Ludwig’s experimenting at Eyewall Headquarters. What starts out as an escape plan becomes a war between time and humanity, between freewill and peace. It’s the battle Jackson was born to fight and he’s not about to back down. Not for anything. Not for anyone.

REVIEW: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (*FAINT)

"Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . "

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?

BLOG TOUR: This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash

Title: This Dark Road to Mercy

Author: Wiley Cash
Genre: Adult Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: William Morrow

Release Date: January 28/2014

Adquired: Print copy provided by publisher

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository

The critically-acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller A Land More Kind Than Home returns with a resonant novel of love and atonement, blood and vengeance, involving two young sisters, a wayward father, and an enemy determined to see him pay for his sins.

When their mother dies unexpectedly, twelve-year-old Easter and her six-year-old sister Ruby are shuffled into the foster care system in Gastonia, North Carolina, a town not far from the Appalachian mountains. But just as they settle into their new life, their errant father, Wade, an ex-minor league baseball player whom they haven't seen in years, suddenly appears and wants to spend more time with them. Unfortunately, Wade has signed away legal rights to his daughters, and the only way he can get Easter and Ruby back is to steal them away in the middle of the night.

Brady Weller, the girls' court-appointed guardian, begins looking for Wade, and he quickly turns up unsettling information linking Wade to a recent armored car heist, one with a whopping $14.5 million missing. But Brady Weller isn't the only one hunting the desperate father. Robert Pruitt, a shady and mercurial man nursing a years-old vendetta, is also determined to find Wade and claim his due.

GIVEAWAY: February New Release Giveaway Hop (Win a Book of Your Choice! INT)

FEBRUARY 2014 NEW RELEASE 
GIVEAWAY HOP

It's that time of the month again! New release giveaway hop time =). For this hop, I will be giving readers a chance to win a new release for the month of February 2014 ($10 and under before tax, Book Depository). You can choose a Young Adult, Middle Grade, New Adult or Adult book-I have listed some examples below. Each book cover will lead to it's Goodreads page, where you can read a synopsis and reviews.  

Please remember to read ALL rules and regulations first. 
I would hate to have you miss out on a chance of winning.

 GOOD LUCK and Happy Picking!

JANUARY 2014: A BOOK HAUL a.ka. I have a serious problem

JANUARY 2014

-A BOOK HAUL-

BLOG TOUR: Ripper by Isabel Allende

Title: Ripper

Author: Isabel Allende
Genre: Adult Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Harper

Release Date: January 28/2014

Adquired: Print copy provided by publisher

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository

Isabel Allende-the New York Times bestselling author whose books, including Maya's Notebook, Island Beneath the Sea, and Zorro, have sold more than 57 million copies around the world-demonstrates her remarkable literary versatility with this atmospheric, fast-paced mystery involving a brilliant teenage sleuth who must unmask a serial killer in San Francisco.

The Jackson women, Indiana and Amanda, have always had each other. Yet, while their bond is strong, mother and daughter are as different as night and day. Indiana, a beautiful holistic healer, is a free-spirited bohemian. Long divorced from Amanda's father, she's reluctant to settle down with either of the men who want her-Alan, the wealthy scion of one of San Francisco's elite families, and Ryan, an enigmatic, scarred former Navy SEAL.

While her mom looks for the good in people, Amanda is fascinated by the dark side of human nature, like her father, the SFPD's Deputy Chief of Homicide. Brilliant and introverted, the MIT-bound high school senior is a natural-born sleuth addicted to crime novels and Ripper, the online mystery game she plays with her beloved grandfather and friends around the world.

When a string of strange murders occurs across the city, Amanda plunges into her own investigation, discovering, before the police do, that the deaths may be connected. But the case becomes all too personal when Indiana suddenly vanishes. Could her mother's disappearance be linked to the serial killer? Now, with her mother's life on the line, the young detective must solve the most complex mystery she's ever faced before it's too late.

BLOG TOUR: The Isolation Door by Anish Majumdar

Title: The Isolation Door

Author: Anish Majumdar
Genre: Adult Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Ravana Press

Release Date: February 4/2014

Adquired: Print copy provided by publisher

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Book Depository

Neil Kapoor, 23, is desperate to create a life beyond the shadow of his mother’s schizophrenia. Years of successive relapses and rehabilitations have forced his father into the role of caretaker and Neil into that of silent witness. But there is no light within this joyless ritual, and any hope for the future rests on finding an exit.

Amidst her latest breakdown, Neil attends drama school in pursuit of a role that might better express the truth of who he is. What started as a desperate gambit becomes the fragile threads of a new life. A relationship blooms with Emily, and each finds strength – and demons - in the other. New friendships with Quincy and Tim grow close and complex. But the emotional remove needed to keep these two lives separate destabilizes the family. Neil’s father, the one constant in the chaos, buckles under the pressure. Enlisting the aid of an Aunt with means and questionable motives, Neil plies ever-greater deceptions to keep the darkness at bay. But this time there will be no going back. As his mother falls to terrifying depths a decision must be made: family or freedom?

In this powerful fiction debut, acclaimed journalist Anish Majumdar shines a much-needed light into the journey of those coping with serious mental disorders and the loved ones who walk alongside them. Incisive and filled with moments of strange beauty, it marks the arrival of a unique voice in American letters.

COVER REVEAL + GIVEAWAY: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

TITLE: 

Get Even
(Don't Get Mad #1)

AUTHOR: 

Gretcehn McNeil

RELEASE DATE: 

Sept. 16/014

GOODREADS:

Click to ADD

PREORDER:

Coming Soon

Follows the secretive exploits of four high school juniors - Kitty, Olivia, Margot and Bree - at an exclusive Catholic prep school. To all outward appearances, the girls barely know each other. At best, they don't move in the same social circles; at worst, they're overtly hostile.

Margot Mejia – academically ranked number two in her class, Margot is a focused overachiever bound for the Ivy League.

Kitty Li – captain of the California state and national champion varsity girls' volleyball team, she's been recruited by a dozen colleges and has dreams of winning an Olympic gold medal.

Olivia Hayes – popular star of the drama program, she's been voted "most eligible bachelorette" two years running in the high school yearbook and has an almost lethal combination of beauty and charm.

Bree Deringer – outcast, misfit and the kind of girl you don't want to meet in a dark alley, the stop sign red-haired punk is a constant thorn in the side of teachers and school administrators alike.

Different goals, different friends, different lives, but the girls share a secret no one would ever guess. They are members of Don't Get Mad, a society specializing in seeking revenge for fellow students who have been silently victimized by their peers. Each girl has her own reason for joining the group, her own set of demons to assuage by evening the score for someone else. And though school administration is desperate to find out who is behind the DGM "events", the girls have managed to keep their secret well hidden.

That is until one of their targets – a douchebag senior who took advantage of a drunk underclassman during a house party, videotaped it on his phone, and posted it on YouTube – turns up dead, and DGM is implicated in the murder.

Now the girls don't know who to trust, and as their tenuous alliance begins to crumble, the secrets they've hidden for so long might be their ultimate undoing.

BLOG TOUR: Etched on Me by Jenn Crowell + GUEST POST

Title: Etched on Me

Author: Jenn Crowell
Genre: Adult Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: February 4/2014

Adquired: Print copy provided by publisher

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository

On the surface, sixteen-year-old Lesley Holloway is just another bright new student at Hawthorn Hill, a posh all-girls’ prep school north of London. Little do her classmates know that she recently ran away from home, where her father had spent years sexually abusing her. Nor does anyone know that she’s secretly cutting herself as a coping mechanism...until the day she goes too far and ends up in the hospital.

Lesley spends the next two years in and out of psychiatric facilities, where she overcomes her traumatic memories and finds the support of a surrogate family. Eventually completing university and earning her degree, she is a social services success story—until she becomes unexpectedly pregnant in her early twenties. Despite the overwhelming odds she has overcome, the same team that saved her as an adolescent will now question whether Lesley is fit to be a mother. And so she embarks upon her biggest battle yet: the fight for her unborn daughter.

BLOG TOUR: What I Had Before I Had You by Sarah Cornwell

Title: What I Had Before I Had You

Author: Sarah Cornwell
Genre: Adult Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Harper

Release Date: January 7/2014

Adquired: Print copy provided by publisher

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository

In What I Had Before I Had You by Sarah Cornwell, a woman must face the truth about her past in this luminous, evocative literary novel of parents and children, guilt and forgiveness, memory and magical thinking, set in the faded, gritty world of the New Jersey Shore.

Olivia was only fifteen the summer she left her hometown of Ocean Vista. Two decades later, on a visit with her children, her nine-year-old son Daniel, recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, disappears. Olivia’s search for him sparks tender and painful memories of her past—of her fiercely loving and secretive mother, Myla, an erratic and beautiful psychic, and the discovery of heartbreaking secrets that shattered her world.

GIVEAWAY: I Heart BoundbyWords Valentine's Day Giveaway- Win 1/12 Books! (INT- Ends Feb 14)

HAPPY L♥VE MONTH!

It is officially February! Which means that Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I know the whole idea of that day is either hit or miss with a lot of people. I, for one, am completely against the commercial aspect of it, and just love the idea of a day filled with love. Not that everyday shouldn't be that way, but my heart just warms at the thought of people ALL over the globe sending out positive, affectionate vibes all at once, on one day. It doesn't just have to be love for a partner/spouse, it can be love for your children, your family, or anyone you hold dear and true! Today, I want to spread some love to all of YOU lovely readers/followers. A thank-you, once again, for following my little blog, and being interested in what I post up here!