**REVIEW & GIVEAWAY** After|Math by Denise Grover Swank

Release Date:  March 12, 2013
Published By: Createspace
Length:  250 pages
Review Copy: Paperback, Purchased

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Scarlett Goodwin’s world is divided into Before and After.

Before she agreed to tutor Tucker Price, college junior Scarlett was introvert, struggling with her social anxiety and determined to not end up living in a trailer park like her mother and her younger sister. A mathematics major, she goes to her classes, to her job in the tutoring lab, and then hides in the apartment she shares with her friend, Caroline.

After junior Tucker Price, Southern University’s star soccer player enters the equation, her carefully plotted life is thrown off its axis. Tucker’s failing his required College Algebra class. With his eligibility is at risk, the university chancellor dangles an expensive piece of computer software for the math department if Scarlett agrees to privately tutor him. Tucker’s bad boy, womanizer reputation makes Scarlett wary of any contact, let alone spending several hours a week in close proximity.

But from her first encounter, she realizes Tucker isn’t the person everyone else sees. He carries a mountain of secrets which she suspects hold the reason to his self-destructive behavior. But the deeper she delves into the cause of his pain, the deeper she gets sucked into his chaos. Will Scarlett find the happiness she’s looking for, or will she be caught in Tucker’s aftermath?

  Such a cute read and addictive as well!!  I mean I started and finished this baby in a day!  I read it on the way to my mom's... at my mom's... on the drive home (no I was not driving) and by the time we made it home I was done and a happy girl.  There is many little things that made me love this one as a whole but it was really the wonderful writing that captivated me.  Swank's writing just flows so well that honestly I probably couldn't have told you the difference between ten minutes and an hour because I was that pulled in.  Though admittedly there was not as much angst as I was expecting.  Though really sometimes books are better because of that.

  As stated above Swank's writing just flows and therefore the story just flows.  As a new adult novel it is set in a college and though that would seem typical, it was really anything but.  Scarlett and Tucker do see each other in a way that no one else does but their story is not an epic romance that they have to battle the odds to get there. No they both have to fight their own images, fears and feelings to get there.  To be honest their romance has no real defining moment where all of a sudden a light falls on them and they just know.  Everything about them is gradual, worked towards and even then you are never really sure if they are going to be able to pull it off.  They are both running/fighting for something that they believe will set them free of the past that they fear could be their future but in order to make it they may just find something better.

  Scarlett is unbelievably realistic.  I know what a contradiction, right?  This is one character that the majority of people will be able to relate to though, I think.  There are many people that have been through horrible, horrible situations but Scarlett is just running from the fear of becoming her mother or sister.  Now in no way do I mean that is not horrible because in certain situations (like Scarlett's) it is but I believe more people can relate to that in the end.  The fear of becoming something that you don't ever want to, it's legitimate.  She has a couple... social problems but I kind of saw them as quirks and honestly they worked for her situation super well.  I'm honestly thinking there is no possible was I am doing this character justice but guys everything here is meant to be super positive and good things so please take it that way.

Tucker is also not your typical bad boy.  He is basically your stereotypical jock though.  He is the star of the soccer team but does that make your life perfect?  Absolutely not.  I think believing because they are popular means they are living a perfect life with rainbows and butterflies is a horrible assumption.  The outlets that he chose weren't exactly productive but then again no one has ever really looked at him as anything other than the love em' and leave em' soccer star, or really told him no and not caved to his whims and ways.  Working with Scarlett was like a splash of cold water in the face for him... a wake up call.  Admittedly I never really felt like I knew him but I did... Once again may make no sense but I know what I mean.

  I can with all honesty say that I am excited to pick up the next book: Redesigned!  Denise Grover Swank has seriously won her way into insta buy indie authors (when I am not broke lol).  Her writing and real characters won me over time and time again without fail.  There were no moments that I found myself irritated but there was moments that pulled at my heart and made me wish that life were more simple for these characters.  The story spun in this book will connect you to the characters and pull your heart apart for them and their fight for figuring out what they want and just how far they are willing to go.  This is on the lighter side of NA and if you are just getting into the genre I highly suggest this.  Heck if you love NA but want something lighter pick this up because either way you will not regret it.

Arriving late to class is no big deal.  Sure, it's slightly embarrassing, but people like Tucker Price thrive on the attention.  People like me want to curl up and die.

  Against my better judgement, I look up at their faces and realize the truth.  They all know about the arrangement.  Am I the mathematics concubine, offered to the soccer god as payment?

  He shoots me a wicked glance, and to my surprise, I'm happy to see his cockiness return.  Sad Tucker makes me feel too personally involved.

  Wishing for more always leads to heartache.  There is no happily ever after.  There's only here and now.

  So why do I still want it?

  There's a crack in the armor encasing my heart.  I've handed Tucker the opportunity to get closer to me than anyone has ever gotten.

  Or I've given him the opportunity to destroy me.

With a HUGE THANK YOU to Denise for donating this book to the

blog to give away to YOU!! This will be INT but please read the Rafflecopter

rules :) And I DO verify so please be honest.

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**REVIEW** Horde by Ann Aguirre

Release Date:  October 29, 2013Published By:  Feiwel & FriendsReview Copy:  ARCProvided By:  Raincoast Canada for honest review

Buy It:Amazon~Book Depository~Chapters

  The horde is coming.

  Salvation is surrounded, monsters at the gates, and this time, they're not going away. When Deuce, Fade, Stalker and Tegan set out, the odds are against them. But the odds have been stacked against Deuce from the moment she was born. She might not be a Huntress anymore, but she doesn't run. With her knives in hand and her companions at her side, she will not falter, whether fighting for her life or Fade's love.

  Ahead, the battle of a lifetime awaits. Freaks are everywhere, attacking settlements, setting up scouts, perimeters, and patrols. There hasn't been a war like this in centuries, and humans have forgotten how to stand and fight. Unless Deuce can lead them.

  This time, however, more than the fate of a single enclave or outpost hangs in the balance. This time, Deuce carries the banner for the survival of all humanity.

  Brilliantly written, masterfully planned, with the perfect ending Horde blew me away.  I have been involved in this series from the first chapter in Enclave and was terrified to pick this book up and say goodbye to the series that I fell in love with.  There is much to love with this series and though I loved each book for its own reasons, Horde topped the first two and will surely be one of my top ten of 2013.  This is the type of book that makes me want to fangirl out, hug it and then cry a little because it is all over.

  The plot in this one takes everything just a step or so further and pushes the characters to their limits and causes more loss than I had ever expected.  Everything is coming to a head.  Deuce has lost her home below and Salvation is in danger.  Although most people in Salvation don't care for Deuce or her uncivilized ways she has found a home and family in this unlikely place and the need to help protect it is undeniable.  Setting out she knows things are changing...the freaks are changing but no one is prepared for just how much.  There is just so much of this book, this plot that I want to share and tell you about but there is so much that could ruin this amazing read for all of you, so I will have to stick that for now.

  What I love most about Deuce is that she has grown so much since we first met her but even with her growth she retains who she is at heart.  This is the girl that had to fight below to live, wanted to protect those she loved, that helped people get to safety in a world above that she had no idea even existed and the person that will do everything in her power to save the people that don't understand her.  With how she was raised and what she knew it would have been understandable if she hadn't adjusted but it was a constant show of her inner strength that she grew with each change and each challenge.  I think that this installment of the Razorland series really highlighted just how amazing Deuce really is and just how much she is willing to give up to become better and save every person possible.  I know this may seem a little repetitive but really Deuce is an outstanding character that I will forever remember.

  Fade and Deuce are...struggling.  Fade still induces my need to scream at him and shake some sense into him and yet I understand.  There has always been an edge of romance with these two, even when there was complications in the last novel but things change once again in this one.  In a way I had a hope that Stalker would become the top contender and win her affection but when it did come right down to it, it was obvious who exactly her heart belonged to.  I love that the romance in this series has always been there, maybe not front row and center but right there behind the action and the survival.  Aguirre really did create one of my favourite dystopian/apocalyptic romances in this series.

  There is much redemption in Horde as well.  Not just with Deuce and Fade but with many characters that had made choices that they weren't so proud of throughout all three of the books.  Sometimes it was hard to deal with how the redemption was dealt out and we do lose a character.  Yes, Aguirre has killed off a character...well she has killed off many in this one but she more specifically kills off someone you wouldn't expect her to.  She also expands upon the freaks and you get more into the origin and the why that was always lurking somewhere behind the scenes.  There is so much more that I did want to know in the end but I remain calm about it because of the amount you do get to learn that you had always questioned in the prior two novels.

  This series sunk its claws in me and kept a tight hold.  With the end of the series those claws were slowly released and I found myself relaxing.  I would never say that I am glad that it is over because I seriously will miss every character that graced the pages of the trilogy.  With Aguirre's spectacular writing and impeccable pacing there is more than enough to love about this series.  These books were clever, addictive and quickly became  a series that had me addicted.  Everything tied up nicely but it was not rushed and I would tell everyone I know (and anyone else that would listen) to pick up this entire series.  Basically what I am trying to say is PICK THESE BOOKS UP!

  I had been prey often enough that I recognized the prickling feel of enemies near by.  Unfortunately until the wind shifted just right, it was impossible to know how far away the freaks were.  We had to rest while we could and then press on.  Fighting wasn't our top priority; our mission was to summon help, and I couldn't contemplate the cost of failure.

  "If you had any idea how much I want to hold you-"

  "I'm not going anywhere, Fade.  You're my partner.  I choose you.  I always will."

  After that, I simply sat beside him, listening to him breathe.  It wasn't enough, but it was more than he'd let me do before.  Step by step he would let me back in.

A lesser boy would've wound up in the gangs and let them take away everything his parents taught him.  Instead he fled to the dangers and darkness down below, determined to hold fast to the person they'd taught him to be.  Even down below the elders hadn't touched the inner core that made him special.  I admired him for that.

  On the map, this settlement had a slash mark by it.  I could interpret most of Longshot's symbols but this on defeated me.  But id Gaspard was dangerous, surely he would've noted it in a more obvious way.

  The whole house was awash in blood and feces, as if the madwoman who had broken inside had been a wild animal.  She ate and excreted, and from what Thorton and I saw, that was all.

{ Book Blast & GIVEAWAY} Pendomus by Carissa Andrews

Welcome to the Pendomus by Carissa Andrews Book Blast!!
Enjoy the post & don't forget to enter the giveaway!! 

Humanity has colonized on the tidally locked planet Pendomus.

Residing between extreme heat and frigid cold is the complex known as the Helix. Within lies a highly sophisticated society functioning solely on humans fulfilling their life’s purpose as determined by their natural aptitudes and daily brain scans.

Seventeen-year-old Runa Cophem has found her calling studying the ancient trees nearby and anxiously awaits a professional placement which will allow her to continue her work.

Runa’s life takes an unforeseen turn when she’s brutally attacked and left for dead in those woods. Rescued by a stranger with blue hair, she’s immersed into a surprising way humanity has survived without the Helix. Fueled by a yearning to understand and an attraction she didn’t even know was possible, Runa tries to make a new life for herself. Yet, there’s much she doesn’t know about herself, about the planet, and the forces controlling her from afar.

What she needs are some answers.

Buy It:

 Amazon

About Carissa Andrews

Born and raised in central MN, Carissa Andrews has always loved books. She started her career at 15 in a bookstore, just to be able to afford her book fetish. By 19, she worked for a magazine publisher. At 22, she was working for printers to learn their trade. At 27, she went back to school for graphic design, and became an award winning designer. Little did she know all of her experiences would lead her to becoming a self-publishing power house.

Find Her:

 Twitter~Facebook~Website

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{Book Blast & GIVEAWAY} Knowing Vera by Rachelle Ayala

Hi and welcome to the Knowing Vera Book Blast!! I am in love with the

cover and the sound of this baby and wish you all luck in the giveaway below!!

Some secrets are best untold.

Vera Custodio has never fallen in love, though she has strong feelings for her friend and sometimes lover, Zach Spencer. Long-forgotten memories resurface when Vera discovers Zach’s mother was the woman her father supposedly murdered many years ago.

After losing his leg, former triathlete Zach Spencer reevaluates his life—and realizes he’s falling in love with Vera. When she ends their relationship, Zach is determined to prove his love and follows her to Australia in search of the killer.

Caught between a web of family secrets and a deranged adversary, Vera and Zach must depend on each other for survival. Love blossoms, but the truth explodes everything Vera knows about herself. Will she close her heart forever or risk it all for a shot at happily-ever-after?

About Rachelle Ayala

Rachelle Ayala is the author of dramatic fiction crossing genres and boundaries featuring strong but flawed characters. She writes emotionally challenging stories and is not afraid of controversial topics. However, she is an optimist and laces her stories with romance and hope.

Rachelle Ayala has written four novels. Michal’s Window is a powerful and emotional journey as lived through the eyes of Princess Michal, King David’s first wife. Broken Build is a story of redemption and healing where a man learns to love and trust the woman who destroyed his life. Hidden Under Her Heart is a heartfelt love story mixed with controversy over difficult decisions.

Her latest is Knowing Vera , a steamy romantic suspense involving family secrets, disability, and an unsolved murder.

Author Links

Twitter~Facebook~Website

Giveaway

1 Winner will receive a Copy of  Knowing Vera by Rachelle Ayala.
1 Winner will receive a $10.00 Amazon Gift Card.
Must be 13+ to Enter
International Giveaway

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Weekly Report... The Calm Before the Storm

Weekly Report is my way of showing you from week to week (most of the time) what new books I received and what has gone on in the past week. So basically it's a report for all the awesome that I got and shared! Originally I posted IMM by Story Siren this is just my version with a little extra ;) all book names take you to the Goodreads page.

Okay so this is a kind of calm couple of weeks.  However, it would have been slower if there had not been awesome unmarked bargain buys!  I am a bit of a freak and wont buy bargain books if they are marked so this was a GREAT couple weeks <3  Anyway I have pre-orders coming over the next couple of weeks and a HUGE book sale that I attend yearly coming up so the next time you see this... well it will not be reasonable because I am an Addict :)

Gifted

From my girlfriend Tammy for my birthday (we do not see each other often) I got these two

beauties <3  I am super excited to start A Touch Mortal... Soon... I hope

The Nightmare Garden by Caitlin Kittredge

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

From Evie because she is awesome and I recently had a sadly short visit :(  She passed

this pretty onto me because I have the first two waiting to be read and now with the trilogy

complete I can go from start to finish!! 

The Wicked Within by Kelly Keaton

Won

From the Authors are Rockstars on Tour from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads I was

lucky enough to win a Signed copy of Conjured...  YAY!!! Thanks to Sarah Beth Durst 

for sending this out <3

Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst

For Review

I seriously LOVE this girl!!  I'm not just talking about the main character either.  Sutton

is an amazing and quirky indie author that I am amazing happy that I have gotten the chance

to meet.  Seriously she is a talented author and great to talk to <3  Expect this review in 

a week or so!!

Add the AWESOME to GOODREADS!!

Finned by Sutton Shields

I also got my e-copy of this baby!!!! AAAAAAAAAH!! It is also read and ready to be reviewed

(my tour stop is Nov. 25!) and it was as amazing as I expected!!  <3<3<3  Karen is SUPER

talented and I can NOT wait to share this with you guys because you will LOVE IT!!

Add it to your GOODREADS & prepare for this amazing release.

Dangerous Depths by Karen Amanda Hooper

Purchased

Chapters Bargain Books!

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

The Thing About the Truth by Lauren Barnholdt

Gilt by Katherine Longshore

Book Outlet in St. Catherines Bargain Books

Whispers at Moonrise by C.C. Hunter

Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell

What did you get this week?

~Book Blast~ The Siren's Tale by Anne Carlisle

Welcome to The Siren's Tale Book Blast!! 

Just have to mention before you read on that I LOVE these covers <3

The novel is a new take on speculative fiction, treating real coming-of-age issues of choice for modern young women and meanwhile weaving a cautionary tale of paranormal romance and terror set in the distant past.

This is the story of a group of sirens, told in part by the ghost of the main character, Cassandra. The sirens are creatures who are part human but who have strange powers and skills. Cassandra’s love life in the Old West results in a curse which passes down the generations.

A family of paranormal women, an ancient lineage of sirens in human form, are threatened by extinction, unless Marlena, the youngest, carries her pregnancy to term in 1977. Cassandra, the siren ghost, tells Marlena her own story, how back in 1900 in Wyoming, she followed her passion rather than a code of human values. Falling into a trap, she brought on the family curse and disaster. Now the men loved by the sirens face an untimely end.

Buy It:

Amazon~B&N~Lazy Day Publishing~All Romance eBooks

About Anne Carlisle

Anne Carlisle, Ph. D., is an award-winning author. The Siren’s Tale is the most recent release, from LazyDay Publishing and available on Amazon, B&N, and ARE. It is the second novel in her Home Schooling trilogy, paranormal-romance novels for New Adults which feature the sexual exploits of sirens in human form as they emerge into adulthood. Carlisle holds a doctorate in 19th Century British Literature from Case Western Reserve University. Currently Professor and Course Chair at the University of Maryland, she teaches college writing worldwide to U.S. military students. Formerly, while working as a newspaper columnist, magazine editor, and theatre reviewer, she authored a book on writing, wrote hundreds of articles, and was awarded prizes by the ANPA and the National Writer’s Club. She also served as a dean for Golden Gate University in San Francisco. She works from her homes, in Seattle, Key West, and Wilmington, NC.

Giveaway

Giveaway is open to US Only. | Must be 13+ to Enter

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~Waiting on Wednesday~ Promise Bound by Anne Greenwood Brown

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Calder and Lily never imagined falling in love would mean breaking apart. But ever since Lily started wearing a glass pendant that once belonged to Nadia, Calder's adoptive mother, she's been having vivid dreams of what life was like for the mermaid matriarch. In fact, she's been dreaming as if she were Nadia! And Nadia, it seems, made a promise before her death. A promise to reunite Calder's biological mother with her son. Lily knows merfolk are bound to keep their promises. Calder's not buying into it, though. He chalks up the dreams to stress. He wants Lily to focus on the future—their future, not the past. Which forces Lily to send Calder away. Calder goes, feeling rejected and more than a little tempted to revert to his hunting ways. 

What both of them overlook is the present: Calder's sisters, Maris and Pavati, are fighting for control of the mermaid clan, and now that Lily and her dad have transformed into mer-creatures, both mermaids vie for daughter and father as allies. Which of the two mermaids can be trusted? Will Lily make costly mistakes, forcing her to descend to the depths of Lake Superior? And if Calder returns, will he be the same merman Lily grew to love? The stakes are high, with many lives at risk, but Calder and Lily must confront the past as well as their darkest impulses if they want a chance at being together.

Expected Release Date:  January 7, 2014

Published By:  Delacorte Press

Format:  Hardcover, 320 pages

Why I am Waiting

1.  Do any of you really need the biggest reason?! FREAKING MERMAIDS guys!! Evil killer mermaids!!!  Okay maybe not 100% but still... (evil)

2.  I HAVE to know!  I just have to know how it works out! 

3.  Anne is a BRILLIANT author and I just honestly love her writing and am excited to be able to pick up the next book that she has released.

4.  MERMAID...  That is all.

What are you waiting on?

**REVIEW** Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

Release Date:  July 23, 2013

Published By:  Delacorte Press

Length: 391 pages

Review Copy: Hardcover, provided by Random House                                 Canada for review

Add to GOODREADS

Buy It:

Amazon~B&N~Book Depository 

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

  I really enjoyed Stacey Jay's twist on Juliet and Romeo and was excited to see what she would do with Beauty and the Beast.  If possible I liked it more.  Jay took all of the key and pivotal moments and spun them into something I was not expecting.  Maybe if I had read the synopsis in full I would have but after the first little bit I did read I was convinced I wanted this book, no matter where it was taken.  This was not a Grimm retelling or a Disney like version but something wonderful in its own right.  With Jay's lyrical and beautifully flowing writing style everything just seemed to work.

  Where to place this book in genre I really don't know beyond calling it a retelling.  The plot starts at the beginning of a group of people coming to a land.  Their arrival was to be a new start and it went horribly wrong, or at least the Smooth Skin people seen it that way.  The people that the land and its magic effected more: the Monstrous, embraced the gift and the beauty but they paid for it with banishment and their every day struggle to live.  The magic that the Smooth Skins embraced is a dark magic, even though they do not see it that way.  They pay for their "beauty" with blood... to the roses that demand it.  It is a dark and twisted world and life that everyone must live, it's a matter of how easy life seems and what side of the domes you are on.

  From start to finish I liked Isra.  She is unique in so many ways and though she seems weak at a few points, she really isn't.  Basically it was just a matter of pulling at her inner strength and becoming the person she wanted to be.  Oh, it was also a case of the psychotic advisor and counsel that all believed that the old way was the only way.  Problem is that the old way isn't the only way and to be honest with you guys without spoiling it, it isn't even the original way.  However, it is ultimately the transformations that this girl goes through that really makes her amazing.  She begins to see things as they are not as she was taught, in her own heart knows the difference between right and wrong and stands up for it.  She knows that things can change and wants them to but is the chance and the sacrifice worth it?  For her the answer is yes.  Every progression that her character made only made me enjoy her more and as far as beauty goes she has so much inner that it's hard to tell if the outer ever really mattered.

  Gem was a lot more difficult to break than Isra.  He was a fighter and I can not blame him for the hate he had for the Smooth Skins.  From the outside looking in, it looked like they had it all while his people struggled to live and were dying.  He may be what they call a Monstrous but what he sees in the people that thrive while he dies is monstrous to him.  Also notably Gem did not just go ahead and fall for the girl that showed him kindness.  Yes, he did feel something but was never sure if his desire to kill her or embrace her and battles with that for most of the read.  My favourite thing about him though is the fact that he remains consistent and yet has character development throughout the novel.  I even found myself falling for him and his stubborn views because in them he was his own person and someone in his own league.

  There was a second guy introduced: Bo but it never really phased me.  I really think he had good intentions but honestly he was never a true contender and my heart went out to him for that reason.  He just was manipulated and wanted to believe in the way that things were but he had such a good heart when it came down to it in the end.  Also another person that needs to be mentioned is Needle.  She is basically the one that raised Isra and is a wonderful character, even though she does not speak.  Needle is a pillar in Isra's life and is consistently supportive in her own way.. occasionally doing things that may get her in trouble just to help her as well.  Though these characters play small parts without them the story would not have been the same.

   Stacey Jay has blown me away with her beautiful writing style and flowing story.  There is far too much to like about this book and nothing to really despise it over.  By nothing I mean I can not think of anything that I could pick at when it comes to to this read.  With all honesty this was a wonderful twist that kept its own originality and very well a story in its own while keeping the best parts of Beauty and the Beast.  For those of us that love a good (in this case GREAT) retelling, this is one that should not be missed.  If you are not normally a fan of a retelling... give this one a try anyway because its sci-fi/fantasy/romance story will capture you anyway.

There is only one way to undo the curse: if even one Smooth Skin and one Monstrous can learn to love the other more than their own selves  then the curse that division has brought upon our world will be broken and the curse that division has brought upon our world will be broken and the planet made whole.

This isn't the way.  No women or children.  We're not like the Smooth Skins.  They are as soulless as a sandstorm.  We are better.  We know the power of transformation.  This planet has changed us, but its magic is good magic.  It would be enough to sustain us all if the Smooth Skins hadn't twisted it to serve their unnatural purposes. -Gem

But as I walk away, I can't help remembering Gem's cry in the hall, how desperate and human he sounded, and how much something inside me wanted to protect him from the soldiers.

From Yuan.  From...me. -Isra

The only thing worse than hating Isra is... whatever this is.

Wanting her, wanting her to realize what a fool she is.  Wanting this all to be over. -Gem

~PROMO~ Stealing Promises by Brina Courtney

If there is one book you buy this week guys make it this one!! Brina is full of amazing and honestly

I have yet to pick up a book of hers and not be BLOWN AWAY!!

Title: Stealing Promises

Author: Brina Courtney

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: November 20th, 2013

Sign up to her newsletter to stay up to date with the release!

Promises are made to be kept, never stolen. But that’s exactly what happened to Victoria Blane and Levi Manor. Tragedy strikes their perfect relationship leaving Victoria struggling to overcome the darkness that threatens to bury her. With Victoria’s life in tatters she decides that running away is easier than dealing with her troubles. But when a friend finds her on the floor in her kitchen, she knows it’s time for a change.

  Brighton Hanley knows what it’s like to lose someone. He knows what it’s like to be haunted by things that can never change. When he meets Victoria he recognizes the pain she’s trying to bury deep in her eyes. He knows she’s trying to run away, but he also knows that you can’t run forever.

  Victoria is drawn to Brighton in ways she never expected. He becomes her champion, her life line… her sunshine in the darkness. But is Victoria ready to let go of the past and grab on to her future? Or will she run away from Brighton before she can be hurt again?

Teaser

  The next morning Victoria was surprised to find it drizzling outside. She snuggled further under the quilt but when she reached over for Levi, he wasn’t there. She groggily opened her eyes and started to sit up looking for him, but he wasn’t inside the small cabin.

Wrapping the quilt around her body she shuffled over to the window to look out and see Levi rearranging some things in the truck. She opened it slightly and called out to him, “Morning, did you have breakfast yet?”

He waved back at her, there was mud down his jeans but he looked relaxed and almost cheerful. “No not yet. I’m trying to get down to the main house to get us some, it was included with our stay. God damn truck is stuck in the mud.”

Victoria sighed deeply, so much for getting to see the small town that was close by. “Well I packed some snacks.”

He smiled back at her and shrugged his shoulders and walked into the cabin taking off his muddy boots upon arrival. He walked over to Victoria and delivered a light kiss on the cheek, “How did I get so lucky?”

She smiled back at him devilishly, “Can’t tell ya. So what’s the grand plan for today vacation planner?”

He laughed at her teasing, “You’ll just have to wait and see won’t you?”

She set her lips into a thin line, Victoria didn’t like surprises very much.

“Don’t worry about it. Just eat your granola bar.”

After they ate and Victoria had gotten dressed Levi led her to the back of the cabin to a small trail. “I think you’re really going to enjoy this.”

They walked through the cool spring air while trees shed sprinkles on them. They walked in silence, hand-in-hand over small rocks and twigs, through the mud until Victoria finally heard rushing water. “Is that a waterfall?”

Levi smiled at her. “Nope. I did you one better.”

As they continued to walk they came upon a clearing with a small hot spring receded into the ground. There were rocks set up around it clearly put there by nature while others had been moved by people to keep clothes dry and supplies away from the steam. Victoria smiled and pushed Levi playfully. “You know I didn’t bring a bathing suit!”

Levi kissed her on the lips pushing his body against hers, “Of course I know that.” He quickly began to strip, taking his hoodie and shirt off in a flash. Victoria watched with interested eyes as he turned to her, his tanned muscles rippling beneath the light rain. He walked over to her and wrapped his hands around her body to bring her closer. “You’re going to join me, right?” He whispered hotly in her ear.

About Brina Courtney

Brina Courtney is a new adult author obsessed with chocolate, crime shows, and fantasy movies. She’s spent the last few years as an elementary teacher and a high school cheering coach. She lives in a small town in Pennsylvania with her husband and two very loud, small dogs.

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