Teaser Tuesday #22: Wicked Sense (Singularity #1) by Fabio Bueno

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

To participate all you have to do is:

- Grab your current read- Open to a random page

- Share "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!

Wicked Sense 

by Fabio Bueno

"The uniqueness of my car is a huge problem. Parking it on the street as if I'm in some bad cop movie is ridiculous. My Volvo calls attention anywhere. Also, I can't figure out how the cops pull that off. It's clear that a stranger sitting in a car for hours will make residents call 911." 

(p. 189 ebook) 

El

Book Blast + Giveaway: Love, Lucy by April Lindner

Title: LOVE, LUCYAuthor: April Lindner
Genre: Contemporary, YAPublisher: PoppyRelease date: January 27, 2015

Author links: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Goodreads

Buy links: Amazon | The Book Depository

While backpacking through Florence, Italy, during the summer before she heads off to college, 17-year-old Lucy Sommersworth finds herself falling in love with the culture, the architecture, the food...and Jesse Palladino, a handsome street musician. After a whirlwind romance, Lucy returns home, determined to move on from her "vacation flirtation." But just because summer is over doesn't mean Lucy and Jesse are over, too.

-Goodreads- 

About the author

April Lindner is the author of three novels: Catherine, a modernization of Wuthering Heights; Jane, an update of Jane Eyre; and Love, Lucy, due out in January, 2015. She also has published two poetry collections, Skin and This Bed Our Bodies Shaped. She plays acoustic guitar badly, sees more rock concerts than she’d care to admit, travels whenever she can, cooks Italian food, and lavishes attention on her pets—two Labrador retriever mixes and two excitable guinea pigs. A professor of English at Saint Joseph’s University, April lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two sons.

Giveaway

A $15 Amazon eGift Card to ONE winner.

Ends May 26^th at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guestpost

The Top Ten Things I Love About Italy

By Lucy Sommersworth

10.  Train stations.  They make my heart beat a little bit faster.  I especially love the departure signs lit up with the names of exotic cities.  They make me want to pick a destination at random—Venice or Milan or Naples, basically any place I’ve never been before—and just jump on, trusting that some kind of wonderful adventure will be waiting for me when I hop off.  I would do it too except for the fact that Charlene, the friend I’m traveling with, likes schedules and order.  I could never talk her into doing something that reckless.

9.  The language.  Italian is so lush and musical.  Not that I can speak it, exactly.  I took Italian in high school, and I can remember just enough to say basic things like excuse me and I would like the Spaghetti Bolognese, please.  But even just reading the street signs out loud makes me feel like a different version of myself—more worldly and glamorous.  And even the most ordinary words, the ones that mean ATM or supermarket—sound glorious in Italian.

8.  Italian men.   What can I say?  I’ve always had a thing for dark brown eyes.

7.  Window shopping. I could do it all day long.  Window displays are different in Italy, quirkier and more colorful.  I especially love the sparkling little jewelry stores on the Ponte Vecchio, the funky clothing store displays, and store windows full of colorful, exotic treats—marzipan fruit, and candied rose and violet petals.

6.  Sidewalk cafes.  Nobody minds if you linger forever over a single cappucino, just soaking in the atmosphere and watching the people pass by. 

5.  Gelato.  After a few hours, walking around Florence can make a person exhausted.  Luckily, wherever you turn, there’s a glass storefront gleaming with refreshing gelato—a miniature rainbow-colored mountain range of it: raspberry, mango, lemon, dark chocolate, hazelnut, pistachio—and all of it amazing.

4.  Street Performers.  Though Charlene insists they’re just begging and we shouldn’t give them our money, I can’t help myself.  I love them all: street musicians, the people who draw chalk masterpieces in the street, the folks who dress up as statues and pose for tourists.  I’ve even got a soft spot for mimes!

3.  Riding on a Vespa.  Please don’t tell my mom, okay?  She would have a panic attack if she knew.

2.  Pretending I’m Audrey Hepburn.  Roman Holiday is one of my all-time favorite movies, and the reason I wanted to go to Italy in the first place.  Audrey Hepburn plays Princess Ann, who has grown deathly bored with having to give speeches and act stiff and regal.  On a stop in Rome she runs away, and wanders through the city pretending to be a commoner.  Of course she falls in love with Gregory Peck.  Like her, he’s pretending, acting like a nice, ordinary guy who just wants to show her around Rome, when really he’s a reporter with ulterior motives.  He recognizes her, and plans to write a tell-all story about her for his newspaper.

I won’t spoil the ending.  I’ll just add that if you’re planning a trip to Rome, you need to see Roman Holiday first.  And then, if you happen to meet a gorgeous, dark-eyed stranger, maybe you can get him take you on a Roman Holiday tour, and you can pretend to be Audrey Hepburn the way I did.

1. The amazing people I met along the way.   Swapping stories with other backpackers about our travels and misadventures.  Vacation flirtations with dark-eyed strangers.  And, just maybe, experiencing a real summer romance.

El

Cover Reveal: Calling California by J.P. Grider

Title: Calling California

Author: J.P. Grider

Publication date: June 2014

Genres: New Adult, Romance

Author links: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Cali Parker is poor. She has a lot on her plate - her father is dying, she's working to help pay the rent, and she's two-years behind in college.

Griffin Brooks in rich. He has not a care in the world - he's acing his engineering courses, his hobby is restoring his fifty-thousand dollar classic car, and he has a different girl on his arm every week. 

When Cali sees Griffin on her first day of class, she's immediately smitten and thinks she's found the perfect guy. When Griffin sees Cali at the bank, he immediately forgets the blonde he was with that morning. Then they meet, and their worlds collide. 

Cali doesn't belong in Griffin's world, and he doesn't understand hers. But just when Griffin convinces Cali that their two different worlds can blend, a secret is revealed that tears them apart. 

Is their love strong enough to bring them back together, or will their worlds drift further apart? 

- Goodreads -

Author bio

J.P. Grider is a Young Adult and New Adult author. She is the author of six novels. Her young adult series The Honor Trilogy consists of A Touch of Honor, A Man of Honor, and A Heart of Honor, while her first two novels - Unplugged (A Portrait of a Rock Star) and Maybe This Life - arse standalone adult contemporary novels. Her most recent release is the new adult romance Calling California, which is the first in her Hunter Hill University series. The next book in the series - Mending Mick - will be released in October, 2014. All the books in the Hunter Hill University series will be standalone books and can be read in any order. 

You can follow J.P. on Facebook at J.P. Grider, Author, on Instragram and Twitter @JPGrider1, and on her blog jpgrider.com.

El

Stacking The Shelves #36

Showcase Sunday's/Stacking the Shelves aim is to showcase our newest bookNes or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders this week. This Sunday meme is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea and Tynga's Reviews:

For review

  

A Soul's Kiss by Debra Chapoton

Wishes (Legacy #2.5) by Molly Cochran

Salted by Aaron Galvin

Netgalley 

Beach Bar Baby by Heidi Rice

El

Review: The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry

Title: The Summer I Found You
Author: Jolene Perry
Genre: Contemporary, YA
Publisher: Albert Whitman Teen 
Publication date: March 1st 2014
Pages: 256







All they have in common is that they're less than perfect. And all they're looking for is the perfect distraction.

Kate's dream boyfriend has just broken up with her and she's still reeling from her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Aidan planned on being a lifer in the army and went to Afghanistan straight out of high school. Now he's a disabled young veteran struggling to embrace his new life. When Kate and Aidan find each other neither one wants to get attached. But could they be right for each other after all? 

- Goodreads -

I had many great things about Jolene Perry, but I had never read a book by her before. So when I had the chance to read The Summer I Found You I was super excited.  And I can safely say that Perry fulfilled all the expectations I had.

Kate might seem like a normal teenage girl but she’s not. Ever since she got diagnosed with diabetes everyone is overprotective and her lifestyle has changed completely. And then her longtime boyfriend dumps her out of the blue.  Aidan just like Kate is marked for the rest of his life. His dream job was being a soldier but that dream is shattered at the age of nineteen.  He’s a war veteran with only one arm left. So hiding isn’t an option for him. They are each other’s complete opposite but now they might be each other’s salvation.

Kate was rather immature about her disease, she knew the risks but still she only took her shots when she was already starting to feel unwell. Her friends and family wanted to help them but she pushed them away. I get it that she didn’t want to be treated differently than other girls her age but with a disease like this you got to be careful. But I still liked her a lot, she was a sweet girl with a lot of humor and she was a lovely friend. And most of all I loved that she treated Aidan as a normal guy and wasn’t afraid to ask questions about his life with one arm and even make lame jokes about it.
Aidan was an amazing character. He has a lot of issues but he tries to work through them. He crosses things of from his list and some things are harder than the others. So a girl complicating a life is the last thing he needs. Aidan was a very mature for his age, probably because he went through a lot during his life. I really loved him, he tried to open up to Kate about his life and past even if it brought up old demons.  He might not be a soldier anymore but he will always be a fighter.

Then ending of this book was perfect. There were no lose threads and everything just clicked into place. The ending gave us hope without looking into the future too much. I really enjoyed this book and I’m definitely going to read other books by this author. 

Review + Giveaway: Cutlass (Cutlass #1) by Ashley Nixon

Title: Cutlass
Author: Ashley Nixon
Series: Cutlass series
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Publisher: StarSeed Press
Publication date: April 23rd 2014
Author links: Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Website
Buy links: Amazon

Notorious pirate Barren Reed has one thing on his mind: Revenge against the man who killed his father. So kidnapping his enemy's fiancé seems a perfect plan... until he actually does it. 

Larkin Lee is more than a pretty face and fiancé to a powerful man. Her fierce personality is enough to make any pirate want to push her overboard.

But when the King of the Orient comes to Barren with a task - to find the Bloodstone, a powerful gem thought only to exist in legend, Barren sees another opportunity to destroy his enemy. Together, Barren, Larkin and a crew of pirates set off to find the stone, only to discover it caused the death of Barren's own mother and Larkin's, too. As his strongest allies turn into his greatest enemies, and the life of the girl he kidnapped  becomes more important than he ever dreamed, Barren's quest for revenge becomes a fight to save the Orient. 

- Goodreads -

All Barren Reed ever wanted was to avenge his father’s death. Even if it meant killing other people along the way to get the attention of the murderer of his father. When terrorizing the sea doesn’t seem to help he forms a new plan to lure him out, kidnap his fiancée. But what Barren could have never expected is that Larkin makes him question everything he’s doing.

When we first met Barren he was harsh, he had only one goal. To kill the murderer of his father. He couldn’t think of anything else. He didn’t allow himself to think of something else. It was what he had to do and he wouldn’t rest before either of them died. That led him of course into crazy situations. But the craziest thing, and probably stupidest thing he did to achieve his goal was kidnapping the murderer’s fiancée. He expected an obedient girl when he tried to take her but he couldn’t have been more wrong. Larkin is far from obedient. She detests everything a pirate stands for and she isn’t afraid of defying Barren. She learns Barren that killing isn’t the way to achieve his goal, she teaches Barren how to live again. And at the same time Barren teaches Larkin that nothing is black and white, that every story has two sides. Most importantly when she’s with him she finally gets to know what it is to be really free.
Barren and Larking were very different from each other but at the same time they completed each other. Barren might look though on the outside but he’s a good guy. He takes care of the people he cares about. He will give up his life if it could save theirs. Larkin does everything to please her father, to get his attention for five minutes even if it means marrying a man she could never love. And she sees the beauty in people where others fail to notice it. She’s stubborn which often lends her into a lot of trouble but she only is stubborn because she wants to protect the people she loves. 

I loved how the author portrayed the world the characters lived in. the Orient consisted of different small islands. Each island had its own inhabitants. One was inhibited by mostly pirates, another one was inhibited by elves, another one by merchants,… It was fun to explore all those different islands together with Barren and his crew.

I enjoyed this book immensely. Everything fitted together perfectly the characters, the world building, the plot line everything was just perfect. I would highly recommend this book to everyone who’s looking for a great YA fantasy read.  I can’t wait till the next book in this series gets released!

*Note I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Author bio

Ashley was born and raised in Oklahoma, where the wind really does sweep down the plains, and horses and carriages aren't used as much as she'd like. When she's not writing, she's hard at work on her Master's degree in Library Science and Information Technology, working out, or pretending she's Sherlock Holmes. Her obsession with writing began after reading the Lord of the Rings in the eighth grade. Since then, she's loved everything Fantasy - resulting in an unhealthy obsession with the 'geek' tab on Pinterest, where all things awesome go. 

Giveaway

International: 

Prize 1: A signed Paperback copy of Cutlass, include a cute octopus mug (it's purple and ADORABLE), Bookmark, and maybe a poster

Prize 2: A singned Paperback of Cutlass + a bookmark

Prize 3: E-book of Cutlass

a Rafflecopter giveaway

El

Waiting on Wednesday #49: Falling into Place by Amy Zhang

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. It spotlights books that have not yet been released, but ones that you should pre-order today! This week's book that I am anxiously awaiting is:

Falling into Place 

by Amy Zhang

On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton's laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road. 

Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? Vividly told by an unexpected and surprising narrator, this heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devestating life of Meridian High's most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force - Liz didn't understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn't understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend?  To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect? Amy Zhang's haunting and universal story will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman, and Jay Asher. 

- Goodreads -

Why I can't wait

This one just sounds really intresting. And I have so many questions after reading this short descirption. Why did she try to kill herself? Is she actually dead or not? And who is this unexpected narrotor? I hope to find out all the answers to my questions soon. 

Publication date: September 9th 2014

El