Book Tour: Destiny (New Avalone #1) by Andrea Buginsky

Elena Baxter has spent her life desperately wanting to fit in. She’s used to being teased and taunted by the popular girls, but when she celebrates her sweet sixteen birthday and receives two amazing gifts—the power of telekinesis, and the truth about her heritage—she has high hopes that things will change. But her wish does not come true, and Elena is bullied just as she was before, only this time her hurt feelings and frustration boil into something even she cannot understand. When an explosion hits, chaos ensues and she learns that her new power just might be bigger than she is. 
She embarks on a journey to a secret island to learn how to control her powers, and she’s thrown into a different world, one where she just might be able to fit in. What Elena learns about her heritage forces her to face her past – and the demons it created – head on. 

Buy Links:

Amazon

Excerpt

Elena was getting upset as she defended her family’s honor. She wasn’t thinking about where that might lead. She wasn’t thinking at all.

“Why, Elena, I didn’t mean to upset you.  I just meant that-“

“I know exactly what you meant, Barbara Thomas! You think your family is better than anyone else in this town. You always have. Just because your dad happens to be the former mayor’s son doesn’t mean you own this town and everyone in it! I’m so sick of your mock sentiment when all you really feel is that you’re better than everyone. You’re no better than the rest of us!”  

As she yelled, things around her felt funny, and she realized she heard screaming. She looked around, and was startled to see everyone staring at her, horrified. She took a deep breath, and realized what had happened. She let her emotions get away from her, and her powers erupted.

The only words she could think of to describe the scene around her were total chaos.  Every locker had burst open, and the entire contents – books, folders, papers, pictures, mirrors, backpacks – had come flying out. The posters on the walls were scattered everywhere. Most of the students and teachers were picking themselves up off the floor. Elena knew her powers had gotten totally out of hand, and she made everything around her fly out of control, literally.

She heard footsteps walking toward her, the only sound in the hall. She looked up and saw her counselor, Mrs. Adams, walking toward her. She gently took Elena by the shoulder and guided her to her office. She looked back and saw Barb and the other Bimbettes staring at her, as well as everyone else in the hall. 

About the Author:

Andrea Buginsky is a freelance writer and author. “The Chosen,” a middle-grade fantasy novelette was her first book, and was followed by “My Open Heart,” an autobiography about growing up with heart disease. “Nature’s Unbalance” is the second story in THE CHOSEN series. Andrea is currently working NEW AVALON, a YA fantasy series. Book 1, "Destiny," is available on Amazon

Connect with the Author:

Website I Facebook I Twitter I Pinterest I Goodreads

Tour Schedule:

24th October

Andreea @ Book's Blog

Anna @ Wicked Book Addict

Annamaria @ Annamaria's Writing Corner - Guest Post

Justine @ The YA Lit Chic

Kalyan @ Heavens Garden

Kyra @ The Shadow Portal - Interview

Laura @ Colorimetry

Leslie @ That Chick that Reads - Review

Lianne @ Book Reviews

Marni @ Word to Dreams

Michael @ Michael Scifan - Interview

Myra @ Pieces of Whimsy

Niyati @ Books,Food & Me

Sam @ Rockin' & Reviewing - Interview

25th October

Books are Love

Cremona @ Mythical Books

Jenn @ BooksBooksBooks - Review

Serena @ Poetree

26th October

Chuckles @ Chuckles Book Cave

DDS @ b00k r3vi3ws

Heather @ The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty Something Old Girl

Jessica @ The Evening eBook Read - Review

Joanna @ Words & Tea Bottles

Margaret @ Literary Chanteuse

Nikita @ NjKinny's World of Books - Review

Rachel @ The Rest is Still Unwritten

Sanchit @ Musings of Immortals

Vinny @ Books Are My Best Friends

28th October

Brittany @ The Passionate Bookworm

Candy @ Just Me, Myself & I

Freda @ Freda's Voice

Rae @ Drunk on Pop - Review

29th October

Angelique - Why I can't Stop Reading

Jacquel @ She Reviews Everything - Review

Mindy @ Books, Books & More Books - Review

Paul @ Sher A Hart : Written Art

Tegan @ T & a Book - Review 

30th October

Elizabeth @ Elizabeth McKenna's Blog

Heather @ A Little Bit of R&R

Kathy @ Bookmarks, Spoilers & Happily Everafter

Pooja @ The Bookish Quibbler - Review

31st October

Becky @ Becky on Books & Quilts

Giveaway

1 Digital copy of The Chosen by Andrea Buginsky to the best reviewer of this tour

1 Digital Copy of Destiny

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Cover Reveal: Girls Are Players by Ingrid Seymour

Girls Are Players by Ingrid Seymour
(G.A.P. #2)
Publication date: December 4th 2013
Genres: New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:
Jessica Norton is a villain in the body of a gorgeous, rich, college girl. She cheats, lies, plays with people’s feelings, and purposely breaks unsuspecting hearts to avenge a personal loss. She’s the kind of girl people love to hate—even if it’s just because she has it all. Except . . . she doesn’t have it all. What she wants most is the love of her high school sweetheart, Taylor Drennon, the guy who got away, the one who left without telling her why and caused all her bitterness.

Not surprisingly, Jessica’s evil has made her a pariah. Alone, without friends or Taylor’s love, her college life is a nightmare. She’s haunted by her own mistakes and drowning in lack of direction. Something needs to change. So when the first opportunity to turn her life around presents itself, she takes it. Home for Christmas break, Jessica runs into Taylor. His unexpected friendliness seems like an invitation to rekindle their love. Inspired by a drastic idea that will both distance her from her heinous reputation and pull her closer to Taylor, she decides to transfer to OSU where he attends under a football scholarship.

Confident she can regain his heart, Jessica reenters Taylor’s life with a splash. Failing to naturally lure him closer, she is then forced to rely on her old games and underhanded scheming. Though Jessica’s heart is in the right place, it is hidden from Taylor by her blunders.  More than once their powerful chemistry takes control, leading Jessica to believe she’s winning. But, it’s a hot and cold affair, and she’s not the only one to blame for their stormy love. If Jessica can only coax Taylor into explaining why he doesn’t want her, maybe she could finally walk away from him for good, maybe she could finally be happy.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18633811-girls-are-players?ac=1


AUTHOR BIO:
Ingrid Seymour loves, loves, loves to write. Her favorite genres are Young Adult and New Adult. The idea for her debut novel "The Guys Are Props Club" assaulted her one day, and she just had to commit it to paper. She wrote it in record time and had incredible fun doing it. Now, she's enjoying hearing from her readers. It's a dream come true. Find her at www.IngridSeymour.com and share your thoughts!


Author Links:
Website: http://fictionbound.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IngridSeymourAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ingrid_seymour
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4052093.Ingrid_Seymour

Book review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

I had mixed feelings about Fangirl from the very beginning.  To put it positively, there’s absolutely no doubt that this book has some incredible parts.  Many of the scenes, especially near the middle, made me think that this book was worth reading.  There are also a lot of parts in the prose that just work.  They’re especially clever, I guess I would say.

Unfortunately, Cath pissed the hell out of me.  She’s so flipping dumb sometimes!  She actually passes in a piece of fanfiction for a writing assignment in her Fiction Writing class, and when the professor fails her, she tries to argue the point about “original fiction” and proceeds to have a breakdown.  And then the rest of the book is all about how she’s thinking of changing her focus.  Like, did she not think she’d have to write original stuff?  Did she think she could cruise through her writing classes with slash fic?  Yeah, dumb.

There’s also the fact that Rowell doesn’t seem to be aware of how college works sometimes.  She gets the more general details down, but she misses others.  Like the fact that most college students don’t carry backpacks, at least if they live on campus (their dorm is right there; why would they want to carry around thirty pounds of books and stuff?).  There’s also about halfway through the book, when Cath doesn’t want to go back to college and it says she didn’t sign up for her classes, anyway.  Like, no?  That happens at the end of October/early November.  She would’ve had an academic advisor breathing down her neck about it for sure.

Although what bugged me most was definitely that her professor gives her such a long extension on her short story project.  And just how it was handled in general.  I took Fiction Writing in college, and you didn’t just write something and pass it in at the end of the semester.  You had a first draft done within a month and then workshopped it.  And then you edited and rewrote and possibly workshopped again.  And then you have a meeting with the professor at the end of the semester about your writing.  So, not only did her Fiction Writing class contain none of the peer editing that is the entire point of creative writing classes, but she didn’t write it and then was given the entire Spring semester to pass it in.  Like, no.  That’s not how it works, no matter what the circumstances are.

So yeah, there are some amazing parts in this book but it was kind of ruined by these details.  Which brings it down to average in my mind.  And I was so looking forward to this book, too.  Not a huge disappointment and I’d say it’s still worth the read, but not great.

Book review: UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #1) by Chanda Hahn

Mina Grime is unlucky, unpopular and uncoordinated, that is until she saves her crush's life on a field trip, changing her High School status from loser to hero overnight. But with her newfound fame brings misfortune as an old family curse come to light. For Mina is descended from the Brothers Grimm and has inherited all of their unfinished fairy tale business. Which includes trying to outwit a powerful Story from making her its next fairytale victim.

To break the fairy tale curse on her family and stop these deadly events, Mina must finish the tales until the very Grimm end.

Like a lot of people, I downloaded this book because it’s free on Amazon.  Can’t go wrong with free, right?  Despite that it’s one of the most popular free downloads on the site in its categories, though it’s… not that great.  I’d say it’s a little below average at best.

There are definitely good parts about this, but not a lot.  Plenty of the scenes I liked the concept of, for example, and the plot itself is one that could’ve been great.  But the writing and execution is… meh.  Even if a book is self-published it should be polished as much as possible, and it's obvious in some places that it wasn’t.  For instance, one minute Jared is just this mysterious guy who seems to be helping Mina out for unknown reasons, and the next Mina suddenly knows he’s a fae, with no explanation of her thought process.  However, this is kind of made worse by the fact that the fae are never explained.  I felt like I was missing something when they were suddenly thrust in there without even a short infodump explanation of something Mina’s mother said like Hahn did every other time.

There’s also the fact that Mina just readily accepts what her mother tells her, and even says it “explains” some things.  Like, what?  The moving around, sure, but her mother consciously put her daughter down and made her feel like an outsider because she thought it would make it harder for the Grimm Curse to find them.  I can’t really say I can sympathize with her, especially since it didn’t work.

All-in-all, this is one of those books that could’ve been great, and does have some spots where it is, but it’s just not there.  The other two books in the series aren’t free and I can’t say I’m willing to pay four dollars for more of the same.  Maybe I’ll keep an eye out for them being made free, though.

Book review: Picture Me by Lori Weber

When a well-meaning English teacher has overweight student Krista read aloud a poem about body image titled "Barbie Doll" in class, she ignites a simmering bullying event based on Krista's appearance. Krista's best friend, and witness to the event, Tessa, is suspended for fighting to defend her friend. The girl who bullies Krista seems unaffected by the incident at school and more concerned with what an older guy thinks of her. But as the three characters' paths intersect, their inner lives are revealed. Each emerges as a much more complicated individual than their simple bully, target, and witness labels.

Received as a free ARC from NetGalley.

Okay.  So.  This book was a huge disappointment for me.  The premise is definitely an interesting one, and it’s relevant to what’s going on in schools now.  The fact that the author decided to have it from the bully’s point of view could’ve been great.  Not everything is black and white, after all, and so being able to look into the mind of the person who was being so horrible was something I looked forward to, just to see how the author would make us sympathize with Chelsea.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work.  The only point of view I found myself enjoying in this book was Tessa’s.  She’s Krista’s best friend, Krista being the one who’s bullied.  Tessa is the only one who was at all tolerable in the book.  Krista’s character development is rushed and unbelievable (going from completely confident in herself to starving herself within a week?).  Chelsea’s story is even worse.  We’re supposed to believe that her home life is horrible, that her mother doesn’t care about her at all, but what we see is the exact opposite.  The worst part of her life is that she doesn’t have a father and her family is lower-middleclass, I think.  They can’t really afford a lot of nice clothes or fancy food or whatever, but Chelsea makes it even harder for herself by being an ungrateful brat who seems to think she deserves to live the same type of life as Paris Hilton and all those types of people.

There’s also the problem that the author attempts to have side stories, mainly Tessa’s family issues and Chelsea with that older guy (as a warning, there are implications of violence and even rape in Chelsea’s side story).  But well… they don’t fit at all.  And nothing is resolved.  At all.  The ending just stops.

So yeah, this book isn’t that great.  Not one I’d recommend even as a quick read, which it thankfully is.  I finished it in maybe four hours, and that was with taking breaks.

Book review: Supernaturally (Paranormalcy #2) by Kiersten White

Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be...kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.

So much for normal.

I will admit that it’s been years since I’ve read the first book in this series, and it probably would’ve helped to pick that up and reread it before reading Supernaturally, because it took me a bit to remember everything that had happened and get back into the world.  I won’t blame the book for that; it’s my fault.  As with the first book, Supernaturally presents and incredibly interesting mythology and take on the supernatural creatures you know and love (and even some you might not know about, such as the fossegrim that attacks Evie in the lake).  Although it is kind of annoying when Evie starts making fun of people who go by the traditional views of vampires, such as when her English class is reading Dracula and she complains about how inaccurate it is.  They don’t know any better, so what do you have to complain about?

Beyond the mythology, though, this book is just okay.  There are definitely times in which the narration is very, very clever, because Evie is a pretty clever girl, despite being naïve.  And the ending was one I expected as far as her learning to do a certain thing, but it wasn’t in the way I had expected so that was good.  But it wasn’t a book that made me reluctant to put it down most of the time.  Jack ending up being somewhat of a bad guy didn’t surprise me, although there could have been more lead-up to it.  There are plenty of hints, but they’re ones you can dismiss pretty easily.  Not enough foreshadowing, I guess.  And the plot doesn’t really seem to revolve around what was hinted in the summary.  In fact, because Jack ended up being the bad guy, you could say the summary doesn’t really fit it at all.  Yeah, the faeries are asses, and Reth is annoying, but they have very little part in anything.

Still, I’ll be looking around for Endlessly so I can finish up the series and see how things go.  Happy reading!

Feature and Follow Friday!

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  The goal is to gain followers and make friends.  Each week we're given a question or activity to do.

This week's question:

What book (or TV show or movie) have you not read that seemingly everyone else has?

Oh boy, this could be quite a long list.  I haven't read the Hunger Games series, for instance, nor have I read Vampire Diaries or most of the Pretty Little Liars series.  For that matter I haven't seen any of the movie/TV show forms for them.  There's a ton of anime I haven't seen that all my friends seem to have watched (K Project, Attack on Titan, just to name a couple).  There's just too much media to consume and not enough hours in the day/funds.



In case you're new to the blog, I'm giving away an ebook copy of The Rules of Regret by Megan Squires over here!  Feel free to enter.

The Rules of Regret Book Blitz and Giveaway!

The Rules of Regret by Megan Squires 
Publication date: October 1st 2013
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult

Synopsis:
“Life doesn’t come with a blueprint, which makes it hard to have any plans.”

Nineteen-year-old Darby Duncan is finally on her own. Her boyfriend of six years just left for a high-powered summer internship, though in reality he’s been absent for much longer than that. This newfound freedom wasn’t a part of Darby’s plans, but as she’s come to discover, plans only exist on paper, not in reality.

And guys like Torin Westbrook aren’t supposed to exist in reality, either. But he does, with his disheveled curly hair, irresistible dimples, and endearingly quirky habit of reciting quotes from classic movies and ancient thinkers. When Darby meets Torin as a fellow counselor at the survival camp she impulsively applies to, she’s certain his main goal is to turn her world upside-down.

But Darby’s not sure she can adapt to Torin’s ways of viewing his past and the tragedies he’s faced. Because she’s had her own share of heartache, too, and as much as she wants to believe that it’s all been for a purpose, her grief hasn’t allowed her to get to that point. Yet the more Darby is around Torin, the more she craves the freedom to break out of her carefully constructed routine and mindset and fall into something new.

She’s just not sure that she should be falling for Torin along the way.


Goodreads

Purchase:
Direct buy link not yet available but will be found here come release day:
Amazon

TEASER #3:

“I don’t think that stellar tooth brushing of mine should go to waste,” he blurted during a commercial break of Jeopardy. I’d been tucked under the cover of the sheet while he rested on top, so when he turned to face me he’d inadvertently pulled the fabric underneath him.

“Argh,” I growled as the sheets tourniqueted me.

“I’m sorry!” Torin laughed, and tossed off the covers to join me. It felt like the sleep sack again, but more intentional,because in this moment, he knew I was there with him. “Is that better?” He slipped down next to me, tugging the duvet up to our ears. I wasn’t really cold, but being under the comforter with him made me understand why it was named that: comforter. Because that was the exact sensation I experienced. Overwhelming comfort with the boy that I’d just discovered I more than likely loved.

“My mouth really does taste amazing right now, Darby.” He pulled at the fabric draped over us. I slid toward him an inch, and our legs pressed closer together. Fabric on fabric, with even more cloaked over us. “You should taste it for yourself.”

“Oh yeah?” I teased, and he moved forward. Our arms tangled. Skin on skin. Not much, but enough to change the way my heartthrummed inside my chest.

“Yes. And really, to get the full sensation, you’re gonna have to use your tongue. It seriously is all Double Mint Gum status fresh up in here.” Torin waved a hand over his mouth and smiled so widely I worried for a moment that the newly formed scab on his face would burst.

“This is how you want our first kiss to happen?” I asked, hesitant because it didn’t feel romantic or spontaneous the way first kisses should. Though in reality, I supposed it wasn’t a first kiss at all. A third, but the first one that we’d both intentionally desired. And the first one that was okay for us to have together. For all intents and purposes, we were about to have our first kiss. I started to freak out.

“This is how I want everything about you. Like this. Making the mundane monumental.” He scooted closer. “Seriously. Everything you touch turns to gold, Darby.”

“Ah, there it is,” I said, nodding, poking at him beneath the covers.

“What?”

“Your plagiarizing. It’s been a while, but I see you’re back at it.”
Torin shrugged indifferently. “So what? I like quotes.”

“I like your originality,” I countered, because I did. I liked when Torin was just Torin; when I knew the things he said came from somewhere deep inside him, not from some surface level of past memorization.

“It is as though a thousand little garden gnomes chewed up mint-flavored crystals and then blew them into my mouth. In Antarctica.” I burst into laughter so loud I thought the neighbor on the other side of the adjoining wall might report me to the front desk. “That was a Torin original. You like?”

“I love,” I giggled, instinctively covering my mouth with my hand.

AND NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY

Each blog hosting this blitz has been authorized to give away one ebook copy of The Rules of Regret.  Just go below!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!