Book Review: 3volve by Josefina Gutierrez

3volve

By Josefina Gutierrez

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Multicultural, Contemporary Romance, NA, Coming of age

Released: July 14th, 2015

Rating: 3/3.5 Stars

Goodreads OR buy 3volve  here: Amazon

Blurb:

From author Josefina Gutierrez, of “The Shadow of Loss”, comes a new New-Adult contemporary love story.

I thought my life began when I graduated high school and moved far, far away—okay three hours away. But I was wrong. My life didn’t start until it almost ended.

I’m Cristal Escobedo, twenty-two years old and a former wild child who favors tequila far too much. But that all changed when life happened, and I ended up being responsible for my younger brothers. To top it all off, I think I’m falling in love with my best friend—dammit.

This is my not-so-happy story of how I grew up and got my shit together. My story isn’t filled with a bunch of pretty analogies or hyperboles. The people are real, the hurt is deep, and the love is complicated. People are flawed in the ways that matter; it’s what makes us human.

A Short Excerpt:

I’ve never claimed to have it all together. I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was roaming through life high and excited for the unexpected. I love my family, my parents, my brothers, my friends, but their love was never enough to save me from myself. My self-destructive way, how I always kept ruining the best things I didn’t know I even had.

My story isn’t filled with morality. It doesn’t have some intriguing message about love, and life. Shit, it’s a mess. I’m a mess. I’m not here to tell you what should be important—we all have different values. I’m not here to tell you about responsibility. Hell, if you finish reading my story and gain insight, then more power to you!

I thought my life began when I graduated high school and moved far, far away—okay three hours away. But I was wrong. My life didn’t start until it almost ended.

I’m Cristal Escobedo a twenty-two year old, former wild child, and this is my not-so-happy story of how I grew up and got my shit together. It isn’t filled with a bunch of pretty analogies or hyperboles. The people are real, the hurt runs deep, and the love is complicated. People are flawed in the ways that matter; it’s what makes us human. If you want a sugarcoated story, look to someone other than me.

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Book Review: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) By Mindy Kaling

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

By Mindy Kaling

Genre: Humor, Autobiography, Writing, Essays, Funny, Non-Fiction

Rating: 4 stars

Goodreads | B&N | Amazon

Synopsis:

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”

Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!

In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

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Bluescreen (Mirador #1) by Dan Wells Book Review (+ Giveaway)

Feb 27th Blog Tour Date

Welcome to the Bluescreen (Mirador #1) Book Tour hosted by FFBC. Be sure to follow the full Book Tour Schedule and the other posts 🙂.

Bluescreen (Mirador #1) by Dan Wells

Publisher: Balzer & Bray

Release Date: February 16th 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fantasy, Action, Teen

Rating: 3.5 stars

Goodreads | Amazon | Kobo | B&N | Bookdepository | iTunes

Synopsis:

Los Angeles in 2050 is a city of open doors, as long as you have the right connections. That connection is a djinni—a smart device implanted right in a person’s head. In a world where virtually everyone is online twenty-four hours a day, this connection is like oxygen—and a world like that presents plenty of opportunities for someone who knows how to manipulate it.

Marisa Carneseca is one of those people. She might spend her days in Mirador, the small, vibrant LA neighborhood where her family owns a restaurant, but she lives on the net—going to school, playing games, hanging out, or doing things of more questionable legality with her friends Sahara and Anja. And it’s Anja who first gets her hands on Bluescreen—a virtual drug that plugs right into a person’s djinni and delivers a massive, non-chemical, completely safe high. But in this city, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and Mari and her friends soon find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that is much bigger than they ever suspected.

Dan Wells, author of the New York Times bestselling Partials Sequence, returns with a stunning new vision of the near future—a breathless cyber-thriller where privacy is the world’s most rare resource and nothing, not even the thoughts in our heads, is safe.

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The Urban Boys: Discovery of the Five Senses Book Review + Giveaway

UB_Tour_Banner

Happy, Saturday, guys! It’s finally here: The Urban Boys: Discovery of the Five Senses Book Tour hosted by MMSAI. So, be sure to follow the full Book Tour Schedule 🙂

 

TUB Cover_new 

THE URBAN BOYS
Author: K.N. Smith
Pages: 292
Release Date: September 29th, 2015
Publisher: Two Petals Publishing

Genre: Middle School, Paranormal, Diverse, Action, Friendship

Rating: 4 Stars

Amazon | B&N | Goodreads | Apple

Synopsis:

The Urban Boys: Discovery of the Five Senses is an action-adventure story about five teen boys who are mysteriously exposed to a foreign energy source that gives them extremely heightened senses. Sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell become hypersensitive gifts that forever change the world. The story chronicles their effortless interrelations and later exposes the testing of their deep bonds. It introduces the reader to an array of supporting characters who alter the boys’ lives forever. The Urban Boys offers young and mature readers central themes of loyalty, responsibility, honesty, fear, and triumph, which become artfully integrated with cinematic-level action and high drama. The story twists, turns, and grinds through elements of paranormal and action-adventure in a diverse, exciting, edge-of-your-seat narrative!

Overview: The story’s small town of Danville Heights, a carefully crafted universe, contrasts with the dark, gloomy town of Sandry Lake, where evil abounds. Upon the boys’ mysterious incident with the energy source, they’re instinctively called to Sandry Lake to root out evil. Their senses guide them each time. However, secrecy about their mission, furious battles with evil thugs, extreme fatigue, and stress and pressure soon overwhelm the boys, but they must find a way to embrace their fate. A lurking, Dark Stranger seems to know their plight, and a strikingly beautiful, fearless girl lends way to heightened confusion. Shocking details about these two characters, and the evil antagonist, the dreaded Druth, twist and grind the story even further.

Despite tension and fierce battles, will the boys hold it together long enough to fulfill their destiny?

Intriguing, intelligent, and full of action, The Urban Boys: Discovery of the Five Senses offers a memorable, emotion-packed, thrilling ride for young and mature readers alike!

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Series Book Blitz For: The Stone Legacy Series (+ Giveaway & The Ultimate Zombie Apocalypse Team?!)

Book-1-3-2

Happy Friday, Folks!

Because of my obsession *ahem* I mean excitement 😉 I have yet another promotional post for Theresa DaLayne’s Stone Legacy series & a giveaway!  But this time, I also have a series trailer and an exclusive with Theresa DaLayne herself about who she’d pick to have on her team if (or when? 😉 ) the zombie apocalypse were to occur. I’ll admit that I have given it  some thought here and there, but after reading her answer, I realized that I should strategize a bit more or else I’d get left behind XD.

 

The Zombie Apocalypse ( With Theresa DaLayne)

Who would you want to team up with? (with Theresa DaLayne)

Answer:

Ahhh, the Zombie Apocalypse. It’s a favorite subject of conversation among me and my friends, in my house, and oh, just while I’m sitting by myself, plotting my own survival plan.

The fact is, if you can prepare for zombies, you’re prepared for just about anything. And I give a lot of thought as to whom I’d bring into my “group.” Yeah, if Rick were here, I’d be the new Maggie. Don’t get me wrong, Michonne is kick-ass in so many ways, but I don’t know how to swing a sword, and she rocks those dreads way better than I ever could—so Maggie it is.

But aside from the fearless leader and myself, who else would I hand pick to trust with my life? And I’m talking real-life people. Friends and family. Who would I take, and who would I trip on the way out? plays a role, and each role is equally important to keep the machine running, right?

I have a friend named Heather, who I’d definitely bring along. She can grow anything. Seriously. Anything. Her passion is identifying fungi and pruning wilted leaves from otherwise thriving plants. Once she gave me a Sex Ed lesson in the male and female flowers on her cucumber vine. Awkward, but interesting. So Heather, in.

My friend, Karen, knows almost nothing about plants, and cried when I took her horse back riding for her birthday. Not out of joy, mind you, but because she’d never touched a horse in her life and was terrified. She claims she would be vital for comic relief, but F-that. Comic relief won’t stab a zombie in the temple. But she is from New York and can throw a pretty mean right hook, so I figure her surly nature would make her a pretty good zombie slayer—whether she knows it or not. Karen, in.

My husband—of course—because not only is he pretty talented with a handgun, strong, and smart, but I could picture him being second in command. He knows people and can sniff out a threat from a mile away. Plus I’ll surely need a good snuggle when I come to the realization the world has gone to hell in a hand basket. Husband, in.

Lets just get my mom in there, too. Not only can she make a meal out of anything, but she’s my mom, so…can’t really leave her behind. Mom, in.

Speaking of relatives, my sister—who lives in Canada—would be an amazing addition. The only problem is, I’d have to get to her first. With no planes and limited car accessibility with cluttered highways and no gasoline, that would be a challenge. But her husband is totally into survival stuff, loves to camp, and I’m pretty sure would gnaw on a stiff squirrel if there was nothing else to eat. Plus, I may not step into the shoes of Michonne well, but my sister would rock a ninja sword with just a little practice. Sister, in. (And her husband in, too. He could be our tracker and survivalist.)

Education is important, even when the world has ended. I’d still want my kids to know how to read and write, so I’d definitely bring my friend, Zubaidah, who is a teacher. She’s also really strong and most likely has a zombie-killing beast laying dormant inside her somewhere. I could see her taking down walkers with a buck knife and zip line. Zubaidah, in.

Now that the group is getting bigger, I have to start being choosy about who I let in. We have a lot of who we need already. My question for you is, would YOU qualify to be in my group? Tell me why, and I may add your name to the list

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Book Blitz for: Interlude + Chapter Excerpt (& Giveaway)

Happy Monday, Guys! 😀 Today I have a book blitz  for Interlude  by Theresa DaLayne. It’s the second book from her Stone Legacy series. You might recall I the book blitz post I did for the first book a few weeks ago, Mayan Blood.

Interlude cover by theresa DeLayne

 

Interlude (The Stone Legacy #2)
Author:  Theresa DaLayne
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Amazon Pre-order Link: Amazon

Release date: January 12, 2016

Add the book on Goodreads

Synopsis:

Tara may have spent years in an asylum, but that doesn’t make her crazy–just fearless.

Dropped in Moscow with a the group of enchanted Mayan descendants, seventeen-year-old Tara is forced to wait on the sideline while her best friend—the Stone Guardian— battles to reclaim a friend’s soul trapped in the underworld.

It sucks being ordinary when everyone else is superhuman…

A mortal girl with a tainted past, Tara is left to deal with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. Her boyfriend, Peter, is a healer. Her best friend is The Guardian, and everyone else is a powerhouse of awesome strengths. Meanwhile, she struggles to leave her childhood of abuse in the past, and while Peter picks her up every time she falls, it becomes clear he deserves better.

When they opened Pandora’s Box, hell came pouring out…

When she’s given a chance to aid in the group’s mission, Tara is eager to pull her own weight, even if it means uncovering buried memories of being held prisoner by the underworld general. Now haunted with flashbacks of torture, Tara wanders from the safety of Peter’s arms into a city of depravity and corruption. And amidst all this evil is a young man with an agenda of his own, who leads her down a road that will either prove she is a hero at heart, or drag her into a world she’s always feared.

He wants revenge, she wants redemption. And in an underground ring of missing girls and bloody sacrifices, only the fearless can survive…

And this time around, I have a chapter excerpt for you guys read! Are you as excited as I am right??! 🙂 Go a head and feed your brain and imagination with the chapter excerpt below and be sure to check out the giveaway at the end of the post. ^__^

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Dead Jed: Return of The Jed Book Review + Giveaway

DeadJed3Tour

Dead Jed: Return of The Jed Blog tour organized through Chapter by Chapter 🙂

DeadJed3Cover for chapter by chapter book tour

Dead Jed: Return of The Jed
by: Scott Craven
Publisher: Month9Books
Release Date: December 15th, 2015
Genre: Juvenile Fiction, Zombie Humor, Supernatural
Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads | Google Play | BAM | Chapters | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | TBD | iBooks

Synopsis:

With seventh grade behind him, Jed jumps at the opportunity to spend the summer in Mexico with his dad. But there’s just one catch: Luke and Tread get to tag along.

​In Mexico, fitting in​might be easier than Jed imagined, ​with Holidays such as Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)​.​ Here, a ​rising 8th grade zombie ​boy ​and his zombie dog ​won’t draw that much attention.

​But then Tread unwittingly sets off Mexico’s Chupacabra Defense Network and Jed accidentally collides with a bus​. So much for blending in. T​​he unusual pair catch the eye of a professional wrestler, who challenges ​Jed to a fight!​ ​

Their antics manage to ​capture the attention of a doctor​ who​se knowledge of the undead ​caus​es Jed to question his very existence. ​Is this the answer Jed’s been hoping for since his parents sat him down for the “you’re a zombie” talk? Jed may have finally found a way to be normal, but at what cost?

Dead Jed: Return of the Jed is book 3 in Scott Craven’s humorous and heartwarming series about surviving middle school, fitting in, and embracing one’s differences – even if you are a zombie.

 

Book & Series Review:

Honestly, before this book tour, I wasn’t aware of this series and I wanted to give the best review I could, so I read the first two books in this series, Adventures of a Middle School Zombie and Dawn of The Jed, and I am beyond thrilled that I did!

Scott Craven does a great job of pulling the reader into a state of suspension of disbelief with the creation of such a relatable, adolescent recall of those awkward pre-teen years, while incorporating such vivid body horror and humor.

This may just be the fan in me—and the fact that I haven’t seen that many Zombie centered films, per say—but I found myself thinking of David Cronenberg’s earlier cult-classics while reading of Jed and his “cardiovascularly challenged,” condition. Which I feel has something to do with Craven’s meticulously serious and professional approach of the undead.

There were a lot of things about this series that made me laugh, that made me teary eyed and that made me fall in love with all of these characters: Jed and Luke’s friendship, Jed’s supportive and quirky parents, and even Robbie-the-bully. Moreover, I really loved reading about Jed’s dog, Tread in book two and the rise of tension Jed had to face in school, but more to the point.

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Cover Reveal For: Almana

It’s time for a cover reveal Monday! ( I don’t think I’ll turn this into a thing, but you can never be too sure 🙂 )

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