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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Summer Giveaway Hop 2013 (INT)


August 1st to August 7th

It has been a while since I last join any giveaway. So I am very excited to join this Summer Giveaway Hop. I'm offering a chance to win a book of Choice up to USD12 from The Book Depository as long as BookDepository.com ship them to your country.

Free Delivery on all Books at the Book Depository
  • To win this book, all you got to do is to read the rules and then, fill in the form below. Easy right
  • Please enter your contact details in the form below to enter this giveaway. Easy
  • This is an International giveaway
  • One entry per person, please
  • Winner will be notified via email.  Winner will have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be selected.
  • I'm not responsible for any lost package.
  • Have fun! And good luck :)


Be sure to check out the other giveaway stops on this blog hop:
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Monday, July 29, 2013

On Tour: Front Page Fatality by LynDee Walker - Excerpt


LynDee Walker is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours with her book, Front Page Fatality. Please visit her tour page on CLP Blog Tours for more blog stop/excerpt and a chance to win a prize pack, which includes a Headlines in Heels swag pack and a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card!

Front Page Fatality 
by LynDee Walker

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Romance, Suspense, Humor, Chick Lit
Publication: January 2013
Connect:  Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads
Crime reporter Nichelle Clarke’s days can flip from macabre to comical with a beep of her police scanner. Then an ordinary accident story turns extraordinary when evidence goes missing, a prosecutor vanishes, and a sexy Mafia boss shows up with the headline tip of a lifetime. As Nichelle gets closer to the truth, her story gets more dangerous. Armed with a notebook, a hunch, and her favorite stilettos, Nichelle races to splash these shady dealings across the front page before this deadline becomes her last.
Book Excerpt

I felt my mouth drop open, and the other eyebrow shot up. “You’ve got to be kidding. I talked to my editor about this before I left the office. He’d fire me. Between what I have here,” I brandished the report, “and what I heard on the scanner, our copyeditor-cum-aspiring-cops-reporter could figure this one out. I can’t sit on it, Aaron. Not unless you’re offering me something pretty damned amazing in return.”

“What would it take?” He sounded like he meant it.

I sat back in my chair and studied him. Aaron’s people skills had contributed to the soft edges on his average frame, making him the obvious choice for department spokesman and thereby trapping him behind a desk in a building with too many Krispy Kreme boxes for too many years. His face looked as puppy-doggish as it ever did, but my inner Lois Lane was hopping up and down, hollering there was some- thing else in play that I didn’t see. Why on Earth would he care so much about keeping something that, in the grand scheme, was pretty insignificant to him, out of print?

“Are you serious?”

“Don’t I look serious? When you get past the dashingly, heartbreakingly handsome, that is?”

I snorted and shook my head. “How could I have missed it?”

I felt my fingers wind into my hair as I focused on the roof of my house on the aerial map behind his head. A vigilante was a sexier story angle, but not having it didn’t preclude me from writing about the murder today. And if it turned out the killer was on some sort of Death Wish trip, I’d get it at the trial anyway. Letting my hand fall back to my lap, I met Aaron’s eyes and nodded.

“All right, detective. I don’t know why you care, but I can keep the word ‘vigilante’ out for now. It’s going to cost you, though. One all-access pass, to be used at my discretion, on the story of my choice. No arguments, no negotiations, nothing held back.”

He rested his chin on his left fist and twisted his mouth to the side.

“That it?” Aaron was rarely sarcastic, and it sounded funny in his cheerful tenor.

“No.”

His eyes widened. “I was kidding!”

He wanted this. And badly. And I didn’t like not understanding why.

Author's Bio

LynDee Walker grew up in the land of stifling heat and amazing food most people call Texas, and wanted to be Lois Lane pretty much from the time she could say the words “press conference.” An award-winning journalist, she traded cops and deadlines for burp cloths and onesies when her oldest child was born. Writing the Headlines in Heels mysteries gives her the best of both worlds. Her debut novel, FRONT PAGE FATALITY, is an amazon new humor #1 bestseller. LynDee adores her family, her readers, and enchiladas. She often works out tricky plot points while walking off the enchiladas. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she is working on her next novel. You can visit her online at www.lyndeewalker.com.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Review: Anybody But Him

Anybody But Him
by Claire Baxter 

Genre: Chick Lit, Romance, Novella
Publication: July 2013
Format: ebook, 150 pages
Source: Netgalley
Connect: Website | Twitter | Facebook
A deliciously funny rom com from Random Romance. What happens when you fall in love with the man you hate?

Nicola Doyle's dating record is a disaster, and it doesn't improve when she returns to Redgum Valley, after an absence of twelve years, to look after her increasingly eccentric parents. There, she's thrown into regular contact with Blair Morrissey – the very reason she couldn't wait to leave town in the first place.

The decade-old scars are still raw from that humiliating day in high school – when Blair went from the boy she loved to the boy she hated.

Except Blair doesn't seem to be a ‘bad boy' any more – in fact, he's charming, infuriatingly helpful and extremely attractive.

If only Nicola could forgive and forget . . .

Nicola, the heroine of the story returns back to Redgum Valley after years. She swapped her place with her sister, Una for a few months so that Una can work on her novel. Meanwhile, Nicola will have to look for their parents. Anybody But Him started with a story of why Nicola wanted to escape from her hometown—Blair Morrissey, the boy who humiliated her in high school.

Anybody But Him is sweet and quick read. I enjoyed reading this one. It’s a cute read that you can finish in less than a day. I love Nicola. She had dyslexia, but that doesn’t stop her from doing her best and becoming an accountant. Blair was really charming and nice. He's the kind of guy I know I would fall in love with. The minor characters like Lainey, Dammit and Nicola’s parents were lovable.

I really like enjoy the dialogue in the story. I definitely love the conversation between Nicola and Blair. They are really witty and fun together. I can’t stop reading it from the moment I open the book. I wanted to know why Blair was being so mean towards Nicola in high school. And I did found out why. It was kind of sweet and sad. The story was straightforward without major twist. I think this is perfect for anyone who was looking for a quick romantic comedy.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)
by Michelle Hodkin

Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
Publication: September 2011
Format: Hardcover, 452 pages
Source: Own
Connect: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Tumblr | Website
Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.
She’s wrong.

I didn’t think that the synopsis is giving out too much about what The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was all about. I guess it was a bit mysterious but it didn’t really catch my interest to read the book. Fortunately the cover was gorgeous and I found a copy (a hardcover) on sale. I bought it and decided to read it due to many positive reviews from friends.

Mara Jade survived in a terrible tragedy while her best friend, her boyfriend and his sister did not. Then her family decided to move to help Mara recover her traumatic experience even though Mara Jade has no recollection of what happened. Mara met a new friend, Jamie and a cute boy in her new school, Noah Wade. But Mara was starting to have hallucinations where she saw her dead friends.

I do think that the author was very good in creating a suspenseful, mysterious atmosphere. I can’t put the book down. I wanted to know what happen to Mara and what will happen to her next. I wanted to know how she survives the tragedy and why does she keep seeing her dead friends? The book was well written. It has a nice plot with a little twist that I didn’t expect and moments that make me shivers as well as laugh out loud. I’m really glad that I read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. I would totally recommend this one to anyone who love reading paranormal YA with a hint of mystery, romance and humor.


buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery

Friday, July 19, 2013

On Tour: Crisis of Identity by Denise Moncrief - Excerpt


Denise Moncrief is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours with her book,Crisis of Identity. Please visit her tour page on CLP Blog Tours for more blog stop and a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card!

Crisis of Identity
by Denise Moncrief

Genre: Romance, Suspense
Publication: January 2013
Connect:  Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon
Tess Copeland is an operator. Her motto? Necessity is the mother of a good con. When Hurricane Irving slams into the Texas Gulf coast, Tess seizes the opportunity to escape her past by hijacking a dead woman’s life, but Shelby Coleman’s was the wrong identity to steal. And the cop that trails her? He’s a U.S. Marshall with the Fugitive Task Force for the northern district of Illinois. Tess left Chicago because the criminal justice system gave her no choice. Now she’s on the run from ghosts of misdeeds past—both hers and Shelby’s.

Enter Trevor Smith, a pseudo-cowboy from Houston, Texas, with good looks, a quick tongue, and testosterone poisoning. Will Tess succumb to his questionable charms and become his damsel in distress? She doesn’t have to faint at his feet—she’s capable of handling just about anything. But will she choose to let Trevor be the man? When Tess kidnaps her niece, her life changes. She must make some hard decisions. Does she trust the lawman that promises her redemption, or does she trust the cowboy that promises her nothing but himself?
Book Excerpt

I dropped onto the cot at the far end of the locker room, struggling to remove the stained smock the state so generously provided. Forget about sleep; it wouldn’t come. I had too many memories that begged to become nightmares. I closed my eyes anyway.

The springs in the cot next to mine creaked. “I’m Jake.” Why had it taken him so long to introduce himself?

I released an internal sigh. “Tess.” I told the truth, because I had to say something and I was out of lies.

“Tough job.”

“Yeah.” I wanted him to shut up and leave me alone.

“Why would someone like you volunteer for this?”

I opened one eye and glared at him. “I didn’t volunteer. I was strongly encouraged to help. Why are you here?”

He hesitated. “I’m a U.S. Marshal. It’s my job. Part of the oath and all that.”

I opened the other eye and assessed him. “Why would you move here—” He smiled, cutting off my question. “I can tell from your accent you’re not from Texas.”

“I followed a fugitive here from Illinois.” He leaned forward, his knees not quite brushing mine. “She’s accused of murder.”

“Murder?”

“Stabbed her boyfriend…in the back…in cold blood.”

My reaction gushed from my mouth. “How can you be sure it was cold blood?” I sucked back a gasp at my gaffe. My question probably seemed strangely timed and oddly constructed. “I mean…it could have been self defense.”

He offered me a cold, hard stare with unblinking eyes. “I just know.”

“That’s…awful."

“I guess I followed my lead at the wrong time. I got trapped riding out the storm…just like you.”

“What makes you think I got trapped?”

“If you’d had any choice, you would have left.”

My brother Tony forced me to stay, but he left me. A storm surge so strong it pulled the house out from under us knocked him into the sea. The Gulf of Mexico spit me back onto the beach as if the ocean didn’t like the way I tasted.

I survived, but I had no time to grieve. The realization impaled my heart.

Jake stretched out on his cot. “There’s a boat out of here tomorrow. It’s taking volunteers back to the mainland.” Galveston was in ruins. The thin strips of concrete that once connected the island to civilization lay scattered on the beach looking somewhat like a child's building blocks.

“There is?” I tried not to appear too interested.

“You didn’t know?” A different question danced in his eyes—a challenge of sorts. “So how long have you lived in Galveston?”

“Not long. My brother found a job. So I moved here a few months ago to be with him.”

“Where’s your brother now?”

I blinked at him. “He’s gone.”

His stern countenance wavered, but before I could embrace his presumed compassion, his expression settled into severity once again. “Now you’ll have to start your life over…again.” His eyes captured mine. A shiver of dread slithered down my spine. It was as if he knew me, even though he didn’t seem to know me. “Are you going to sleep?” He nodded toward my pillow as if he didn’t think my conscience would allow rest.

“I never sleep.”

Within minutes, he emitted soft puffs of breath, in and out, obviously lacking any guilt to keep him awake.

The shadows lengthened and receded over the locker room, drifting in and out of the grimy, shattered windows as if the world was still revolving around its axis on schedule. But I was sure it had stopped turning. I was the fugitive he sought.

***

The unrepentant sunshine streamed through the cracks, jubilant in its victory over the storm. Only five days since the devastation of Hurricane Irving and the sun acted as if nothing had ever happened. I turned away from the brightness with an ill-tempered snort.

Jake caught up with me on the gym floor. “Did you get any sleep?” His question hit me as a trifle vindictive.

“No. But you did.”

“I snore.” He grinned. Then his smile faded. “I thought you’d be gone this morning.”

“Why? I have to finish the job.”

“That’s…admirable.”

The thought that pestered me all night erupted from my mouth. “What happens to that woman when you catch her?”

“She’ll go back to jail.” He stopped by the double doors and folded his arms over his chest, blocking my path. “Then she’ll go to trial.”

“What if she did what she had to do?”

“There was no evidence it was self defense.”

I stared hard at his implacable façade. How could the man be alternately warm and cold, compassionate and hard, flexible and unyielding? I stepped around him and entered the gym. There were already bodies lined up waiting for our initial inspection, so I began the task of collecting information from my column of the dead. The hours passed as I searched pockets and noted identifying characteristics on those with no papers or markings. I glanced toward the open door as two men begin loading the last group onto a waiting truck.

One more victim to notate. I squatted next to her. Even in partial decay, her features were enough like mine it pushed me back on my heels. I lifted her arm. My breath hitched. Her Social Security number was so nearly like mine. I scanned the gym. Jake, the one man who might care if she became me or I became her, was absent. With a few strokes of the pen, I could die and live again.

My heart pounded with the possibility I might get a chance to start over without the baggage of my past dragging me down. I changed her identity with a few swipes of a permanent marker. The number went onto my log with an unshaken hand, and I was free to escape the woman I used to be…the woman I didn’t want to be any longer.


Author's Bio:

Denise wrote her first story when she was in high school—seventeen hand-written pages on school-ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the last romance novel she read. She earned a degree in accounting, giving her some nice skills to earn a little money, but her passion has always been writing. She has written numerous short stories and more than a few full-length novels. Her favorite pastimes when she’s not writing are spending time with her family, traveling, reading, and scrapbooking. She lives in Louisiana with her husband, two children, and one very chubby dog.

Everyone who leaves a comment on Denise's Tour Page will be entered to win a $20 Amazon gift card! Anyone who purchases their copy of Crisis of Identity before  August 5 and sends their receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, will get five bonus entries.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Review: Clockwise

Clockwise (Clockwise #1)
by Elle Strauss 

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy
Publication: March 2013
Format: kindle
Source: Netgalley
Connect: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Wattpad |
Casey Donovan has issues: hair, height and uncontrollable trips to the 19th century! And now this—she’s accidentally taken Nate Mackenzie, the cutest boy in the school, back in time. Awkward.

Protocol pressures her to tell their 1860 hosts that he is her brother and when Casey finds she has a handsome, wealthy (and unwanted) suitor, something changes in Nate. Are those romantic sparks or is it just “brotherly” protectiveness?

When they return to the present, things go back to the way they were before: Casey parked on the bottom of the rung of the social ladder and Nate perched high on the very the top. Except this time her heart is broken. Plus, her best friend is mad, her parents are split up, and her younger brother gets escorted home by the police. The only thing that could make life worse is if, by some strange twist of fate, she took Nate back to the past again.

Which of course, she does.

Casey, the heroine of the story was a normal girl who has to deal what most teenage girl has to deal with. But what’s special about Casey is that she can ‘trip’, or time travelled to the 19th century and one day Casey accidentally taken Nate, the cute, popular guy in school back to the past. How is she going to explain about this?

Clockwise by Elle Strauss is one of the books that I didn’t expect I would be enjoying so much. At first, I was a little bit sceptical what with the setup—Casey, the not so popular, liking the cute, popular guy in school and she also had issues with one of the popular girl in school. But things got a little bit more interesting once Casey accidentally took Nate into the past. We get to see Casey in a different light. I think I like Casey more when she travelled to the past. She’s a lot more confident, reliable and funny.

I definitely enjoy the story as it goes on. The characters are fun. The story flowed nicely with the past and present.  There are lots of moments that made me smile. Clockwise by Elle Strauss is definitely a fun and cute story. Clockwise by Elle Strauss is available for free on Kindle.




buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Review: Double Click

Double Click
by Lisa Becker

Genre: Chick Lit, Romance, Friendship
Publication: March 2013
Format: ebooks
Source: ARC
Connect: Facebook | Goodreads
Fans of the romantic hit Click: An Online Love Story will enjoy another voyeuristic dive into the lives of Renee, Shelley, Ashley, Mark and Ethan, as Double Click picks up with their lives six months later. Are Renee and Ethan soul mates? Does Mark ever go on a date? Has Shelley run out of sexual conquests in Los Angeles? Will Ashley's judgmental nature sabotage her budding relationship? Through a marriage proposal, wedding, new baby and unexpected love twist, Double Click answers these questions and more. Readers will continue to cheer, laugh, cry and cringe following the email exploits of Renee and friends.

I received a copy of this book from the author to provide an honest review.

Double Click is the sequel of Click which I have reviewed previously. It was still written in e-mail format all throughout the book. The story took six months later from the first book. I mentioned in prior that I found the first book, Click to be a little bit confusing with the e-mail exchange between Renee and her friends with the cc, bcc and fwd. Sometimes, the events that occurred outside of the email which I did not see confuse me as I have no idea what was going on.  But I can see that the e-mails in Double Click were much more organized.  It was much easier to read and understand without getting confuse.

Seeing how I gave this book a 4 loves as compared of 3 to the first book, you can tell that I enjoyed this book more. I think Double Click is definitely much more interesting and funnier than the first one. I just can’t stop myself flipping the pages to know what will happen to Renee, Shelly, Ashley and Mark. I cannot believe that the story has ended once I reached to the very last page. I wanted to read more! Double Click is definitely an enjoyable read with lots of laugh out loud moments.

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