Smokeless Fire Blog Tour and Giveaway

Today Samantha Young is visiting the blog with her character Ari with a cool Q&A! If you haven’t heard of the book here’s the synopsis. 

Fear the Heat...

For the last two years Ari’s life has been anything but normal and on her 18th birthday, when her friends surprise her with a gimmick genie claiming to grant wishes, Ari discovers the truth. The tragic and strange occurrences surrounding her 16th birthday were not coincidental and her life is never going to be the same again.

Ari’s real parents are not normal. They are not loving. They are not human.

They are myth.

They are Smokeless Fire.

They are Jinn.

Here’s the trailer too!

On to Ari’s This or That list.

Books or Movies?- OK that’s a tough one. Books or movies? Books or movies? This actually might qualify as cruelty. Uhhh… OK books. No. Movies. No, books. No. Yeah. Yeah, books. Definitely books. Movies are more fun when there are people to watch them with and these days there haven’t been so many ‘people’ as such, around me. So books. That’s a solid yes for books.

Jai or Charlie?- Pfft! What kind of question is that? Is it hot in here?

The White King or The Red King?- Well in reality neither. They’re both terrifying in their own way but I guess The Red King does seem nicer so… if I have to… The Red King it is.

 Harry or Ron?- Ron. He’s so cute.

Mexican or Chinese Food?- Oooh I like them both. And now I’m hungry. Grrreat. I’ll say Mexican food but by a very slim margin.

  Ice Cream or Cake?- Ice Cream. Wow, that was decisive. Who knew I had it in me, ha.

 Magic or No Magic?- Although admittedly conjuring stuff is very handy and all, my life has been nothing but non-stop terror and danger since magic came into the equation so I’m going with a firm no magic.

 Rock or Pop?- Oh definitely rock. I like some pop but I can’t get through my day without a little Metric.

Eyes or Lips?- Eyes… definitely eyes. In fact I wish some people would take their gorgeous eyes and hide them where they can’t confuse me with their… utter… gorgeousness.

Vampires or Jinn?- Uhhh… vampires. They aren’t real.

Want a copy of Smokeless Fire? Giveaway Closed! Congtrats winners!!!! . The contest is international and will close at midnight October 29^th. The winners will be chosen randomly and will have 48 hours to claim their prize or we will choose another. For an extra entry tweet about the giveaway with the #SmokelessFire hashtag.

The book came out October 21^st in ebook form and the paperback will be coming out shortly!

Make sure to check out the Fire Spirits website and Samantha’s website.

You can purchase Smokeless Fire at Amazon or Smashwords.

YA Spooktacular Day 2

               


Welcome to another stop for the second annual YASpooktacular, hosted by Frenzy of Noise and Wicked Awesome Books.

This year, there are three stories written by some of your favorite authors that will be posted throughout the week. Each story is a choose your adventure, where you get to decide what path to send the character down. Sometimes you live, sometimes you die, and sometimes you fall into a pit of no return.

There are also some TRICKS or TREATS scattered throughout the story, where you can enter to win prizes and get bonus points toward the prize packs. The prize pack for Story #2 will be up tomorrow! On Halloween day, the grand prize pack will be posted. You can click the banner above to see a full list of the YASpooktacular prize packs!

Author bio:
Amy Garvey has always been a reader. She’s also been a movie theater ticket taker, a nanny, a camp counselor, and a romance editor. Now she’s a wife and a mom and a writer who still spends most of her free time reading (when she’s not watching too much TV). After starting off in romance with books like Hot Date and Pictures of Us, she’s writing in the genre she’s always loved most, young adult fiction. Cold Kiss is now available from HarperTeen.

You can find Amy on Twitter, on her blog, and on Goodreads:

Blog: http://amygarveywrites.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/amygarvey
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/146986.Amy_Garvey

You can order her books at the following places:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Garvey/e/B001ILFO1K/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1317782063&sr=1-1
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/amy-garvey/2932090
The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Cold-Kiss-Amy-Garvey/9780061996221

You can pick it up at the beginning by clicking on the banner or here..... http://www.readingteen.net/

Grab Stace and escape

You can’t even process what this creature is. It’s huge, man-shaped, but there’s no time or light to look closer. As it shambles toward you, you grab the first thing your hand touches in the dark, an old broom. Wielding it like a sword, you shout Stace’s name.

“I’m here,” she cries, voice ragged with shouting and sobbing, and you slash out at the man thing. Running past it, you stumble over something on the floor and nearly fall into Stace’s shaking arms.

“Back there,” you manage to get out. Even through the musty fog of the basement, you can smell the smoke from the garage. “The outside door!”

Together you scramble toward the back of the basement. Boxes and old junk clatter to the concrete, and behind you there’s an anguished grunt.

“Come on,” you urge Stace, grabbing her hand and running up the short set of stairs to the rusted bulkhead doors that lead outside. At first they stick, groaning as you push on them, but Stace joins you. Together you throw yourselves against the doors and they yawn open with a metallic whine.

“Run!” you yell, and she grabs your arm as you race across the lawn, away from the billowing smoke and the demonic orange glow of the burning garage.

“What … what is going on?” Stace sobs once you’re in the street. You stop under a lamppost, panting, and kick off your ridiculous shoes. It’s hard to believe they’re still on your feet at this point.

“I have no idea,” you tell her, “but we’ve got to find Michael, and probably Des. Come on.”

Party time is over. It’s survival time now.

You’ve reached a dead end to the story. Go back to the beginning at Reading Teen (http://readingteen.net/)

Or back up a step by going to The Book Cellar (http://www.thebookcellarx.com/)

Make sure you visit Lisa M. Potts (http://virginsheets.blogspot.com/) tomorrow and enter to win the prize pack for story 2!

And visit Wicked Awesome Books or Frenzy of Noise on October 31^st to enter the GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY for a ton of books and a ton of swag!!

We're also hosting a giveaway! We have a copy of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin and The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa up for grabs! To enter check out this crossword puzzle and then fill out this FORM Good Luck!

Make sure to comment to let us know how you liked the story!

Lie or Die Winners!!!!!!

We just wanted to pop in real quick to let you know the voting is over, the winner has been chosen, and to thank everyone who voted! The five authors wrote some seriously kick butt stories but in the end there could be only one (love the Highlander reference hehe) and the winning story just happened to be the one we hosted right here on our blog!!!! That story was......


                                              Splitsville by GP Ching


Congrats G.P your story was awesome and we're elated that you won! :D


The winner of the prize pack is Larry Kollar!!!!!! Larry has been notified and Kathleen Tucker will be in touch soon.


We also wanted to take a minute to thank all the awesome bloggers that worked with us we love you all dearly! Rachel from Fiktshun, Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads, Lisa from A Life Bound by Books, and Jessica from Taking It One Book At A Time! Hugs :)

Jaime's Review of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

From Goodreads.
Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

Jaime’s review…..

I’ll openly admit this was one of those books like Divergent that I had friends pushing me to read. Every day they were like “Have you started yet? Why not?” and my best reasoning was I have other books I need to read and review first I’ll get to it soon. Well finally one afternoon Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads and Rachel from Fiktshun told Patricia how awesome it was so she started bugging me to read it so, I finally did. Let me tell you I should have not have held onto this ARC for so long without reading it!!!! 

This book was fantastic, brilliant, amazeballs, awesomesauce, and every other word that you can think of for great! The lyrical prose was beautifully written, the story flowed like a song flying off the pages! I literally dreamt about this book for the past three nights while reading it! I also cried quite a bit but, I laughed and smiled as well. I am hopelessly in love with Adam and very jealous of Juliette ;)

Tahereh Mafi has created a masterpiece with writing like this…..

“I’m looking and not looking at his face, I’m licked by a million flames and swallowing a million more. He’s staring at like me like he’s never seen me before. I want to wash my soul in the bottomless blue of his eyes.”

Swoons right? The writing is that lyrical and beautiful throughout the entire book!

Now we’re expecting a really bad guy for a villain but I actually found him to be extremely interesting and, I didn’t hate him. You’re probably thinking how? Trust me when you read the book I think you’ll understand.

If you like a good Dystopian read with a hint of fantasy and paranormal Shatter Me is the perfect book for you! I am patiently (NOT AT ALL) waiting for the next book. So when Shatter Me arrives at bookstores November 15^th buy this book!!!!! I am not asking, I’m telling this book must be read!

You can pre order Shatter Me from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Tomorrow is ShatterDay Are you Attending????

Tomorrow Saturday, October 22^nd  is going to be an awesome day! Harper Teen, Pitch Dark Books, and author Tahereh Mafi are hosting an an all-day online event offering g exclusive previews from SHATTER ME, the hottest new book of the season! Trust us it’s going to be worth it! Jaime is reading Shatter Me right now and she says it’s amazing!!!!!!!!

The Event is going to feature……
- Chapter reveals every hour, starting at midnight. 24 hours = 24 chapters!
- A Livestream appearance from author Tahereh Mafi

There is also a contest to win an ARC of Shatter Me you can enter HERE!

So go RSVP HERE! We insist you won’t be sorry.

LIE OR DIE – The Flash Fiction Reveal is Finally Here!

The day has finally come! We held a contest for the best flash fiction idea, we chose a winner, and we sent five authors out to spin the fabulous idea in their own direction. What was the winning idea? An awesome one from Aeicha Matteson:

The characters: 
Ryder - female, human, teenager, short in height, long brown hair w/blue streaks, bright green eyes, smart, sassy, tough.
Ax - (short for Aximander), male, demon (but was once human before being sent to hell), as a demon he has no permanent form, thus he possesses humans. He's cunning, vindictive, but incredibly charismatic.

The conflict: Ryder is a supernatural hunter (she hunts demons, monsters, evil baddies), but she has been possessed by the demon Ax, who has essentially bound himself to her...meaning no simple exorcism will release him. Ryder must find a way to break free of Ax while fighting for control of her own mind, body, and actions.

Their abilities:
Ryder - as a hunter she is skilled in weapons, fighting, and supernatural knowledge/lore but does not have "supernatural or magical" abilities of her own.
Ax - can shift/shimmer (teleport anywhere, including hell) and has enhanced/heightened abilities (strength, speed, hearing)...when possessing someone these abilities are transferred into them while Ax resides within them.

The authors have plotted and toiled for many hours to create their unique flash fiction version of Ryder and Ax’s tale.  Now you’ll all get to read them! Each author is hosted on one of the below blogger sites:

Fiktshun - hosting Tiffany King
Two Chicks on Books - hosting G.P. Ching
A Life Bound By Books - hosting K.A.Tucker
Magical Urban Fantasy Reads - hosting Megan Duncan
Taking It One Book At A Time - hosting S.M.Reine

So, go visit each site above and VOTE for your favorite! Why vote? Because on October 24^th, a Grand Prize winner will be drawn. What could you win? A pile of signed print copies of the authors’ books and some swag. Check out the official page HERE for a list (grand prize winner contest open to U.S. residents only but anyone can vote; one vote per person and you can vote on any of the blogs.) Want to earn an extra entry into the grand prize? Tweet the following and paste the link into the form with your vote!:

“I voted in the #LieOrDie Flash Fiction Showdown at http://bit.ly/rnwEtL . Why don’t you?”

So… GO check out the 5 fabulous versions of 1 amazing idea and GO VOTE for your favorite one!

Here’s our story from the fabulous G.P. Ching! It’s soo awesome!!!

Splitsville
by G.P. Ching

A year ago, when I recorded my little sister singing Tomorrow in her middle school’s production of Annie, my only intention was to embarrass her by posting it to YouTube. By an ironic twist of fate, her off-key rendition, blaring from my iPod, is the only thing preserving my ability to control my limbs.

Ryder, you keep this up, you’ll blow your eardrums. We have über hearing, doll. You’re pounding your temporal with 150 decibels, the demon says inside my head. His name is Ax, Aximander actually, and the only thing keeping him from completely owning me is that I did my research.

“It must suck being a metalhead stuck in the body of a girl who loves show tunes. All show tunes, all the time! I’ve got the entire soundtrack of the Sound of Music on here and I’m not afraid to use it.”

An approaching jogger crosses the street to avoid me. I don’t blame him. It’s 5 a.m. and I’m covered in graveyard dirt and bruises. Not only am I yelling at the top of my lungs, but I have more control over my right leg than my left. The resulting shuffle-drag, shuffle-drag of my gait would make Frankenstein look like a ballet dancer. Plus, my left hand keeps slapping the side of my head—Ax, trying to remove my headphones. Only, I have earbuds in, and since I’m fighting him with every ounce of mental energy I have left, he doesn’t have the dexterity to pull them out. He is, however, extremely strong. My head aches from the blows.

Turn down the music and I’ll leave.

“Bullshit. You’ll get full control and I’ll be your host for the remainder of your cruise. Not buying it, Satan's spawn.”

Flattery! If you keep saying nice things about me, I’ll stay forever.

I reach the Pinewood apartment complex and stumble up the urine stained stairwell to the second floor. I pray Michael is home. Ax is too close to chiseling through my mental barrier. I won't make it another block.

Michael...Michael...Oh there’s tons of stuff floating around your brain about him. Seems you had quite a crush on him junior year. Haven’t spoken since your friendship went splitsville over you becoming a demon hunter. What’s it been, Ryder? Two years? This should be a riot.

I pound myself against Michael’s door, relieved when it opens and there’s no one inside but him. I plunge my face, earbuds and all, into his fish tank. Ax’s hand slaps the glass instead of my head.

“Ryder!” Michael's voice cuts through three inches of water, glass, and fish. He grips my shoulders and yanks me out.

“Possessed,” I say. My body drops to the floor, writhing.

“I told you this would happen. You mess with demons, they mess with you.” Michael drops to his knees next to me.

Who is this guy? Ax laughs. You’re seizing and he’s lecturing you on the merits of your occupation. Great choice, Ryder. Why don’t you just hand yourself over to me now?

“Help,” I whimper.

It's true. I haven’t spoken to Michael in years. But he’s brilliant and his apartment was closest. Not to mention, I’ve always thought he might secretly have a thing for me.

“Show tunes?” Michael eyes my iPod incredulously. He straddles my body. My hand whacks him in the head of its own accord. Wrestling my arms straight, he pins them under his knees. “What the hell do you have inside you?”

“Singer. MetalCrush. Overdose. 1985.” I give Michael Ax’s human history. I hope it helps him more than it helped me.

Relax baby or I’ll have to do some damage in here. A facial tic? Blindness? Give in to me, Ryder, before I have to ruin you. Ax’s voice is a velvet caress against my skull. It would be a relief to surrender.

“Don’t give up, Ryder.” Michael shakes me by the shoulder. “Ax, from MetalCrush. I remember reading something about him in People’s greatest a-holes of history edition. I got something for you, Ax honey.”

Michael kisses me. Not like a little peck. He plants a major, total make-out, tonsil-hockey kiss on me that under different circumstances would rock my socks off.

EWWW. Fine. I’m outie.

And just like that, I’m alone in my head again. “He’s gone!” I say. “How did you do that?”

“I didn’t." His words brush my lips. "Ax was a total homophobe. I knew kissing a man would literally freak him out of you."

“Well, it worked,” I say. “Now, let me up.”

“Not yet,” Michael whispers. “That one was for Ax, but this one is for me.” He kisses me again.

My heart thunders in my chest. I surrender to his mouth like sinking into a hot bath.

Maybe, I realize, I was safer with the demon.

Great story right??? Now go VOTE for our author and do us proud! 

Musa Publishing Launches Euterpe YA Imprint

Two Chicks on Books is thrilled to be a part of the unveiling of a new YA Imprint from Musa Publishing! 

Contact Elspeth McClanahan                                     Permission to forward granted

Phone 919-877-0375                                                   For Immediate release

Email Promotions@MusaPublishing.com

Musa Publishing Launches Euterpe YA Imprint

An Imprint for YA Lovers in all Genres

Musa Publishing is thrilled to announce that its Young Adult Imprint, Euterpe, launches on Friday, October 21, 2011. With the growing demand for YA books, Musa is looking forward to offering diversity in genres for YA lovers from 13 to 113. From Sweet Romances and fantastical fantasies, to Sensational Sci-fi and a few more thrown in for flavor, Musa will offer something for everyone’s reading pleasure.

Come out for the launch, read about the authors, and join in the fun while picking up some new reading material.

The Blacksmith’s Daughter by Arley Cole is the first book in the Euterpe imprint.

She believes she is only a blacksmith’s daughter, but he must discover the truth or risk losing his land—and his life.

Acwellen Lex'Magen rules as liege lord of a small country bounded by forbidding mountains and powerful neighbors. When the neighboring baron, allied with a powerful wizard, attempts to take over his land, first by political, then by covert means, Acwellen finds an ally of his own in Enith Roweson, an unassuming blacksmith who possesses powers he’s only known of in legends. As he attempts to unravel both the plots against him—including the nature of the monsters sent to assassinate him—and the mysterious powers Enith is only beginning to understand she has, he also finds himself falling in love with the blacksmith’s daughter.

Check out this book and other YA books at http://euterpe.musapublishing.com/

Follow the Euterpe Blog at http://euterpe-ya.blogspot.com/

And Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Euterpe-YA-Books/154593351291764

“Hearts set upon song, spirits free from care”~ Hesiod

# # #

If you'd like more information about Musa Publishing, please contact Elspeth McClanahan at Promotions@Musapublishing.com or go to our blog http://musapublishing.blogspot.com/

Dark Eden Blog Tour

Thanks for stopping by! Today is our stop on the Dark Eden blog tour take a look below at the cool video clips we have for you!

Welcome to the official Dark Eden blog tour! Halloween is just around the corner and to celebrate the publication of Dark Eden, available everywhere November 1st, this month author Patrick Carman will be visiting blogs to share spooky guest posts and sneak peeks from his brand new book and app.

"At Fort Eden, Will Besting and six other teenagers take turns in mysterious fear chambers designed to help them overcome their crippling phobias. On today's tour stop check out this private video interview with one of Dark Eden's characters, Kate Hollander”

The book trailer and the synopsis are below.

"When Will Besting approaches Fort Eden for the first time, he knows something isn't right. With more terrifying secrets at every turn he discovers a hidden fear deep inside himself, a dark mystery a thousand years in the making, and the unexpected girl of his dreams. But can he save everyone from the dangers of Fort Eden before it's too late?"

Do you dare to face your fears? Take the Dark Eden Fear Test. Follow Patrick Carman on Twitter and visit the official Dark Eden website.

"Be sure to check out all the stops on the Dark Eden blog tour"

October 18th: Starry Sky Books

October 19th: Great Imaginations

October 20th: Once Upon a Twilight

October 21st: Me, My Shelf and I

October 24th: Fiktshun

October 25th: PageTurners

October 26th: Icey Books

October 27th: Truly Bookish

October 28th: Stuck in Books

Thanks Harper Teen and Patrick Carman for asking us to be a part of the tour it has been awesome!!!!!

Piracy and Plagiarism What Should I Do?

Hey All Jaime here!

So many of you know that I’m very vocal about plagiarism and book pirating on twitter. Bloggers stealing from bloggers has been a hot topic as of late as well as pirating.  I had not been in that group affected, but many of my friends had and that pissed me off!

Well, today I found out from my dear friend Cyndi Tefft, whom is also an author, that her book Between, which I adored is being pirated.  Not only has it been pirated, but my review of it was plagiarized on two sites that pirate ebooks and I am absolutely sick about it! How can I get them to take it down? Can I report them? This is all new for me, so I have no clue. I debated posting the site info here, but I don’t know if I should do that. I don’t want them to have any more traffic, so I won’t post links, but the site names are EBOOKEE and WaZ WaReZ. These sites have done two illegal things now pirating books and plagiarizing a review from our blog, which is copyrighted. I love books and to see them being pirated is bad enough, but adding my review to help do that?  I don’t even know I’m at a loss for words.

So, what advice do you all have?  I’d really love to hear your thoughts!  I know Cyndi has e-mailed the sites to have the content removed, but I don’t know if that will work.

Also, because I love her book so much and I want you all to read it, but not by stealing. I am offering to buy an e-book of Between for a giveaway I’ll close it Sunday 10/23 at midnight,  if you want to enter just leave your e-mail address in the comments below. Or if you want to buy the book to show people that pirating sucks here’s the links! http://www.amazon.com/Between-ebook/dp/B004XZUMBA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318731453&sr=8-2

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/between-cyndi-tefft/1100076523?ean=9781460937105&itm=1&usri=cyndi%2btefft

Lie or Die Flash Fiction: The Winning Idea

The judges have met, deliberated, and after much debate, decided. It wasn't easy. There were some really amazing ideas. And we would have loved to see all of them written by all five authors. But that wouldn't be very fair. Not really, anyway.

So, after a few punches, kicks, screams and much pulling of hair, we quietly sat down and agreed that the winner should be....

Aeicha Matteson

Congratulations Aeicha your idea was absolutely awesome. One that we think will result in some very different story ideas by the authors, one that can pose a bit of a challenge for them, and ultimately one we could all agree upon!

So, here's the idea that is being revealed live, at this very moment, to the authors. They've had no previous knowledge or peek at the winning idea, so they're all getting it at the same time. No unfair advantage here. For the authors who don't stalk our blogs early, well, they get that much less time to toy with this.

THE IDEA 

The characters:

Ryder- Female, human, teenager, short in height, long brown hair w/blue streaks, bright green eyes, smart, sassy, tough.

Ax- (short for Aximander) Male, demon (but was once human before being sent to hell), as a demon he has no permanent form, thus he possesses humans. He's cunning, vindictive, but incredibly charismatic.

The conflict:

Ryder is a supernatural hunter (she hunts demons, monsters, evil baddies), but she has been possessed by the demon Ax, who has essentially bound himself to her. Meaning no simple exorcism will release him. Ryder must find a way to break free of Ax while fighting for control of her own mind, body, and actions.

Their abilities:

Ryder- as a hunter she is skilled in weapons, fighting, and supernatural knowledge/lore but does not have "supernatural or magical" abilities of her own.

Ax- can shift/shimmer (teleport anywhere, including hell) and has enhanced/heightened abilities (strength, speed, hearing)...when possessing someone these abilities are transferred into them while Ax resides within them.

Awesome, right? We are all super excited to see what these five incredibly talented authors come up with!

The authors will have until October 18th to write their 800 word flash fiction story. And on October 19th, all five stories will be revealed on all five of the participating blogs.

You will have a chance to vote for your favorite idea and enter to win the grand prize.

For more details in the meantime, be sure to check out the Lie Or Die contest page, HERE.


Don't forget to stop back on October 19th. Author GP Ching will be posting her short story based on the winning idea here! We're very excited to see what she comes up with and you'll have a chance to vote for her, or any other of the participating author's stories!