19 May 2013

Author Interview: Thomas Amo


Forever Me by Thomas Amo
Publisher: Gothic Twist Publishing 
Release Date: October 11, 2012
Synopsis: Forever Me is considered YA and NA. 

Inspired by True Events

Hannah Richards isn't your typical 16 year-old at Wichita Falls High. Fashions, trends, cosmetics and style are unimportant to her. An avid reader, guitar player, classic movie and television buff, Hannah marches to the beat of her own drum. Visible only to her Father the town Sheriff, and her two best friends. Hannah lives a simple, un-pampered life as an "Eastie."

After coming to the aide of Taylor Monroe, a popular member of the ultra snobby "Stilettos" at school, Hannah's life beings spiraling out of control. As she starts spending more time with Taylor, her best friends abandon her, after a series of misunderstandings, causing Hannah to re-invent herself.

Hannah quickly gets caught up in a life much different than the one she knows, where status, glamour, makeup, appearance and acceptance become her masters. And what of the dark secret that haunts the streets of Wichita Falls?

Can Hannah survive the lies, deceit, jealousy and rage that are now waiting for her behind every corner? Will she succumb to the pressures of popularity? Or will she be crushed under the heels of the "Stilettos"?

~High school is hard enough just being yourself, let alone being someone you're not~


Meet The Author: 

Thomas Amo has been writing since he was a boy. His dream was always to write for the movies, television, theatre. In the late 1990's he began a career as a full time theatrical producer and while running his own theatre company began writing plays for the stage. In 2000 his first novel was published. It would be another decade before he published again. In August of 2012 he finished epic YA novel, "Forever Me." 


Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/AuthorThomasAmo
or connect with me on Skype: Jordanfilms







Author Interview:


P: How long have you wanted to be an author?
T: Since I was a boy. Around 1971 my mom took me to Disneyland and after going through the Haunted Mansion, I knew
I wanted to write scary stories! I fell in love with that ride and begged my mom to buy the record for me before we left the park.
I played that record until it was warped, scratched until you couldn't listen to it anymore without it skipping. I thought if I could
write a great haunted house story, maybe someone would buy my book and I could buy my mom a house. (The imagination of a boy.)
Since then I've never given up the dream to write.


P: Books about High School could go either way. What made you want to write that kind of story?
T: I was just about to leave the house one morning when I caught a segment on morning television about a group of teen girls at a Texas high school who had organized a group called, “Redefining Beautiful.” They were trying to encourage fellow female students to go one day a week without makeup. They were stressing that you don’t need makeup to be beautiful. I was so amazed by their bravery and confidence to go against type, especially in high school and at an age where girls feel the most awkward with themselves. A close friend of mine who is a film producer had been asking me if I had anything I was working on I could share with him. By time the segment was over, I had the basic plot in my head and before I left the house, I already knew the ending of the story. I phoned my producer friend and told him I had something, we met that afternoon and I pitched the idea to him as a film. He loved the concept and told me he was interested. Could I write the screenplay? I went to work right away. But about 50 pages in, I found these characters were so lifelike, I felt it needed to be a book, it could always be a film later. I called my friend back, said, I have to write this as a novel. With his blessing and two years later. Forever ME was published.

P: Whats your favorite genre?
T: To write: Comedy for the stage although writing "Forever ME" was the best experience I ever had as an author. 
To Read: True Crime.
P: I love True Crime! I'm thinking about going to pick up a few of them soon :)

*Speed Round*

P: Paper and pen or Laptop?
T: Laptop!

P: Female MC or Male MC?
T: Female MC! I think there's always so much more to a female MC.

P: Paperback or Hardcover?
T: Hardcover is always preferred!

I hope you all enjoyed the little spotlight on the book/author and the author interview! I had a great experience interviewing Thomas and learning about his book! 

18 May 2013

Review: The Pack: Retribution by L.M. Preston

The Pack: Retribution by L.M. Preston
Publisher: Phenomenal One Press
Release Date: September 28, 2012
Book Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 250
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Synopsis: Revenge doesn't have a name, but has chosen a victim—Shamira. But she's never been the type to lie down and let someone hurt her family or her friends. In order to find the mastermind behind the threat to all she cares about, she must give up the one person who's found his way into her guarded heart, Valens. Valens refuses to back off easily, and neither will Shamira's friends. They join forces with her in order to deal with a new enemy who seeks to kill everyone in Shamira's life that dared save the missing kids on Mars.






My Review: 
I received The Pack: Retribution by LM Preston for review a few months back and this is my honest review.

The Pack: Retribution is the sequel to Preston’s first book The Pack. In the first book Shamira and her group of friends are forced to save all the children on mars from the bad guys, I won’t tell you if they succeed or not but the second book picks up with Shamira and her clan going on another mission.

I loved Shamira’s character in the first book, and I still love her character now! She’s so strong but we get to see her change and grow from the first book too the second. She has trust issues because she’s always been alone but in the second book its a little bit easier for her to change and let people in which I like. Preston did a great job making her characters dynamic.

The action in this book was phenomenal! There was never a dull moment. Shamira and the group were always fighting off the bad guys and with style too. It’s always refreshing to have all kinds of action in a book. Especially when the action is coming from a group of teenagers thats the best.

The setting of this book is on Mars. How cool is that? I liked reading how Preston described Mars I thought it was pretty interesting, and if I was to think of Mars her description of it was pretty darn close. Overall the book gets a 4 out of 5 stars. In places it was a little slow but I enjoyed the characters and the action a lot!

View all my reviews


15 May 2013

Yellow Socks and Blood Spots Release Day Blitz



Yellow Socks and Blood Spots by Bailey J. Thompson 
Release Date: May 15, 2013
Publisher: Yellow Iris Press
Synopsis: Two lines means pregnant, and pregnant is the very last thing seventeen-year-old Isabelle wanted to be. She’s just beginning her senior year, she’s rekindling the respectable relationship she once had with her family and she has finally fallen in love.
Her boyfriend, Jason wants an abortion, while Isabelle wants to give her baby a chance at life, whether that means adoption or raising her baby herself. Her situation raises a question of values, beliefs, rights, societal expectations and personal opinions, and as Isabelle’s friends and family discover the news, they seem to think they know what’s best for her and her baby. Within two weeks of finding out about their beautiful disaster, Isabelle and Jason have to come to a mutual agreement and make a life and death decision.

Find the book:
Meet The Author:
Bailey J Thompson is a teenage author that resides in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. She has been storytelling since the moment she could talk, and has since developed passions for creative writing, photography, nature and the environment. Yellow Socks and Blood Spots is her debut novel.


Before you go don't forget to check out the Facebook Giveaway!!


14 May 2013

Cover Reveal: 1816 Candles by Amanda Brice

It's Tuesday and Comfort Books is participating in the Cover Reveal for 1816 Candles by Amanda Brice. This reveal is hosted by AToMR Tours so go check them out! Are you ready for the cover??


1816 Candles by Amanda Brice 
Genre: Time Travel Romance
Age Group: Young Adult
Cover Designer: Keith Draws
Expected Release Date: September 2013
Synopsis: 
High school senior Lauren is attending a costume ball at Old Town Alexandria’s famous Gadsby’s Tavern. But when she gets bored by the repetitious historical dances, she goes off to explore in the building and something odd catches her eye. 
Is it a woman? 

When Lauren follows the mysterious person and picks up a snow globe in the room she’s led to, she somehow ends up in 1816, experiencing the actual events of the “Legend of the Female Stranger” she’s heard her whole life growing up. Now Lauren has to solve the mystery of this ghost, find her way back home…and deal with her own emotions when she falls in love with a guy who lived 200 years before her.


Meet The Author:

As a little girl, Amanda Brice dreamed of being either a ballerina or the author of a mystery series featuring a cool crime-solving chick named Nancy Flew, but her father urged her to “do something practical,” so she went to law school and spent her days writing briefs and pleadings instead of fiction.
But dance and writing have remained a part of her life. Amanda was a member of the ballroom dance team at Duke University, and continues this interest by her obsession with Dancing with the Stars, so it was only natural for her to set a teen mystery series at a dance school.
Amanda is the President of Washington Romance Writers, and is a two-time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart® Award. She blogs once a month or so with the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood. She is also a popular conference presenter, speaking on basic copyright and trademark law for writers.
In her spare time, Amanda enjoys dancing, reading, cooking, traveling, and obsessing over whether Duke will beat Carolina in basketball. Go Devils!

Find the author:

I hope everyone liked the cover! Let us know what you think of it in the comments! 

11 May 2013

Review: Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle
Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
Release Date: February 5, 2013 
Book Format: ARC
Number of Pages: 288
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Synopsis: Nate Foster has big dreams. His whole life, he’s wanted to star in a Broadway show. (Heck, he'd settle for *seeing* a Broadway show.) But how is Nate supposed to make his dreams come true when he’s stuck in Jankburg, Pennsylvania, where no one (except his best pal Libby) appreciates a good show tune? With Libby’s help, Nate plans a daring overnight escape to New York. There's an open casting call for E.T.: The Musical, and Nate knows this could be the difference between small-town blues and big-time stardom.





My Review: I won Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle from World Spelunking, and this is my honest review.

To start off I’d like to say that this book is a middle grade book. Now I haven’t read that many middle grade books so I was a little skeptical as to if I would like middle grade novels. But I’m glad I gave it a shot because these kind of books give you a break from the crazy drama of YA. Better Nate Than Ever is about a boy named Nate of course who has dreams of being on broadway. So with the help of his best friend Libby he sneaks off to New York to audition for the part of Elliott in E.T. the musical.

I have to say I loved this book for so many reasons! Young kids like Nate himself don’t have many chances at something big like that because either their parents don’t believe in them enough to let them have a shot or theres just no possible chance for them to get to the places they would need to be. But this book shows us that no matter what your dreams are you probably can find someway to make them come true. Just like Nate does by sneaking to New York.

I’m not into the whole plays/broadway thing so that alone made me a little apprehensive about reading the book, but you didn’t really need to be a fanatic about that stuff too like the book because it was more about Nate reaching his goals then anything. It was quite satisfying to see him really work for his dreams and get rewarded.

Another thing that stands out in this book is the friendship between Nate and Libby. First off Libby believes that Nate can do whatever he sets his dreams to which is amazing, its always good to have someone believe in you. Second Libby does anything she can to cover for Nate to make his dreams come true she never gave up on him no matter what.

I’m honestly trying to think of something no matter how big or small that I didn’t enjoy about this book and I can’t think of a single thing. Tim Federle did an awesome job developing his characters and making this a very believable story which gets a solid 5 out of 5 stars.

View all my reviews


09 May 2013

Cover Reveal: Fixed on You by Laurelin Paige

The weeks almost over already, Can you believe it? Comfort Books is participating in the Cover Reveal for Fixed On You by Laurelin Paige hosted by AToMR Tours! Here's the cover! 


 photo FixedonYouCoverFinal_zps282bcea3.jpg

Title: Fixed on You (Fixed, #1)
Author:Laurelin Paige
Genre: Contemporary
Age Group: Adult
Expected release date: July 31, 2013
Cover reveal organized by: AToMR Tours
 photo goodreads-badge-add-plus_zpsa971cb04.png   Stalking and restraining orders are a thing of AlaynaPierce’s past. With her MBA newly in hand, she has her future figured out – move up at the nightclub she works at and marry the manager, David. He’s perfect for her because, although he’s attractive, he doesn’t get her all turned inside out and upside down like some other men have. It’s a safe plan, one that assures she’ll remain in control of her obsessive love disorder. But what Alayna didn’t figure on is Hudson Pierce, the new owner of the nightclub. He’s smart, rich, and gorgeous – the kind of guy Alayna knows to stay away from if she wants to keep her past tendencies in check. Except, Hudson’s fixed his sights on her. He wants her in his bed and makes no secret of his plans to seduce her. Avoiding him becomes impossible after he offers a business proposition Alayna can’t turn down and she’s drawn further into his universe, unable to resist his gravitational pull. Soon Alayna’s charmed by Hudson in every way possible and the control over her old behaviors slip. When she learns Hudson has a dark history of his own, she realizes too late that she’s fallen for the worst man she could possibly get involved with. Or maybe their less than ideal pasts give them an opportunity to heal each other and finally find the love their lives have been missing.  

Meet The Author:
 Laurelin Paige is a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however. When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching Mad Men or the Walking Dead, or dreaming of Adam Levine. She is represented by the wonderful BobDiforio of D4EO Literary Agency.

 
Imagination Designs