Book Blitz: Life Lived Twice

IFB is hosting the promo event for Sherrie Wouters' debut fantasy novel. Continue below for an excerpt & giveaway.

Release date: June 6th 2014
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Some promises are made to last forever ... What if you fell in love with a stranger ... but that stranger had come from your past, a past you never knew existed until the moment your eyes met? 

When Tess Winters locks eyes with a stranger at an airport bookstore, it ignites a feeling of passion somewhere deep inside her that she can't explain. Although the encounter is innocent and brief, the intensity of it lingers, leaving her overwhelmed by a yearning for the mystery man now consuming her every thought. 

Struggling to break the powerful hold he has over her heart, Tess starts to experience strange but familiar dreams...dreams from the turn of the twentieth century of the charming Mr Addison Taylor. 

As her dreams start to materialize into reality, and past and present begin to blur, Tess is forced to put the pieces of a forgotten time together, and soon discovers that love isn't the only thing that can find you after an eternity. Captivating, mysterious, and romantic, Life Lived Twice will leave you wondering whether love is so powerful it could last more than a lifetime.

EXCERPT

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By the time I’d examined his tanned calves, the masculinity of his skin was lingering in the air between us. He smelt sensational, and I found myself uncontrollably breathing in as I rose.

Now curious to see more, I kept going. But as I began to move, an odd sensation of warmth radiating from him came over me; it was almost like an invisible hand caressing my skin. My heart fluttered at the idea of it, and suddenly blood was rushing to all the wrong places as I felt an unexpected thrill of anticipation.

After tracing his body all the way up to his chest, my wandering eyes didn’t seem to want to stop, and they were soon up to his neck and following the stubble along his jaw, right up to his light brown hair. And then he spoke. The sound of his voice jolted me from my daydream and pulled my gaze to his.

“Addison!” I gasped as our eyes collided. From the moment the name left my lips, my eyes widened ... stared ... and became lost in his. As a rush of airy weightlessness floated me from the floor, suddenly everything felt more enhanced, more real, like something inside me had suddenly woken up. It was an intoxicating feeling and the longer I stood entranced, the further his beautiful blue eyes reached into mine. Somehow they were knocking on the door to my heart, stirring something so powerful it made me want to cry and laugh at the same time and, for a brief second, there was something in his eyes that made me feel complete.

Suddenly his brows squeezed then softened. “Ah ... um ... sorry about the electric shock.” He smiled. “But who’s Addison?”

My throat tightened as warmth flushed my cheeks. Who the hell was Addison?

Embarrassment pulled my eyes from his. “Oh,” I said, choking on my words, “Um ... ah ... no ... I don’t know anyone called Addison ... I mean, um ... ”

“Oh!” He smiled cheekily as he leaned towards me and whispered. “You sounded so convinced I was him ... I thought for a second I could be. I mean, if you wanted me to be.”

My face shot back to his, words jamming in my throat as I stared. Who was this guy, this stranger? In just a few seconds he’d turned my soul inside out, and now he was charming me with his words as well.

As his lips rose into a smile, I couldn’t help but smile back. But panic quickly returned to my constricted throat as that name re-entered my head. 

Suddenly aware of the warmth still creeping across my face, I managed to pull my eyes from his again and divert my gaze. Addison, Addison, who the hell was Addison? I couldn’t budge the name from my thoughts.

As I stood fidgeting, I could feel him staring, waiting for me to say something, anything. After taking a breath, I shifted my gaze and we locked eyes again as I spoke. “Um,” I said, swallowing hard, “I must be mistaken ... sorry.”

About the Author

Sherrie Wouters is a thirty something flame haired chick who accidentally wrote a book and is now an author. A qualified Homeoeopath and Kinesiologist, Sherrie lives in country Victoria, Australia with her husband, and two daughters. She is currently working on the sequel to Life Lived Twice.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

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Book Club: Dorothy Must Die

Book Club Review
with Laura's Little Book Blog


DOROTHY MUST DIE

by Danielle Paige
**SPOILERS**

Pages: 464 (Hardback)

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: April 1st 2014

ISBN: 0062280678

What were your first thoughts after finishing Dorothy Must Die?

Mily: BOOK TWO! BOOK TWO! BOOK TWO!!! In short that was about all my brain could come up with after finishing this book.

It was like being on the set of some twisted Oz film reading Dorothy Must Die and I felt like a rather tall munchkin extra taking in everything Danielle threw at me. I didn’t want it to end, even though some of the characters really did creep me out!! I wouldn’t want to meet the Scarecrow in a dark ally that’s for sure!

Laura: Yes BOOK TWO! Seriously I need to find out what happens! It was so easy to get all consumed by this. I am thrilled it is a series and I hated having to put it down and now have to wait to see what happens. I thought it was absolutely brilliant how different to the Wizard of Oz story this was. It was totally unexpected and I think this was what made me like it so much.

How did you feel about Danielle’s take on the original characters?

Mily: Loved them! Well most of them anyways. Dorothy was a little hard to get my head around but I really liked the take on everyone else. Especially the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman and Lion as they went from sugary sweet companions to seriously creepy henchmen and the way in which she explains that it’s there new attributes (brain, heart, courage) that has warped them into these monsters was a great twist at the end of the book. It really set it up for book two, which I need, like, NOW.

Laura: So incredibly different and well thought out! It completely threw me as to just how different the characters were to the original. Same thoughts re Dorothy; I still secretly hoped that there was some ‘good’ in her, but she was as evil and cold hearted as they come! But yes cleverly done with Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman and Lion! Maybe there was a reason then that they didn’t have these attributes before! I did actually feel slightly sorry for the Tin Woodsman, when I found out his feelings for Dorothy but not enough to make me like him this time round.

What were your feelings towards Amy?

Mily: She's snarky, stubborn and unafraid to ask questions. Sometimes with characters like Amy the story moves to fast for them to really feel everything and the author can skip over who the character is. But this whole book has the underlying theme of Amy trying to figure out who she is. Her faults make her real and her pink hair just makes her awesome. This is a character that I was happy to read about. 

Laura: She was actually surprisingly relatable, despite the crazy fictional world she finds herself in. The fact that she is trying to figure how who she is means that you really get to know her; she is a likable, real protagonist.

What was your least favorite part of the book?

Mily: The moment the Scarecrow took off the top of his head so Amy could inject stuff into his brain or maybe the description of the Scarecrow’s creations? One thing I will say about this book was that it wasn’t afraid to creep me out with its gritty descriptions of the darker aspects of this Oz.

Laura: Eww Milly, yes that was truly gross that bit! I think the least favourite part for me though was when Dorothy had the Scarecrow kill Jellia and use her corpse to come back as a robotic servant for her party. Truly weirded me out that bit!

The Order of the Wicked… Good or Bad?

Mily: I honestly don’t know. I know that Dorothy is evil and that she needs stopping but I’m not sure that I completely trust the Order. When the good become wicked the wicked have little choice to become good but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s some underlying selfishness to The Orders reasoning. We know we haven’t been given all the information, because we only know what Amy knows and I think the reason for that is if Amy knew everything she might not want to be part of the Wicked.

Laura: Same as Milly, not entirely sure. Although feel like I’m leaning towards the Wicked side as at least they don’t pretend to be something they are not.

Out of all the changes Danielle made to the original characters what were the hardest and easiest ones to get behind?

Mily: The hardest was Dorothy, which I will go into more detail about later. However, the easiest was probably Glinda. No one is that nice! Sugary sweet fairy godmother my arse! No, the idea that the good witch was secretly wicked was all too easy for me to agree with.

Laura: Definitely Dorothy. This new Dorothy is the polar opposite to the sweet, kind Dorothy that we know from the original. And I was SO going to say that about Glinda! She was definitely the easiest to get my head around. Although I did see Wicked at the theatre and Glinda wasn’t a totally nice person in that, so easily adapted to the character change.

How did you feel towards Dorothy?

Mily: I hated her, which I know was the whole point but I didn’t want to. There are a little part of me still holding onto the Dorothy Gale we all know and love. In a way I think I was kind of hoping for something more, like another level to this Dorothy. She was twisted, dark, selfish and above all else evil, but what I wanted was there to be something more. I wanted some good to shine through, something that gave her depth as a character. Although that could just be my traditionalist ways showing though as I try desperately to cling onto the original Dorothy.

Laura: Truly truly despised her! Evil, selfish, cold hearted, vindictive *****! Made me question her original character and what exactly she was hiding. Like Mily I was hoping some good would shine through, but by the end of the book, I have up hope.

What was the main thing you took away from the book?

Mily: Choice. A big part of this story was about Amy’s choice and how it would shape who she was as a character. Good and Wicked lost all meaning and everything that happened throughout the story came down to if she chose to do what was right.

I’m a firm believer in choice, and that we all have the potential to be anything and everything in us and it’s the choices we make along the way that make us who we are and I think that this book, even though fantasy, reinforces that message.

Laura: Choice definitely. Amy has to make a lot of choices in this and it is those choices that make you who you are.

A running theme throughout this book was abandonment; do you think Amy is strong enough as a character to kill Dorothy on her own?

Mily: I do, although I don’t think she should. There’s a part in the book that says something like, if I kill Dorothy doesn’t that make me like her? Or something along those lines and I totally agree with that. Yes, I think the pink haired fireball from The Other Place has the guts to kill the gingham-wearing princess but I really hope she doesn’t. I think that if she kills her then something inside Amy will break and she’ll become wicked too. After all, Dorothy was fine until she killed the Wicked Witch.

Laura: I think eventually she will, but not at the end of the first book. Mily is right in saying that if Amy kills Dorothy something could break and make her just like Dorothy and that is an ending that I do not want to see.

What was you’re favourite moment from Dorothy Must Die?

Mily: Right at the very end when Pete turned into Ozma! Like holy crap on a cracker I didn’t see that coming!! I was totally preparing myself for a love triangle between Amy, Nox and Pete and then *poof* Pete’s no longer a cute gardener with emerald eyes but the true princess of Oz. I think this was my favourite moment because I wasn’t expecting it. AT. ALL!

Laura: When Amy meets Indigo, a goth munchkin; a goth muchkin I tell you!!! And then shows her her tattoos which turn out to be a map of Oz. I thought that was amazing and again totally different to how I’d pictured the munchkins!

Book Blitz: Take Me On

Thanks to YA Bound Book Tours we have a Book Blitz from one of my favourite authors right now, Katie McGarry. This is her forth book in the Pushing the Limits series and if you haven't got your hands on a copy yet then here is everything you need to know. 

Enjoy x

Take Me On 

by Katie McGarry

Release Date: 05/27/14

Harlequin Teen

Summary

Acclaimed author Katie McGarry returns with the knockout new story of two high school seniors who are about to learn what winning really means.
Champion kickboxer Haley swore she'd never set foot in the ring again after one tragic night. But then the guy she can't stop thinking about accepts a mixed martial arts fight in her honor. Suddenly, Haley has to train West Young. All attitude, West is everything Haley promised herself she'd stay away from. Yet he won't last five seconds in the ring without her help.
West is keeping a big secret from Haley. About who he really is. But helping her-fighting for her-is a shot at redemption. Especially since it's his fault his family is falling apart. He can't change the past, but maybe he can change Haley's future.
Hayley and West have agreed to keep their relationship strictly in the ring. But as an unexpected bond forms between them and attraction mocks their best intentions, they'll face their darkest fears and discover love is worth fighting for.
Bonus novella included: Crossing the Line.

Available from:
    



**EXCERPT**

She pretends I didn’t speak. “Have you ever wrapped your hands before?”“None of the fights I’ve been in have included advance notification so I bare-knuckled it.”“And that,” she says with her best under-eyelash schoolteacher glare, “has to stop. Outside of this gym, there are no fights.”“Hey, I don’t go looking for trouble. It finds me.”Haley inclines her head at a stool and I sit. “Put your hand up, like this.” She sticks her hand in the air, palm down, with spread fingers.I follow directions and Haley hooks a circle of material at the end of the wrap on my thumb. “Do you see the tag?”I nod.“It goes faceup. The trick to wrapping is to think in threes.” She winds the material around my wrist in layers. “Three up the wrist and then three back down. Tight enough that you create tension, loose enough that you don’t cut off circulation and cause your fingers to fall off.”Haley’s thigh applies pressure to my own and I drop my knee open so she can slide between my legs. Every cell within my body hums and, when I breathe in, all I smell is the sweet scent of wildflowers. Her fingers work diligently, brushing against my skin as she weaves the material around and around again.The seriousness of her face tells me she has no idea how close she is. How with each caress of her fingertips, I go up in flames.

Books in the series
(covers linked to Goodreads)

About the Author

KATIE MCGARRY was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, and reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie would love to hear from her readers. Contact her via her website, katielmcgarry.com, follow her on Twitter @KatieMcGarry, or become a fan on Facebook and Goodreads.

Author Links:
   

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Review: Everything Leads to You

EVERYTHING LEADS TO YOU

by Nina LaCour

Pages: 307 (Hardback)

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Publication Date: May 15th 2014

ISBN: 0525425888

Summary 

A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world. Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

Review

I'm not even going to pretend that I'm not a little bit in love with this book. It's ridiculously adorable and unbelievably honest. The story feel real, even raw at times, like it could be happening right now and then there was the fact that the characters are so easy to connect with it made reading this story all the more heart warming. Everything Leads To You is a sweet and frank story about a heartbroken girl in search of something more. Something epic.

"The best things aren't perfectly constructed. They aren't illusions. They aren't larger than life. They are life."

This is the story of Emi. An eighteen-year-old intern at a film studio, with a broken heart and a mysterious letter she and her friend Charlotte found at an estate sale. The book is a first person account of how this one girl deals with heart ache and how something (or someone) can come out of nowhere and flip your life upside down. 

Everything Leads To You is set in an environment I haven't read about before. The scenes where the author describes Emi's though process and her love for her job as a set designer are completely mesmerizing and pull you into the text. When Emi’s on a set it’s like she’s painting a picture. She’s creating something entrancing.  

It's not all film sets and breath-taking redheads though. This book also has its grittier side. Ava may be unlike anyone Emi has ever met but Ava's life has been anything but easy leaving her with some serious, deep seeded issues. Throughout the story you're left with the question of whether or not Ava will be able to pull her life in the right direction. Whether or not she's strong enough to embrace her future and move forward from her past. But Emi believes in her and even when we're hearing all the harsh realities of Ava's lineage we get to see they're relationship blossom. 

So many feels right now I can’t quite control myself!

I feel like I should mention that this story is about a lesbian relationship, which I personally haven't read about before in YA. I know there are same sex story all over the place but this is the first one I've read. In all honesty? It doesn't make a damn bit of difference. The love story at the centre of this plot is so sweet and worthwhile that gender didn't even come into it for me. Not even a little bit. 

Okay so I'm going to have to admit that this book does have a flaw and as much as I enjoyed reading it, Everything Leads To You was beyond predictable. There was no subtlety and the plot was very open. Nothing was hidden away waiting for the reader to discover it; it was all very much on the surface. However, I think that because of the nature of this book it didn't matter so much. If it had been some kind of thriller then, yes, the writing style would have made reading this book dull. But this wasn't a thriller, it was a contemporary and maybe it could have done with leaving a little more for the reader to discover over time but it didn't overly affect the way you look at this book. 

All in all Everything Leads To You is a sweet and honest story that will leave you with a smile on your face. It's an easy and enjoyable read that I'd highly recommend to anyone with a soft spot for a good story. It has a couple you can't help but root for and the fact that the author makes you wait for it makes it all the more special. 

"It's what happens when the illusion pales in comparison to the truth. I'm seeing her for the first time. Not Ava Garden Wilder, the rags-to-riches granddaughter of Clyde Jones. Not a tragic, romantic heroine.  

Just Ava. 

And I am utterly in love."