Wednesday, February 29, 2012

YA Paranormal Activity: end credits

YA Paranormal Activity
a virtual book event
February 16-29, 2012


Thank you dear readers for joining me for this virtual book event.

Please note giveaways end February 28, 29 or March 11, 2012.
Feel free to signup to offers on the sidebar.

THANKS TO: Authors, Publicists and Publishers for Book Giveaways & Guest posts

Auraria by Tim Westover

Boyfriend from Hell by E. Van Lowe

Earth Angel by E. Van Lowe

The Humming Room by Ellen Potter

Intangible by J. Meyers

Nikolas and Company: The Merman and the Moon Forgotton by Kevin McGill

Scary School by Derek Taylor Kent

Silver by Cheree Alsop

Spirits of Glory by Emily Devenport

Time Slice by Kerry Downing

Transfer Student by Laura A.H. Elliott

Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles, Book 1 by Amy Lignor

The Wedding Gift by Kathleen McKenna

Special thanks to fellow blogger:

Kathy of I am a Reader Not a Writer

*!*!*!* W I N N E R S *!*!*!*
YA Paranormal Activity HOP
Feb 24-28, 2012

Boyfriend from Hell
by E. Van Lowe

for PRINT:
Cricket of Little Library Muse
Hushed Paradox of I am Large Like Jupiter
Tina of The Midnight Book Thief
Mare/TommyGirl of Destiny Is Deafening
serenity sheild

for PDF:
Carol aka jessy.wicked
Courtney of Courtney's Book Nook
Doodle of Doodle's Book Blog
Kristi of Books and Needlepoint
Rachel V

~*~

Earth Angel
by E. Van Lowe

for PRINT:
Brenda of Crazy Four Books
Meghan of Owl Read It
Kayla of Simply Kayla's Book Reviews
Kimba of Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Michael Pierce

for PDF:
Gena
Heather aka jaynep140
miki of Lecture toute une Aventure
Sullivan McPig of Pearls Cast Before a McPig
TwinMom of Adventures of Twin Toddlers

~*~

~~~@#%$@ whoa!

did you feel that?

methinks the crackle of paranormal activity is still in the air here...

~*~

* I will email winners for mailing addresses this week.
Winners, feel free to contact me with your info if you don't get my email
or if you are just too darn excited and want to let me know -- like NOW ;-D

* contest policy

* keep in touch with my giveaways and learn about other book giveaways by subscribing via email on my sidebar (you may want to go digest mode)

* Picnik was used for some graphics creations for this event.

-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Transfer Student Blog Tour - StartJump on LEAP DAY!


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by Laura A. H. Elliott
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TRANSFER STUDENT is the latest novel from Laura A. H. Elliott and will release on Amazon and Barnes and Noble March 20th.

Here’s a little bit about the novel and excerpts written from RHOE & ASHLEY’s POVs when they starjump for the very fist time. Be sure to read to the end to enter to win the EBOOK GIVEAWAY and other weekly prizes!


Two Worlds––Two Teens––One Wish

Geek Rhoe and Surfer Ashley would never be friends.

Even if they lived on the same planet.

But, they’ll become so much more.

They’ll transfer.

Earthling Ashley’s world revolves around winning daily popularity contests at Beverly Hills High School and surfing competitions with sweet scholarship prizes that will finally help her break free of her control-freak mother. Ashley never loses. Ashley never wishes on stars. But that changes when her senior class takes a field trip to the Griffith Observatory where Ashley’s conflicting feelings about her predatory best frenemy, Tiffany, throws Ashley’s carefully-crafted Queen of B.H.H.S. title under the bus.

Meanwhile on planet Retha, Rhoe misses his dad, loves his mom’s home-cooked Glechy crag with a side of Ory sauce, is desperate to heal his sick brother and wants more than anything to win The Retha New Invention Competition. He and his best friend Yuke have worked for the past two years constructing the teleporting telescope Rhoe started building with his dad before an accident killed him. Rhoe’s never kissed a girl. Rhoe’s hero is the eccentric physicist, Ramay. But that changes when the telescope teleports Rhoe across the universe with an unintended side-effect. Ashley and Rhoe transfer––swap lives––when they make the same wish at the same time.

Popular-surfer-turned-boy-geek alien Ashley must handle life on Retha as Rhoe complete with webbed feet, low-gravity, and an obsession with Yuke, all the while being hunted by Rethan spies and resenting her hairy, flat chest. Boy-geek-turned-popular-surfer Rhoe must fit in at Beverly Hills High School as Ashley, compete in The Laguna Beach Invitational without becoming shark food, dodge boys’ affections, cool his preoccupation with Tiffany’s lips and his new body, and find the healing rocks he believes will save his brother’s life.

If only it were that simple. Some wishes can’t come true. Some have to. How far would you go for someone you love?

EXCERPT : STARJUMPING

ASHLEY:

“Let’s party, my salty sista. Where to?” Sean says, draping his towel over his head. He peeks out from under it as he unzips his wetsuit just below his belly button with a Tommy-Burger look in his eye. He frees his arms of the neoprene and shakes his blonde hair. It freezes in the-I’ve-just-been-surfing-and-its-my-life look every other surfer sports at Zuma. Sean towels off his guns first, works his way to his six-pack, wraps the towel around his waist and slips out of his wetsuit.

He’s hot, but friends aren’t supposed to notice. I love, absolutely love, watching Sean dry off almost as much as watching him walk away in his butt-sculpting jeans. But we’d only taken a few waves. I can’t believe he’s done already. He isn’t acting like himself at all.

I look to the waves trying to decide on celebration plans. The sunset casts an orange-purple glow to the sand. The beach sparkles in spots. “This’ll do,” I say. The waves crash even calmer than a few minutes ago.

“But we don’t have anything to celebrate with,” Sean says taking a few steps closer.

“We have each other.” That came out wrong. Or, did it? He’s so smoking hot backlit by the sunset.

Sean holds my hand and says, “Let’s go find a spot on the beach.”

We tuck our boards under our arms and I feel like I’m floating on the sand on our walk down the beach, into the sunset. My sweet ride still pumps my blood. Still makes my head rush. Sean and I pass one lifeguard tower after another and wave at our friends who keep watch over the locals and the tourists. We started coming out here on our own in middle school. We had our moms or dads or nannies drop us off at tower number eight. We’re way past the lifeguard towers now, headed to Point Dume.

We snake up by the sandy cliff and plant our boards in the sand. A queasy kind of sickly feeling comes over me when we sit for a long time without saying a word. Awkward.

I never feel awkward.

How is it people stay friends after they’ve done it?

Sand grinds between Sean’s hand and my thigh. “For old times sake?” he whispers.

Sean presses his body against mine and he gently works on laying me down in the sand. I want to do it. Remember it this time. Grains of sand settle into my hair when he kisses me, easy, slowly as if he’s asking me with each kiss how far he can go. My body replies and his tongue plunges into my mouth. His hand moves over my thigh. I arch my back wanting him to stop but our next kiss is sweet, perfect. I’d forgotten how Sean tastes of jasmine and sunshine. A shooting star fades then falls into the Pacific. I shrink in his arms.

“What’s the matter?” Sean asks all out of breath.

There really is no way to describe the look on the face of a guy who’s just realized he isn’t going to get laid. Sort of blank, but begging.

“I’ve got to go,” I say.

Sean looks out to sea.

“It’s not you. It’s me,” I say. Lame, but it’s true. I like Sean. We surfed the seas of ex-lovers so well since last summer. I don’t want to screw that up. I grab my board and try to walk fast through the sand but end up stumbling.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

“The observatory,” I say, focused on my black SUV on PCH.

“Why?” Sean’s fast on my heels with a thanks-for-pelting-me-with-sand tone in his voice.

I wish Zuma wasn’t a freaking mile wide. For the first time in his life, Sean’s all chatty. The combination was about to drive me crazy when I finally hit the asphalt.

I open the door to my Range Rover. “I need to see the stars.”

“What’s wrong with right here?” Sean points to the sky.

I unzip my wetsuit, step out of it, throw it in the back and pull on my wife beater. Sean’s eyes go wide when he gets an unexpected boob show. I slam the rear door down and hop in the truck, turning on the ignition.

Sean jogs to his pick-up, a few cars behind mine.

When I pull out onto PCH, he isn’t far behind.

The horrible Westside traffic is much worse than the Hollywood crawl up to the observatory. Every time I think I shake Sean, I check the rearview and he pulls up right behind me. But I lose track of him in the observatory parking lot. I have Parking Karma. Sean never does. Only when I walk across the observation deck do I realize I’m barefoot. Thus the stares. Flip-flop steps come up from behind. Sean stands beside me. He cares about me. Or is confused by me. Or wants to see my boobs again. Or can’t get enough of me. Whatever it is, I’m glad I’m not alone.

He stares at Los Angeles.

“Nice view huh?” I ask.

“Amazing. I like the beach,” he says, super-snarky.

There are only two people on the planet I can throw my thoughts to. Sean is one. Dad is the other. And right then I realize that Sean and I will be more than high-school friends, we’ll be forever friends. Sean takes my hand and we walk up to the heavy bronze doors of the observatory. It’s almost as packed as it was on The Field Trip from Hell.

The line for the telescope is longer than I expect. I overhear someone in back of us talking about the new moon. The time when the sky is darkest, the stars the brightest. Thus, the crowds.

When it’s my turn, Sean looks like a parent when their kid is about to take their driver’s test for the first time, a sort of you-can-do-it-but-I’ll-be-here-if-you-get-the-DMV-Officer-From-Hell look. I give him a little smile and bend down to look into the eyepiece. My eyelashes brush across the lens. Things are blurry at first. I blink a lot. Stars sparkle but one is brighter than all the others, a gigantic canary diamond set in the sky. It seems to twirl and flashes like it’s trying to say something, to me. I think of my Aunt Jenny. I make my very first wish upon that beautiful, very hypnotic star.

“Save me from myself,” I half-beg, half-whisper.

I peer through the eyepiece, wanting to see the star twinkle to seal the deal, to make my wish real. But, the only thing I see is a violet bug-eye staring back at me.

Sparks fly around the eyepiece of the telescope like static electricity wiggles over my tanned skin on Santa Ana nights. The sparks float off the telescope, crawl over my face and down my neck, pulsing some kind of energy through me. My heart sinks to my feet, but I’m not standing anymore. I don’t feel solid. It’s like I’m bits of light. All jumbled up. The sparks pull me through the lens somehow and I roll over and over myself until I spill out on the other side into the night sky.

I’m somehow very small but feel so very large. I look down on the observatory from my spot in space, through a long, getting-longer tunnel. And I see Sean standing there, behind me. I’m still bent over the telescope. And then Sean disappears into a white light. And I think I’m going to hurl. What happens when a person sees herself? What happens when a person hurls in space? I breathe deep. But breathing feels wrong, like I’ve taken in too much air for my lungs.

I float in a sea of stars. I’m an Ashley wave the stars take on some kind of moonlight ride. And it’s creepy, but it’s so beautiful I hardly freak out. I look everywhere, all at once. Space is eye crack.

Tingles prickle across my see-through skin, my bones whiter than the rest of me. I’m back together again but look like I swallowed an ultra bright light bulb, make that a marquis. I launch into the universe but can’t feel my heartbeat, even though I’m super-freaked out and super-cold. I’m so alone.

I’m never alone.

I’m lighter. Free of my body, but stripped of it too. I hold my hands up to my face, but my arms and hands are only streaks of white light. So are my legs. The freaking yellow stars pulverized me. Maybe I’m dead. Great, my first wish killed me.


RHOE

Through the still open door I watch Yuke and Xanny climb onto his jett. Xanny wraps her arms around Yuke. She leans into his back and lays her cheek on his spine. Her beautiful long black hair falls over Yuke’s neck. As they speed out of sight, tickles swarm the spot where her hair fell over my hand.

Xanny and starjumping are all I can think about. And since I can’t have one I focus on the other. I pick up my goodbye note to Mom.

I get to my peds, hobble to the telescope and peer through the eyepiece. I take a deep breath and make a wish I’ve been too scientific to make until now, “Save me from myself.”

A prime, delicate eye stares back at me, the color of gaic leaves. A girl’s eye. I shiver in its black-rimmed lashy gaze.

My body melts into something other than flesh and blood, something bright like starlight. My body disintegrates. It particulates into tiny pieces, held together by a small breeze that whirs around me, such as I am. But soon the breeze turns into a gust. The gust blows my little bits of light through the telescope and launches me into the cosmos. And just as I think the wind is at war with me, it happens.

I feel Dad. Just like I did when he would walk into our house. Just like I did when he would call my name. That same feeling. And I remember what his voice sounded like. “Dad! Where are you?” I shiver among the stars, searching from side to side, above and below. “Dad? We’re doing it! We’re starjumping!” I shout into space as I soar among the stars. The universe is dark and cold.

Dad was wrong about the dead lighting the starjumper’s way. My light scatters. Every illuminated piece of me shivers.

I speed past clouds of violet and spires of gold gases churning green helix patterns. My light gathers again in an intense way.

I’m warmer then hotter as I fall out of space. Inside the empty spaces of another body, I expand.

My bones collapse under the weight of my skin. Two strong hands catch me under my arms.

“I gotcha Ash, hang on.”

“Is this Earth?” I say.

“Yeah. That peek at the stars melt your brain?” he says.

“Huh?” My voice sounds strange, wrong. “Ow!” Sharp colored claws at the end of my fingers scratch my arm when I try to get free. They must be some type of weapon.

“Ashley?” the boy says. His tone soothes.

I glance at the questioner. His peds are bound in straps, the webs between his toes are missing. The strange bindings some sort of punishment.

“Who are you?” I blurt before thinking better of it. I glance around the room. All the people here have bound or covered peds.

Strange.

“Same guy I’ve always been, Ash,” the boy says. He takes a step closer to me. “Same old Sean,” he says, putting his arms around me.

He has the love spark in his eyes, the spark Xanny has when she looks at Yuke. He loves….this body.

“You could say thank you,” he says.

Whatever that means. I don’t like to speak because the sound of this voice, a female voice, make this single heart inside this body pound like I’ve never heard before. I finger a long trail of hair gathered at the back of my neck. I drape it in front of me.

It’s certainly spun by the sun.

I click my claws on the floor. I like the sound they make. Tick-tick-tick. I ignore the guy and have already forgotten his name.

Mr. Friendly grabs a hold of me and says, “You’re welcome. All right little-miss-head-case, let’s get up off the floor. I’ve got to get you home.” He grips my arm too tightly. I poke my palm with one set of my finger weapons. Nice and sharp.

I’m not really dizzy but I can’t move right. I breath deeply hoping to restore my equilibrium. In and out. But the air is so thick, I almost choke on it. My chest heaves. Its beautiful, so light-skinned, so round. I place my hands over them and give them a squeeze. I squeeze them again.

With every step I feel like I’m crushing the bones inside this body. The walls beside me are covered with pictures of star systems I’ve never seen. I stumble closer to them. But the alien beside me pulls me back to his side.

GIVEAWAY:

At every stop on the tour a TRANSFER STUDENT ebook will be given away!

That’s 21 ebooks!

You’ll receive your copy three days before its release.

Here’s how to enter to WIN A TRANSFER STUDENT EBOOK! Just follow @Laurawriting and tweet: [leave a comment here with your link]

STARJUMP on LEAP DAY! Transfer Student Blog Tour & Giveaway starts 2DAY! @Laurawriting #teenreads #scifi #romance #ya http://wp.me/P1J9jx-bs

THAT’S NOT ALL:
This week all comments are entered to win some great swag too! THIS WEEK’S SWAG: GROOVY NASA TRAVEL MUGS, signed bookmarks, and MORE! Check out the weekly swag here.

THIS WEEK’S GIVEAWAY OPEN UNTIL MARCH 5! 6PM PST. This week, 2 swag winners will be picked. Open internationally!

Laura loves writing about enchanted road trips, birthday gifts that are out of this world, and alien romance while eating lots of popcorn. She’s the author of Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale inspired by her life-long love of a little-known town, Avenal, CA, and her equal love of enchanted teenage road trips. 13 on Halloween is the first book in the Teen Halloween Series. 14 on Halloween, book 2 in the Teen Halloween series, will be released in the summer of 2012.

To find out where in the world Laura is and more about her upcoming books...
visit her blog Laurasmagicday
and friend her on Facebook
if Twitter is your thing she's @Laurawriting
or, drop her a line at elliwrite [at] yahoo [dot] com

Laura is a plume carrying member of THE PARANORMAL PLUME SOCIETY !

~end

Guest post by Laura A. H. Elliott, author of Transfer Student for Transfer Student blog tour - check it out for more details and goodies
© 2012. All rights reserved.

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by Laura A. H. Elliott
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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Giveaway: ever present ghosts

Scary School
by Derek Taylor Kent

You think your school's scary?

Get a load of these teachers:

Ms. Fang, an 850-year-old vampire

Dr. Dragonbreath, who just might eat you before recess

Mr. Snakeskin—science class is so much more fun when it's taught by someone who's half zombie

Mrs. T—break the rules and spend your detention with a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex!

Plus

Gargoyles, goblins, and Frankenstein's monster on the loose

The world's most frighteningly delicious school lunch

And

The narrator's an eleven-year-old ghost!

Join Charles "New Kid" Nukid as he makes some very Scary friends—including Petunia, Johnny, and Peter the Wolf—and figures out that Scary School can be just as funny as it is spooky!


--~ eBook Giveaway courtesy of author ~--

WIN a copy of this ebook!

Open to all.

Offer ends: March 11, 2012

TO DO:

Check out Derek Taylor Kent AKA Derek the Ghost's website.

RETURN here and tell me something fun you found there.

AND, leave your email (if I don't already have it)

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Giveaway: and more ghosts

Spirited anthology
edited by Kat O'Shea
Release date: March 28, 2012

Contributing authors include: Maria V. Snyder, Candace Havens, Shannon Delany, Jill William-son, Linda Joy Singleton, Heather Kenealy, Judith Graves, Kitty Keswick, Dawn Dalton, Carmen Tudor, John W. Otte, Halli Dee Lilburn, and Mark Finnemore

Augmented Reality by Karl Gee

Haunted houses.

Haunted hearts.

And a past that refuses to die. . .

Leap Books summoned best-selling paranormal and dreadfully talented debut authors to conjure up Spirited, a haunting collection of 13 tales guaranteed to keep you up all night.

Get entombed in stories of Egyptian treasures, shudder at tales of malevolent spirits, and become enthralled with the adventures of witch-hunters, ghost seekers, and lost souls.

From steampunk to cyberpunk, our collection spans past, present, and future hauntings.

One story actually leaps off the page with 3D augmented reality.

Go ahead.

Turn the page if you dare.

We won't tell if you sleep with the light on.

Because after all, there's no rest for the wicked.


All proceeds from the sale of SPIRITED will be donated to 826 National.

Print book available only from the Leap Books store.

--~ eBook Giveaway ~--

WIN a copy of this ebook!

Open to all.

Offer ends: March 11, 2012

TO DO:

Check out excerpts here.

RETURN here and tell me which one you read.

AND, leave your email (if I don't already have it)

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Monday, February 27, 2012

Giveaway: still more ghosts

The Humming Room
by Ellen Potter

The Humming Room blog tour begins today!

Check out the stops for more details on this book and goodies...

Monday 2/27: Bun Bury in the Stacks

Tuesday 2/28: Janas Booklist

Wednesday 2/29: Mission to Read

Thursday 3/1: Red House Books

Friday 3/2: Kidlit Frenzy

Monday 3/5: Great Imaginations

Tuesday 3/6: Word for Teens

Wednesday 3/7: vvb32 reads

Thursday 3/8: The Book Rat

ABOUT the book:
Hiding is Roo Fanshaw's special skill. Living in a frighteningly unstable family, she often needs to disappear at a moment's notice. When her parents are murdered, it's her special hiding place under the trailer that saves her life.

As it turns out, Roo, much to her surprise, has a wealthy if eccentric uncle, who has agreed to take her into his home on Cough Rock Island. Once a tuberculosis sanitarium for children of the rich, the strange house is teeming with ghost stories and secrets. Roo doesn't believe in ghosts or fairy stories, but what are those eerie noises she keeps hearing? And who is that strange wild boy who lives on the river? People are lying to her, and Roo becomes determined to find the truth.

Despite the best efforts of her uncle's assistants, Roo discovers the house's hidden room--a garden with a tragic secret.

Inspired by The Secret Garden, this tale full of unusual characters and mysterious secrets is a story that only Ellen Potter could write.


READ more about this world...

--~ Book Giveaway courtesy of publisher ~--

WIN a copy of this book!

Open to US and Canada only.

Offer ends: March 11, 2012

TO DO:

VISIT the author, Ellen.

RETURN here and tell me something you found of interest there.

AND, leave your email (if I don't already have it)

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Giveaway: more ghosts

Spirits of Glory
by Emily Devenport

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by Emily Devenport
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EXCERPT:

After The Disappearance, no one saw or heard from the missing Southerners again. At least, not exactly. Instead, they experienced hauntings.

The haunting spirits visited Northern families of missing persons. They seemed terrified and grieved, speaking of incomprehensible things for the most part, though occasionally exclaiming wonder about something beautiful. Ghosts never expressed themselves like living people did, their speech was always more like poetry. One could often interpret these utterances in many different ways. And for that reason, Historians believed that some of the entities that visited after that time were actually gods instead of spirits.

Hawkeye had read one example of a little girl who appeared several times to a woman who had lost her young daughter. The girl always kept her back turned to the grieving mother, and seemed to be playing with a toy. When the mother asked her what the afterlife was like, the girl didn’t speak ghost poetry in reply, she simply shrugged and said, “It’s okay,” like any nonchalant child would. But her voice was extraordinarily beautiful, and when the mother finally managed to get a peek at the girl’s face – she didn’t have one, only a blank, smooth oval on the front of her head. Her hands were really tentacles, and the “toy” she handled was somebody’s lost music database. Yet the mother was not horrified at this sight. She said she felt something akin to religious awe, transcendent ecstasy, at the sight of this being.

You could sum it up this simply: ghosts could only speak ghost poetry. At least, that’s the way it was on Jigsaw. Most people had been addressed by a ghost or two, especially since the Disappearance. Hawkeye met one when she was only five years old, a tall thin shade that confronted her in a hallway closet and exclaimed, “Button! Button! Button!”

Hawkeye immediately went to fetch her mother and take her back to the closet, which proved to be empty. “Perhaps it found the missing button,” soothed her mother.

The shade could not have been a god, Hawkeye had only felt pity for it. Everyone who had ever encountered a god reported a feeling of transcendence. Though no one mistook gods for God, no one who had ever talked to one could deny the awe they had felt. And when the gods acted, no one could deny the fear.

The other difference between ghosts and gods lay in their appearance. Ghosts looked human, you just couldn’t make out many details about them.

Gods usually bore only a remote resemblance to humans. The little girl had fooled the mother because she saw her from behind. Many gods wouldn’t have fooled her from any angle.

Hawkeye had never seen a god close up, though she had glimpsed one from a bus window once, on the way to college from her dorm. She went to Port University in Sky Perch, a city built on the sides of the biggest mountain range on Jigsaw, and as the city bus crawled up a winding road, Hawkeye spotted a giant nest on the opposite side of a gorge. The creature in the nest locked eyes with her, spreading great, golden wings when it saw her. “No more!” it cried with the voice of an eagle, opening wide its beak. But the amber eyes that looked into hers were humanoid, and it flexed the hands that sprouted where talons should have been.

Funny, that was the day she had broken up with Bertie.

“Why should you see a god?” he had asked, with a tone that implied not so much that she was a fool, as it did that everyone but Bertie was.

“Why should anyone?” she replied.

Gods showed themselves to people for their own reasons, and though they were often plain in their speech, making demands or delivering warnings, their remarks could sometimes be as baffling as ghost poetry.

“I suppose you felt transcendent when it gazed into your eyes,” mocked Bertie.

“I felt awed,” said Hawkeye. And terrified, she didn’t add.

“Lots of silly people feel awed when they catch a glimpse of a raptor. Did you bring that research paper I needed?”

She had. She had done several of his papers for him, based on his notes, because he had convinced her he didn’t have the time to do them himself, though he was certainly smart enough to, certainly a good enough writer, but his time was too precious for that kind of nonsense. “You have plenty of inclination to sit in one place, my pretty little gimp, while I network for the both of us. Deal?”

How she could have viewed pretty little gimp as an endearment, Hawkeye could no longer fathom. So that day, when the god had screamed, “No more!” Hawkeye took it as advice, whether it was meant that way or not.

“I didn’t finish the paper,” she said. “I didn’t have time.”

Bertie’s expression didn’t change, possibly because it never did. Bertie’s sky-blue eyes always mocked the world, his perfectly-chiseled mouth curling naturally in sarcastic lines. He didn’t say a word when she defied him for the first time ever. He simply turned and walked away. He never spoke to her again, or acknowledged that he had ever called her his girlfriend.

Broke up with Bertie, indeed. For two years she had watched him anxiously for the slightest evidence of his regard, hung on every word that had seemed remotely affectionate, nursed emotional bruises inflicted by his casual cruelties. Broke up with Bertie. Say rather that she stopped providing what Bertie had wanted from her in the first place – well-written research papers. Once she was no longer useful, he stopped expending what little energy he had needed to keep her hanging.

But after all, it had been her decision. I didn’t have time. If she had been his willing dupe for two years, in the end she had been unwilling. And that was that.

No more! cried the god, though it may have simply been expressing annoyance with noisy buses. Gods could do miraculous, scary, sometimes destructive things. Gods had moved mountains and rivers on Jigsaw, rearranged whole city blocks, caused unfortunate persons to fly right off the face of the world and out into space. And of course, the Southern gods had broken the Interstate and caused everyone in the South to vanish. No one saw them do this, but the Southern gods had appeared in record numbers to Southerners and mentioned the new Interstate in agitated tones.

“You can’t do that, undo it!” said a god with the head of a woman and the body of a dog.

“It goes across from end to end,” a god with spider legs complained with three of its seven mouths. “End to end is out of line!”

In one week, over 200 encounters with Southern gods were reported, and all of them mentioned the Interstate. “What are we supposed to do about it?” asked officials. “Tear it up again?”

Then, poof. The Southern gods did it for them.

The gods of the North had never complained about the Interstate. But no one doubted they could do to the cities of the North what had happened to the cities in the South. So people tried to do what the Northern gods asked, after the Disappearance. Sometimes they asked for strange things, but they never asked for something impossible.

Ghosts never asked for anything. They didn’t have much physical impact on the living world either, except occasionally as poltergeists. After Hawkeye moved into her home, a poltergeist kept throwing her books across the front room. It favored one book in particular, The Lost Cities, which contained photographs of the empty Southern cities taken by investigators just after the Disappearance. Each time the poltergeist threw the book, it fell open to a different city: Lark, Seaside, Evernight, Edge, and Farthest. Hawkeye got a chill when she picked up the fallen book to see which silent scene had been revealed. She had studied the book many times before, fascinated and frightened by what she saw there. The poltergeist seemed to have a knack for finding the spookiest photos of all, the ones most fraught with inexplicable menace. She would look and look, trying to see what the poltergeist wanted her to see. Instead, she only felt the mystery loom larger, more unsolvable.

The photo that frightened her the most was one from Evernight. Time fractured in a particular way in Evernight, so it always seemed to be night there. Time inside the Fracture passed slowly but steadily for those inside it, and people outside could only contact them after night had fallen wherever they were. Day never dawned there, and if you wanted to enter or exit Evernight when it was day outside, you couldn’t do it.

Evernight had been built in levels, streets were layered one on top of the other, the buildings all with several stories. If you stood in the Dark Desert, outside city limits, you could see all of the layers. An investigator had taken a picture from the desert of a group of buildings. Hawkeye couldn’t tell if they were residential, or if they had some other purpose. Every door on every level was shut, save one on the seventh. For some reason, the sight of that lone, open door filled her with dread. She had a nightmare about it, in which she approached that open door, but she woke before she could enter and see what was so terrible about it.

A few weeks later, while she was searching through a database of Encounters With Southern Ghosts, she found a reference that gave her a chill. A ghost appeared to a woman whose husband had been in Evernight on a business trip when he disappeared along with everyone else. It raved to her about suitcases and toothpaste, a jumble of complaints that were almost comical. But at the end it said, Levels and levels, and on the seventh the door is open. Go in and look over your shoulder . . .

Had that same ghost visited Hawkeye? Maybe because she couldn’t stop wondering about the door? And she was one of the few researchers who had the stomach to examine the Southern Ghost database thoroughly. Somehow, that bit of ghost poetry felt like an explanation, possibly even a warning. It lurked in the back of her mind, ready to be examined again.

Hawkeye suspected the Neighbors knew more about the gods than humans did, but possibly not much more. Even the Neighbors had been surprised when the Southern gods took such extreme action because of the Interstate. Hawkeye often wondered if the Neighbors were angry about what had happened, though her studies had revealed only puzzlement from them. The Neighbors never said whether they had lost anyone in the Disappearance. No human on Jigsaw knew where the Neighbors lived, they only saw Neighbors who wanted to be seen.

However, every human on Jigsaw knew where Neighbor ghosts could be found. In the South, on a plain near Farthest.

This was the only place. Neighbor ghosts weren’t like human ghosts, except for the fact that they were dead.

~end

Guest post by Emily Devenport, author of Spirits Of Glory
© 2012. All rights reserved.

Visit Emily:
Blog
Facebook
Goodreads
Shelfari
Twitter

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Emily Devenport
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~


READ more about this world...

--~ eBook Giveaway courtesy of author ~--

WIN a copy of this ebook!

Open to all.

Offer ends: March 11, 2012

TO DO:

VISIT the author, Emily.

RETURN here and tell me something you found of interest there.

AND, leave your email (if I don't already have it)

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Contest has ended - winner is here

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Sunday, February 26, 2012

Giveaway: with angels

Until Next Time
The Angel Chronicles
by Amy Lignor
Just released: January 24, 2012


~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Amy Lignor
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

What inspired your story and what do you hope readers will gain from reading it?

This idea actually began percolating when I was thirteen. I lost my grandfather at that time, who was the absolute coolest man you could ever meet. He was one of those people who could draw you into his stories. I remember seeing people spellbound when he spoke, like my nephew was decades later when he visited Hogwarts for the first time.

I’d been writing, using my imagination to tell tales like he did. In fact, I stayed up nights a lot of the time and just wrote. I’m not going to speak about some odd supernatural phenomenon, though. My belief in angels came from dreams I’d have when I finally let myself get some sleep. 

They were full-color and focused on a familiar landscape - my grandparent’s house. My grandmother would always wave through the window, and a huge cat was curled up somewhere in the sun with one eye open, upset that I was still disturbing him after all this time. My grandfather was always outside by the light green boat of a car he used to drive, and it was all completely normal. I would sit, and he’d keep right on telling his stories. He even had new ones that I hadn’t heard before. Unfortunately, the alarm would ring and teenage life would descend.

I started to wonder back then, looking around at the toughness in the world, whether or not an angel would even bother coming down here to help? I mean, say an innocent soul that’d never been up against human emotions came down here and fell face-first into the issues we have. They’d have to take on everything from love to hate to war…the list goes on. And at 13, I couldn’t figure out what was remotely good enough about us as a species to save. I know, a very angry befuddled teenage view on the whole thing, but the idea stuck with me. Thankfully, so did that dream. It’s a great imagination to have, seeing as that my father is now ‘up there,’ and I still get to talk to him.

Living life, paying bills, raising a child, working - everything compounded with age. The upside is that the good things compounded, too. But when I still see the headlines nothing much has changed. A war was still fought, people still died, and the pain of two iconic towers falling will never fade. I really want to know what a team would do, how they would react, and how they would keep their faith in each other in a human world.

Matt and Emily were born from that idea and I have an absolute ball with them. They deal with things completely differently, and they are so strong that they make the world still seem like a place that should be defended and protected no matter what. I hope readers identify with that. I hope they have fun with them as they go up against these things, fall in love, and see the strength they use to understand it all. Matt and Emily are fighters with faith…which basically sums up the rest of us.

Until Next Time, Everybody.
Amy

~end

Guest post by Amy Lignor, author of Until Next Time
© 2012. All rights reserved.

Visit Amy:
Website
Blog
Facebook
Goodreads
Shelfari
Twitter

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Amy Lignor
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~


READ more about this world...

--~ eBook Giveaway courtesy of publisher ~--

WIN a copy of this ebook!

Open to all.

Offer ends: February 29, 2012

TO DO:

READ excerpts from the book here.

PICK out a sentence from one of the excerpts and enter it in comments.

AND, leave your email (if I don't already have it)

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Contest has ended - winner is here

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

~*~

part of Until Next Time
Book Blog Tour


-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Saturday, February 25, 2012

demons: Lethally Blonde by Patrice Lyle

Lethally Blonde
by Patrice Lyle
Just released: February 14, 2012
part of the Class of 2k12

If Elle Woods were a teenage demon, her name would be Morgan Skully.

Morgan is the world's only blonde demon girl, and she's got a brand new, very unusual afterschool job.

Spying for the Devil.

She'd much rather use her cloak-and-dagger skills to spy on hottie-licious Derek with her friends, but the Devil won't take no for an answer. Luckily for Morgan, her new boss is kinda hot.

Her assignment is simple: find out who at Pitchfork Prep is funneling secrets to the Siberian Werewolf Council. If she succeeds, pedicures and platinum highlights are just the beginning.

But if she fails...there's more on the line than killer shoes.



FUN FACTS ABOUT MORGAN SKULLY!

She...
...was born on Valentine's Day
...is a junior at Pitchfork Prep
...is the world's only blonde demon girl
...can torch someone into dust with her lazer eyes
...is a raging sparkle-a-holic (her middle name should totally be Blingalicious!)
read more here

--~ Book Giveaway ~--

WIN a copy of this book!

Open to all.

Offer ends: February 29, 2012

TO DO: (3-parts)

1. READ one of the interviews below.

from: Reading away the days!

from: Damsels in Regress

from: Cari's Book Blog

2. TELL me which interview you read.

3. TELL me something interesting you read.

AND, leave your email (if I don't already have it)

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Contest has ended - winner is here

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Friday, February 24, 2012

YA Paranormal Activity HOP

Young Adult Paranormal Activity HOP
February 24-28, 2012
hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer
and vvb32 reads
complete HOP list


angels & demons...

Earth Angel
(Falling Angels Saga)
by E. Van Lowe

Just because Megan Barnett recently defeated Satan, has a fantastic new best friend, and has won the love of deliciously handsome Guy Matson doesn't mean her troubles are over. Far from it. For Megan doesn't realize it, but in her possession is a powerful weapon, one sought after by both angels and demons and everything in between. They will do ANYTHING to get it.


Boyfriend From Hell
(Falling Angels Saga)
by E. Van Lowe

Fifteen year-old Megan Barnett and her single mom, Suze, have a special relationship—they are friends, close friends, who do almost everything together.

“But come on, guys, she’s my mother… Can I really tell her that while we’re snuggled up on the sofa watching Spider Man Three, I’m secretly undressing James Franco with my eyes? Of course not…”

The special bond takes a turn for the worse when Suze decides to start dating again. She hasn’t had a man in her life since Megan’s father left ten years ago.

Enter two mysterious young men, Megan’s new classmate, sinfully attractive bad boy, Guy Matson, and the dangerously handsome art dealer, Armando. Before long Megan and Suze both wind up in steamy relationships. But neither of the handsome pair is quite what he seems. In fact, one of them is Satan, with his sights set on a new bride. Megan has precious little time to figure out how to stop him. If she doesn’t, either Megan or Suze are quite literally going to HELL.



--~ Book Giveaway courtesy of author ~--

Win a copy of either of these books!

5 winners - PDF of Earth Angel (open to all)
5 winners - print of Earth Angel (for US and Canada only)

5 winners - PDF of Boyfriend From Hell (open to all)
5 winners - print of Boyfriend From Hell (for US and Canada only)

Offer ends: February 28, 2012

TO DO: (3 - parts)

1. Do ONE of the following...

FOLLOW me (on sidebar).

SUBSCRIBE via email to my blog (on sidebar).

2. TELL me which book you want and which version print (US and Canada only) or PDF (for all).

3. TELL me what you did in comments.

AND, leave your email (if I don't already have it)

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Contest has ended - winners are here

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

~*~

NOW, on to some hopping...


AND, feel free to signup for more of my giveaways on the sidebar!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

angels: Forbidden by Syrie James & Ryan M. James

Forbidden
by Syrie James & Ryan M. James
Released: January 2012

She should not exist.

He should not love her.

Claire Brennan has been attending Emerson Academy for two years now (the longest she and her mom have remained anywhere) and she’s desperate to stay put for the rest of high school. So there’s no way she’s going to tell her mom about the psychic visions she’s been having or the creepy warnings that she’s in danger.

Alec MacKenzie is fed up with his duties to watch and, when necessary, eliminate the descendants of his angelic forefathers. He chose Emerson as the ideal hiding place where he could be normal for once. He hadn’t factored Claire into his plans. . . .

Their love is forbidden, going against everything Alec has been taught to believe. But when the reason behind Claire’s unusual powers is revealed and the threat to her life becomes clear, how far will Alec go to protect her?


READ an excerpt here.

--~ Blogosphere Giveaway courtesy of author ~--


WIN cool Forbidden swag!

Buy Forbidden from any bookstore or online retailer and email authorsyriejames@gmail.com with proof of purchase (copy of receipt), and FORBIDDEN BESTSELLER in the subject line.

For each copy you purchase, your name will be dropped into the hat!

Contest closes at 11:59 pm PST on Feb. 28, 2012. Limited to U.S. residents.

-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Giveaway: with merfolk


~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Kevin McGill
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

SOME say Alice has taken a barrel over Niagara falls.

Others say she floated down the deep cavern filled a flock of carnivorous cuckoo birds.

But we all know our dear Alice took a one way ticket to the moon. Not the moon as it is, but the moon as it was. Full, fantastic, and abundant with magical life. In fact, we have a video to prove it:

Watch the Nikolas and Company book trailer below:



Now, answer the question:

Alice woke up and mysteriously found herself aboard the Mottled Craw in the video. What did she say?

Leave your response on the comment section below.

Let it be funny.

Let it be whimsical.

Let it be poignant.

Whatever it is, let it be posted!

The comment that strikes my fancy will receive a free ebook copy of Nikolas and Company: The Merman and The Moon Forgotten.
_____________________________________________________

Also, be sure to check out episode 1 of the Nikolas and Company series:

Nikolas and Company – The Merman and The Moon Forgotten http://nikolasandco.com

Synopsis:
Nick lives in a time when one can zip from country to country in mach-speed hovercars, extend their life indefinitely through cerebral downloads, and have every whim taken care of by their ever faithful nannydrone.

Nick hates it.

Aside from the refugee camps, overpopulation, and unchecked consumerism filling every city across the globe, Nick just doesn’t belong. That is when he hears the voice of a woman:

“The Rones lie about their true intent. They enter the city of Huron at the peril of us all.”

Shortly after, his slightly crazed grandfather reveals to him:

“All you’ve ever heard about the Moon is a lie, my dear Nikolas. He was not always a mere satellite, a ghost wandering the stars. In an age before our own, Moon was our twin, and in him bore the whole of magical life. The cradle of this magical civilization was a fantastic metropolis filled with fire-breathing winged lions, volcano-born nymphs, automaton-legged mermaids, and so much magic you can smell it. We called this city Huron, and you, Nikolas, are her steward.”

Meanwhile on the moon, the senior stagecoach driver Yeri Willrow thought he was performing a simple drive and drop for his mysterious passengers, until they are attacked by foul-breath red-eyed creatures. He soon learns that his passengers are a family of automaton-legged merfolk, and he is their only hope. Yeri suddenly finds himself tasked with saving the merfolk or they will fall to the peril of the creature most foul.

Be sure to visit http://nikolasandco.com when Aero Studios releases: Nikolas and Company - Episode 2, May 15th of 2012!

~end

Guest post by Kerry Downing, author of Time Slice
© 2012. All rights reserved.

Visit Kevin:
Website
Blog
Goodreads
Shelfari
Facebook
Twitter

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Kevin McGill
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~


--~ eBook Giveaway courtesy of author ~--

Nikolas and Company:
The Merman and the Moon Forgotton
by Kevin McGill

WIN a copy of this ebook!

Open to all.

Offer ends: February 29, 2012

TO DO: (2-parts)

1. WATCH the video and answer Kevin's question above.

2. AND, include your email (if I don't already have it)

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Contest has ended - winner is here

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

~*~

*image source Alice and moon

-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Giveaway: with a time traveler


IN which we discover the whereabouts of our Alice...

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Kerry Downing
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

Alice deftly shuffled the cards, puffed out a huge smoke ring courtesy of the stogie hanging from the corner of her mouth, and began dealing another round of poker.

After dealing a card to both the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, she paused. “Hey, mousie, you in?” A loud snore answered her query.

“It would appear as if our friend the Dormouse is not interested at this time,” the Hatter said. “Wouldn’t you agree, Hare?”

The March Hare remained silent for a moment, and then began nibbling on the card Alice had just dealt him.

“Well, I guess he’s out then,” Alice replied and continued to deal.

Just as Alice picked up her own cards, two figures began to take shape in the middle of the table the four un-likely friends were gathered around.

Alice pushed her chair back slightly from the table. “What in the world?” The Hatter stared with wide eyes while the March Hare hopped off into the corner of the room. The Dormouse didn’t notice a thing.

*****

“Are you ready to go, Roy?” Emily asked. “I could hardly sleep last night I’m so excited.”

Roy smiled at his wife. Now that she was a believer in the Time Slice Traveler (or TST), she was always up for an adventure.

“Yep, I’m ready to go. Just remember to hold on to me at all times. You know what could happen if we lose contact with each other.”

Emily laughed. “I remember, I remember. Don’t be such a worry-wart, Roy. This isn’t my first foray into the time stream, ya know?” Emily locked arms with her husband as she spoke. “And as long as were reminding each other of things, don’t you forget to hold on to the TST. You know what could happen if you drop it.”

“I’ll remember,” Roy said. He reached into his pocked and pulled out a gleaming silver cylinder. On it were markings ranging from -20 at its far left edge to +20 at its far right. A black, triangle-shaped pointer hovered over the 0 mark in the center of the device.

“Here goes nothing,” Roy said as he slid the pointer from 0 to -10.

*****

Alice had seen a lot of things since she had first climbed down the rabbit hole, but a living, breathing, normal human couple wasn’t one of them. Until now, that was. But here they were, big as life, standing in the middle of her card table.

For a moment, the four friends and the two time slice travelers were speechless. Emily gripped Roy’s arm tightly, her finger nails digging into his flesh.

“Would you like some tea?” the Mad Hatter asked, finally breaking the silence. “It’s always tea time here, you know because …”

“Because you’re being punished and time has stood still at 6 pm,” Emily said.

“Why, yes … yes, that’s right. But how did you know?” the Hatter asked.

“I know because I read …” Emily began but was interrupted.

Alice pushed her chair back from the table and rose to her feet. She ran her hands over her blue dress to straighten the wrinkles and tossed her blonde hair back over her shoulders with a quick shake of her head. “What I would like to know is who you are and what you are doing in the middle of our card table?”

Roy and Emily exchanged a glance. Emily stood on her tip-toes, leaned into her husband, and whispered, “What’s going on, Roy? How did we end up here? This isn’t a different time slice. This is a … well … a cartoon”

“I have no idea,” Roy quietly replied. “I can just slide the pointer back to zero and we can get out of here if you want.” Roy placed his thumb over the cylinder’s triangle-shaped pointer, ready to slide it if Emily gave the okay.

Emily shook her head. “No, let’s wait for a minute and see what’s going on here.”

Alice began to tap her foot. “I’m waiting for an answer. Who are you and how did you fit through the rabbit hole?”

“Well,” Roy said, “I’m Roy Washburn and this is my wife Emily.” Emily smiled. “Hello. Nice to meet you,” she said. “And you are?”

“I’m Alice. That’s my friend Hattie behind you.” The Mad Hatter removed his tall, black hat and bowed deeply at the waist. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Alice pointed towards the corner of the room. “Hare is over there cowering in the corner. I’d introduce you to Mousie but he’s still sleeping.”

Alice puffed out another perfect smoke ring as her cigar hung precariously from the corner of her lips.

The smoke ring floated towards Roy. It briefly encircled his head and then vanished with an audible “poof”.

Roy laughed. “You’re nothing like what I would have expected. I thought Alice in Wonderland was a sweet, innocent young thing who accidentally fell into a rabbit hole. You remind me more of a saloon girl from the Wild West.”

Emily nudged Roy in the ribs. “Roy! We’re guests here. I can’t believe you’d say something like that.”

Alice laughed. “It’s okay. I’ve been called a lot worse, and by a better class of people.”

“Hey!” Roy began.

“You know this place changes a person, Roy,” Alice continued. “When I first fell down that rabbit hole I was a scared, frightened girl. But I’ve seen things here, Roy. Things that would make you go screaming into the night. So I wouldn’t be so quick to judge.”

“Excuse me, Alice,” Emily said, “but if it’s so bad here why do you keep coming back?”

Alice laughed. “Good question, Emily. I come back here because of these guys.” She pointed in the general direction of her friends. “They kind of grow on you after a while, ya know?”

Emily nodded. “Yes, I know. That’s kind of how I feel about him.” She pointed to Roy. Alice and Emily shared a laugh.

Alice then redirected her attention to Roy. “So, Roy, how did you and your lovely bride get here? You obviously didn’t come through the rabbit hole like I did.”

“No, no, we didn’t do that. We got here by using this.” He held the cylinder out towards Alice. “It lets us travel in the time stream. We usually end up visiting different time slices. We’ve never ended up any place like this before.”

Alice reached out and snatched at the cylinder. Roy started to pull it back towards him but she was too quick and she had it in her hands before he could stop her. Alice, Hattie, and Hare watched as Roy and Emily winked out of existence.

“That was certainly odd,” the Hatter said. “Shall we continue our game?”

Alice considered this for a moment and the nodded. “Might as well. We’ll just chalk it up to one more strange thing in a very strange place.”

“Indeed,” the Hatter agreed. “Indeed.”

~end

Guest post by Kerry Downing, author of Time Slice
© 2012. All rights reserved.

Visit Kerry:
Website
Blog
Facebook
Goodreads
Shelfari
Twitter

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Kerry Downing
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~


READ more about this world…

--~ eBook Giveaway courtesy of publisher ~--


Time Slice
by Kerry Downing
Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Smashwords

Ordinary People. Extraordinary Adventures. Science Fiction with Heart.

Newly retired workaholic Roy Washburn is not ready for a life of leisure. On a trip to the mall with his wife, he finds a small metal cylinder with odd markings. One nudge of the cylinder's triangle-shaped pointer and Roy finds himself embarking on an exciting new adventure in the Time Stream.

There he meets The Traveler, a tall, gangly being who shows Roy how to use the cylinder to visit other civilizations that co-exist on "his" Earth, each occupying a different, thin Time Slice. The Traveler solicits Roy's help in recovering an object invented by his murdered father and beyond his own reach. Roy is his last hope.

At first it seems that the Traveler's wish might be easily granted. But after Roy's wife Emily becomes ill and his daughter's long-held resentments rise to the surface, he can no longer "travel" at a moment's notice. He also discovers the very real physical and mental risks involved in roaming the Time Stream.

Despite the dangers, Roy is determined to help the Traveler. But he can't do it alone. Fortunately he has a loving wife and a core group of loyal friends. But first he must convince them--and his daughter--that he isn't crazy ...


WIN a copy of this ebook!

Open to all.

Offer ends: February 29, 2012

TO DO: (2-parts)
1. ONE of these:

ADD this book to your Goodreads

or

ADD this book to your Shelfari

or

TWEET this: (or click the twitter button on this post)
Giveaway: Time Slice by Kerry Downing http://vvb32reads.blogspot.com/2012/02/giveaway-with-time-traveler.html

2. LET me know in comments what you did along with your email (if I don't already have it)

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Contest has ended - winner is here

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~


Visit the Time Slice blog tour
for more details and goodies
about this book


~*~

* image source Alice playing cards

-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Monday, February 20, 2012

Movie: with little people


Are you missing a sugar cube?
How about a pin?
No worries, it's not a ghost.
It could just be the Borrowers doing their thing...

The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)

I saw this over the weekend and really enjoyed this gem!

based on the book...

The Borrowers
by Mary Norton

Definitely, one to add to my reading pile as I have not yet read it. Have you?

-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Sunday, February 19, 2012

Giveaway: with psychics

Intangible
by J. Meyers


~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by J. Meyer
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

Book excerpt:

And then she knew. No vision had ever terrified him. Never. In seventeen years. It was as if his own life were at stake. But he didn’t See his own future. He only saw other’s. She suddenly had a terrible feeling that she knew exactly whose future he’d Seen.

Her voice was a whisper. “Do I get hurt?”

His face contorted, but he didn’t say anything.

“Oh my god. Do I die?”

He closed his eyes.

“Oh.” The air rushed out of her lungs on that one word. She was going to die.

Luke’s voice was tight, tortured when he said, “We gotta go.” He bent down to pick up Sera’s bag again, then headed out the door. Sera looked down at her feet. Their book bags lay there. She should probably pick those up, she thought. Luke was already on the porch, waiting. She reached down and grasped the bags, then woodenly stepped outside.

Luke stared at her a moment, searching her face, then reached around her and locked the door. He started down the steps, but her voice stopped him.

“Luke?”

He turned to look at her. She was going to die. She knew she was going to die. But she couldn’t stop herself from asking even though she already knew the answer.

“Have you ever had a vision that didn’t come true?” she said. “Ever?”

~end

Guest post by J. Meyer, author of Intuition
© 2012. All rights reserved.

Visit J:
Website
Blog
Facebook
Goodreads
Shelfari
Twitter

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by J. Meyer
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~


READ more about this world…

--~ Book Giveaway courtesy of author ~--


WIN a copy of this book - for 2 winners!

1 print for US only

1 ebook open all.

Offer ends: February 29, 2012

TO DO: (3-parts)
1. ONE of these:

ADD this book to your Goodreads

or

ADD this book to your Shelfari

or

TWEET this: (or click the twitter button on this post)
Giveaway: Intangible by J. Meyer http://vvb32reads.blogspot.com/2012/02/giveaway-with-psychics.html

2. TELL me which version you prefer - print (for US only) or ebook

3. LET me know in comments what you did along with your email (if I don't already have it)

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Contest has ended - winner is here

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Saturday, February 18, 2012

Giveaway: with a ghost

The Wedding Gift
by Kathleen McKenna

Leann wasn't good enough for her upper-crust in-laws, so they gave her the mansion none of them wanted.

Years ago, something or someone in the house killed Leann's brother.

Will its violent secrets kill her next?


~*~

You may have seen this book here before.

It just keeps haunting this site...

--~ Book Giveaway courtesy of author ~--

WIN a copy of this book!

2 winners for print version
4 winners for ebook

Open to all.

Offer ends: February 29, 2012

TO DO:

1. READ the excerpt here and tell me the name of one of the characters mentioned.

2. TELL me which copy you want - print or ebook?

AND, leave your email (if I don't already have it)

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


Friday, February 17, 2012

The Key by Felicia Rogers

The Key
by Felicia Rogers

Visit Felicia:
Website
Blog
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Published: 2010
Publisher: Solstice Publishing
Genre: Paranormal, Romance, YA
Paperback: 236 pages
Rating: 4

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

A teenage girl suffering from a family tragedy, Maddie Clevenger is oblivious to the ancient mystery surrounding her. She's young and incredibly unlucky, in life and in love. She should be enjoying her senior year of high school, but instead she is tormented by a reoccurring nightmare and a very real stalker.

But all that changes when Chase Donovan, an Air Force brat with a protective streak, shows up at school.

Will Chase be the key to helping her solve her stalker problem?

Will he be the key to solving the mystery surrounding her family's past?


Series:
The Key
Mara's Secret

My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): gray
Sweet romancing with a non-typical paranormal being. It was interesting to take a peek into the world of gryphons in this fairy tale like story set in the present.

The main characters are likeable and a couple were unpredictable.

~*~

WANNA read this book?

signup to join this book tour here

~*~

* review copy courtesy of The Key blog tour hosted by Paranormal Wastelands

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Thursday, February 16, 2012

YA Paranormal Activity: Book List

YA Paranormal Activity
a virtual book event
February 16-29, 2012

Complete list of books featured and mentioned:
there will be more... final list will be updated at the end of the event

AND

giveaway links will light up when available



Auraria by Tim Westover
signup for giveaway: here


Beyond by T.P. Boje
signup for giveaway: here


The Borrowers by Mary Norton


Boyfriend from Hell by E. Van Lowe
signup for giveaway: here


Earth Angel by E. Van Lowe
signup for giveaway: here


Forbidden by Syrie James & Ryan M. James


The Humming Room by Ellen Potter
signup for giveaway: here


Intangible by J. Meyers
signup for giveaway: here


The Key by Felicia Rogers
signup to participate in blog tour: here


Lethally Blonde by Patrice Lyle
signup for giveaway: here


Nikolas and Company: The Merman and the Moon Forgotton by Kevin McGill
signup for giveaway: here


Scary School by Derek Taylor Kent
signup for giveaway: here


Silver by Cheree Alsop
signup for giveaway: here


Spirited anthology edited by Kat O'Shea
signup for giveaway: here


Spirits of Glory by Emily Devenport
signup for giveaway: here


Time Slice by Kerry Downing
signup for giveaway: here


Transfer Student by Laura A.H. Elliott
signup for giveaway: here


Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles, Book 1 by Amy Lignor
signup for giveaway: here


Vamplayers by Rusty Fischer
signup for giveaway: here

Wanted: Dead or Undead (The Zombie West Series, #1) by Angela Scott
signup for giveaway: here


The Wedding Gift by Kathleen McKenna
signup for giveaway: here

~*~

Announcement: winners for giveaways that ended Feb 29

Announcement: for giveaways that ended March 11

-+0+o+ YA Paranormal Activity schedule +o+0+-


 
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