January 31, 2015

Jennifer Iacopelli's LOSING AT LOVE -- Cover Reveal + Giveaway

I'm happy to take part in the cover reveal for Jennifer Iacopelli’s upcoming book, Losing at Love. Her first book, Game. Set. Match, is also having a redesign, so I'll be able to share that will you too. Beyond that, Jennifer has kindly offered up an excerpt from Losing at Love PLUS a giveaway.

And here they are...

book2-publicity-front

book1-publicity-front

Nice, right?? I love the bold colours up against the darker background, and I love how well they represent the books.

Excerpt from Losing at Love:

Stepping into the sunshine, Indy shouldered her bag and turned towards the OBX library, her mind running through the assignments she still had to complete when a shadow crossed over her path, a large body falling into step with her, close, but not touching, their strides matching.

“Jack,” she said, glancing up at him sideways, a small smile threatening at the corner of her mouth.

“Indiana,” he said, echoing back her name, sending a shiver down her spine. He was the only one allowed to call her that, the only person who made the name she’d hated since forever sound friggin’ good.

They walked together without another word, turning the corner that separated the courts from the residential area of the complex, but her stride was suddenly cut off when Jack shuffled his feet, sliding his arm around her waist and pulled her into a shady walkway between buildings. Her bag slid off her shoulder, but he caught it before it crashed to the ground and smashed her laptop to smithereens. He let it settle on the ground gently before leaning over her, forcing her to step back into the wall.

Walls were their thing. Their first kiss had been against a wall in a random hallway at Roland Garros, their second pressed against the wall of their hotel in Paris and now that they were back in North Carolina, they found any excuse to push each other against a wall and kiss until they were gasping for air and their bodies begged for relief. Jack’s lips trailed from her temple, using the wall behind her as an anchor before bending his head to hers. Pushing up onto her toes, Indy met him halfway. She’d never been so grateful for every millimeter of her five feet ten inches as she was when she was kissing Jack. His hands slid through her hair, twisting it around his fingers, then cradling the back of her head, drawing her mouth more firmly against his. Indy brought her hands to his torso, gripping his t-shirt, letting her palms press against the cut of muscle that disappeared into his cargo shorts. The skin on skin contact made his breath hitch, his mouth opening just enough to allow her tongue to slide in, deepening the kiss, before letting her teeth nip at his bottom lip. A groan rumbled in his throat as he stumbled forward, pressing his body full length against hers. He wrenched his lips from hers, trailing his mouth over the line of her jaw to the spot just behind her ear. It was her turn to gasp and her head fell back as she arched into him. No one had ever kissed her there before. Jack smiled against her skin as her fingertips dug into his sides and she let a moan slip free as he focused his attention on that spot, scraping his teeth against it then soothing that small pain with a flick of his tongue. Her hands scrambled to get purchase against his shoulders, desperate for some leverage, anything to help her slide her body against his. Then he was gone, his hand gone from her hair, his mouth gone from her neck and his body inches then feet away. Indy blinked at him, trying to figure out what happened when the voices echoing down the pathway towards them finally reached her ears.

Bending down, he lifted her bag as she ran her fingers through her hair, knowing he’d made an unholy mess of it. “You’re fine,” he muttered, handing her the bag, then keeping the distance between them as a group of junior boys stomped past them, none giving them a second glance.

“You have good ears,” Indy said, biting her lip at the close call. If those boys had seen them, the news would have spread like wildfire through the OBX campus and everyone would have known by the end of the day. She was only seventeen for another few months, but that wasn’t really the problem, seventeen or eighteen wouldn’t matter to other people. She was a young tennis pro, he was an up and coming agent. The last thing either of their careers needed was the heightened publicity of a controversial relationship, even if Jack Harrison was far more of a gentleman than any guy she’d ever met. Sometimes a little too much of a gentleman, truth be told.

Jack shrugged, glancing back over his shoulder again before facing her fully. “I’m sorry about this.”

She reached out and took his hand, “We both agreed,” she said, entwining their fingers together, “it’s just between us for now. It makes sense for the both of us.” Pressing his lips together in a thin line, he nodded, but she knew he wasn’t entirely convinced. “Jack, we talked about this. You said you were okay with it.”

“I just wish it were different,” he said, tugging her closer, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. His hands released hers and dropped to her hips, the edges of his thumbs brushing against her hipbones in slow circles sending shivers over her skin.

“Me too.” She wanted to scream it from the rooftops that this amazing guy was hers. That he had deep green eyes and a smile that brightened them whenever he looked at her. That he was brilliant in ways that she couldn’t even fathom with his degree from Harvard. That he’d fought their attraction for so long because of that ingrained sense of honor, like one of those heroes in a fairy tale, except Jack was real, flesh and blood.

"Have you thought...maybe we should tell Penny?" Indy asked, her fingertips landing on his forearms, gently stroking up to his elbows and back down to his wrists.

Jack let out a heavy breath. "Penny has a lot on her plate right now."

"I know, I just feel funny keeping it from her. Jasmine knows."

"We'll do whatever you want to do. This is your show, baby."

"I don't need a supportive…" she hesitated, almost using the word boyfriend, but that didn't really fit, did it? Not if they were keeping it a secret, "I need honest Jack."

He leaned back, looking her in the eye. "Honest? Honestly, my sister doesn't do well with change. It freaks her out and right now, I'm not sure that the idea of you and me will go over that well. On the other hand, if we don't tell her and she finds out?"

"She'll be pissed."

"Yep."

"Maybe we wait a little longer. We could tell her in London?"

Jack nodded, "Face to face instead of over the phone."

“There’s always Skype,” she said, not really sure if she wanted to know what Penny, the only girl who’d made an effort to befriend her when she first arrived at OBX, would think if she found out she and Jack were together.

“There’s that.”

Indy shook her head. They should do it in person. They should have done it before they left Paris, but Penny had been so devastated by withdrawing from the tournament that it hadn’t felt like the right time then either. “In London. We’ll be there in less than a week. We’ll tell her then.”

“Okay, in London.” They stood there for a moment, just breathing each other in until Jack leaned away. “I’ve gotta go. I have a meeting with a potential new client this afternoon and I’ve got to prep.”

Indy snorted a laugh. “Right, like you don’t already have a complete profile worked up along with potential sponsors to contact if they sign.”

“You know me so well,” he said, leaning around the building, checking the pathway for any more unwanted spectators. “I’ll go this way.”

Indy nodded back in the opposite direction. “And I’ll go that way.”

With a bow, he was gone, around the corner and out of sight, so she turned and adjusted her bag over her shoulder, heading out from between the buildings and towards the library. She’d have about half the time to get her Calc done than she originally planned. Fingertips pressing against that spot on her neck lightly recalling the feel of his mouth and the way her entire body was lit on fire by his touch, it was totally worth it.

“Are you sure that is a good idea?” a voice rang out from just a few steps behind her, the French accent giving its owner away, if the superiority and condescension weren’t enough of a clue. Indy spun around and came face to face with her agent, tall, blonde, perfectly put together in a silk blouse and linen skirt, somehow looking completely cool and calm despite the blaze of the sun. She was in town before they all left for England, mostly to go over her plans for Indy’s future off the court.

A denial formed on Indy’s tongue, but she knew it was useless. Caroline had seen them and it probably just confirmed what she’d suspected for a while. Her agent was damn good at her job and it wasn’t like she and Jack had been super careful about keeping private moments behind closed doors. “Good idea or not, it’s none of your business.”

Raising her eyes to the sky and shaking her head Caroline said, “You are my business, Indiana.”

“How many times do I have to say it? Don’t call me that, and my tennis is your business,” Indy corrected. “Keep your nose out of everything else.”

“It is not that simple,” Caroline insisted, her voice inching up in pitch.

“It really is.” She turned on her toe and walked away, wanting to look back, hoping that Caroline’s brow was furrowed and her hands were on her hips, lips pursed in aggravation. But looking back would ruin the moment because despite getting in the last word, Caroline now had the upper hand and it was only a matter of time before she used it to her advantage.

About Losing at Love:
book2-publicity-full-2
Grass courts, tennis whites and the fiercest competition in the world. Wimbledon. After two crazy weeks in Paris, the girls of the Outer Banks Tennis Academy are headed to London with just one thing on their minds: winning.

Indiana Gaffney is fresh off a surprise win at the French Open junior tournament. Sponsors are clamoring for her attention, but what she wants more than anything—aside from a wild card to Wimbledon—is to be with Jack Harrison, but international fame and a secret relationship rarely mix well.

When Penny Harrison dreamed of playing at Wimbledon she never imagined agonizing pain shooting through her ankle with every step. With just a month until the tournament and the whole world expecting her to win, she’s determined to play, with or without the support of her coach or the love of her life, Alex Russell.

For the first time ever, no one expects anything from Jasmine Randazzo. After a crushing first-round defeat in the French Open juniors, the tennis world has given up on her, but worse than that, so have her parents, her best friend Teddy and maybe even her coach. With everyone writing her off, can she find it within herself to go after her dreams?


To celebrate the cover reveal, Game. Set. Match.is on sale for .99!!

About Game. Set. Match.:
book1-publicity-full
Nestled along the North Carolina coast, the Outer Banks Tennis Academy is the world's most elite training facility. In this pressure-cooker environment, futures are forged in blood and sweat, and dreams are shattered in an instant.

Penny Harrison, a rising female star, is determined to win the French Open and beat her archrival, Zina Lutrova. But when her coach imports British bad boy Alex Russell as her new training partner, will Penny be able to keep her laser-like focus?

Tennis is all Jasmine Randazzo has ever known. The daughter of two Grand Slam champions, she's hell-bent on extending her family’s legacy and writing her own happily-ever-after...until her chosen Prince Charming gives her the just-friends speech right before the biggest junior tournament of the year, the Outer Banks Classic.

With a powerful serve and killer forehand, newcomer Indiana Gaffney is turning heads. She’s thrilled by all of the attention, especially from Jack Harrison, Penny’s agent and hot older brother, except he keeps backing off every time things start heating up.

With so much at stake, dreams—and hearts—are bound to break. Welcome to OBX: Where LOVE is a four-letter word, on and off the court.

Buy the book on... Amazon | BN | iTunes | Kobo

 About Jennifer Iacopelli:

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 3.09.39 PMJennifer Iacopelli was born in New York and has no plans to leave...ever. Growing up, she read everything she could get her hands on, but her favorite authors were Laura Ingalls Wilder, L.M. Montgomery and Frances Hodgson Burnett all of whom wrote about kick-ass girls before it was cool for girls to be kick-ass. She got a Bachelor's degree in Adolescence Education and English Literature quickly followed up by a Master's in Library Science, which lets her frolic all day with her books and computers, leaving plenty of time in the evenings to write and yell at the Yankees, Giants and her favorite tennis players through the TV.

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Enter Jennifer’s giveaway!!

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January 29, 2015

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Release Date: February 10, 2015
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 383
Series: Red Queen Trilogy
#1
Review Source: Edelweiss

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Graceling meets The Selection in debut novelist Victoria Aveyard's sweeping tale of seventeen-year-old Mare, a common girl whose once-latent magical power draws her into the dangerous intrigue of the king's palace. Will her power save her or condemn her?

Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood--those with common, Red blood serve the Silver- blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.

To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard--a growing Red rebellion--even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.
My Thoughts:
There is something so exciting and interesting about this book. Right from the time I heard of it, Red Queen was being hyped as a big series to come. Most of the time I end up being disappointed by those, but in this case I absolutely loved it. I was intrigued and excited throughout, and so curious about where the book was going.

Probably one of my favourite things about Red Queen is that there’s a real sense of not being able to trust anyone. It’s a theme of the book, so when you’re reading, that fact is constantly in the back of your mind. You can’t ever be sure who is actually portraying themselves honestly, which makes for a very intense read. Without going into spoilers, there’s definitely some betrayal in the book, and even when you think you see it coming the book it's so well written that you can’t be entirely sure. I kept questioning my instincts and wondering who was really good or bad.

The synopsis of the book compares it to The Selection, which makes sense because of the way the royal court operates and the competition to be the next queen. It had those aspects, but it was a very different book, too. It had a lot of elements that readers might find familiar, but it puts them together in an amazing way. There’s a secret rebellion aspect similar to The Hunger Games and people with different powers like in Graceling. It had a great fantasy genre feel to it with the major class differences: the poor in the slums, the rich in their palaces.

I can’t even really talk about the characters without spoiling things, but Mare is our main character, and she gets swept into a world she’s never dreamed of. Mare starts off a little bit like the Ultra Special Female Protagonist (she’s a pickpocket, she’s a smartass, she gets away with things -- she just fits into that stereotype), but as she’s thrust into the unknown she becomes a lot more interesting. I loved seeing the way she reacted to things, the way she processed her thoughts and feelings.

One big theme of YA literature is being on the outside and not fitting in. I loved that even in this ultra complex fantasy world, our main character was going through the same thing that so many contemporary teens are. In the world of Red Queen there’s the red blood (normals) vs the silver blood (the elite, oppressors, having powers). And then there’s Mare, who doesn’t fit into either category. It sucks for her, but it makes for an incredibly interesting read.

Red Queen is a book with big secrets, intrigue, and action. It’s about fighting the oppressors, something which is made difficult when the people in charge have the ability to control you. It asks important questions, like how can you breed a rebellion when you’re barely surviving? When you’re the ones fighting and dying in an impossible war, when you don’t have enough food for your family -- how can you get beyond that? It asks all these questions and it doesn’t offer up easy answers. Red Queen is a wonderful beginning to a new series, and I’m incredibly excited to see where Victoria Aveyard takes us in the next book.

The Cover:
Love!! Very eye catching.

Rating:
[5/5]

Purchase Links:
Kobo | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Chapters-Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

January 21, 2015

All Fall Down by Ally Carter

All Fall Down by Ally Carter
Release Date: January 20, 2015
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 320
Series: Embassy Row
#1
Review Source: ARC for review from Scholastic Canada

Synopsis: (from Amazon)

A new series of global proportions -- from master of intrigue, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Ally Carter.

Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things:

1. She is not crazy.
2. Her mother was murdered.
3. Someday she is going to find the killer and make him pay.

As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her -- so there's no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door, who is keeping his eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands.

Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can't control Grace -- no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do. Her past has come back to hunt her . . . and if she doesn't stop it, Grace isn't the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down.
My Thoughts:
All Fall Down was a highly anticipated title for me, as I’m sure it is for a lot of people. I was so excited to start a new series from Ally Carter, and I wasn’t at all disappointed.

Grace is a different type of heroine for Ally Carter, which I really appreciated. Grace is a lot broken. She's dealing (or not dealing) with her mom's death, she's been to a shrink, and you can just tell she’s not coping well. Grace swears that her mom was murdered, but no one will believe her, which sets up an incredibly interesting mystery.

One of my favourite aspects of the book was the setting of Embassy Row. Grace’s grandfather is the US ambassador to the (fictional) European country of Adria. I loved meeting the international kids and seeing the lifestyle there. I loved the action scenes (which we all know Ally does so well), and the conspiracy element to it.

This book has a lack of romance to it, but you can definitely see things developing in the future. That being said, it was refreshing to not have a romance plot line. I didn’t miss it at all, especially since Grace is a younger character who has way more important things to deal with. I liked that friendship was the primary type of relationship featured, especially since there was a great gang of supporting characters.

All Fall Down is a good first book in a new series. It has a whammy of a conclusion and a set up that will get you incredibly excited for Book 2. Awesome, as expected from Ally Carter. Definitely recommended.

The Cover:
Besides the girl looking intensely skinny, I love it!

Rating:
[4/5]

Purchase Links:
Kobo | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Chapters-Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

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