Paradise City Blog Tour + GIVEAWAY!

Paradise City by CJ Duggan

There's bound to be trouble in Paradise . . .

When her parents decide a change will be good for her, seventeen-year-old Lexie Atkinson never expected they'd send her all the way to Paradise City. Coming from a predictable life of home schooling on a rural Australian property, she's sure that Paradise will be amazing. But when she's thrust into a public school without a friendly face in sight, and forced to share a room with her insipid, hateful cousin Amanda, Lexie's not so sure. 

Hanging out with the self-proclaimed beach bums of the city, sneaking out, late night parties and parking with boys are all things Lexie's never experienced, but all that's about to change. It's new, terrifying . . . and exciting. But when she meets Luke Ballantine, exciting doesn't even come close to describing her new life. Trouble with a capital T, Luke is impulsive, charming and answers to no one. The resident bad-boy leader of the group, he's sexier than any boy Lexie has ever known. 

Amidst the stolen moments of knowing looks and heated touches, Lexie can't help but wonder if Luke is going to be good for her . . . or very, very bad?

I loved CJ Duggan's Summer series and I was super excited to hear about Paradise City at SAE in November. I really enjoy how she sets her books in the late 90's in Aus and her writing style.

Meet Lexie, from outback Victoria in a town with 3 pubs but no high school. Lexie has always wanted to go to high school with her cousin Amanda in Paradise City but never actually thought her parent's would send her. A surfer town (kind of like my hometown actually) to finish her final year of high school. However, when she gets there she isn't warmly welcome by her cousin Amanda. Amanda thinks that with Lexie around she won't be able to sneak out and meet the guys after curfew. 

First night staying with her cousin Amanda and Lexie runs into Ballantine, whom she wakes up to find him and Boon staring at her while Amanda was sneaking out with. Ballantine and Boon surfer and Kirkland guys who are seemingly who every girl wants. After becoming friends with Laura, Boon's sister, Lexie soon learns everything she needs to know about the Kirkland boys. However, getting detention on the second day of school really wasn't the best thing for Lexie even though she spent detention with Ballantine and Boon.

The sneaking out, late night beach walks and swims, late night make out sessions and secret telling is what the nights hold for Lexie after Amanda leaves her with Ballantine while she sneaks off to make out with Boon. They were doing the sort of things that teenagers did when they had their drivers license (I will admit to some of these). Dean however is a complication. Dean who is Ballentine's older brother whom Ballentine thinks is with or was with Lexie.

I really loved all the characters and how they were written and developed. I could really connect with Lexie surprisingly, while I didn't come from a country town I do come from a surfer/coastal town and now I am a country university, living in a country town for the past three years. The new experiences that come with being in a new place is what I could really connect with. Amanda once she got over the fact that Lexie wasn't going to stop her from sneaking out was actually a really good character and had Lexie's back when she needed it. Laura was a great best friend who knows how to get the guys to think what she wants them to think. The boys are well surfers, good looking and have a bit of a jealous streak with them.

If you loved Duggan's Summer series I am sure that you will enjoy Paradise City. With tales of sneaking out, night swimming, romance and Australian NA this is a book for you!

Thankyou to Hachette Australia for the review copy!

Rating: 4.5/5


Keely xx


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Blog Tour: Secret by Brigid Kemmerer

EARTH. FIRE. AIR. WATER.

Nick Merrick is stretched to breaking point. He's trying to keep his grades sky-high or he won't get in to college. He's trying to keep his brother's business afloat or the Merricks will be out on the street. He's trying to keep the secret of where he's going in the evenings from his twin brother Gabriel - or he fears he'll lose his family. And he's trying to keep his mind off the hot, self-assured dancer who is his 'girlfriend's' partner.

And then Quinn takes to hanging around his sworn enemy, and an Elemental Guide is counting the hours until he can try again to kill the Merrick brothers. Storms are brewing. On all sides.

SECRETS IN THE WIND. DANGER IN THE AIR.

Brigid Kemmerer you have done it again, pulled me into a fantastic story, worry my heart out for Nick and made me want to hug him and not let him go. If you've read Breathless and I'm pretty sure you already have & it not Aussie's it is in the start the Australian version, you Nick is dealing with a lot.

Secret was a fantastic new addition to the elementals series, since Nick is my favourite of the Merrick Brothers and after reading Nicks novella Breathless I couldn’t wait to get my hands on his own book. We get the perspectives of Nick and Quinn and we follow them in two different journeys in Secret Quinn’s home life has gotten worse and without having Becca so much anymore she has nowhere to go and no one to talk to.  Nick is dealing with a lot his family, the guides, Quinn and now his sexuality this is bringing him to breaking point. Through Secret  we see that they are both dealing with a lot of things that don’t fully focus on the guides that are trying to kill them.

Nick doesn’t know what to, who to talk to, how his twin will react to the news, how Michael will react about him wanting to go to college and Nick failed a test, Nick who has never failed before failed a physics test. Nick is spending a lot of time helping out Michael way more than the other brothers on jobs & finances, he is worries about Quinn and now with Adam he doesn’t know who he is anymore. I really liked the character of Adam and how well he contemplated Nick together the characters lose control which makes Nick worried even more because he likes control. Adam just wants what is best for Nick and is supportive and helpful for him, which made me like Adam a whole lot more.

Quinn in the first three books has been my least favourite of characters but after Secret we get to see more of what Quinn is facing and why she has such a tough exterior because on the inside she is broken and scared. Since her and Becca had a falling out she has no one to turn to and with Nick spending time with Adam and helping his family, she has no one to turn to until she meets Tyler. Yes this is the Tyler who has had a vendetta on the Merrick Brothers who still blames Michael for the death of his sister when really if they hadn’t chased after she would more than likely still be alive. But Tyler is hiding a secret which is revealed at the end of Secret which makes you question a lot of things that seem to already have answers to.

Apart from Nick and Quinn and there love interests, Michael was the best supporting character by far. Once he learns about Nick being gay & how he is feeling about all the pressure that he has been facing which is great. This also got me 100x more excited to read Michael’s book Sacrifice especially with the ending. The ending is where we get the continuing plot of the guides that have been following the Merricks from day one and this time it is much worse than before.

Secret is for those of you who have loved following the journey of the Merrick boys and with the final book coming if you haven’t read this series start!

Thanks to Allen & Unwin for the review copy of Secret!

Rating: 5/5

Keely xx

Fallen Crest Public Blog Tour!

Hey Everyone, today I am here with my stop in the Fallen Crest Public blog tour!

Sam's first day at Fallen Crest Public doesn't go well. Some girls want to be her. Some girls want to destroy her. And some just don't like her. All in all, despite being protected by Mason and Logan, it's still only the strong survive. Sam will not only have to survive, she needs to learn how to conquer too, but there's another battle growing. Things are about to come to a disastrous end between the towns, Roussou and Fallen Crest. Sam's other main dilemma? Keeping Mason and Logan from getting arrested or hospitalized. 

After falling in love with the Fallen Crest series earlier last year I have been anxiously waiting for FCP to be released and boy I was not disappointed. Sam is starting Fallen Crest Public and all she wants is to keep her head down, run track & avoid the girls that Mason & the other guys have exiled. 

The girls are out for revenge and all Mason wants is for them to stop and to enjoy his final semester of high school with Sam. After a run in with the Broudou Brothers at the diner in break everyone is trying to keep Sam away from them, because if they knew that she was Mason's girlfriend they would be out for her.

Fallen Crest Public has a lot of things going on in it, we thankfully have none of Sam's mum and her drama but we have Mason & Logan's family drama along with David. I'm glad that we got to see Sam's & Jax's relationship develop even though Kate and her friends want nothing more than to force Sam to leave.

Mason does everything he can do to protect Sam after what happens during his basketball game & wants all of this to stop. He wants Kate to be gone, the Broudou Brothers to leave him alone, wants Nate to be on his side, Logan to get over everything with Tate and he wants Sam to be happy. It was great getting Mason's POV for all this so we could understand what he was doing, even if Sam couldn't.

There was a lot of High School drama, I liked it but it was a bit too much drama for me. The ending everyone who paid attention to the previous books would know it but Sam didn't and let's just say she was surprised. I can't wait to get my hands on Fallen Fourth Down!

Rating: 4.5

EXCERPT #4

  

Kate’s sneer turned into a snarl. “You think you’re funny?”

One of the three added, “Maybe she’s taking lessons from Logan?”

Another snorted. “Probably. She needs all the lessons she can get.”

My smile had stretched from ear to ear now. It was genuine, too. “Is this another warning from you? I thought you moved past the cliché insults and name calling. Oh wait. You said lessons. Yes, that’s referencing that I’m dumb. That’s another cliché insult.” With my hand in the air, I lifted a finger with each point. “I’m ugly. I’m dumb. I have too much sex. Those are the three main ones most simpletons use to insult others. The clothes and the mannequin gave me hope. I thought you were starting to progress, but then I heard that you’ve already done that before. It’s recycled material. You guys need to find new stuff. You know what they say about comedians?” At their blank faces, I nodded. “What I expected. If they use old material, the act is boring. People move on. If you’re going to keep drawing fresh fear from everyone, you need new stuff.” I stood and patted Kate’s head. “You can do it. I believe in you.”

Logan stood by the door and held it open. Mason came in behind him. Both found me immediately. I wondered who had notified them, but then Kate grabbed my arm. She twisted it and got into my face. Her hand tightened on my arm and she lowered her voice, “You have until the end of the day to drop out of school. This is the last warning.”

A taunt rose to my tongue, but I swallowed it. The jokes were gone.

Three thoughts happened at the same time. David’s image flashed again. “Fuck it,” came next. Third, when I knew what I was going to do, I thought, “Let’s see how this goes.”

Kate’s eyes widened as she watched the myriad of expressions before she saw my intent. Her hand let me go, and she started to back away, but it was too late. My hand latched onto hers instead, and I took one second to comment, “Bet you weren’t expecting this,” I said before my other hand grabbed the back of her head and used all my body weight to slam her head into the table.

AUTHOR BIO:

Tijan started writing later in life, after she had already graduated college with a different direction in mind and a different degree under her belt. Hitting the brakes on that path, she taught herself how to write a good book and began posting at sites such as Fictionpress, along with Wattpad. After receiving such encouraging messages from readers, she self-published Fallen Crest High and has continued throughout the year. She continues to keep writing NA books!

AUTHOR LINKS: 

FACEBOOK 

GOODREADS 

GOODREADS AUTHOR 

Amazon Links:

Fallen Crest High

Fallen Crest Family

Fallen Crest Public

Fallen Crest Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/CQZEFHPubGw

Don't forget to check out the rest of the tour! See the list of blogs participating here!

Keely xx

Camp Boyfriend Book Blitz!

Today I have an extract and a giveaway! This is apart of the Camp Boyfriend Book Blitz!

Camp Boyfriend (Camp Boyfriend #1)
by J.K. Rock
Release Date: 07/02/13
From Spencer Hill Press
Summary from Goodreads:
The summer of her dreams is about to get a reality check.

They said it couldn't be done, but geeky sophomore Lauren Carlson transformed herself into a popular girl after moving to a new school halfway across the country. Amazing what losing her braces and going out for cheerleading will do. Only trouble is, the popular crowd is wearing on Lauren's nerves and she can't wait to return to summer camp where she's valued for her brain instead of her handsprings. She misses her old friends and most of all, her long time camp-only boyfriend, Seth. This year she intends to upgrade their relationship to year-round status once she's broken up with her new, jock boyfriend, Matt. He doesn't even begin to know the real her, a girl fascinated by the night sky who dreams of discovering new planets and galaxies.

But Matt isn't giving her up without a fight. As he makes his case to stay together, Lauren begins to realize his feelings run deeper than she ever would have guessed. What if the guy she thought she was meant to be with forever isn't really The One? Returning to Camp Juniper Point was supposed to ground her uprooted life, but she's more adrift than ever. Everything feels different and soon Lauren's friends are turning on her and both guys question what she really wants. As summer tensions escalate, Lauren wonders if she's changed more than she thought. Will her first big discovery be herself?

Links to: Goodreads, Amazon, Kobo, Book Depository and Barnes and Noble.

Extract #4:

“Can I ask you a question?” I’d been dying to ask him this for years, but the old me had been too afraid.

“Shoot.” He wrapped his arms around his knees and locked a hand around his other wrist.

I gathered my courage. “Why did you want to break up every year after camp?”

In the quiet that followed, I traced the white stitching on the embroidery that outlined Madison’s initial.

When Seth finally answered, his voice was low.

“It’s easier to end things on good terms than risk something going wrong during the school year.”

“Why assume the worst?” I’d never given him reason to doubt me.

“I saw what my dad went through after my mom left us.” He reached for a stick to shove the logs around in the dusty fireplace as I marveled that he’d finally admitted what I’d suspected. When Seth’s mom abandoned him, she’d left a huge hole. No wonder he had trust issues. Still, we could have worked through that if he’d given me a chance. Opened up to me like this before.

“I always figured I’d wait to get serious with anyone until I was… really sure,” he continued.

“And you were never sure of me?”

His crooked grin made a surprise appearance, but his tone was dry. “I was hoping this would be the year we’d be ready to take that step.”

Something inside me collapsed. My chest felt so tight that for a minute I couldn’t breathe. We’d been so close to developing something amazing.

“Instead, I showed up with someone else.”

Outside, the wind rubbed tree limbs against the cabin, making a squeaking scrape.

“It wasn’t just that.” He put the stick down and looked at me. Really looked me. “You showed up as someone else. Someone I didn’t recognize with a new look, clothes, interests.”

I opened my mouth to protest but stayed silent when I followed his gaze to my trendy sneakers.

“I didn’t know who you were anymore,” Seth went on. “Since when did you prefer dancing to stargazing, tanning to pursuing your Aerospace Scholar dreams? That wasn’t the Lauren I knew. Loved.”

I flinched. Who knew a verb tense could cut as deep as a knife? Seth no longer loved me because I’d changed.

How ironic that I’d come back to camp to get back to the things I’d loved, especially Seth. But Matt had stopped that chance and, suddenly, I was glad he had. What was so wrong with liking dance and astronomy? Cheering and the science club? The popular and the outsider cliques? The problem was, I hadn’t realized I could do both, be both. If I’d gone back to Seth, I would never have learned that.

I looked over at my drying wedge sandals by the fireplace. They were awesome, even if they had slowed us down. And yeah, I was the girl who worried about weather-induced hair frizz.

So maybe I had changed. And Seth had a point about letting my dreams lapse. But why couldn’t he see through the make-up and clothes to the person who still thrilled at the site of a meteor shower and drew constellations on her notebook covers?

I laid back, tired of justifying myself. “That girl’s gone, Seth. I’m different now.”

Seth stretched beside me. His amber eyes searched mine in the shadows between us, a wistful smile lifting the corners of his mouth.

“It’s not a bad thing,” he agreed, his fingers toying with my curls. “I just miss the old you sometimes.”

I closed my eyes and enjoyed his touch, knowing it wasn’t going any further. After all, he cared about someone else, someone I’d never be again.

“Sometimes…” I edged a little closer to ease the empty ache inside. “…so do I.”

About the Authors

J. K. Rock is the writing partnership of sisters-in-law Joanne & Karen Rock. Separately, they write adult romance. Together, they dream up Young Adult books like CAMP BOYFRIEND, the first in a three-book series. The summer camp stories continue with CAMP PAYBACK (4/14) and CAMP FORGET-ME-NOT (8/14), plus bonus free novellas in between stories. Visit http://campboyfriend.net to learn more about the series and the free prequel novella, CAMP KISS, which you can download here.

***Author Links***

Author Website / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Goodreads / Karen's Twitter / Joanne's Twitter / Facebook

***GIVEAWAY***Grand prize - Signed copies Amanda Ink's SUN, Jennifer Armentrout writing as J. Lynn's FRIGID and JK Rock's CAMP BOYFRIEND. Also included, advance sneak peek copy Laurie Halse Anderson's THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY and Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian's FIRE WITH FIRE, plus an "I <3 my Camp Boyfriend" tee shirt, friendship bracelets,  'I <3 Camp' temporary tattoos, and a bookmark with the download code for CAMP KISS.

Three other winners will receive $10 Amazon gift cards

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Cannot wait to get my hands on this book! Don't forget to enter the fabulous giveaway!

Keely x