Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.
Showing posts with label Bewitching Blog Tours. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bewitching Blog Tours. Show all posts

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Mad World: Sanctuary by Samaire Provost (Blog Tour and Book Review)


Mad World: Sanctuary

Mad World Book 2

Samaire Provost



The year is 2017, and the Black Plague infection has swept across most of the United States, leaving death and chaos in its wake. Martial law is the rule rather than the exception, with outbreaks cropping up when they're least expected. Alyssa and her friends must not only battle outbreaks of the disease, but also find themselves pursued by government agents – men and women determined to track them down at any cost.

Fleeing north to the fabled Sanctuary, Alyssa, Jacob, DeAndre, Caitlyn, Risa and Luke face disturbing ordeals and terrible tragedy as they encounter unbelievable situations in their struggle to reach safety. Using their skills and wits in their fight to survive against ever worsening odds, they weather hardship, betrayal, and the ever-present specter of death as they flee north, all the while vowing to protect one another – and most of all their precious 5-year-old Luke, from a world gone mad.

Sanctuary, the second installment in the Mad World series, is a heart-rending adventure of astonishing revelations, tragic discoveries, agonizing separations and devastating losses that test these friends to their limits. With heart-pounding, edge-of-your-seat suspense at every turn, this is a story you will not be able to put down.

Find out what happens next.

My thoughts: This was book two of the Mad World series.  Book one was Epidemic and while it is not necessary to read it first, as you do get some back story, I was glad that I did. (Here is my review)  Sanctuary starts out five years after the epidemic started.  Alyssa and friends - now family - have not stayed in one place for long.  They continue to move because they are afraid for Luke - he was born as his mother was turning because of the plague.  So he is somewhat of a hybrid.  They have discovered that the CDC are hunting them because they want to dissect Luke to see if they can find a cure.

They have heard about a place in Canada called Sanctuary and set off to try to get there.  Along the way they meet new friends and run into the ever present zombies which can crop up anywhere these days.  They take off for Canada via South and North Dakota, not knowing what is out there and even how they are going to be able to cross over into Canada.  

I liked the way that the story stayed true to the relationships that had developed in book one - and how Risa had grown up and was a street smart teenager now.  Luke was a loveable little boy, but all he knew was zombies, and he had seen his share.  Some of the run-ins with the zombies were entertaining as well as gory.  

The ending sends you further into the future and set ups nicely for another book.  


~I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from Bewitching Blog Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~

Please enjoy this excerpt from Sanctuary


Excerpt Chapter Twelve:

We were about 50 feet from the barn when suddenly the lights inside went out.
“Oh, that is so not good,” I said under my breath.
Risa stopped completely and stared, trying to see any danger before she got to it. I stopped, too, and we just stood there for the space of a few heartbeats. This night was getting creepier by the hour. After a minute, Risa shrugged and said, “Well, whatever. I can’t just sit here waiting. Let’s go see what scary horrors lie in wait for us in there.”
At this I burst out laughing, and hung my arm over her shoulders. She had broken the tension, and I felt immensely better. Laughing together we walked toward the now dark barn.
We got to the barn door and peered in. It was pitch dark, so we switched our flashlights on and tried to illuminate the massive interior.
“Hmmmm,” I said, trying to see in the darkness beyond the twin beams of light. The barn was too big to see; there was nothing for it, we would have to search the dark expanse cubic yard by cubic yard.
We split up and began searching and calling every few minutes. I heard a snuffling in the dark reaches, but it was Risa who said, “Awww, hi there little guy.” And then, “Alyssa, come look at this.”
I trotted over to where Risa was standing at a stall door, shining her flashlight on the interior. Peering over the tall wooden door, I looked inside the stall and saw a mare with what appeared to be her newborn foal. The baby teetered over to its mother on long legs and then ducked its head under and began to nurse.
“Awww,” I said softly, smiling. We watched the two for a while, marveling at the wonderful sight. It was so adorable. A reminded that life goes on, that the plague hadn’t affected this little family one bit.
We didn’t hear what had just entered the barn until it was almost upon us. As we watched the mother and baby, the mare’s head shot up and she snorted nervously. At the same time, we heard the low growls, several of them, coming from the direction of the door we’d just come in not five minutes ago.
“Oh, crud,” Risa said as she turned. The hairs on the back of my neck rose as they did every time I heard those growls when I wasn’t expecting them.
“Quick, switch off your flashlight,” I whispered. “Maybe it’ll help.” I switched mine off as I said it, and then ducked and ran softly on the hay-covered floor to the far end of the huge barn. Risa followed me, making hardly any sound. We tiptoed along the side of the stalls and tried to make ourselves as small as possible. After we got to the last of the doors, we crouched there in the darkness. I was unwilling to go inside a stall to hide; I didn’t want to be caught in one, with no way out.
The growling became intermittent, and I thought I could make out at least three different voices. So, at least three zombies now shared this barn with Risa and me, and the mare and her foal. Somehow, I didn’t think the horses had much to worry about.
In the five-plus years since the epidemic began, scientists had been studying the problem and testing different theories. In the process, they had discovered a few interesting facts about the people infected by the plague. The zombies. First of all, they didn’t seem to be attracted to animals. Lucky for us people, they seemed to only want to taste us. Great, huh?
Second. They seemed to have very poor vision. Guess that might have had something to do with the way their eyes quickly went milky, as if they had cataracts. Gross. Anyway, they seemed to hunt by smell mostly, and also used their sense of hearing to find their prey. Speaking of prey, we were it. That’s right, our own people, who had been ravished and zombie-fied by this terrible plague, turned back on us and hunted the humans who had yet to be infected.
Smell. Sounds. These things were on our minds as we huddled there in the dark in the corner of that strange barn. We knew the zombies acted mostly on instinct; they weren’t too smart. But then again, they weren’t too dumb, either. We’d seem zombies duck shots fired at them, and think things through in their seemingly insatiable quest for human flesh. They would attack strategically, looking for any weakness. If we were barricaded in the van, locking the doors on one side, they’d come around to the other side of a car to try the windows there. Luckily, the barn we were in was full of smells other than ourselves. The big pile of horse manure in the corner, for instance.
We had no choice but to try to find a way out of our predicament, while making as little noise as possible. The three zombies we knew of were growling and shuffling around toward the front of the barn again, while we crouched in the back. I began searching for any back door or window we could use as an escape route, and Risa, seeing what I was doing, began looking with me. We must have been about 8 feet apart, at the back wall of the barn, when the zombie we didn’t know was there jumped down from the loft and onto … me.
“AHHHHH!!!!!!” I yelled, startled, as I tumbled to the ground. Luckily, the zombie had fallen more than ten feet, so when it landed on me, it rolled off to the side and was momentarily stunned. I quickly scrambled to my feet and unholstered my shotgun, bringing it forward and leveling it at the figure on the ground.
Risa reacted quickly as well, bringing her the .33 up and training it on the creature. One thing we had learned fast in the last five years was not to hesitate. So I walked up to the figure that was starting to rise, and I fired at its head, the muzzle of my sawed off not a foot away. It quickly dropped to the ground and was still, but the shot, that had been deafening in the closed area, had alerted the other zombies to our presence.
We both looked up toward the barn door and heard the low growling become even more menacing, if that were at all possible.
“Oh, to heck with this,” I mumbled, and turning behind me, I shot out the nearest wooden board in the wall of the barn. With Risa covering me, I kicked out a hole large enough so we could get through. I scrambled through the 2-by-3-foot hole I’d made, and Risa emerged after me, with a zombie hot on her heels. The thing actually stuck its head through the hole, and stretched an arm out too, reaching. Big mistake. Huge.
Quickly holstering my shotgun, I brought my bowie knife up and then down, slashing the thing trying to eat us. The sharp blade sliced cleanly through its neck, and its head rolled free at Risa’s feet, dripping black blood. Hey, what can I say? I liked to keep my blades razor sharp.
“Oh, gross,” Risa said softly.
Laughing, I quickly switched back to my shotgun, reloading it in less than 30 seconds. “We need the men here,” I said, pointing my shotgun to the sky. I let off three rounds, at five second intervals. POP!! POP!! POP!! The shots echoed across the farmyard. We heard the growls stop on the other side of the barn wall, and then resume, sounding angrier than ever.
Looking around, I saw a small water tower on stilts, about three stories tall. We could climb the ladder and, if the zombies came, we’d be able to pick them off one by one. We’d be safe up there. Indicating it with a tilt of my head, I holstered my shotgun and we both trotted over to the ladder.
“Up you go,” I said, boosting her up. The water tower ladder started about 5 feet off the ground so we had to scramble a bit. The growls had faded away, but I was worried the zombies were going to come around the corner any minute. Boosting the skinny teenager up, I prepared to hoist myself up after her.
Then I heard the zombies growls, much closer than before. Without stopping to look around at the direction they were coming from, I jumped and grabbed the third rung and hoisted myself up, my foot catching the bottom rung on the first try. There was nothing like being hunted by zombies to hasten your climb up a ladder, I tell ya.
Risa and I clambered up to the ledge on the bottom of the large, barreled, wooden structure; it was 10-12 feet up. We stood on it, we didn’t want to sit and then have our legs dangling off the end out into possible grab territory. We waited.
We didn’t have long to wait. It was less than a minute after I started up the ladder that the first zombie shambled into view. It was a female, in an old housecoat that had seen better, non-zombie, days. It walked out into the open, not sure where we were, but definitely smelling us. It was followed by two more zombies, both male, one looked to be an old man and the other a middle aged man. It was almost funny to watch, because the old man zombie appeared to have been a bit crippled by old age before being infected, turned and subsequently infused with zombie strength. So what we were watching was a crooked old zombie that look arthritic, but moving pretty fast and not appearing in pain at all. These three zombies began a zigzag pattern, using their noses to find us.
They were about twenty feet away when things got really nasty. And by really nasty I mean that a dozen or more young zombies, of varying ages, came to join the adult zombies in their hunt for us humans. Apparently, this had been a pretty large family. It looked like a grandfather, a great grandfather, a mother, and at least a dozen youths ranging in age from around ten all the way up to early twenties. I suspected the father might have been one of the two I’d killed by the barn, but I wasn’t sure. Trying to count these things was useless, plus in the end, we couldn’t know how big the family had been, how many members there were. Heck, we could try to mentally calculate the whole family only to miss the Uncle Bob zombie or the Auntie Tweedie zombie or something. In this situation you just had to assess the threat as best you could and meet the danger head on as it came to you. Deal with the zombies you knew about, and never let down your guard.
“Shoot, where’s my extra ammo?” Risa said, fumbling in her side bag.
“I put it in the back pocket, there,” I pointed. I fumbled for my own ammo - we were going to need it. I located the box of cartridges in my side pouch and checked my shotgun. I was ready.
“Okay, hold my belt,” I said, and after Risa hooked her arm around the wooden structure and grabbed hold of the back of my belt, I leaned over and shot out the ladder. Good. Now they had no way of climbing up to us, I hoped.
We watched them come, both of us calm, holding our firearms at the ready. We’d been through over five years of this so we were somewhat used to it. This wasn’t even Risa’s first situation of this type. Three other times, we’d been trapped and either holed up or treed like cats and had to pick off zombies one by one to free ourselves. But this was the first time Risa and I had done it alone. I was really counting on her. Glancing sideways I asked, “You okay?”
Risa looked at me and nodded her head, a look of calm determination on her face. “Absolutely,” she said, then looked down on the advancing horde.
___

We later learned that Jacob had heard my three shots and had begun jogging through the trees toward our location. He was almost a mile and a half away, and there was underbrush to deal with, but he made pretty good time. He had slung his shotgun over his shoulder and was trotting steadily, zigzagging through the trees, following the sound of the shots.
DeAndre had heard the shots, too, but was a bit farther away - over the low hills and south of the water tower. The shots I’d fired sounded faint, but it was closing in on midnight and the night was very quiet and peaceful. The stars were brilliant, and together with the quarter moon, they stood watch as D hiked up through the foothills toward our location.
___

Risa and I stood there, waiting for the zombies to wander closer. My shotgun needed to be fired at close range to knock one out for good. I’d shot from several dozen feet away, and you just got a wide spread. The result was a zombie with a pitted, icky, gross, dripping-with-goo face. No, I would need to wait until they had closed within about 6 feet or less. But that was okay, we were up high. I figured we could pick them off one at a time. Unless by some miracle they decided to work together. I’d heard of this happening sometimes. I hoped it didn’t happen tonight.
“Here comes the first one,” Risa said, taking aim. The zombie shambled up to the water tower and looked up, its eyes all milky and its scalp shredded where it had apparently been bitten when it was a human. It looked like it had once been a teenage girl, maybe 16 or 17. It still wore pedal pushers and a flowery sweater. Growling at us, it stretched its arms upward and jumped, trying to catch the ledge we were on. Risa steadied her .33 and shot off a round: *POP* The bullet caught the zombie right in the temple; it dropped heavily to the ground and was still.
“Good shot!” I said. And then, “uh, oh,” as three more zombies began jumping for the ledge.
POP! I knocked another zombie down. It was taller than the first and had actually been able to slap its fingers to the edge of the wood when it jumped. Now it was slumped against one of the wooden stilts that supported the water tower. It would never jump again.
Risa tried to shoot a third zombie, but it was moving around more erratically and it was harder for her to get a bead on it. It took her four shots, but she finally nailed it in the head, and it fell to the ground.
The third of the closest zombies just growled and moaned as it looked up at us. I had no pity for the thing. If we were within reach it would not hesitate to attack us. And I did not hesitate. Lowering my shotgun muzzle and sighting down at it, I pulled the trigger and blasted the thing’s face off. It fell backward onto the ground and lay still.
I looked up to get an idea of what to expect next, and my eyes found the old man zombie approaching. It moved pretty fast - it probably hadn’t moved that fast when it was alive, for several decades. But now, in its crooked, arthritic, sideways shamble-hop, it was fast. And shrewd as well. Looking up at us and staying back a ways, it seemed to study us. Its eyes had not gone completely milky yet, and apparently it could see us. It was kind of creepy in a way, almost as if it was actually sentient.
“Will you look at that,” I said softly. At the sound of my voice, its gaze focused on me, and it cocked its head.
“Whoa!” I said, nearly losing my footing in surprise. The old man zombie seemed to notice this, and then it dropped its eyes down to study the area under our feet.
“I really don’t like the looks of that one,” Risa said. “It’s giving me the creeps.” I nodded. I didn’t like the looks of it either. But my attention was drawn to another wave of zombies trying to get at us. I blew three of them away in quick succession and then leaned back to reload. Risa was getting better with her .33, which was good. That gun was not terribly accurate at greater distances, so you had to wait until you had a clear shot at a zombie no more than ten feet away to have a really good chance of hitting it in the head and stopping it.
I finished reloading and covered Risa as she also reloaded. Sighting down the muzzle of my shotgun, I picked off two more zombies, then stopped to look up. The grandfather zombie had moved back a bit and was now about a dozen feet away from the base of the water tower. As I watched him, he all of a sudden let out a huge roar that made all the zombies stop all of a sudden. Then it grunted and growled and gestured and OH MY GOD IT WAS COMMUNICATING WITH THE OTHER ZOMBIES.
“Oh, this is not good,” I said.
“Oh my God. Oh my ever-loving God, what is happening?” Risa said.
There were maybe six zombies left, including the old man zombie and, believe it or not, they were in an informal huddle, looking like an amateur football team. Those zombies were concentrating their attention on the old man zombie, and he seemed to somehow be GIVING THEM INSTRUCTIONS.
“I don’t believe this,” I said. Looking around us, I saw that we were trapped like treed cats. “Listen, Risa. If this situation starts to go south, I want you to make a break for it, okay?”
“I won’t leave you, Alyssa,” Risa said.
“I’m not planning on becoming a martyr or anything, but I have a bad feeling about this and I ...,” I said.
“Alyssa, don’t even think that way. We will come out of this alive and we will find Luke,” Risa said.
Looking around again, I once again pointed my shotgun at the sky and let off three rounds about five seconds apart. I nodded to Risa and reloaded again. Risa nudged my arm, and when I looked up she gestured to the zombies. They were breaking apart slowly and something was happening.
They seemed to be a bit confused I thought, but then the old man zombie let out another loud roar and then hobble-charged right at us!
The other zombies followed him, and all of a sudden we had a small mob of half a dozen zombies rushing at our water tower. Risa and I could only watch as they came. Our guns pointed down, we wondered what was going on. This was not a good scenario at all. When dealing with zombies, I had always preferred to be on the side making the active decisions and controlling the game. Now they were calling the shots, executing some bizarre strategy from their zombie playbook.
We fired as they ran toward us. POP! POP!! POPPOPPOP!!
Two of the zombies fell to the ground, but four others just kept charging, in fact, they ran right under our ledge.
A split-second later we felt the water tower shudder and lean slightly before righting itself again. The zombies had hit the stilts holding us up. I couldn’t believe it. They had launched a coordinated attack and were trying to knock the water tower over to get at us.
“How on earth…?” I said. I didn’t have time to finish my sentence. They were still directly under us, pushing at the stilts in an effort to finish the job.
We teetered as the zombies below us pushed at the stilts. The water tower swung back and forth several times as we hung on to the wooden planks. Then for a few seconds, it stopped moving to the side and I thought perhaps the zombies had given up. But apparently they had just stepped back to gather their strength for another push, because all of a sudden the movement started again and it was worse than before. We hung on tightly to anything we could grab, but it was no use.
“Oh! OH!!” Risa said, as the water tower leaned alarmingly to the side.
“We’re going to have to jump! Come on!” I said, as the thing began to topple over.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Blog Tour: Violet Midnight by Lynn Rush (Book Review and Giveaway)






Title: Violet Midnight
Author: Lynn Rush
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press

About the Book: Let the Hunt begin….

Blending in with her college co-eds proves difficult for vampire Hunter, Emma Martin, considering the mystical tattoo on her wrist glows whenever Vamps are near. And after three months of silence, the glow is back with a vengeance.

Jake Cunningham witnesses Emma, a violet-eyed beauty, using unimaginable powers to fight off a fanged creature. Finally, after two years of searching, he may have found out what he’s become—a Hunter, like Emma.

Thankful for an ally in the fight against the Vamps, Emma finds hope and comfort in Jake’s arms. As she learns more about her new love’s family and its dark heritage, she may be forced not only to hunt them but to sacrifice her life to save Jake’s soul.

***A portion of all proceeds benefits cancer research and awareness***


My thoughts: I liked the way that this book started out showing us immediately what Emma was capable of doing.  It also showed her loyalty to her friends and her willingness to take on the role that has been thrust upon her.  Unfortunately, this role has also kept her pretty isolated and not willing to let anyone in completely.

Then she meets Jake.  She is immediately drawn to him and they soon discover that they share some similarities in what they have been going through the past two years. Together they start to piece together the mystery that surrounds them.  They think that they are on the right track, but something in Jake's past is about to rear it's ugly head and they will need to make some choices that they believe are impossible.

This was a very fast read and the story takes place over only a couple of weeks, so the pace never seems to let up.  It is the beginning of the Violet Night Trilogy, so you are left with a couple of unanswered questions at the end.  It is a somewhat new take on Vampires for me, and that was a nice change!

~I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from Bewitching Book Tours in exchange for my review.~






a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the author: Driven to write, Lynn Rush often sees her characters by closing her eyes watching their story unfold in her mind. Lynn Rush is a pen name that is a combination of two sources – Lynn, the first name of her mother-in-law, who passed away and Rush – since the author is a former inline speed skater and mountain biker. All of Rush’s books are dedicated to Lynn, her namesake, and a portion of the proceeds benefits cancer research and awareness.

Rush holds a degree in psychology from Southwest Minnesota State University and a master's degree from the University of Iowa. Originally from Minneapolis, Rush currently enjoys living in the Arizona sunshine by road biking nearly 100 miles per week with her husband of 16 years and jogging with her two loveable Shetland Sheep dogs.
Connect with Lynn:

Catch the Rush™ 
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Monday, October 1, 2012

Flight by Alyssa Rose Ivy (Review, Guest Post and Giveaway)


Flight by Alyssa Rose Ivy Tour Schedule

September 17 Tour Intro

September 17 Review

September 17 Review

September 18 Guest blog

September 18 review

September 19 Interview

September 20 Guest blog

September 21 Interview and review

September 22 Review

September 23 Promo

September 23 Promo and review

September 24 Interview

September 25 Interview

September 25 Review

September 26 Interview and review

September 27 Interview and review

September 28 Guest blog and review

September 28 review

September 29 Guest blog

September 30 review

October 1 Guest blog and review

October 2 Guest blog or Character Interview and review

October 3 Guest blog

October 3 Guest blog

October 4 Promo

October 4 review

October 5 Guest blog

October 5 Interview and review

October 6 Guest blog and review

October 7 Promo and review

October 9 Guest blog

October 10 Interview and review

October 11 Promo/Excerpt and review

October 12 Interview and review

October 13 Interview and review

October 13 Promo (Music Playlist) and review

October 14 review

October 15 Interview

October 15 review

October 15 Review

Title: Flight (The Crescent 

Chronicles, #1)

Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

Genre: Mature YA/New Adult Paranormal Romance

About the Book: Sometimes you just have to take flight.

A summer in New Orleans is exactly what Allie needs before starting college. Accepting her dad’s invitation to work at his hotel offers an escape from her ex-boyfriend and the chance to spend the summer with her best friend. Meeting a guy is the last thing on her mind—until she sees Levi.

Unable to resist the infuriating yet alluring Levi, Allie finds herself at the center of a supernatural society and forced to decide between following the path she has always trusted or saving a city that might just save her.


About the authorAlyssa Rose Ivy lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. 

You can connect with her at the following places:




Meeting a Real Paranormal Creature
by Alyssa Rose Ivy

In Flight, Allie is given no warning before being thrust into a paranormal world. When writing her story, I found myself wondering how I’d react in that situation.

In most paranormal-human encounters in books and movies the human reacts in one of two ways, either they think it’s really cool, or they are terrified and run away from it. I’d like to think I’d find it cool, but the truth is I’d be the type who would run away. Even my experience in writing paranormal books would be no match for the reality that those kind of creatures could actually exist.

Hopefully after some time to think about it, I’d return and at least get some good ideas for my next book.

How do you think you’d react?




My review:  I took an instant liking to Allie, but I had a hard time imagining her as an 18-year-old the summer before college - she seemed older.  (I have an 18yo senior in high school right now and can't imagine being comfortable with her in a new city with as much freedom as her parents gave her. . . - but then that's just me) But anyway, she ends up in New Orleans, living in a suite at her dad's hotel with her girlfriend Jess, sharing a cushy job with her where it appears she can set her own hours.  Who wouldn't like that gig!?

On her first night there she meets Levi, and while she tries to give him the brush off, this just makes her more desirable in his eyes. Even without encouraging him she can't deny the attraction that she feels for him.  Jess seems taken with his friend Jared so it is inevitable that they end up spending a few evenings together.  

Jess heads home after things heat up between her and Jared and she crosses a line that she isn't comfortable with, and since Allie is left basically alone in New Orleans, Levi steps in to keep her company.  She is quickly pulled in to his world and discovers that she likes the adrenaline rush that it leaves her with and even makes a new girlfriend, Hailey - who will also be a college freshman in the fall. 

The book moves along at a rapid pace - read it in pretty much one sitting - but it basically lays the groundwork for the series.  There are a lot of people introduced and lots of questions left unanswered - many of which I am sure will be addressed in the books to come. I like the way the relationship is left between Allie and Levi and can't wait to see where it will eventual lead.  The second book, Focus, is due out in January 2013. 

~I received a complimentary Ecopy of Flight as part of the Bewitching Blog Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~

a Rafflecopter giveaway




Purchase the book:

Thursday, September 27, 2012

PROMO: Under the Desert Moon (with excerpt and Guest Post)





Title: Under the Desert Moon
Author: Emma Meade
Publisher: Soul Fire Press

Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance

About the book: 17 year old Erin Harris spends her time daydreaming, hoping to escape her small town life in Copperfield, Arizona.  When a movie crew arrives unexpectedly to shoot a vampire film over the summer, Erin’s small town world changes forever. 

Erin is positive she has seen the star, James Linkin before in a thirty year old TV show.  He hasn’t aged a day. How is this possible?  Erin is determined to find out, but how will James handle the scrutiny of an all too intelligent teenage girl?



About the author: Emma Meade lives in rainy Ireland. She loves vampires, slayers, witches, ghosts, aliens & shadow men (or at least the youngest of the Shadow Men), and regular people who live extraordinary lives (think Slayerettes and you’re on the right track).

Books, DVDS & TV show boxsets take up lots of space in her home, and she collects all the Point Horror books she can get her hands on.

Writing supernatural short stories and watching marathon re-runs of Buffy are some of her favourite ways of escaping reality.





Author Website: http://emmameadebooks.com/ 


Goodreads Author Page:

Goodreads book page:




Please enjoy this excerpt from Under the Desert Moon:

Erin stared out her bedroom window, wishing as always that she was elsewhere. Anywhere but here, she thought wistfully.
Nothing ever happened in this rundown town, not since the last mine had closed a decade ago. Copperfield, Arizona, was dusty, quiet and old-fashioned. It took months for the latest movie to make it to The Oracle theatre where Erin worked part-time, but it was the easiest job in the world. It got Erin out of the house she shared with her brothers and angry, alcoholic father, put money in her savings account, and most importantly, Erin got to see movies free.
It was escapism. For a couple of hours she could lose herself in another world, imagining herself as the beautiful heroine. Erin was waiting for the day she would learn she wasn’t her father’s daughter. That her mother had embarked on some secret affair with a handsome, rich man, and it was only a matter of time before he discovered her existence and introduced Erin to his world.
Sighing, she rested her chin in her hand. A cool summer breeze ruffled the curtains and lifted the strands of her bangs, tickling Erin’s forehead. She hated this tomb-like town, but had to admit that at night, Copperfield was beautiful. The desert gleamed beneath a full moon, and the scent of vegetation from the garden was spicy and fragrant. Erin breathed it deeply.
A cloud at that moment obscured the moon, and the hairs on her arms lifted. The breeze died down suddenly and she straightened up. She felt distinctly peculiar. Was there a storm coming?
The door to her bedroom sprang inwards. Startled, Erin turned to shout at whichever brother had disturbed her peace. It was Nick, her twin.
“Do you mind?” Erin said.
Nick’s sea-blue eyes gleamed. They were just like Erin’s. “You’re never going to believe this, Sis, sincerely.”
Erin rolled her eyes. “Try me.”
“A crew from Hollywood is in town. Copperfield’s the location for some scary movie.”
“Are you kidding?” Erin said, jumping off her bed.
“They’re all in Casey’s right now. The whole town’s there.” Nick was practically hopping with excitement.
“Oh, my God,” Erin said. “Why Copperfield? What kind of scary movie?” Slasher or ghost story? she wondered. She preferred the latter.
Nick shrugged. “Let’s go find out.”
Erin grabbed her jacket and followed him. Finally, there might actually be some life in this town, she thought.
“Hey, where you kids going?” her father's slurred voice demanded.
Erin caught a whiff of his beer breath as she passed and grimaced. Gross.
“Out,” she said, and slammed the door hard.

Casey’s diner was busier than Erin had ever seen it. Several waitresses were scooting across the shiny tiles in red and white roller skates that matched their uniforms. Every booth in the place was taken. Customers were eating their hamburgers and fries standing at the counter.
Erin’s eyes scanned the restaurant quickly as she crossed the threshold with Nick at her heels. A gust of air at the entrance lifted her long, chocolate brown hair off her neck, and raised goosebumps on her tanned arms. Strange. It wasn’t even cold that evening.
She paused inside, inhaling sharply. Her eyes were drawn immediately to the young man sitting at the biggest booth, furthest in the back. His presence radiated charm, charisma and self-assurance. Erin couldn’t help but notice the dusky brown of his eyes tinged with flecks of green, and the easy curve of his lips. He looked so familiar, but she couldn’t place him.
“Hey,” she poked Nick. “You know his name?” She watched him laugh heartily with his companions and lean back against the leather seat in complete ease.
Nick shook his head. “Don’t recognize him.”
“I’ve seen him in some TV show before. I think,” Erin added uncertainly. This was going to bug her.
“He’s the lead actor,” Nick said. “I heard people talking about him when he got off the bus earlier.”
Erin approached the counter. “Hey, Mrs. Casey,” she called over the middle-aged owner. Mrs. Casey was a kind woman. Her husband had died from cancer three years previously, and she was running the joint single-handedly. She also seemed to know everything in town before everyone else. “You know anything about this movie?”
“Sure. The crew’s just been here for hours, sugar. It’s one of those scary movies. Copperfield’s a real cheap place to shoot, I guess. That gorgeous boy over there,” she nodded in the direction of the young man Erin had been drawn to. “Name is James Linkin. He’s going to play the bad boy.”
Erin chanced another glance his way, not wanting to be caught staring. It didn’t matter. All eyes were on his table, particularly all female gazes.
“He ordered a hot dog from me just before you got here,” Mrs. Casey said. She chuckled. “He’s a little charmer from what I’ve seen so far.”
“What kind of bad boy?” Erin asked. Her stomach was fluttering. It hadn’t done that since she’d watched Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall last summer in The Oracle. She’d been forced to throw a Brad weekend there for one of the most popular girls at school, Lyndsey Mason, her older brother’s girlfriend.
Now looking at James, she believed him to be even more handsome. Erin marveled at her racing hormones. She usually wasn’t as silly as the other girls in school, or so she liked to think. She risked another look at him. Dark hair with sunny tints when the light caught it right, pale skin, strong jaw, slender build…
“Vampire, I think,” Mrs. Casey’s voice broke Erin’s train of thought. “It's going to be some kind of horror romance.”




Unfinished Work
by Emma Meade
I have a stockpile of half complete novels and some barely started books that I hope to return to some day.  Among them is a novel set in Ireland and Boston following a teenage vampire hunter, Sarah Knight.  This was the first novel I ever wrote and actually completed.  I started it the summer after I finished secondary school (high school), but re-wrote it several times over the years.  I also have the outline of the follow up novel to it jotted down somewhere 
            Another story I began back in school calls to me at times.  Set in a time of Celtic myths and legends, it follows the story of a daughter of a Chieftain who has no idea of her ties to the darker fairy world.  It is tentatively titled Ripples.  I also have a hand-written novel about a group of teenagers with various psychic abilities.  I don't think this will ever see the light of day.
            When I was a teenager, my friend Danielle and I would write Buffy fan fiction. We had a laugh writing new episodes featuring Xander, Willow, Angel and co. These are all hand-written, so who knows if I'll ever knuckle down and type these up.  It might be fun just to see how bad, or possibly good my writing was ten to fifteen years ago.
            I also created a short science-fiction series called Anomaly.  In my dreams, I hoped it would become a TV series (feel free to laugh here).  My school pals diligently read each ‘episode’ for me and gave me lots of feedback.  God bless those girls for putting up with me.  Anomaly focused on a high school in Massachusetts.  Due to an explosion in a genetics lab many years previously, the town's pregnant women were infected with a virus and their children were genetically stronger humans than normal.  I wrote this a year or two before Dark Angel came out and I remember being so annoyed that someone beat me to the punch. J  Nicky was the only 'normal' human at the school, and the series dealt with bullying and prejudice.  I must dig it out from whatever box the scripts are hiding in one of these days, and have a read. 

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Mad World: Epidemic by Samaire Provost - Blog Tour and Giveaway!




Title: Mad World: Epidemic
Author: Samaire Provost
Publisher: CreateSpace

About the Book: The Black Plague is ancient history. It killed 100 million people nearly seven centuries ago, halfway around the world from the technologically advanced research center at Stanford University. Scientists there have recently begun examining samples of bone marrow from plague-infected corpses unearthed in Europe. All the necessary safeguards are in place. What could go wrong?

Alyssa and Jake are away with their class on a highly anticipated year-end trip to Broadway with their senior acting class when all hell breaks loose at home. Traveling back, and trying to find their families, they encounter deadly results. Riots are breaking out. People are being evacuated. And they have no idea what's happening to their families.

Horrific ordeals, heart-pounding tragedy, and chance encounters harden them for what lies ahead. Faced with tormenting decisions, they're forced to follow their instinct for survival at any cost - even when the cost is a heart-wrenching decision of life or death.

A harrowing adventure of frightening discoveries, horrifying confrontations and narrow escapes in Epidemic, the first installment of the Mad World series.
Find out what's got everyone so terrified.

My thoughts: This is Samaire Provost's debut novel, and while predictable, it was entertaining.  There were a few things that I had some trouble with, like an iPad that seemed to keep its charge for a week before needing to be plugged in, and the trip from New York to California by van seemed impossibly short but the book - or really a novella (160 pages) was a very fast moving read.  

I liked the camaraderie among the students and how, regardless of their situation and who joined them on the 'adventure', they watched either other's backs and tried to never leave a friend behind.  I especially liked Risa, a seven year old neighbor girl of one of the students that they picked up along the way.  She was resilient, optimistic and brought out the mothering instinct in Alyssa, who stepped forward as one of the leaders of the group. 

The author leaves you wanting to know more at the end of the book, and book 2 just came out about a week ago.  It is called Mad World: Sanctuary.  I will most likely read it as I want to know what happens to the group.  

~I received a complimentary ecopy of this book from Bewitching Book Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~

Publisher/Publication Date: CreateSpace, July 2012
ISBN:  978-1478317371
ASIN:  B008PO969O
160 pages



About the author: Samaire Provost lives in California with her husband and son.


Her love of paranormal stories, odd plots, and unique tales as well as the works of Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, Madeleine L'Engle and Stephen King has deeply influenced her writing. 

You can connect with her on twitter, facebook, tumblr, and amazon





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Samaire was nice enough to take some type out and answer some interview questions for me, so please welcome her to Books and Needlepoint. 

1. How do you typically write? Do you plot it all out beforehand or do you just let the story pour out?

I think about it and get a rough outlined drafted in my head. Then I write out the outline, and add to it as I flesh the story out, which happens as I write it. So it’s a bit of both. I am very happy when the idea for a big chunk of story just pops into my brain. Sometimes it happens as I sleep, and I wake up in the morning having dreamt about the scene and story all night and I say, “EUREKA!” or something like that.

2. Do you have a favorite place to write or “must haves” while writing?

My husband and I are both writers, and we have a large table where we both have our computers set up. I call it “The Hub.” I have several lights set up, and I have to have my glass there. My glass is always full of ice. I am an ice eater. High five! If you know one.   

3. Do you have much say in the title or covers of you books?

My husband is a professional editor, and an amateur photographer and he is my greatest helper. I tell him what I have in mind for my cover and he designs it. It’s all a very indie family affair.
With regard to the titles, I have come up with all of those, although for Mad World book three, he suggested the title and I loved it!

4. Is there anything that has surprised you about writing, publishing or touring with your books?

Nothing really surprised me too much, because I’ve always wanted to do this, and when I first learned of Indie publishing I did thorough research and learned all about every aspect. I really did my homework.

5. Do you have a favorite author/book or one that you always recommend?

Neil Gaiman, I love everything he’s done. Rowling, I’m a huge Potterhead. Susan Cooper, Madeleine L’Engle, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett. They’ve all had a huge impact on me.

6. Was there anything (or anyone) while growing up which helped you decide you wanted to be a writer?

The books. Reading all the books I did growing up, and into adulthood: that’s what had the biggest influence on me. Books are everything!

7. Do you have a job outside of being an author?

I write full time. I treat it as a job, so I am at my desk at least eight hours every day, writing.


8. What would you tell a beginning writer?

Read voraciously, it’s how a writer learns to write. Ignore your fears and write. Write. Write some more. Finish.


9. What were your favorite books growing up?

“The Dark Is Rising” series
“A Wrinkle in Time” series
“The Black Stallion” series
The Star Trek episode books


10. Do you have any books on your nightstand right now?

The nightstand had about 25 books waiting to be read. The shelf beside it has another 100. Then there are the three bookshelves downstairs…

11. If you could meet one person who has died, who would that be?

Ray Bradbury. I have met him once, chatted ever so briefly with him, but I’d love a long afternoon with Ray. Just talking about books, stories he had yet to write, anything, really…

12. If you could co-author a book with anyone, who would it be?

Neil Gaiman

13. Do you have a favorite quote?

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
― Madeleine L'Engle

14. In one sentence, why should we read your book?

It’s the most exciting YA thriller you’ll have read in a long, long time!

15. What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

I was a star member of my Varsity Archery team in College.

16. What do you come up with first when creating your character- the back story, the plot, the characteristics?

The personality. The attitude. I have the different needs of the story in mind, first comes attitude, then personality, then the person of the character shapes around that. The main character in EPIDEMIC is Alyssa. She, to me, is like Ripley, from the Alien movies. Their personalities are very similar.

I can absolutely see Alyssa as Ripley and Risa would be Newt!

17. What do you do in your spare time?

I like to garden, and read. I read a lot. Also, I enjoy singing, and making art. I love to cross stitch and do drawn- and pulled-thread work on linen.
When I can I love to travel. I’ve been to Ireland and Israel. Next year we hope to visit Britain, Scotland and Wales.

Yay!  Someone else who likes cross stitch and pulled-thread work!

18. What does a day in your life look like?

I wake up quite late, usually around 11am. This is because the night before I’ve stayed up until 4 in the morning.
I spend the first hour trying to wake up. This involves Diet Pepsi and something easy for breakfast. Then I get down to work. First thing is promoting my books, wherever I can. Facebook, Twitter, email, you name it, I’ve done it, usually daily. Then I get down to writing. If I have something to edit, I do that first, to get into the swing of things, but otherwise, I write. I spend between six to eight hours writing every day. In between writing I walk the dog, and spend time with my husband. We usually talk book ideas or plot summaries or if I’ve written myself into a corner, we discuss it until I find a way around it.
Dinner, bed, and then reading in bed for at least 3 hours. Then sleep. Then it starts all over again.
I’m hoping to intersperse all this with book signing tour someday.

19. How does your family feel about having a writer in the family? Do they read your books?

They are extremely supportive! And believe me, it make a huge difference. And yes they do read my books. Especially my husband, he is my editor so he gets to read them first.

20. Is there anything else that you would like my readers to know?

That I appreciate each and every one of them. That I am on Twitter (@samairep) and Facebook (facebook.com/samairep) and that I blog (samaireprovost.tumblr.com)


Silly questions –
1. If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

I’d like to fly.

2. Do you have any hidden talents?

I can wiggle my ears.
I’m also a master class cross stitcher. 

3. Night owl or early bird?

Oh, night owl, definitely.

4. Favorite season?

Autumn

5. If someone wrote a book about your life, what would the title be?

Survivor


6. Favorite sport?

To play: Archery
To watch: Football


7. Favorite music?

A little bit of everything

8. Talk or text?

Text.

9. Cat or dog?

Both!

10. Favorite tv show?

Don’t watch TV too much.
I’m watching reruns of Farscape right now, and it’s pretty cool.

11. Favorite holiday destination?

Abroad: Ireland
In the US: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

12. Do you have a literary crush?

I just adore Stifyn Emrys!

13. If you could live in a literary world - what world would that be and why?

I would live in the world of Harry Potter. For obvious reasons

14. Most embarrassing moment?

I once went bowling and as I drew my arm back, holding the bowling ball, to swing it forward, the ball dropped with a resounding CRASH! behind me. The entire bowling alley stopped and looked.

My most embarrassing moment happened at a bowling alley as well - I was bowling in a league and was taking some warm ups, when my foot 'stuck' on something on the lane and I reflexively stepped forward - only to hit the oiled lane and land flat on my back - with my head in one gutter and my feet in the other!  On the up-side - I did bowl my best game ever!

15. If you could travel forward or backward in time, where would you go and why?

I’d go forward in time, to a time when man has reached the stars and lives there in harmony with aliens. I am a huge Star Trek and Sci Fi fan 

Please enjoy this excerpt:
From Chapter Three:


I hadn’t nodded off for five minutes when a scream pierced the air in the Emergency Room. I opened my eyes to chaos. From the corridor where Coach Turner had disappeared came several frantic screams. I jumped up and grabbed Risa’s hand and, without thinking, I sprinted down that corridor. The others ran after me, they had jumped at the sounds too.
Our tennis shoes squeaked in the polished hallway as I led the small group of us down the hall at a run. This was no longer the safe haven I had first taken it for. I wanted to get Coach and get the heck out of there fast. Something was happening, and I had felt it for a while. I hadn’t realized what the feeling was until now, but for the last half-hour I had felt a strange, unsettled lump in the pit of my stomach.
We ran down the curving corridor, and I nearly ran head on into Coach Turner. He was crouched in the middle of the hallway, screaming, with Debby in a hospital gown bent over him. As I came to a sudden stop, trying not to fall over them, I saw that she was biting down on his neck and shoulder. She heard me and looked up. Her dark brown face was beginning to turn a strange opaque black and her mouth was full of dripping blood, a piece of Turner’s neck hung from her teeth. Turner seemed woozy from pain and stumbled to the side. Debby grabbed him again even as she began to chew and swallow the flesh in her mouth.
“Mom!” cried Conner.
“Ahhh!” I screamed, and without thinking, I kicked her away from him and grabbed his arm. He was dazed and bleeding profusely from his head, but he got up and ran with me. We all started back the way we had come.
“Run! Go, now! Come on!” I yelled, barely pausing as I ran back the way we had come. I glanced down the hallway as I ran. Debby and five others people were walking down the corridor toward us. When I say walking, it was more like a stumbled lurching. Blood coated their mouths and the bottom halves of their faces. The skin on all them had a greyish black tinge to it. Their legs didn’t seem to work as well as they should. Their arms swung in a funny way, too. But their eyes: there wasn’t a darned thing funny about their eyes. Although their eyes seemed to be turning somewhat opaque, they were fixed on us. Our pursuers emitted low groaning sounds as they stumbled forward, and their eyes never wavered from their prey. That was what freaked me out: they looked at us with hungry looks. Their eyes never blinked. Their grey faces were blank except for those eyes. So much expression in those eyes.
I made a strangled sound and turned again to run in the direction I had just come from. Risa had seen those people too, and she almost outpaced me. But then the unthinkable happened. As we ran all out, Risa stumbled after me, trying to keep up. I hung on to her hand, but my I was going too fast for her, and she fell. She hit the corridor floor hard and hit her head. I grabbed her and tried to get her up, but her eyes were closed and her head bled at the crown. She was nearly unconscious and there was no time to stop, so I grabbed her and flung her over my shoulder and kept running. Conner and Emily helped Coach Turner run and we began again to make our way down the corridor. Those people were right behind us, but we ran hard and drew away from them.
The lot of us ran down the hall, stopping only to grab our stuff before running out of the doors we had entered not an hour previously.
“Come on, guys!” I screamed, handing Risa to DeAndre and fumbling in Coach’s pockets for the van keys. We heard new screams coming from the waiting room. Those grey lurching people had come into the room and as I looked through the glass doors I saw one grey man with a bloody face grab a woman who had been sitting near us. He held her and bit down on her face. She screamed as blood poured from the bite. He continued gnawing on her and, paralyzed with fear, she seemed incapable of anything but screaming as he destroyed the left side of her face. I turned and helped get Risa and Turner into the van, then scrambled into the driver’s seat.
“Are we all in?” I yelled as I started the van.
“Jacob was in the bathroom! He’s still in there! Oh My God!” screamed Emily. As she said this, Jacob sprinted out the doors at top speed. He was on the track team as well as the theatre club, and he flew like the wind.
It’s a good thing Jacob ran so fast, because Conner’s mom was in hot pursuit. Conner opened the door and waved to Jacob, who sprinted toward us. When he reached the van, he jumped in, slamming the doors with about 10 seconds to spare. Debby was right behind him, and as I threw the van into reverse, she lurched up to the vehicle, slapping the driver’s-side window with a bloody hand.
“MOM!!!” sobbed Conner.
“OH SHIT!” I exclaimed as I squealed the tires and drove in reverse away from the nightmare that had been Conner’s mother only an hour ago. In a move that would make any NASCAR driver proud, I sped backwards and then wrenched the wheel and flipped the van forward, slamming the gearshift into drive and gunning the engine, so that as we peeled out of the parking lot on two wheels. We must have been doing 50 mph. There was a minute there when we almost tipped to the left, but I got the van under control and sped down the road, leaving the nightmare behind us (we hoped).


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