Desert Rice/Desert Flower by Angela Scott (Book Reviews)

Welcome to the Virtual Book Tour of Desert Flower presented by Reading Addiction Blog Tours - February 18 - March 15!

February 18 - Reading Addiction Blog Tours - Meet and Greet

February 19 - Books and Needlepoint - Review

February 20 - Bean Counting Mommy - Review

February 22 - Snifferwalk - Review

February 23 - Andi's YA Books - Review/Interview

February 24 - The adventures Within - Review/INterview

February 25 - Author Ever Leigh - Review

February 26 - My Reading Addiction - Review

February 28 - 

March 1 - Queen of All She Reads - Review/interview

March 2 - Doodle's Book Blog - Review

March 3 - Reviewing Shelf - review

March 4 - Must Read Faster - Review

March 5 - 

March 6 - Oh! The Books That You'll Read - Review

March 7 - 

March 10 - A Bibliophile's Thoughts - Review

March 11 - My Neurotic Book Affair - Review

March 12 - My Cozie Corner- Review

March 13 - Book Maven - Review

March 13 - My Seryniti - Review

March 14 - Kaisy Daisy Blog - Review

March 15 - Taking it One Page at a Time - Review/Interview

March 15 - RABT Reviews - Review

Desert Rice

Desert Flower

About Desert Rice: Samantha Jean Haggert is a beautiful twelve-year-old girl—but no one knows it. All they see is an awkward boy in a baseball cap and baggy pants. Sam’s not thrilled with the idea of hiding her identity, but it’s all part of her older brother’s plan to keep Sam safe from male attention and hidden from the law. Fifteen-year-old Jacob will stop at nothing to protect his sister, including concealing the death of the one person who should have protected them in the first place—their mother.

Sam and Jacob try to outrun their past by stealing the family car and traveling from West Virginia to Arizona, but the adult world proves mighty difficult to navigate, especially for two kids on their own. Trusting adults has never been an option; no adult has ever given them a good reason. But when Sam meets “Jesus”—who smells an awful lot like a horse—in the park, life takes a different turn. He saved her once, and may be willing to save Sam and her brother again, if only they admit what took place that fateful day in West Virginia. The problem? Sam doesn’t remember, and Jacob isn’t talking.

About Desert Flower: Bodies have a canny way of finding Samantha Jean Haggert. The first, the dead body of her mama. The second, a naked man in the middle of the Arizona desert. For Sam, dealing with one dead body in her lifetime is more than unfair. Two, is downright cruel.

Seven years after running from West Virginia, Sam's now a young woman of nineteen, trying to put the pieces of her life together with the help of her family—Jacob, Boone, and Laura. But the naked man in the desert spirals her world out of control, resurfacing past hurts, revealing old secrets, and pitting her between two men who via for her heart. Carson, her friend, her first kiss, and the one man who knows everything about her past and loves her despite it. And Turner, the stranger who knows nothing, but who excites and frustrates her all at once. 

When bad choices made as a child leads to more bad choices as a young adult, Sam finds herself at a crossroads and is forced to face her demons head on if she plans to have any future at all—with Carson, with Turner, or with anyone. But fixing the wrongs of the past takes time, and learning to forgive herself is damn near impossible.

Buy Links 

Amazon

DESERT RICE 

DESERT FLOWER 

Barnes & Noble: 

DESERT FLOWER

iTunes: 

DESERT FLOWER 

Tori's Thoughts: I read Desert Rice in preparation for reading Desert Flower and am glad that I read them in order.  The first book gave me some background and insight into the story that may not have had quite the same punch without reading it.  I liked seeing the strong relationship between Jacob and Sam evolve - in the first book Sam is only twelve, but is wise beyond her years due to her circumstances.  She has lived through sexual abuse, betrayal, murder, but has also learned how strong family bonds can be, even if they are not related by blood. 

 Desert Flower starts out seven years later and her relationship with Carson (a boy who had become her protector in Desert Rice) has changed into a physical one.  Feeling confused, days later she also sleeps with Turner.  This creates one very interesting love triangle.  

I enjoyed that Jacob was still so supportive of Sam, even though he knew about both men in her life.  You also got to learn more about Laura and Boone in this book - they had taken them in in Desert Rice and without owing anybody any obligation have adopted them as their own.  In Desert Flower this relationship solidifies and you see what great people they really are.  

The pace of the book was consistent throughout Desert Rice and Desert Flower.  The story would move along over a period of days and then jump ahead a few weeks - which was confusing at first, but then I came to expect the jumps in time.  This wasn't really my style of book, as I really enjoy fantasy and sci-fi - but I found myself very involved in the story and did not want to stop reading.  I have a feeling there is a third book that could come out of this story.  My mom just told me that she has written a Zombie series and I am really looking forward to reading those!

REVIEW BY TORI! 
(Video added by her proud mom. . .  seemed like a good theme song for these books!)

~I received complimentary ecopies of these books from Reading Addiction Blog Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~

About the author: I hear voices. Tiny fictional people sit on my shoulders and whisper their stories in my ear. Instead of medicating myself, I decided to pick up a pen, write down everything those voices tell me, and turn it into a book. I’m not crazy. I’m an author. For the most part, I write contemporary Young Adult novels. However, through a writing exercise that spiraled out of control, I found myself writing about zombies terrorizing the Wild Wild West—and loving it. My zombies don’t sparkle, and they definitely don’t cuddle. At least, I wouldn’t suggest it.

I live on the benches of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains with two lovely children, one teenager, and a very patient husband. I graduated from Utah State University with a B.A. degree in English, not because of my love for the written word, but because it was the only major that didn’t require math. I can’t spell, and grammar is my arch nemesis. But they gave me the degree, and there are no take backs.

As a child, I never sucked on a pacifier; I chewed on a pencil. I’ve been writing that long. It has only been the past few years that I’ve pursued it professionally, forged relationships with other like-minded individuals, and determined to make a career out of it.

You can subscribe and follow me on my website, where I blog obsessively about my writing process and post updates on my current works. I’m also on Twitter and Facebook, but be forewarned, I tweet and post more than a normal person.

You can connect with Angela at the following places:
Website
Twitter
Facebook

Desert Rice
Publisher/Publication Date:  Evolved Publishing, June 2012
ISBN: 9781622538546
225 pages


Desert Flower
Publisher/Publication Date: Evolved Publishing, Jan 2013
ISBN: 9781622538607
216 pages

Desert Rice by Angela Scott - Excerpt and Giveaway!

YA Contemporary 

Title: Desert Rice 

Author: Angela Scott

 Date Published: 8/13/12 

 Synopsis: Samantha Jean Haggert is a beautiful twelve-year-old girl—but no one knows it. All they see is an awkward boy in a baseball cap and baggy pants. Sam’s not thrilled with the idea of hiding her identity, but it’s all part of her older brother’s plan to keep Sam safe from male attention and hidden from the law. Fifteen-year-old Jacob will stop at nothing to protect his sister, including concealing the death of the one person who should have protected them in the first place—their mother. 

 Sam and Jacob try to outrun their past by stealing the family car and traveling from West Virginia to Arizona, but the adult world proves mighty difficult to navigate, especially for two kids on their own. Trusting adults has never been an option; no adult has ever given them a good reason. But when Sam meets “Jesus”—who smells an awful lot like a horse—in the park, life takes a different turn. He saved her once, and may be willing to save Sam and her brother again, if only they admit what took place that fateful day in West Virginia. The problem? Sam doesn’t remember, and Jacob isn’t talking. 

Author Bio

I hear voices. Tiny fictional people sit on my shoulders and whisper their stories in my ear. Instead of medicating myself, I decided to pick up a pen, write down everything those voices tell me, and turn it into a book. I’m not crazy. I’m an author. For the most part, I write contemporary Young Adult novels. However, through a writing exercise that spiraled out of control, I found myself writing about zombies terrorizing the Wild Wild West—and loving it. My zombies don’t sparkle, and they definitely don’t cuddle. At least, I wouldn’t suggest it. 
I live on the benches of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains with two lovely children, one teenager, and a very patient husband. I graduated from Utah State University with a B.A. degree in English, not because of my love for the written word, but because it was the only major that didn’t require math. I can’t spell, and grammar is my arch nemesis. But they gave me the degree, and there are no take backs. As a child, I never sucked on a pacifier; I chewed on a pencil. I’ve been writing that long. It has only been the past few years that I’ve pursued it professionally, forged relationships with other like-minded individuals, and determined to make a career out of it. 
You can find me at my website, where I blog obsessively about my writing process and post updates on my current works. I’m also on Twitter and Facebook, but be forewarned, I tweet and post more than a normal person. 

Contact 
Blog 
Twitter - @whimsywriting
Facebook


Excerpt from Desert Rice

We stopped in a remote town outside of Kansas City, and while Jacob added a few dollars of gas to the car, I went inside the convenience store to use the restroom. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, but when I returned to the car, Jacob kept glancing around, and his hands shook even though the sun hung high in the midday sky.

"We need to go. Get in the car."

His jitteriness made me nervous. I couldn't see anything around that should, but I climbed into the car as he'd told me to. He reached across and locked my door, and I tensed and sat rigid in my seat.

"What's going on?"

"Not now." He started the car and we pulled onto the highway.

He kept looking into the rearview mirror every few seconds, so I turned in my seat and glanced behind us, too. I didn't see a thing. No one followed us.

"Is it the police?"

He didn't say anything, but pressed on the gas to make the car go faster. I continued to watch behind us, but after awhile I gave up and turned back around in my seat. I'd no idea why he acted the way he did.

"You're scaring me." I watched my brother's profile. "What's going on?"

"We're going to have to cut your hair."

That took me by surprise, and I struggled to understand what one thing had to do with the other. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you see how those guys back there looked at you?" He turned and glanced at me before staring ahead again.

"What guys?" I had no idea what he was talking about.

"The ones sitting outside the gas station. They watched you the whole time."

"You mean the guys with the motorcycles?" A couple of bikers parked outside the convenience store hadn't appeared to be doing much of anything, just sitting there. I'd hardly noticed them at all.

He nodded. "They watched everything you did."

"I didn't see them watching me."

He sneered. "That doesn't surprise me. You don't notice anything."

"So what," I argued. "So they were watching me. What's the big deal? Why do I have to cut my hair?"

Jacob breathed deeply and then released it. "Because you didn't see the way they looked at you." He kept driving onward. "Sam, don't you have any better clothes than this?" He tugged on my tank shirt. "You've got to get rid of this and those cutoff shorts too. You're attracting the wrong kind of attention."

"I'm not trying to attract any attention. I'm not doing anything—"

"It's not you, Sam," he interrupted. "It's those perverts that I'm worried about. You're growing up and men are starting to look."

Why would men be looking at a twelve-year-old girl? A chill ran down my spine, and I shivered while looking back out the rear window again. No one followed behind us.

I slumped back down in my seat. "So, why do I have to cut my hair?"

He stared at me and then looked away. "Because, Sam, the best way to keep you safe is to make you look like you're my brother."

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Forgive Me, Alex by Lane Diamond (Book Review)

Title: Forgive Me, Alex
Author: Lane Diamond
Publisher: Evolved Publishing

About the Book: Tony Hooper stands in shadow across the street, one amongst many in the crowd of curiosity-hounds gathered to watch a monster’s release. Seventeen years after Mitchell Norton, “the devil,” terrorized Algonquin, Illinois on a spree of kidnapping, torture and murder, the authorities release the butcher from psychiatric prison.

Tony longs to charge across the street to destroy Norton—no remorse—as if stepping on a cockroach. Only sheer force of will prevents his doing so.

“The devil” walks the world again. What shall Tony do about it? Aye, what indeed.

After all, this is what he does. It’s who he is. “The devil” himself long ago made Tony into this hunter of monsters. What a sweet twist of fate this is, that he may still, finally, administer justice.

Will FBI Special Agent Linda Monroe stop him? She owes him her life, so how can she possibly put an end to his?

Tony Hooper and Mitchell Norton battle for supremacy, with law enforcement always a step away, in this story of justice and vengeance, evil and redemption, fear and courage, love and loss.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE GIVEAWAY ON GOODREADS UNTIL AUG 31

My thoughts:  This book kept me riveted!  It is told through the eyes of both Tony Hooper and MItchell Norton.  It starts in 1995 as Mitchell is being released from prison and goes back and forth from that time frame to 1978, when all the tragedy occurs.  

I loved the way that the author draws you in to the story right away, and then slowly dishes you out the details.  You know the outcome, because Mitchell was in prison for 17 years - but you don't know everything that happens in 1978 and those are the details that you are spoon-fed through out the rest of the book.  

At the same time you struggle along with Tony as he wades through his memories as well as what he has become because of Mitchell.  Along with Linda, the FBI agent who cut her teeth on the Norton case, and has crossed paths with Tony over the years, you hope that he is able to overcome the wall he has put up to keep people from getting too close.  

I thought this was a great thriller and am looking forward to reading more by this author.  Please enjoy the excerpt below from Forgive Me, Alex. 

~I received a complimentary ecopy of this book from Novel Publicity in exchange for my review.~

About the author:   I write fiction, long and short. My writings cross over many genres and focus on diverse subjects, ranging from the mysteries of the human mind, with its fragile psychological and emotional states, to the everyday joy and anguish of life on Earth. Ultimately, characters move me – as both a reader and an author. It’s all about the people. When not writing, I’m Publisher and Executive Editor at Evolved Publishing. Connect with me on my website, Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads, or via Evolved Publishing.

Forgive Me, Alex: An Excerpt

Mitchell Norton, the man I've long considered the devil, smiles atop the courthouse steps and waves to the simmering crowd. He tilts his head back to soak in the sunshine and cool breeze of the late spring day, the tranquility of which stands in stark contrast to the circumstances of this event.

The mere sight of him pushes me to the dark edge of my mind, where sanity hangs like... like... like a balloon in a tornado!

I stand in shadow across the street, one amongst many in the crowd of curiosity-hounds gathered to watch a monster's release. As my face blazes, fists clench and teeth grind, I can easily imagine the onset of a stroke, an aneurism, a pulmonary embolism, a raging scream—

Control yourself, Tony!

I long to charge across the street to destroy him—no remorse—as if stepping on a cockroach. Only sheer force of will prevents my doing so.

For seventeen years, I assumed this day would never come. How could they even consider releasing this vile creature, this very personification of evil?

In 1978, Norton murdered innocent kids who'd barely tasted of life. He tortured two of them beyond the limits of rational imagination, for to imagine such deeds was to summon a devilry that we dared not face. Yet the jury held him not responsible, a victim himself to the ravages of an illness that drove him to insanity beyond our reckoning.

He thus resides forever in the darkest pit of my psyche, chained to me in perpetuity. Now only two choices remain: I must cast off those chains, or yank them tight around his neck. Yes, I must obtain satisfaction. The idiotic jury seventeen years ago, and today's flawed court system, has left little recourse. No one else seems willing to deliver him to justice.

I am willing. After all, this is what I do. It's who I am. Indeed, the devil himself made me into this hunter of monsters. What a sweet twist of fate this is, that I may still, finally, administer justice.

He descends the stairs toward his waiting car with an arrogant swagger, watching the small group of protestors, the news reporters, and the police officers here to ensure a peaceful transition, as if to challenge them. His wicked grin never waivers.

Oh, that grin. For seventeen years it has taunted me, punished me for my indecision, my incompetence. I missed my chance to kill him in 1978, to remove his damned head—simple, as if cutting a sheet of paper. It would have been a fitting end for a monster.

Why did I let him live?

Like whispers in a storm, those memories only tease at me now, here at this obscene and maddening event. I'm trying not to relive every moment of 1978. Every time I do, I feel as if swimming in quicksand, anchored by my constant companions—sorrow and guilt. I'm too damned tired; can't shake the confusion, the dread. I fear surrendering to fear.

My life teems with just such wretched ironies.

As Norton vanishes inside a black sedan—looks like standard-issue law enforcement—I dash through the crowds to my van. Despite this call to action, my mind again zeroes-in on memories of 1978. I recall the court proceedings, particularly the devil's own twisted testimony, as though it were yesterday. I've only relived it ten thousand times.

Then twenty-six, Norton was a man-child who'd never quite grasped the nuance of adulthood. He continued to wash dishes at a restaurant, ten years into the only job he'd ever held. He found it comfortable and unchallenging—perfect. He harbored no great yearnings, nor imagined exciting possibilities, nor sought lucrative rewards.

Then everything changed. He said that was when his new life emerged, when he became more aware, even more intelligent. He better understood the world around him. He discovered what he called "The Purpose" in the spring of 1978, and it guided his every deed. He claimed he became a man that year.

I remember it quite clearly as the year he became the devil.

The words I wrote in my diary at the time return to me, a personal anthem more relevant than ever: Rage flows like lava through my veins. My soul slowly roasts upon the flames. How did I ever let it come to this?

Now mortality, as it did seventeen years ago, lingers above me like the hangman's noose. Yet it looms more ominous than ever, as if it will drop down around my neck at any moment. After all, I know the true Mitchell Norton. And whom shall I fear if not the devil, the grim torturer who conquered my aspirations and left me without a recognizable world of my own?

Or is it me that I fear? The man I've become? The man Norton made me?

Some fancy maneuvering is required to escape the crowds and the police at the courthouse. I manage to keep Norton in sight, zigzagging between lanes and keeping several vehicles between us, hanging back far enough to avoid detection without losing him. Uncertain emotions bubble up, some indecipherable combination of dread and anticipation, fear and excitement, vengeance and sorrow. I must know where he'll make his home, information that has been difficult to obtain, as the authorities are concerned with Norton's security.

Give me a break! They should express their security concerns not for the devil himself, but for his next victims.

Oh yes, I know Norton too well. He will torture, murder and dismember again. The temptation will be too great to resist.

I saw him up close in 1978, looked into the soul of the devil, as we waded through the blood and gore he'd spilled. I couldn't fathom his unrepentant pleasure, the sick thrill, his gleeful anticipation.

Now he's out of prison, again free to call up his demons, to torture the innocent, to waltz to what he once called his "symphony of screams."

The devil walks the world again.

What shall I do about it? Aye, what indeed.

Forgive Me, Alex

Publisher/Publication Date: Evolved Publishing, March 2012 (1st published Nov 2011)

ISBN: 9781622539000

242 pages