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 S. Walden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label S. Walden. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

GREAT! Book Review: Going Under by S. Walden

Shared by



Virtual Book Tour of Going Under by S. Walden is presented by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, March 19 - 21.  Ebook is currently 99 cents and definitely worth it!  Purchase links at bottom.
 
March 19th
PROMO Stops

1. Reading Addiction Blog Tours - Meet and Greet



 
March 20th
Review Stops
 

March 21st
PROMO/Excerpts
 





Title: Going Under
Author: S. Walden
Publisher: Penny Press

About the Book: Brooke Wright has only two goals her senior year at Charity Run High School: stay out of trouble and learn to forgive herself for the past. Forgiveness proves elusive, and trouble finds her anyway when she discovers a secret club at school connected to the death of her best friend. She learns that swim team members participate in a “Fantasy Slut League,” scoring points for their sexual acts with unsuspecting girls.

Brooke, wracked with guilt over her friend’s death, decides to infiltrate the league by becoming one of the “unsuspecting girls,” and exact revenge on the boys who stole away her best friend. An unexpected romance complicates her plans, and her dogged pursuit of justice turns her reckless as she underestimates just how far the boys will go to keep their sex club a secret.

(This is a New Adult fiction book with mature themes. It contains explicit language and descriptions of sexual violence.)

My Thoughts: I stayed up until 1AM reading this book because I just knew that I had to finish it.  It was fantastic.  The author took a very tough subject and handled it with great sensitivity.  Brooke was perfect as the teenage protagonist against this group of boys who treated the girls in their school as toys.  She was deluded, as a teenager would be, into thinking that she would be able to handle anything that came up on her own - and she wanted to avenge her friend Beth's death.  Along the way, though, she does come up with some colorful allies. 

Terry, the head chef from her job, becomes her computer hacker, and is able to get her all kinds of information that confirms her suspicions.  Gretchen, her best friend from her old school, gets wrapped up in the plot when one of the swim team members  takes a liking to her.  Then there is Ryan, they are instantly attracted to each other, though they each seem to be trying to keep their distance.  Brooke is trying not to have any romantic attachments, because she thinks it will thwart her plans for revenge.  Try as she might though, she can't stay away from Ryan.  He ends up playing an unlikely role in the end anyway.

Speaking of endings, I thought the author wrapped this up beautifully.  It could have been a tragic ending, but it contained hope and healing. I will agree with the disclaimer above though, there is explicit language and descriptions of sexual violence, but they were essential to the story.
 
~I received a complimentary ecopy of this book from Reading Addiction Blog Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~



About the author: S. Walden used to teach English before making the best decision of her life by becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Georgia with her very supportive husband who prefers physics textbooks over fiction and has a difficult time understanding why her characters must have personality flaws. She is wary of small children, so she has a Westie instead. Her dreams include raising chickens and owning and operating a beachside inn on the Gulf Coast (chickens included). When she's not writing, she's thinking about it.

She loves her fans and loves to hear from them. Email her at swaldenauthor@hotmail.com and
follow her blog at http://swaldenauthor.blogspot.com where you can get up-to-date information
on her current projects.

Connect with her:
Blog: http://swaldenauthor.blogspot.com
email: swaldenauthor@hotmail.com
twitter: @swaldenauthor
 
 
 
Purchase Links: 
The Author is having Going Under special release day price of 99 cents.
~Amazon~     ~Smashwords~     ~CreateSpace~    




 



1 comment:
Labels: , , , ,

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Cover Reveal and Giveaway: Going Under by S. Walden

Shared by

Going Under
By S. Walden
New Adult
Date to be Published: March 19, 2013

Synopsis:  Brooke Wright has only two goals her senior year at Charity Run High School: stay out of trouble and learn to forgive herself for the past. Forgiveness proves elusive, and trouble finds her anyway when she discovers a secret club at school connected to the death of her best friend. She learns that swim team members participate in a “Fantasy Slut League,” scoring points for their sexual acts with unsuspecting girls.
Brooke, wracked with guilt over her friend’s death, decides to infiltrate the league by becoming one of the “unsuspecting girls,” and exact revenge on the boys who stole away her best friend. An unexpected romance complicates her plans, and her dogged pursuit of justice turns her reckless as she underestimates just how far the boys will go to keep their sex club a secret.
(This is a New Adult fiction book with mature themes. It contains explicit language and descriptions of sexual violence.)

Book Excerpt (from Chapter One):


I left the bathroom in a hurry, turning the corner for the foyer and slamming into him. The force of the hit was so great that I stumbled backwards, nearly falling on my bottom if not for his outstretched hand. I grabbed it before going down and wobbled on my too-high heels, clutching him as I worked to regain my balance.


“God, I’m sorry!” he exclaimed. I looked at his face then, unprepared to see something so beautiful. I think I gasped. And then I averted my eyes out of sheer embarrassment.
“I really should watch where I’m going,” he said.
He still held my hand, and I let him. I couldn’t remember who I was or where I was going. I couldn’t remember where I had just been. I only knew that a very cute boy . . . no, he was more than cute. He was gorgeous. This very gorgeous boy was holding my hand, and I had only one thought. I wanted to make our handholding more intimate. I wanted to lace my fingers with his.


“I think I should,” I mumbled.
I chanced another look at him. I made a conscientious effort not to gasp as I took in his light blue eyes. I’d never seen eyes that color. Bing Crosby had nothing on this guy’s eyes, and Bing’s eyes were the color of the Mediterranean. No, the eyes I looked into now were so light blue they looked translucent. I thought if I stared a little longer I could see right inside his head, to his brain, and I don’t know why that turned me on so much. I wanted to witness the workings of his mind, the firing synapses, information traveling safely inside neurons to different parts of his body. A few made it to his hand, and they must have told him to keep holding mine because he didn’t let go.


I stared shamelessly, licking my lips at one point. He stared back just as boldly. I wanted him to like what he saw. I wanted him to think I was sexy. I wanted him to feel the same instant attraction I did. I’d never felt it before. Not really. Not even with Finn. It was unsettling, and I wondered how people functioned after being smacked upside the head with it. Instant. Physical. Chemical. Primal. Just rip my clothes off, I thought. Just rip my clothes off and do me right here in the hallway!


He smiled and released my hand. I thought he did it reluctantly, like his brain ordered him to and he finally acquiesced. I smiled back, a flirty grin. I pulled my ponytail forward over my shoulder and played with the strands. I bit my lower lip. And then reality came crashing down like a hailstorm, large lumps of ice banging my head and screaming at me in unison.


“YOU’RE AT A FUNERAL!”
I looked at the gorgeous guy, and my face went white.
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
He stared at me for a moment before saying, “Are you okay?”
I shook my head and started towards the sanctuary doors. He followed behind.
“I’m awful, I’m awful, I’m awful,” I whispered over and over. I didn’t care if he could hear.


What the hell was I doing? Trying to flirt with a guy at my best friend’s funeral? How could I even forget for a second that I was at a funeral? I was supposed to be carrying around heavy, black sorrow to match my black dress and black heart, not batting lashes and fantasizing about sex with a stranger. Was I so ridiculous that a hot guy could make me forget to have any kind of decency? Or shame?


I rounded the corner and saw my mother waiting for me. And then I ran to her, threw myself into her arms, and burst into a fit of tears.
“Brooklyn,” she whispered, holding me in a tight hug. “It’s okay,” she cooed as she stroked my hair.


“I’m a terrible friend!” I wailed. I saw the fuzzy outline of a boy walking past us tentatively through the doors.
“No, you aren’t,” my mother replied.
“Yes, I am! I don’t even know why I’m here! Beth hated my guts! She wouldn’t talk to me all summer!”


“Brooke,” Mom said. “I want you to calm down. Now, we talked about this. You knew it would be hard, but she was your best friend for all those years. Do you think she wouldn’t have wanted you here?”
“No, I don’t!” I cried.
“Yes, she would,” Mom said. “Now we have to go in.”
“I can’t!”
“Brooke, Beth was your best friend,” Mom said, trying for patience.
“No she wasn’t! Not after what I did! I ruined everything! I’m a freaking slut!” I sobbed, shaking my head from side to side.
“Sweetheart, don’t say words like ‘freaking’ and ‘slut’ in a church,” Mom replied.
I only sobbed louder.
“You can do this,” Mom encouraged.
I stood my ground, shaking my head violently, refusing to go in.
“Brooklyn Wright!” Mom hissed pushing me away and grabbing my upper arm. She squeezed too tightly, and I squeaked in discomfort. There was no more tenderness in her voice.

“Get yourself together. This isn’t about you. So stop making it about you. You’re going into that sanctuary and you’re going to pay your respects to your friend, and you’re going to make it about Beth. Do you understand me?”
I swallowed hard and wiped my face.
“Do you understand me?” Mom repeated.
I nodded grudgingly, and she took my hand, leading me through the doors.

© S. Walden, 2013





S. Walden
Author Bio:

S. Walden used to teach English before making the easy decision to become a full-time writer. Easy because once she completed a full-time graduate program, there weren't any teaching jobs anyway! She lives in Georgia with her very supportive husband who does not read fiction and has a difficult time understanding why her characters must have personality flaws. She is wary of small children, so she has two Westies instead. Her dreams include getting through her next big writing project (a three-part series) and owning and operating a beachside inn on the Gulf Coast. Her husband's dreams for her include getting her Ph.D. so that he can tell people he's married to
a doctor.
She loves her fans and loves to hear from them. Email her at swaldenauthor@hotmail.com and
follow her blog at http://swaldenauthor.blogspot.com where you can get up-to-date information
on her current projects.
Links
email: swaldenauthor@hotmail.com




a Rafflecopter giveaway
1 comment:
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...