Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Great Time Travel Reads #3!

More Time Travel greats!

I really, really loved this two book series. Amy Harmon is better known for her contemporary romances, but these YA Time Travel books are great.

5 stars!



The hallways are empty, the school day long over, the din of lockers and youthful laughter have dissolved into silence. It's as if the very walls are waiting. And then through the intercom a song starts to crackle, the soundtrack of a forgotten life. And the band begins to sing - "Lovely Maggie falls for Johnny, a boy no one else can see. Heartthrob Johnny, 50s bad boy, trapped for eternity. Lonely boy and lonely girl, unsolved mystery. Maggie and Johnny, only highschool sweethearts, because Johnny can't ever leave. Do wop, Do wop....."

In 1958, a rumble goes down outside the brand new high school in Honeyville, Texas. Chaos ensues, a life is lost, and Johnny Kinross disappears. But in 2010, someone finds him. Orphaned at the age of ten, 17-year-old Maggie O'Bannon finally finds a permanent home with her elderly aunt in a small Texas town. Working part-time as a school janitor, she becomes enmeshed in a fifty-year-old tragedy where nothing is as it seems and the boy of her dreams might vanish when the bell rings.

This volatile and mismatched romance is doomed from its start, as Maggie struggles to hold on to yet another person she is destined to lose. Secret love and hushed affection are threatened by outside forces, resulting in a desperate race to keep a secret no one would understand. Deeply romantic, funny and tender, Slow Dance in Purgatory captures the heartache of a love story where a happy ending might be decades too late.

Free on AMAZON


Where does before end and after begin?

By some miracle and against all odds, Johnny and Maggie are given a second chance. But Johnny is freed from Purgatory only to find himself in a totally different time and place, in a world full of strangers. 'Prom Night in Purgatory' continues the love story that is unlike any other, where time is shifting and everything can change, and Maggie must fight for Johnny all over again.


I read this book a long time ago and still remember it, so that's saying a lot! It's time travel with fairies, so you can ask for more than that.

4 Stars



Emily Musgrave is heading a direction she never wanted to go in Regency England--namely a convent to turn her from her waywardness. But it's more loneliness than rebellion that motivates her to escape her certain fate.

Liam Jackson is going nowhere fast in modern-day Tennessee. Playing his Dobro in seedy bars and backward dives along with his fiddling sister, Tinker, is doing nothing for his music career--and even less for the dark places in his soul.

Pixie mischief can not only change time-lines, it can change hearts. Because sometimes a girl just needs a little magic in her life.

.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Great Time Travel Reads #2!

Continuing with my posts on great time travel reads....

I was totally impressed with this book.  Edward Aubry raises a high bar for Time Travel novels. 

A definite 5 stars!


When Nigel Walden is fourteen, the UNHAPPENINGS begin. His first girlfriend disappears the day after their first kiss with no indication she ever existed. This retroactive change is the first of many only he seems to notice. 

Several years later, when Nigel is visited by two people from his future, he hopes they can explain why the past keeps rewriting itself around him. But the enigmatic young guide shares very little, and the haggard, incoherent, elderly version of himself is even less reliable. His search for answers takes him fifty-two years forward in time, where he finds himself stranded and alone. 

And then he meets Helen. 

Brilliant, hilarious and beautiful, she captivates him. But Nigel’s relationships always unhappen, and if they get close it could be fatal for her. Worse, according to the young guide, just by entering Helen’s life, Nigel has already set into motion events that will have catastrophic consequences. In his efforts to reverse this, and to find a way to remain with Helen, he discovers the disturbing truth about the unhappenings, and the role he and his future self have played all along. 

Equal parts time-travel adventure and tragic love story, Unhappenings is a tale of gravely bad choices, and Nigel’s struggle not to become what he sees in the preview of his worst self.

Free on AMAZON


4 Stars
I enjoyed this book a lot. Worth the read.



The future can be a dangerous place when you changed the past....

15 minutes is all the Rewind Agency gives a person when they travel to the past, but for Lara Crane it’s enough for her to race through the city, find her mother, and stop her from being killed in a mugging that happened over ten years ago.

But the story she’s been told all her life is a lie. When Lara takes a bullet meant for her mother, her future changes forever. A new house, new friends and a new boyfriend turns Lara’s life upside down. She thinks if she can save her father from prison, reunite him with her mother, everything will be fine.

15 Minutes is an edgy high octane YA thriller where the people Lara trusts change in an instant. She is in a timeline she doesn't understand, and is about to make one fatal mistake as she faces an enemy so familiar, he’s family.

Free on AMAZON

Friday, July 10, 2015

New Cover News! Win a KINDLE PAPER WHITE

DARING HEARTS has a new cover!

We've added new entry options to the rafflecopter to help spread the news so you have more opportunities to win prizes, including the final grand prize of a
 Kindle Fire!

The KINDLE PAPER WHITE giveaway is happening now! Winner will be chosen
July 20th.  
The more you enter - the better your chances!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


BONUS: Everyone here probably knows about my Clockwise Collection time travel series, but I also have two other books as Elle Strauss. A Merfolk tale called Seaweed (http://smarturl.it/bo4t4f) and a Tinkerbell and Peterpan retelling called Love, Tink (http://smarturl.it/x8n6io).
I'll give both those books away this week to one lucky winner! AND I'll throw in a FIVE DOLLAR Gift Card!


All you have to do to enter is pin the cover of Daring Hearts to Pinterest along with the buy link to either Amazon or iBooks or Nook. If you do all three, you're entered 3 times!
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/DHesAM
ibooks: http://smarturl.it/DHibks
Nook: http://smarturl.it/DHnk
Just post your Pinterest urls in the comments!
*winner chosen July 16*

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

DARING HEARTS Blog Hop! Contests and Giveaways Galore!


Welcome to my stop on the DARING HEARTS Blog Hop. 

I'm Elle Strauss, author of The Clockwise Collection Series. In the box set, I'm including book 5, Counter Clockwise. Don't worry if you haven't read the others, this can be read alone-- but there is a cliff--fair warning! lol But all will be wrapped up soon when book 6, Clockwork Crazy, is launched soon after.

That's too much hassle you say? Well, I'll give you all the first books - that's right The Clockwise Collection PLUS a bonus novella - FREE! for your trouble. :)




 I just need to know where to send them, so click HERE to let me know. 


That's all five books in The Clockwise Collection for just .99 when you buy the boxed set! Not to mention the other 7 terrific stories in the bundle.


Amazon | iBooks | Nook



This is an amazing deal!

It won't last forever. After the box set releases, the price of my single book will jump up to 2.99, so why not snag 8 brand new books by 8 bestselling authors for 99cents? 

AND THERE'S MORE: Enter for a chance to win prizes! Books, Gift Cards and Kindles!

RaShelle Workman, Christine Kersey, Lila Felix, Elle Strauss, Cindy Hogan, Julie Alexander, Amber Argyle and Rebecca Ethington are offering 2 grand prizes of a Kindle White and a Kindle Fire, plus 20 other great prizes. Simply fill out this rafflecopter giveaway. The more times you enter, the more chances you have to win. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rules
Open internationally 
• If you win, you must claim your prize within 48 hours or the prize will be re-drawn
• You must be 16 years or older, or have the permission of a guardian to enter
• Only entries submitted through the rafllecopter will qualify as an entry.
• No purchase necessary. Bloggers, please feel free to copy and paste this post for your own blog! 


Next on the tour is the Fabulous RaShelle Workman!



Thursday, July 2, 2015

Celebrating Canada Day and Independence Day SEAWEED style!

In honour of Canada Day and in honor of Independence Day, I'm posting the first swimming scene between Dori Seward and her merman boyfriend Tor, which happens to take place on the Canada/USA border in the Bay of Fundy.



“Are you sure about this?” he asked.
“I’m more than sure.” I let my sundress fall to my ankles. I was wearing my red one piece. Tor whistled.
“Oh, stop that.”
He laughed and dove in. I watched as he submerged, but he went too deep and many minutes passed before he surfaced.
“What are you waiting for?”
Tingles of excitement shot up my spine and down both my legs. I was about to swim with Tor the merman!
I jumped in and gasped from the cold, but with the way adrenaline was pumping through my veins I soon warmed up. There was enough moonlight reflecting off the water that I could easily make out Tor’s face. His eyes were glinting with amusement.
“Let’s see what you got.”
His tattoos danced in a hypnotizing swirl; I couldn’t take my eyes off of them. Then he splashed me with his tail. With his tail! I swam my hardest and could barely keep up. I felt like I was just learning to swim, a complete novice.
Tor laughed and swam my way. He stopped where I treaded water, turning his back to me. “Climb on.”
I held on tight and laughed out loud with the thrill of having Tor’s body under mine, my arms wrapped securely around his neck. He dipped under water. Tor knew I could hold my breath for several minutes, but I couldn’t actually breathe under water. He stayed close to the surface.
“Show off!” I shouted.
He slowed things down then, almost to a stop and pulled me around so we were holding on to each other face to face. I could feel his scales with my toes, the muscular strength of his tail as I wrapped my legs around his body.
He tilted his head and I leaned in, touching his lips with mine. Ocean water mingled with our kisses.
“Is it possible for a merperson to fall in love with a human?” I whispered in between breaths.
“Yes.”
“It’s happened before?” I was surprised. I really thought those kind of stories were lore.
“It has.”
“Good.”
We kissed and kissed and kissed, like the world would end if we stopped, until the fireworks shot off. Tor and I scanned the sky and it felt like the fireworks were bursting with color just for us. Then he kissed me again.
“You know,” Tor said, his eyes twinkling. “Independence Day fireworks go off in three days, just across the border.”
“We may have to come back,” I said coyly.
“We may.”


Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Great Time Travel books I bet you'd like!

As you all probably know by now, I'm a fan of Time Travel Romance, especially of the young adult persuasion.

I have TWO new releases coming up soon in The Clockwise Collection, but since they're not ready now, and you might like to read other great time travel books, I'm going to shout out to a couple I've read recently and really enjoyed.

TIMEBOUND 
by Rysa Walker




There is a reason why this book won Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award in 2013.

When Kate Pierce-Keller’s grandmother gives her a strange blue medallion and speaks of time travel, sixteen-year-old Kate assumes the old woman is delusional. But it all becomes horrifyingly real when a murder in the past destroys the foundation of Kate’s present-day life. Suddenly, that medallion is the only thing protecting Kate from blinking out of existence.

Kate learns that the 1893 killing is part of something much more sinister, and Kate’s genetic ability to time-travel makes her the only one who can stop him. Risking everything, she travels to the Chicago World’s Fair to try to prevent the killing and the chain of events that follows.

Changing the timeline comes with a personal cost, however—if Kate succeeds, the boy she loves will have no memory of her existence. And regardless of her motives, does she have the right to manipulate the fate of the entire world?
 

5*****

I thought Timebound was fantastic. The second book came out too late for me, and I'd forgotten a lot of the details of book one by the time I tried to read it, but for you--that's not a problem! Both books are out. I don't know if there is a third, but there is a bunch of fan fic already in Kindle Worlds.


BUTTERMAN (Time) Travel, Inc.
by PK Hrezo



It’s the year 2069 and even though eighteen-year-old Bianca Butterman is heir to the family biz, she may never see the day her time-craft license becomes official. When a government agent starts nosing around the operation, Butterman Travel, Inc. gets stuck with a full audit—part of a government take-over scheme to shut down all private time travel agencies. Enter former boy band superstar, Tristan Helms, desperate to retrieve a lost item from his past and willing to pay triple fare for a time-trip to get there, and Bianca has to find a way to complete the job and return home before the government gets wind and shuts down the family biz for good. 

Welcome to Butterman Travel, Incorporated; a full service agency designed to meet all your exclusive time travel needs. We’re a family owned and operated business with one hundred years of experience. A place where you can rest assured, safety and reliability always come first. 

Anxious to attend some special event from the past? Or for a glimpse of what the future holds? 

You’ve come to the right place. We’re a fully accredited operation, offering an array of services; including, but not limited to: customized travel plans, professionally piloted operations, and personal trip guides. *Terms and conditions do apply

Use our Web conferencing to contact our frontline reservation specialist, Bianca Butterman, who will handle all your inquiries in a professional and efficient manner, offering a tentative itinerary and free fare quote, so you can make the most of your time trip.

We look forward to serving you at Butterman Travel, Inc., where time is always in your hands.

4 ****

I really enjoyed this book. It was creative, and the two heroes were easy to fall for. I just noticed that there's a second book, so that's great news!