Hidden Worlds Books: book tour

Showing posts with label book tour. Show all posts

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

Book Review: TEMPER by Beck Nicholas PLUS #Giveaway

Today I'm here to tell you about TEMPER by Beck Nicholas, Book 2 in the Lifer Series. I had the honour of reading an advanced copy of this book. Trust me - you will not be disappointed!

It has been a great start to 2016 for me! I have read debuts that made my heart race, and got my hands on some highly anticipated sequels that made my mind explode. Seriously.

Even better than its predecessor LIFER , TEMPER had me chasing after truths and hoping for retribution. In book one, LIFER, I was consumed by the life of Asher, and unraveling the mystery of the naked man, in alternating POV chapters. I loved Megs, and had this burning excitement for Davyd, in ways I can't discuss on this blog.

But, in book two, TEMPER, I found myself back in the minds of Asher and Samuai, I found myself hating their counterparts, Megs and Davyd, right from the beginning, wishing they would disappear so Asher and Samuai could get their romance on. But as the story progressed I felt sorry for Megs and started to like Davyd, reminding me of the charm he had in LIFER. And though heart-wrenching, I'm glad Asher got an important truth at the end. Sorry - no SPOILERS!!!!

The only thing I'm not looking forward to is waiting a year for the next book. I secretly hope Asher and Davyd break through their stubbornness and find a connection. There are so many questions I have about so many things! Don't waste time, get your copy of both books today. Then you can suffer like me, waiting for book three...

ABOUT BOOK 2: TEMPER

FREEDOM COMES WITH A PRICE.

Free from the spaceship and reunited with Samuai, Asher should be happy. But thoughts of her dead family weigh heavily on her mind.

Things worsen when temper problems in camp lead to a murder. When Asher volunteers to get the drug need to calm people down, tension ignites.

Loyalties are questioned.

Jealousy rears its head. Sparks fly.

And when rumor of a second ship hits close to home, all bets are off.

Have the aliens returned? Is this the end of everything Asher has ever known?

ABOUT BOOK 1: LIFER

The Bourne Identity meets Under the Never Sky in this intergalactic tale of love and deception from debut novelist Beck Nicholas.

Asher is a Lifer, a slave aboard the spaceship Pelican. A member of the lowest rung of society, she must serve the ship’s Officials and Astronauts as punishment for her grandparents' crimes back on Earth. The one thing that made life bearable was her illicit relationship with Samuai, a Fishie boy, but he died alongside her brother in a freak training accident.

Still grieving for the loss of her loved ones, Asher is summoned to the upper levels to wait on Lady, the head Official’s wife and Samuai’s mother. It is the perfect opportunity to gather intel for the Lifer’s brewing rebellion. There’s just one problem—the last girl who went to the upper levels never came back.

On the other side of the universe, an alien attack has left Earth in shambles and a group called The Company has taken control. Blank wakes up in a pond completely naked and with no memory, not even his real name. So when a hot girl named Megs invites him to a black-market gaming warehouse where winning means information, he doesn’t think twice about playing.

But sometimes the past is better left buried. As Asher and Blank’s worlds collide, the truth comes out—everyone has been lied to...

I always wanted to write. I’ve worked as a lab assistant, a pizza delivery driver and a high school teacher but I always pursued my first dream of creating stories. Now, I live with my family near Adelaide, halfway between the city and the sea, and am lucky to spend my days (and nights) writing young adult fiction.

Contest ends March 11, 2016

Five (5) winners will receive a digital copy of Temper by Beck Nicholas (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, 22 February 2016

Guest Post: A HOLD ON ME by Pat Esden #newadult #paranormalromance #nalit

Today we have the wonderful Pat Esden talking about her new paranormal romance, A HOLD ON ME. You may remember Pat from her #FridayFandom Author Interview (click here). Today Pat is here talking about her experience in collecting antiques, and the a creepy experience she had while visiting an elderly gentleman in a Victorian manor. I'm already getting chills!!

A Hold on Me by Pat Esden
(Dark Heart, #1)
Published by: Kensington
Publication date: February 23rd 2016
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Romance

She never wanted to return.

He wants nothing more than for her to leave.
But the fire between them is as strong as the past that haunts them.
Annie Freemont grew up on the road, immersed in the romance of rare things, cultivating an eye for artifacts and a spirit for bargaining. It’s a freewheeling life she loves and plans to continue–until her dad is diagnosed with dementia. His illness forces them to return to Moonhill, their ancestral home on the coast of Maine–and to the family they left behind fifteen years ago, after Annie’s mother died in a suspicious accident.

Once at Moonhill, Annie is shocked when her aunt separates her from her father. The next time Annie sees him, he’s a bizarre, violent shadow of his former self. Confused, she turns to an unlikely ally for support–Chase, the dangerously seductive young groundskeeper. With his dark good looks and powerful presence, Chase has an air of mystery that Annie is irresistibly drawn to. But she also senses that behind his penetrating eyes are secrets she can’t even begin to imagine. Secrets that hold the key to the past, to Annie’s own longings–and to all of their futures. Now, to unlock them, she’ll have to face her greatest fears and embrace her legacy…

I’m a collector and antique dealer, and I’ve been involved with both since I was a teenager.

Over the years, I’ve dug through a lot of church basements and attics, buying everything from Masonic memorabilia to vintage radiators. I’ve explored abandoned churches as well, and purchased their entire contents—and I mean EVERYTHING: statues, tapestries, all the pews and kneelers, crosses . . . even a hand carved confessional booth. Honestly, it did feel eerie to strip everything out of a church, and then store it in my home. But I’ve had creepier experiences.

Once, an elderly man asked me to come to his house and look at some items he had for sale. The house was an old Victorian manor and literally falling-down. He lived in one, squalid room on the first floor. He slept there on a bare cot and used a toilet that barely worked. The other stories of the manor were unusable because of the sunken floors and enormous holes in the roof. Money wasn’t why he lived like this. He’d abandoned a nice second home in Florida, so he could die where his ancestors had. I suspected he’d already stopped eating. It was easy to visualize him lying on the cot, slowly shriveling until someone eventually found his corpse. The whole visit was difficult and unnerving. And, there wasn’t one thing in the entire manor that wasn’t too rotted, broken, or moldy to sell.

Another time, a homeowner gave me directions to a specific hallway on the second floor of his rambling farmhouse. He told me which rooms I could buy things out of, but refused to go upstairs with me because he’d run into ‘something’ up there. The hallway definitely had a disturbing vibe. In fact, the whole time I was upstairs, I had goose bumps. I did buy a lot of things from him, including some wonderful early books and vintage clothing.

Despite all that, my decision to make the main character in the DARK HEART series an antique dealer wasn’t as much about writing what I know as a matter of creating the perfect character for the plot and setting. I wanted my main character, Annie, to not be a cliché gothic novel heroine. By making her an antique dealer, she could be both scared by some aspects of the family mansion and attracted to the antiques and history. This not only added a layer of tension, it also lent more depth and quirkiness to her character. Another of my goals was to find a way to make Annie’s relationship with her father go beyond that of a ‘daddy’s girl’. As a picker and antique dealer, it made sense for her to be homeschooled and travel extensively with her dad. This expanded her role from devoted daughter to that of a student and eager mentee as well. This career also gave Annie the smarts, determination, and unusual education that would drive her to face the plots’ obstacles rather than retreat.

Still, though Annie and I may share a love of antiques and sometimes access situations in a similar ways, she isn’t me.

How about you? What kind of plot would challenge and bring out the best in a character with your career, loves, or interests?

PAT ESDEN would love to say she spent her childhood in intellectual pursuits. The truth is she was fonder of exploring abandoned houses and old cemeteries. When not out on her own adventures, she can be found in her northern Vermont home writing stories about brave, smart women and the men who capture their hearts. An antique-dealing florist by trade, she’s also a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and the League of Vermont Writers. Her short stories have appeared in a number of publications, including Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, the Mythopoeic Society’s Mythic Circle literary magazine, and George H. Scither’s anthology Cat Tales.