GIVEAWAY: Thicker Than Water by Brigid Kemmerer

On his own. Thomas Bellweather hasn’t been in town long. Just long enough for his newlywed mother to be murdered, and for his new stepdad’s cop colleagues to decide Thomas is the primary suspect. Not that there’s any evidence. But before Thomas got to Garretts Mill there had just been one other murder in twenty years. The only person who believes him is Charlotte Rooker, little sister to three cops and, with her soft hands and sweet curves, straight-up dangerous to Thomas. Her best friend was the other murder vic. And she’d like a couple answers. Answers that could get them both killed, and reveal a truth Thomas would die to keep hidden…

Brigid Kemmerer was born in Omaha, Nebraska, though her parents quickly moved her all over the United States, from the desert in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the lakeside in Cleveland, Ohio, and several stops in between, eventually settling near Annapolis, Maryland. Brigid started writing in high school, and her first real “novel” was about four vampire brothers causing a ruckus in the suburbs. Those four brothers are the same boys living in the pages of The Elemental Series, so Brigid likes to say she’s had four teenage boys taking up space in her head for the last seventeen years. (Though sometimes that just makes her sound nuts.) Brigid writes anywhere she can find a place to sit down (and she’s embarrassed to say a great many pages of The Elemental Series were written while sitting on the floor in the basement of a hotel while she was attending a writers’ conference). Most writers enjoy peace and quiet while writing, but Brigid prefers pandemonium. A good thing, considering she has three boys in the house, ranging in age from an infant to a teenager. While writing STORM, it’s ironic to note that Brigid’s personal life was plagued by water problems: her basement flooded three times, her roof leaked, her kitchen faucet broke, causing the cabinet underneath to be destroyed by water, the wall in her son’s room had to be torn down because water had crept into the wall, and her bedroom wall recently developed a minor leak. Considering SPARK, book 2 in the series, is about the brother who controls fire, Brigid is currently making sure all the smoke detectors in her house have batteries. Brigid loves hearing from people, and she probably won’t refer to herself in the third person like this if you actually correspond with her. She has a smartphone surgically attached to her person nearby at all times, and email is the best way to reach her. Her email address is brigidmary@gmail.com.

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GIVEAWAY: How to Be Brave by E. Katherine Kottaras

An emotional contemporary YA novel about love, loss, and having the courage to chase the life you truly want. Reeling from her mother's death, Georgia has a choice: become lost in her own pain, or enjoy life right now, while she still can. She decides to start really living for the first time and makes a list of fifteen ways to be brave - all the things she's wanted to do but never had the courage to try. As she begins doing the things she's always been afraid to do - including pursuing her secret crush, she discovers that life doesn't always go according to plan. Sometimes friendships fall apart and love breaks your heart. But once in a while, the right person shows up just when you need them most - and you learn that you're stronger and braver than you ever imagined.

E. Katherine Kottaras is originally from Chicago, but now she writes and teaches in the Los Angeles area. She holds an M.A. in English from the University of California, Irvine and teaches writing and literature at Pasadena City College. She is at her happiest when she is either 1) at the playground with her husband and daughter and their wonderful community of friends, 2) breathing deeply in a full handstand, or 3) writing.

WATCH THE VIDEO BY LOVINGDEMBOOKS THAT TALKS ABOUT THIS BOOK HERE:

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Author Interview & Giveaway: The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall

It was a bitterly cold day when Arthur T. Owens picked up a brick and threw it at an old trash picker. Fortunately it hit him in the arm and not the head. But the judge isn't buying Arthur's explanation. He's ready to send him to juvie for the foreseeable future. Shockingly, it's the Junk Man himself who offers an alternative: 120 hours...working for him. Arthur is given a rickety shopping cart and a list of the Seven Most Important Things: glass bottles, foil, cardboard, wood, light bulbs, coffee cans, and mirrors. He can't believe it--is he really supposed to rummage through people's trash? But it isn't long before Arthur realizes there's more to the Junk Man than meets the eye, and the "trash" he collects is being transformed into something more precious than anyone could imagine...

THE SEVENTH MOST IMPORTANT THING

by Shelley Pearsall

Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers | On sale September 8, 2015 | Ages 10 and up

Hardcover: 978-0-553-49728-1| $16.99 | $19.99 Can. | 288 pages

Ebook: 978-0-553-49730-4| $10.99 | Hardcover Library Binding: 978-0-553-49730-4| $20.99 | $24.99 Can.

A former teacher and museum historian, SHELLEY PEARSALL is now a full-time writer. Her first novel, Trouble Don't Last, won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. To learn more about the author and her work, visit ShelleyPearsall.com.

How long did it take you to write “The Seventh Most Important Thing"? And subsequently how long did it take to edit and polish it to a state that it could be published? 

The story has been circling through my imagination for years, so when it came time to put the story on paper, the process was pretty quick. The book took about a year to write and edit—which is very speedy for me! Then you wait about a year for the book to be published.  

If writing had not worked out for you as a profession, what would've been your back up career plan? What would you pursue instead? 

I might have been an artist or a teacher…or hey, an art teacher! I enjoy writing scripts and educational programs, too, so I might have pursued a career in those fields.

Do you have any friends or family that read your rough drafts? If yes, do you change the outcome and plot based on their feedback?

My husband, Mike, always reads my first draft and gives me feedback. It isn’t an easy job to do, but so far, we are still married! I do take many of his suggestions. Sometimes, I’ll invite student volunteers to read my later drafts and offer feedback. Their names often appear in the acknowledgments section of my books.

What book (s) have influenced your life the most?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (the unforgettable characters)

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson (the surprising ending)

Walden by Henry David Thoreau (the memorable writing and observations about life)

Were you anything like any of your characters when you were their age?  

I think I was probably more like Squeak than Arthur in The Seventh Most Important Thing. I was a smart, kind of nerdy kid, who was fiercely loyal to my friends.

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Fandom Monthly Magazine is not responsible if the promotion sponsor does not fulfill their giveaway prize.

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Blog Tour: 101 Movies to See Before You Grow Up by Suzette Valle

The perfect handbook for movie-lovers of all ages, helping both kids and parents choose classic and contemporary movies appropriate for the entire family. Movies are made to entertain! Movies can make you think, teach you a lesson, or just let you escape into a fantasy world for a few hours. This book serves as an interactive bucket list of films for children ages 8 and up to watch before they grow up. 101 Movies to See Before You Grow Upgoes beyond mainstream films. From modern flicks to classic films, the list offers a wide selection of "must see" movies. The book is divided into categories and acts as an interactive film journal where kids can document when they see the movie, if they liked it, and how they would rate it. Each page focuses on a single movie with basic information about each film, including the director, runtime, rating, and date of release. There is also a "Film Critic" section at the bottom of each page that allows young movie buffs to write in their own opinions and observations about the movie. 101 Movies to See Before You Grow Up is the perfect handbook for movie-lovers of all ages, helping both kids and parents choose classic and contemporary movies appropriate for the entire family.

Here is a snippet from the book's interior:

Suzette Valle is an award-winning mother of two and freelance writer focusing on family entertainment. She graduated with a B.A. from the University of San Diego, and has a Master's Degree from Oxford University, England. Suzette has been a director and board member of several non-profit organizations in her community, including the Parent Teacher's Association, Islander Sports Foundation, and is currently a board member of the San Diego-based international charity Foundation for Women. She also has her own blog, Mamarazzi Knows Best.com, where she writes about parenting in a celebrity-driven society and all aspects of entertainment. She is a featured Hollyblogger at the award-winning Hollywood publication The Wrap.com where she contributes film reviews, interviews with celebrities, and has covered and written about pop-culture events like Comic-Con International where she's interviewed actors, directors, producers and writers about current and upcoming projects. Her articles have been featured on YahooMovies.com, MSNentertainment.com, and REUTERS among others. She wrote over 30 articles for the monthly column Parent Talk for AOL's Patch.com, and headed this publication's Parents Council in her community. Suzette lives in the seaside town of Coronado, California. This enchanted island is also known as the Emerald City because L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, penned several of the Oz books here. Suzette enjoys watching movies, and walks on the beach with her husband of 25 years and Bella, her adorable dog.

$20 AMAZON GIFTCARD AND BOOK GIVEAWAY: Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

What if Peter Pan was a homeless kid just trying to survive, and Wendy flew away for a really good reason? Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity. As an orphaned Japanese American struggling to make a life in the aftermath of an event in history not often referred to—the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the removal of children from orphanages for having "one drop of Japanese blood in them"—things are finally looking up. He has his hideout in an abandoned subway tunnel, a job, and his gang of Lost Boys. Desperate to run away, the world outside her oppressive brownstone calls to naïve, eighteen-year-old Nora—the privileged daughter of a controlling and violent civil rights lawyer who is building a compensation case for the interned Japanese Americans. But she is trapped, enduring abuse to protect her younger sister Frankie and wishing on the stars every night for things to change. For months, they've lived side by side, their paths crossing yet never meeting. But when Nora is nearly killed and her sister taken away, their worlds collide as Kettle, grief stricken at the loss of a friend, angrily pulls Nora from her window. In her honeyed eyes, Kettle sees sadness and suffering. In his, Nora sees the chance to take to the window and fly away. Set in 1953, NORA AND KETTLE explores the collision of two teenagers facing extraordinary hardship. Their meeting is inevitable, devastating, and ultimately healing. Their stories, a collection of events, are each on their own harmless. But together, one after the other, they change the world.

Release Date: February 29, 2016

Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing

Format Available: Mass Paperback and Digital Format

 

Lauren Nicolle Taylor is the best-selling and award winning author of The Woodlands Series. Below you will also find a note from her about her inspiration for Nora & Kettle. 
Visit her website here

Review & Blog Tour - The Eve Project: Machines of the Little People by Tegon Maus

 Ben Harris’s sister died of cervical cancer more than three years ago… his best friend and her husband, Roger Keswick, disappeared the day before the funeral. For the next six months everyone from the local police to the Department of Defense searched for him but to no avail… it was as if he had simply fallen off the face of the planet only to reappear at work as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Then by the purest of coincidences Ben finds himself pulled back into Roger’s life only to discover he has remarried… to Jessica… a woman the looks, sounds and acts just like his dead sister. To complicate things Roger is insistent his home, his car, his life is infested with tiny elf like creatures he calls the Katoy. He claims they run massive machines under his house and watch his every move… every move that is until Jessica is found bludgeoned to death in his living room and Roger is nowhere to be found . . . again.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords

Tegon Maus was raised pretty much the same as everyone else… devoted mother, strict father and all the imaginary friends he could conjure. Not that he wasn’t friendly, he just wasn’t “people orientated”. Maybe he lived in his head way more than he should have, maybe not. He liked machines more than people, at least he did until I met his wife. The first thing he can remember writing was for her. For the life of him he can’t remember what it was about… something about dust bunnies under the bed and monsters in my closet. It must have been pretty good because she married him shortly after that. He spent a good number of years chasing other dreams before he got back to writing. It wasn’t a deliberate conscious thought, it was more of a stepping stone. His wife and himself had joined a dream interpret group and we were encouraged to write down our dreams as they occurred. “Be as detailed as you can,” we were told. He was thrilled. If there is one thing he enjoys it’s making people believe him and he likes to exaggerate. Not a big exaggeration or an outright lie mind you, just a little step out of sync, just enough so you couldn’t be sure if it were true or not. When he writes, he always write with the effort of “it could happen” very much in mind and nothing, he guarantees you, nothing, makes him happier. He has consistently placed in the top 3 in 189 writing contest in a variety of genres and has been featured in magazines a couple of times to raise money for Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

Review:

Tegon Maus creates a world all his own in Machines of the Little People. His twists and turns keep readers on their toes. Make sure you pay attention, readers, because this fast-paced novel waits for no one. Maus' creativity in this novel is astonishing. He dreams up characters, ideas, and inventions that no one else could perfect. He portrays his characters in such a way that you can't help but become attached to them. His writing style draws the reader in with clever foreshadowing and many problems that are left to be resolved. Despite all its wonderful assets, the novel does have its drawbacks. I, for one, am not a fan of foul language- Machines is definitely one for more mature audiences with adult content and language. I would put it in the 16 years and up age range. The fast paced-ness of the novel can be a bit overwhelming at times, some clarification and "remember-when's" would be helpful every now and again. Keeping an open mind while reading, this book is not for everyone. 

My final rating would be a 3 of 5 stars. 

Reviewer: 

Autumn

GIVEAWAY: A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

"A story threaded with shimmering vibrance and beauty, A Thousand Nights will weave its spell over readers' hearts and leave them captivated long after the final tale has been told." —Alexandra Bracken, New York Times best-selling author of The Darkest Minds series. 

Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next. And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments.  She sees everything as if for the last time.But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong. Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air. Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster. Learn more on un-requiredreading.com

#AThousandNights

E. K. Johnston is a forensic archaeologist by training, a book seller and author by trade, and a grammarian by nature. She spends a great deal of time on the Internet because it is less expensive than going to Scotland. She can probably tell you, to the instant, when she fell in love with any particular song; but don't ask her, because then it will be stuck in both of your heads.

GIVEAWAY - The Galaxy Pirates: Hunt for the Pyxis by Zoe Ferraris

In the spellbinding first book of middle-grade fantasy-adventure series THE GALAXY PIRATES: HUNT FOR THE PYXIS, award-winning author Zoë Ferraris transports readers on a interstellar adventure to a universe filled with fantastical creatures, merciless villains, and fearless heroes with a family secret. Perfect for fans of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, HUNT FOR THE PYXIS is a swashbuckling adventure with nonstop action, intrigue, and friendship. On the night Emma Garton’s boring parents are kidnapped, she is forced to face the truth: they’ve been lying to her about many things, including the Pyxis, a mysterious amulet that holds the key to saving another world—and they aren’t even from planet Earth. To find her parents, Emma and her best friend, Herbie, must leave Earth and enter the Strands—the waterways of space, where huge galleons ply the intergalactic seas. But a journey through the constellations won’t be easy—not with evil Queen Virgo and every scoundrel in the galaxy determined to find them. 
(Crown Books for Young Readers | On sale August 8, 2015 | Ages 8–12 | $16.99)

Praise for "HUNT FOR THE PYXIS"
Zoë Ferraris’s imagination knows no bounds—HUNT FOR THE PYXIS is an action-packed interstellar adventure in a galaxy filled with pirates, monkeys, and a colorful cast of other creatures that is sure to keep kids reading through the night, wondering if their parents might just be Galaxy Pirates, too. 

ZOË FERRARIS is the author of three critically acclaimed adult novels that have been translated into over thirty languages. Finding Nouf won the ALA-YALSA Alex Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Ferraris received her MFA from Columbia University. She lives in San Francisco. About HUNT FOR THE PYXIS, Ferraris says, “I first created this universe when I was a child— an outer space full of great galleons and pirates and skullduggery, where the constellations are more than just invisible lines in the sky.” 

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Dresslink.com Wishlist (Fandom Fashion)

Recently I've really started to enjoy online clothes shopping. And what I mean by online clothes shopping, is putting hundreds of dollars worth of clothes into my shopping cart. Then deleting it all. 

Or I add hundreds of dollars worth of clothes to a wishlist.

Today, I am showing you my wishlist on one of my favorite online shopping sites, Dresslink.com.

Here are some items that I am dying to have on the website:

This Harry Potter inspired bracelet is just too cute! I especially love the owls. It is listed on the website for $2.09 Click to find it on Dressink here

This tank top is super cute. The fabric it's made out of is Chiffon, which is definitely a pro! It is listed on the website for $4.48 Click to find it on Dressink here

This jacket is also super cute! It's very unique and I love how it looks like a hoodie and jean jacket. You get the best of both worlds! You can find it on the website for $12.24 Click to find it on Dressink here

As a coffee lover, this shirt is definitely an essential. Look at it! It literally speaks coffee lover. You can find it not he website for $4.37 Click to find it on Dressink here

Thanks so much for looking at my Dresslink.com wishlist! Be sure to check out Dresslink.com for awesome deals and super cheap flashbuys, as low as $0.01!

GIVEAWAY - Twist My Charm: The Popularity Spell by Real Housewives Executive Producer Toni Gallagher

Hollywood producer Toni Gallagher takes a contemporary magical twist on surviving middle school in TWIST MY CHARM: THE POPULARITY SPELL (Random House Books for Young Readers | On sale September 22, 2015 | Ages 8-12)—a story about the ups and downs of being a tween. Fresh and relatable, THE POPULARITY SPELL is perfect for fans of Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Wendy Mass. Middle school can be tough, especially when you have to go to a new school. But what if there was a magic charm that gave the wearer popularity . . . that is, until the charm gets twisted. Cleo Nelson just started sixth grade at a new school, where all the kids seem a lot cooler and older than her. But luckily she becomes fast friends with Samantha. So when a mysterious gift arrives in the mail, Cleo can’t wait to share the voodoo doll with Sam. But as the charms get bigger, the girls start to realize that happy charms can be twisted. . . . No stranger to storytelling, Toni Gallagher has worked as a producer for the Disney Channel and Bravo, and brings her TV background to bear writing accessible middle-grade books. With themes of friendship and learning how to be true to yourself, THE POPULARITY SPELL is an entertaining read for tween girls and will have a second book—TWIST MY CHARM: LOVE POTION #11—in Spring 2016.

TONI GALLAGHER earned a journalism degree from Northwestern University and has had a successful career in reality TV. She began as a story editor on the early seasons of MTV's "The Real World" (LA, San Francisco and London) and was a producer on the beloved and respected Disney Channel show "Bug Juice," about real kids at summer camp. Currently she serves as Co-Executive Producer of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" on Bravo. Toni lives in Los Angeles and loves

finding the magic in it. 

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