Spotlight on Shari J Ryan's SCHASM and #Giveaway

Today I’m shinning my spotlight on SCHASM *points follow spot on SCHASM*, a new novel by Shari J Ryan. Here are the deets:

When reality utterly fails you, there is always the comfort of the land of dreams. Chloe Valcourt, a tormented nineteen-year-old young woman, has for twelve years hovered between a daily life dominated by an abusive mother and an imagined alternate world that exists only in her mind’s eye. Can she keep track of which is real—and whether or not she is real, too? Schasm is the mind-bending young adult romance by Shari J. Ryan that mines the heart of darkness, where one young woman seeks light in her own shimmering daydreams.

A psychological condition has captured the body, mind, and soul of Chloe, and thrust her into the hands of probing doctors at the continued mercy of her tyrannical mother. As she struggles to break free of the grim life into which she was born, she continues to suffer the daily assaults from her mother and the dispiriting weakness of her dejected father. When Chloe unexpectedly finds herself drawn into a new, warm life abundant in love and romance with a kindhearted man named Alex, the escape at last gives her a happiness that she's never been allowed to feel. However, when hidden truths reveal a life that she cannot remember, Chloe finds herself lost between what is real and what isn't.

Blending extreme daydreaming, alternating realities, and multiple personalities, Schasm is a gripping tale that treads the thin line between a harrowing reality and the captivating terrain of an imagined world. As Chloe plays too close to the edge of insanity, her multiple realities clash, leaving her to question everything, including her own existence. Anyone who relishes a flight of fancy with richly drawn characters and surprising twists of plot will be immersed in the strange new world of Schasm, where nothing is at it seems.

Sounds pretty dark and cool to me. Grab your copy here: Amazon | B&N | iBookstore | Kobo

I love the idea of exploring alternate realities. As writers and book lovers I think our imaginations can create fantastic alternate realities. I’m interested in how Chloe handles her reality(ies). For more insight into the book, check out the book trailer here:



Add SCHASM to your Goodreads shelf or like the Facebook page.


AUTHOR BIO

Shari J. Ryan has always dreamt of becoming an author and finally decided it was time to pursue her lifelong aspiration by writing her debut young adult novel, Schasm. She has long nurtured a passion for art, reading, and writing, and those hobbies have become a mental escape from her busy life. In the past year, she has put her heart and soul into the creation of her novel, which has taught her that it is never too late and nothing is too hard. The author graduated with a bachelors of science degree from Johnson & Wales University and has written hundreds of articles for various online publications. She is married with two sons.

Visit her here: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads


Can’t wait to read SCHASM? Enter this giveaway for your chance to win a signed copy.

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Review: FRIGID by J Lynn

I recently reviewed a NA Romance by J Lynn, check out the post here. I liked her style so much that I decided to check out another of her books.

I grabbed FRIGID and devoured it one day, on the beach. *considers oddity of reading a snow storm book while on the beach* It's a steamy, NA read with J Lynn's expert flair. Here is the blurb:

For twenty-one-year-old Sydney, being in love with Kyler isn't anything new. They'd been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the 'man' in man-whore. He's never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn't want to risk their friendship by declaring her love.

Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she's perfect and she's everything. But the feelings he has for her, he's always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have.

But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor'easter, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.

Sounds swoon worthy, right? *Fans self* Grab your copy here on AMAZON.

I enjoyed this friends-to-lovers story. The romance is complicated by external factors like a blizzard and a long list of ex's. There are enough bumps along the path to happiness to keep this couple on their toes.

I give J Lynn's FRIGID four out of five kittens. It was a hot romp with sweet, believable characters.

Have you read anything by J Lynn? Have you read FRIGID? What did you think?

BLUE LOVE author interview and giveaway

I have the self pub'd author MJ Fields on the blog to discuss her newest NA release, BLUE LOVE. Check out the blurb:

In this Coming of Age story Tessa Ross tries to fight her attraction to bad boy Lucas Links. He is hot, arrogant, and has a sexual past that most boys his age could only dream of, (If they even knew they could dream of such things).

Lucas, the star quarterback seems to have it all, super star athletic abilities, expensive clothes, cars, and women who literally stop just to watch him walk by. On the outside he appears to have it all.

Tessa is a young woman who lives her life always doing what is right to make everyone else happy. She tries desperately to hold herself accountable to the demanding expectations of her family and everyone around her.

Is Tessa as innocent as she appears? Is Lucas just a spoiled young man who seems to have what every male, and female wants?

If you Love an emotional story that is full of spicy hot goodness. If you Love to follow a story from beginning until the bitter sweet end. If you are often left wondering what happened next... get your tissues and lip balm ready you are in for the read of your life.

As we all know, you should never judge a book by it's cover

Sounds fun right? I love a good NA Romance. You can buy BLUE LOVE here: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords | iTunes


Now MJ Fields I am a very new self published writer. Here is her bio in her own words:

I will tell you I have always had a very vivid imagination. Starting at age 3 (as it states in my Baby Book).

Sigma was my very first love (imaginary boyfriend). He lived about fifteen miles from my childhood home, (a farm). I took him chicken noodle soup every night on one of our families snowmobiles, (Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring). Apparently he was very ill and "Thank God" I was able to take care of him.

Next was my very first self publishing gig. At eight my cousins and I (and yes I was the president) wrote a newsletter and sold it to our family members.

Years later I decided to put it back into print to entertain my cousin as she was on an aircraft carrier on 9/11 (Kick ass cousin BTW) and very far away from home during a very scary time for our country, (protecting our butts).

Fast forward to 2012. I read 50 shades and thought, I can do that, (meaning writing). I have two complete series The Love Series, and Wrapped. I have two new series Burning Souls and Men of Steel. Ten books in 13 months. CrAzY and wonderful.

I love love! ( I would love to reference Pinks new song here, however I am not sure if that would cause copyright issues.)I also tend to enjoy watching people grow and change with self realization and moments of clarity that just sneak up behind you and smack you in the head. I love people and have always been able to see both sides of a story. Each person that comes into our life leaves us with something it is what we choose to do with it that helps us grow.

I live in central New York in the middle of nowhere and am surrounded by family and friend most the time. I run a small business out of my home and spend time reading and doing the typical Mommy things. Our house is full of pets and friends and noise ninety percent of the time, and I would have it no other way.
I love people,music, laughter, hugs, and books.

Now she's been kind enough to submit to an interview (aka torture). Let's peel back the layers and get down to it.

1. Hi MJ *waves* thanks for stopping by and congrats on the release of BLUE LOVE. *fires cupcake cannon*. You’ve self pub’d BLUE LOVE. What’s the hardes/scariest part of self pub’ing your novel?

MJ: Hi back *waves* thank you for taking the time to review Blue Love!!!! *virtual love and hugs* Self publishing has been an experience! The hardest part was figuring out how to actually do it. I didn’t have a clue, a mentor, or anyone except Google to help me in the first steps. The scariest part was hitting submit because it was now out there for the world to see. When you write a story you are so emotionally attached to the characters, they are part of you, part of your life experiences, and part of something you felt was important enough to share with the world.

2. Thanks for sharing the scary stuff. What’s the coolest part about being self pub’d?

MJ: The coolest part of self publishing to me is that I figured it out all by myself (the very first steps anyway) and that now I can help others in their journey.

3. Are there any awesome online resources you used to prepare for the self pup journey? If so, please share links as my blog readers will love to swing by:

MJ: Smashwords and Goodreads were huge resources. People who read and take the time to contact you and offer advice or just say “I loved your book” are the biggest resource. Facebook, Twitter, and the bloggers out there who like to get lost for a little bit are so helpful.

4. BLUE LOVE is not your first novel. A quick look at your website and I see you have several books currently out. I also know you have more books scheduled to release (10 in total, I think). How on earth do you find time? Please share any awesome time management tricks here:

MJ: The Love series actually was my first, I wrote book four True Love first and needed to give Tessa and Lucas a back-story. The Wrapped Series and Burning Souls series gives you a glimpse of Tessa and Lucas throughout their lives. I pulled Love after I realized how much I had changed as a writer. A great friend said, “Let me have them!” so that she could edit them for the mistakes I absolutely missed having read, re read, edited, and re edited. I was to close to them to see mistakes that may keep people from enjoying them fully. I am eternally grateful to her and the many others who believed in this series enough to offer help that I would never have asked for. My time management tip is don’t sleep, lol. I worked fifty hours, volunteered for everything my daughter was involved in, and after she was tucked away in dream land I got to lose myself in Tessa and Lucas’s love.

5. I noticed on Twitter that your ‘real’ job ended a few weeks back. Are you writing full time now? How has that transition been?

MJ: I took a leap of faith (with a huge push from a very close friend) to stop working at my “real job” and do this full time. Now I get to connect with what others call fans, I call them friends and write for six hours while my daughter is in school. I was writing full time before I closed the doors to my business and started writing, now it’s full time and a half!! My hope was I would be able to sleep more than three hours a night and I actually get about five now. I am most creative from nine at night and two in the morning so that hasn’t changed a lot. I am actually busier. No complaints though, I LOVE IT!

6. As bibliophiles and writers I think we all romanticize the way book ideas come to us. How did the idea of BLUE LOVE come to you?

MJ: The Love series started as a dream, crazy but true. Tessa is no different than a lot of women out there. She loved a boy, deeply, madly, passionately, and he was a train wreck. She wanted so badly to show him what true love and acceptance were and ends up losing who she is for awhile. Without giving away the entire series, so many of us know a Lucas and Tessa, for many of us this is our story. Girl meets boy and falls in love. She sees him for who she knows he can be and wants to be but life isn’t a fairytale it’s a walk, a lesson, a journey. People grow and change and not always at the same speed as the one they choose to take the journey with. It sucks, it hurts, it’s beautiful and wonderful, and it’s scary and exciting. When we find the one at such a young age, and let’s be realistic here our first love is one we will never forget, it changes us, molds us for who we are to become. Some people hold on so tightly because they hate to fail or because they love the other person more than they do themselves. I honestly believe it’s beautiful to be married to that person you grew with. But I also believe that just because we want that doesn’t mean it’s what’s right for us, or maybe just not right now when we want it. I can see both Tessa and Lucas’s sides (Thank God because I wrote them) and I love them both madly!!! I also have to tell you when reading 50 Shades I was devastated when it ended. Too many questions in my crazy head. That’s the main reason I couldn’t ignore the dream. I wanted to know about his past, his future, how he would be as a father, and how she would continue taking care of him and children. I read many other books at the time as well and there was always questions left unanswered. That may be why starting with Blue Love, there are nine…maybe ten that follow and still give you parts of Tessa and Lucas, as supporting characters of course.

7. I’m a sucker for romance in books, TV, and movies. What is your favorite romantic TV Show/Movie?

MJ: My favorite movie (s) I hope you don’t mind I can’t chose just one. I love “A Walk to Remember” I love “Twilight” and I love “The Notebook” they are “go to” movies for me. And yes I want more, a sequel for everything!!! For TV shows its harder thirty minutes does nothing for me. I do love True Blood, Scandal, Vampire Diaries, The Good Wife, Glee, and the Voice is a never miss. Okay I’ll stop there.

8. How did you celebrate BLUE LOVE’s release?

MJ: I didn’t really celebrate with anyone, I did the happy/ nervous/ holy S*#t I actually just hit accept and publish button. The re release this tour is what I’m celebrating. I cannot wait for you all to fall in Love with Love. Thank you so much!!!

Oh no, Thank you, MJ, for stopping by. *waves* And thanks to Stephanie and the fine folks at Romance Addict Book Blog for facilitating this interview.

No blog tour interview is complete without a giveaway! MJ has been kind enough to offer up these wonderful prizes:

GRAND PRIZE
Signed copy of Blue Love
$25 Amazon Gift Card

1st PLACE
Signed copy of Blue Love
$15 Amazon Gift Card

2nd PLACE
Signed copy of Blue Love
$10 Amazon Gift Card

3rd & 4th PLACE
Signed copy of Blue Love


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