Impressions can't always be trusted... Love Bytes by Melanie Jacobson (Review)

Love Bytes
By Melanie Jacobson
Adult Contemporary Romance, Novella
ebook, 75 Pages
24th 2018 by Four Petal Press

Summary

Jessica Riley would do anything for her best friend Addison, including be her maid of honor and meet all her increasingly crazy wedding demands. But that's because Jessica has Dallen, the best man, helping her navigate the trouble their respective best friends keep stirring up. Even though she and Dallen have only spoken online or in texts, their friendship forms fast and easy, and Jessica is beginning to hope that the wedding in Hawaii will become the start of something special for her and Dallen too. Except...Dallen dates braniac supermodels. And while Jessica is a brainiac, she has a bad feeling she won't be his type. Will their connection survive in real life?

(Affiliate links included.)

My Review

LOVE BYTES is a sweet romance novella with great characters and a fun storyline. Definitely a short story I'd recommend to romance fans!

I was looking for something short and sweet one night and ran into this story when I was browsing. This author is one of my favorites and I didn't realize I'd missed a few of her releases so I picked this up. I was not disappointed! It was fun, sweet, romantic, and included this author's trademark banter and humor. Plus, the heroine was super easy to relate to. Who can't relate to misconceptions, trying to lose weight, self-image, finding love, and trying to learn to trust your heart to someone else and believe they are who they say they are? I also really liked Dallen, who had his own reputation to overcome. There were a few other characters that rounded out the story. It was also short so I could finish it easily in one sitting, which was what I was hoping for. I went to bed with sweet dreams.

In the end, was it what I wished for? Yes. Short and sweet with plenty of humor and swoon-worthy moments.

Content: Clean
Source: Purchased

Are you a fan of this author? Do you read novellas?

I Can't Wait for... Glass Slippers Ever After and Me Julie Wright (Can't-Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday) #CWW #WOW


Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here, at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. If you're continuing with WOW, feel free to link those up as well! Find out more here.

Each of the contemporary romances Shadow Mountain has been releasing have been influenced by classics in some way. Their upcoming release is a Cinderella retelling. I'm not sure about the synopsis feeling like it's telling the whole story, I think it should have been briefer, but I love fairy tale retellings and am looking forward to reading this one! It's my pick this week...

Glass Slippers Ever After and Me
By Julie Wright
Adult Contemporary Romance, Retelling
Paperback & ebook, 336 Pages
October 21st 2019 by Shadow Mountain

Summary

Can the fairy tale bring Charlotte the happiness she s looking for, or was he always there to begin with?

A modern, reimagined Cinderella story.

Charlotte Kingsley loves to write and dreams of having her reimagined fairy tales published, but she keeps getting rejected over and over. And to top it all off, her best friend, Anders, gets engaged, making her realize she's going to lose the Prince Charming who lives next door. After another rejection letter from a New York publisher, Charlotte decides to switch gears. What if she wrote a book about celebrating women for who they really are instead of trying to create a fantasy world for them to visit? She could call it The Cinderella Fiction, fill it with practical advice for living authentically, become ridiculously successful, and then find the confidence to tell Anders how she feels before it's too late.

Encouraged with her plan, Charlotte's new book practically writes itself and incredibly a small boutique publisher makes a quick offer to publish it. Though the publisher is well-known, it's a small company with limited resources. Charlotte worries about the book being successful and decides to sink her entire advance into hiring a premier publicity firm to make her book a bestseller. She also discovers that Anders has called off his engagement, and wants to try a relationship with Charlotte. Suddenly her fairy tale dreams seem to be coming true.

However, Charlotte's publicist has very specific ideas about how to market the book and the author. Which means Charlotte with her average looks, cluttered apartment, and penchant for raspberry fudge ice cream will need to undergo a total transformation in a social media makeover which will have to exclude her best friend Anders. After all, people who see Charlotte s perfect imperfections through a carefully curated Instagram account will relate and naturally want to buy her book.

At first, Charlotte is excited to enter this fantasy world and play dress up, and Anders reluctantly agrees to go along with it, even though it means he's largely out of Charlotte's social media life and hidden from her public life entirely. Gone are the days of posting in sweatpants, taking photos of take-out dinners, and chronicling just hanging out. And even though her life is now filled with book tours, parties, and publicity events, she wishes she could have Anders with her in private and in public to complete her fairy tale life.

The toll of her new life soon proves exhausting. Telling women to be authentic even while she herself is undergoing elaborating staging to get just the right image for her social media accounts makes her feel like a fraud. She hasn't written anything new in months, and her relationship with Anders is falling apart. During a publicity event, Charlotte meets one of her favorite authors, someone who has more than thirty bestsellers. When she takes Charlotte under her wing, Charlotte is sure she has found her fairy godmother. Rather than helping her change her outward appearance, this seasoned author helps Charlotte see the beautiful person she already is and the worth of being authentic.

In the end, Anders feels like his relationship with Charlotte is just another one of her carefully curated images, a side-note even, and he decides to head home to his native Finland. Though she tells herself he ll come around eventually, Charlotte needs to decide what she believes in: the fairy tale persona, or the woman Anders has always loved before he's gone forever.

(Affiliate links included.)


Will you be reading this one?

Fill in the blanks with author Cathy Cash Spellman for A Murder on Jane Street (Guest Post & #Giveaway)


Check out a fun post with the author and the tour giveaway below, follow the tour here...

A Murder on Jane Street
By Cathy Cash Spellman
Adult Historical Suspense
Paperback & ebook, 419 Pages
May 22nd 2019 by The Wild Harp & Company, Inc.

Summary

A brutal murder.
A heinous secret
A deadly conspiracy.


The brutal murder of the little old lady next door puts FitzHugh Donovan on the case. A retired New York City Police Chief, he knows a cover-up when he sees one and his Irish Cop conscience can’t let that happen.

Now, Fitz, his family and his quirky band of Bleecker Street Irregulars are ensnared in the bizarre secret the woman died to protect.

Is this a 75-year-old cold case turned hot again, or an unspeakable crime-in-progress that could alter the course of the world?

Fitz doesn’t yet know how high the stakes are, that failure isn’t an option, and that the little old lady was so much more than she appeared. But he’s trying to keep everyone alive long enough to find out.

Characters you’ll care about, dark shocking secrets, and disturbing similarities to today’s political scene, will keep you turning pages to an ending you won’t see coming.    

Praise for A MURDER ON JANE STREET
"Family ties tighten and bonds of affection grow stronger as a family is trapped between ruthless forces struggling for the highest stakes: control of a world to be subjected to unimaginable evil. As.parents, children and loved ones risk all to protect one another, events accelerate towards a conclusion that is in doubt until the last page is turned. A terrific read!" ―Richard Gid Powers author of The Mystery of the Trinity

"A MURDER ON JANE STREET is a gripping summer thriller filled with history, adventure, and an intriguing mystery. Cathy Cash Spellman will keep readers on the edge of their seat" ―Charles Brokaw, New York Times Bestselling author of The Atlantis Code

Cathy paints a picture with the most radiant phrasing and colorful words! I’m a fan of her books and have read every one of them, always wishing that she’ll write more! That hope was answered with A MURDER ON JANE STREET. This compelling gem of a mystery is also a history, a conspiracy, and a modern-day morality tale rolled into one. Yes there is a murder, deadly secrets and treachery, but at its heart, it’s also about family, friendship and having the courage to do the right thing in the face of nearly insurmountable odds. This brilliant author has created yet another home run! Her narrative, coupled with an edge-of-your-seat contemporary mystery thriller, have characters that warmed my heart and an unexpected ending that I absolutely LOVED! ―Adria de Haume, author of Cross Purpose

"Do NOT read this book unless you are willing to be seduced by a dozen incredibly keen people without whom the world as we know it might cease to exist." ―K.T. Maclay author of Beginners Guide to Death and Dying in Oaxaca

(Affiliate links included.)



Fill in the Blanks

1. The mysterious door that is just calling to me to open it is my favorite thing about the cover of A MURDER ON JANE STREET.

2. FitzHugh’s favorite thing about retirement is his rare bookstore, The Mysterious Library. The ability to seek out the rare stories of history.

3. Men he knew and worked with in the NYPD and access to the info he needs to solve crimes are the things FitzHugh misses about being a police chief.

4. The reason FitzHugh believes the murder of the little old lady next door is a cover-up is because of the threatening letter she showed him and the journals she left behind.

5. FitzHugh would describe his band of Bleecker Street Irregulars as brave and true-hearted, generous and smart in quite a variety of ways.

6. As I wrote A MURDER ON JANE STREET, the horrors and sufferings of the Holocaust and the aftermath of the war were hard to read about… the fact that the brave partisans were abandoned after the war by the governments they’d helped. The fact that the female spies who risked everything were abandoned by the Allies after the war and not even acknowledge as having helped win the war…they weren’t even offered jobs as office help when they asked for employment! Outrageous!! was one thing that challenged me.

7. My favorite thing about the story is the love among the characters, their willingness to do the right thing, the fact that they have each other’s best interests at heart.

8. Don’t edit yourself as you write. Blurt out your thoughts and get them on paper without stopping your momentum. You can always improve the words later but the energy must be captured immediately, is the one piece of advice I’d give to aspiring authors.

9. Right now the newest book (4th) in the Discovery of Witches series is the book waiting for me to read next.

10. I have a love/hate relationship with time. I need more of it. So many books are in my head, trying to get free…

11. Anything salty! Popcorn, pretzels, peanuts, you name it! is my go-to treat/snack when I’m craving something.

12. I’m looking forward to watching one of my books that has just been optioned for film and TV in the theaters.

13. I last binge watched Jane the Virgin, Suits and West Wing (for the 4th time).

14. If you got in my car right now, you’d hear Songland’s newest single playing through my speakers. I’m crazy about the show!

15. Autumn is my favorite time of the year.

16. Write, write, write is what I did this summer.

17. I like my pizza with pepperoni on top.

18. Kennebunkport, Maine is my favorite place to vacation.

19. One thing I can’t live without is my family.

20. I’m working on Lark’s Labyrinth Vol. 2 (tentatively called The Wild Hunt) next, to be released in early 2020.

Book Trailer


About the Author

Multiple New York Times and International Bestsellers, a Paramount Movie, book sales in 22 countries, Cathy Cash Spellman writes stories about love, friendship, adventure, and history. Known for her big sprawling sagas and memorable characters, Cathy writes the kind of stories women like to lose themselves in, and then remember long after the book is done.

Her books range through several genres: contemporary, historical, mystery, mystic and romance. Several take place in two time-frames, both current and historical.

Bless the Child was a Paramount movie in 2000, starring Kim Basinger and Jimmy Smits, and Paint The Wind has been optioned for film and TV.

Cathy is an Astrologer, Martial Artist (Black Belt Goju Ryu Karate) and has expertise in Chinese Medicine, several alternative healing modalities and many metaphysical disciplines.

She has written for Self, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, Mademoiselle, Cosmo, Penthouse, Mode, Kung Fu and many other magazines about women, health, empowerment, sexuality, spiritual philosophy and Astrology. She blogs for The Huffington Post and The New York Times.  

PHOTO CREDIT: DAKOTA CASH 


Tour-Wide Giveaway


- 4 Winners will receive a $25.00 Amazon Gift Card.
- Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter | August 10, 2019

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A new YA release... T-Minus by Shannon Greenland (#Giveaway)


T-Minus
By Shannon Greenland
YA Thriller, Suspense
Paperback & ebook, 320 Pages
August 6th 2019 by Entangled: Teen

Summary

I am the daughter of the first female POTUS, and today is about to become the longest day of my life…

24 hours—that’s how much time I have to save my mother before terrorists assassinate her. But now my father and brother are missing, too. This goes deeper than anyone thinks. Only someone on the inside would know how to pull this off—how to make the entire First Family disappear.

I can't trust anyone, so it’s up to me to uncover the conspiracy and stop these madmen. Because little do they know, they picked the wrong person to terrorize.

My name is Sophie Washington, and I will not be a victim. No one, I repeat no one, is taking me or my family down. But the clock is ticking…

(Affiliate link included.)

About the Author

Shannon Greenland, or S. E. Green, is the award winning author of the teen thriller, Killer Instinct, a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers; the teen spy series, The Specialists, an ALA Popular Paperback and a National Reader’s Choice recipient; and the YA romance, The Summer My Life Began, winner of the Beverly Hills Book Award. Her books have been translated into several languages and are currently on numerous state reading lists. Shadow of a Girl is her latest novel and due out 9.19.16. Shannon has participated in and served as a guest speaker at festivals and conferences around the country to include but not limited to the LA Times Book Festival, American Library Association, Book Expo of America, Bouchercon, Romance Writers of America, RT Book Convention, Young Adult Keller Book Festival, Southern Festival of Books, and many more. Shannon grew up in Tennessee where she dreaded all things reading and writing. She didn’t even read her first book for enjoyment until she was twenty-five. After that she was hooked! When she’s not writing, she works as an adjunct math professor and lives on the coast in Florida with her very grouchy dog. Find her online everywhere @segreenauthor.


Blitz Giveaway

A Q&A with Author Matt Mikalatos for The Heartwood Crown (Interview) #YAFantasy @TyndaleHouse



Welcome! I'm sharing author Matt Mikalatos' interview in celebration of The Heartwood
Crown's release next week, book two in his Sunlit Lands series. Check it out below...

The Heartwood Crown
(The Sunlit Lands #2)
By Matt Mikalatos
YA Fantasy
Hardcover, Paperback & ebook, 416 Pages
August 7th 2018 by Wander

Summary

After destroying the Crescent Stone, Madeline returns home, bringing Shula and Yenil with her. As her health continues to deteriorate, Madeline feels the Sunlit Lands calling her back. Meanwhile, Jason, Darius, and the rest of the inhabitants of the Sunlit Lands fight for survival and freedom. The magic that fuels the land is failing, threatening to destroy them all. Will Madeline’s return save the land and its people? Matt’s signature humor and epic storytelling are once again on full display in The Heartwood Crown.

(Affiliate link included.)

Author Interview

What main themes do you explore in The Heartwood Crown?

The Heartwood Crown dives deep into questions about how we deal with injustice on both personal and corporate scales. It also explores loss and grief, and how we discover forgiveness for past wrongs in our lives.

How have these themes developed or changed as the series continues?

The Crescent Stone was, in many ways, about the unwitting injustices we can sometimes participate in without our direct knowledge. As the characters became aware of these injustices they responded in different ways. Darius went into full-on warrior mode, trying to bring justice through the sword. Jason discovered that he needed to be honest about himself, not just the world around him, if he really wanted to change things. Madeline discovered that personal sacrifice and small changes sometimes have large effects. As we move into book two, the questions become more complex. We move from the ways the characters have unwittingly participated in unjust systems and into questions of what we do when there has been injustice over multiple generations. None of the living characters are responsible for what has come before, so how can they possibly make things right? Is there a way to bring justice for the past without inflicting an unjust price on the descendants of those who did wrong years ago?

The Sunlit Lands series delves into the subject of privilege from the perspective of the privileged. How do you hope this trilogy will change the way readers think about how privilege influences their own lives?

The simple definition of privilege I use is “all other things being equal, this thing provides an advantage.” So, for instance, there are privileges inherent with having wealth. The main character Madeline is a great example in this story of someone who has many privileges that others don’t: she’s upper-middle class, intelligent, from the majority culture, and goes to a nice school. That’s all privilege. Of course, she also has a terminal illness, which means that she doesn’t have a privilege that most of her peers do: good health. Privilege is complicated, and the people least likely to notice it are those who have it. One of the things I love about Madeline’s journey is that she cares enough about people to see them where they are, which means that she comes to recognize her own privileges. While I think it’s important to become aware of our own privilege, it’s not wrong to be a person of privilege. The question is—and this is the question Madeline continually wrestles with—how do I use this power for the good of those less privileged? I hope that people who read The Crescent Stone and The Heartwood Crown come away looking for the places where they have privilege and desiring to use those gifts for the benefit of their communities and the people around them.

How have the main characters in this story grown since they were introduced in the first book, The Crescent Stone?

Jason Wu has opened himself to love and friendship in new ways. Madeline has learned to take personal responsibility for herself and is now struggling with accepting her dire health situation. Darius is learning that he’s quick to fight against injustice in this fantasy land but struggles to do the same back home. Shula, who was a side character in the previous book, steps into the spotlight as she struggles with the intense anger burning within her after the loss of her family in Syria. Meanwhile, our dear friend Hanali has learned nothing and continues to be his charming but possibly evil self.

Which scene in The Heartwood Crown did you most enjoy writing?

For a large portion of this book, Jason Wu is being hunted by a Kakri warrior named Bezaed. Any scene that had both of them in it was a lot of fun to write, because Jason has such a big mouth and Bezaed is so serious (and of course trying to murder Jason). And I have to say the terrifying entrance into the world of the necromancers was a lot of fun too.

As you were crafting the characters in The Heartwood Crown, did any of them surprise you?

Jason Wu has a special way of breaking the rules and not doing what I planned in my outline. In The Heartwood Crown there’s a moment where he’s sent on a quest, and I had planned a little three- or four-chapter adventure for him. But when the quest was explained to him, he thought about it and said, “Why would I do that when I could send this other character who could get there faster and just come tell me what happened?” Jason often stubbornly refuses to do the things his author requires. So that was a funny moment where I was surprised and shaking my head. He sidestepped my plans. When he came up with the idea of “changing his story” I knew I was in trouble. He started subverting everything I threw at him, which was delightful and entertaining for me because I never quite knew what he was going to do.

In The Heartwood Crown you have a terminally ill character named Madeline, and you deal with her illness in a way that seems outside the norms of fantasy literature. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

When I first started writing The Crescent Stone my best friend, Shasta, was battling terminal cancer. I started writing The Heartwood Crown during a period of deep grief and personal loss. It’s somewhat common in fantasy novels and fairy tales for sick people to be healed with magic apples or enchanted water or with rare plants or even a peculiar toad. But when The Heartwood Crown starts, Madeline already knows how the magic of the Sunlit Lands works . . . she can be healed, but only if someone else pays the price. That pushes us firmly back into the “real world” of dealing with terminal illness. We can hold out hope for a miracle (and I believe those do sometimes come to us!), but in time we have to embrace that we all have death in our future. Madeline’s movement toward acceptance of her illness has a profound impact on her friends and, indeed, on the Sunlit Lands as well. I don’t believe we really embrace the beauty of life if we pretend the painful parts aren’t there. There’s a scene in this book that I read maybe twenty times during the editorial process. Every time I read it I wept. But then, there’s hope, too. There’s still beauty in the world, still places of healing. It may not be golden apples or the fountain of youth, but I believe we can still find comfort in our grief.

Can you give us a sneak peak of what’s to come in the third and final book in this series?

There’s a short time jump between books two and three, so we start with catching up with all our friends and what they’re doing now. The Sunlit Lands are in chaos after the events of book two. Darius is working to put himself in the center of the action, but he’s trapped as an outsider. Jason discovers that he has a more central role to play in the Sunlit Lands than he ever dreamed, which he’s trying to navigate while attempting to repair some broken relationships. And Shula has a startling revelation about her own past that will lead her into a painful recognition about what needs to change in the Sunlit Lands if they are going to survive! Book three is called The Story King, and like the other two books in the series it will be full of adventure, laughs, and moments of deep sorrow. It’s epic in the truest sense, and I hope the book doesn’t become so long that you can’t pick it up to read.

What advice would you give to young writers today, especially those interested in writing fiction?

You have to be disciplined to keep writing. Like most skills, whatever your initial level of giftedness, the more you write the better you get. Read the best books in the genre you’re writing. Watch the way the author uses words. How is the story constructed? Does the author do something you don’t know how to do? For instance, does she write a scene that taps deep into your emotions and makes you cry? How was that accomplished? What wording made that possible? How was the situation described to bring you to that place? Take time to learn the craft. But most importantly, keep writing!

Other Books in the Series

The Crescent Stone
(The Sunlit Lands #1)
By Matt Mikalatos
YA Fantasy
Hardcover, Paperback & ebook, 448 Pages
August 7th 2018 by Wander

Summary

"For Narnia fans who enjoy heavy snark, this is a must-read." --Kirkus Reviews

"A compelling fantasy world with humor and heart." --Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese and Boxers & Saints

"With the rich characterization of John Green and the magical escapism of Narnia, this book is a must read for all fantasy fans!" --Lorie Langdon, author of Olivia Twist and the Doon series

A girl with a deadly lung disease . . .
A boy with a tragic past . . .
A land where the sun never sets but darkness still creeps in . . .

Madeline Oliver has never wanted for anything, but now she would give anything just to breathe. Jason Wu skates through life on jokes, but when a tragedy leaves him guilt-stricken, he promises to tell only the truth, no matter the price. When a mysterious stranger named Hanali appears to Madeline and offers to heal her in exchange for one year of service to his people, Madeline and Jason are swept into a strange land where they don't know the rules and where their decisions carry consequences that reach farther than they could ever guess.

(Affiliate links included.)

About the Author


Matt Mikalatos is the author of all sorts of wonderful books. He's on staff with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) and has been working the last several years to help this historically Caucasian institution make changes in their culture and philosophy to move toward becoming a truly multiethnic organization that is serious about reaching everyone for Christ, not just those in their own culture, nation, or ethnicity.



Have you read either of these books? What did you like about the interview?

Check out the tour for Love and Other Mistakes by Jessica Kate (Tour Launch) #LOMPrismTour

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Book Tour Launch for
Love and Other Mistakes
By Jessica Kate

Follow a Q&A with the Author

Each stop on this tour has a full interview, or a question and
answer with the author. Stop by each blog to follow this exclusive
Q&A with the author and found out more about her and her debut!

Love and Other Mistakes
By Jessica Kate
Christian Contemporary Romance
Paperback, Audiobook & ebook, 352 Pages
July 30th 2019 by Thomas Nelson

Jessica Kate’s hilarious, romantic debut novel proves that some mistakes—including love—are begging to be made again and again.

Natalie Groves once had big dreams. But soon after her fiancé, Jeremy Walters, inexplicably broke off their engagement and left town, her father was diagnosed with cancer. Now tasked with keeping her family afloat, Natalie’s grand plans have evaporated . . . and God feels very far away.

Fast-forward seven years, and Jeremy is back in Charlottesville with an infant son and years of regrets. When his niece, Lili, lands on his doorstep in need of a place to stay, Jeremy needs help—and fast.

An internship opening finally presents Natalie a chance at her dream job, but she needs a second income to work around it—and the only offer available is Jeremy’s. They could be the solutions to one another’s problems, provided they don’t kill each other in the process. When they join forces, sparks fly. But they both know there’s a thin line between love and hate . . . and that love will turn out to be the best decision—or the biggest mistake—of all.

Praise for the Book

“A stunning debut . . . This tale of love and redemption will stay with you long after you've closed the book. A must-read.” —Rachel Hauck, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Dress

“Witty. Charming. Heartfelt. I could go on and on about Jessica Kate’s debut novel. From its highly relatable characters to its pitch-perfect dialogue, Love and Other Mistakes is a delightful, romantic read filled with just the right amount of sass. I lost count of the number of times I laughed out loud as I watched Natalie and Jem navigate their relationships, careers, and faith. Definitely one of the most enjoyable books I've read lately, and I can't wait to see what’s next from Jessica Kate!” —Melissa Tagg, Carol Award–winning author of Now and Then and Always and the Walker Family series

Love and Other Mistakes wraps a poignant and warm look at relationships within a smart, sly, and knowing comedic voice. Readers of Sally Thorne and Bethany Turner will be immediately at home with Natalie: an all-too-real heroine who balances whip-smart agency with an endearing vulnerability and whose intersection with long-lost Jeremy helps her forge a path to confidence and discover the woman she was always meant to be. Kate’s unputdownable debut recognizes that all human relationships—familial, friendship, romantic—are worth the keen eye and clever insight of her talented pen.” —Rachel McMillan, author of the Van Buren and DeLuca Mysteries

“If you’re looking for a story with sass on top of style, or a fresh voice pumped full of fun, you need to read Love and Other Mistakes. Then after you’ve enjoyed this—and I’m confident you will—make a date with whatever this exciting new author writes next!” —David Rawlings, author of The Baggage Handler

Tour Schedule

July 29th:
July 30th:
July 31st:
August 1st:
August 2nd:
August 5th:
August 6th:
August 7th:
August 8th:
August 9th:
August 10th:

Bookstagram Tour

Find out more about the tour here.

About the Author


Australian author Jessica Kate is obsessed with sassy romances. 

She packs her novels with love, hate, and everything in between—and then nerds out over her favorite books, movies and TV in the StoryNerds podcast. When she’s not writing or discussing fiction, she’s hunting the world for the greatest pasta in existence.

Her debut novel Love and Other Mistakes releases July 2019, while A Girl’s Guide to the Outback hits shelves in January 2020.

Receive her sassy short The Kiss Dare FREE when you sign up for her newsletter at jessicakatewriting.com. StoryNerds podcast is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and at www.storynerds.podbean.com.


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Check out the Bookstagram Tour for Legend Undone by Angie Day! #LUPrismTour

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Bookstagram Tour for
Legend Undone
By Angie Day

Find more information below or just head on over to our Instagram
page HERE to check out the tour and find out how to enter the giveaway.

Legend Undone
(Legends and Shadows Saga #1)
By Angie Day
New Adult Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Hardcover & ebook, 364 Pages
August 2nd 2019 by Rahne Press

Mara wasn’t just a Legend who survived on human energy, she used to be a dangerous Shadow who wielded more power than she wanted. When she discovered that Alec, the leader of the Shadows and her childhood love, held a dark secret about her past to keep her prisoner until he could use her against the humans, she ran.

As the first Legend to escape the Shadows alive, Mara must keep moving, hiding among the humans that every Legend learned to hate, while she searches to understand her past. Under the alias Kate, she meets Kylan and his way of life challenges everything she used to know. As she falls for Kylan, she finds clues about what happened before she became a Shadow.

But the closer she gets to an answer, the faster Alec can destroy everything she has grown to love.

Tour Schedule

July 29th: @seeking.wonderland
July 30th: @bookishdelightz
July 31st: @ghoulishspirit
August 1st: @girlandherbooks
August 2nd: @_ebl_inc_


About the Author


Angie Day found her love of writing while in college where she studied psychology and eventually went on to a master’s degree. She noticed the need for romantic and fantastic adult stories that were still wholesome and clean. So, she took matters into her own hands. LEGEND UNDONE is her debut novel. When she’s not devouring the next book, she is spending time outdoors with her husband.

To follow along with her journey, find her on Twitter or check out her website.


Tour Giveaway


Six winners (one per tour stop and one at @PrismBookTours) will each receive a bookmark, signed bookplate, removable dagger mark tattoo, and an ebook of LEGEND UNDONE (US only).

To enter on Instagram:
1. Follow @angiedayauthor and @prismbooktours (we check to verify)
2. Like this post and tag one friend in comments

For extra entries:
- You can tag two additional friends for two extra entries
- Get even more entries by doing the same on each stop on the tour

Giveaway ends at 12:00 AM ET on Monday, August 5, 2019. This giveaway is in no way affiliated or sponsored by Instagram.

Enter on Instagram HERE

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Weekly Update #328, one more week of semi-freedom...


Welcome to my Weekly Update where I share what's been going on and what's coming up!

I'm linking up to The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and to Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality.

This week has been a mix of craziness with my oldest back in school while the other three don't start for another week and trying to get some things done. As the kids get older I keep feeling like I'm losing time with them. It's a bit of a balancing act trying to spend lots of quality time with them while also blogging, cleaning house and all the other stuff life requires. At the same time, it's exciting to see them grow up and come into their own. It's probably why I love reading YA so much - all that character development and the tough choices that decide the direction these lives go. Anyway, this is our last week with some freedom so I hope to get some fun in with the younger three before we go back to the craziness of school.


This Week

 

Other Things of Note

Have you been grabbing audiobooks from AudioFileSync this summer? It's the last week, guys. I can't believe it! This summer has flown! Grab your copies here.

New Books

I'm due for another #bookhaul stack, but I haven't taken the picture yet. Here are two recent additions that I shared on Instagram this week:
Maybe This Time by Kasie West

Blood & Brute & Ginger Root by Melissa Wright
(Enter to win this bookish box here.)

Giveaways

Go enter my monthly giveaway (for an Amazon gift card):

Last Week

Check out the bookstagram tour for Love and Other Mistakes by Jessica Kate!

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Bookstagram Tour for
Love and Other Mistakes
By Jessica Kate

Find more information below or just head on over
to our Instagram page HERE to check out the tour.

Love and Other Mistakes
By Jessica Kate
Christian Contemporary Romance
Paperback, Audiobook & ebook, 352 Pages
July 30th 2019 by Thomas Nelson

Jessica Kate’s hilarious, romantic debut novel proves that some mistakes—including love—are begging to be made again and again.

Natalie Groves once had big dreams. But soon after her fiancé, Jeremy Walters, inexplicably broke off their engagement and left town, her father was diagnosed with cancer. Now tasked with keeping her family afloat, Natalie’s grand plans have evaporated . . . and God feels very far away.

Fast-forward seven years, and Jeremy is back in Charlottesville with an infant son and years of regrets. When his niece, Lili, lands on his doorstep in need of a place to stay, Jeremy needs help—and fast.

An internship opening finally presents Natalie a chance at her dream job, but she needs a second income to work around it—and the only offer available is Jeremy’s. They could be the solutions to one another’s problems, provided they don’t kill each other in the process. When they join forces, sparks fly. But they both know there’s a thin line between love and hate . . . and that love will turn out to be the best decision—or the biggest mistake—of all.

Praise for the Book

“A stunning debut . . . This tale of love and redemption will stay with you long after you've closed the book. A must-read.” —Rachel Hauck, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Dress

“Witty. Charming. Heartfelt. I could go on and on about Jessica Kate’s debut novel. From its highly relatable characters to its pitch-perfect dialogue, Love and Other Mistakes is a delightful, romantic read filled with just the right amount of sass. I lost count of the number of times I laughed out loud as I watched Natalie and Jem navigate their relationships, careers, and faith. Definitely one of the most enjoyable books I've read lately, and I can't wait to see what’s next from Jessica Kate!” —Melissa Tagg, Carol Award–winning author of Now and Then and Always and the Walker Family series

Love and Other Mistakes wraps a poignant and warm look at relationships within a smart, sly, and knowing comedic voice. Readers of Sally Thorne and Bethany Turner will be immediately at home with Natalie: an all-too-real heroine who balances whip-smart agency with an endearing vulnerability and whose intersection with long-lost Jeremy helps her forge a path to confidence and discover the woman she was always meant to be. Kate’s unputdownable debut recognizes that all human relationships—familial, friendship, romantic—are worth the keen eye and clever insight of her talented pen.” —Rachel McMillan, author of the Van Buren and DeLuca Mysteries

“If you’re looking for a story with sass on top of style, or a fresh voice pumped full of fun, you need to read Love and Other Mistakes. Then after you’ve enjoyed this—and I’m confident you will—make a date with whatever this exciting new author writes next!” —David Rawlings, author of The Baggage Handler

Tour Schedule

July 27th:
@girlandherbooks
@heidireadsblog
July 28th:
@StackingMyBookShelves
@old.enough.for.fairytales
July 29th:
@sarahalexisblog
@thereadingchemist
July 30th:
@_ebl_inc_
@TheReadingCornerforAll
July 31st:
@simplykelina
@all.the.lovely.pages


About the Author


Australian author Jessica Kate writes inspirational romances with wit, sass, and grit. Jessica is a screenwriting groupie, cohost of the StoryNerds vlog and podcasts, and her favorite place to be—apart from Mum and Dad’s back deck—is a theme park. She has traveled North America and Australia, and samples her favorite pasta wherever she goes—but the best (so far) is still the place around the corner from her corporate day job as a training developer. She loves watching sitcoms with her housemates and being a leader in a new church plant.


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