Release Day Blitz + Giveaway: The Illusion of Annabella by Jessica Sorensen

Happy Release Day to 

Jessica Sorensen and her new book THE ILLUSION OF ANNABELLA. 

The Illusion of Annabella is a Young Adult Contemporary Romance. Enjoy a sneak peek below and make sure to enter the giveaway!

♥ BUY THE BOOK ♥

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Annabella Baker has always lived a normal life with a loving family. She had dreams of going to college and becoming a dancer. But the summer before her senior year, the life she knew is ripped away from her, and she’s left wondering if it ever really existed in the first place.

Six months later, Annabella is living an entirely different life. The loving family she had no longer exists, and the girl who dreamed of being a dancer can barely walk. She spends most of her time getting into trouble and living in denial over what happened. One night she takes things one step too far and is left dealing with the consequences.

Put under house arrest, Annabella can no longer run away from her problems. With the help of her cute, sweet neighbor, Luca Benton, she rediscovers the girl she used to be, and finally learns the truth about what really happened that horrible day that changed her life forever.

Book Excerpt from The Illusion of Annabella

written by Jessica Sorensen 

I swallow hard, pressing my hands to the garage as my legs turn into noodles. “It seems crazy, wanting to help someone when you don’t even know them . . . Your life would be easier if you didn’t.”

“My life’s never been easy, but do you know what’s really easy?” he asks, and I shake my head. With a hint of a smile on his face, he reaches out, and I think he’s going to grab me, but instead he taps the box of sparklers I’m holding. “Lighting sparklers.”

I frown warily at the box. “That’s actually harder than it seems.”

Suddenly the wind gusts dead leaves across grass, and the cloudy sky grumbles, warning us of an impending storm. Clasping the lighter in one hand, I open the box and wiggle two sparklers out.

Can I do this?


I give one to Luca then fumble to light the lighter.Am I really going to do this?

Blame it on my nerves, but I can’t get the damn thing to work.

Maybe I shouldn’t do this?

Finally, Luca pries my fingers off it, flicks the top, and creates a steady flame. He lights his first then sticks it out in front of him as silvery sparks shoot out like a magic wand.


“Put yours up to mine,” he instructs, stuffing the lighter into his back pocket.


With a deep breath, I kiss the tip of his sparkler with mine. Oh, my God, I’m really doing this. They hiss as the flames aglow.

I move the sparkler in a circle in front of me. “Wow.” I forgot how magical a simple firework could be, and for a moment, I see the world through my old eyes, lit up like fireflies that I swear I could catch if I just stuck out my hand.


For the next few minutes, Luca and I play around in the driveway, going through sparkler after sparkler, giggling like a couple of kids as we clumsily skip around. When it comes down to the last one, he lights it up and hands it to me.

As the sparkler reaches the halfway point, Luca moves up behind me and circles his arms around my waist, covering my hand with his so we’re both holding onto it. His breath tickles my ear as he laughs and traces letters in the air. My hand moves with his, but I can barely focus on what he’s writing. I’m too distracted by his chest pressed against my back, his warm fingers covering mine, how very alive I feel in that moment, and how terrified I am.


“Luca, I think . . .” I trail off as he stretches our arms out to the side and fixes his finger under my chin. Turning my head toward him, his eyes search mine, then slowly, he leans in.

 © 2015 Jessica Sorensen. From The Illusion of Annabelle by Jessica Sorensen, published by Borrowed Hearts Pub. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Facebook * Twitter * Website 

Jessica Sorensen is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author from the snowy mountains of Wyoming. When she's not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.

She is the author of the Nova, The Coincidence, Shattered Promises, Fallen Star, and The Secret series. Amazingly talented and an incredibly awesome YA/New Adult author, you don't want to miss out on any of her books.

Don't forget to check out her Goodreads page!


GIVEAWAY DETAILS...

Jessica Sorensen The Illusion of Annabella Release Day Giveaway

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Come, The Dark (Forever Girl, #2) by Rebecca Hamilton

"A heart-wrenching tale of a mother’s love for her daughter, this romantic paranormal fantasy underlines the depravity of both historical and modern society while capturing the essence of sacrifice and devotion."

I am excited to share with you today, the second book in the Forever Girl series by the wonderful and amazingly talented Rebecca Hamilton. If you are a fan of books that encapsulate a bit of modern society with both historical and paranormal aspects, then Come, The Dark is a book that you'll definitely want to pick up and read. Beautifully written and emotionally stunning, this book will take your breath away. 

The Forever Girl can be purchased at Amazon for $3.99, if you are interested in reading it. There's also a super cool giveaway that's going on as well, all you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter below to have a chance to enter. 

Come, The Dark (Forever Girl, #2)

Rebecca Hamilton

Published: January 6, 2015

Publisher: TeZLA 

Age Demographic: Young Adult

Pages: 361

Rose desperately wants to escape the abuse of the father who impregnated her and the dark spirits that haunt her life. Being thrust from Georgia 1961 into the era of Salem’s infamous witch trials isn’t what she had in mind, and now her daughter is left hopelessly out of reach. 

The only way to return to her daughter is by facing certain death to banish the dark spirits that plague Salem. If she doesn’t eliminate these dark spirits in time, they will destroy civilization and trap her in this strange new place, ages away from her daughter. 

Even if she can complete the task in time to return home to save her daughter, there’s still one problem: she’s falling in love with a man who can’t return with her. Achieving her goals will force her to choose between the only man who has never betrayed her and a daughter she can’t quite remember but will never forget. 

To purchase a copy of Come, The Dark (Forever Girl, #2) by Rebecca Hamilton please visit Amazon.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

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About the Author

Website * Twitter * Facebook

Rebecca Hamilton writes Paranormal Fantasy, Horror, and Literary Fiction. She lives in Florida with her husband and four kids, along with multiple writing personalities that range from morbid to literary. Having a child diagnosed with autism has inspired her to illuminate the world through the eyes of characters who see things differently.

Rebecca Hamilton is represented by the ever-more-amazing Rossano Trentin of TZLA.

Swoon Romance YA Wednesdays: Run for the Roses, Secondary Characters, Don't Fall by Rachel Schieffelbein Book Blitz with Giveaway #ReadSwoonRepeat

Welcome to this week’s

Swoon Romance YA Wednesdays!

This week features Rachel Schieffelbein's titles

Run for the Roses, Secondary Characters, Don't Fall!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

Abigail Conrad has spent her whole life training for one goal: to win the roses at the Arabian Youth Nationals. She’s given up friends, a social life, and doesn’t have time to even think about guys -- much less date!

Now that she’s headed off to college in the fall, it’s her last chance to be a Youth National Champion, and she won’t let anything distract her from that dream.

Except maybe Chase, the older brother of Abigail's biggest rival. He’s charming, funny, and possibly Abigail's biggest problem. How can she focus on riding when her mind keeps wandering to Chase’s green eyes and confident smile?

With her dream on the line, Abigail had better learn to fight her growing attraction to Chase, or she might end up losing the roses and the guy.

Run for the Roses
by Rachel Schieffelbein
Publication Date: November 2013
Publisher: Swoon Romance

Amazon * B&N

When Mabel's best friend, Amber, drags her along on a double date she finds herself falling for Lance, the obnoxious class clown whom she swore she'd have no interest in. The only problem is, she's not sure if she's really the girl Lance is into, or if, like every other guy she knows, it's really Amber he's after. One thing is clear, if Mabel wants to be the lead in her own love story, she needs to start acting like it.

Secondary Characters
by Rachel Schieffelbein
Publication Date: May 2013
Publisher: Swoon Romance

Amazon * B&N

In which a teenage girl endures the over-protective love of her adoptive mother until she falls for a boy who has her wanting to spread her wings, pitched as a contemporary retelling of Rapunzel.

Seventeen-year-old Anya leads a very secluded life in a house on the edge of town with her adopted mother. She doesn't go to school, but instead has a private tutor. Her over-protective mom keeps her so sheltered that she doesn't even have a best friend. 

But Anya doesn't seem to mind. She has her books, her photography, and her daydreams, and would do anything to please her mom. Until one day at the library, the only place she's allowed to go, she takes a picture of a beautiful boy.

Before long she's lying to her mom, and sneaking out late at night to meet Zander. But Zander wants more than a secret romance. If Anya wants to be with the boy of her dreams, she will have to risk her relationship with the only other person she's ever cared about.

Don't Fall
by Rachel Schieffelbein
Publication Date: May 2014
Publisher: Swoon Romance

Amazon * B&N

 Website * Twitter * Facebook

Rachel Schieffelbein grew up in a tiny town in Southeast Minnesota reading books, riding horses, and participating in speech and theater. She is now married with four kids and enjoys reading books, riding horses, and coaching speech and theater. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! She enjoys writing characters she can relate to, ones she would want to hangout with, or fall in love with. She hopes her readers will love them, too.

 

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Blog Tour with Author Interview & Giveaway: Summer Of The Oak Moon by Laura Templeton

I say this a lot, but I'm really incredibly excited to be a part of the Summer Of The Oak Moon blog tour! Laura Templeton, is an amazingly talented and inspiring author that has written such an emotionally driven and gorgeously painful novel that comes to life in so many ways. These characters, the setting, and the conflict they find themselves embroiled in, are definitely relevant to what's currently going on in our communities and society as a whole right now. 

It's real, it's raw, and it's stunningly heartbreaking and amazing to read!

If you're looking for a book that is going to let push the envelope and an author who isn't afraid to tackle such sensitive subject matters, then Summer Of The Oak Moon by Laura Templeton is the book that you'll want to pick up. This isn't a story that you'll be likely to forget any time soon.

Today, I'm lucky enough to have Laura Templeton on the blog talking about the importance of these characters, the issues they'll be facing in society, along with a couple other things. There's also a tour wide giveaway going on that you can enter if you fill out the Rafflecopter below. 

First, though, I want to share with you a little more about Summer Of The Oak Moon.

Summer Of The Oak Moon

by Laura Templeton

Published: May 5, 2015

Publisher: Month9Books

Age Demographic: New Adult

Pages: 300

Rejected by the exclusive women’s college she has her heart set on, Tess Seibert dreads the hot, aimless summer ahead. But when a chance encounter with a snake introduces her to Jacob Lane, a black college student home on his summer break, a relationship blooms that challenges the prejudices of her small, north Florida town. 

When Jacob confesses that Tess’s uncle is trying to steal his family’s land, Tess comes face to face with the hatred that simmers just below the surface of the bay and marshes she’s loved since birth. With the help of her mentor Lulu, an herbal healer, Tess pieces together clues to the mysterious disappearance of Jacob’s father twenty-two years earlier and uncovers family secrets that shatter her connection to the land she loves.

Tess and Jacob’s bond puts them both in peril, and discontent eventually erupts into violence. Tess is forced to make a decision. Can she right old wrongs and salvage their love? Or will prejudice and hatred kill any chance she and Jacob might have had?

If you would like to purchase a copy of Summer Of The Oak Moon by Laura Templeton please visit Amazon or Barnes&Noble to make your purchase.

An Author Interview With

Laura Templeton

Hi Laura, thank you so much for being on the blog today. It's definitely nice to have you here, talking with us about your book Summer of the Oak Moon. It's such a powerful novel with a poignant and important message, can you shed some light on what inspired you to come up with this particular story?

Thanks so much for having me—and for the kind words about my book! 

In the months before I started writing Summer of the Oak Moon I spent a lot of time reading about the civil rights movement. One of the first books I read was John Lewis’s Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement, which inspired me to read more. In addition, I attended some local events dealing with civil rights-era crimes, and I discovered that an unsolved 1946 murder of two black couples had occurred not far from where I now live. As I reflected on my reading and thought about my own experiences growing up in the South, I knew that I wanted to tackle the subject in novel form. A coming of age story set against the backdrop of the 1980’s and the 1950’s seemed to fit the bill.

One of the things I love about Summer of the Oak Moon, is that you are unafraid to tackle sensitive issues like racial tension, the pressures of an inter-racial relationship, and the affect that it can have on someone like Tess for example. Was it hard, writing parts of this novel or did it just come easy and flow natrually?

I was born and have lived all my life in the South, and I can’t imagine living elsewhere. I love the natural beauty of the land and the friendly people who live here. I enjoy the casual, relaxed culture that persists to this day (flip-flops at the office anyone?) But I knew that in Summer of the Oak Moon I had to capture the darker side of the South—the stubborn resolve to stick to old, outdated, even wrong ways. In that sense, it was hard to write at times. Writing some parts of the book felt like I was exposing all my over-stuffed closets and under-the-bed dust bunnies to my most discriminating houseguest. (Okay, confession here—writing comes before housekeeping for me, as you can tell.) But in my writing, I try always to be truthful. And I do feel that the story, while at times not pretty and presentable—in language and action—is nonetheless an accurate representation of the time periods. I also feel strongly that young people deserve to be entrusted with difficult stories, in whatever form they take. 

Both Tess and Jacob has quite a bit to deal with, between the outside pressures surrounding their relationship and the secrets and lies that Tess discovers regarding his father. How was it writing Jacob and handling all of the issues that he faced throughout the novel?

While Tess and Lulu practically wrote themselves into existence, the character of Jacob was a little slow for me to flesh out. At first, he was more the strong, silent type—a prop for the characters of Tess and Lulu. But over time, I began to know him better, and I hope I was able to engage the reader in understanding his predicament. He, like Tess, is at a crossroads. Does he go to law school? Or seminary? Does he join Tess is pursuing information about his missing father ... against his mother’s wishes? Or does he continue to ignore his nagging doubts? Jacob goes through a similar transformation as Tess, growing up, owning his past, and working to make the present a bit better.

As an author and without giving away any spoilers, do you think that Tess and Jacob can both survive everything that's thrown at them in this book and come out on the other side better and fully intact or do you think that it will be difficult navigating the tentative waters of a relationship such as theirs?

Well, I tend to be an optimist... Jacob and Tess both are survivors. They each are strong, though in very different ways (which is perhaps why they are attracted to each other.) But both of them are forced to face things about their past that change their entire worldview. They will need time to assimilate this knowledge and move forward. Can they sustain a long-term relationship with all the challenges that would bring? I honestly don’t know. I’ve thought a lot about that myself and haven’t come to a conclusion! But if pushed ... I’d say yes. After twenty-nine years of marriage, I’m a believer in happily-ever-after.

Again, I want to thank you so much for agreeing to be on the blog today, is there anything important that you'd like to say regarding Summer of the Oak Moon?

As I read the news these days, what I already knew is confirmed—race is still an issue not just in the South but also throughout the country. Yes, prejudice today tends to be quieter and less overt than in the past. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. We have to look to and understand our society’s past in order to redefine our future. The fear, greed, and hatred that led to heinous events like those 1946 murders that occurred in my county need to be examined, along with their vestiges that lead, today, to more injustice. I hope that in a small way, my novel can spark some much-needed dialogue around the still-relevant issue of racial prejudice.

Giveaway Details

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About the Author

Website * Twitter * Facebook

Laura Templeton lives near Athens, Georgia, with her husband, son, and a menagerie of animals. When she’s not writing, she enjoys gardening, learning to figure skate, and taking long walks on the quiet country roads near her home. Something Yellow is her debut novel, and her creative nonfiction has appeared in various publications.

For more stops along the tour, check out the official tour schedule!