Book Blitz + Giveaway and Excerpt: The Secret Diamond Sisters by Michelle Madow

You guys, I'm really super excited to be sharing an excerpt from the first book in The Secret Diamond Sisters by the amazingly talented Michelle Madow. I have been DYING to read this series since the first book released last year, but I haven't had the chance to get to it yet. I'm definitely making it a priority on my Summer TBR list for sure. Today, I want to share a scrumptious excerpt and awesome giveaway with you guys! 

Ya'll like book swag right?!

Well, you're totally going to love the swag that you can win for this super fun and intriguing series. So, definitely take a look at the books below and fill out the Rafflecopter to enter!

The Secret Diamond Sisters

 (The Secret Diamond Sisters #1)

by Michelle Madow 

Published: 02/25/14

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 381

Savannah. Courtney. Peyton.

The three sisters grew up not knowing their father and not quite catching a break. But it looks like their luck is about to change when they find out the secret identity of their long-lost dad—a billionaire Las Vegas hotel owner who wants them to come live in a gorgeous penthouse hotel suite.

Suddenly the Strip's most exclusive clubs are all-access, and with an unlimited credit card each, it should be easier than ever to fit right in. But in a town full of secrets and illusion, fitting in is nothing compared to finding out the truth about their past.

Buy Links:

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books A Million 
 Book Depository * iBookstore

Praise:

"Sexy and often electrifying ... Gossip Girl meets The Princess Diaries in a city that never sleeps." 

--Booklist

"This quick and entertaining read is filled with glitz and glamour ... get ready for one crazy and fabulous ride." 
--RT Book Reviews

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas ... but that doesn’t matter when you live there.”

Excerpt from The Secret Diamond Sisters
Written by Michelle Madow

COURTNEY DIAMOND'S POV

The fireworks started before either of them could say anything more, bursts of light shooting into the desert sky, bigger than any firework show Courtney had seen in Fairfield. It was impossible to ignore the electricity bouncing between the inches of space separating her and Brett, dancing across her skin with each boom overhead. She couldn’t stop glancing at him from the corner of her eye. He looked lost in thought, although sometimes she swore she caught him watching her, too. This went on for twenty minutes, and then came the finale—shot after shot of fireworks exploding, without a second’s break between them. Some sored into their air like comets and others spread like meteor showers, filling up miles of sky.

When it was over, Courtney was sitting so close to Brett that their arms were an inch from touching.

“How did you like it?” he asked, not making an effort to move away.

“I loved it,” she replied. “Thanks for bringing me.”

Her head felt fuzzy, and she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, her arm brushing his. She stilled at the touch, and he looked at her with more intensity than he had the entire night.

“Are you two ready to leave?” Dawn destroyed the moment, standing up and brushing invisible dust off her jeans.

Courtney jerked backward, torn out of her trance. If the others hadn’t been there, what would have happened between her and Brett? She’d never kissed a guy before, but from the way he was looking at her, she felt like he’d wanted to kiss her. And if he had, she wasn’t sure she would have stopped him.

She shook her head at the thought. Courtney had never broken a rule in her life.

Whatever had just occurred between her and Brett could never happen again.

©2014 Michelle Madow. From The Secret Diamond Sisters by Michelle Madow, published by Harlequin Teen.
All rights reserved.

Book Two:

Diamonds in the Rough 

(The Secret Diamond Sisters #2)

by Michelle Madow 

Published: 10/28/14

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 448

All-access doesn't mean no problems.

The three Diamond sisters survived the summer in style after coming to live with their long-lost billionaire father. But making a place for themselves at their exclusive new Las Vegas private school is throwing them any number of gold-plated curves. Savannah's YouTube stardom turns into a Sweet Sixteen reality show extravaganza—with complimentary enemies on the side. Dangerous flirtations don't keep Peyton from a gamble that will risk far more than she planned to bet. And when Courtney and the sisters' archenemy, Madison, uncover two explosive secrets, it will rock even this town of glittering illusion—and turn their lives upside down all over again.

Sisterhood, first crushes, and scandalous secrets explode in book two of Michelle Madow's riveting series, The Secret Diamond Sisters.

Buy Links:

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books A Million 
Book Depository * iBookstore

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author

   

Michelle Madow was inspired to write The Secret Diamond Sisters series while walking through her favorite hotel in Las Vegas. The next book in the series, Diamonds in the Rough, launches in October. 

Prior to The Secret Diamond Sisters, she successfully self-published The Transcend Time Saga. A tireless promoter of her work, Michelle is active on social media networks and has toured across America to promote her books and encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing. 

A graduate of Rollins College, Michelle lives in Florida ... but she loves going to Vegas.

To chat with Michelle and other fans about her books, join Michelle Madow's Street Team on Facebook!

Book Blitz Organized by:

Book Blitz featuring Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid + Excerpt & Giveaway

Book Blitz featuring If I Ever Would Leave You: Arthurian Stories for a New Generation + Giveaway

I have discovered a new kind of love for Fantasy that I didn't know I had, until recently. I've enjoyed Fantasy novels in the past, but not quite as much as the ones that I've been reading lately. They've been wonderful tales filled with Arabian Knights, dark and dangerous undulating worlds, and epic battles fought for the lives of the ones that were lost previously. I particularly have a special place in my heart for Arthurian stories, it's not secret that one of my favorite British shows is, Merlin. Reading a fantasy book or watching a series derived from fantasy, can definitely leave you with an amazing ever-lasting high that nothing else can bring down. 

So, when I came across this book blitz, this is pretty much how I felt.

If Ever I Would Leave You
Arthurian Stories For A New Generation

Jessica Jarman, Bronwyn Green, Jenny Trout writing as Abigail Barnette
Release Date: 07/2014

Surfacing

Bronwyn Green

A year after Tabby Nolan’s sister vanished from the Lake Michigan shore with her boyfriend, Liam, Tabby visits the spot where the two were last seen– and finds herself pulled into the crumbling world of Avalon.

Since his disappearance, Liam has been trapped in the mythical land, with no link to the world he knew. Now, their shared memories of Tabby’s missing sister are all they can cling to as Avalon dies around them.

But Tabby doesn’t want to be a replacement for her sister, and her growing attachment to Liam feels like a betrayal. As Avalon fades around them, Liam and Tabby must rely on each other– or be lost with the ancient kingdom forever.

Albion’s Circle: The Deepest Cut

Jessica Jarman

For nineteen years, Anna has been plagued by dreams of lives lived only in legend. Finally free from the family that believed her hopeless and worthless, she’s ready to start her life over—alone.

When Anna meets an enigmatic stranger claiming to be the legendary wizard Merlin, she is forced to question the very reality she’s struggled to accept. With the mythic figures from her dreams intruding on her waking life, Anna learns that she’s been reborn to fight an ancient evil alongside King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

Caught in an ages old conflict, Anna is the key to stopping a dark magic that will destroy the world—and Merlin wants to make sure that this time, Anna isn’t alone.

A Choice Fit For A Queen

Jenny Trout

writing as Abigail Barnette

For perpetual overachiever Madison Lane, a summer studying Arthurian mythology in the Welsh countryside with professor Thomas Evans is a dream come true, and the adventure of a lifetime.

Of course, the enormous crush Madison developed on the professor after a semester of his lectures at U of M has absolutely nothing to do with her desire to learn more about the enduring legend of Camelot. At least, that’s what she’s telling her parents.

When Madison meets fellow student Rhys Crewe, sparks fly, throwing her plans for wild fling with Professor Evans completely out of whack—as do her unexpectedly complicated feelings for Thomas. With tales of Arthur and Lancelot haunting her every waking moment, Madison has to make the most difficult choice of her life.

Exclusive Excerpt from
Albion’s Circle: The Deepest Cut
By Jessica Jarman

I don’t know how long I sat there, shaking, trying to pull myself together. And failing miserably. Behind my closed lids, images flipped rapidly, almost too fast to distinguish one from another. Almost. But they were as familiar to me as my own reflection. I knew each and every one. Not just faces this time—though, they were there—but places, buildings, events all clouded my mind, tried to burrow in and refused to be shoved aside. It was fierce and brutal, as if these imaginings were fighting back for all times I’d tried to bury them or cut them out of my life.

It didn’t make sense. I shook my head and moaned as the movement sent a wave of pain through my body. God, why was this happening to me? Why was it getting worse? I knew what my mother would say. I’d stopped taking all the medications she and her army of doctors shoved at me my entire life. Well, I’d stopped years ago, so that wasn’t the reason. And those medications… I’d rather be dead than take them again. I felt dead when I was under their influence. That was the reason I’d stopped. I wanted to feel, to live, and they made that impossible. So, as soon as I’d left home, I threw out the pills and never looked back. Things had gotten bad then, but I learned how to deal with it and function normally—without killing everything that made me me.

At first, on my own, I did a lot of stupid things. Stupid, stupid things. All I wanted to do was feel—so I partied hard, drank more than my fair share, and took just about every drug I came across. Not my finest moments. I got over that real quick. Waking up every morning in a different bed with a different person, with no idea what I’d done… Not how I wanted to go through life.

After a time, I realized some sleeping pills to help me get a solid night’s sleep—a solid, dreamless night’s sleep—was all I really needed.

Until now apparently.

I fumbled with the zipper on my purse and started digging through the contents. My fingers closed around a bottle, and I looked at it resting in my palm. That was the problem. The pills weren’t working. Fucking Nate. I threw the unlabeled bottle back into the bag as anger joined the constant pain.

Nate was who I got the sleeping pills from. It was easier than trying to get a doctor to prescribe them—they always wanted to talk about why I wasn’t sleeping, and the hell if I was going there with anyone—and cheaper than paying for office visits and all that shit.

My breathing hitched as I felt solid steel at the bottom of my bag. I pulled out the pocketknife with trembling fingers.

The pills I’d gotten from Nate the other night were bad. They had to be. Because the alternative—that I was as crazy as my mother thought I was—couldn’t be. Could it? I wasn’t crazy. I pulled the blade of the knife open and fought against the bile surging up my throat.

I wasn’t crazy. Hitching up my skirt, I stared at my thighs, and the pale thin marks I kept hidden from the world. My vision blurred until I couldn’t see clearly, and I was biting back sob after sob. I couldn’t let Henry hear me. I needed to get control, so I could deal with Nate and his fucking shit-batch of pills.

I wasn’t crazy. I pressed the blade against my inner thigh. I still couldn’t see, but that was okay. I knew just how hard to push, how to drag the sharp tool slowly along my skin. My lids fluttered shut, and my breathing evened out as I felt the initial prick then the soothing sting.

I wasn’t crazy. I just needed to focus. And this…this brought me focus. This made things clear. I opened my eyes and watched crimson well up in thin lines, getting thicker and thicker until it began sliding down, down, down. A few beads dripped onto the floor, and in that moment, everything quieted inside me.

Five. It’d only taken five stripes to come back together again this time.

About the Authors

Jessica Jarman is an author, blogger, and rather obsessive fangirl. Having grown up in Upper Michigan and currently living in Minnesota, she is a Midwestern girl through and through. And wouldn’t have it any other way.

When Jessica isn’t working to get words on the page, she passes the time with her amazing husband and four children, attempting to be crafty (and failing miserably), squeeing uncontrollably over her favorite shows or curling up with a good book. 

Bronwyn Green is an author, blogger and compulsive crafter. She lives Michigan with her husband, two sons and three somewhat-psychotic cats. When not frantically writing, she can be found helping in her youngest son’s classroom or binge-watching Netflix while working on her latest craft project. Bronwyn loves to talk to her readers and can be found at www.bronwyngreen.com.

Jenny Trout is an author, blogger, and funny person. Writing as Jennifer Armentrout, she made the USA Today bestseller list with Blood Ties Book One: The Turning. Her novel American Vampire was named one of the top ten horror novels of 2011 by Booklist Magazine Online. She is a proud Michigander, mother of two, and wife to the only person alive capable of spending extended periods of time with her without wanting to kill her. Visit her on twitter (@Jenny_Trout) or at her blog, jennytrout.com.

GIVEAWAY:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz Organized by:

Book Blitz featuring Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid + Giveaway

Hosted by YA Bound Book Tours

I'm like legit super excited to be a part of this particular Book Blitz for, what I feel like is going to be one of my most anticipated and awesome summer reads, ever! You guys...you just don't even know. Like...mind blown, seriously!

Yeah, I know, that's like a mouthful for me right there, but I'm just sayin'. Okay, I'm about to make a HUGE BOOK CONFESSION right now, so brace yourselves. (You have been warned. lol) I have never read Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson and I have heard that it's like the absolute best summer traveling read ever. So, as soon as I read the synopsis for Let's Get Lost on Goodreads, it immediately reminded me of that book and it made me EVEN MORE EXCITED to read it and so when a spot on this Book Blitz came available, I totally jumped all over the chance because here is what looks like an ULTIMATE FANTASTIC summer read, and I'm getting the chance to not only share it with you, but also share an epic giveaway too. 

Duh! Win/Win right there. LOL. :P

Annnnnnd, here is Adi Alsaid (who, btw is totally geekishly handsome and boyishly charming at the same time, can I haz an author boyfriend?! lol), sharing his fun and quirky thoughts on Top 5 Things to Pack while he's traveling, and his Top 5 Book Companions too. Oh my goodness, such a bundle of lol's. 

Oh my diggity-days, I've got to tell you more about this book, yeah?! :)

Let's Get Lost
Adi Alsaid

Let's Get Lost

Adi Alsaid

Published: July 29, 2014

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Age Demographic: YA Contemporary

Pages: 352

Five strangers. Countless adventures. One epic way to get lost. 

Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named LEILA. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most. 

There's HUDSON, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And BREE, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. ELLIOT believes in happy endings…until his own life goes off-script. And SONIA worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love. 

Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila's own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth— sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way.

To PreOrder Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid please visit: Amazon & B&N

Check out some of the Early Book Buzz

“Reminiscent of John Green’s Paper Towns and road trip novels that feature a teen paving the way to adulthood, Alsaid’s debut is a gem among contemporary YA novels.” – School Library Journal

“Five love stories, beautifully woven together by a special girl in search of adventure, hope, and full appreciation of life’s simple pleasures. A do-not-miss. ” – Justine Magazine

“Moving and poignant.” - Glitter Magazine

“An entertaining and romantic road-trip debut.” – Kirkus

"Leila's quest to find the Northern Lights takes readers on a captivating cross-country journey, where four strangers' adventures collide into one riveting tale of finding yourself." ―YABooksCentral.com

“This will likely be a popular summer hit, especially for older teen about to embark on their own journeys of self-discovery.” –Booklist

Anything reminiscent of John Green (one of my absolute favorite YA author's ever), is definitely going on my auto-buy list for sure! And, I feel like I should go ahead and say, that this book (whether or not it had been sort of compared to John Green's amazingness, would have still been on my auto-read/buy radar anyway. It's just a number of my favorite things popped up into my head, when I read the synopsis for this book and I knew that it would definitely be right up my street. Like for instance, the last line in the synopsis "And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way," reminded me of my favorite Taylor Swift song and video. There's a voiceover in the video at one point, where she says "I don't know if you know who you are until you lose who you are." For some reason, that just really resonated with me and I was sort of reminded of it, when I came across this book on Goodreads and it just made me smile.

But, anyway, enough with my ramblings. I'm gonna go ahead and let Adi Alsaid tell you what his Top 5 Things to Pack and Top 5 Travel Reads are, complete with pictures. How cute is that?! lol. 

Things to pack...

5. Books

4. Notebook/pen

3. My “I wish I could fly” penguin t-shirt for airplane days.

2. If it’s a road trip, snacks.

1.  Not much else. I prefer to keep it light. 

Top 5 Travel-Themed Reads/Books to Read on the Road

• With Friends like These by Danny Wallace- A very funny man—the author of Yes Man—decides to revisit long lost friends across the globe. A touching and entertaining read about the things worth traveling for.

• Timbuktu by Paul Auster- A canine protagonist will teach you more about loneliness and how to be okay with it than any other book I’ve read. A great companion to the inevitable lonesome lulls while traveling. Plus it’s nice and light, so easy to carry with you.

• 101 Summertime Knock-Knock Jokes- Just kidding.

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams- To vicariously go where no man has before, and to find the answer to the universe. 

• Best American Travel Series¬- I usually go for the Best Shorts collections, but I picked up one of the travel collections once and it immediately made me want to hit the road. The pieces range from touching to insightful to just plain entertaining. With contributors like Anthony Bourdain and Gary Shteyngart, there’s something in it to please everyone, and plenty of ideas for not just where to go next, but how.

• Tales from Nowhere edited by Don George- Another collection of short pieces, all sent from different nowheres. From the back copy: “Nowhere is a setting, a situation and a state of mind. It's not on any map, but you know it when you're there.” A great non-fiction companion to Let’s Get Lost.

I love this guy, I mean seriously! The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Anthony Bourdain, what?! O_O

Is he like reading my brain or what? This is like awesome, like beyond awesome than awesome could ever get. Yeah, I know...I'm borderline cray at this moment, but I have such an author!crush on this guy and it's just insane how kind of amazing, witty, and funny this guy really is. Oh yes, he'll definitely be a favorite for sure and since I'm on this Book Blitz, I was able to get my hands on an eGalley of this phenomenal little YA contemporary that I am sure is going to blow everyone's mind for review and I cannot wait to read it. It is for sure in my Review pile. 

But guys, wait...there's so much more awesomeness that it's going to absolutely make your head spin. Literally. Remember (points up there towards the top of this post), when I said that there was going to be an amazing giveaway that you would not want to miss out on. Really, this thing is EPIC, and you're definitely going to want to enter. So, here's the details and everything else you need to know about it...

There will be...

1 Signed hard cover copy of Let’s Get Lost

1 Let’s Get Lost luggage tag

1 Harlequin TEEN notebook

1 Let’s Get Lost sachel

1 Harlequin TEEN tote bag

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Adi Alsaid

Website Twitter Facebook

Adi Alsaid was born and raised in Mexico City, then studied at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. While in class, he mostly read fiction and continuously failed to fill out crossword puzzles, so it's no surprise that after graduating, he did not go into business world but rather packed up his apartment into his car and escaped to the California coastline to become a writer. He's now back in his hometown, where he writes, coaches high school and elementary basketball, and has perfected the art of making every dish he eats or cooks as spicy as possible. In addition to Mexico, he's lived in Tel Aviv, Las Vegas, and Monterey, California. A tingly feeling in his feet tells him more places will eventually be added to the list. Let's Get Lost is his YA debut.

You can also PreOrder Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid by visiting Indiebound and Harlequin, also don't forget to check out letsgetlostbook.com to check out more on this amazing new debut YA contemporary.