Cover Reveal - Burned by Liz Long

A note from Liz:
Thank you to the amazing authors and bloggers who volunteered to help with today's cover reveal. I am so excited to show off the cover for my new book - I've been dying to show it off! Made by the talented Caroline McKean, I hope you love it as much as I do (plus gets you a little worried about what's to come). Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel is the first title in the series. Available at Amazon on Kindle and paperback, the ebook is currently on sale for only 99 cents to celebrate the upcoming release!

(Where's Sheffield's ringmaster voice when I need it?) 

Now here it is, the cover reveal for Burned, A Donovan Circus Novel!

Burned, A Donovan Circus Novel Synopsis:
“Tell Sheffield that Medved is hunting him…the Bear is coming.”
Nearly a month after Lucy Sullivan saved the Donovan Circus from certain death, she discovers that Dr. Felix Hardy wasn’t the only bad guy around. When Lucy is attacked on home ground, Sheffield Donovan reveals that there are bigger foes in their world, gifted that use their powers to kill others – including her own family, as she learns from her ringmaster mentor. Medved, a Russian thug and powerful Shapeshifter, is intent on outing the gifted world and will stop at nothing to succeed. In order to survive, Lucy and her friends must travel to another show, the Grayson Circus, for help. The uneasy alliance with owner Albert Grayson comes with potential new friends and dark secrets about their competition, including a troublemaker named Mel and an old flame of Lucy’s father. Lucy must also contend with her feelings about Keegan and Gabriel, as well as learn how to contain her rampant emotions or risk setting the entire place ablaze. Will Lucy be able to save the Donovan Circus again? Or will Medved and his men slaughter everyone in their path on the way to gifted domination?

About the Author:

 

Liz Long is a ridiculously proud graduate of Longwood University with a BA in English. Her inspiration comes from action and thriller genres and she spends entirely too much time watching superhero movies. Her fabulous day job as a social media editor includes writing for a publishing company in Roanoke, VA. Her first book, Gifted, is the first book in the Donovan Circus series. Her second book Witch Hearts, a story about a serial killer hunting witches for their powers, is available at Amazon on Kindle and paperback. To learn more about Liz, visit her website: http://lizclong.com.  

Movie Review - Breaking Dawn Part 2

REVIEW: Twilight ~ Breaking Dawn part 2 [contains spoilers] 

Whenever I go to a movie that is based on a book, I have expectations. Before I went to Breaking Dawn part 2 last night I had a mental list of things I wanted to see:
- Bella acting differently as a vampire than she did as a human
- How the movie would portray Bella using her shield to save everyone
- Seeing the romance between Bella and Edward bloom

This being the last movie in the Twilight series I was both excited and sad to see it. This is the end of an era and I know this sounds corny, but I'll miss waiting to see the next Twilight movie.

In a nutshell, the last movie was awesome. It had romance, action and mystery. It was almost entirely true to the book and brought the characters from the book alive. I found a lot of the scenery exactly how I'd pictured it in my head and I LOVED watching Bella and Edward finally able to act on their love without the fear of hurting Bella.

There are a few things I would have changed. I would have loved Bella to be a bit more vicious in the beginning. She turned from human to vampire but seemed a bit tame. I wanted to see her leap up on the table and growl. I wished the movie had made more of a big deal about her being able to resist human blood. It was kind of glossed over with a few comments here and there.

The movie added one scene in, that wasn't in the book, which was the fight scene between the Voltari and Cullens where we saw people we love getting killed. I had been forewarned that this would happen, so I grinned through the whole thing, waiting for the catch, which was Alice just showing Arlo what would happen if he decided to fight the Cullens. The girl next to me was aghast. She had her hand over her mouth and was almost crying... so she obviously had not had a heads up.

I was sad they didn't show the use of Bella's shield much, as that part of the book gripped me so much. I wanted to see her saving everyone and the Voltari getting frustrated and not knowing what was going on. But they did have the final scene in the book where Bella gets to show Edward how much she loves him. Perfect!

I pretty much had a big grin on my face the whole movie. I just loved it, despite the comments I've made above and would still give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

What did you guys think? 

(Post written by Brenda - Yay! I'm back!)

Paranormal vs normal

Paranormal books seem to be a lasting trend in Young Adult fiction right now. I've lost count of how many vampire, zombie, angel type books are out there. It's all I can see on the shelves at the book stores. I do wonder how long this train will keep running and what is coming next. 

While I'm the first to admit I loved the Twilight books, that was probably the first paranormal books I'd enjoyed. But that was because they were heavily romantic. 

I do miss 'normal' books. You know; guy meets girl, they fall in love, have some adventures and everything ends happily. 

As a reader, I'm tired of paranormal and as a writer I don't think I have the skills to write paranormal, so what does that mean for me? I guess I keep writing and hope I hit the right trend one day. And keep reading to find normal books amongst the sci-fi. 

What do you prefer to read? 

And just for fun, what is the next trend going to be? Predictions anyone??? 

Book Review ~ Falling for Romeo by Jennifer Laurens

John can have any girl he wants. Jennifer's never been kissed. Everybody thinks he's perfect. She's got issues with pride and jealousy. They were best friends - once. Now, they're playing Romeo and Juliet. Virgin lips Jennifer must have her first kiss on stage with John, the guy every girl in school wants. The pressure and tension build along with each staged kiss. Both are shocked when feelings bloom. Can either tell which kisses are real and which are for show?

REVIEW

This is a hard review to write as it's not going to be very complimentary.

For starters the cover is not very attractive (to me). I wouldn't have even picked it up off the shelf, but had ordered it into the library on a recommendation so didn't see the cover beforehand.

Second, the story was lacking a real twist. I could guess what was going to happen from page one and I didn't like the fact the couple kissed on the first page. No anticipation.

Any tension was pretty mild but as a quick teen read it does hit the mark.

Character wise, I really liked John but found Jenn a bit annoying. In saying all this. The writing was good. Some nice descriptions and turns of phrase.

I would give this 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Review by Brenda (aka Zealous Girl)

What Do You Think It Is?

I started up this blog to celebrate YA fiction. I thought it'd be a great chance to talk about movies, books and authors who all love YA.

What is about YA that is so super cool?
I'm 33 and I always find myself in the teen section of the library or bookstore. I just can't get enough of teenage angst, obviously!

I can't decide why. Maybe it's because I love young people. There is something so real and pure about the way they feel, love and respond to things. Everything is so dramatic! I love how hyper aware teens are and I love the way they live life with such passion and zest. They haven't been tainted by the reality of the mundane work force or mortgage payments yet.

So, to read stories about these cool beings is so exciting. As a writer putting them into these adventures is so fun. You have so much scope to work with. You can make anything happen for them.

Now - I'm not saying I don't enjoy reading adult stories as well. I'm not saying that you can't have enormous fun writing adult stories - I have a few up my sleeve that I can't wait to write one day. I'm just saying the the YA market is huge and it has to be for a really good reason.

What do you think it is that makes YA so deliciously fun to read?