Excerpt: I've Been Looking For You by Jennifer Dean

I’ve Been Looking for You
by Jennifer Dean
Publication Date: December 1st 2017
Genres: Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Young Adult

Synopsis:

Max: The new girl, the sarcastic asshole, the one who avoids getting attached to anyone.
Emily: The golden girl, the rule-abiding rebel, the one who unknowingly craves something more.
When fate brings the two girls together, life seemed to fall into place. Until their future plans are shattered the moment someone leaves drugs inside Max’s school locker.
While Max inevitably loses hope of escaping her new grim reality, Emily struggles to move on without the one she loves most. Especially when she’s the only one determined to find answers. But the closer Emily gets to discovering the truth, the harder it will be to stop her pursuit, even when it leads to dangerous consequences.

Goodreads / Amazon

Author Bio:

Jennifer was studying History and English at the University of North Texas when she discovered a hidden passion for writing. She has since written two other Young Adult novels, Bound and Blinded. She lives in Seattle Washington.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Excerpt:

JUNE 20, 2015

Emily’s slender finger drew invisible letters onto the table, nodding along with my voice but unaware of her distracted mind. I sighed, my words fading with unimportance as I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes with a new focus.

“What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean,” Emily said, slightly confused as her eyes shifted up but her finger continued with the absentminded activity.

I stared back with a knowing look that caused her to shrug.

“I’m not perfect, you know. I’m allowed to have bad days. You’re in prison after all.”

“True,” I said with a nod. “But something tells me there’s a reason for this one.”

“Well,” Emily said, curling her finger into her palm as if it had been beckoned back by her hand to create a frustrated fist. “Since you know so much, maybe you can tell what my problem is.”

Her irritated tone was guarded by impatience, but the only thing that caught my attention was the sadness lingering within her eyes.

“Ems,” I said with a soft plea.

Emily dropped her shoulders in surrender as she closed her eyes for a few brief seconds as if it were a message for the anger to stand down. Once she had blinked them back open, it was clear the space of her former irritation had been replaced with sadness that had now just doubled its territory. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap.” Emily shook her head, speaking with a regretful tone. “Really. It’s nothing.”

My own irritation rose as my need to wrap my arms around her was prevented by the restrictions of the environment surrounding us.

“I know it’s not nothing,” I said, conveying with my stare that I would sit here, waiting for the rest of the visit, if I had to, until she told me what was bothering her.

Emily relented with a heavy sigh, causing me to lift the left side of my mouth into a victoriously crooked smirk.

“My roommate assignment came in the mail this morning.”

Her voice was low and filled with disappointment as her shoulders rose and dropped with another exaggerated sigh. Unable to resist any longer, I quickly looked over my shoulder, happy to see the officer in charge distracted by another inmate interaction, before I took the opportunity and reached across the table to place my hand over Emily’s.

“You knew that was inevitable,” I said while my thumb soothed the back of her hand with gentle strokes.

“I know,” Emily said pausing so that she could turn her hand over and grasp my fingers longingly with her own. “It’s just that the reality of it all is still hitting me in pieces. And seeing that this morning just—” Emily shook her head, looking down at our linked hands as if they could give her the strength she needed while she attempted to hold back the crack seeping into her voice. “It just reminded me of what we had lost.”

“I’m sorry,” I said feeling the uselessness of my words as soon as they left my lips.

I pulled my hand back, ignoring the way my fingers twitched—screaming in protest at the parting from one they were always meant to hold. Emily’s disappointment tightened my chest, leaving me desperate to take away the remainder of her pain, if only for a few minutes.

“What?” Emily said with a confused stare as she took in the false amusement now lifting my cheeks.

“Looks like you’ll be using a bra on the door after all,” I said.

Happy #BookBirthday to The Game Begins by Victoria Danann! (& Excerpt!)

The Game Begins (R. Caine High School #1) by Victoria Danann
Publication Date: February 28, 2017
Genres: YA / Fantasy / Sci-Fi / Mythology
Find it On: Goodreads / Amazon

Synopsis:

When it came to the attention of the old ones that their creations, the Earth gods, had been playing games at the expense of humankind for millennia, they put a stop to it. But the rebellious gods were far too addicted to their games to give them up. After several summit meetings, they voted to use their own children as players and locate the playing field in the most treacherous environment in the known universe... high school.

To make it even more interesting, they would strip their children of their memories and withhold the rules of the game. Like the other players, sixteen year old Ever thinks she's an ordinary kid until she transfers to R. Caine. When mystery and mystic collide, she'd better wake up to her powers fast.

About the Author:

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, Victoria Danann, is the author of sixteen romances, paranormal and contemporary.

Her Knights of Black Swan series won BEST PARANORMAL ROMANCE SERIES THREE YEARS IN A ROW. - Reviewers Choice Awards, The Paranormal Romance Guild.

Victoria’s paranormal romances come with uniquely fresh perspectives on “imaginary” creatures, characters, and themes. She adds a dash of scifi, a flourish of fantasy, enough humor to make you laugh out loud, and enough steam to make you squirm in your chair. Her heroines are independent femmes with flaws and minds of their own whether they are aliens, witches, demonologists, psychics, past life therapists, or financial analysts from Dallas. Her heroes are hot and hunky, but they also have brains, character, and good manners – usually – whether they be elves, demons, berserkers, werewolves, or vampires.

Website / Facebook / Goodreads Fan Group / Instagram

Excerpt From The Game Begins:

My name is Ever Moore.

I know. It makes me wince every time I say it. When I’m eighteen, I plan to have it legally changed to

something that doesn’t make people laugh. But right now I’m stuck.

My dad thinks puns are the highest form of humor. He calls it ‘word play’. That’s right. I’m the spawn of nerds. My dad creates video games. My mother is an ethics professor at UCLA who thinks the battle between good and evil begins at home.

If you want to know just how weird it can get at the Thanksgiving table, I can go one better. My

grandfather was a big deal rock star in the seventies. You wouldn’t know the name of the band. So

there’s no point in name dropping. After a visit, he exits with a two-finger peace salute like all the other well-adjusted hippie grandparents, but he doesn’t say, “Peace.”

He says, “Rock steady.”

Ugh!

My family is big on manners. They’re too strict to let me say what I think, especially about Buzz’s love life. My grandfather doesn’t want to be called Grandpa or Grandad or Gramps or anything close to normal. Oh no. He wants to be called ‘Buzz’. I have no idea why. That is not his name.

Anyway, the best protest I can mount is rolling my eyes. I keep trying to get his attention and roll my

eyes back further into my head when he does the ‘rock steady’ thing, but he will not be deterred.

Anyway I was leading a completely typical and deliciously angsty teenage life in Austin, Texas when my parents were suddenly offered jobs in the LA area at the same time. It was weird, but weird is part of my normal. Always has been.

Since my grandad, the rocker, still lives in LA with the latest girlfriend who’s barely legal – she’s two

years older than I am – moving seemed like a good idea.

To them.

Blog Tour: Whatever It Takes by Lindsey Pogue

Title: Whatever It Takes (Nothing But Trouble #1)

Author: Lindsey Pogue

Publication Date: January 22, 2016
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult

Purchase: Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

Four years ago, I thought my life was pretty normal for a teenager. Three years ago, my world was shattered, and now I’m just trying to hold the pieces together.But regret and anger aren’t so easy to ignore. 

I just need to catch my breath … For it all to go away … 
I thought I might finally be ready to move on from that horrible night, but then he decided to come back. 
He can’t come back … he’ll ruin me completely. 
One horror-filled night changes the course of Samantha’s seemingly normal life. She’s ruined everything. Despite her determination to keep the family ranch up and running, her guilt makes it impossible to completely move on or forget. 
Sam takes comfort in her quirky, endearing friends as she tries to balance between the girl she was and the woman she wants to become. Just when she thinks she’s finally making amends with her past, someone she never thought she’d see again returns, and Sam’s life is once again turned upside down. Both her head and her heart want different things, so she’s lost when, once again, she’s forced to make a decision that will inevitably change her life.