In Which I Welcome You to the Next Stop on the TATTERED Blog Tour!

Mood: Excited (It's not every day a girl gets to host a stop on the awesome tour of awesome!) 

LK: First of all, I'd like to thank Rhonda Cowsert for hosting the Tattered tour.

1. For today's prize of a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with with The Hammer by K. J. Parker AND an ARC of Tattered, simply comment on this post.
2. To get a free ebook copy of Misfit McCabe:
• Put together the puzzle and write down the code. Each day will give another part of the coupon code. Please note at the top whether it is for eBook or Print.
• Once you have collected the entire code, go to Smashwords and purchase Misfit McCabe input the code and download whichever ebook version you need for free.
3. To get 50% off the print version of Misfit McCabe:
• Put together the puzzle and write down the code. Each day will give another part of the coupon code. Please note at the top whether it is for eBook or Print.
• Once you have collected the entire code, go to Griffie World Store and purchase Misfit McCabe input the code and receive 50% off the purchase price.
4. To win the KINDLE FIRE
• Support this tour by commenting on each of the daily stops -- It's only 11 days, not even as long as the 12 days of Christmas.
• And since Rhonda was nice enough to help me promote my new book, please don't forget to subscribe to to her blog and follow her on Twitter - @rcowsert 

Tattered is the third novel in the heartwarming young adult series, Misfit McCabe. A little about the book:

What do Sunday afternoon court proceedings, cheerleader tryouts, and a book burning have in common? Katie McCabe is back in action.

After her nemesis Harvey is found guilty and sentenced to community service, Katie wants to believe her troubles are over, but Harvey won’t rest until he gets revenge. When blackmail rears its ugly head, she’s caught between friends and enemies putting her growing relationship with Tom at stake. Books go up in flames and Katie’s world rains down in tatters.

Rhonda is someone... you guessed it... I met on Twitter. I first noticed her when she'd end up in conversations with mutual friends, and I enjoyed her sense of humor in the snippets I saw. Then we bonded over our love of the show Designing Women, in particular the character of Suzanne Sugarbaker, and her pig, Noel. After that, there was no looking back, and you can't find a better supporter for cheering you on in the writing process. She's always willing to whip out the pom poms, or don the tiara. Now I'll turn things over to Katie McCabe, the fourteen-year-old main character of Tattered.

Katie: Hi Rhonda! Thanks for having me today. Although, today I have to talk about *gag* Harvey.

Harvey Denton, Jr. is a despicable toad. He is so awful that most of the words I'd use to describe him, I'm not allowed to say. He's mean, and it shows in everything he does. I'd call him a pig, but that'd be an insult to Noel.

Do you know what he did to me? This just shows what kind of creep he is. When I was brand new in town... it was my first day there, and he was showing me around town -- only because his mother made him, but I didn't know that. Anyway, after he was already insulting to my entire family, we went to Max's, and Harvey asked me what I wanted to eat. I told him I didn't have any money, and he said not to worry about it. I started to feel a bit guilty, like maybe I misjudged him, but then he left me there, not knowing how to get back to where Sarah was waiting for me, and he stuck me with the tab for both of us. I thought I would die when Max told me I had to pay. And THEN, when we walked back in the shop, he lied about everything to Sarah, and told her my new friends did terrible things to me. He's just disgusting. In EVERY possible way.

LK: Put the puzzle below together for part of the code to receive 50% off a paperback of Misfit McCabe. And make sure you visit Katelyn Torrey on tomorrow's stop on the tour. And for all details on the tour, the prizes, and the stops, please visit Griffie World.

If the puzzle does not load correctly, please refresh your browser and it should display correctly.

Monday Must Reads... Chosen by Denise Grover Swank

Mood: Monday - bleh. 

Chosen - By Denise Grover Swank

Everything Emma Thompson owns fits in a suitcase she moves from one roach infested motel to another. She and Jake, her five year old son who can see the future, are running from the men intent on taking him. Emma will do anything to protect him even when it means accepting the help of a stranger named Will. Jake insists she needs Will, but Emma's never needed help before. And even though she's learned to trust her son, it doesn't mean she trusts Will. 

Mercenary Will Davenport lives in the moment. Hauling Emma to South Dakota should have been an easy job, but his employer neglected to tell him about Emma's freaky son and the gunmen hot on her trail. Instinct tells him this job is trouble, but nothing can prepare him for Jake's proclamation that Will is The Chosen One, who must protect Emma from the men hunting her power. A power she doesn't know she has. 

Will protects Emma and Jake on a cross-country chase from the men pursuing them, while struggling with memories from his past, his apprehension of Jake, and his growing attraction to Emma. Will's overwhelming urge to protect Emma surprises him, especially since it has nothing to do with his paycheck and possibly everything to do with the tattoo Jake branded on his arm. Rich and powerful men are desperate to capture Emma, and Will must discover why before it's too late.


My Take
Denise Grover Swank has delivered another amazing novel! Chosen is a dark thriller that is a definite departure from her previous release, Twenty Eight and a Half Wishes, and proves that Denise's talent as a writer is not limited to a single genre.

Emma is a woman on the run. Jake is a little boy carrying the weight of a gift that would be too large for most grown men to handle. Mother and son are being hunted by nameless, faceless people who are willing to do anything to get what they want - Jake. Without understanding exactly why they are being hunted or by whom, Emma does the only thing she can to protect her son - she learns to live her life on the run.

They run from one town, one hotel to the next, depending on Jake's ability to see the future to give them enough warning to move on before they're caught. Until they are. Jake insists that they need Will but Emma isn't willing to let her guard down and trust Will completely. Which is probably a very good thing since Will Davenport is not exactly who or what he seems.

At a Glance

1.) Emma is a completely real character. She's a mother who is willing to do anything and sacrifice everything to keep her son safe. She's also a woman who is tired, scared and weary of fighting the battle to keep them alive. Denise manages to brilliantly balance both of these facets of Emma's personality making her a very believable and sympathetic character.

2.) The plot is confusing enough (in an awesome way) to keep everyone - including the main characters - guessing from one moment to the next but expertly woven into a narrative that makes it impossible to put down. I LOVE this.

3.) While there is a definite supernatural element it just simmers in the background adding another brilliant layer to the story.

4.) Will - absolutely swoon worthy as the dark and tortured anti-hero hero of this book. LOVE him - also, might hate him a little.

5.) There is just the perfect amount of humor and snark in Chosen to keep it from being too dark - which is awesome for those of us who like to read well into the night!

Chosen is the first in a series of books about Emma, Will and Jake!

In Other News
Don't forget to check out LK Gardner-Griffie's continuing blog tour of awesome! Today she's over with Christine Fonseca!

The Saturday Six!

Mood: Content

I missed the Friday five so I'm gonna go for the Saturday six because that's just how I roll!

1.) I find the low carb lifestyle very easy to maintain 99% of the time the other 1% of the time? Falls directly in the month of December - when I am surrounded by all things sugar filled and wonderful. I would like to say that I have committed myself to staying the course through the Christmas season - but that would be a big.fat.lie. Instead I have accepted the fact that I will do my best and probably spend the month gaining and losing the same 10 pounds over and over again.*

2.) It's December 3rd and absolutely beautiful outside. Like, don't need a coat and let's crack the windows open beautiful. One part of me LOVES this - the other part of me is confused by the combined lack of snow and Christmas decorations. **

3.) I'm fairly certain that cinnamon and sugar roasted pecans are proof that God loves us.

4.) I've discovered the internet crack which is called Pinterest. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should totally do it but be aware this is exactly what happens:

5.) I'm not a Coke fan and, since going low carb, I really don't even like soda all that much anymore but did that stop me from buying this?

No it did not. Christmas? Check. Santa? Check. Old fashioned Coke bottles? Check. Do I like soda? Not so much but who cares? MUST HAVE!

6.) Our Christmas Tree!

So there you go - six totally random things for this lazy Saturday. What's the random in your life this weekend?


*Yes, I know I'm weak - but I'm weak with Christmas treats! 


**This? Is why I could never move to California. 

Tell the Truth Thursday - And Fun Stuff!

Mood: Festive - it's Christmas time!! *passes around the eggnog and cookies* 

It's time once again for Tell the Truth Thursday - so *deep breath*  here goes:

1.) Since I've been doing the low carb I've replaced my McDonald's Coke addiction with a slightly more obsessive addiction to the fresh brewed unsweetened iced tea at a local gas station. You know how some people need their coffee to function? Well, I need my tea - and the person who took the last of it yesterday morning? You are on.my.list!

2.) I gained EIGHT pounds over the Thanksgiving holiday (which, to be honest, lasted from Wednesday night until Sunday night - but still). It's not that I ate too much - it's more that I ate too many yummy, delicious, starchy carbs. #omnomnom

3.) Apparently I've begun to think it's appropriate to utilize hash tags everywhere. #tagALLtheTHINGS

4.) I totally sparkly heart everything Christmas. This may make me annoying at this time of year. #noapologies *turns Christmas music up louder*


So there you have it folks, my truths this Thursday - what about yours? Anything you've been keeping locked away?

Before I leave you today - 

Filed under amazingly awesome writer stuff:

The awesome and talented (awesomely talented?) LK Gardner-Griffie is sending her latest book baby "Tattered" out into the world and to celebrate the release she's having an "Awesome Blog Tour of Awesome"* Not only will you get the chance to read more about her characters and their stories, you'll get to visit with great bloggie type people AND have the opportunity to win STUFF! And not just any stuff but amazing stuff - like ARCs, e-books and actual books from LK Garnder-Griffie and other great writers!

The first stop of the tour is here at LK's very own blog - so hop on over and join in the fun and celebration! And don't forget to visit the other blogs (including this one) on her tour!

*say it in a really deep echoing voice - now isn't that awesome? (also, please note, this is NOT the official name of the blog tour. I don't even know if it has a name.) (Just kidding. It has a name. Its name is George.) 

Where Were You?

Mood: Reflective

Today is September 12th and, for the most part, life has gone back to normal. I got up this morning, got ready for work, goofed off on Facebook and now? I'm blogging. But yesterday was different - as September 11 must always be different.

The 10th anniversary of the horrific attacks of September 11, 2011 meant that we were absolutely bombarded with the memories, images and devastation that occurred on that fateful day. Almost universally people turn to one another and ask "Where were you?" and "What were you doing?" There's an almost undefinable need to share those stories - as though we have to remember that moment to fully realize that we actually lived that moment.

Where was I? I was in my bathroom, drying my hair and getting ready for work when the hubs (then fiancee) called to tell me something was happening in NYC. He was on his way to work and listening to the radio - he said "turn on CNN a plane crashed into the World Trade Center."

I quickly switched the television on but finding CNN wasn't necessary. The news was on every channel. I watched in horror as the second plane crashed into tower 2.

My world was such a different place on the morning of September 11. I couldn't comprehend what had happened. My brain tried to make sense of the senseless and the only thing it would allow me to believe was that something had gone horribly wrong to allow two such horrific accidents. It wasn't until I got to work and heard the news about the plane hitting the Pentagon that I was fully aware that this was not an accident, but an attack.

In some ways I can't believe I was naive enough to think that, even after the second plane hit, it had to be some sort of bizarre accident - and in many ways I wish I were still that naive.

It makes me sad that my nieces and nephews will never have the luxury of being that naive. Born in a post September 11 world they will always know that there are people out there who are pure evil and they will never be able to look at an event as "just an accident" without first processing through whether or not it was a terrorist attack.

It makes me sad to hear my sister tell of her struggle to explain to the kids what happened that day while still assuring them that they're safe. How do we explain something that we can't even hope to understand ourselves?

Every September 11 we stop, we remember how lucky we are to have what we have and how quickly it can all be ripped away - but for those of us who are lucky enough to wake up on September 12th? We carry forward.

Today is September 12 - and we remember but we go on. I will go to work this morning and I will wish that I was at home because it's Monday and I'm tired. I will complain about our politicians and the state of our economy because I can. I will put terrorist attacks at the back of my mind and I will focus on other, far more trivial things. My world will get back to its "new normal" and that's okay - because that's the only way we can win.

The Friday Five

Mood: Whiny (I'm sick so I get to whine)
It's Friday!! It's a long weekend!!  And I'm sick. So, yeah...

1. Circus Days
On Monday, we went to the circus with my family. It was the first time the bubbies had ever been to the circus and, ranging in ages from 1 to 8, their reactions were varied and absolutely precious. My favorite reaction? Was from my little niece Miley who promptly fell in love with the Elephants and declared them her "puppies".

Clearly on board with John Green's desire for puppy sized elephants, she just decided that she would bypass evolution and declare the elephant sized elephant to be her very own puppy.



2. My very own superpower identified



I totes want this shirt! It's SO ME!!!!

          You can get it here:
 Awesome T-shirt of Awesomeness







3. If my next car has GPS, I totally want it to be Snape guided GPS!






















4. It seems that my landlord has superhuman abilities to see issues within our apartment that we don't even know exist! He showed up at the door this afternoon telling me that the seal on our bedroom window was broken and he needed to come in and take some info from the window so that he could get it fixed and/or replaced.

On the surface this sounds like an amazingly attentive and responsible landlord. However, his attentiveness is just a little creepy considering we've been waiting for over 7 years for him to fix the hole he put in the cabinet under our kitchen sink, 4 years for him to properly fix the tile surround on our bathtub and over 5 years to do something about the mold in our bathroom walls. So, yeah. Wonder what the wait time is on the window thing?

5. It's a holiday weekend and cold or no cold, hubs and I are going to have fun if it kills us!!

It's Monday - With Books!

Mood: Happy - the circus is rolling into town (and no, I don't mean family - I mean the honest to goodness circus with tents and everything!)


Possess by Gretchen McNeil

Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, but the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear.  Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from. Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession.  But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons.  Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.

 My Take:

Gretchen McNeil has delivered a truly spine chilling story with her debut novel, Possess.  Bridget Liu has a lot on her plate. At 15 years old she has the typical teenage baggage in the form of friends, boys and family drama but she also has darker, heavier burdens that she carries. Her father, to whom she was incredibly close, was brutally murdered by a patient, her mother seems to be moving on with one of two suitors who tend to hang around the house a little too often and as if that weren’t enough, Bridget discovers she’s a Watcher.

As a Watcher, Bridget has the power to banish demons back to the hell from which they came – and suddenly demons are cropping up everywhere – even in creepy dolls who insist that she listen to the message they’ve been sent to deliver to her.  It’s up to Bridget to decide who she believes and solve the mysteries surrounding her father’s murder, her own family history and get to the bottom of the demonic activity before it’s too late.

At a Glance

1.)    This book is genuinely creepy without ever going over the top – it will definitely make you think twice about the things that go bump in the night. Although the story is definitely creepy and there is some violence – none of it is gratuitous – it’s all organic, flowing from the story and serves to make the story stronger and more real.  LOVE

2.)    Bridget – she’s is an amazing heroine – sarcastic, smart and full of snappy one liners. At the same time, she realistically struggles with the reality of her situation and what her abilities really mean. 

3.)    The mystery – there is one and it’s well woven throughout the story. I admit I pretty much figured it out about ¾ of the way through but that did not diminish the enjoyment for me at all because there were still so many unanswered questions that I could not stop reading!

4.)    I LOVE that McNeil has explored the divide between good and evil – and found that line to be quite blurred and the divide not that wide.

5.)    As usual, there are boys and Gretchen McNeil definitely delivers a totally swoon worthy crush in the form of Matt Quinn. The handsome son of the local police chief is always there for Bridget – whether she needs him to go with her to see her dad’s psychotic killer, search for secret files, do a little breaking and entering or take her to the winter formal.

Bottom line - I loved this book and can't wait to see what the author brings next!