Aberrant by Ruth Silver Cover Reveal!

Why, hello everyone! Long time no see? Yeah, I've been gone for quite a while. School is INSANE and I have a whole bunch of stuff going on with theater right now so I'm not having as much time as I would like to read what I want. BUT I do have a cover reveal for you all!

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So here it is... ABBERANT by Ruth Silver! 

DUM DUH DUH DUMMMMMM!

Looks mysterious doesn't it? Most definitely dystopian. I think it looks fantabulous! 

And here's the description:

"In the future dystopian society of Cabal, the government instills equality for all and offers its citizens the perfect system.  There is food, shelter and jobs for everyone.  The one requirement is to follow the rules without question, including the government's match in marriage and "The Day of the Chosen", a lottery that randomly selects families to conceive children as natural means hasn't existed in generations.  Following her eighteenth birthday, Olivia Parker accepts her requirement to marry her childhood best friend, Joshua Warren, and is eager to start her work assignment and new life when it all comes abruptly to an end as she's arrested and thrown in prison.  The only crime committed, her existence.  Olivia is unlike the rest of the world born not from "The Day of the Chosen."  The truth haunts the government and puts her life in grave danger as one simple fact would destroy the perfect system.
With Joshua's help, Olivia breaks free of prison and is forced on the run.  Together they set out to find the promised rebel town in search of a new home and new life together.  Their situation seems less than promising as they reach the town of Haven.  New rules and customs must be adhered to in order to stay.  Leaving would mean most certain death in the large expanse of the Gravelands.  Time is running out as the government mounts an attack to destroy Olivia and bury her secret with her.  Thrown into a world unlike their own, they must quickly adapt to survive."

You can enter to win one of three signed copies of ABERRANT on Goodreads!

About the Ruth:

Ruth Silver attended Northern Illinois University and graduated with a Bachelor's in Communication in the spring of 2005.  While in college, she spent much of her free time writing with friends she met online and penning her first novel, Deuces are Wild, which she self-published in 2004.  Her favorite class was Creative Writing senior year where she often handed in assignments longer than the professor required because she loved to write and always wanted to finish her stories.  Her love of writing led her on an adventure in 2007 to Melbourne, Australia.  Silver enjoys reading, photography, traveling and most of all writing.  She loves dystopian and fantasy young adult stories.  Her latest novel published by Lazy Day Publishing, ABERRANT is scheduled for release April 13th.  Ruth has been actively writing since she was a teenager.  She currently resides in Plainfield, Illinois. 

Find Ruth on Twitter: @writeawaybliss

Or on Facebook: writeawaybliss

If you want to check out more go to her website!

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Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll have a new review up sometime soon! Hope everyone's weekend is filled with *SPARKLES!*

Breaking Waves Review/ Blog Tour!

(Sequel to Heart Waves)

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Number of pages: 204

For ages 13+

"From the moment they met, Jenna knew Reece would break her heart, but she never dreamed it would happen like this. Jenna is left shattered and broken. When life becomes too painful to deal with and she feels completely alone, there’s only one person to help her pick up the pieces and move on. The one person she doesn’t want to turn to. The one person she promised to stay away from. Tyler. Can Jenna put aside everything she knows about him and let Tyler help heal her broken heart?" -Goodreads

*I was given this book to give a completely honest review*

I am absolutely positively thrilled to be able to do this blog tour! I love Danielle and I love her books so I knew I had to sign up. 

I LOVED the first book in this series so I knew I was going to absolutely love the second one! There was a little part of me worried it would have the "Sequel Blues" but alas! IT did not! Jenna is still just as awesome as she was in the first book. She was hilarious as ever and the relationship between her and Reece was still absolutely adorable. But then it allll changes... But we'll get back to that heart wrenching event later!

I'm just gonna tell you right now REECE IS SO SWOONY. And I feel like I'm always super repetitive when it comes to the swoony guys, but odds are any book I review on this blog will have a swoony boy. I'm just sayin'. And Reece was definitely swoony. I just wish we could have had a little more time with him. But that's the whole point! ;) 

So now... OH MY GRAVY. THE TWISTS. THE TWISTS, PEOPLE. Goodness gracious. Let me just tell you I needed to have a little breather while reading this book because I was a mess. A sad teenage angst mess. I am not ashamed to say I cried. But HEY! I'm a teenage girl, I have the right. 

All I can say is: REEEEECEEE, NOOOOO! I can't tell you anything without giving away the BIGGEST TWIST EVAR away. So my capsaholic ways will have to do for now. Also: I don't trust Tyler. At all. I feel like he's got somethin' up his sleeve. And I just want to shake Jenna and say, "DON'T TRUST HIM." But it's inevitable. It's gonna happen. And it did. And I had to sit there and read it. Because it wasn't like I was gonna stop! That's craziness. I feel like Tyler has something planned. And I'm dying to read the next book to find out. 

The ending? Seriously?! I can't.. I can't. I'm pretty sure when I read that last page I flailed. It wasn't necessarily a cliff hanger but you might as well call it that because I'm DYING. DYYYIIINNNNG. I'm definitely counting down the SECONDS until I can read the next book because this is just cruel. For Cereal. 

So, I'm most definitely giving this book 5 out of 5 diva crowns. There were so many ups and downs and a very mysterious guy that I don't trust WHATSOEVER, and I loved every page of it. I recommend this series to contemporary romance lovers! If you haven't read the first book definitely read it! 

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Danielle Sibarium grew up as an only child of divorced parents in Brooklyn, New York. Her imagination was developed at an early age. Surrounded by stuffed animals and imaginary friends, she transported herself into a fantasy world full of magic and wonder. Books were the gateway between her play world and reality. On any given summer afternoon she became Snow White sweeping and cooking for the dwarfs, or Cinderella waiting for the prince.

Danielle always loved dialogue and in elementary school began writing plays and short stories. This is when she began to understand she could not only bring her fantastical world to life for herself, but she could enchant others as well. And so she wrote. She wrote and wrote and wrote.

Sadly the first piece she ever sent out for publication of any sort was a letter to the editor of The Home News Tribune. It was a piece thanking the first responders for their bravery and selflessness on Sept 11th. It was chosen as letter of the week.

In 2007 Danielle collaborated with Charlotte Doreen Small to write songs for her CD More. Danielle wrote the lyrics for Take My Hand, and Goodbye, while Charlotte contributed the melody.  In October 2011 Danielle’s debut novel For Always was released. She has since released Heart Waves and the second book in the Heart Waves series, Breaking Waves.  Danielle graduated from Farleigh Dickinson University with honors, and currently lives in New Jersey with her husband and three children

Buy Links:

Amazon Kindle

B&N Nook

Connect with Danielle Sibarium:

Website

Twitter

Goodreads Page

Heart Waves Facebook

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Thanks for reading! Hope your week is filled with *SPARKLES* 

New and Improved Blog!

As you can tell, my blog has changed! And I LOVE it. Jenn from the Cutest Blog on the Block team customized this for me! She was absolutely fantastic and very sweet! I'm super happy with it and I hope you guys like it too!

Callum and Harper by Fisher Amelie! (Video Review)

Doing something COMPLETELY different today! I made a video review! It's pretty long because I ramble and such but I hope you guys like it!

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Details:

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Number of Pages: 355

For ages 15+

"Life sucks for orphans Callum Tate and Harper Bailey.

Kicked out of their foster homes because they suffer the 'eighteen disease' with nothing but a hundred dollar check from the government and a pat on the back, they're forced to rely on a system that failed them miserably.

So they sit. They sit inside Social Services, waiting for their social workers to call their names and offer them the miracle they know will never come but they sit anyway because they have nowhere else to go, no other options on their very literal and figurative empty plates.

But as they sit, they notice the other. Although captivated, they each come to the conclusion that life is complicated enough without throwing in a boiling tension that can't ever be acted upon because they're both too busy thinking about where their next meal will come from but when their names are called and both are placed on a year long waiting list for permanent housing, suddenly relying on each other seems like a very viable plan B.

And, oh, how lovely Plan B's can be.

Well, except for the psycho from Harper's past that haunts her and, oh, yeah, there's the little issue that neither of them knows they're in love with the other.

Needless to say, Callum & Harper's life just got a bit more complicated." -Goodreads

4 Diva Crowns!

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Well, hopefully you guys don't think I'm TOTALLY insane after watching that! I thought it was pretty fun! Let me know!

Hope your week is filled with *sparkles!*

Emmalee by Jenni James (Review)

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Number of Pages: 230

For ages 13+

"Sometimes love is blind.

Emmalee Bradford thinks she’s an expert at matchmaking, and she won’t rest until all her friends are as happy as she is. Especially Hannah, the girl she’s decided to make popular. Everyone loves Emmalee's advice--everyone, that is, except her annoying neighbor Chase Anderson, who has taken it upon himself to "fix" her.

This modern version of Jane Austen’s Emma is the hilarious journey of a girl who believes she knows all about love. But when it comes to recognizing the perfect guy for her, Emmalee is absolutely clueless." -Goodreads

I had read some of the other books in the Jane Austen Diaries series and really liked them and I thought I would try this one out! And I think this one is probably my favorite!

What I really love about this book the most was that it was super sweet and cute and adorable and everything you could ever dream of being a contemporary romance, but it was also light and didn't weigh you down with a whole bunch of crud. Like an angel food cake! Yum! I think that's the perfect analogy for this book. An angel food cake. We'll just go with that. And if you don't like angel food cake... Try to picture something else because I've got nothin' else. One creative analogy is my limit.

In the beginning, Emmalee was one of those girls that you pretty much couldn't stand. She thought she was all that and a bag of chips. But throughout the story you can really see how she progresses. All with the help of *sigh* Chase... Goodness gracious that boy is fantabulous. And super intelligent. I loved how he cared about everyone's feelings. He was just an all around awesome guy. But don't you worry, there'll be a whole paragraph about him comin' up. I won't leave you guys hangin'. I mean, do I ever?

Even though Emmalee annoyed me to no end, I absolutely loved her. She had everything right at her fingertips, but once you got to know her and read about her, she really was down to earth. Like when she hangs out with Hannah, and they talk about books for hours. I could totally relate to that one. ;) I do that pretty much everyday... With myself? ... I have Twitter! ...There we go.

I feel like we never do get the point of view of the popular girl. It's always about the average girl who turns out to be not so average and about how she takes down the popular girl and gets the guy! But with this story, we got a look at the life of the popular girl. And we learn that sometimes the attitude they give off isn't intentional. ...Sometimes it is... More like most times, but there are times where it isn't! This happens to be one of those times!

So you know that guy Chase I mentioned above? Chase Anderson? Yeah, that one....

OH MY GRAVY. OH MY GRAVY. OH MY GRAVY. Guys... For cereal. How can I explain this to you without sounding like the stereotypical teenage girl that I am? Should I look on thesaurus.com? Because I honestly can't figure out how to describe the amount of swoony-ness this boy is. ...My computer literally just crashed and I'm pretty sure it was getting stressed out by all of the craziness I am. Thank goodness for auto-save, am I right? I'm sure you guys are probably thinking, "WE GET IT. BUT WHY IS HE SO SWOON WORTHY, JEWELZ?!" And I'm sure you were yelling like that. Don't you worry! I can answer this question for you! Well, he has sparkly blue eyes... What? .... Wait, you need more?! ;) He also tries to help Emmalee. Sometimes this didn't work out too well, but he always had what was best for her in mind. He just wanted her to be the best that she could be. Also, when they were younger, he made her promise him she would call him her knight after he pretty much saved her from drowning. ....HOW ADORABLE IS THAT?! Are you guys swooning yet? Need I say more? ...This paragraph just doubled in size.

This book makes me want to go back and re-read Pride and Popularity because I did not even realize that the two characters from that book were in this one! Say what?! That book was super good too!

Also: I found it absolutely adorable that every paragraph started with a pick up line. ;D

Hopefully, by now you're all like, "I MUST BUY THIS BOOK AT ONCE!" ...Why is is that everything I have you guys say is in all caps? It's because I'm a capsaholic. But anyways, this book was absolutely fantabulous and I loved it so very much. This review escalated quickly. So sorry to any new readers who now think I'm absolutely insane! But in reality, I am. I recommend this lovely read to lovers of light, sweet romances! This will not disappoint! 5 out of 5 diva crowns!

I hope that everyone has a FANTASTIC New Year and a great week! :) Thanks for reading!

Shot Through the Heart by Nicki Burnham (Review)

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Number of Pages: 154

For ages 13+

"At Eastwood High, love is a battlefield.

Two guys, two girls, two thousand dollars, and one epic water gun battle.

Senior year? It's all about Senior Assassin, a yearly water gun tournament where the last team standing receives a cool two grand. Connor wants nothing more than to split that prize with his best friend, Josh. When their mission is put in jeopardy by Molly--thanks to her crush on Connor--Josh comes up with a plan to thwart her, one that involves his sister, Peyton...

Peyton's deepest desire is to score entry to MIT. She's working her tail off to achieve her goal, but when she's dragged into Connor and Josh's water gun tournament, their antics threaten to leave her high and dry. As Peyton's forced to choose between chemistry class and chemistry with Connor, will the super student and the super athlete discover they have more in common than they imagined?

One thing's for certain: When Connor, Peyton, Josh, and Molly load their weapons, someone's bound to get shot through the heart." -Goodreads

Finals are coming up and a WHOLE BUNCH of craziness is happenin' right now, so I haven't been able to read as much as I would like to. :( BUT I did have time to read this quick read and I NEED to review somethin'! I can't leave you guys hanging!

I ARORED this book! It was super adorable and sweet and made me get the teenage girl giggles... Connor is super swoon worthy and Peyton is hilarious and Josh is just... well, Josh. ;)

I don't know what it is about story lines where the brother's best friend falls for his sister that I love so much but I usually absolutely love them. And this was definitely one of them. This book got straight to the point, and that's something I loved about it.

Peyton is one of those girls who is very serious about her grades. And I kind of feel like Peyton in a way. I'm super serious when it comes to school, and I'm pretty much miserable if I get a bad grade. I really connected with her and saw the struggles she was going through. Something else that I loved about her was that even though school was a huge part of her life, that didn't stop her from having fun or joking around. Her personality was spectacular. I felt like I really was in the head of a teenage girl, even though I don't have to read a book to do that. But the things she was feeling definitely felt genuine!

Can we just have a moment of silence to swooooon over Connor?

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HE IS SO SWOONY.  That's about all I can say... Just joking! I mean, come on, there's more to a guy than his swoony-ness... Right? Anyways, I loved that he was a nerd under all of that cuteness. That he was really interested in good grades and such. That's my kind of guy. And he cared about girls' feelings. Instead of totally blowing Molly off when she was showing signs of "flirtation" he tried to let her down gently. Of course, that didn't really work out... but all ended well! ;) Poor Connor was a little clueless when it came to fixing things with girls. Girls are pretty difficult to begin with... Am I right? ;)

Something that I really liked was that Connor and Peyton had known each other almost their whole lives. It gave a lot more stories between the characters and gave the characters a lot more confusion. Plus, HISTORY! That's pretty major. They were starting to see each other differently. The romance between them was absolutely adorable and I couldn't get enough.

I was almost pulling my hair out in part of this book with Peyton. GOODNESS GRACIOUS, GIRL. Why must you question someone like Connor? I, of course, could see where she was coming from, but I was getting frustrated with some of the decisions she was making.

Then there's Josh, Peyton's brother, who is quite the handful. And little did he know that trying to create a rumor about his sister and his best friend would actually cause them to like each other. When he came down to business, Josh was a sweet brother. He cared about Peyton's feelings.

This book was light read that uplifted you from all that heavy reading. It was fantabulous and sweet and reviewing it makes me want to re-read it again... If you're looking for a quick contemporary romance this book is the one for you! 5 out of 5 diva crowns! :) You must read it!

Hope everyone has a FANTABULOUS week, and if you're like me and have finals or super hard tests or just something difficult in general coming up, GOOD LUCK and happy studying! Hope your day is filled with *SPARKLES!*

Cover Reveal/Author interview: There by Denise Grover Swank!

I'm super excited to reveal this cover to you! Not only because it's my Mother's book but because I absolutely love it! I've read the early version of THERE and LOVED IT! I can't wait until it comes out so all of you can read it to!

If anyone wants to see a reference to the book cover of the first book, HERE, here it is:

So without further ado, the cover reveal of THERE!

***drum roll, please...****

 *DA DA DA DUMMMMM!*

The front:

And the back: 

Isn't it FANTABULOUUUUUS? I love it... I got super excited when my Momma sent me a picture of it  when I was at school. ;) It pays to have a mother who's an author.

I also interviewed my Momma and asked her a couple of questions about the cover!

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*Who is the cover designer and how did you find her?*

Nathalia Suellen created the cover for both HERE and THERE. I knew I wanted a more artistic cover than I had used for my two previous books. So I searched around the internet and found  Nathalia on Deviant Art. I emailed her about purchasing a picture she had in her gallery to use for the cover of HERE. She told me it would be less expensive to create one from scratch, so we did. I LOVE Nathalia’s work. I highly recommend you visit her website http://intro.ladysymphonia.com/  or on Deviant Art http://lady-symphonia.deviantart.com/

*How much say did you have in the cover design of THERE?*

While I gave Nathalia a general direction and idea about what I wanted for HERE’s cover, I had a lot of input on the design concept for THERE.

*What did you incorporate from the cover of HERE to the cover of THERE?*

I’d been thinking about the cover for THERE for several months before I approached Nathalia about starting the designing process. I knew I wanted Julia on the cover and I wanted her in a puddle of water, like she is in HERE. I liked the barren forest on HERE because it reflected Julia’s world (It was fall and the leaves were falling) and Evan’s world (The trees were dead) and I wanted another barren background. I wanted the two boys on the cover again, but I wanted them on separate sides.

*Are there any elements of symbolism in the cover of THERE?*

There’s quite a bit of symbolism on the cover of THERE. On the cover of HERE, Julia is looking down and in a white dress, but on THERE, she’s in a black dress and looking the opposite direction, in a more active stance. She was depressed and trying to find her way in HERE, but in THERE she’s more proactive and tries to take more control of her situation. She’s moving toward the danger and toward Reece and Evan.
The puddle of water on both covers symbolizes the joining of both worlds, the reflection symbolizes both Julias being present at the same time. Julia’s reflection on HERE is her white dress, but on THERE, her dress is black and the reflection is her white dress. In THERE, the other Julia’s memories begin bleed in hers. The reflection of the opposite shows 1) Julia is not the same girl she was in her world—she’s stronger and 2) she’s slowly losing herself to the Julia of Evan’s world.
The ruins in the background represent Evan’s world, but it also represents Julia’s life. It’s falling apart around her.
The storm brewing beyond the ruins represents the chaos in Julia’s life as well as the chaos of the world she’s now living in.

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THERE will be released December 24th so make sure to watch out for that! If you haven't read HERE, the ebook is on sale for 99 cents until Friday, November 30th! So if you're lookin' for a bargain there's your chance!


OR you can enter to win one of five autographed print copies of HERE in a Goodreads giveaway!

Places you can find HERE:
Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Here-On-the-Otherside-ebook/dp/B0064S8D9W
B&N:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/here-denise-grover-swank/1107091759?ean=2940013553217
TBD:  http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Here-Denise-Grover-Swank/9781466394575
Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Here/book-Vnv8yg9YK0uN4hV598RtvA/page1.html?s=za8DVZqrWUCKp3LFSdUrNg&r=1
Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/103327

Hope your days is filled with *SPARKLES!*