London Casey: Interview and Giveaway

Today I'm happy to indroduce you a great series by author London Casey: The Boys of Downcrash


The Stronger, Safer Kind

(The Boys of DownCrash #1)

All Scarlett wanted to do was thank the sexy stranger who helped her push away a drunk, grabby college boy at a bar. When that stranger identifies himself as Tripp and then takes the stage as the lead singer and guitarist for rock band, DownCrash, everything in Scarlett's life begins to change.

Her best friend, Andy, confesses his love for her and leaves her with what should be an easy decision to make... yet each time she looks in Andy's eyes, she can't help but face her secret, nightmarish past.

The only thing that makes Scarlett feel better is Tripp... but Tripp isn't just a bad boy rockstar, he's hurt. He's in pain. He tries to hide his pain in a bottle, but Scarlett believes that, perhaps, their secrets can help each other.

Friendship and love is suddenly put to the test, and Scarlett is torn... Will she choose an easy, comfortable, happy life or a life clouded with mixed signals, raw emotion, and intense romance?

AMAZON

B&N

KOBO

_____

Torn to Pieces

(The Boys of DownCrash #2)

Trying to forget about the promises she was forced to make as a young, naive eighteen year old, Maggie creates a false persona that paints her as the girl who never says no...

However, once she lays eyes on the drummer of DownCrash, everything clicks. From his sexy lip ring to the way he stares at her from the stage, Tatum becomes everything Maggie has ever fantasized about.

When trouble catches up to her in a parking garage after a DownCrash show, and Tatum shows up out of nowhere to protect her. For the first time in years, she is intimidated by a man's kindness and sexiness, and not by his temper and jealousy. As real feelings begin to grow Maggie is faced with her past and wonders if she'll ever be able to escape the promises she once made to keep the promises she wants to make right now.

AMAZON

B&N

KOBO

Some Kind of Hell (The Boys of DownCrash #3)

In the trilogy finale, shy DownCrash bassist, Logan, has his sexy eyes on Maggie's best friend, Annie. But Annie is still reeling from the way her relationship ended. She's hurt, angry, jealous, and the last thing she wants is some wannabe rockstar looking for his next hookup... although it may just be what she needs.

Logan wants more for his life. The past is living in his apartment, which forces him to spend nights in his car to avoid reliving the nightmare over and over again.

When Annie's guard comes down, tragedy strikes and their lives will be changed forever. Determined to win Annie over and help DownCrash get signed to a record deal, Logan has his work cut out for him. His gorgeous body and no-bullshit personality may just be the key to both...

AMAZON

B&N

KOBO

INTERVIEW

(sorry that all the questions have nummber 1, I can't fix it lol)

1. When did you decided to become a writer?  When I was kid, I just started to write and fell in love with it.

1. Are you an early bird or night owl? – I’m the kind of person who writes when the story is there to share. So that means… morning, noon, night, whatever works.

1. Where do you get your inspiration? – I like to think about my life, life in general, and then combine it all. A lot of the topics in the DownCrash trilogy were things I went through.

1. Which of your characters is your favorite and why? – I’ve always loved Tripp from The Stronger, Safer Kind. Because he’s so dark, so edgy, and yet, within all that pain, he’s a really good person. There’s something about him that’s addicting!

1. If you could meet any person in the world who would it be and why? – As odd as it might be, I’d want to meet Kurt Kobain. I mean, come on, for a man in such pain with such a beautiful gift… I’d love to just talk to him for even five minutes.

1. Name a book you wish you had written. – Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

1. Guilty pleasures? – TV shows such as Sons of Anarachy… OMG… I can’t get enough

1. Tell us about something crazy you’ve done. – Snuck into concerts when I was younger… by any means necessary ;)

1. Best reward as a writer? – When a reader leaves a review and/or emails me to tell me how they felt reading my books. (Even the bad reviews have meaning to me!)

1. Biggest trouble you faced as a writer? – Staying focused outside of writing.

1. How do you react to a bad review? – Understand it and move on.

1. Do you like singing or dancing? Does music inspire you? – I’m not good at either but I LOVE music. I always listen to music when I write.

1. Favorite food? Do you cook? – My dinners tend to come out of a box that takes a few minutes to make… lol…

1. What thing you wish you could stop doing and you can’t? – Obsessing about characters

1. Do you have a nice relationship with your fans? – YES! I love my fans and I love talking to them.

TYVM for this amazing interview!
And I'm glad you love music, and you decided to write this amazing series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

London Casey is the pen name for Karolyn James -

Karolyn James is the author of several bestselling series. With over 100,000 ebooks sold, Karolyn has seen success in both romance and in erotic romance. Her current series include the smash hit Brothers of Rock romance series.

Don't miss the first part of the series following rock band, Chasing Cross!

• Book One - All Access
• Book Two - Broken Sound
• Book Three - Bitter Farewell
• Book Four - Buried Notes
• Book Five - Last Song (coming soon!)

Karolyn James also writes under the pen name, Claire Charlins, writing western romances. Upon releasing the first book in the Mail Order Romance series, West For Love, the book shot straight to the top of the Amazon Kindle charts! The second book in this mail order bride romance series is now available, titled Finding Love West!

Stay up to date with everything Karolyn James here:

Website

Facebook

Twitter: @KarolynWrites

Mailing list: tinyurl.com/KJSignup







GIVEAWAY:

If you want to win an ecopy of ALL ACCESS by Karolyn James (which also writes under the pen name London Casey) enter my blogoversary giveaway HERE.

There are 25 prizes!

GOOD LUCK!

Sinnerman by Jonathan M. Cook: Spotlight and giveaway

From the author of 'YOUTH AND OTHER FICTIONS' comes a love story for those who live in the real world, where love does not conquer all and actions do have consequences.

Publication Date: February 14, 2013
Category/Genre: Literary Fiction, Romance, Coming of Age
Available in: Print & ebook, 185 Pages

Blurb:

“Love makes sinners of us all.”

In the sleepy Midwestern town of Vespers…

In the sweltering summer heat…

Julian Sane, high school teacher and cad’s cad, is a man at war with himself. But a chance encounter with a former student will push him across professional boundaries and force him to confront his personal demons.

Note: SINNERMAN has attracted some controversy in Jonathan M. Cook’s  hometown due to a number of similarities between events in the book and actual events in the community over the past several years. This book is a work of fiction!

Praise for Youth and Other Fictions:

” I found myself totally engrossed in the book, almost against my will. I was drawn in by the inner dialog of the best friend, but also repulsed by some of his thoughts. The writing is clear, concise and effective and the tragic characters seem very real.”- Theresa, Frugal Experiments

About Jonathan M. Cook:

Jonathan M. Cook was born in 1982.  He studied Literature, Composition, and Creative Writing at Eastern Illinois University before moving to Robinson, IL, to become a high school English teacher and faculty advisor for the student newspaper.  He is currently at work on his third novel.
Jonathan M. Cook’s 

Author Links:

Website  

Facebook

Twitter

Buy SINNERMAN:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Lulu

Smashwords

INTERVIEW:

1. For people who haven’t heard of SINNERMAN, make a brief description.

It’s a dirty little book chock full of bad people doing terrible things!

A disreputable teacher falls for one of his former students and their hometown goes nuts.  The story traces how people fall in love and what love means in the face of external interference.

2. When did you decided to become a writer?

My parents encouraged me from a young age to read widely and extensively.  Nothing I wanted to read was ever off limits.  As a result, I read a lot of really good books and a lot of really bad books.  One day when I was fourteen, I read this horrifically written book about office politics and computer nerds and decided I could write something at least better than that.  Once I started seriously writing, I realized how much I enjoyed it and that was that.

3. What does your family think of your works?

I think they’d be happier if I wrote something a little more upbeat, but they’ve always been very supportive.  They tend to be very honest with me—my brother especially—which is a good thing, as so many of my readers seem uncomfortable at the idea of admitting something I wrote didn’t connect with them.

4. Do you have specific habits when you write?

I generally write first drafts only in complete silence.  When I do almost anything else, I have music on in the background, but for first drafts, I like to be completely focused on the writing itself.  I don’t do a lot of outlining except in very broad terms—what the major moments in the story are and their chronological order—but I do extensive character sketches to make sure I know through and through who my characters are—what they want out of life, what significant events occurred in their pasts, what they drink, et cetera—even if many or sometimes most of those details never make it into the finished story.  When I finish a draft, I stick in a drawer for two weeks before looking at it again—that’s something I think Stephen King mentioned doing and it’s served me very well.

I also make sure I have a bottle of Scotch handy for when things get frustrating.

5. Where do you get your inspiration?

That’s a loaded question!  Basically, anything can inspire me.  Anything that interests me, whether immediately or years later, can provide the germ of something.  When I wrote my master’s thesis, my inspiration was an article on the child pornography and the internet that I had read probably ten or twelve years earlier.  My first novel came out of my own personal reaction to and coping with the Columbine shooting and its aftermath.   SINNERMAN came out of a misunderstanding that turned into a hypothetical question.

One of my former students posted something on Twitter about a boy she was dating, and I happened to mention to one of my students at the time that I didn’t know she was dating anyone.  This led to a week of good-natured ribbing:  “Ooh, Mr. Cook likes Former Student R!  Tee-hee-hee!”  After awhile, I started wondering, what would happen if I did try to date a recent graduate?  The novel became my attempt to answer that question.

6. Which of your characters is your favorite and why?

Clara Sane.  She is wonderfully eccentric but levelheaded.  She is fiercely loyal to those she cares about, even as she’s brutally honest with them.  To me, she represents a kind of moral center in a book that grays out much conventional morality.

7. If you could have coffee with any character of any book, who would it be and why?

Nicholas Urfe from John Fowles’ The Magus.  I’d like to know who he is after the events of that book, how he views himself after experiencing all that he does.  And I’d like to know what happens to him and Allison after the last page.

8. Name a book you wish you had written.

Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  The complete abandon with which he wrote always appealed me and I do wish I could let myself go the way he did.  Also, the way in which he blurs the line between actual experience and fiction is incredible to me.

9. Would you like your book turned into a movie? Do you have any actors in mind?

Absolutely, though I’m not sure anyone would go to see it.  As a joke, I used to say I would cast James Deen and Lily Carter as Julian and Lily, because then the dirty parts could be really dirty, but I could see Ian Somerhalder or Jensen Ackles as the lead.  Mila Kunis was the actress I heard in my head when I was writing Clara, and Emma Watson would be my first choice for Lily.

10. What do you do, besides writing?

I’m a high school English teacher—just like the guy in my dirty little book!  In that capacity, I sponsor the school newspaper and the Interact club.

11. Do you have any hobbies?

I play the piano and try to play the guitar, though I’m not very good.  I’m a huge film buff—at night, I’m almost always watching movies if I’m not working on a draft or lesson plans.

12. Guilty pleasures?

The Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack.  It’s one of the best classical music compilations I’ve heard.  I love The Vampire Diaries and Californication.

13. What are you reading right now?

Stephen Hawking’s The Grand Design.

14. Name your favorite books.

James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.  John Fowles’ A Maggot and The Magus.  Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian.  Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 and After Dark.  Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.  Tristan Egolf’s Lord of the Barnyard.

15. Name your favorite authors.

John Fowles.  Cormac McCarthy.  Jorge Luis Borges.  Bret Easton Ellis.  Thomas Pynchon.  Umberto Eco.  Shakespeare.  James Joyce.  William Faulkner.  Haruki Murakami.

16. Best reward as a writer?

Hearing students of mine who aren’t necessarily big readers say they really enjoyed my work.  Getting people to read anything anymore is an uphill battle and hearing that I contributed somewhat to that really touches me.

17. Biggest trouble you faced as a writer?

Being misunderstand.  Since I live in a very small community, most of the people I know know that I have published two novels and are at least passing familiar with their content.  By the nature of what I’ve written about, people tend to get uncomfortable, especially with my day job as a teacher.  For the most part, that hasn’t been a problem, but I have had the odd person try to make an issue out of my writing.

The strangest problem I’ve run into was when I hired a former student to help edit the manuscript for SINNERMAN.  She seemed very enthusiastic and made a number of good editorial calls, but shortly after I published, I heard that she had become convinced the book was about her, that she was Lily, and that the entire story was some kind of perverse fantasy on my part about her and I.  None of that is true, but I was faced with the problem of how to respond.  Simply put, there is no response to be given in a situation like that.  If I deny her claims, she’ll see that as further evidence of their accuracy; if I feign a confession, I’ll be run out of town.  For a long time, I debated whether or not to send her an email and apologize for somehow giving her that impression and tell her that was never my intention, but I’ve since decided it’s not worth the risks.  People will believe whatever they want to believe.

An interesting aside:  a number of people in town have evidently started a pool as to who Lily is based on, with my editor being the most popular guess.

18. How do you react to a bad review?

I remind myself that everyone has his or her own likes and dislikes.  Then I look at the criticisms and try to objectively determine if they have any merit.  I once had a review that criticized the number of names in my first book that began with the letter J.  In my mind, that’s a ridiculous criticism, but that reviewer took issue with it, as was her right.  Bad reviews are simply part of publishing one’s work.

19. Does music inspire you?

Very much so.  So much so that SINNERMAN’s chapter are all named after songs that I like.  To me, music is both a means of communication across boundaries and a major art form, perhaps the art form of the twenty-first century.  Music reflects emotions but also instills emotions in its audiences.  At one point in SINNERMAN, Julian even discusses modern music as a new kind of standard of aesthetics.

20. Favorite movies?

The Social Network, The Crow, Kingdom of Heaven, Pretty Woman and Lost Highway.

21. Do you have a nice relationship with your fans?

I like to think so.  I always try to stay in communication with them and answer questions they have or respond to their comments.  Readers of my first book came back to read my second book, so we have a pretty decent relationship.

 THANK YOU FOR THIS AMAZING INTERVIEW JONATHAN! and btw, The Vampire Diaries is a great show lol and if you speak Spanish and someday have the chance, you should read Borges in his original language, it's incredible! :)

GIVEAWAY:

• There will be 1 winnner. 
• If the winner is international it will get an e-copy of Sinnerman and if it is from the U.S, it will get a Paperback copy.
• The winner has 48hs to answer when they get notified by email, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.
• 'I know that Book' will send the details of the winner to the author, and there ends our responsibility. 

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Follow the Tour:

So Many Precious Books Oct 15 Review & Giveaway
Rainy Days & Mondays Oct 16 Review
Rainy Days & Mondays Oct 17 Guest Post
From Isi Oct 18 Review
I Know That Book Oct 22 Interview
Faerie Tale Books Oct 24 Review
Sweeps for Bloggers Oct 25 Review & Giveaway
Giveaways & Glitter Oct 28 Review
Rose & Beps Blog Oct 29 Excerpt & Spotlight
M. Denise C. Oct30 Review
Deal Sharing Aunt Oct 31 Review
Romance & Inspiration Nov 1 Review
Rainy Days & Pajamas Nov 4 Review
Joie Networking Witches Nov 5 Review & Giveaway
Harlie’s Book Blog Nov 6 Review
Harlie’s Book Blog Nov 7 Guest Post
Joystory Nov 7 Review
GrownUp Fangirl  Nov 11 Review
GrownUp Fangirl  Nov 12 Interview & Giveaway
Let’s Talk About Books Nov 13 Review
Princess & the Gummy Bear Nov 13 Video Review
Paperback Writer Nov 14 Mini Interview

Review: Immortal City (Immortal City #1) by Scott Speer

Immortal City (Immortal City #1) by Scott Speer

Blurb:

Jackson Godspeed is the hottest young Angel in a city filled with them.

He's days away from becoming a full Guardian, and people around the world are already competing for the chance to be watched over by him. Everyone's obsessed with the Angels and the lucky people they protect - everyone except for Madison Montgomery.

Maddy's the one girl in Angel City who doesn't breathlessly follow the Angels on TV and gossip blogs. When she meets Jackson, she doesn't recognize him. But Jackson is instantly captivated by her, and against all odds the two fall in love.

Maddy is swiftly caught up in Jackson's scene, a world of glamour, paparazzi - and murder. A serial killer is on the loose, leaving dead Angels' wings for the police to find on the Walk of Fame. Even the Guardians are powerless to protect themselves in the face of this threat & and this time it's up to Maddy to save Jackson.

TRAILER

MY THOGUHTS:

First, I must say that I don't like the guy in the trailer. In my mind Jackson Godspeed looks more like the guy in the cover, and for me he has dark hair lol. (I want what I want ladies! hehe)

Second, I bought this book at TBD, as always because they are amazing. I chose the hardback because this cover was nicer than the paperback (didn't like the letters in that one) and friggin' argentinian mail  lost it. I bought a new one, and guess what? they both were delivered to me in the same day, 5 months later!  #$#"&"&"°?! WTF????

I gave the second copy to a friend who I think will enjoy it as much as I did, though.

Anyway, back to business. I am so happy with myself for having the patience of waiting for it, because I absolutely adored this story.

If you are looking for an average teen angel story, this one is not for you. 

We are use to stories were vampires are famous but it is the first book I've read were humans are aware of the existance of Angels.

Not only that, they worship them. They are celebrities. And some of them are guardian angels... but guess what? they won't save you for love no no no, they will save you for money... at least most of them...

until Jackson Godspeed...

The world created by Scott Speer is incredible, he thought even the tiniest detail. He actually invented things such as a reality show where the winner got a year of free saving by an angel.

Maddy is well... Maddy. A little lot whiny and she sounds so silly and smug with that "I don't care about angels" attitude that she made me angry a few times.

Jackson is sooooooo great. Loved his personality, his looks, his temperance and the way he kept himself "down to earth" (no pun intended lol) even if he was the most famous, sexy and rich guy in the world.

His assistant is so funny, don't remember her name right now but I loved her little appearances.

The scene while they dance was super well developed, I loved it!

What else?

Plot: this book is not only about a teen romance, it has a very interesting plot. There's been some mysterious deaths in Angel City and they are targeting angels... 

This got me glued to the pages and some parts were eerie!!! I won't spoiled anything though, this is a book worth reading.

And BTW... Scott Speer is a hottie hehe. :p

P.S: If you haven't entered my blogoversary giveaway yet, check it HERE

I hope you guys liked it!

Rhomy.