-Blog Tour Stop, Review + GIVEAWAY- Tragic by J.A. Huss

So excited! Today's my turn for a stop on the Tragic blog tour and I'll be sharing my thoughts on the book with you all!! 

And wow. I loved this book. It was pretty amazing if I do say so myself.

Don't forget to try and stop by the other stops HERE's the schedule ;)

Tragic by J.A. Huss
Publication date: May 20th 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Synopsis:

Rook Walsh is TRAGIC

Because life so far – just sucks. Some girls get parents. Rook got the foster care system. Some girls get Prince Charming. Rook got an abusive frog. Some girls get lucky…

Rook got a second chance.

And she took it. Because when fate throws you a bone – you grab it with both hands and run.

Antoine Chaput knows the minute he spies Rook in his photography studio that she’s got The Look. The dark and desperate look he must have to land the exclusive TRAGIC media contract.

Rook is paired up with top model, Ronin, and he’s everything her abusive ex-boyfriend wasn’t. Patient, gentle, happy, attentive, and sexy! He knows exactly what to do to make Rook blush for Antoine’s portfolio.

Rook’s luck changes in an instant and suddenly she’s the darling of the modeling world. It’s a dream job to go with a dream guy and all she has to do is look pretty and follow directions. But there’s always a price to pay – and Rook is about to get the bill.

TRAGIC is a new adult contemporary romance.

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My thoughts

Tragic starts right off being just that, tragic.

Rook, the main character, has been through so much and has seen so much and suffered so much more than a normal 19 year-old should have but that hasn't stopped her.
Though it did once upon a time, she woke up, picked herself up, and mended what little pieces of her heart she could and moved on.

That meant, escaping. From it all or from just one man? You'll know from reading but what she finds herself into after that? That's when the story really starts...

- "Ronin Flynn, you might undo me."

"I'm already undone, Gidge. I'm just hoping you'll stick around long enough to put me back together." -

Fate had it that she auditioned for a very talented and successful photographer. Which kind of photographer? -smiles knowingly- You'll get to know that too if you take a chance at reading this awfully awesome book ;)

I liked and sympathized with Rook, she makes you re-evaluate things, think things through and make you root for her all while also making you gasp and gape at all the things she has signed up for when she signs a contract with that successful photographer I mentioned earlier.

Then comes the model... The MALE model. The one that had me drooling a bit here and there and swooning and giggling in between. This guy you girls, this guy is... H.O.T. I don't know any other way to describe him, physically. But, emotionally? He's complex. He's real, at least he felt real to me. And his past is not happy story either.

- Maybe someday I'll have it in me to fight back like that if it ever happens again, but right now I'm fragile.

But I'll take fragile. It's a hell of a lot better than broken. -

I loved everything from all the characters involved, it showed great great character development and thanks to the author's writing the story flows perfectly and I found myself glued to my kindle app for far longer than I had planned for... I mean, how can I not love Ronin's sis? Or the shampoo job she gives Rook? hehehe

One doesn't just pick this book up and takes a break, one picks this book up and finish it in one sitting. That's how good and fast-paced it is and how captivated I was by it all.

The only thing I got a bit of a problem with, is the fact that even though it definitely has a teen in it the book and content itself felt more directed to a mature audience? Not how New Adults are directed at mature audiences but how adult books are directed, well, at adults you know? Specially when we get to the photo scenes... But who am I to judge when it comes to assigning genres? That's just how I felt throughout the read.
Though this book, I'd definitely recommend for readers up over 18 instead of the usual ages I recommend the NA ones to.

- "You OK?"

"Mmmmhmmmm," is all I can manage, because a chill rockets down my spin and my head involuntarily tips back and gives him permission to [...]

He pulls back for a moment, just long enough to say, "Touch me, Rook," and then his mouth is back... -

With steamy photo shoots, bikers, models, heartbreak, lies, doubts, harsh past and even harsher presents. This novel delves into the dark side of a girl who was broken before but found the strength to put herself back together, another girl who had to grow up too soon but found the love of her life in a crazy french photographer and a boy who isn't a bad boy while also not being a good boy.

If there's another book on the way, I cannot wait for it!!!!!!

A Fun and quick read ;)

Oh, I almost forgot? My weaknesses? Both were portrayed in the book.
Book tittle? IN the book, definitely definitely IN it as much as it was on it. The whole photo thing revolves around it.
Book Cover? IN THE BOOK AS WELL!!! So watch out for it... Trust me on this one.

I give this book,

5= Clouds In The Heavens READ IT!

About the author,

J. A. Huss likes to write new adult books that make you think and keep you guessing. Her favorite genre to read is space opera, but since practically no one reads those books, she writes new adult science fiction, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, and books about Junco (who refuses to be saddled with a label).

She has an undergraduate degree in horses, (yes, really–Thank you, Colorado State University) and a master’s degree in forensic toxicology from the University of Florida. She used to have a job driving around Colorado doing pretty much nothing but shooting the breeze with farmers, but now she just writes, runs the New Adult Addiction and Clean Teen Reads Book Blogs, and runs an online science classroom for homeschoolers.

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-Blog Tour Stop, Review + Giveaway- In Too Deep by Michelle Kemper Brownlow

Welcome BookPicERS to my stop on the IN TOO DEEP blog tour!

Be sure to check out the rest of the stops HERE and enter the amazing giveaway!

Now for my stop, I've got a spotlight, review and giveaway to share.

Let us begin :)

Hope you enjoy and trust me when I say, you have GOT to get this book!

(recommended for 16+ readers)

In Too Deep by Michelle Kemper Brownlow
Publication date: June 6th 2013
by Sapphire Star Publishing
Genre: New Adult Romance

Synopsis: 

*** Long- Gracie has just finished her freshman year of college in Memphis when she takes a job at a local pizza joint in her home town of McKenzie, Tennessee. She is the epitome of innocence when she meets Noah. Noah is unabashedly handsome, intriguingly reckless and just cocky enough to be sexy. Gracie’s instincts tell her to stay far away from him and based on the stories she hears from her co-workers he leaves broken hearts in his wake. But still, she can’t explain her fascination with him.

Noah puts aside his bad boy ways when what he thought was a summer crush has him unexpectedly falling in love. But soon after Gracie transfers to UT Knoxville to be with Noah, their unexpected love becomes riddled with anger, deceit and humiliation.

Jake, Noah’s former roommate and Gracie’s best friend, can no longer be a bystander. Gracie’s world falls out from beneath her and when she breaks she turns to Jake for strength. As Jake talks her through a decision she’s not yet strong enough to make, together they uncover a truth so ugly neither of them is prepared for its fallout. Will Jake pull her to the surface or is Gracie Jordan finally In Too Deep? ***

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******

My Thoughts

There is just so much a heart can take, a girl can fight, a smile can falter.

There is just so much that a boy can hurt, a glare can cower, a word can break.

An extremely beautifully crafted novel, a talented author, and a heart-wrenching story. I loved every single word in it!

Gracie, oh Gracie, how I suffered for and with you. How I hated and loved you, how I sometimes wanted to hug you while others I just really wanted to shake you.

Gracie's character can't even be called a character. I thought of her as a person, as a living person, one who was close to me throughout the whole read of the book. I thought of her as a friend that needed me and yet didn't have me because as much as I wanted to get inside the story, inside the book, inside of all the character's lives... I couldn't.

- ...the love and affection I craved from Noah was being dangled in front of me. It gave me hope that the Noah I fell in love with was clawing to get out. I couldn't give up on him now. - 

Gracie's sweet, innocent, funny, smiley, if a bit shy. But she's a good girl, not boring, not anything that would scream at you "get away I'm a loner" nope. Though she tended to be a bit naive, I could have not liked her more. She's an incredible person with a huge heart and even a bigger mind. 

The one tiny little problem?

She loves the person that doesn't want or maybe doesn't let other people love him.

Though, Noah DOES love her, in his terms and his way but from what I could read and gather he did love her and maybe still does... 

But I think he didn't know how to love her afterwards... When life happened, when school happened, when the distance happened, when one thing and the other came and Gracie's place in Noah's life started to drop in ranking...
He didn't know how to lover her and he knew even less how to let her go.

And that's when everything fell apart and the story really begins...

And you know where does that happen???

In the VERY BEGINNING OF THE BOOK!

- "... I don't deserve you. I guess in a twisted sort of way, I push you away to save you." -

We get flashes of the past in between what happens in the present and there... Among those...

We meet Jake, whom I loved from the start.

Jake who so carefully and lovingly picked up the pieces when Noah went too far; Jake, who could with just one touch calm Gracie's thoughts, breath and heartbeat; Jake, who with every single word started teaching Gracie her value.

Jake, who was simply perfect.

I didn't know, I didn't understand why some girls stay in decaying and self-destructive, abusive relationships. But after reading this, I got a glimpse inside a head of one.

Sometimes we don't know we're near the waves, sometimes we don't know we've taken that step closer to them, sometimes we don't see that half our bodies have already been submerged in the water...

Sometimes it takes trying to take a breath to see that we're in too deep.

-My body landed softly, somewhere. I was finally in so deep that I reached the bottom. There's no air on the bottom. People suffer here.-

There's hope, there's love and there's trust for all of you who've been there or are still there. Inside, drowning, trying to scream for help...

Some will try to reason that they're fine, that the water burns their lungs but not too much and maybe it'll come a time when it'll be too late for them... But for now. For now you can all be saved. 

You have so much value, you are worth so much more. 

Pain isn't love, abuse isn't love, sadness isn't love, sobbing isn't love, bruises whether physical or emotional aren't love, lying isn't love.

Love is happiness, sacrifice, trust, smiles, laughter, happy tears, fighting together to destroy that which tears you apart.

Michelle Kemper's writing was astounding and fresh. Her book was all her, her voice was loud and clear and her description of every little thing perfect.

I couldn't have asked for a better debut novel.

Everyone should watch out for this author who'll have you with a broken heart in a minute and a mended and glowing heart the next.

- When I looked in the mirror, I no longer saw the girl I used to be. I let [...] pull me this way and that way, then finally let him pull me apart, and he left behind only a fraction of who I once was. -

We're worth infinite happiness. All of us. Never settle :)

My weaknesses?
BOTH were put right there on display. The cover is absolutely gorgeous and goes perfectly well with the story and the tittle? Insane and right to the heart of the book. It was IN it as much as it was ON it.

A heartbreaking-eye opener debut novel that grabs your heart and mind since the very first page without you noticing until you're in too deep to let go. Raw, happy, gritty, sad, and oh so very real. Michelle Kemper is one author to watch out for.

Recommended to fans of Michelle D. Argyle (The Breakaway) & Jamie McGuire (Beautiful Disaster) ^_^

"Two people walking in the same direction."

I give this book,

5= Clouds In The Heavens READ IT!

***

Meet the author!

Michelle Kemper Brownlow has been a storyteller her entire life. Her debut was on the high school cheerleading bus granting requests to re-tell her most embarrassing moments for a gaggle of hysterical squadmates.

Earning her Bachelor’s degree from Penn State University in Art Education and then marrying her very own “Jake,” she moved to Binghamton, NY where she taught high school. After having two children she quit work and finished her Master’s degree in Elementary Education at Binghamton University.

The Brownlow family of four moved to Michelle’s hometown of Morgantown, PA while the children were still quite young. A few years after moving, her family grew by one when they welcomed a baby into their home through the gift of adoption. The family still resides in PA, just miles from where that high school cheer bus was parked.

Michelle has been an artist for as long as she can remember, always choosing pencils and crayons over toys and puzzles. As a freelance illustrator, her simple characters play the starring roles in numerous emergent reader books published by Reading Reading Books.

“Writing is my way of making sense of the world. When I give my characters life on the pages I write, it frees up space in my mind to welcome in new stories that are begging to be told,” says Brownlow.

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-Book Blitz, Giveaway + Teasers- Eversea by Natasha Boyd

Today I'm spotlighting Eversea :D a NA tittle that I really can't wait to read.

Eversea by Natasha Boyd
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Publication date: June 10th 2013

Synopsis:

• An orphaned small-town southern girl, burdened by responsibility and stuck in time.

• A Hollywood A-list mega-star, on the run from his latest scandal and with everything to lose.

• A chance encounter that leads to an unlikely arrangement and epic love affair that will change them both forever.

When his co-star and real-life girlfriend is caught cheating on him with her married and much older director, A-list hottie, Jack Eversea, finds himself in sleepy Butler Cove, South Carolina. Jack hopes the sultry southern heat in this tiny coastal Lowcountry town will hide him not only from the tabloids and his cheating girlfriend, but his increasingly vapid life and the people who run it. He doesn’t count on meeting Keri Ann Butler. 

Keri Ann has relied on herself so long, dealing with her family’s death and the responsibilities of keeping up her family’s historic mansion, that boys and certainly the meager offering of eligible boys in Butler Cove, have never figured into her equation. But fate has other plans. Suddenly face to face with the man who played the movie role of her favorite fictional character, Jack has Keri Ann yearning for everything she has previously avoided ... and Jack must decide whether this funny, sassy girl is worth changing his life for, before his mistakes catch up to him.

Eversea is a FINALIST in the Winter Rose Unpublished Contest for 2013

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Want some teasers?

“Jack wasn’t just a boy. He was a dazzling, heart-stopping, aura of a man who in just five days had me feeling like I was perched on the edge of a precipice, and seriously contemplating throwing myself over the edge. The idea was terrifying in its finality and in its inevitability.”

And a sexier one ;)

I swallowed my nerves as I let my eyes slide down his abs to the vee his hips made as they disappeared into his shorts.

“You’d better stop that,” he said, his voice husky.

I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to kiss him again, but I didn’t want to be so forward. So I shook my head.

“No?” he asked.

“No.”

I leaned back and rested my elbows behind me on the ledge, mimicking his stance. A challenge. I almost didn’t recognize this new me.

His eyes narrowed as if he was trying to suss me out. I realized my position had thrust my bikini-clad chest forward, but it was too late to suddenly get shy.

“Come here,” he commanded, quietly.

I held his eyes. “You come here,” I countered.

His dimple reappeared as he shook his head slightly with a small lopsided and bemused smile, and then he swam four strong freestyle strokes to stand in front of me.

I stayed perfectly still as he held my eyes. His wet skin and hair made his eyes startling. Then he stepped forward between my legs, pushing my feet apart. My pulse tripped over itself.

“This is a good spot,” he murmured, echoing my unformed thoughts exactly. His hands came to my bare waist, the water allowing his skin to slide across mine.

About the author,

Natasha Boyd is a writer with a background in marketing and public relations. She lives in the coastal Carolina Lowcountry, complete with Spanish moss, alligators and mosquitoes the size of tiny birds. She has a husband, two sons and a cat named Tuna. Eversea is her first full-length novel.

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-Cover Reveal- Trying To Get Over You by J.D. Rivera

Ooooh!! Another pretty cover to reveal!! This one designed by Emily Mah Tippetts

But first, we need to know a bit more about the book.

Trying to Get Over You by J.D. Rivera
Publication date: June 25th 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary

Synopsis:

College student Emily Reynolds has been in a three year relationship with Cooper Thomason but one awful night has left their relationship shaken. She soon finds out she is pregnant and Cooper can’t give up his partying ways. Emily leaves Cooper and tries to find a life without him. She finds out a life without Cooper is harder than she thinks. Will Emily be able to move on from Cooper and find a relationship with another man or run back to him?

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Here's how the whole thing would look like,

About the author,

J.D. Rivera lives in Oklahoma with her husband and two boys. Her life consists of school projects, homework, cartoon shows and little league sports. She loves Diet Mt. Dew, the OKC Thunder, costume jewelry, the beach, and of course reading.

Author Links:
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Don't you just love it?

Simple and cute :D

Can't wait to know more about the book or better yet, read it ;)

-Review- Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Goodreads Shortie:

... What begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

My Thoughts

What an amazing and incredible read this was.

Not falling into the mediocre-sequel syndrome, it has everything that the first book lacked but so much more.

After I finished reading Pushing The Limits, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth and a really big question mark in my head,
Seriously? THAT was what EVERYONE was talking about? What everyone was going crazy over? What everyone seemed so obsessed with? Noah and the story of a girl and how they fell in love?