Breaking Down by Calista Smith BOOK TOUR

 

Synopsis:

Raquel, "Rocky" as her friends call her, is an introverted girl, on the brink of turning eighteen. Having already been dealt a bad hand recently, her life gets even more complicated when her parent's divorce forces her to relocate with her mom to the city of Rancho Cucamonga, California. She will be facing her senior year in a new high school. Fortunately Natalia, her best friend since birth, will be there. It's the one thing keeping Rocky from completely going off the deep end. 

She plans to stay focused on her future, which includes trying to join the Peace Corps. Then in walks Dante. He's cocky, handsome, well-built, popular and so not her type. She is determined to keep her distance. The last thing she needs is someone prying into her past. Dante loves a challenge though, and when his relentless pursuit captures her attention, she just can't stop herself from falling for him. They soon realize that things aren't always what they seem and find themselves forging an intense bond. But when life continues to hand them obstacle after obstacle, can their new found love help save her or will she finally find herself Breaking Down? 

Author Bio

Calista is a California girl who recently relocated to the great state of Texas. She resides there with her beautiful husband, four crazy kids and a dog. Calista has loved to write since she was a small child. She started writing poetry and eventually decided to write fiction. Breaking Down is her debut novel. She also has a couple of other books she is working on, including Breaking Away, the sequel to Breaking Down.
Calista also has an addiction to reading and reads everything she can get her hands on, in all different genres. When she isn't reading, writing or busy being a wife and mama, you will find her CrossFitting. It's the other addiction in her life and one she is very passionate about.

Links:

FB - Www.facebook.com/calistasmithauthor

Instagram - Www.instagram.com/calismithauthor

Google+https://plus.google.com/u/0/app/basic/105530934416320417721/about?cbp=w9s4k140g2ks&sview=27&cid=5&soc-app=115&soc-platform=1

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7829623.Calista_Smith

http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Down-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00L6FV3JU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409857923&sr=8-1&keywords=breaking+down

Review: *****

I read this book back when Loving the Book Launch Party hosted the launch party, and this book has haunted me ever since. Its a fantastic read, with characters that pop out of the book and haul you along on their journey. Looking back at the book I can say there were a lot of totally high school drama moments, but when I was reading it it didn't feel that way. I felt like I was right in there experiencing everything right along side Rocky. At the end, Rocky experiences something truly awful, something I myself have experienced before. Calista nailed the descriptions and emotions that go along with that event so much so that it took me back two years ago and ripped my heart open all over again. I've heard some people say she overly dramatized the situation, but I say its perfect. Spot on. Completely true.
Over all, Breaking Down gets 5 stars from, and I can't wait to read the next one. I highly recommend you all scroll back up to the buy links, and snag your copy NOW!

Rafflecopter:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/ZWFkYjMxYzY4MjFmZDVkOWI1NzY4OTFhNTZjZTA0Ojg=/

Book Tour Schedule:

September 15 - http://lgrubb2.wix.com/book-lover

September 15 - www.discretedivasblog.weebly.com

September 16 - http://eroticlynx.weebly.com/

September 17 - https://www.facebook.com/PageByPageInsideOutReviewsandPromotion

September 17 - http://mybookfairy.blogspot.com/

September 18 - http://semishort.blogspot.com/

September 19 - http://electivelypaige.blogspot.com

September 20 - http://thepleasureofreadingtoday.blogspot.com/

September 20 - http://agirlwholovesbooksblog.blogspot.co.uk

September 21 - https://www.facebook.com/Bookhangoverpage

 

COVER REVEAL!!!! All the Wrong Places by Rebecca Fisher

Today we welcome to our blog:

Author Rebecca Fisher!

Her book, All the Wrong Places, has a new cover and we are excited to reveal it!


Synopsis:

“In life I had suffered a thousand deaths, and in the midst of death I encountered true life.  I had looked in all the wrong places, until there, on a hill of ivy, I was found.”

Driving aimlessly through the stormy suburbs of San Francisco, Casey Wheeler is fleeing from her abusive and unfaithful husband with her five year old daughter Maddy asleep in the backseat.  With nowhere to go and no one to turn to, Casey loses control of her emotions and her car, crashing into a hillside below a mortuary.  Desperately seeking shelter, and more so independence, she finds herself taken in by the mortuary director who apprehensively offers her a job and a place to live.  As she stumbles through the ins and outs of her new and morbid surroundings, Casey is forced into a hostile custody battle with her relentless and increasingly violent husband.  In the midst of all the chaos, she finds a new family and even love in the eccentric and protective people of Golden Oaks Funeral Home.  But just when she has found all she could hope for, she will have to fight to the death to protect it. 

This semiautobiographical story of a single-mother and her journey to self-discovery, independence and a true understanding of love will keep readers captivated and yearning for more.

Rebecca Fisher graduated with a B.A. in English and an M.S. in Education, and teaches High School English.  Her own experiences living in a mortuary in Northern California and raising her daughter on her own serve as the inspiration for the many macabre and candid encounters in her novel.  She lives in California with her husband and two daughters.

Links to social media:

www.rebeccafisherbooks.com

https://twitter.com/rfisherbooks

https://www.facebook.com/rebeccafisherbooks

Now for the new cover ......

You ready? 

What do you think?

We are excited to read it and to share it too!

Don't forget to come join the Official Launch Party and the Official Book Tour for this book!

Thank you so much for joining in with this cover reveal today. Please share it!

Their Tangled Hearts Book Tour

For starters, just look at this BEAUTIFUL cover! Absolutely stunning, if you ask me, and it does this beautifully heart warming book perfect justice.

Their Tangled Hearts by Mary DeWeber

Emma had spent the last five years learning to cope with tragedy. She should have known that Doc had something up his sleeve when he'd talked her into taking a cooking job at a Colorado cattle ranch. Cooking was the easy part. Working with disabled children was something she was decidedly not prepared for. Throw in a tall dark mountain of a man with a voice like warm velvet and she was completely over her head! It would take God to straighten out the tangled mess she had made of her life.

Author Bio:

Mary DeWeber has always been a voracious reader. She often found unusual places to curl up with book including the branches of a sycamore tree! She spent hours entertaining her five children with stories that she would invent on the spur of the moment. Not afraid of tough subjects, her deep faith shines through her. Mary now resides in Arkansas in a hundred-year-old farmhouse with her husband Jeff and their dog Gretchen.

www.marydeweber.com

www.averyannepublishers.com

Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/Their-Tangled-Hearts-Mary-DeWeber

My favorite snippet:

“Do you like to fish?”
“I used to, but I’m afraid I was never any good at it.”
“I’m not surprised.” He teased. “I’ll bet you were one of those kids, who wouldn't hold still long enough to drown a worm.”
“There was way too much to do, and too many places for me to explore.” She threw him an inquiring glance. “How did you know?”
“Because I haven’t seen you hold completely still since you moved here and, you haven’t been still since you sat down either. Do I make you nervous?” Jake smiled into her startled eyes.
“No, I’m more comfortable with you than with anyone I know.” Emma dropped her gaze. To her horror she could feel a blush creeping into her cheeks. She wasn't sure what had gotten in to her. For a while there she had almost felt, well… normal.

Review: 

*****

Not only do I adore the cover for Their Tangled Hearts, but the story had me laughing, crying, and shrieking for all the right reasons! Emma and Jake experience a roller coaster of emotions that DeWeber  has made totally relatable for those of us who haven't experienced the exact same hard times. I felt my heart break through her nightmares, and I woke my sleeping toddler for laughing so hard during one of Emma's saucy moments. That girl can seriously put a man in his place! YEA! I felt like I could hear the music she was describing, and it took me back to my time being part of the band in high school. The music used to make my heart soar, and when I joined the choir I remember goose bumps racing from my toes to hairline when we hit all of the notes perfectly. I've always loved Christian Romances, but some of them fall a little flat, and don't feel quite as heart felt as Their Tangled Hearts does. 

BRAVO DEWEBER!!!

Be sure to follow along on the tour! Lots of cool blogs lined up for this awesome book!

Blog and Tour dates

24-Aug - Authorsrevealed.blogspot.com

25-Aug - www.sjhenderson.net/blog/

26-Aug - www.321golivelaughloveandread.blogspot.com

26-Aug - http://aone-clickaddictsbookblog.blogspot.com/

28-Aug - http://semishort.blogspot.com/

28-Aug - http://booksshelly27.blogspot.com/

29-Aug - Biblioreviews.wordpress.com

30-Aug - http://eroticlynx.weebly.com/

31-Aug - http://thepleasureofreadingtoday.blogspot.com/

1-Sep - confessionsofabookwhore.org

2-Sep - http://www.cassandra-mywritingworld.blogspot.com

3-Sep - www.thewritersrevolution13.blogspot.com

4-Sep - https://www.facebook.com/Bookhangoverpage

5-Sep - http://authorsandralove.blogspot.com/

6-Sep - https://www.facebook.com/PageByPageInsideOutReviewsandPromotion?ref=hl&ref_type=bookmark

Polishing and Editing

I don't usually like to steal blog posts from others, but a friend of mine shared this one on Facebook, and it really made sense to me. So please, if you are like me and preparing a book to go to a publisher or editor take a few minutes to read this blog post!

Number 6 is probably the trickiest for me.

#6  IN HISTORICAL FICTION, DESCRIBING A LOT OF STUFF YOUR CHARACTER WOULDN'T ACTUALLY NOTICE.  Roger Sutton puts it this way “There was this great article in School Library Journal by Joan Blos called ‘Bunches of Hessians’ where she talks about the various mistakes that are made in historical fiction. She said to take something from a historical novel--for example, a mother making dinner--and translate it into contemporary fiction. And then she wrote this hilarious passage about ‘Mother stood in front of the white box and carefully adjusted the black dial.’ It has to be natural to the person telling the story. They shouldn't be noticing things that only an outsider would be paying attention to.”

I am really good at info dumping, its been a challenge going back through my book and getting rid of all of them. Hahaha! Enjoy!

http://www.elawreads.com/blog/2014/7/15/finishing-the-hat-ten-things-that-make-an-editor-stop-reading-your-manuscript

The C. S. Lewis Journal

A friend of mine got rid of a ton of books he had laying around his office, and was kind enough to ship 2 fairly large boxes of them to me. One was jammed packed with children's stories from The Bernstein Bears to some fabulous Mercer Mayer, and my son's new favorite story Grandpa's Teeth by Rod Clement.

The book that really grabbed a hold of me, and I kept extra close to me as we packed and moved to our new home, was The C. S. Lewis Journal.

As a nerd in elementary school, I was the first in my class to read the entire C. S. Lewis Narnia series. I couldn't get enough! I loved the adventure, the twists, the magic, and I found my self right along side the mesmerizing characters each and every time they went back to Narnia. My favorite will always be Prince Caspian. If I hadn't already decided I was going to marry either Batman or Henry from the Boxcar kids, I would have put Caspian on the top of my novel crush list.

I've kept journals for years and years, but since having my adorable little monster son I have almost completely given up. Juggling a 3 year old at bed time, plus a puppy, and now a house that seems to breed messes all by it's self, does not leave much time for reading or editing the book I've written, who has time for journal keeping too!?!

Still the journal seemed to call to me somehow. It's not fancy or sparkly by any means, its not very big either. So today I finally cracked it open and took a peek. The editor Patricia S. Klein is a women after my own heart. She begins the book by pretty much defining why I am a collector of books, why its important to share them, and then finishes with one of my all time favorite quote from Lewis. This quote is one I've read countless times to keep me working toward my publishing goal. It says:

"When ever you are fed up with life, start writing: ink is the greatest cure for all human ills."

Isn't that beautiful!

So I've decided I'm going to start journaling again. I'll probably switch off and on between a plain notebook and this journal, my goal is to eventually get to the point where I'm writing every night again. It's so relaxing, and its such a great way to clear your mind before bed. I highly recommend it.

The first quote, for the first journal entry in the Lewis book is titled "Hiding in Plain Sight". "We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labour is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake." -from Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer.

So many times in my life my Heavenly Father has made himself known to me. Never as clearly as he did for so many in the bible, or even as he did for Joseph Smith Jr. But still, I know with all my heart that he is there, and that he loves me as one of his children. I will forever be grateful for his confidence in me, and for his trust in my ability to be the mother of such a wonderful special little boy. I highly doubt that I deserve such confidence and trust, but I will always be appreciative of it.