Thursday, October 30, 2014

Blog Tour: Eight Days a Week by Amber L. Johnson - Interview and Promo Post (@whereisjakeryan)


A "manny" should always mind his own business. And he definitely shouldn’t fall in love with his boss.  


Release Date: November 6 , 2014
Genre: Romance / Contemporary
ISBN e-book: 978-1-61213-329-4
Available from: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and TWCS PH
 
~~SUMMARY~~
Eight-Days-a-Week-3D-Bookstack-2 Gwen Stone has secrets she’s not ready to reveal. After a recent promotion at work, she needs a caretaker for her children. She’s frenzied and in a lurch and pretty much ready to hire the first person who comes along. So she does. Andrew Lyons needs to get out of his sister’s apartment, and a Craigslist posting may be the answer to his prayers. But what he thought was an ad for a room rental turns into a job offer he can’t refuse. Accepting the nanny position could change his life, if only he had a clue how to be a grownup. A working mother, a shirtless “manny” who looks good in a towel, two children who need more than a babysitter, and hours of kids’ TV can only spell disaster for everyone involved. Because a manny should always mind his own business. And he definitely shouldn’t fall in love with his boss.    


AuthPhot
~~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~~

Amber is a full-time mom and a full-time wife who is employed full time and writes when she can. She believes in Happily Ever Afters that occur every day—despite the obstacles real life serves up on a regular basis. Or perhaps they’re sweeter simply because of them. She always has two rubber bands on her wrist, a song in her head, and too much creamer in her coffee cup that reads ‘Cocoa,’ because she’s a rebel. If she’s not at her desk, with her boys, or behind the computer, she’s supporting live music with her arms raised above her head and her eyes closed, waiting for the drop.  

   
~~CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR~~

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Praise for Eight Days a Week
"Laugh-out-loud story about a guy who goes to look at a room to rent and discovers it comes with a job - that of live-in nanny to two damaged kids. So Andrew Lyons accidentally becomes the "manny". Written in his POV, this book chronicles his hilarious escapades as he looks after and grows to love Bree and Brady, and his employer, Gwen. His pranks and spot-on observations about kids' TV shows had me giggling, but there were a few serious moments worthy of a sniffle as well. The star of the show may be Don, though - you'll just have to read this book to find out about him! Highly recommended." 
 - Andrea Goodreads Review

INTERVIEW

Have you always written? What got you started?

My mom says I started writing books when I was 6 or 7. There’s a stapled ‘book’ of post-it notes that I wrote about my toys coming to life and trying to kill me in my sleep. I’m pretty sure my dad let me watch some horror movies my mom didn’t know about.

I had started a few books when I was younger but they fell by the wayside. Then I did the emotional high school poetry for a while. A few years went by and I was barely reading anything, much less writing. Then I saw the twilight movie, read the entire series in 5 days and BOOM. Inspiration like a freight train. I believe that there are some books that make you never want to write again. And there are others that make you think you’d like to keep going. That was it for me.

I'm sure your books have inspired other authors. What authors inspired you?

Well that’s just really flattering to think that, to be honest.

I love Poe and Shakespeare. I grew up on RL Stine and Sweet Valley High. People may not consider John Hughes a writer in the conventional sense, but if anyone influenced my life with their words and characters it would be him. There are also some incredibly awesome writers I’ve gotten to know on a personal level through this crazy process and that’s an amazing thing.

What does your writing process look like?


It usually starts with a scene. Sometimes it’s a sentence. Then I think, how did they get to this point? So I’ll take that sentence, that scene, and I’ll write it out. Then I’ll plug in what I think the beginning should be. Usually I already know the end so I’ll take out a notebook and do a quick outline of each chapter. It makes it easier to remember what the original idea was and then just flesh out the details.

Then there’s a whole lot of music playing in my earbuds, asking for quiet (and never getting it), trying to sleep (and not getting it). I take a lot of showers because dialogue hits me in there. And then I go to bed thinking of a certain scene and a lot of times I dream about it which makes it easier to get up and write the entire thing down if I can.

Once upon a time you wrote fanfic. What made you take the leap from fan-fiction to original fiction?

I was kinda forced to. (laughs) Before Eight Days and the following books came out, I wanted to prove that I could write other things. It was terrifying and completely out of my comfort zone to take the risk. My husband has wanted me to publish for ages, but I didn’t have it in me at the time.

Do you read/respond to your reviews? Any advice on how to deal with the bad ones?

I read every single one of my reviews. I even read the threads sometimes. I like to see the discussions people have about things I, as the writer, may not have even taken into consideration when building the story. I go through and ‘like’ the majority of the reviews, but not all of them. I make myself read the bad ones because they used to make me so sad and feel so much panic. But as my editor Kathie says, “This book was not for them. Look at the ones it was for.” It’s true. For every bad review I have there’s a higher number of good ones. The majority of the bad ones are preference and opinion but there are certain ones that use verbiage that I find disturbing and offensive. Those ones? I have a small group where I type out a review response and leave it there to vent instead of putting it as a review response. It helps to get it off my chest.

My advice would be to never give them fuel for their fire.

What or who was your inspiration for Eight Days a Week?

Eight Days was inspired by my life at the time. My son had colic as a baby and we spent many a late night on the couch. Disney Jr and Nick Jr were on pretty much all the time as background noise and it got to the point where my husband and I felt like we were going crazy with all these shows. Then one day we realized our son was in bed and we were folding clothes to iCarly. Essentially, Eight Days a Week was born from our hatred of children’s programming.

A while ago you ran a giveaway on Facebook and one of the requirements was that people tell you a funny parenting fail. What's your most epic parenting fail?

Oh, man. I was just relaying this to my friend the other day. There are terrible things that happen when you’re a parent and you have no idea what you’re doing. My kid rolled off the bed once onto his face because I didn’t put him in the EXACT middle of the mattress. One time I walked out of my room and came back to my comforter being cut apart by a 3 year old with a pair of scissors.
But the absolute biggest parenting fail I had was the handheld vacuum. Like I said up there, my son had colic. He cried for upwards of 20 hours a day. I didn’t sleep, pretty much ever. One day my friend came over and lovingly offered to help clean my house. While I was holding my son, she started vacuuming.
He went to sleep.
I wanted to cry. She found the cure!
We got a handheld vac and put it in his room to run at night. It was the loudest, most intense white noise EVER. And then one night I smelled something weird and apparently the belt had started to wear out or something and I think at that point I realized the vac was probably a fire hazard.
We made a recording of it and played it on an iPod after that.
Mom of the Year!

There are two pretty awesome kids in Eight Days a week. What were you like as a kid?

I was weird. I was a good kid, well behaved, loved Barbies and went through a phase of never wearing pants. But I also kicked guys in the nuts and mattress surfed. I was loud but studious. I pretty much didn’t make any sense at all.

Which of your characters (from any of your books) is most like you?

Most like me. That’s tough because I take a piece of myself and put it into the female characters that I write. Mal from Beatless was a lot like me in High School, which is probably why she annoys readers so much, LOL Lilly in Puddle Jumping has a lot of me in her. But I have to say if there is one character that I feel is most like me in speech, passion, etc it would be Emily from Maybe.

Lastly...
What can we expect to see from you next?
 My plate is so full right now! After Eight Days I have Maybe coming out in February and then For Authentication Purposes comes out in March. I’m currently outlining new books and am looking over old manuscripts at the request of my friends to see if they would be worth editing and putting out at a later time. You’re gonna be sick of me!

Thirsty Thursdays #18 & #19: Hottest Female and Male Villains


"Thirsty Thursdays" is an original weekly feature where we highlight all that makes our mouth water in the world of books. Join us each week where we will pick either a quote, book cover, book boyfriend or kiss from our favorite books, that makes us all swoony. Please link back to us each week, we'd love for you to share what wets your whistle, as well!

Happy Halloween Eve! Sorry about last week but we're making it up today. Now what goes better with Halloween other than some villains? 



Hottest Female Villain: Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz

Swoon quality: Can you say "cackle"?

Why: She represents the every day evils. There's a balance between dark and light, and I like the symbolism her character presents.

Hottest Male Villain: James from Twilight

Swoon quality: Sadistic, that is all.

Why: I admit it, I was once a Twihard. This villain was sexy, he was demented, he made me swoon a little. One of the only true vampires in the serious.

Hottest Female Villain: Belletrix Lastrange from Harry Potter

Swoon quality: Everything

Why: Pure evilness. There is no one more evil in my eyes. I swear she eats babies or something.

Hottest Male Villain: Eric from Divergent

Swoon quality: So bad he’s sexy

Why: I’m not big on saying that all villains are misunderstood but something about him feels that way. I kind of got his twisted ideals.

Check out our Thirsty Thursdays tab for all our future Thursday topics!

Until Next Time!


Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: Halloween Edition!



Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

Happy Halloween week! It's a week of spooks and thrills, and we're interested to see what you all have on your top ten.


  • Hocus Pocus - One of my all time favorite movies ever. And ironically this is who I would dress up as for Halloween as well. I would love to be a Sanderson Witch.
  • The Halloween Tree - I don’t know if you’ve ever seen this but it was on the Cartoon Network back in the 90’s. I think it was a book as well but it was so creepy to me when I was a kid and every year I pray and hope they show it on air again.
  • Double Double Toil and Trouble - Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. I mean, this was one of their best movies they ever did. And it was creepy as hell.
  • Don’t Look Under The Bed - I was a total Disney Channel kid and when this came out I thought I was going to shit my pants. Disney really pushed it with this. I love the idea of the boogeyman.
  • Casper - All I will say is Devon Sawa and “Can I Keep You?”

  • Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - Flynn's writing is twisted, creepy, I absolutely love her. 
  • House Of 1000 Corpses - Ever watched a movie that you almost couldn't watch, but couldn't look away? That's this for me, but I continue to replay and love it. 
  • Devil's Rejects - The sequel to House of 1000, this movie is foul and creepy and I love it.
  • Rocky Horror Picture Show - VH1 used to play this every Halloween and I always made sure to be home to watch. 
  • Halloween - Would it really be a Halloween list without Michael Myers?



Until next time,


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Guest Book Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown (@Pierce_Brown)


Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Publication Date: January 28, 2014
Published: Del Rey
Reviewer: Stephanie

My rating:

The Earth is dying. Darrow is a Red, a miner in the interior of Mars. His mission is to extract enough precious elements to one day tame the surface of the planet and allow humans to live on it. The Reds are humanity's last hope.
Or so it appears, until the day Darrow discovers it's all a lie. That Mars has been habitable - and inhabited - for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down on Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.
Until the day that Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside. But the command school is a battlefield - and Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday! New Series We Want To Start


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

Sorry for the break last week, but we are back with new series we wish to start.

  • Covenant by Jennifer L Armentrout - I plan to start this one soon as my first Jennifer L Armentrout series. The whole greek god stuff makes me really excited for it.
     
  • Hourglass by Myra McEntire - A few friends have recommended this to me and I think it should be time to get to it. The covers really are beautiful.
  • The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett - I love the whole concept about this. Nightmares personified is awesome. I have the first book, signed, but I just haven't started yet.
  • Unbreakable by Kami Garcia - I was told I would love this because I'm a huge fan of Supernatural, the show, so I just need to hunker down and start.
  • Defiance by C.J. Redwine - The covers are what draw me in but I need to find a postapocalyptic YA fantasy I can love.
Until Next Time!

Friday, October 17, 2014

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56 #17


"Book Beginnings" on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader, the meme encourages to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book.

"The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, hosted by Freda's Voice, where you find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it) that grab you from page 56 or 56% in your book/eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)

So this week we are going to do a combined book because we are both currently reading Dark Places. I, personally, love Gillian Flynn and her twisted writing style. What about you? Have you read any of her books? 




Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.

Since then, she had been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family?

"I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ."


Oh, Libby Day is not someone I would want to meet in a dark alley. 

"The whole psychiatric community, the police, law enforcement, the whole shebang--they thought everyone was a Devil worshiper back then. It was... trendy."

Until next time, 


Thursday, October 16, 2014

Blog Tour: Love and Other Unknown Variables by Shannon Lee Alexander - Review (@shanlalexander) (@entangledteen)


Love and Other Unknown Variables by Shannon Lee Alexander
Publication Date: October 7, 2014
Published: Entangled Teen
Source: YA Bound

My Rating:

Charlie Hanson has a clear vision of his future. A senior at Brighton School of Mathematics and Science, he knows he’ll graduate, go to MIT, and inevitably discover solutions to the universe’s greatest unanswered questions. He’s that smart. But Charlie’s future blurs the moment he reaches out to touch the tattoo on a beautiful girl’s neck.

The future has never seemed very kind to Charlotte Finch, so she’s counting on the present. She’s not impressed by the strange boy at the donut shop—until she learns he’s a student at Brighton where her sister has just taken a job as the English teacher. With her encouragement, Charlie orchestrates the most effective prank campaign in Brighton history. But, in doing so, he puts his own future in jeopardy.

By the time he learns she's ill—and that the pranks were a way to distract Ms. Finch from Charlotte’s illness—Charlotte’s gravitational pull is too great to overcome. Soon he must choose between the familiar formulas he’s always relied on or the girl he’s falling for (at far more than 32 feet per second squared)

Buy Links:


Thirsty Thursdays #17: Favorite sole female character cover

"Thirsty Thursdays" is an original weekly feature where we highlight all that makes our mouth water in the world of books. Join us each week where we will pick either a quote, book cover, book boyfriend or kiss from our favorite books, that makes us all swoony. Please link back to us each week, we'd love for you to share what wets your whistle, as well!

Swoon quality: That title 
Why: Okay, yeah, I mainly picked it for the title, but that color pops and I absolutely love the artwork on Christina Lauren novel/novellas. They almost have a caricature feel, but remain realistic. 



Swoon quality: There isn’t really one.
Why: I picked this one because it wasn’t smutty or swoony. I picked this one because the title and the girl go hand in hand. Positive is a word when we see it, we see good things, happy things. And the fact that she is smiling reiterates that happy vibe. But her story is about being HIV positive since birth. I think this cover and story represent what it means to be positive in the face of something that isn’t happy go lucky. 



Check out our Thirsty Thursdays tab for all our future Thursday topics!

Until Next Time!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Sunday Post #17


The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

Happy Sunday! We hope all of you have had an amazing week and that the next one will be even better. Nikki is off at Comic-Con, meeting everyone under the sun. Last night I saw her post a picture with Andrew Lincoln. I won't even try to pretend I wasn't jealous. I mean, Rick Grimes?! Rick-freaking-Grimes. Sigh. Her trip to Con unfortunately derailed our week a bit. We had great plans for Marked Men week, but as we told you all last week, the real world has taken over. She does still plan on doing all of those reviews, however.

Monday, Oct. 6th-


Opposites in every way . . . except the one that matters
Shaw Landon loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule is everything a straight-A pre-med student like Shaw shouldn’t want—and the only person she’s never tried to please. She isn’t afraid of his scary piercings and tattoos or his wild attitude. Though she knows that Rule is wrong for her, her heart just won’t listen.
To a rebel like Rule Archer, Shaw Landon is a stuck-up, perfect princess—and his dead twin brother’s girl. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. He doesn’t have time for a good girl like Shaw—even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is.
But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule have to figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love . . . or each other.
Tuesday, Oct. 7th -  


Thursday, Oct. 9th -


Saturday, Oct. 11th
This week's Thirsty Thursday topic is: Favorite Sole Female Character Cover







Until next time,