Tuesday, September 29, 2015

My Secret To Tell Blog Tour: Spotlight, Q&A, Excerpt and Giveaway!

My Secret to Tell
By: Natalie D. Richards
Release date: October 6th, 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pre-order your copy!  
Amazon | B&N | Chapters
Synopsis:

His smile is a crime.

Emerson May is “the good girl.” She’s the perfect daughter, the caring friend, the animal shelter volunteer. But when her best friend’s brother breaks into her room, his hands covered in blood, she doesn’t scream or call the cops. Because when Deacon smiles at her, Emmie doesn’t want to be good…

The whole town believes notorious troublemaker Deacon is guilty of assaulting his father. Only Emmie knows a secret that could set him free. But if she follows her heart, she could be trusting a killer…

You can’t always trust the boy next door.

About the Author:

After years as a professional paper-pusher, NATALIE D. RICHARDS decided to trade in reality for a life writing YA fiction. She lives in Ohio (Go Bucks!) with her husband, three children, and a ridiculously furry dog named Yeti. This is her second novel. Visit her on Twitter @natdrichards or at nataliedrichards.com.

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This October Natalie D. Richards releases her latest YA thriller, MY SECRET TO TELL. To celebrate, Natalie is here for a quick Q&A and has brought an excerpt to share!

What character do you relate to the most in MY SECRET TO TELL?

Oooh….man.  That’s tricky.  I’d like to say Emmie, because I can definitely relate to her anxiety and some of her more compulsive behaviors, but then I remember that Emmie would take one look at my messy desk and faint dead away.  LOL.  She’s a neat freak and I’m…well, I was neat once.  It happened.  It was a beautiful Tuesday in 2010, I think.  ;-)

But if we look at situations more than strict personalities, I think I’d have to admit I related to Chelsea.  Before I lost my father, I had more than a few Very Scary Trips to various ICU wards in various hospitals.  My father had lots of health troubles, so the reasons were different, but I understand very well how terrifying it is to sit at a hospital bedside with your parent—both familiar and heart-breaking.


An Excerpt:
                  “Emmie?”
                  My name lands somewhere between a hiccup and a sob, and my feet stall out on the sidewalk in front of my house. I adjust my grip on the phone, hoping I misheard her tone. This doesn’t sound like Chelsea. This voice is breathless.
                  Frightened.
                  “I’m here,” I say. “What’s up? You don’t sound right.”
                   “I’m not.” She takes a shuddery breath.
                  My shirt’s sticking to my back and cicadas are click-buzzing the end of another blistering day, but I go cold. Something’s wrong.
                  Wrong, wrong, wrong.
                  “It’s my dad, Emmie,” she says. I can tell she’s crying.
                  I grab my chest. It’s too tight. Burning. “What happened?”
                  Her words all tumble out on top of one another, interrupted by shaky breaths. I try to pick out pieces that make sense. “He’s hurt—bleeding—we’re behind the ambulance and I can’t—he’s not—someone attacked him.”
                  I start climbing the porch steps, because she’ll need me. I’m her best friend, so I should be there. I need to change clothes and go. “You’re on the way to the hospital, right? They’ll help him there.”
                  Another sharp breath. “I don’t know if they can. He’s so bad. So bad.”
                  My heart clenches. “Where are you?”
                  “We’re almost there. Joel’s with me.”
                  “Okay, good. I’m coming,” I say, crossing my porch and hauling my front door open. “Let me just call Mom. I’ll borrow the car.”
                  Chelsea’s still crying when I storm down the hallway toward my bedroom.
                  “Emmie, I can’t find Deacon…”
                  “Your brother never answers his phone,” I say, pushing open my door. “I’ll run by the docks first and—”
                  “No. No, he was there. He was at the house.”
                  Chelsea makes a strangled sound, and I notice the liquid-thick heat in my bedroom. The kind of heat that tells me the air conditioner is broken. Or my window is open.
                  My gaze drags to my fluttering white curtains, to the dark smudge on the windowsill.
                  Chelsea’s voice goes low and raspy. “He ran, Emmie. God, he was there with Dad. He was in the house, but he ran.”
                  I swivel with an invisible fist lodged in my throat. My bathroom door is open, a red-black smudge beneath the knob.
                  My mouth goes dry, my pulse thumping slower than it should. Then I see the blood on the floor by my sink, and my heart tumbles end over end.
                  “We’re here. I’ll call soon,” Chelsea says and hangs up.
                  I see him, his back to my tub and his dark head bowed on one bent knee. Oh God.
                  He’s covered in blood. It’s on his legs, his hands. Dripping onto my white tile floor. He looks up, and my heart goes strangely steady.

                  I take a breath that tastes like purpose. “Deacon?”


Don't forget to enter the giveaway hosted by the Awesome Sourcebooks!


Special thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for allowing me to participate in this tour!

Happy Reading!!!

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Leading Lines Blog Tour: Kickoff, Review and Giveaway!!!


Hey Everyone!!! I'm so excited to be kicking off the Leading Lines Blog Tour in celebration of the third novel, Leading Lines, in the Pippa Greene series. And I think we can all agree, this series just gets better with each book! Share your love for Pippa on Twitter! #PippaGreene

Leading Lines
by: Chantel Guertin
Now Available!!!
Publisher: ECW Press
Source: ARC received from publisher
Order your copy here.
Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads:
After two drama-filled weeks in Manhattan, Pippa Greene is back. Despite a romantic reunion with boyfriend Dylan, she can’t seem to shake the emotional aftermath of New York. As she navigates parental drama at home and her charged dynamic with Ben Baxter at school, Pippa finds that Dylan is more wrapped up in his post-high-school life of bands, shows, and new friends than in their relationship. Will it survive?

Written with the same humour and heart that made Chantel Guertin’s first two Pippa Greene novels instant favourites, Leading Lines offers a fresh and charming perspective on friendships, family, and first love.

My Thoughts:


This series gets better with each instalment!

I loved Leading Lines and firmly believe that fans of contemporary YA will love this series, just put aside everything for one afternoon and binge on the wonderful world of Pippa Greene.

There is a lot of growth and maturity in Pippa's voice in Leading Lines. She's faced with many personal problems and is forced to grow up and stand up for what she believes is right.  I think there is also tremendous growth with the relationship she shares with her mom after discovering a major secret in Depth of Field, although she spends a good portion of the book refusing to open up to her mother.

It's a good thing she has such a solid friendship with her bestie. It is so refreshing to read a YA book where there's no drama between the protagonist and her friends.

Fans of Dylan will have to take some deep breaths before diving into this one. Pippa and Dylan are starting to grow apart as is the case with many high school relationships, and I really liked that Pippa refused to compromise herself for a relationship, it was very mature and a great model for young adult girls experiencing the same circumstances.

I am growing to like Ben with each instalment, but I must admit I'm still rooting for Dylan to shine through. He's been through a lot in his young life, and I think he's just feeling a little lost in figuring out his own identity. Although I don't think that that's an excuse for the way he treats Pippa in a few scenes, there's a maturity he needs to reach himself still but still PIPPA+DYLANForTheWin :).

The ending has left me wanting more. I can't wait for book 4 and to see where Pippa goes next and whom she decides will be her partner on that journey!

Happy Reading!!!
About Chantel:

Chantel Guertin is an author, beauty expert and magazine editor. Her first novel (written as Chantel Simmons), Stuck in Downward Dog, came out in 2007, and was a Winnipeg Free Press bestseller, a Chatelaine Best Beach Book and Book of the Month, and a Vancouver Sun Editor’s Choice. Her second novel, Love Struck, came out in 2010, and was also a bestseller in Canada.
Chantel is currently the Editor-at-Large of TheKit.ca, a monthly digital fashion & beauty magazine & weekly print feature in the Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette & Vancouver Sun, a beauty expert on  The Marilyn Denis Show and faculty at Centennial College in the Book & Magazine publishing program, where she teaches magazine writing and editing courses.
Bio courtesy of Guertin's website.
Connect with Chantel: Author Website | Twitter | FacebookGoodreads
Don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter below to win your very own copy of Leading Lines (U.S./Canada residents only)
Good luck!!!

Don't forget to check out the other amazing blog stops on the blog tour for more giveaways, reviews, excerpts and more!

September 5: Tour kickoff, Review, and Giveaway, Booking it with Hayley Ghttp://www.bookingitwithhayleyg.blogspot.ca/
September 6: Giveaway, Chapter by Chapterhttp://www.chapter-by-chapter.com/ 
September 7: Review, Books Etchttp://booksandstuff-kstar.blogspot.ca/
September 8: Review, Read my Breath Awayhttp://readmybreathaway.blogspot.ca/
September 9: Review, One More Page Reviewshttps://kmn04books.wordpress.com/
September 10: Review, Sukasa Readshttp://sukasareads.blogspot.ca/
September 11: Guest Post, Dear Teen Mehttp://dearteenme.com/
September 12: Review and Excerpt, Brains Books and Brawnhttps://brainsbooksandbrawn.wordpress.com/
September 13: Review, Musings of a Writerhttp://musingsofawriter.com/
September 14: Review, Ramblings of a Daydreamerhttp://sweetmarie-83.blogspot.ca/
September 15: Review and Giveaway, The Book Bratzhttp://thebookbratz.blogspot.ca

Huge thanks to Chantel and ECW Press for allowing me to participate, and kick-off, this blog tour!

Happy Reading!!!