#BookReview: The Rule of Many (The Rule of One #2) by Ashley Saunders & Leslie Saunders @SaundersSisters

Synopsis: Born to a death sentence in a near-future America, rebellious sisters herald a revolution—if they can survive.

Twins Ava and Mira Goodwin defy the Rule of One simply by existing. The single-child law, ruthlessly enforced by Texas’s Governor Roth, has made the sisters famous fugitives and inspirations for the resurgent rebellion known as the Common.

But the relentless governor and his implacable Texas State Guard threaten that fragile hope, as Roth consolidates his power in a bid for ultimate authority.

As Ava and Mira relinquish the relative safety of their Canadian haven to stand against Roth, new allies arise: Owen, a gifted young programmer, impulsively abandons his comfortable life in a moment of compassion, while Zee, an abused labor camp escapee, finds new purpose in resistance.

The four will converge on Dallas for a reckoning with Roth, with nothing less than their destinies—and the promise of a future free from oppression—on the line.

Disobedience means death. But a life worth living demands rebellion.

#BookTour: F-Bomb Affirmations by Natalie Stokell @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

Self -help

Date Published: 20.4.20 20th April 2020

Publisher: Change Empire Books

F-Bomb Affirmations is the self-help book for people who are fed the f•ck up with the same old stories keeping them from reaching their dreams and goals.

In this insightful and entertaining book, self-proclaimed affirmation queen Natalie Stokell breaks down the brain science of why we achieve some of our goals but not others. In 11 easy-to-read chapters, you’ll learn:

• How beliefs are formed from a neuroscience perspective and how these beliefs filter your view of the world

• How to discover what stories are keeping you from reaching your goals, so you can push through these blocks and make some epic sh•t happen in your life

• How your brain works so you can start rewiring it for success and reach your goals faster

• What goals trigger your ‘not good enough’ stories and how to shift this so you can begin to feel worthy to receive

• Why swearing is actually good for you and how you can use it as an effective mindset tool

• How to create affirmations that actually work, so you can use them with confidence and create the life you were meant to live

By the end of F-Bomb Affirmations, you’ll understand how your brain works and how to work it. You’ll have five keys to supercharge your affirmations – and you’ll discover how to immediately start applying these keys to the things you want to be, do, and have in your life.

Everything is possible. Your dreams are within your reach. And you’ve got what it takes.

You are one f•cking incredible human.

#BookReview: You're Next by Kylie Schachte

Synopsis: When a girl with a troubled history of finding dead bodies investigates the murder of her ex, she uncovers a plot to put herself---and everyone she loves---on the list of who's next.

Flora Calhoun has a reputation for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. After stumbling upon a classmate's body years ago, the trauma of that discovery and the police's failure to find the killer has haunted her ever since. One night, she gets a midnight text from Ava McQueen, the beautiful girl who had ignited Flora's heart last summer, then never spoke to her again.

Just in time to witness Ava's death from a gunshot wound, Flora is set on a path of rage and vengeance for all the dead girls whose killer is never found. Her tunnel-visioned sleuthing leads to valuable clues about a shocking conspiracy involving her school and beyond, but also earns her sinister threats from the murderer. She has a choice---to give up the hunt for answers, or keep digging and risk her loved ones' lives. Either way, Flora will regret the consequences. Who's next on the killer's list?

This title will be released on July 7, 2020. 

#BookReview: The Rule of One (The Rule of One #1) by Ashley Saunders & Leslie Saunders @SaundersSisters

Synopsis: In their world, telling the truth has become the most dangerous crime of all.

In the near-future United States, a one-child policy is ruthlessly enforced. Everyone follows the Rule of One. But Ava Goodwin, daughter of the head of the Texas Family Planning Division, has a secret—one her mother died to keep and her father has helped to hide for her entire life.

She has an identical twin sister, Mira.

For eighteen years Ava and Mira have lived as one, trading places day after day, maintaining an interchangeable existence down to the most telling detail. But when their charade is exposed, their worst nightmare begins. Now they must leave behind the father they love and fight for their lives.

Branded as traitors, hunted as fugitives, and pushed to discover just how far they’ll go in order to stay alive, Ava and Mira rush headlong into a terrifying unknown. 

#BookReview: Girl With Three Eyes by Priya Ardis

Synopsis: She would hate her third eye less if it actually gave her special powers.
When her secret is threatened, she may be the only one who can save the kingdom.

Sixteen-year-old Kira puts on a show about having empathic abilities, but she miraculously wakes a highborn boy from a coma after a near-fatal accident on mountainous slopes. When his father threatens to expose her “magic” to the queen, she attends the kingdom’s most elite academy as a bodyguard.

Soon, she’s immersed in a strange new life—one of being a simple student trying out for the school’s skyboarding team. Her fake life becomes the life she’s always wanted, but Kira cannot escape who she truly is. Nothing in the court of the Raj is as it seems…

Will she risk her freedom to unmask a killer before the crown falls?

Girl with Three Eyes is a young adult fantasy series. If you like strong female protagonists, futuristic fairy tales, and epic tournaments, you’ll love this blend of Hindu lore and political intrigue in Priya Ardis’s academy fairy tale. 

#BookReview: The Stepmom Shake-Up by Niki Lenz @NikiRLenz

Synopsis: After Grace's mom died, she and her dad grew extra close. They have special nicknames and are always busy with new projects-like building a puppy condo for their dog, Potus- and they love learning random facts about the US presidents. Grace thinks her little family of two is perfect.

Then some committee members at church suggest it's time for Dad to start dating again. And Dad agrees! Grace knows that adding a new member to the team will end in disaster.

No problem! She and her best friend have a plan: Operation Stepmoom Shake-Up! But what if a little shake-up is exactly what Grace's family needs?

Reverse PARENT TRAP-like antics offer a hilarious and heartwarming look at what it means to be a family. 

#BookReview: Fractures (Echoes #2) by Alice Reeds @Alice_Reeds

Synopsis: They survived a plane crash.
They survived life on a deserted island.
They survived being hunted.
Now they must survive the truth—they are not who they think they are.

One minute they’re in Poland, subjected to gruesome tests they keep failing. No friends to support them. No family to claim them. No hope of ever living a normal life again.

Then suddenly, they’re trapped on an abandoned freighter in the middle of the ocean and forced to fight for survival. No food. No drinkable water. No way to get home. And strange memories of another life they don’t understand.

But how can they be living two separate lives, trapped in two separate places, at the same time? They’ll have to find the connection and uncover secrets that someone went to great lengths to keep hidden...if they’re going to survive long enough to find out who is behind it all.

#BookReview: The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan

Synopsis: Harriet Bishop, descended from a long line of witches, uses magic to help women in need -- not only ordinary women, but also those with powers of their own. She must intervene when a distant cousin wields dangerous magic to change the lives of two unsuspecting young people... one of whom might just be a witch herself.

Frances Allington has used her wiles and witchcraft to claw her way out of poverty and into a spectacular marriage with one of New York's wealthiest new tycoons. She is determined to secure the Allingtons' position amongst the city's elite Four Hundred families by any means necessary -- including a scheme to make a glorious aristocratic match for her headstrong and reluctant step-daughter, Annis, using the same strange power with which she ensnared Annis's father.
To save Annis from this dark magic, Harriet reveals to her Frances' misuse of their shared birthright and kindles in Annis her own nascent powers. Together, Harriet and Annis must resist her stepmother's agenda, lest she -- and the dashing young lord she suspects she could come to love -- lose their freedom, and possibly their lives.

#BookReview: Sisters of the Perilous Heart (Mortal Heritance #1) by @SandyVasher

Synopsis: What would you do to save a sister?

As the last mortal kingdom of Kepler resists the Immortal Empire, its young queen faces a devastating attack. Queen Vivian is two minutes into her reign when an arrow pierces her heart and infects her with the Immortality Virus. But she has too much magic to become immortal and not enough to survive. She must find more magic fast, or she’ll die.

Meanwhile, another young mortal faces an uncertain future of her own. Carina is fleeing for her life, but her magic is a tracking beam for immortals. She must learn to harness and control it, or she’ll be captured and killed. Then she meets the queen of South Kepler.

Vivian needs Carina’s magic, and she can offer safe haven in exchange. But can Vivian trust this common girl? Carina isn’t on the kingdom’s registry of magicians. What if she’s a Northern rebel? A spy for the Immortal Empire? And will the truth be revealed in time to save them both?

Sisters of the Perilous Heart is Book One of the Mortal Heritance series.

#BookReview: The Obsidian Tower (Rooks and Ruin #1) by Melissa Caruso @melisscaru

Synopsis: The mage-marked granddaughter of a ruler of Vaskandar, Ryx was destined for power and prestige at the top of Vaskandran society. But her magic is broken; all she can do is uncontrollably drain the life from everything she touches, and Vaskandar has no place for a mage with unusable powers.

Then, one night, two terrible accidents befall her: Ryx accidentally kills a visiting dignitary in self-defense, activating a mysterious magical artifact sealed in an ancient tower in the heart of her family’s castle.

Ryx flees, seeking a solution to her deadly magic. She falls in with a group of unlikely magical experts investigating the disturbance in Vaskandar—and Ryx realizes that her family is in danger and her domain is at stake. She and her new colleagues must return to the family stronghold to take control of the artifact that everyone wants to claim—before it destroys the world. 

#BookReview: You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce

Synopsis: You Let Me In delivers a stunning tale from debut author Camilla Bruce, combining the sinister domestic atmosphere of Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects with the otherwordly thrills of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Cassandra Tipp is dead...or is she?

After all, the notorious recluse and eccentric bestselling novelist has always been prone to flights of fancy--everyone in town remembers the shocking events leading up to Cassie's infamous trial (she may have been acquitted, but the insanity defense only stretches so far).

Cassandra Tipp has left behind no body--just her massive fortune, and one final manuscript.

Then again, there are enough bodies in her past--her husband Tommy Tipp, whose mysterious disembowelment has never been solved, and a few years later, the shocking murder-suicide of her father and brother.

Cassandra Tipp will tell you a story--but it will come with a terrible price. What really happened, out there in the woods--and who has Cassie been protecting all along? Read on, if you dare...

#BookBlitz: Out of My League by @SarahMaeSutton @XpressoTours #Giveaway $25 Amazon gift card

Out of My League
Sarah Sutton
Publication date: June 16th 2020
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
It’s all fun and games until someone catches feelings.
Sophia Wallace is convinced her life is over when her high school cuts the journalism program. Without the elective, she loses her chance to intern with the biggest newspaper company in the county, and why? All because the baseball team needs more funding.
To make matters worse, her boyfriend publicly dumps her at a party, which is mortifying. But the icing on the cake is when the captain of the baseball team and the most popular guy at Bayview High, Walsh Hunter, decides to be chivalrous. He jumps in, throws his arm around Sophia, and declares his undying love for her. In front of everyone.
Suddenly, Sophia is thrown into a world of fake relationships and undercover journalism, and she realizes she’s way, way out of her league.
Good thing she’s got the team captain to teach her how to play.
But faced with choosing between saving her journalism class or her newfound feelings for Walsh, will she strike out or hit a home run?

#BookBlitz: Nightingale by Giulia Lagomarsino @crzybookladyluv @XpressoTours #Giveaway 2x ebook copies of Nightingale

Nightingale
Giulia Lagomarsino
(Reed Security, #24)
Publication date: June 15th 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Florrie
I don’t do well with emotions and yucky love stuff. I do the best I can, but at the end of the day, I’m better at showing someone I love them by fighting for them. That’s the way I’ve always been and how I’ll always be. And I have one helluva fight ahead of me. I’ll do anything for the people I love, but what I didn’t expect was to be fighting the one person I thought would always be on my side. I don’t know if I can ever forgive him for this or if we can ever move forward. Some betrayals are just unforgivable.
Alec
Life is going great. I have the woman I love by my side and a kid that is quickly becoming a huge part of my life. What can go wrong? Then it happens. One phone call changes my world in such a profound way that I’m not sure anything will ever be the same again. I risk losing it all with my decisions, but I have to stand up for what I believe is right. I just hope that when the dust settles, I still have someone on my side.

#BookBlitz: Storm Called by Susan Copperfield @XpressoTours #Giveaway $25 Amazon gift card

Storm Called
Susan Copperfield
(Royal States #1)
Publication date: February 26th 2019
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
In the Royal States of America, magic rules all, but life—and love—always finds a way.
Latent horse empath. Dishwasher. Closet chef.
Future king.
When food poisoning sweeps through Dallas, Patrick Laycal doesn’t expect a princess to show up at his door asking for his help.
Her one, simple request dumps him in the middle of a Royal mess—one that could cost him far more than just his life.
Storm Called features characters first introduced in Null & Void, the first of the Royal States novels.

#BookReview: Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel @KT_Gabriel

Synopsis: The Swarm is unrecognizable, untraceable, and unpredictable—random attacks on the streets of Chicago by a mob of crazed teens that leaves death in its wake. It’s been two years since the last attack, but Lia Finch has found clues that reveal the Swarm is ready to claim a new victim.

Lia is the only one still pursuing her father’s killers, two years after attorney Steven Finch’s murder by the Swarm. Devastated and desperate for answers, Lia will do anything to uncover the reasons behind his death and to stop someone else from being struck down. But due to debilitating asthma and PTSD that leaves her with a tenuous hold on reality, Lia is the last person to mount a crusade on her own.

After a close encounter with the Swarm puts Lia on their radar, she teams up with a teen hacker, a reporter, and a mysterious stranger who knows firsthand how the mob works. Together, they work to uncover the master puppeteer behind the group. Though if Lia and her network don’t stop the person pulling the strings—and fast—Lia may end up the next target.

#BookReview: Just My Luck by Jennifer Honeybourn @Honeybourn

Synopsis: Marty has terrible luck and she knows exactly why. While working as a housekeeper at the ritzy Grand Palms hotel in Maui, Marty made it a habit to steal small items from the guests. What better way to stick it to the rich snobs they have to clean up after? Marty knows how to turn her luck around -- she just has to return all of the items she stole.

When Marty meets Will, a new guest who is staying for the summer, she does the one thing she always promised herself she'd never do -- fall for an out-of-towner. But Will's special, different from the other guests at the hotel. Maybe Marty's luck is finally turning around.

After a string of misunderstandings and accidents threaten Will and Marty's relationship, Marty has to find a way to fix her luck for good -- or say goodbye to Will forever. 

#BookBlitz: Tribulation by Jaydeep Shah @imjaydeepshah @XpressoTours #Giveaway 10x eBook copies of Tribulation

Tribulation
Jaydeep Shah
(Cops Planet #1)
Publication date: June 15th 2020
Genres: Adult, Suspense, Thriller
When a couple celebrates their eleventh marriage anniversary at their old mansion far from the city of Naples, Florida, they begin experiencing paranormal events. While trying to find out the truth of what’s happening, they encounter a girl wandering in the mansion.
She is the girl whom the couple never wanted to see again in their life.
Surrounded by their sinful past and the girl’s deathly traps, the couple tries hard to escape the mansion. But they are stuck. There is no way out of the mansion. Every second, they approach their end.
There are many secrets buried in the mansion—about the girl, about the couple, and about their past.
Tribulation is a masterpiece of suspense, a thriller with some mild elements of horror from the imagination of Jaydeep Shah.

#BookReview: The Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay

Synopsis: From acclaimed author and Costa winner Hilary McKay comes The Time of Green Magic: a beautiful, spell-binding novel about a new families, a magical old house and a mysterious cat . . .

When Tom and Polly marry, blending their single parent families together, their children find it hard to relinquish their old lives. Max realizes his birth dad will never come home now, while Abi suddenly finds herself a middle child, expected to share far too much – especially with grubby little Louis. The family start over together, stretching their finances to the limit and renting an eerie, ivy-covered house, big enough for all of them.

But when the children are alone there, strange things start to happen. Worried, Louis summons comfort from outdoors, and a startling guest arrives – is it a cat, or an owl, or something else? Abi reads alone, tumbling deep into books. Max loses his best friend and falls in love.

Meanwhile, Louis' secret visitor is becoming much too real. And when Max and Abi too start to see the great spotted cat-thing that arrives in the night, it becomes a problem the three of them must find a way to solve – together. But where has the creature come from, and how will he get back?

This title will be released on July 28, 2020. 

#BookBlitz: Building Self-Esteem by Joseph Burgo, PH. D. @jburgo55 @RABTBookTours

How Learning from Shame Helps Us to Grow

Self-Help

Date Published: May 2020

Publisher: New Rise Press

Despite what most people believe, shame and self-esteem are not opposites.

"With the skill of a master storyteller, Burgo vividly brings to life, through his clients' struggles and his own, our shared journey to accept a startling truth: shame can either hobble us or help us thrive; it all depends on what we do with it. Savor this book's lessons and exercises. You'll come away with the kind of self-compassion that makes us all better people. "-- Dr. Craig Malkin, Lecturer, Harvard Medical School and author of the internationally acclaimed book, Rethinking Narcissism.

Challenging widely-accepted views within the self-esteem movement, author Joseph Burgo argues that self-esteem does NOT thrive in the soil of non-stop praise and encouragement, but rather depends upon setting and meeting goals, living up to the expectations we hold for ourselves, and finally sharing our joy in achievement with the people who matter most to us. Along the way, listening to and learning from our encounters with shame will go further than affirmations and positive self-talk in helping us to build authentic self-esteem.

Richly illustrated with clinical stories from Burgo's 35 years in private practice, Building Self-Esteem also describes the myriad ways that unacknowledged shame often hides behind a broad spectrum of mental disorders including social anxiety, narcissism, addiction, and masochism

For fans of Brené Brown and John Bradshaw

#BuildingSelfEsteem #self-esteem #self-help #bookbuzz

#BookReview: The Do-Over by @Honeybourn #AuthorChat with @crossroadreview

Synopsis: A teenage girl gets the chance to redo her past in this smart and charming YA novel by the author of When Life Gives You Demons.

Emilia has always wanted to fit in with the A crowd. So, when Ben, the hottest guy in school, asks her out, she chooses him over Alistair, her best friend—even after he confesses his feelings to her.

Six months later, Emilia wonders how her life would have been different if she'd chosen Alistair instead. Haunted by her mistake, she finds a magical solution that promises to rectify the past. As a result, everything in her life is different. What happens if her second chance is her only chance to make things right?