Cover Reveal: Precious Things by Stephanie Parent

Precious Things

by Stephanie Parent 

Release Date: May 2013

Cover Deisgned by: Allie Brennan of B Design 

Cover reveal organized by: YA Bound

Summary from Goodreads:

Isabelle Andrews isn’t supposed to be here. She isn’t supposed to be a freshman at Hartford Community College, she isn't supposed to be living at home and working at her dad’s failing bakery, and she definitely isn’t supposed to be taking Intro to Electronic Music Production, a class that will get her nowhere toward her goal of an English Ph.D. by age twenty-five. But when her dad’s latest business fiasco eats up her college fund, Hartford Community College is exactly where Isabelle finds herself—and thanks to her late enrollment, she doesn’t even get to choose her classes. Stuck with Electronic Music and way-too-easy English courses, Isabelle is determined to wallow in all the misery she feels entitled to.

But community college brings some unexpected benefits…like the fact that a certain overworked, over-scheduled Electronic Music professor hands over most of his duties to his teaching assistant. His tall, green-eyed, absolutely gorgeous teaching assistant. When TA Evan Strauss discovers Isabelle’s apathy toward electronic music—and, well, all music—he makes it his mission to convert her. The music Evan composes stirs something inside Isabelle, but she can’t get involved—after all, she’ll be transferring out as soon as possible. 

Still, no matter how tightly Isabelle holds on to her misery, she finds it slipping away in the wake of all Hartford Community offers: new friendships, a surprisingly cool poetry professor, and most of all, Evan. But Evan’s dream of owning his own music studio is as impractical as Isabelle’s dad’s bakery, and when Evan makes a terrible decision, everything Isabelle has gained threatens to unravel. Soon Isabelle discovers that some of the most important lessons take place outside the classroom…and that in life, as in Evan’s favorite Depeche Mode song, the most precious things can be the hardest to hold on to.

About the Author

Stephanie Parent is a graduate of the Master of Professional Writing program at USC and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts as a piano major. She moved to Los Angeles because of Francesca Lia Block's WEETZIE BAT books, which might give you some idea of how much books mean to her. She also loves dogs, books about dogs, and sugary coffee drinks both hot and cold.

Follow Stephanie at:
Blog| Twitter|Goodreads  

Cover Reveal & Giveaway: The Avery Shaw Experiment by Kelly Oram

Title: The Avery Shaw Experiment
Author: Kelly Oram
Publisher: Bluefields
Format: ebook
Genre: YA contemporary romance
Release Date: May 2013

Summary:

When Avery Shaw’s heart is shattered by her life-long best friend, she chooses to deal with it the only way she knows how—scientifically.

The state science fair is coming up and Avery decides to use her broken heart as the topic of her experiment. She’s going to find the cure. By forcing herself to experience the seven stages of grief through a series of social tests, she believes she will be able to get over Aiden Kennedy and make herself ready to love again. But she can’t do this experiment alone, and her partner (ex partner!) is the one who broke her heart.

Avery finds the solution to her troubles in the form of Aiden’s older brother Grayson. The gorgeous womanizer is about to be kicked off the school basketball team for failing physics. He’s in need of a good tutor and some serious extra credit. But when Avery recruits the lovable Grayson to be her “objective outside observer,” she gets a whole lot more than she bargained for, because Grayson has a theory of his own: Avery doesn’t need to grieve. She needs to live. And if there’s one thing Grayson Kennedy is good at, it’s living life to the fullest.

Teaser One - Avery

Grayson finally noticed Aiden and I on the couch. “What are you two dorks doing?”

“Learning about steroids,” I said cheerfully. “You should probably know that using them can cause acne, testicular atrophy, decreased sperm count, prostate enlargement and gynecomastia.”

Grayson looked rightfully appalled. “Gyneco-what-ia?”

“Enlarged breasts in men,” Aiden translated. “So you should lay off the juice before you have to start borrowing Avery’s bras.”

I gasped at the mention of my underwear and whacked Aiden’s shoulder hard.

Behind me, Grayson laughed. I knew he was about to deliver a comeback, but I refused to look at him. Seconds later his breath was warm on my neck. He whispered just low enough that his mother couldn’t hear what he said. “I like my bras colorful and lacey, Aves. Not sure your collection would do it for me.”

Total mortification. Grayson may be as close as family to me, but he was still one of the hottest, most popular guys in our whole school. Him discussing my bras in that low sexy voice that could stop a girl’s heart on the spot made my lungs constrict. Plus, he was right of course. My bras were all of the plain white cotton variety.

Teaser Two - Grayson

I started to leave the room but she stopped me at the door. “Grayson?” Her tone tugged at something inside me. “You really want to take me with you tonight?”

She sounded so small and unsure of herself. It was how she always sounded at school and around strangers, but never when she was at home with us. I think my brother had really broken her. I was seriously going to have to beat him sometime.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I know I really freaked out on you earlier, but I promise I’ll be fine. Aiden’s right.” She swallowed back a lump in her throat. “I’ll manage without him somehow.”

“Aiden’s a tool. You can learn how to manage tomorrow. Tonight’s New Years Eve and for once in your life you’re going to spend it without Aiden or The Discovery Channel.

I knew I was making progress when she cracked a smile and asked, “What about Whootylicious in 7 B?”

I thought of the luscious booty I’d originally planned on seeing tonight and sighed. “That will be an unfortunate loss, but, like you, I will just have to deal.”

I winked and then decided I’d give her ten minutes before I came back and physically dragged her out of bed.

Other books by Kelly Oram

About Kelly Oram...

Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and loves to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and four children.

Website † Twitter † Facebook † GoodReads 

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Obsessed With Covers #6: The Ward, Even in Darkness, Through the Zombie Glass

Y'all know how much I love a pretty cover. I think about...40% of the books that end up on my shelves (be they physical or digital) do so because of the covers. Call me shallow but you have to admit that a pretty, shiny cover will catch your eye faster than a dull, boring one. Two, simple rules that I'll follow:

• 1, 2 or 3 (no more than 3, though) covers per week;
• books should be new-ish; no more than 2 years old.

Oh, before I share the covers that made me drool or want to stare at them for hours and hours, I have to say something. This is a semi-original idea. Why semi? Because almost every book blogger has something similar. The only thing I came up with was the title. If by any chance there's another blogger with a similar feature with the same title, I assure you I'm not stealing your idea. I'm just THAT bad with titles. Believe me, I'd love to be smarter and have a witty name for this feature, but I don't. So, no copyright infringement/theft/steal or anything of the sort was desired. 

*all links and covers go to the Goodreads page of each book.

This cover reminds me of those 3D street paintings. The person (or people) who made this cover is a genius (or are). It's so beautiful and creepy and terrifying. I keep seeing the seemingly calm waters reflected in the title and I think "Boy, this has to be an awesome read". I added it to my TBR just because I'm curious to see if the book is as scary as the cover.

The Ward - Jordana Frankel

I think it's pretty impossible not to pick up this book if you're in a book shop/library and you're just browsing the shelves. The dancer made out of flames and smoke is so beautiful. And the cover fits the title perfectly, in my opinion. Sort of like her soul is so bright, you can see it everywhere and at any time. 

Even in Darkness - Cyndi Tefft

I adore this cover! I like that it's in the same creepy, scary note as the cover for the first book in the series. I love the chess pattern on the floor, I love the broken mirror behind her and how each shard shows a different side of her. Yes, they might look the same, but I have a feeling that each shard tells a different story. And I love the blue dress and the rabbit and the hat. I love it all. 

Through the Zombie Glass - Gena Showalter

Cover Reveal: Eyes of Ember by Rebecca Ethington

Paperback, 380 pages

Expected publication: April 6th 2013 by Imdalind Press
Eyes of Ember is the second book in Ethington's Imdalind Series.

Joclyn is in hiding, hunted by the man she still desperately loves. Ryland is gone, his mind erased, no memory of Joclyn remains. But, Joclyn’s heart desperately begs her to hold out hope. While, in reality the black eyed monster that possesses him, attempts to kill her over and over.

If it wasn’t for Ilyan, Joclyn would be dead by now.

Ilyan. The man who once stalked her, is now Joclyn’s protector, the only thing she has left. He protects Joclyn from the men who seek to end her life, and while she is haunted by dreams where Ryland begs her to break the bond between them.

Ilyan is there. Always there.

Ilyan trains and prepares her, teaching her everything she needs to know in the hope that one day she can avenge Ryland, if not protect herself from him.

And then there is her father.

The man who has never been there, is suddenly responsible for everything. And who he is has made Joclyn into something she never wanted to be.

The Silnỳ.

Kiss of Fire (book #1)

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Find Rebecca Ethington...

Twitter, Facebook, and Website

Books Available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble

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Sunday Book Soundtrack #8: Spider's Web by Jennifer Estep

Sunday Book Soundtrack is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books, where I share some of my bookish soundtracks. Since I discovered my passion for reading years ago, I've discovered that more and more of the songs I loved remind me of certain books. So I thought I'd share my playlists with you. If you want to listen to the songs, I'll post a link to a Youtube videos for each and every title. No copyright infringement intended! I'll try to find the official videos for each song. There's no set number for each playlist, sometimes I might have 10, sometimes 5, sometimes if I'm one of my moods I'll have 15. If you want to read more about this feature, click the "show more" button below. 

I read with music. If there's no music, I can't read. And not just read, but almost anything, like studying of cooking or doing chores around the house. The only time I don't have music is when I sleep. And during exams, but that's a different story.

Sometimes it happens that a certain song and a book or a scene from the book I'm reading sort of... click. It's like they were made for each other. At least for me. And so I will almost always think of that particular book when hearing that song. I thought I'd share my book soundtracks with you.

Keep in mind that I have a very... weird taste in music. You'll find mostly rock music, country or the 80s-early 90s music in these lists. I might use some "contemporary" songs from now and then, but don't bet on it being something other than those particular genres. Also, not always the songs will be in English. If I have a link to a translation for the lyrics, I'll post it. If you like a song I'm using, that's fine. If not, that's fine too, just don't say I didn't warn you.

The songs aren't always on a book's playlist for their lyrics. Sometimes they're there for an instrument or for a feeling I get when hearing them. Also, I won't always mention what scene I used them for. If it's not a spoiler, I'll share the scene, if it is a spoiler, I'll let you guess.

Anyway, I hope you like my playlists :)

This week's book soundtrack is for Spider's Web by Jennifer Estep

1. Kid Rock - So Hott
2. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Jambalaya - This is the song I think fits the Pork Pit. For some reason, whenever I picture that bar, I hear this song.
3. Evanescence - Call Me When You're Sober
4. Nickelback - Burn It To The Ground 
5. Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare

Reading Blogs & Eating Popcorn #2

Reading Blogs & Eating Popcorn is a weekly feature here at Ruby's Books, in which I share some of the posts written by other fellow book bloggers over the last week, posts that I loved so much I have to share. 

The first post comes from JoV from JoV's Book Pyramid. If you haven't heard yet, Google Readers will become history after July 1st. I was sad and disappointed and a little panicked to be honest. If you're wondering "what now?" JoV shares a few alternatives to Google Reader. 

The next post is from Debbie from Snuggly Oranges. It's about social awkwardness and it actually hits right in the center of my being. Here's the thing. I'm not antisocial. I love talking and socializing and meeting new people and everything socializing implies. But when I have to choose between going out on a Friday night with friends and stay at home and read, the second option wins almost every time. I said once that I'm not a picky reader. I'm not and I think if you check the books I've reviewed, you can see that. When it comes to music though, the subject changes. If I go out, the music has to be perfect. I have to like the music in order to feel good. If I don't like the music, the night is pretty much destroyed for me. I'm weird that way, yes *blush*

Michelle from Pink Polka Dot Book Blog (along with other bloggers) talks about DNFs and how books end up in that pile. It's always difficult to DNF a book, at least it is for me. It's also very difficult to specifically define what it takes for me to say "Ok, I can't read this book, I give up". Sometimes it's bad grammar that even I can spot, sometimes it's the fact that things are so weird, I'm cross-eyed trying to figure it out and understand it. I don't care about historical accuracy. If I want that, I'll go read a text book. It has nothing to do with accuracy, but sometimes the plot, subplots, mini-plots and everything in between are just so tangled, nothing makes sense. Or I have those "Oh, come on!" moments, when even I wouldn't buy half of the things that happen. Again, nothing to do with historical accuracy. And it happens in SciFi/fantasy, paranormal, contemporary, any genre. So the fact that it's all real or in another universe has nothing to do with that. Other times it's just a... sort of emptiness. I can't connect with the characters or the story. They're just not for me and that's that :P

Other posts:

• Nyx @ Nyx Book Reviews: The Truth About Blog Tours
• Rachel @ Fiktshun: Performance Anxiety