Knowing you by Rebecca Donovan Blog Tour

Knowing You (Cursed #2) by Rebecca Donovan Release Date: June 27, 2018 Genre: Young Adult

 Under suspicion for a crime she watched him commit, Lana will pay for her silence. Her new lawyer strikes a deal, sending her to a boarding school in Vermont. It’s supposed to be a second chance. An escape from a dead-end life in Sherling. Except Lana doesn’t want to leave those who depend on her behind.

Lana is convinced she has nothing in common with the sons and daughters of celebrities and politicians who attend Blackwood School. But she soon finds out, that they're all delinquents... just like her. Theirs is a world of contrived headlines and publicity facades, and Lana's unabated honesty is a keen contrast to their lie-filled lives. She finds herself with new friends, just by telling the truth.

But not everyone is welcoming. Someone is out to destroy Lana, and she has no idea why. The longer she stays at Blackwood, the more dangerous it becomes for her and everyone she cares about. And it will only get worse when Lana discovers the truth.

Read Now in the US: Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2LhcxvM iBooks: https://apple.co/2IBXyPw Nook: http://bit.ly/2GBNv7a Kobo: http://bit.ly/2kcUbz Add to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2kdS4Mf

Read Book 1, If I’d Known Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2t4q41I iBooks: http://bit.ly/ifidknown-ibooks Nook: https://goo.gl/ozFEgZ Kobo: http://bit.ly/ifidknown-kobo Google Play: https://goo.gl/GMTg4g

“If I tell you, they won’t come true.” I stuff a mound of cake into my mouth. Lily releases a small tinkling laugh. “Do you believe that?” “Do you believe they’ll come true at all, no matter if I say them out loud or not?” “I think we always receive what we deserve, and belief has very little to do with it. It has more to do with our character, and how that balances out on the scales of good and evil. Can’t have one without the other, right?” I look at her curiously. “But isn’t good always supposed to win in the end?” I can barely function, forget about contemplate karmic balance. And we’re going down a strange and windy path right now. Because I know good doesn’t always win.

Okay WHOA! 

I mean...WOW...I am at a loss for words, this book had me in knots. Let me back up and explain. The first book eeerrr well novella in this series sets up everything. We follow Lana on this one crazy night and because she is a true friend and loyal when she gets implicated in a crime she didn't commit she says nothing. Now I know most people would be like WTF? That makes no sense but if you are from the street, you get it. I got it. Which sets up this book. Man oh, man. There is so much to dissect, The Harrison boys, Blackwood Academy, Ashton, Lily, Brendan...oh especially Brendan he is weird and really all-knowing, I think that is why he is creepy. There is so much that happens and like Brendan I have questions. Not much get answered but this book but I got a glimpses of connections and OMFG I swear to god if what I am thinking is going to happen, happens I will chuck my kindle because seriously NO JUST NO!! And seriously what is up with that creepy ass school? The teachers, the security guards and layout are all weird.

This book is so well written, I mean it's Rebecca Donovan...

I didn't know she had a new book until I was asked if I wanted to be on this tour and of course I said yes, I went to the Zon and snatched up the first book and read it so quick, it would make one's head spin. Her writing just has this way of sucking you in. When I got this ARC I read it all in one sitting, I could not stop. So now I am just sitting here thinking about the characters and their connections and WTF about the Harrison boys, the kids she attends this school with, and her mom. UGH I feel like a crack head who needs another hit, I need to know more, I need the next book already. 

I give Rebecca major kudos on this book. I love diverse characters in books, she did it so subtly and I loved it. When authors say they can't write diverse books I want to roll my eyes at them, they act as if we POC are aliens. Take notes authors because Rebecca gots the skills and know how. She blew me away and I can't wait for the next book. 

 Optimism seeps from every pore of my body. I truly believe that what's supposed to happen... will! In that regard, I don't know how to give up; it's not part of my biological make up.

I'm a passionate (and some would say, overly enthusiastic) person. I learn by doing (and have been burned more times that I'd like to admit), but I will always throw my entire self into whatever I do - fail or succeed.

I think this is evident when I write, leaving nothing behind and spilling it all out on the pages. I give it all to my readers - love it or hate it.

The path I'm on is very often my own, veering off the beaten path at the sight of something more interesting or captivating, getting caught in the vines and thorns in order to experience the beauty and intrigue others often pass by. And I always meet the most interesting people along the way...

Connect with Rebecca: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaDonovanAuthor/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeccaDonovan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccadonovanauthor/ Website: http://rebeccadonovan.com Amazon Page: http://amzn.to/2zeeN2Y Sign up for Rebecca’s Newsletter: https://goo.gl/XWQU9d

Katie McGarry Only a Breath Apart cover reveal

 

Would you dare to defy destiny? Are our destinies written in stone? Do we become nothing more than the self-fulfilling prophesies of other people's opinions? Or can we dare to become who we believe we were born to be?

“A gorgeous, heartfelt journey of redemption and love” (Wendy Higgins), ONLY A BREATH APART is a young adult contemporary novel from critically acclaimed Katie McGarry. “Haunting, authentic, and ultimately hopeful” (Tammara Webber), ONLY A BREATH APART will be available on all retailers on January 22, 2019!

   

About ONLY A BREATH APART:

Jesse dreams of working the land that’s been in his family forever. But he’s cursed to lose everything he loves most.

Scarlett is desperate to escape her “charmed” life. But leaving a small town is easier said than done.

Despite their history of heartbreak, when Jesse sees a way they can work together to each get what they want, Scarlett can’t say no.Each midnight meeting between Jesse and Scarlett will push them to confront their secrets and their feelings for each other.

 

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“Gritty and real, Only a Breath Apart is a story of hope conjured from pain, strength drawn from innocence, and love earned from self-respect. Beautiful, poignant, and fierce.” ―Kristen Simmons, critically acclaimed author of the Article 5 series

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Add it to your Goodreads today!

    Katie McGarry Bio: Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan. Katie is the author of full length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON, BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine's 2012 Reviewer's Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick. DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013.

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Fair Game Blog tour by Taylor Lunsford

Today Taylor M. Lunsford is stopping by to share her new release, FAIR GAME! Check it out and be sure to grab your copy today!

Title: FAIR GAME

Author: Taylor M. Lunsford

Genre: Contemporary Romance

In her designer shoes and power suits, Vivien Monroe couldn’t be more out of place in the video game company she inherited from her eccentric father. Not only does she have to sort out her father’s last request and deal with a younger sister she barely knows, she has to go toe-to-toe with her father’s protégé—a man who makes her think about the last thing she should be thinking about right now.   With his thick-framed glasses and graphic tees, Liam Hale is the exact opposite of what she needs right now. His relaxed, out-of-the-box attitude reminds her too much of her father’s more exasperating quirks, but his dedication and quiet stubbornness begin to drive her crazy in a completely different way.   All Vivien wants is to get back to her life in New York, but someone is stealing the company’s best game ideas, and an FBI agent is sniffing around. She’ll save her father’s legacy for her sister and then she’s out of there—if she can leave Liam behind.

When I saw this come across my email I really wanted to read it, I mean a hot nerdy video game dude and a badass business chick what could be better? 

Vivian is an Ice Queen who lives up to her reputation. She comes back home to Texas to take over her father's gaming company after his death. She has a baby sister Geer that she is not very close to and it shows. 

Then there is Liam Hale protege of Vivian's late father. I liked Liam he was a sweet guy. I enjoyed the book, I liked the plot but I just couldn't connect with Vivian. I got where she was coming from and that she had major daddy issues and jealous of her baby sister but she was a bit too irritable for me. Overall I did enjoy the premise and the character growth but there were a few points in the story where it dragged a bit but all in all, it was a good read. 

Grab Your Copy Today :

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From the time she figured out how to turn the Disney Read-Along cassette tape over in the dark, Taylor’s been addicted to reading—both authorized and unauthorized. By the time she was thirteen, she’d started writing Newsies fan fiction and reading romance novels late into the night. A champion multi-tasker, she’s been known to read, write, and watch TV all at the same time, especially if there’s a HEA ending involved. In addition to being a frequent stress baker, she’s spent the majority of her free time becoming fluent in most dialects of nerdiness, starting with musicals, and is mildly obsessed with all things British (especially the Royal Family and tennis champ Andy Murray). Growing up with a village of strong women as an example, she doesn’t miss an opportunity to weave in community engagement and feminism into each of her books in one way or another—her heroines are always sassy and smart and her heroes wouldn’t have them any other way.

Connect with Taylor:

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Salt by Mara White Blog Tour

Amazon

Salana Livingston did everything right, from taking her multi-vitamin to kneeling before bed to say her prayers every night. She followed the path her parents had planned before she was born, never questioned the role until the day a bus-load of sweaty kids from the Bronx got dropped at her parent’s horse farm.

Tiago Alcazar knew a life of hard knocks. An incarcerated father, a missing and strung-out mother who left him to rely on his aged grandmother for most of his life.

Tiago runs the mean streets of the neighborhood that raised him, living hand-to-mouth, everyday a gift, if he can just make it.

Burdened by a world that only wants to see her as perfect, Salana finds her greatest confidant in a boy society has labeled as worthless. Their paths cross too many times for their stubborn hearts to deny the connection, but can the delinquent and the debutant defy the odds and overcome the social constructs that condemn them.

Part I
Intro
Tiago

Fresh Air Fund, New York City 2008


Santiago had never left the city, unless you counted New Jersey. The school bus was sweltering and the chaperones hollered every time somebody cracked a window. Luckily, he and Chico were in the very last seat so there were too many infractions to bother with—the adults couldn’t even make it all the way to the back to reprimand them. Chico expertly spat sunflower seed shells out their very open window. He had silver braces and gold chains, a fade haircut and a perpetual pubescent mustache that he had yet to devirginize with a Bic razor.
Tiago shaved even though he didn’t need to; he was the man of the house. His pops had been locked up for years, even before he passed away, and Tiago had inherited his menagerie of grooming supplies and jewelry: a gold crucifix and bracelet, an old watch, a wallet-size laminated card of La Altagracia from the Cathedral of Santa María la Menor, his social security card, a can of Barbasol, a shoebox full of faded photos where some of the faces were scratched out with a pin, and a couple hundred dollars in cash. A legacy that didn’t even fill up half a box, but a reputation bad enough to declare Tiago a menace by the time he was four. He wore and used all of his inheritance, not only to feel closer to his father, but to approximate the manhood he was forced into too early.
Chico had an iPod and headphones he’d snuck along on the trip; the kid didn’t go anywhere without music, constantly sang radio songs in Spanish. He’d sometimes do hilarious impressions that made Tiago lose his shit. He and Chico took turns murmuring the lyrics to reggaetón songs that narrated the kind of life they both lived. Being raised off and on by their grandmothers wasn’t the only thing they had in common. Parents incarcerated, living in the projects, no plausible out for their lives except dreams of professional baseball or rapper stardom. Chico always said he’d join the Marines, while Tiago instead dreamed of seeing the world on his own terms, maybe by backpacking or hitchhiking to California for starters. Money was always tight, food was scarce, and new clothes were a miracle from God el santísimo, himself. Chico and Tiago would sometimes rotate jeans just to freshen up their clothing game, which was pretty much already in the toilet. If Tiago ever got to see the world, he’d want to do it in some badass kicks. He’d rob a fucking bank if he had to someday to get himself some sneakers that were worth getting a beat-down trying to defend.
Tiago wore his Yankees cap and an unbuttoned baseball jersey over a white tank top. His father’s watch and gold bracelet, a chain with a crucifix that dangled between his pecs. Cubic zirconia studs in his ears, which had been pierced by his mother when he was only three years old. His skin was dark and his maternal grandmother blamed it on his Dominican father. She said he would have been born with beautiful light skin had his deadbeat mother married a decent Puerto Rican or even a “gringuito,” if she were smart instead of una maldita, desgraciada, verguenza, or whatever insult of the day she felt the need to toss at her. She was old school, fell for that Caribbean obsession with whitening the race. Tiago didn’t pay much mind to the crazy shit she spouted. He liked his skin; it was dark in the summer, lighter in the New York City long-ass, dirty rain, gray skied winter. His drug addict mom was just as bad as his lying, cheating, stealing Dominican father, regardless of their skin colors, but he wasn’t keeping score. He wasn’t a saint, he’d be the first to admit—but he wasn’t taking no bad rap for something his pops did before he even took his first breath. His grandmother was the only consistent adult in his life who stayed out of trouble. So he let her complain; at least she kept him in food and underwear with a roof over his head and a mattress to fall on. Which was more than he could say for his mom and dad. They’d had him too young. They didn’t finish school. His dad got fired for the wrong reasons and it wasn’t his mother’s fault she’d gotten hooked on the bad shit and started turning tricks to feed her habit. He’d heard all the excuses. Tiago felt like people do the shit they gotta do in fucked-up situations. He didn’t judge, thought he probably wouldn’t have handled it any better if he were in their shoes. His hermano Chico’s family was similar, but he had two sisters and his mother took off and left with some guy who promised her a house with a pool in Vegas. What the fuck they gonna do? They were both sixteen years old. Stick it out. No sweat. Just chill. There were thousands of kids in the city who had it even worse off than they did.
But it was thanks to their paltry existence that they got into so many city-run programs. Their Fresh Air Fund trip today wasn’t being footed by their parents. Free trip to ride horses, lunch and snacks and on the way back to the Bronx, a stop-off at a local water park—all paid for by the city. Tiago and Chico made tiny paper airplanes out of the brochure for the Equestrian Farm they’d been given when they boarded the bus. They threw them into the back of an afro belonging to a kid sitting a few rows up. So far they’d each lodged one without the kid noticing and they laughed until they had tears in their eyes, the sound of their joy completely covered by the din of fifty excited kids and the wind rushing in the open windows as they tore south down 95.
“Did you eat that girl Angelica’s pussy the other night?” he asked Chico as he tore paper for another plane.
“Fuck yeah I did, and I couldn’t barely even get in her bra. Dumb bitch. But she shoved her cunt in my face like it was the all-you-can-eat buffet at the mall.”
“You like her, you stupid fuck. You blush when you talk about her,” Tiago said. Chico punched his bicep hard and Tiago knew it would burn bright red. He also knew Chico was whipped and he was jealous. They’d bagged chicks before, bagged at their age meaning hit all the bases, but this thing with Angelica was getting serious. Chico had seen her at least a dozen times. He was afraid of losing his friend.
“You gonna get pubes stuck in your braces if you eat so much pussy. Did she suck your dick yet?” Tiago asked. He knew it was a sore subject. Good. Helping himself to Chico’s seeds, he spilled half of them in the dip of the pleather seat between them.
“No, but she jerked me off after I showed her how. She thought spit was gross so she used Ponds cold cream and my dick smelled like my grandma through at least three showers.”
Chico falling in love was disgusting, barely tolerable. Tiago elbowed him hard in the ribs. He wanted a girlfriend badly, but he would never let one of his boys know it if he’d gotten whipped. He knew how to treat girls so that they wouldn’t take advantage of you. Even his grandmother told him all women were gold diggers and they’d try to get pregnant just so they could spend a whole lifetime milking you for money. Grandma never told him not to have sex, she was practical and sharp, she told him to get his dick out before he got her pregnant and he still felt short of one hundred percent clear on how all that worked. He knew about condoms from Louie in his building who ripped them off from the drugstores. He once gave Tiago a lesson on how to put one on in the elevator, over a plantain from the bag which Tiago had bought for his grandmother at the bodega on the corner.
“Pinch the end, so your jizz has some place to go. And if the pussy smells fishy, don’t put your dick in there in the first place. Best bet is in her mouth, or go in the back door if you don’t mind a little bit of clean-up. Give her the line about keeping her virginity and she’ll let you around the back, you’ll see.”
Tiago had been only twelve and although he thought most of the things Louie was telling him were suspect, he was still a rapt and captive audience. Louie then proceeded to tell him about gay men and to steer clear unless he wanted to volverse puto, as he put it. Tiago wasn’t positive, but it didn’t sound very plausible—then again, what did he know about gay men or buttholes? He didn’t have a dad or a big brother around to tell him how to get from A to B or even how to stay out of trouble. Louie drank forties all day, had two gold front teeth and could sing Guajira like nobody else. He lived alone but for a whole flock of pet birds, parrots, cockatoos, parakeets—you name it, it was screeching up in a cage in his apartment.
His grandmother sometimes made him bring the guy a plate of food. Louie would peel back the foil and inhale, salivate and smile. He’d jerk his chin for Santiago to come in. The floorboards were uneven but shiny as fuck. Louie kept a pretty neat apartment, considering he was a bachelor and always half drunk. Louie had a futon couch and it wasn’t covered by plastic, but it was covered in bird shit and Tiago always sat on it perched like a girl in Sunday school. It was over mouthfuls of beans and rice, with much gesturing from his fork, that Louie explained the ins and outs, the birds and bees, and most of the sexual education Tiago would get in his lifetime. The pretense was that he would stay and take the plate back up when Louie finished, and by that time he’d be halfway hard from imaging the things that Louie would lay out for him in graphic detail.
He’d lost his virginity when he was thirteen, to a friend of his mother’s. The lady had come by looking for his mom when Tiago and his grandmother hadn’t seen her in months. When his grandmother asked him to see her out, they took a short detour. She was drunk, gave him a beer and then sucked him off in the basement. He tore his nails gripping the over-painted, bumpy cement wall while he thrust into her pink lipstick-painted mouth. Her teeth were yellow and her breath smelled like cigarettes. But she was queen of the universe when she swallowed his cum, so much so that he almost wanted to kiss her. She didn’t know much about teenage boys and jerking off, because she thought after his first blowjob he’d be out for the night. But he was hard again before she’d wiped the saliva off of her lips.
“I want to stick it in you,” he’d said to her, his face open and curious.
She obliged him over a folding chair and the sagging dejected look of her vagina repulsed him—however, not quite enough to kill his boner. He’d desperately shoved himself in and out of her, with no rhythm or love, just lusty preteen madness and the story already buzzing past his lips to fly out on tomorrow’s school yard.
She’d groaned as the chair squeaked and Tiago wasn’t sure if the sounds meant pleasure or pain, but he couldn’t stop, he wouldn’t stop and he baptized her pale and pancaked ass with another shot of his tender boyhood semen. His introduction to love hadn’t been the least bit romantic or even sensual, but it was a rush of panic and adrenaline unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He felt like a man as he pulled up his jeans and did his belt buckle. His pearly essence dripped into her butt crack and he felt like he’d accomplished something rather monumental. Maybe his father would be proud? Maybe not?
But none of that changed the fact that he’d never had a real girlfriend, or the fact that Chico did—his face was busted, but he still got one first, go figure. And not to mention, he was whipped and he liked it. Tiago couldn’t even imagine what sex would be like if you were into the person doing the giving or receiving. But Jesucristo, he wanted to find out. He’d take the baddest bitch in the Heights. He wouldn’t even care if she were ugly. He needed somebody to talk to.

Growing up I was from the "wrong side of the tracks". No money, Mexican, and had lots of gang members as friends. To read this book brought me back to that time in my life. Santiago or Tiago, reminded me of the guys I hung around with. It was raw and real. I remember stepping onto Palm Springs High School for the first time and seeing the girls with money and privilege and thinking "wow they really are different." The way they dressed, looked and carried themselves was unlike myself and many of my peers but I can honestly say some of them were the sweetest people I have ever met. When Salana was introduced this is who I first thought of, but man as the story went on I just couldn't get enough. 

Emotional, gut-wrenching, and angsty, these are the three things I love to read in books because it keeps me in the tale and Mara White knows how to do all three very well. This is my first book of hers and it will not be my last. I loved reading the growth of the characters and the struggles they each endure. I know many people think "what problems could the rich possibly have?" A lot, believe me, I have seen it first hand with some of my friends. I think what I truly enjoyed was the fact that Tiago is a POC yet, the author doesn't throw it in your face every 5 seconds, she is telling a story of two human souls, who saw past color and money. The author did not hold back in showing Tiago's side disadvantages and how it affects him. Like I said it reminded me of me and where I came from. It's hard when I read certain books and I know that author knows nothing about the streets or hasn't done their research but Mara, she did a phenomenal job. I am in awe of her writing skills. This story has stuck with me long after I put down my kindle. If you are looking for a great book with drama and angst give this a try and let me know your thoughts. 

 5/5hearts for me!

Mara White is a contemporary romance and erotica writer who laces forbidden love stories with hard issues, such as race, gender and inequality. She holds an Ivy League degree but has also worked in more strip clubs than even she can remember. She is not a former Mexican telenovela star contrary to what the tabloids might say, but she is a former ballerina and will always remain one in her heart. She lives in NYC with her husband and two children and yes, when she’s not writing you can find her on the playground.

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