Happy Book Birthday, Jaclyn and the Beanstalk by Mary Ting with Giveaway!

Jaclyn and the Beanstalk 

by Mary Ting 

Vesuvian Books

YA Fantasy

What fate awaits a girl who hears monsters at night… 

Sixteen-year-old Jaclyn looks up to her father. An honest man who once fought for the king, he now teaches Jaclyn how to use her wits—and her sword.
But he has a secret. And his secret may have a connection to the one thing Jaclyn is hiding from him.
Upon hearing “monsters” are terrorizing the small villages around Black Mountain, Jaclyn’s father and his friends head out to hunt them … but they don’t return.
Armed only with her sword and three magic beans—a gift from a mysterious old woman—Jaclyn sets out for Black Mountain to save her father.
On her climb, one bean drops and grows into a beanstalk, catching her when she falls.
She isn’t the only one that takes the ride. Jack, her childhood friend and secret crush, is following her.
Together, Jaclyn and Jack must battle to save not only their fathers, but the townspeople the beasts plan to lay waste to before it’s too late.

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SNEAK PEEK

Mother crinkled her nose. “Don’t fret. You’re of marriageable age now. We must think of finding you a husband or your time will pass. I’m only thinking of your future, Jaclyn. I want to see you settled soon. Your father and I are not getting younger.”
“Getting married and bearing children is not for me. There’s much work to be done.”
I slipped my arms around her waist and pressed my head to her back. I inhaled deeply as warmth enveloped me and her love replaced the fright from my nightmares.
Safe. I am safe. No monsters.
“Our life is good here. Why would I want to fix what is not broken?”
“’Tis what we do. People will talk.”
“Let them.”
I scowled, anger boiling through my veins. I tended to not raise my voice, so I softened my tone out of respect.
“I will not be handed to a suitor I do not love.”
Mother patted my arm. “My child, you have much to learn. Love comes later. I did not love your father at first.”
“I will not follow other people’s ways.” Pouting, I shuffled my feet on the dirt.
She released a deep sigh. “Oh, Jaclyn. Your time will come. Everyone has a destiny. Everyone has a story to tell. Some more than others. We shall see what lies ahead for you. Fate will lead you to the path you are meant to take.”
I wished I had eyes for the future. I wanted to know a demon would not seize my soul, and I wanted to see a path without the nighttime cries. They must be monsters. I’d never heard a human throat make such tortured sounds.
What fate awaits a girl who hears monsters at night?
Illness swept through my stomach. A shudder racked me, beginning in my gut, forewarning me.

And here she is... 

International Bestselling Author Mary Ting/M. Clarke resides in Southern California with her husband and two children. She enjoys oil painting and making jewelry. Writing her first novel, Crossroads Saga, happened by chance. It was a way to grieve the death of her beloved grandmother, and inspired by a dream she once had as a young girl. When she started reading new adult novels, she fell in love with the genre. It was the reason she had to write one-Something Great. Why the pen name, M Clarke? She tours with Magic Johnson Foundation to promote literacy and her children's chapter book-No Bullies Allowed.

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Sneak Peek: Eve the First by Teresa Edmond-Sargeant with Giveaway

Eve the First:

A Fairy Tale Revision

by Teresa Edmond-Sargeant

Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling

A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Wicked Prince," "Eve the First" introduces a princess unlike any other in popular fairy tales: ruthless, power-hungry and ambitious enough to conquer Heaven. After successfully monopolizing the known world, Eve lays her eyes on taking down God so she can reign supreme over Heaven and Earth.

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She was called Eve the First.

And once upon a time, that name, and its infamy, petrified the hearts and minds of anyone familiar with her conquests, capabilities, and cunning tenacity fueled by her volatility.

Eve’s innocent beauty belied her passion to conquer the world. Her doe-like eyes concealed the twinkle that reflected her megalomaniacal thirst for power. With her youthfully plump, pink lips, Eve barked demands at her subjects and soldiers, threatening to execute them if they failed to carry out her commands. She wore her lustrous locks in braids and pinned up into exquisite loops with hair ornaments crafted from the bones of her enemies and decorated with precious jewels like pearls, diamonds, and sapphires.

In Eve’s kingdom of Regnum, the populace sought for worldly knowledge, wealth, and prestige. Above all, the people pursued the supreme form of existence: immortality. To these ends, they excelled in architecture, arts, music, literature, alchemy and science. With the practices of Pagan worship, drunken orgies, and human sacrificing, they prided themselves on being their absolute best in knowledge and wealth, while their crude and barbaric natures situated them at the bottom of human existence.

Eve ruled the land of Regnum with the utmost passion of all kinds: love, fear, cruelty, and intensity, but mostly the last three. Every day she studied maps of foreign kingdoms, plotted her next conquest, and trained her soldiers until their feet bled and their sanity broke. Wherever she went, her subjects genuflected and lowered their heads, averting eye contact. If Eve caught anyone sneaking furtive glances at her, she screamed the dreaded words, “Away with him and off with his head!”

The next time that person was seen, his headless body was at the bottom of a ravine near Eve’s castle.

As she brandished her sword and ambition, Eve led her army all over the world, from the nearest to the most remote lands. She left behind trails of bloodshed, death, and tears. With every swing of her sword—a stab here, a beheading there—Eve radiated joy as blood splattered all over her armor and corpses piled up. Villagers said their bountiful fields, once ripe with harvest, were cultivated with the blood of the dead. Whole carcasses and body parts littered the meadows, turning them into rolling graveyards, as though the dead had been dug up.

“I have unyielding determination that cannot be matched,” Eve once said. “If that makes me an evil woman, so be it.”

Once Eve conquered a village, she marched into its public square and staked her coat of arms into the soil. Her soldiers kept the crowd back while the crowd admired Eve’s glorious beauty sullied with dirt and blood. Clutching the flagpole, Eve placed her right hand over her heart.

“Today’s victory is in memory of my dear mother, the late Queen Catherine the Third,” Eve said to her new subjects. “She would have been proud to know that I will bestow upon all of you a new day, a new life, and a new era. I acknowledge that from this day forward, this is the age we start to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and heal the sick. I have ushered in a Golden Era of Peace where the sun will always rise in the east, trees shall forever bear fruit, and harvest season shall forever be abundant. This is the time when we unite as one to remake this land so it will transcend our utmost expectations and ideal selves.”

Eve then signaled her soldiers to present her newly conquered subjects with baskets of bread and meat and vessels of cider.

“Today, what I have done was quite a sacrifice, but it was all done for you my beloved people,” Eve continued. “I will give you whatever you yearn for—food, shelter, clothes—and promise to alleviate you of the agonies you long suffered at the hands of your demon of a king. That will happen if — and only if — you crown me your ruler and allow me to erect my statues everywhere in your village.”

Then her soldiers demanded that the peasants form lines in front of them. Cries of “Long live Eve” rang throughout the land as soldiers passed out equal rations of food and drink to the peasants.

Teresa Edmond-Sargeant is an Orlando, FL-based poet, author and journalist originally from northern New Jersey. Her poetry has appeared in anthologies featuring NJ poets. During her time as a reporter in Jersey, she won two NJ Press Association awards.

In 2006, she published her debut poetry book, "How Fate's Confusion Connects"; the book's second edition will be released later in 2014. She is the author of three (so far;-)) Amazon Kindle ebooks: "Eve the First," "An Estella Exclusive" and "Ethical Strains," all short stories.

Edmond-Sargeant is a member of the Florida State Poets Association. She is now a staff writer for The Apopka Chief, a newspaper that covers the Apopka, FL, area (http://www.theapopkachief.com).

Facebook * Twitter * Website * Amazon * Goodreads

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Cover Reveal and Sale: The Neverland Wars Series by Audrey Greathouse

In celebration of the cover reveal for the second book in THE NEVERLAND WARS SERIES, the first book will be on sale for 5 days only! This sale is being ran during an exciting BookBub promotion that will showcase THE NEVERLAND WARS at an all-time low price of $.99 for the digital book! This title is typically $5.99. We highly recommend you take advantage of this $5 reduction in price by purchasing THE NEVERLAND WARS between 8/21/16-8/25/16 as the book will go back up when the sale is over.

GRAB THE NEVERLAND WARS FOR $.99 HERE!

SECOND: LET'S TALK COVER REVEAL!

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this new cover in THE NEVERLAND WARS SERIES. Please leave us a comment or two. Then head on over to our Clean Teen Publishing website to read an exclusive excerpt from THE PIPER'S PRICE.

THE PIPER'S PRICE (February 21, 2017)

Peter is plotting his retaliation against the latest bombing. Neverland needs an army, and Peter Pan is certain children will join him once they know what is at stake. The lost boys and girls are planning an invasion in suburbia to recruit, but in order to deliver their message, they will need the help of an old and dangerous associate—the infamous Pied Piper.

Hunting him down will require a spy in in the real world, and Gwen soon finds herself in charge of locating the Piper and cutting an uncertain deal with him. She isn’t sure if Peter trusts her that much, or if he’s just trying to keep her away from him in Neverland. Are they friends, or just allies? But Peter might not even matter now that she’s nearly home and meeting with Jay again.

The Piper isn’t the only one hiding from the adults’ war on magic though, and when Gwen goes back to reality, she’ll have to confront one of Peter’s oldest friends… and one of his earliest enemies.

ABOUT AUDREY GREATHOUSE

Audrey Greathouse is a lost child in a perpetual and footloose quest for her own post-adolescent Neverland. Originally from Seattle, she earned her English B.A. from Southern New Hampshire University's online program while backpacking around the west coast and pretending to be a student at Stanford. A pianist, circus artist, fire-eater, street mime, swing dancer, and novelist, Audrey wears many hats wherever she is. She has grand hopes for the future which include publishing more books and owning a crockpot. You can find her at audreygreathouse.com

FOLLOW AUDREY:

Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/audrey.greathouse

Twitter Handle: @missaudreyjoy

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/missaudreyjoy/

Tumbler: http://littlemissaudrey.tumblr.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6545831.Audrey_Greathouse

Review: Wonderland by Robert McKay

WONDERLAND

Intergalactic Fairy Tales, Book 1

by Robert McKay

McKay Manor Publishing

YA Science Fiction/Fairy Tale Retelling

182 pages

Teenage Alice didn’t mean to end up on Wonderland, but the living spaceship she commandeered had other plans, and he was very late.

Abandoned on an unfamiliar planet, Alice’s first day as a space pirate has fallen into madness. Caterpillars? Mad hatters? A Jabberwock? A queen known for chopping off heads? Alice must face all Wonderland can throw at her if she’s to take back possession of The White Rabbit and leave Wonderland in one piece.

Wonderland is an Alice in Wonderland fairy tale retelling full of action, adventure, and unlikely heroes. While the Intergalactic Fairy Tales take place in the same universe, and occasionally have overlapping characters, these books can be read and enjoyed in any order.

MY TIDBITS

I'm a big fan of fairy tale retellings, especially those which venture into a realm with completely different twists.

This is the first in a series of Intergalactic tales. There are many elements taken directly from the original fairy tale, but still, so many new aspects are added and switched in, making it a completely new tale of its own.

Alice is a pirate...or dreams of becoming one and acts this out in her games of pretend, much to her parents' despair. When she discovers a spaceship, who happens to be alive, and sneaks aboard, her adventures in Wonderland begin.

This is an enjoyable read. It's impossible to know what will happen next, and there are so many delicious oddities and uncertainties on this foreign planet. The Alice in this story isn't a weak, little girl, but has a little spunk. She's definitely not the type to let people walk all over her...and she's clever, which turns out to be one of her greatest assets. Her decisions are for the most part understandable, and it's easy to cheer for her as she comes up against the Queen of Hearts.

Action runs non-stop in these pages, as Alice runs from one difficult situation into the next. The Queen of Hearts is despicable, as she should be, and although her actions and intentions don't always make sense, that's completely fine because she is a bit off of her rocker. The danger is always tangible as Alice goes from one vibrant place to the next, each filled with curious details, but often times familiar enough so as not to completely lose track.

The only thing which bothered me in this book is Alice's age. She's supposedly a teenager, but her character often comes across younger and more child like, placing her, in my opinion, in a solid book for middle graders. But, there are several violent scenes and other aspects, which make this inappropriate for a younger audience. It's an enjoyable read, but I'm not sure which age group to recommend it to.

Summed up, this was an enjoyable read. The placing of Alice into a galactic world comes over almost seamlessly and creates a vivid place, worthy of all the craziness Wonderland harbors. Anyone who loves fairy tale retellings will enjoy diving into this world.

Review: Chasing Midnight by Courtney King Walker with Giveaway

CHASING MIDNIGHT

by Courtney King Walker

Cedar Fort, Inc.

YA Fantasy

256 pages

WISH LIST

1.      The biggest, fanciest house on Sea View Drive.

2.      Nike Flyknits.

3.      A ski-jump nose.

4.      My own car. A new BMW.

5.      Be a total pro at the piano.

6.      James Odera to like me. Be James Odera’s girlfriend.

7.      Get Spencer’s lungs fixed.

Mackenzie Love dreams of being a “lucky one”—someone who has the perfect life. Someone who doesn’t have to worry about money, a sick brother, or her high school status. So when a mysterious visitor offers to make all her wishes come true, Mackenzie jumps at the chance. But the royal lifestyle may cost more than Mackenzie is willing to pay in this modern twist on the classic Cinderella story.

Chasing Midnight: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

MY TIDBITS

I've been getting my thrill on fairy tale re-tellings lately, so I was all smiles when I got my hands on this one. My first thoughts: this is not as magical as I thought it might be. And that's a good thing. . .at least, as far as this tale is concerned.

The main character, Mackenzie, doesn't have a perfect life. Sure, she has people who love her and the bestie best friend ever, but her popularity is on the bottom and her family is battling issues, which would weigh anyone down. My favorite thing about her is that she has a good heart. Mackenzie would love nothing more than to change her life into luck. Not only in the sense of popularity and money, but she'd do anything to save the life of her sick brother.

There is a dash of magic, and it blends it nicely with the 'real' feel of the story--just a hint and never too much. The author does a fantastic job of taking Mackenzie on the trip of her dreams while still keeping the entire thing based in a 'normal' teenage setting. The dialogue and scenery comes to life and feels natural. It's no problem to fall into Mackenzie's world and feel as if you're right beside her as she battles her way through her magical problem.

The other characters are just as easy to sympathize with, and the problems between them reflect things teenagers can easily sympathize with. I appreciated the layers (good and bad) each character had, and the way the author was able to weave secrets behind every facade. Although the book maintains a nice sense of humor, there are several serious messages and lessons worked in as well. But this never feels preachy. As in every good fairy tale, the main character has a lesson to learn, and Mackenzie isn't any different.

Although there are several hints at the Cinderella theme, they are only lightly hit upon, leaving the plot and characters with a fresh and modern tone. There's never a boring moment, and it was never clear what problems she'd run into next...or how to solve them when she did figure out what was going on.

Summed up, this is a retelling with a very modern, high school feel. I can recommend this to YA readers, who like just a tiny touch of magic in a normal, high school setting. With a little romance. A little chaos. And a lot of heart.

And here she is. . .

COURTNEY KING WALKER!!!

Courtney King Walker grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area building rocket ships and rafts out of
cardboard, hoping to make it the moon or at least Niagara Falls. But a trip across the border to Tijuana was as exciting as it ever got, so she decided writing about adventure was the next best thing. She now lives in the Rocky Mountains with her husband and four children, and still dreams of flying to the moon. She is the author of the young adult novel, ON THE FRINGE, and middle grade novel MOLLY PEPPER AND THE NIGHT TRAIN. Her next YA novel, CHASING MIDNIGHT, will be published January 12, 2016 by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Goodreads

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Go ahead and follow the tour! So many other goodies to see.

Monday, Jan 11th – Lost in Ever After – Guest Post

Tuesday, Jan 12th – Release Day Launch!

Wednesday, Jan 13th – The Book Dragon – Top 10 & Review

Friday, Jan 15th – Worth Reading It? – Review

Monday, Jan 18th – 5 Girl Book Reviews – Review

Wednesday, Jan 20th – 21st Century Once Upon a Time – Author Interview & Review

Friday, Jan 22nd – Bookworm for Kids – Review

Monday, Jan 25th – Books are Love – Review

Wednesday, Jan 27th – Reader Girls – Guest Post

Friday, Jan 29th – A Book and a Latte – Top 10