Cover Reveal: Into the Outside by Lynda Engler and Henry Dixon

Into the Outside

by Lynda Engler

YA Dystopian

When the mutants’ survival is threatened, will Isabella risk it all for the man she hardly knows or stay underground protected? Fifty years ago the Earth died. In its place emerges a dangerous jungle world with oddly altered wildlife and a handful of short-lived mutated humans. Below ground, survivors wait.

One young mutant tribe leader, Malcolm, takes his people on a journey to find a better home. Isabella, a young woman born underground and in perfect health is intrigued by what is Outside. Isabella dawns a protective suit and meets Malcolm.

When the mutants’ survival is threatened, will she risk it all for the man she hardly knows or stay underground protected?

About the Authors

Lynda Engler grew up in New Jersey, then spent three decades in New England, between Connecticut and Vermont, but now makes North Carolina her home. When not reading or writing, she enjoys being outside kayaking, walking or cycling. This is her second book. Her first, The Forgotten Isle, was published in 2004 and rereleased in 2011 with new illustrations by Noa Chaikin and is middle-grade historic fiction.

Henry Dixon is a massage therapist in North Carolina. His insightful understanding of human nature and his expert ability to weave ideas together made him the perfect co-author for Into the Outside, even if he never wanted to be a writer.

Links

Amazon Paperback: $10.99

Amazon Kindle: $1.99

Kindle Unlimited: Free

Author website: http://www.lyndaengler.com

Social Media links:

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Dragons are Reals by Valarie Budayr with Giveaway

Dragons are Real 

by Valarie Budayr

Illustrated by Michael Welply

Audrey Press

Children's Picture Book 

32 pages

What if I told you that all of the fairy tales, myths and legends that have been told about dragons over the years are WRONG? What if I told you that Dragons are indeed REAL and that they are different than you've ever imagined? Did you know that Dragons are the master of disguises? Did you know that they love sugar and sweets (at unacceptable levels) and will do anything for treats? Award winning author Valarie Budayr brings us this fairly true story based on her childhood friendship with a REAL live Dragon.

EXCERPT

About the Author: Valarie Budayr

Award Winning and Best-selling author, Valarie Budayr inspires children and adults alike to experience their books through play, discovery, and adventure via engaging extension activities on her popular website, www.jumpintoabook.com.

Valarie is co-founder of Multi-cultural Children's Book Day , #ReadYourWorld, a celebration of diverse and cultural kid-lit shared with over 98 million people on January 27th. Her foundation puts hundreds of books into the hands of children in rural and intercity areas. www.multiculturalchildrensbookday.com
Valarie's other best-selling and award winning titles are: The Fox Diaries: The Year the Foxes Came to our Garden, The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and A Year in the Secret Garden.

Twitter | Facebook (Audrey Press) | Facebook (Jump Into A Book) | Google+

 Pinterest | Goodreads | Website

About the Illustrator: Michael Welply

Michael Welply was born in London in 1948. The family moved to Winnipeg, Canada, in 1950. He studied art in Winnipeg and then in Paris, but his idea of living from the sales of his paintings is somewhat compromised by the lack of buyers. He started his career as an illustrator in 1977 in London. In 1981 he returned to live in France with his American wife and their two children. Since then he has worked for publishers in both Europe and North America. To date he has illustrated over 80 books and more than 100 covers, in a wide range of subjects extending from detailed non-fiction to juvenile and adult fiction in the realms of fantasy, mythology, science fiction and fairy tales.

Website

Blog Tour Giveaway

Prize: One winner will receive a $100 Amazon gift card or $100 PayPal cash prize, winner's choice 
Giveaway ends: May 30, 11:59 pm, 2016 
Open to: Internationally 
How to enter: Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.
Terms and Conditions: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. A winner will be randomly drawnthrough the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. The winner will then have 72 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, a new draw will take place for a new winner. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible entries received. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. This giveaway is sponsored by the author, Valarie Budayr and is hosted and managed by Stacie from BeachBoundBooks. If you have any additional questions feel free to send an email to stacie@BeachBoundBooks.com.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Girl Who Hated Australia by Jack Thompsen

The Girl Who Hated Australia

Not So Serious Jack Series, Book 1

by Jack Thompsen

Picture Book

ages 4-9

35 pages

Sometimes things that are new or unknown to us can seem scary. Sometimes we pretend we don’t like something, when really this thing frightens us. For seven-year-old Jorie, this thing is Australia. Her parents announce a family vacation “down under” and Jorie does not want to go. Her parents encourage her and along the way Jorie experiences things she never expected to – and has a wonderful time! Will Jorie continue to hate Australia? Or will her experience there change her mind?

MY TIDBITS

Jorie is a seven-year-old girl whose parents have quite the surprise--they're going on a trip to Australia! This is something that would make travelers' hearts patter faster, but not Jorie. Oh no. She wants nothing to do with it. Not the flight. Not the country. Absolutely nothing.

This book made me smile, simply because it's a phase all kids seem to go through at one time or another. The simplest example is food and the dinner table. Jorie hasn't a clue if she'll like any of the things or not because, frankly, she's never tried. But stubbornness blocks reason. In other words, kids will get it--although they might not admit they've ever been that stubborn about something themselves.

The illustrations are colorful and nicely done, allowing little listeners to really dive into Jorie's situations. Especially the plane flight and Australia will interest the kids, and these pictures do a good job delivering the basic experience about both.

Jorie's problem comes to life in the writing. In general, it's well done and, except for a few more difficult terms in the beginning, kids will have no trouble understanding it. The flow is a bit rough--at times being in rhyme and at others, not so much. But the wording, especially as it goes along, is easy to fall into.

Summed up: this is a good read to express the troubles kids have with taking on something new. And they'll discover a little bit about Australia in the process.





And here he is. . .

JACK THOMPSEN!!!

Jack Thompsen, also known as Not So Serious Jack, enjoys writing stories, traveling, going on adventures and making new friends. He is a full-time computer programmer and has been writing since he was a kid. He finds writing is one of the best ways of sharing exciting worlds and ideas. Writing is powerful. One of his biggest goals is making this world a better place and he hopes his children’s book series will be the first big step in that direction.

https://www.facebook.com/NotSoSeriousJack

https://twitter.com/NotSoSeriousJac

http://www.notsoseriousjack.com/

Excerpt: Because I Love You by Tori Rigby with Giveaway

Because I Love You

Tori Rigby

Blaze Publishing

May 17th 2016

YA Romance

Eight weeks after sixteen-year-old Andie Hamilton gives her virginity to her best friend, “the stick” says she’s pregnant.
Her friends treat her like she’s carrying the plague, her classmates torture and ridicule her, and the boy she thought loved her doesn’t even care. Afraid to experience the next seven months alone, she turns to her ex-boyfriend, Neil Donaghue, a dark-haired, blue-eyed player. With him, she finds comfort and the support she desperately needs to make the hardest decision of her life: whether or not to keep the baby.
Then a tragic accident leads Andie to discover Neil’s keeping a secret that could dramatically alter their lives, and she’s forced to make a choice. But after hearing her son’s heartbeat for the first time, she doesn’t know how she’ll ever be able to let go.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Blaze Publishing

SNEAK PEEK

Jodi squeezed my hand. “Do

whatever you think is right.

Your gut won’t lie. Mine sure

didn’t, and look how you

turned out.”

I smiled.

After a few more questions, like

did I have any

siblings—no—and where did

my cousins live—just over the

border into New Mexico—the

guard announced our fifteen

minutes were up. I fought the

urge to cling to Jodi’s hand asshe stood. I hadn’t spent nearly enough time with her.

“You write me. Let me know how you’re doing, ‘kay?”

I nodded, my mouth drying, and she backed out of the room with a wave. When the door from

the visitation area to the cellblock closed, I covered my mouth, my chest hitching. Mom put her

arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into her. I’d been so afraid that Jodi would have

considered me a burden, that she would’ve hate me for ruining her life, like I originally loathed

my baby for messing up mine. But that was so far from the reason she’d placed me for adoption.

“She had loved me, Mom,” I said, my voice shaking.

—

Want to stay up to date on everything from Blaze Publishing? Sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss a thing! The first 100 subscribers get free Blaze bookmarks (UK, US, and Canada only) AND get added to our Loyal 100 group, which gives you access to exclusive news, teasers, prizes, and ARCs!

And here she is. . .

TORI RIGBY!!!

Adopted at three-days-old by a construction worker and a stay at home mom, Tori Rigby grew up with her nose in a book and her fingers on piano keys, always awaiting the day she’d take her own adventure. Now, she goes on multiple journeys through her contemporary and historical romances. She longs to live in the Scottish Highlands, and her favorite place in history is Medieval England—she’d even give up her Internet and running water to go back in time! Tori also writes high-concept genre fiction as Vicki Leigh, and when she isn’t writing, she’s kicking butt in krav maga or attending classes to learn how to catch bad guys.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted by:

Excerpt: Under Ground by Alice Rachel with Giveaway

Under Ground 

by Alice Rachel 

(Under Ground, #1) 

YA Dystopia/Romance

306 pages

Love is a taboo, a mere fantasy— foreign, unreachable, and dangerous.

Raised in a society where women have no rights, seventeen-year-old Thia Clay holds little hope for a bright future. When her parents sell her into marriage to elite member William Fox, Thia slowly gives in to despair. William is nothing but a cruel, selfish young man with no other interest than to serve his own.
Born illegally and forced to hide from the authorities his entire life, nineteen-year-old Chi Richards is an active member of the Underground—a rebellious group seeking to overthrow the government.
Chi only has one goal—to rescue his parents from the work camp they were forced into.
Meeting Thia was never part of the plan, and neither was falling in love with her.
If caught in their forbidden relationship, Thia and Chi could face a death sentence, and when devastating secrets surface from Chi’s past, Thia has to rely on her instincts to make a choice that could save her or destroy her forever.

EXCERPT

When five p.m. finally arrives, I tell Melissa that I’m going home. I leave school and cut through the woods. I walk up the path until I reach the monument. When I arrive, Chi is standing in front of the Arch, with his thumbs in his pockets. He hears me, turns around, and smiles in that debonair attitude that I've grown to enjoy so much.

"Hello, Thia!"

My name on his lips makes me shiver, spreading delightful goose bumps all over my skin. I sit down quickly before he notices my reaction.

"How were your classes today?" I ask.

He comes to sit by my side and spreads out his legs. He leans backward and props himself up with his arms stretched out behind him. "All right, I guess. I'm still getting used to this whole system. It's kinda hard to adapt after being homeschooled for so long."

"You were homeschooled?" I blink at him.

"Yeah, a story for another time. How was it for you?"

I roll my eyes. "Today, I learned how to be a proper lady and show reverence for a man who will never grant me any importance."

Chi chuckles at that. "Is that all they tried to teach you? The usual misogynistic idiocies?"

"No. I also had a music class, which I actually enjoy. Women do need to entertain their guests after all," I continue with a stiff upper-lip, my tone haughty, and my back held straight in a feigned proud mannerism, "for lack of any thoughtful opinion to share about things that actually matter."

Chi lets out a loud breath that sounds like a snort. "You really are entertaining, Thia, you know that?" He shoots me a smile so charming that my breath hitches.    

When a flush rises to my cheeks, I shift the course of my thoughts. "You still haven't told me your last name, you know."

"Like I said before, it's not my real name." He shrugs, not caring to elaborate. His eyebrows crease. “Did you ever wonder what happens to children who are born over the number allowed?" His sudden change in subject takes me by surprise. I don't know how to respond.

“No one has children above the number allowed" I reply, matter-of-factly. "It just doesn’t happen.”

“Doesn’t it, though?” he asks.

“No, it doesn’t,” I assert.

“You may want to think about it before affirming things you know nothing about!” His remark is harsh, stinging like acid. Is he implying that I’m stupid? I've never seen him irritated before; his frustration feels like a blow. It angers me too. I want to find some snide response, but I can’t think of anything smart to throw back at him.

He continues, his eyes and voice soft now, “Let me tell you something. It does happen. People do have children above the number allowed. I would know. I’m one of them.”

And here she is. . .

ALICE RACHEL!!!

Alice Rachel is the author of the YA Dystopian ROMANCE SERIES “Under Ground.” Originally from France, Alice Rachel moved to the United States ten years ago to live with her husband, and she now also shares her home with two really old foster guinea pigs.
Alice enjoys books of all kinds and more specifically those introducing well-written antagonists and complex protagonists. Alice also loves to draw her own book characters.
The first book of her series “Under Ground” came out in October 2015, and the sequel will be out later this year.
Alice loves to interact with all readers, so feel free to send her a Tweet.

Author links:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14583678.Alice_Rachel

https://www.facebook.com/alicerachelwrit

https://twitter.com/AliceRachelWrit

http://www.alicerachelwrites.com/

GIVEAWAY!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway