M9B Friday Reveal- Author Spotlight Julie Reece and a Giveaway of THE ARTISANS!

Welcome to this week’s M9B Friday Reveal!

This week, we are spotlighting Julie Reece, author of

The Artisans

presented by Month9Books!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

Get to Know Julie Reece in 10 Questions or Less!

Twitter or Facebook? -Both

Favorite Superhero? –One hero to rule them all: Thor

Favorite TV show? -Sherlock (British)

Sweet or Salty? -Ice cream is a food group.

Coke or Pepsi? -Tea (I’m a rebel)

Any Phobias? –Sharks and, ew, spiders … oh and drowning.

Song you can’t get enough of right now? –Caroline (or anything) by Kill It Kid *dies*

Who is your ultimate Book Boyfriend? ‘Weaver’ from May Webb’s, Precious Bane *swoons*

What are you reading right now or what's on your TBR? -Saving Francesca , by Melina Marchetta

Fall Movie you’re most looking forward to? –OMG! Crimson Peak and Mad Max:Fury Road

Ok I'm dying to see Crimson Peak so I just had to add the trailer! 

Born in Ohio, I lived next to my grandfather’s horse farm until the fourth grade. Summers were about riding, fishing and make-believe, while winter brought sledding and ice-skating on frozen ponds. Most of life was magical, but not all.

I struggled with multiple learning disabilities, did not excel in school. I spent much of my time looking out windows and daydreaming. In the fourth grade (with the help of one very nice teacher) I fought dyslexia for my right to read, like a prince fights a dragon in order to free the princess locked in a tower, and I won.

Afterwards, I read like a fiend. I invented stories where I could be the princess… or a gifted heroine from another world who kicked bad guy butt to win the heart of a charismatic hero. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? Later, I moved to Florida where I continued to fantasize about superpowers and monsters, fabricating stories (my mother called it lying) and sharing them with my friends.

Then I thought I’d write one down…

Hooked, I’ve been writing ever since. I write historical, contemporary, urban fantasy, adventure, and young adult romances. I love strong heroines, sweeping tales of mystery and epic adventure… which must include a really hot guy. My writing is proof you can work hard to overcome any obstacle. Don’t give up. I say, if you write, write on!

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

They say death can be beautiful. But after the death of her mother, seventeen-year-old RAVEN WEATHERSBY gives up her dream of becoming a fashion designer, barely surviving life in the South Carolina lowlands.

To make ends meet, Raven works after school as a seamstress creating stunning works of fashion that often rival the great names of the day.

Instead of making things easier on the high school senior, her stepdad’s drinking leads to a run in with the highly reclusive heir to the Maddox family fortune, Gideon Maddox.

But Raven’s stepdad’s drying out and in no condition to attend the meeting with Maddox. So Raven volunteers to take his place and offers to repay the debt in order to keep the only father she’s ever known out of jail, or worse.

Gideon Maddox agrees, outlining an outrageous demand: Raven must live in his home for a year while she designs for Maddox Industries’ clothing line, signing over her creative rights.

Her handsome young captor is arrogant and infuriating to the nth degree, and Raven can’t imagine working for him, let alone sharing the same space for more than five minutes.

But nothing is ever as it seems. Is Gideon Maddox the monster the world believes him to be? And can he stand to let the young seamstress see him as he really is?

The Artisans is a delectably rich, layered and dark YA Southern Gothic inspired by Jeanne Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s classic Beauty and the Beast.

“The Artisans has all the elements I love – spooky intrigue, strong friendships, and a romantic tension to be savored.” ~ Wendy Higgins, New York Times bestselling author of the Sweet Evil trilogy.

Title: The Artisans
Publication date: May 2015
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Author: Julie Reece

Pre-Order The book!

Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

The book will be sent upon the titles release.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour- THE PERILOUS JOURNEY OF THE NOT SO INNOCUOUS GIRL by Leigh Statham A Deleted Scene and a Giveaway!

Hey y'all! I have an awesome deleted scene from Leigh Statham's amazing Steampunk book THE PERILOUS JOURNEY OF THE NOT SO INNOCUOUS GIRL for you today! Oh and stick around for the giveaway!
Haven't heard of THE PERILOUS JOURNEY OF THE NOT SO INNOCUOUS GIRL? Check it out!

Title: THE PERILOUS JOURNEY OF THE NOT SO INNOCUOUS GIRL

Author: Leigh Statham

Pub. Date: March 17, 2015

Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.

Pages: 297

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Find it:Goodreads| Amazon | Chapters Indigo | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | TBD |iBooks

Lady Marguerite lives a life most 17th century French girls can only dream of: money, designer dresses, suitors and a secure future. Except she suspects she may be falling for her best friend Claude, a common smithie in the family's steam forge. 

When Claude leaves for New France in search of a better life, Marguerite decides to follow him and test her suspicions of love. But the trip proves more harrowing than she had anticipated, revealing secrets and testing her strength as well as her heart. Love, adventure and restitution await her in Canada, but only if she can survive the voyage.

Now on to the post!

The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl originally had a different ending. I wrote this whole chapter about Marguerite's father following her to New France and saving her/spoiling all of her plans. But it just seemed so convenient and lame in a dues ex machina kind of way.

Dues ex machina - a character or thing that suddenly enters the story in a novel, play, movie, etc., and solves a problem that had previously seemed impossible to solve.

I also cut an entire character. Originally, Claude had a very cranky older brother, Nigel. Here's a scene I took out where Nigel is being obnoxious.

Marguerite wished Vivienne had been old enough to attend. She needed someone familiar to stand next to for the remainder of the evening; even Vivienne’s twittering would be welcome at this point. She wandered for a few moments, unable to locate even her father, when someone grabbed her elbow.

She turned to see a sentry reached out to catch her attention. It was Claude’s brother, Nigel, he must have drawn an extra assignment. She wondered where they found a uniform to fit him for the occasion. He was much taller than Claude, or anyone else on the manor, standing at six and a half feet tall. Marguerite’s father kept both boys on after their parents passed from cholera several years back, and agreed to be their ward as long as they worked on the estate and learned a trade.

Claude was a model orphan, grateful, hard working and humble. It said much about Lord Vadnay’s character that he‘d kept Nigel on as long as he had. The boy was always making mischief and Marguerite guessed he’d been assigned house duty tonight to keep him out of trouble elsewhere. None of which would matter in a few days: they were both leaving for New France and would probably never return.

“Nigel!” She dared not look at him as she extricated her arm,

“What do you want?”

“It’s Claude, he wants to see you. We’re leaving in the morning.”

“What are you talking about?” This was not the sort of news she needed to hear at the moment.

“Our orders have been changed, we are to report at dawn to our commander in town. Claude asked me to let you know and to ask you to meet him in the gardens. I’m only telling you this because we will be rid of you tomorrow and my little brother only asks me for favors when it’s dire.”

“Is he still there? How long has he been waiting?”

“I’m sure he’s still there Miss,” Nigel’s voice held a note of bitterness, “he’d not leave if he thought you might come.”

Marguerite hesitated, she instinctively grabbed her cricket as she took two steps toward the garden. Then almost as an afterthought,

“Thank you, Nigel. Please watch over him out there?”

“Ha!” He didn’t look at her but she could see the sour expression on his face plainly enough, “Says the girl who’s taken him for granted her whole life.”

Marguerite was already walking away when he said this, she heard him but only just, and decided it wasn’t worth the worry. Nigel had never liked her and the feeling was mutual.

Thank you for having me on your blog! I hope you enjoy the book.
Cheers!
Leigh

Thanks Leigh! Love this!

About Leigh:

Leigh Statham was raised in the wilds of rural Idaho, but found her heart in New York City. She worked as a waitress, maid, artist, math teacher, nurse, web designer, art director, thirty-foot inflatable pig and mule wrangler before she settled down in the semi-quiet role of wife, mother and writer. She resides in North Carolina with her husband, four children, five chickens and two suspected serial killer cats. If the air is cool and the sun is just coming up over the horizon, you can find her running the streets of her small town, plotting her next novel with the sort of intensity that will one day get her hit by a car.

Connect with the Author: Website |Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

•        Three (3) winners will receive a physical copy of The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl by Leigh Statham (INT)
•        Three (3) winners will receive a digital copy of The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl by Leigh Statham (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Go to Chapter by Chapter to check out the Tour Schedule for more awesome posts!

Blog Tour- SHADOW SCALE by Rachel Hartman An Interview and A Giveaway!

I am so excited to be able to host a stop on the SHADOW SCALE Blog Tour! I loved SERAPHINA and the finale in the duology was just as awesome!! I have an interview with Rachel today. Make sure to enter the giveaway below for a copy of the book courtesy of Random House!
Haven't heard of SHADOW SCALE? Check it out!

Title: SHADOW SCALE

Author: Rachel Hartman

Pub. Date: March 10, 2015

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Pages: 608

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Goodreads

Seraphina took the literary world by storm with 8 starred reviews and numerous “Best of” lists. At last, her eagerly awaited sequel has arrived—and with it comes an epic battle between humans and dragons.

The kingdom of Goredd: a world where humans and dragons share life with an uneasy balance, and those few who are both human and dragon must hide the truth. Seraphina is one of these, part girl, part dragon, who is reluctantly drawn into the politics of her world. When war breaks out between the dragons and humans, she must travel the lands to find those like herself—for she has an inexplicable connection to all of them, and together they will be able to fight the dragons in powerful, magical ways. 

As Seraphina gathers this motley crew, she is pursued by humans who want to stop her. But the most terrifying is another half dragon, who can creep into people’s minds and take them over. Until now, Seraphina has kept her mind safe from intruders, but that also means she’s held back her own gift. It is time to make a choice: Cling to the safety of her old life, or embrace a powerful new destiny?

Now on to the interview!

Thanks so much Rachel for answering my questions! I can’t wait to read SHADOW SCALE!

Hi Rachel! First I want to say welcome to Two Chicks on Books! I loved SERAPHINA and can’t wait to read SHADOW SCALE and am so happy that you could stop by for a visit!

For the readers: can you tell us a little bit about the amazing world you’ve built and the characters?

Goredd is a medieval realm where dragons are able to take human form. As you might imagine, this causes a great deal of trouble. Dragons and humans have been at peace for forty years, but it’s been a strained relationship, and by the end of SERAPHINA, both sides have reached a breaking point. SHADOW SCALE sees the dragons at war with each other -- a conflict between those who want to preserve peace with humans, and those who want to annihilate them -- and the war is likely to spill south into human lands unless Seraphina can find a way to prevent it.

For those of us who have read SERAPHINA can you spill any secrets about SHADOW SCALE?

It’s hard not to be spoilery, but I think I can say that Seraphina finally goes searching for the people in her head. Her journey takes her across the Southlands, through Porphyry and into dragon territories, and even into the darkest and most hidden corners of herself. 

Were any of the characters in the book inspired by people from your real life?

There’s no one-to-one correspondence, no. On the other hand, almost every character has qualities stolen from real life. It’s as if I took everyone I ever met, shook them up together in a bag, and reassembled them from different pieces.

Who was your favorite character to write? What about your least favorite?

Orma has always been my favourite, both in Seraphina and Shadow Scale. He comes to me quite naturally. I don’t know that I’d call anyone my “least favourite,” exactly, but certainly the hardest character to write was Jannoula. It took me a long time to get her personality exactly in balance so she wasn’t too over-the-top or too obscure.

What is your favorite passage/scene in SHADOW SCALE?

It’s hard to answer this without spoiling! However, I think my very favourite scene is the epilogue. I occasionally felt at sea with this book, and it was like my star in the storm, leading me toward the place I knew I had to go.

What kind of research did you have to do for the story?

I read a lot of feminist, post-colonial, and social justice essays, which I hope won’t scare anyone off. Everything I read is thrown in the mulch hopper, and it comes out thoroughly fermented on the other side. You’ll hardly know it’s there.

What are you reading right now? Or what do you have on your TBR that you’re dying to read?

I just started Sex and Violence,by Carrie Mesrobian, which is terrific so far. I was in the middle of TerryPratchett’s Dodger, but he just died and so I think I’m going to have to set that one aside for a while. It makes me too sad right now.

Who is your ultimate Book Boyfriend?

Oh, golly, I’m afraid my tastes in literary men are pretty old-fashioned. I quite like Will Ladislaw, from Middlemarch. Although as I get older, I almost prefer Mr. Farebrother.

What inspired you to write YA?

I wanted to write for teens because that’s the age I was when reading seemed most magical, when a single book still had the power to change the course of my life.

Lightening Round Questions

Twitter or Facebook?

I use them but I sort of hate them both. I guess right now I lean toward Twitter, where I enjoy having writing sprints with friends

Favorite Superhero?

Ajax! Whaddaya mean ancient Greeks don’t count?

Favorite TV show?

Vikings

Sweet or Salty?

Don’t make me choose!

Any Phobias?

I am afraid of fuzzy caterpillars. Stop laughing. It’s sad and true.

Song you can’t get enough of right now?

“Saoirse” by The Gloaming

Fall Movie you’re most looking forward to?

I was about to protest that I know nothing of upcoming movies, but then I remembered that I heard there’s a new Terminator coming. Even though I was pretty meh on the last one, I am always  a sucker for Terminator.

About Rachel:

Rachel Hartman’s first YA fantasy novel, SERAPHINA, will be published by Random House on July 10th, 2012.

Rachel was born in Kentucky, but has lived a variety of places including Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, England, and Japan. She has a BA in Comparative Literature, although she insists it should have been a BS because her undergraduate thesis was called “Paradox and Parody in Don Quixote and the satires of Lucian.” She eschewed graduate school in favour of drawing comic books. She now lives in Vancouver, BC, with her family, their whippet, and a talking frog and salamander (who fight zombies)(really. There are a lot of zombies in the Pacific Northwest).

Follow her on Facebook or Twitter!

Website

Giveaway Details:

1 Finished copy of SHADOW SCALE! US/Canada Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dying to Read (97)- AN INHERITANCE OF ASHES by Leah Bobet

Hey y’all thanks for stopping by to see my Dying to Read post and of course as always I have to give credit to the lovely Jill over at Breaking the Spine for the Waiting on Wednesday Meme!

Doesn't this one sound awesome???!!

Title: AN INHERITANCE OF ASHES
Author: Leah Bobet

Release Date: October 6, 2015

Hardcover: 400 pages

Publisher:  Clarion Books
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble  | iBooks

The strange war down south—with its rumors of gods and monsters—is over. And while sixteen-year-old Hallie and her sister wait to see who will return from the distant battlefield, they struggle to maintain their family farm.

When Hallie hires a veteran to help them, the war comes home in ways no one could have imagined, and soon Hallie is taking dangerous risks—and keeping desperate secrets. But even as she slowly learns more about the war and the men who fought it, ugly truths about Hallie’s own family are emerging. And while monsters and armies are converging on the small farm, the greatest threat to her home may be Hallie herself. 

So what do you think? Will you be adding this to your pile? What are you dying to read this week?

Top Ten Tuesday (21)- Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR List

Hi Happy St. Paddy's Day!!! And welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! 

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

March 17: Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR List

These are in no particular order just books I want to read this spring. Click on the cover for details

1.

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7.

8. 

9. 

10.  

So this is my list. What about you? Whats on your spring TBR?

And come back next week for my Top 10 Books From My Childhood (Or teen years) That I Would Love To Revisit ;)

Hugs,
Jaime

M9B Friday Reveal- Author Spotlight Amy McNulty and a Giveaway!

Welcome to this week’s M9B Friday Reveal!

This week, we are spotlighting Amy McNulty, author of

Nobody's Goddess

presented by Month9Books!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

Lightening Round Questions

• Twitter or Facebook? Twitter
• Favorite Superhero? Storm
• Favorite TV show? Breaking Bad
• Sweet or Salty? Sweet
• Coke or Pepsi? Neither!
• Any Phobias? Panic (I'm afraid of being afraid. It makes no sense to me, either.)
• Song you can’t get enough of right now? "Flyers" by BRADIO
• Who is your ultimate Book Boyfriend? Edward Rochester
• What are you reading right now or what's on your TBR? The Fading Dusk by Melissa Giorgio (out this summer)
• Fall Movie you’re most looking forward to? Mockingjay Part 2

Amy McNulty is a freelance writer and editor from Wisconsin with an honors degree in English. She was first published in a national scholarly journal (The Concord Review) while in high school and currently spends her days alternatively writing on business and marketing topics and primarily crafting stories with dastardly villains and antiheroes set in fantastical medieval settings.

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

In a village of masked men, each loves only one woman and must follow the commands of his “goddess” without question. A woman may reject the only man who will love her if she pleases, but she will be alone forever. And a man must stay masked until his goddess returns his love—and if she can’t or won’t, he remains masked forever.

Where the rest of her village celebrates this mystery that binds men and women together, seventeen year old Noll is just done with it. She’s lost all her childhood friends as they’ve paired off, but the worst blow was when her closest companion, Jurij, finds his goddess in Noll’s own sister. Desperate to find a way to break this ancient spell, Noll instead discovers why no man has ever loved her: she is in fact the goddess of the mysterious lord of the village, a Byronic man who refuses to let Noll have her right as a woman to spurn him and who has the power to fight the curse. Thus begins a dangerous game between the two: the choice of woman versus the magic of man. And the stakes are no less than freedom and happiness, life and death—and neither Noll nor the veiled man is willing to lose.

Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

The book will be sent upon the titles release.

a Rafflecopter giveaway