Elemental's Tour- Water Excerpt

Welcome to the Elemental's Tour Stop at Nose In A Book!

We have an excerpt from Water and a give away! Don't forget to click on the tour banner to visit the master site so you can visit all the Elemental Tour stops!

Water (Elemental's #3)

by Shauna Granger

Shayna's first surfing session of the summer is interrupted by the screams of a mother who has lost her little boy in the water. Without regard to her own safety, Shayna swims out, rescues the boy, but must escape the clutches of something far worse than she could have ever imagined – mermaids.

Compelled to answer the sirens' call, the boys of Shayna's town are drawn to the sea, but when they return are afflicted by an unknown illness, a sickness which is draining them of their life force. Unable to tell anyone about the mermaids, Shayna and her friends are forced to solve the mystery before it's too late, and in doing so, Shayna will finally have to face the full force of her powers. Whether she’s ready or not, she will have to face her true nature. 

Air (Elemental's #2)

by Shauna Granger

It was a rough start to the school year for Shayna and her friends, Jodi and Steven, but thankfully summer break is near. Trying to sort out her feelings for the new guy in town, Shayna agrees to let Jensen join her on a group date with her friends. While out they end up at a local coffee house where their classmate, social outcast Jeremy McCormick, is humiliated by his baseball star brother. When Jeremy runs away from the jeering crowd, Shayna and Jodi hear the unmistakable sound of a thousand wings chasing after him, but no one else seems to hear them. These are not like any air elementals that Shayna or Jodi have ever encountered before and they fear Jeremy has gotten himself tangled up in something too dangerous for him to handle. But when Shayna tries to help Jeremy control his magical abilities she realizes it might be the biggest mistake of her life.

Earth (Elemantal's #1)

by Shauna Granger

Shayna and her two best friends have the abilities to manipulate and control the four elements, earth, air, water and fire. While learning to hone their growing powers, they discover a new and malicious presence in their sleepy beach town. Someone is performing blood magic and threatens to expose their small magical community. So far only small animals have been slaughtered, but then the nightmares start. 

Shayna suffers nightmares of being chased and sacrificed only to wake up bloodied and bruised. She thinks her magical blood is the ultimate target for the final blood rite. When an innocent girl, Tracy, is kidnapped Shayna knows it's only a ploy to draw her out; she can't let someone die because of her.

Excerpt from Water:

Jodi turned her head suddenly, drawing my attention with her as she looked off to the distance, her blonde brows drawing together and wrinkling her forehead. What is it? I thought at her.

I thought I heard something? Her mind voice was a whisper, as if thinking too loudly would make her miss whatever it was that she heard.

Like what? I found myself whispering as well.

A wail, she said, and we both strained to try and hear it again. Jodi jumped suddenly, letting out a yelp and knocking into me. She nearly yanked her hand free of mine, but I clutched her fingers tightly, keeping hold of her.

What? What is it? I asked, almost in a panic.

Something just touched my leg! I squinted instinctively against the bright yellow of her thoughts.

Like seaweed?

No, definitely not sea- oh my god! she screamed both in mind and in voice as she was yanked suddenly under the water, dragging me under with her as I clung to her hand, grabbing her wrist with my free hand as we plummeted down. Jodi’s finely manicured nails were digging into the back of my hand, cutting half-moons into the skin and letting small streams of blood eke out into the water around us. I flipped in the water, pointing my head to the surface and holding onto Jodi’s arm with both hands as I tried to kick against the pull that was dragging us further down into the sea.

Jodi was panicking with pain that I realized was centered around her calf muscle, and I knew if we got out of this, all three of us would have matching scars as mementos from this battle. Her panic was intoxicating, threatening to overwhelm me, making my attempts to pull us to the surface muddled. Jodi screamed again, and I realized I was hearing her scream, not in my mind, but in the water, and that snapped me out of the haze of her panic, realizing she was still able to use her ability to breathe underwater. Without her performing the charm on me again, however, I soon would be out of breath and would risk passing out if I didn’t let her go to get to the surface.

I redoubled my efforts to pull her free and kicked frantically, trying not to hit Jodi in my attempts, and concentrated on blocking out her fear. I gained some distance back and took heart in that, continuing to kick as my lungs burned with the desire to breathe, a stitch forming in my side, searing and sharp. Another foot and I could see the distorted surface of the water again just a few feet away. I yanked on Jodi’s arm, focusing on the biting pain of her nails in my skin to anchor my concentration and block out her screaming.

I don’t know when I became aware of the heat surrounding us, but suddenly the water around us was rising in temperature and tiny bubbles were racing to the surface. I knew that magic; it was a familiar taste in my mouth like roasted peppers and campfire smoke; Steven was sending us his magic to help us free Jodi. The heat became concentrated in a thin line like a missile and Jodi’s hand jerked in mine as it burned her leg, and she bit her lip against the desire to swim away from it.

It couldn’t have been more than a minute, and just when I thought that she couldn’t take it much longer, I looked into her blue eyes as they flew wide and she was suddenly kicking frantically. I pulled on her arm and she came away easily and we were rushing for the surface.

Shauna Granger Links

Blog:  http://shaunasspot.blogspot.com/

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shauna-Granger/268859386472141

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/dyingechoes , @dyingechoes

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4828875.Shauna_Granger

a Rafflecopter giveaway

On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

 On the Island

by 

Tracy Garvis Graves

When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day. T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments - instead of his friends.

Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island.

Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.

Random question with Anna: Skills

Q: What skills came in the most handy while you were on the island?

Anna: Cooking, foraging, first aid. 

Thank you for participating in the ON THE ISLAND Event! This week in addition to reviews and posts, select blogs are hosting a word from the author's favorite quotes in the book as a Scavenger Hunt! There is one quote from Anna and one from T.J. Visit each stop this week to find the hidden words (they will be numbered for order) and after July 22nd, submit your answer to the quotes here! Random winners for books and swag will be chosen and notified by July 29th.

Also, next week July 23-27, there will be even more events and chances to win the book and swag!

• Monday, July 23 at 8:00 pm CST - Chat with the author Tracey Garvis Graves! We will be chatting with the author on Savor Chat: http://www.savorchat.com/chat/on-the-island-chat Come join us! (You can sign in with twitter or facebook)
• Each day look at #ontheisland on twitter for random shout outs to win books and swag! @Tale_of_Reviews
• ON THE ISLAND releases in bookstores Tuesday, July 17th! If you see the book in stores or 'in the wild' take a picture. Please tweet it and use hashtag #ontheisland. Or you can post it to facebook! Please submit twitter and facebook links of your post/tweet here!

Links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Goodreads

Author’s website

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tgarvisgraves

Twitter: @tgarvisgraves

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest Post- Paula Tiberius

Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog, Karen! This topic was so much fun to tackle – I feel like there’s no end to the imaginary conversation I could have with my younger self. But lucky for your readers I did manage to end it in a reasonable amount of time (I hope.)

Dear me at age 17,

Paula, it’s your future self here. I know, it’s hard to believe you made it to 41. It must seem impossibly old – hell, your mom is 43!

Hey - put down that joint, this is important. This isn’t a drug trip; I’m really going to give you some advice here. You might want to get a pen and paper.

Speaking of pen and paper, guess what you do for a living now? You’re a writer. You edit a lifestyle website and write screenplays and books…what? Oh, websites are these things on the Internet and…what? Oh, the Internet is this other world that lives inside computers. You’ll start hearing about it in another ten years. Yes, good idea. Put out that joint.

And can you turn the music down? Yeah I still love the Ramones – geez I’ll never get THAT old – no, they don’t tour anymore. No, they didn’t break up. Let’s talk about that another time.

I have to say, you’re doing a pretty good job so far. You’re back on track in school (whew, math was a squeaker last year!) and you’ve decided to stop with the joint custody and tell Mom and Dad it’s killing you. Well done! I know you don’t think their divorce has had any affect, but you might want to look into some therapy anyway. Just trust me on this – you have issues. They all come to a head after 9/11 when you have a bit of a nervous breakdown and…wait, don’t write down 9/11.

Anyway, I thought I would save you a bit of time in life with this useful tip: embrace everything you’re resisting. Sometimes you can tell if something’s really important to you by the speed at which you’re walking away from it.

Like writing. I know it’s supposed to be Ellen’s thing, but guess what – you can both be writers! Shocking, I know. So don’t get Ellen to write your final English Lit creative writing assignment. Yes, it is a funny story later on, as you both predicted, but you’re ripping yourself off. You have a lot to say, even now, and it is important to express yourself.

Some other time savers: Don’t bother thinking you’re going to drop out of University. Dad and Val will talk you out of it, and you end up graduating with honors, which, believe it or not, is a great thing. It turns out it actually is a better plan for you to get an education rather than be a full time waitress.

And don’t listen to other people’s opinions about your art. If you like it, it’s great. Other people don’t know what you’re trying to say. Other people are filled with ideas that are not generated by you. You know what you’re doing. You don’t need praise or criticism to keep creating.

That crazy out-of-control energy you feel in your veins right now doesn’t last forever by the way. It gets replaced by other things, like confidence and experience, which probably sound boring now, but you’ll appreciate them as they come.

If you possibly can slow down a little bit each day to listen to your instincts, that really pays off. It took me until last year to learn that, and I wish I’d started earlier.

I’m really proud of you, you know. You have your head in the right place. You’re smart, funny, interesting, you visit your grandparents a lot.  Slow down on the dopey weed though, would you? Your short-term memory sucks now.

Gabba Gabba Hey!

Love,

Your 41 year old self, Paula

Excerpt- The Cowboy Singer by Paula Tiberius

James kicked himself. Very smooth, Jimmy. Insult the woman you’re trying to get to know. Why don’t you just give her a list of infant mortality causes while you’re at it? James took a seat at the table, desperately trying to think of a way to get his foot out of his mouth. Changing the subject seemed like a good start. Something innocuous, something benign, something positive. Baby stuff! “Hey, I meant to ask how you’re set for baby things because I’ve got plenty of Summer’s stuff in my garage that you’re welcome to take.”

April seemed surprised at his offer. “Oh, thank you. That’s very generous. I guess I better figure all that out. I’ve been waiting for a paycheck.”

“Well, I’m sure you got most things at your baby shower anyway, right?” James grinned, happy to be making small talk. But April looked uneasy, which was not his intention.

“Actually, I haven’t had a shower.”

Now it was James’s turn to be surprised. “Oh! Well, if it’s co-ed, I’d love to come. Believe it or not, I know a onesie from a Snugli. Where are you registered?”  

“Registered?” April looked overcome with fear. James had steered the conversation in a disastrous direction. He wanted to put her at ease and figured girly talk was the key ingredient, but it seemed that every new thing that came out of his mouth triggered a more terrified expression from April’s pretty face. He began to ramble, sensing he was just making things worse.

“Babies R Us is where most folks do it, although there is a funky little baby store downtown you should consider since it’s privately owned. Summer loves to go there and pick out toys. Of course, you probably haven’t had time to look around yet.”

“No, I haven’t had time.” She clearly was not enjoying this conversation. He needed to end this topic.

“Well, don’t worry. I’m sure the baby won’t come early.” As soon as he said it, he knew it was a mistake. What idiot would say something like that to a first-time expectant mother? He started to sweat. He’d need a magic ladder to get out of the ditch he’d dug himself.

 “Why would the baby come early?” April sounded mortified. James had the urge to jump across the picnic table and take her in his arms. He could make everything right if he could just be closer to her. He stared at April in horror, realizing he had to say something.

Interview- Paula Tiberius

Paula Tiberius 

Welcome to Nose In A Book. I thank you for taking the time to join us. Could you start out telling the readers a little bit about yourself?

Thanks for having me! I'm a writer, filmmaker, musician and mom living in Los Angeles. I'm new to the chick lit scene because I've spent most of my life writing screenplays, and I'm newly in love with writing fiction because it's so liberating. With screenplays you can't describe things in detail or go inside people's heads (unless you're a fan of lots of voice-over, which I am not) so books are a huge revelation to me as a writer.

When and how did you know that you wanted to become a writer?

When I was at the University of Toronto for film studies, I watched a LOT of movies and wrote about them. After a while, you get bored of commenting on other people's stories and you want to write one yourself. It turns out it's a lot more fun!

Review- The Cowboy Singer by Paula Tiberius

The Cowboy Singer

by

Paula Tiberius

April Connors figured her love life was on hold now that she was about to have a baby on her own. Meeting country singer Jimmy Wick may have made her giant belly flip, but she was filing him under a big “as if.” No man in his right mind would fall for a gal this pregnant. Jimmy was not in his right mind. His ex-wife was petitioning for full custody of their four-year-old daughter and his only saving grace besides playing music was his new ‘friend’ April. But she had just been knocked up, dumped and stranded, and was hellbent on getting her life together just as his was falling apart. They were both caught off guard by the unstoppable romance that would sweep them off their feet.

Empty Net Reveals!!! Cover~Blurb~Playlist

Definition of an Empty Net:
 When a team pulls the goalie for an extra attacker, desperately seeking a goal.

Audrey Parker was in a horrible place.

She hated her job, her sister was getting married and moving out, but worst of all, she was in love with a total jerk. No matter what she did, every guy she met hurt her. All she wanted was her happily ever after. Her Prince Charming. Her Lucas Brooks! She didn’t know how to change her life but she knew she needed too.

Feeling like she was about to hit rock bottom, Audrey wakes up next to Tate Odder.

Tate Odder had lost everything.

After being brought up from the Assassins’ farm team, the Florida Rays to the Nashville Assassins, Tate hopes he’ll forget everything he has lost. He doesn’t. Each day gets harder to live in a place he doesn’t know. Even being the first rookie goalie to shut out an opposing team three times during the Lord Stanly Cup Finals, he still felt empty. With the loss of his parents and sister still heavy on his heart, Tate isn’t sure how to live like everything is okay.

But when he wakes up beside Audrey Parker, things start to change. She turns his life upside down with her kooky sense of humor and her bright clothing. She is intelligent and beautiful, and for once, he doesn’t feel empty.

Will Audrey be the person to fill the holes in Tate’s heart, making him whole again?

Or will another player ruin everything, leaving him feeling forever like an empty net?

Read the first chapter of Tate and Audrey's story here!

playlist:



Create a playlist at MixPod.com

Toni Aleo

I am a wife, mother, and hopeless romantic.

I have been told I have anger issues, but I think it’s cause of my intense love for hockey!

I am the biggest Shea Weber fan ever, and can be found during hockey season with my nose pressed against the Bridgestone Arena’s glass, watching my Nashville Predators play!

When my nose isn’t pressed against the glass, I enjoy going to my husband and son’s hockey games, my daughters dance competition, hanging with my best friends, taking pictures, and reading the latest romance novel.

I love things that sparkle, I love the color pink, and did I mention I love hockey?

Website | Facebook | Twitter: @tonilovesweber6 | Goodreads 

Get the first two books in the series, Taking Shots and Trying to Score!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Empty Net GR 

The Assassin Series GR 

I have had the pleasure of meeting and attending a Predators game with Toni. 

You can read about it here.

Review- Silent Song by Ron C Nieto

Silent Song

by

Ron C. Nieto

The princess of the school, Alice, is keeping a secret that could strip her of her high school fame. She is obsessed with the school’s outcast, Keith, but not just him – his music. 

Since the inspiration for the song hit, Keith can’t get it out of his mind. The song must be played; it demands to be played. He knows the music is changing him, but he is unable to stop it. 

Music has the ability to move you, enlighten you, and take you to places you have never dreamed of. And this particular piece? It has a life of its own and makes you forget who you really are. 

As Keith and Alice learn of one another to the notes of that one perfect tune, they can overlook their roles and discover who they could be together. But they also discover someone else is listening and intends on keeping Keith to herself, possibly for an eternity. (Product Description)

Wow! Silent Song was definitely not what I expected... but I mean that in a good way! I admit, it took me a few chapters to really get into the story but once I did, I couldn't stop.I felt like Kevin! (lol) Now, I like to do spoiler free reviews so I can't say too much without giving the plot twist away but I'll see what I can do!

Alice is one of the popular girls at school. She, along with her "friends " Lena and Anna, thinks the most important thing is status. One of the objects of their spite is Kevin. We learn that Alice's and Kevin's families were close years ago but drifted apart. As the story progress, we see Alice learning the true meaning of friendship, the importance of character, and the strength of love.  

As both participate in the school drama, Lady Windemere's Fan, they start to reconnect. As their bond grows, so does the depth of Kevin's troubles. Alice and Kevin begin to search for a way to help Kevin and discover and story of heartbreak and despair. Is the love Alice and Kevin have strong enough to overcome the forces working against them? Read Silent Song to find out.

I am giving Silent Song 4 of 5 stars. Now, I was having many personal things happen as I was beginning to read the novel so that might have made it more difficult for me to get into the book but once I did I was hooked. It was well written and descriptive. I would recommend it to any YA reader.

GoodReads

Amazon

Ron's Website