Realm of the Sapphired Dragon: January 2017

Tuesday, 10 January 2017

Release Day Blitz + Giveaway: Roseblood by A.G. Howard

I am so excited that ROSEBLOOD by A.G. Howard releases today and that I get to share the news!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author A.G. Howard, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a signed ROSEBLOOD poster and a mask courtesy of A.G. and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

About The Book:

Title: ROSEBLOOD

Author: A.G. Howard

Pub. Date: January 10, 2016

Publisher: Amulet Books

Pages: 432

Formats: Hardcover, paperback, eBook

Find it: Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads

In this modern day spin on Leroux’s gothic tale of unrequited love turned to madness, seventeen-year-old Rune Germain has a mysterious affliction linked to her operatic talent, and a horrifying mistake she’s trying to hide. Hoping creative direction will help her, Rune’s mother sends her to a French arts conservatory for her senior year, located in an opera house rumored to have ties to The Phantom of the Opera.

At RoseBlood, Rune secretly befriends the masked Thorn—an elusive violinist who not only guides her musical transformation through dreams that seem more real than reality itself, but somehow knows who she is behind her own masks. As the two discover an otherworldly connection and a soul-deep romance blossoms, Thorn’s dark agenda comes to light and he’s forced to make a deadly choice: lead Rune to her destruction, or face the wrath of the phantom who has haunted the opera house for a century, and is the only father he’s ever known.

About A.G. Howard

A.G. Howard was inspired to write SPLINTERED while working at a school library. She always wondered what would've happened had the subtle creepiness of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland taken center stage, and she hopes her darker and funkier tribute to Carroll will inspire readers to seek out the stories that won her heart as a child.

When she's not writing, A.G.'s pastimes are reading, rollerblading, gardening, and family vacations which often include impromptu side trips to 18th century graveyards or condemned schoolhouses to appease her overactive muse.

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a signed ROSEBLOOD poster and a Mask. US Only.

Ends on January
17th at Midnight EST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, 9 January 2017

Teaser Tuesday #126 : Dreamhunter (The Dreamhunter Duet #1) by Elizabeth Knox #teasertuesday

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My current read is Dreamhunter (The Dreamhunter Duet #1) by Elizabeth Knox and my four lines are from page 102

Tziga didn't want to sleep. He didn't want what was before him, the strict prison of his dream, nine nights of torture for himself and for the handpicked prisoners who would share his dream-unrepentant murderers, and the men who persistently threatened public order, then when locked up, started prison strikes or riots. Tziga wanted the horror of the dream out of him now. He wanted to break himself open and have it leave him at once, and forever.

Dreamhunter (The Dreamhunter Duet #1) by Elizabeth Knox

Laura comes from a world similar to our own except for one difference: It is next to the Place, an unfathomable land that fosters dreams of every kind and is inaccessible to all but a select few, the dreamhunters. These are individuals with the ability to catch larger-than-life dreams and relay them to audiences in the magnificent dream palace. People travel from all around to experience the benefits of the hunters’ unique visions.
Now, fifteen-year-old Laura and her cousin Rose, daughters of dreamhunters, are old enough to find out if they qualify to enter the Place. But nothing can prepare them for what they are about to discover. In the midst of a fascinating landscape, Laura’s dreamy childhood is ending, and a nightmare is beginning.

Amazon.com.au | Book Depository | Booktopia

Book Blast: Shadow Fall by Audrey Grey with Giveaway

Hello readers!

Are you looking for your next read?

Well, let us help make things easier for you!

Welcome to the Book Blast for

Shadow Fall by Audrey Grey

presented by Blaze Publishing!

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

Looking for more books to read?
Read on and find a book that’s waiting for you to devour!

The asteroid hurtling toward the earth will kill billions.

The Emperor and his Gold Court will be safe in their space station, watching from the stars. The Silvers will be protected underground. But the Bronzes must fight it out at the Shadow Trials for the few remaining spots left on the space station.

When an enigmatic benefactor hands Maia Graystone a spot in the Trials, she won’t just get a chance at salvation for her and her baby brother, Max: She gets to confront the mother who abandoned her in prison, the mad Emperor who murdered her father, and the Gold prince who once loved her. But it’s the dark bastard prince she’s partnered with that will make her question everything, including her own heart. With the asteroid racing closer every day, Maia must trust someone to survive.

The question is who?

Shadow Fall (Shadow Fall #1)
by Audrey Grey
Publication Date: November 22, 2016
Publisher: Blaze Publishing

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:

" a one of a kind gift to today's literature." - Ashley Marie Nestler

"An edge-of-your-seat, thrilling action-adventure reminiscent of "An Ember in the Ashes" and "Red Queen"" - Esther Dalseno

"reminded me of why I love YA Dystopian books" - Cassie James

Audrey Grey lives in the charming state of Oklahoma, with her husband, two little people, and four mischievous dogs. You can usually find her hiding out in her office from said little people and dogs, surrounded by books and sipping kombucha while dreaming up wondrous worlds for her characters to live in.

YOU SHOULD ALSO CHECK OUT…

Seventeen-year-old Rose suffers from terrifying, painful nightmares that leave her bruised, exhausted, and questioning her sanity. Desperate to hold on, she makes a choice: Trust her doctor who claims he can cure her, or listen to another patient who swears the asylum will kill them.

Asleep by Krystal Wade
Publication Date: February 16, 2016
Publisher: Blaze Publishing

BAM | Chapters | Amazon | B&N | TBD

When Sixteen-year-old Andie Hamilton discovers she’s pregnant, she also learns the truth of her adoption. Overwhelmed, Andie must choose what’s best for the baby, but after hearing the heartbeat for the first time, she doesn’t know how she’ll ever be able let go.

Because I Love You by Tori Rigby
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Publisher: Blaze Publishing

BAM | Chapters | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | TBD | iBooks

Crescenzo never would’ve thought his father’s figurines were modeled after real people, but when his loved ones start vanishing from his life, he must unite their real life counterparts and seek their aid to save his family.

The Carver by Jacob Devlin
Publication Date: July 19, 2016
Publisher: Blaze Publishing

the-surrendered-case-maynard-blaze-publishing-ebook

After a financial collapse devastates the United States, the new government imposes a tax on the nation’s most valuable resource—the children.

Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, 5 January 2017

Blog Tour Post & Giveaway: Lost Girls By Merrie Destefano

Welcome today's stop on the Lost Girls by Merrie Destefano Blog Tour hosted by Chapter by Chapter Today's stop is a review as well as a chance to enter the great giveaway that is being run throughout this tour.

Review:
What an awesome read to start the year of with!

I picked up Lost Girls because the description for this book sounded incredibly intriguing - A cross between Fight club and Black Swan? Missing time and memory? Main character trying to piece together the puzzle of what had happened in the last year and why she had forgotten it all? I couldn't wait to dive in! As I started reading, the first paragraph of the first chapter drew me right in and I didn't emerge until I had devoured the story a few hours later.

This story has such a great combination of suspense, romance and action. I immediately liked Rachel, she was strong and loyal and I loved the way Ms Destefano portrayed the complexity of Rachel's personality as she struggled to marry the life she remembered with the life she had now and find out the reasons behind it all. She was such a real compelling character and it made the story that much better to read as I genuinely cared about what the character was going through and the outcome of the story.

The story is also really well paced. As Rachel gradually gets memories back, we become privy to more and more of what happened before and the timing of this worked really well to propel the reader onward through the story. I think the further I go in to the story, the quicker my page turning because as I need to get to the conclusion and see how it all turned out.

I also loved the mystery of the story and the fact I was left guessing until the end. Whilst I put together a couple of elements along the way, I had to keep reading, wanted to keep reading, to find out where the elements I had guess fitted and for the solution to the mystery as a whole.

I also loved the characters around Rachel, in particular Dylan, Mollie, Rachel's Dad and brother. Again, the genuineness of their characters and their interactions with rachel really helped fill out the story and provide the feels that complimented the suspense and action actrion beautifully.

Overall, this was both an extremely thrilling and compelling read. I am so glad I picked up this story to read as my first read of 2017 and thoroughly recommend it. This was the first Merrie Destefano book I have picked up to read but it certainly won't be the last.

I give this book 4 1/2 stars!

Sapphired Dragon XX

Lost Girls by Merrie Destefano

Book Title: Lost Girls

Author: Merrie Destefano

Release Date: January 3, 2017

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Fight Club meets Black Swan—Rachel wakes up in a ditch to find she doesn’t remember the last year of her life, and that everything—including herself—is vastly different than she remembers. Yesterday, Rachel went to sleep listening to Taylor Swift, curled up in her grammy’s quilt, worrying about geometry. Today, she woke up in a ditch, bloodied, bruised, and missing a year of her life. She doesn’t recognize the person she’s become: she’s popular. She wears nothing but black. Black to cover the blood. And she can fight. Tell no one. She’s not the only girl to go missing within the last year…but she’s the only girl to come back. She desperately wants to unravel what happened to her, to try and recover the rest of the Lost Girls. But the more she discovers, the more her memories return. And as much as her new life scares her, it calls to her. Seductively. The good girl gone bad, sex, drugs, and raves, and something darker…something she still craves—the rush of the fight, the thrill of the win—something she can’t resist, that might still get her killed… The only rule is: There are no rules.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29939399-lost-girls

ABOUT Merrie Destefano

CURRENTLY A FULL-TIME NOVELIST and magazine editor, Merrie Destefano’s next novel, LOST GIRLS, releases on January 3, 2017. Her other novels include AFTERLIFE and FEAST, both published by HarperCollins, and FATHOM, which was self-published. The editor of Victorian Homes magazine, she has also been the editor of American Farmhouse Style, Vintage Gardens, and Zombies magazine, and was the founding editor of Cottages & Bungalows magazine.

With 20 years experience in publishing, she worked for a variety of publishing/broadcasting companies that include Focus on the Family, The Word For Today, and PJS Publications (now Primedia). Besides editing and writing, her background includes print buying, writing/producing radio promos, directing photo shoots, developing new products, writing jacket copy for books, creating sales media packets and organizing direct mail campaigns.

Born in the Midwest, she currently lives in Southern California with her husband, two German shepherds, a Siamese cat and the occasional wandering possum. Her favorite hobbies are reading speculative fiction and watching old Star Trek episodes, and her incurable addiction is writing. She loves to camp in the mountains, walk on the beach, watch old movies, listen to alternative music—although rarely all at the same time.

Author Links:

Read a Sneek Peak of the First Chapter :

Lost Girls Chapter One: 
 
I remember last night perfectly. 
 
I know what we ate for dinner. I know my little brother didn’t do his homework. I know Dad drove me to my ballet lessons, then waited for me in the Starbucks across the street. 
 
I know that, later in the evening, I fell asleep when I was supposed to be studying geometry, my earbuds in while I listened to Taylor Swift’s latest album. 
 
That was my yesterday. 
 
The problem is, everyone, from my parents to my teachers to the police, says that stuff didn’t happen yesterday. 
 
It happened last year. 
 
I went to sleep with music playing, curled up on my bed, and wrapped in the afghan Grams knitted for me when she was on chemo. 
 
I woke up in a ditch, half-buried in a pile of leaves. I was shivering and wet, a soft rain falling, icy drops hitting me in the face and running down my neck. Trees towered overhead, black branches scratching the sky, wind howling, and from somewhere nearby came the muted sounds of traffic. 
 
I sat up, confused and scared, grogginess giving way to an intense adrenaline rush. 
 
Then I screamed, louder than I thought I could. The sound ripped out of my lungs and wouldn’t stop; it went on and on until I thought I would collapse because I knew I couldn’t breathe and scream at the same time. And then—when I was sure I would fall forward, bent over at the waist, my lungs empty and spots dancing before my eyes—then I found some way to yell again. At first my shouts were primal and there were no words, just terror and pain and a black pit in my stomach that wouldn’t allow me to have conscious thoughts. 
 
I began to cry the same thing, over and over. 
 
“Help! Somebody help me!” 
 
I tried to stand, but the gully was so slanted that I kept falling back to my knees, every stumble forcing me to become aware of another injury—the raw skin on my wrists and ankles, covered with dried blood and stinging with each drop of rain; the muscles in my legs sore and weak, like I’d been running for days; the soles of my feet aching, my tennis shoes ripped and stained with mud. 
 
I stretched out my arms, latching onto tree roots to gain my balance, and I pulled myself up the incline, foot by foot. Fingers now coated with mud, I perched on the edge of a highway, nearly blinded by headlights whenever a car sped past. 
 
There I stood, waving my arms and screaming again, not knowing that my hair was matted or that there was blood and dirt on my clothes or that my photo had been on the news for the past two weeks. 
 
Lost girl. Disappeared on her way home from school. Anyone with information, please contact the Santa Madre police department. 
 
Two cars drove past, headlights splashing me with brilliant light. I hadn’t realized until now that the sun tipped on the edge of the world, ready to disappear, or that twilight shadows were already stretching across the horizon. Great pockets of violet darkness yawned between each pair of lights that hurtled toward me, greedy fingers of darkness that wanted me to tumble back into that gully and remain hidden. 
 
Please, somebody stop and help me. 
 
I was screaming again and some sort of weird survival panic took over. 
 
I walked into the middle of the two-lane southbound road and stood there. 
 
Go ahead, run me over. I dare you. 
 
Wait, what was I doing? 
 
Several cars spun to a stop, skidding sideways, tires squealing, metal crashing metal and rubber burning. The old me, the girl who fell asleep listening to Taylor sing about a broken heart, never would have done this. What was wrong with me? 
 
My heart thundered in my chest, but I refused to move, even when the wreckage screeched closer and closer, fenders crunching, bumpers twisting, windshields shattering. I stared all the passengers in the eye, glancing from one face to the next, coolly noting that none of them were hurt—nothing beyond a bump or a bruise. 
 
You. Will. Stop. And. Help. Me. 
 
Still the wreckage surged forward. I merely lifted one hand, palm up, signaling for them to stop. Like I was a traffic cop or something. 
 
Everything finally slid to a stop, a few feet away from me. 
 
Tears coursed down my cheeks and I began to shake uncontrollably. I sank to my knees, truly myself again. Frightened and alone and lost. 
 
“Help me,” I begged, then buried my face in my hands. 
 
Car doors opened: a strange cacophony of voices tumbled out, some yelling, some speaking in hushed tones. 
 
“What’s going on?” 
 
“Is that the missing girl from the news?” 
 
“9-1-1, we have an emergency here—” 
 
“Honey, you’re gonna be okay, don’t worry—” 
 
An elderly woman with white hair and bright, pink lipstick pulled me close and draped her coat over me. When I glanced up I saw blood on her forehead, but she didn’t seem worried about herself. She smiled down at me, her face a map of connected wrinkles. 
 
“We’re gonna get you home to your parents,” she said. “Do you want to call them?” She handed me her cell phone, but my fingers were shaking too much to dial. I told her the number and she punched it in, waiting while it rang. When a voice answered on the other end, the white-haired woman said, “I have someone who wants to talk to you.” Then she handed me the phone. 
 
“Hello? Who is this?” It was my mom, a frantic tone in her voice that brought fresh tears to my eyes. 
 
My words came out shaky, with long pauses between. 
 
“Mom?” 
 
Neither one of us could talk, not for a long time, because we were both crying. Then she finally whispered my name, like it was a magical word that could change the world. 
 
“Rachel? Rachel, baby, where are you?” 
 
I looked around. “I don’t know.” 
 
“You’re on the 39, just north of Azusa,” the white-haired woman told me. 
 
Flashing lights spun in the distance and sirens blared. An ambulance and a fire truck and two police cars were headed toward us. I blinked at the brightness, shielding my eyes with one hand. 
 
“Rachel? Are you still there?” It was my father’s voice now, calling me back to the cell phone. 
 
I pressed it against my ear. “Daddy?” 
 
“Honey, when the ambulance gets there, you get inside and you stay there. Do you hear me? Don’t get in a car with anyone else!” 
 
“I will—I mean, I won’t. I’ll go with the paramedics.” My teeth were chattering and I was shivering so much I could hardly hold the phone. I think I may have started talking gibberish, half-sentences with little meaning. I remember saying something about my geometry test and worrying that I wouldn’t make it to class tomorrow and I may have mentioned something about my biology class, too, because Dad interrupted me. 
 
“Rachel, are you talking about the class you took with Miss Wallace?” 
 
“Yeah. She always gives exams on Wednesday.” 
 
There was a long silence. I wondered if we had gotten cut off. Meanwhile, the ambulance doors opened and someone wheeled a stretcher toward me. 
 
“Honey, you had geometry with Miss Wallace last year. When you were a sophomore.” 
 
I frowned. “But I’m a sophomore now.” 
 
“Baby girl, you’re a junior. Don’t worry about it. All this will get straightened out when you get home—” 
 
I dropped the phone. My hands were shaking too much to hold it. I glanced down at my hands, at the chipped red nail polish. But I hadn’t been wearing nail polish last night and I never use this color. I turned my hands over and discovered a tattoo on my inner wrist. 
 
A tattoo? 
 
Always and forever. That’s what it said. But there was no redness or swelling. I didn’t get this tattoo anytime recently. 
 
The paramedics helped me onto the stretcher, and then the world was rushing past me, rain falling on my face, people staring down at me as the stretcher wheeled by, the air thick with the smell of oil and gasoline and burned rubber. Then another smell came suddenly and violently—a memory. 
 
A thick, cloying scent of pine and cedar. 
 
My stomach lurched and I couldn’t stop. 
 
I started screaming again.

Giveaway : Contest ends January 13, 2017

One (1) winner will receive ** :

1 - Kindle Fire Tablet, black: 7" Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB, 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, with the Alexa cloud-based voice service—just press and ask.

1 - digital Kindle copy of LOST GIRLS
1 - Pack of 14 vintage-style Swan Lake postcards
1 - pr. Black Swan earrings, handmade by author
1 - "Always" temporary tattoo

All prizes listed above will be given to one prize winner.

**Please note: Prizes listed are for a US winner only; if an International winner is chosen, the prize will be a $50 Amazon gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, 2 January 2017

Teaser Tuesday #125 Lost Girls by Merrie Destefano #teasertuesday

My current read is Lost Girls by Merrie Destefano and my four lines are from location1840

Blood shows on white, a voice whispered in my head. I didn't question it, didn't even wonder why I'd had that random thought. The dress came off in a flash. Find something black, the voice said and I obeyed.