Cover Reveal and Giveaway: To Have and To Harm by Debra Doxer

I am so excited to share the cover for Debra Doxer’s To Have and To Harm!!

Title: To Have and to Harm

Series: The Remedy Series

Author: Debra Doxer

Cover Design: Okay Creations

Release Day: JUNE 10TH

About the Book:

To Have and to Harm (Remedy Series, #2)

She kept everyone from harm, except herself…

Raielle’s life was shrouded in secrets. Her power was a secret and so was her past. When she came to Fort Upton, everything changed. She discovered her family, and she found the boy who would own her heart forever. But it couldn’t last. Knowing so little about her power nearly destroyed her. She had to leave and break both their hearts.

Now she’s back in California, and she doesn’t have to hide who she is anymore. But there is no relief in that because she’s drowning in regret. She knew it would take a miracle or a sin to save her, and there was no miracle. Her survival came at too high a price. She found her father, but she can’t go back to Lucas until she finds redemption.

She saved him. Then she left him…

She came out of nowhere and changed him forever, then she disappeared and left him reeling. Her whole life, she never had anyone who really loved her. Until him. Did she think he wouldn’t come for her? Did she believe she wasn’t worth it?

Lucas leaves everything behind to follow Raielle. When he finds her, she’s a pale shadow of the girl he remembers. Her power is betraying her and so are the people around her, but one thing hasn’t changed. She selflessly wants to save the world, and he just wants to save her.

With more secrets to uncover and dark truths to face, Raielle and Lucas must make sacrifices to be together again. But in the end, will those sacrifices bring them closer together or tear them apart? When he’s forced to make the ultimate sacrifice, will she turn her back on everything she believes in to save him again?

~ This book is intended for mature readers due to sexual situations and strong language. ~

Signed set of books from the author:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


  About Keep You From Harm (Remedy Series 1)

Secrets…

They weigh you down. I’ve kept a secret all my life. It’s my mother’s secret, too. I inherited it from her along with a unique ability that only we possess. She’s gone now, another victim of addiction. If her death isn’t enough to bring me to my knees, her betrayal flays me to the bone. Because the secret my mother and I have been keeping is just one of many she’d kept. She never told me I have an older brother. And now he’s here, eager to be my guardian.

There is no one else. So I move across the country to live with this stranger, my brother. But experience has taught me that most situations are temporary and forming attachments only leads to hurt in the end. That’s why I’m determined to keep to myself in this new place, struggling to seem aloof while I’m quietly breaking apart.

Then I meet Lucas…

His magnetism is hard to resist, and most girls at school aren’t resisting. I don’t fall so easily though, especially not for guys who use their good looks as a weapon. From the start, our interactions are tense and volatile. I know it’s because I’m denying the unwelcome desire that grips me when he’s near. I think he feels it, too. He looks at me with an intensity that threatens to unhinge my resolve. Soon he’s trying to break through the walls that past hurts have built.

But I’m not what I appear to be, and it wouldn’t be fair to get involved with him. At least that’s what I tell myself. Until a terrible act of violence reveals that Lucas has a secret, too. It’s a secret that links us together and ties us to an evil history I could never have imagined.

About the Author:

Debra Doxer was born in Boston, and other than a few lost years in the California sunshine, she has always resided in the Boston area. She writes fiction, technical software documents, illegible scribbles on sticky notes, and texts that get mangled by AutoCorrect. She writes for a living, and she writes for fun. When her daughter asks when she’ll run out of words, her response always is, “When I run out of time.”

Connect with Debra: www.facebook.com/AuthorDebraDoxer

twitter.com/debradoxer 

www.goodreads.com/author/show/6876249.Debra_Doxer

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) Pick of the Week!

WoW is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and is a weekly meme that is all about the new releases. 

My pick for WoW this week goes to The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness. I adore this trilogy, it has just the right amount of historical to paranormal and I am going to be so sad to see it end.

It feels like years that I have been waiting for this last installment and I just know it will be bittersweet when it is finally here.

Book Description:

After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchant­ing series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they re­unite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its miss­ing pages takes on even more urgency. In the tril­ogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowl­edge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

Review: Renegade by Debra Driza

Title: Renegade
Author: Debra Driza
Series: Book Two in the MILA 2.0 Series
Published By: Katherine Tegen Books (May 13, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Fantasy/Sci Fi
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description:
There is no one left for Mila to trust. Except for a boy she barely knows.

But Hunter has no idea who—and what—Mila really is. She can’t bear to reveal her secret, even though he’s unwittingly joined her search for Richard Grady, a man who may know more details of Mila’s complicated past.

Yet the road to the truth is more dangerous than ever. With General Holland and the Vita Obscura scouring the earth for her whereabouts, Mila must rely on her newfound android abilities to protect herself and Hunter from imminent harm. Still, embracing her identity as a machine leads her to question the state of her humanity—as well as Hunter’s real motives.

Perfect for fans of I Am Number Four and Divergent, this action-packed and heart-wrenching second installment of MILA 2.0 will leave readers breathlessly awaiting the series conclusion.

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I really liked the whole concept and idea behind MILA, an android girl with real human emotions and memories that can't be explained and even though I didn't totally fall in love with the book, I liked it enough to know that I wanted to continue on with the series.

I had so many questions about V.O. that I needed answered, not to mention about Hunter. Was he good, was he bad?> Was he everything he appeared to be?

Yep, lots of questions and I was really hoping I would get a lot of them, if not all of them, answered in this second installment. 

And oh boy did I!

I don’t' even know what to say in fear that I will spoil something somehow so I am going to try and leave this as simple as I possibly can and spoiler free.

This one started right off where the first one ended, with Mila calling Hunter and asking him to meet her. While it started there, it certainly didn't end there. From the first chapter there are still so many questions, so much suspicion and uncertainly about Mila herself, her mom, the V.O. and of course about Hunter not to mention the action starts pretty quickly with fights, dangers, and Mila constantly needing to be on guard, all while trying to remain as human as she feels. 

There is a lot that goes on and yet still a lot left to be done. Yes we get answers, a lot in fact but those answers just cause new questions to come out and with the new questions you once again have to start questioning everyone around Mila. Who are the bad guys, who can she trust and most of all, what in the heck is she exactly and why...well, there are a whole lot of why's in there.

I actually really enjoyed this. Once again, more than I thought I would. I am actually really really curious what the author is going to do in the next book. How she is going to explain everything, handle everything and of course, end everything. 

Who will still be left standing and what it will all mean to Mila in the end.

I will definitely be there reading right along with everyone else that has tried this series and was surprised by it because I just have to know how it all plays out and goes down.

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: Fool Me Twice by Mandy Hubbard

Title: Fool Me Twice
Author: Mandy Hubbard
Series: An If Only Novel (Can be read as a stand alone)
Published By: Bloomsbury Children's (May , 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: NA Contemporary
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description:
Mackenzie and Landon were the perfect couple . . . until he dumped her and broke her heart. Fast-forward a year and they're back where they first met—Serenity Ranch and Spa, where they are once again working together for the summer. Talk about awkward.

Then, Landon takes a nasty fall and gets amnesia. Suddenly, he’s stuck in the past—literally. His most recent memory is of last summer, when he and Mack were still together, so now he’s calling her pet names and hanging all over her. It's the perfect chance for revenge. The plan is simple: keep Landon at arm’s length, manipulate him so he’s the one falling love, and then BAM, dump him. There’s just one problem: Mack can’t fall for Landon all over again.

The If Only romance line is all about wanting what you can't have, and Mandy Hubbard's hilarious break-up/love story is sure to captivate anyone who has ever wished for a second shot at love.

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This is the second book I have picked up from Bloomsbury's new line and I have to say, I am loving them! So much fun.

These are the reads that I absolutely crave some days. The hopeless romantic in me demands to be fed and these give me exactly what I need when I have needed them. 

I adored Mackenzie and her pranks and full loving attitude and my heart went out to her over her heartbreak with Landon. And even though in the beginning I didn't want to like or even love Landon, darn the author, I couldn't help but love him by the end. 

This was such a fun story perfect for this time of read and I soaked it up with a smile on my face almost the whole read through. This truly is a fun loving story with those happily ever afters I crave and live for. 

Hubbard did an amazing job bringing her characters to life and making them so realistic that they feel like people you know and already love. People you connect with and want to be friends with, with situations that anyone can imagine and relate to. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

The Sunday Post

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

~this meme was inspired in part by ~ In My Mailbox~

It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog. 

This Week On the Blog:

Review: Don't Call Me Baby by Gwendolyn Heasley

Review: Sweet Reckoning by Wendy Higgins

Waiting on Wednesday

Review: Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet by Darynda Jones

Mini Review: Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae

Mini Review: Destroy Me by Tahereh Maja

This Coming Week On the Blog:

Review: Fool Me Twice by Mandy Hubbard

Review: Renegade by Debra Driza

WoW

Review: Rebel by Amy Tintera

Review: Fifth Grave Past The Light by Darynda Jones

Mini Review: The Boys of Summer by C.J. Duggan

So, that is what is going on around here.

This week I am still trying to keep my TBR pile down and my ARC pile but I did snag a couple because it is hard to resist sometimes but I am still reading more than I am taking in, so hey, progress right?

This is what I received for review, a big thank you to all the publishers and authors:

Mini Review: Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Destroy Me
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Series: Novella (#1.5) in the Shatter Me Series
Published By: Harper Teen (October 2, 2012)
Source: Purchased
Genre: YA Dystopian/Fantasy
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description:
In Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me, Juliette escaped from The Reestablishment by seducing Warner—and then putting a bullet in his shoulder. But as she’ll learn in Destroy Me, Warner is not that easy to get rid of. . .

Back at the base and recovering from his near-fatal wound, Warner must do everything in his power to keep his soldiers in check and suppress any mention of a rebellion in the sector. Still as obsessed with Juliette as ever, his first priority is to find her, bring her back, and dispose of Adam and Kenji, the two traitors who helped her escape. But when Warner’s father, The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, arrives to correct his son’s mistakes, it’s clear that he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner simply cannot allow.

Set after Shatter Me and before its forthcoming sequel, Unravel Me, Destroy Me is a novella told from the perspective of Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45.

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Dang it. I really really didn't want to like Warner. I didn't but yet, gah, darn Mafi, she made me feel for him. She made me like him even. Pity him even,  and I really am heartbroken over it because I was so looking forward to expending so much energy to hating him. Now, whatever will I do? Where will all that disgust and hate go?

Oh, I know, to his blasted despicable father. The supreme. Yep, that is exactly where my hate and disgust can now reside. 

Just when I think I have a handle on my feelings for this trilogy and its characters the author has to go and throw a curve ball in and make me feel even more and start to question everything....I love it and it makes me eager to continue on with the series. To experience whatever else the author plans on throwing my way.

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Mini Review: Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae

Title: Wish You Were Italian
Author: Kristin Rae
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Bloomsbury (May 6, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description:
Pippa is in Italy for the summer and, despite her parents’ wishes, she has no intention of just studying the local art! She has a list of things of her own to do: from swimming in the Mediterranean Sea to getting a makeover – and falling for an Italian boy! As Pippa explores the dramatic ruins of Rome and Pompeii, she is swept into her own drama with two guys: an irresistible local she knows is nothing but trouble and a cute American archaeology student . . . Will she find her true love?

The perfect reckless romance to enjoy whether you are home or abroad.

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This was a stinkin' cute read. 

Not the most eloquent way to start a review but there you have it, this was adorable and I had so much fun reading it. It was exactly what I needed when I needed it. Light, airy, fun, friendship to love romance, great characters, gorgeous backdrop...perfect read.  In fact this is the perfect spring/summer read. It puts you in the mood to have fun and remember what it was like to fall in love and become your own person. 

I adored Pippa and Darren and I just couldn't get enough of them. Their soft friendship, the chance encounters, the humor, the adventure, the setting, gah! This was such a fantastic read.

I really look forward to reading more from this author in the future because I live for reads like this one. They make me smile, they make me giggle and most of all they make my heart met and brim over with happiness. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: Fourth Grave Beneath by Feet by Darynda Jones

Title: Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Fourth Book in the Charley Davidson Series
Published By: St. Martin's Press (October 30, 2012)
Source: Purchased
Genre: Urban Fantasy
My Rating: 4.5 Stars!


Book Description:
Welcome to the world of grim reaper extraordinaire Charley Davidson. Try as she might, there’s no avoiding her destiny.
Sometimes being the grim reaper really is, well, grim. And since Charley’s last case went so awry, she has taken a couple of months off to wallow in the wonders of self-pity. But when a woman shows up on her doorstep convinced someone is trying to kill her, Charley has to force herself to rise above...or at least get dressed. It becomes clear something is amiss when everyone the woman knows swears she’s insane. But the more they refute the woman’s story, the more Charley believes it.

In the meantime, the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, is out of prison and out of Charley’s life, as per her wishes and several perfectly timed death threats. But his absence has put a serious crimp in her sex life. While there are other things to consider, like the fact that the city of Albuquerque has been taken hostage by an arsonist, Charley is having a difficult time staying away. Especially when it looks like Reyes may be involved.

Just when life was returning to normal, Charley is thrust back into the world of crime, punishment, and the devil in blue jeans in this hilarious fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling series.

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Goodness I love this series and I just can't seem to get enough of it, really it is like crack to a druggie good. I find myself thinking about the characters long after I shouldn't be and wondering what if and what abouts and who knows what else while really, I should be concentrating on something else entirely, like quite possibly the other book in front of me, but alas, I'm not. I may have picked up Charley's ADD-ness somewhere along the way. 

Dang Charley and her irresistible-ness and Reyes and his hotness. Dang this series! I think it very well may have ruined me for all other UF series (well, ones that I don't already love at least).

I am pretty sure I have said this before but just in case I haven't, Jones is a genius. Truly she packs everything I love in a book, into characters and plots,  into her stories and then she adds a little extra just in case they weren't fabulous enough already.

This book had a different feel than the others, after all that transpired in book three, Charley is bruised battered and a little worse for wear but it doesn't take away from her character or her awesomeness, in fact it adds to it. It makes her feel even more real. Even more alive. She might be a Reaper but she isn't immune to the affects of the world, to harshness, to danger or to death. 

I really felt for Charley as she struggled through her injuries, both physical and mental. PTSD is a horrible thing and you could really feel Charley's struggle with it. She isn't use to being vulnerable or really even scared. Her life has been in danger before and she has always come through beautifully but this time was different in so many ways. And not only is she dealing with her injuries but with other things as well.

Charley is finally coming to terms with who she is and what that means as well as recognizing her feelings towards the sexy as all get out Reye. It isn't easy being the son of Satan and it's even harder having a soft spot for him. 

Jones once again delivers with a sexy as sin fourth installment in her kick butt series and the girl has me completely and utterly hooked. 

This series just gets better and better. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Waiting on Wenesday

WoW is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It is a great opportunity to showcase those books that we are most excited about releasing in the upcoming months.

My choice this week goes to My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal.

Book Description:

What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy? 

Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss—the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died—is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn’t a suicide as everyone assumes. She can’t remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she’s worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend. 

If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she’ll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made—good and bad—that led to her last kiss.

I love finding new authors to read and this one just looks like one I need to try. How about you, are you willing to give this one a try? Does it look like something that you might enjoy as well?

Review: Sweet Reckoning by Wendy Higgins

Title: Sweet Reckoning
Author: Wendy Higgins
Series: Book Three in the Sweet Trilogy
Published By: Harper Teen (April 29, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 4.5 Stars!

Book Description:
It’s time. 

Evil is running rampant and sweet Anna Whitt is its target. Nobody knows when or how the Dukes will strike, but Anna and her Nephilim allies will do anything necessary to rid the earth of the demons and their oppressive ways.

The stakes are higher than ever, and Anna is determined that the love she feels will be her strength, not a liability. But trying to protect the ones she loves while running for her life and battling demonic forces proves to be perilous—especially as faces are changing and trust is fleeting. When the Duke of Lust sends Anna’s great love, Kaidan Rowe, to work against her, Anna must decide how much she’s prepared to risk.

In the most sensual and fast-paced installment yet, Sweet Reckoning brings all the beloved Neph together one last time to fight for their freedom.

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To say I was anxious and nervous to start this is a huge understatement. I actually felt a little sick opening the pages because I have been burned before with last books and I so did not want to have to go stalk Higgins until she made the wrongs right and gave me what I wanted out of this last installment and I didn't want to hate her because we have been getting along so nicely up until this point, why ruin a good thing?

So yeah, I was very apprehensive starting this. I love Kai and Anna and I wanted them to be able to be together, to love one another openly and lovingly. I wanted them to have their happily ever after.   

Oh gosh Higgins did not disappoint. I could tell right from the start this was going to be different from the other books. Not the writing or really event he characters, but the whole feel of the book. Where the storyline was going and what was going to happen. I mean, this was it, the end regardless of how it turned out.

I freaking loved all of it. Higgins knows how to take us on a journey. Make out hearts soar with exhalation and then plummet in our chests like a carnival ride gone wrong except it is one ride you don't want to get off of. You want to stay tucked tight into your seat gripping the safety rails and just hold on because you know, you just know, that at the end of it, all the heartbreak, all the ups and downs, will have been worth it.

This really was perfect. There were losses and gains and so much more.

All I have to really say is, thank you Ms. Higgins for giving us a beautiful conclusion to Anna and Kai's story. One that I could live with, be happy with and one that held true to the rest of the storyline and previous books.

You truly ended this well and I am so looking forward to whatever you come out with next because although I will be sad I don't have Kaidan to drool over next, just think of all the possibilities for someone new and maybe even more yummy you could create. Either way, I will be there, eager to read it. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: Don't Call Me Baby by Gwendolyn Heasley

Title: Don't Call Me Baby
Author: Gwendolyn Heasley
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Harper Teen (April 22, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: 3 Stars

Book Description:
All her life, Imogene has been known as the girl on THAT blog.

Imogene's mother has been writing an incredibly embarrassing, and incredibly popular, blog about her since before she was born. Hundreds of thousands of perfect strangers knew when Imogene had her first period. Imogene's crush saw her "before and after" orthodontia photos. But Imogene is fifteen now, and her mother is still blogging about her, in gruesome detail, against her will.

When a mandatory school project compels Imogene to start her own blog, Imogene is reluctant to expose even more of her life online...until she realizes that the project is the opportunity she's been waiting for to tell the truth about her life under the virtual microscope and to define herself for the first time.

Don't Call Me Baby is a sharply observed and irrepressibly charming story about mothers and daughters, best friends and first crushes, and the surface-level identities we show the world online and the truth you can see only in real life.

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I picked this one up simply because of all the blogging references and I had a pretty good hunch that this was going to be one of those cutesy perfect in between reads we all need every now and then and that is exactly what I got.

And even though this is a cute fun read it isn't all fluff. It is very much a coming of age story all about personal space, respect, privacy and just plain and simply, growing up and becoming more than just a name or face. 

I loved all the blogging references that only a true die hard blogger probably appreciated or got but it was fun nonetheless to take a look at how blogging can affect other people, as in the blogger's family. Are we putting too much personal stuff out there in the blogsphere and through social media? What is deemed safe and acceptable? Where is that line and how do we really know when we have crossed it?

I actually really liked Imogene and while she didn't always go about doing things and getting her point across to her family about her feelings of her mother's blog and the affect it had on her, she was a very realistic feeling teenager. 

This was a very cute coming of age story and lived up to my expectations of the author. I love these feel good books with sweet messages and I can always count on Heasley to deliver them. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*