#TBR Thursday-SCHISM

This week I'm continuing off of Tuesday's Post for my recommendation. While it's labeled as YA, I think it fits more in the NA category as the characters are in college. But, having said that if you're expecting a racy, heat filled read, this isn't it.

With a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, sweet romance, world domination, and protectors of realms, this book has it all. It is the first in a series, and while certain things are answered, there are many things left for the next book (releasing Winter/Spring 2016.)

Here's the book blurb:

Art therapy hasn’t done squat for Gabe Jones. A thousand sketches of his fiancée can’t bring his memory, or her, back to him. Nothing on Earth can. His past lies in another dimension, a world just out of sight.

Another student on campus, Lea Huckley, unknowingly shares Gabe’s obsession with the fourth dimension. The monsters from the other side attacked her parents and fled, getting her folks locked up in the loony bin. Proving this other world exists is the only way to free them. Lea and Gabe strike a deal to help each other, and together they manage to open a door to the world of Gabe’s true origin. She’d use him for proof—if she didn’t already care too much.

While Gabe tries to reconcile his feelings for Lea and his rediscovered memories of his fiancée, a much more sinister plot unravels. He uncovers his history just in time to become the unwilling lynchpin in a conspiracy to start a war. His memory holds the secret to the final riddle the would-be conqueror needs to get the upper hand. Gabe must protect the riddle at all costs, even if that means leaving Earth, and Lea, behind forever.

SCHISM Blog Tour

SCHISM (Illirin Book One)
By Laura Maisano

Art therapy hasn’t done squat for Gabe Jones. A thousand sketches of his fiancée can’t bring his memory, or her, back to him. Nothing on Earth can. His past lies in another dimension, a world just out of sight.

Another student on campus, Lea Huckley, unknowingly shares Gabe’s obsession with the fourth dimension. The monsters from the other side attacked her parents and fled, getting her folks locked up in the loony bin. Proving this other world exists is the only way to free them. Lea and Gabe strike a deal to help each other, and together they manage to open a door to the world of Gabe’s true origin. She’d use him for proof—if she didn’t already care too much.

While Gabe tries to reconcile his feelings for Lea and his rediscovered memories of his fiancée, a much more sinister plot unravels. He uncovers his history just in time to become the unwilling lynchpin in a conspiracy to start a war. His memory holds the secret to the final riddle the would-be conqueror needs to get the upper hand. Gabe must protect the riddle at all costs, even if that means leaving Earth, and Lea, behind forever.

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Excerpt

Lea packed light. Other than her phone’s GPS and a flashlight, she kept a small notepad, her lucky pencil, and the thermometer in her cargo pocket. She didn’t need to find data, now she needed proof.

She led the way down the alley where skyscrapers blocked the glowing moon and the lamps from the highway. Yellowed fixtures above each back entrance threw faint cones of light onto the cement, like holes in Swiss cheese.

Lea checked the coordinates on her phone while she walked, and the little red arrow crept closer to the flag icon she placed to mark the interaction point.

Gabe spent his time surveying the area for anything that might be a danger. He kept fidgeting behind her and turning around every few seconds, a twitchy meerkat on patrol.

“We’re only between buildings. It’s not the end of the world.” Lea checked her phone again to make sure they were headed in the right direction.

He glanced over his shoulder. “I still don’t like it. It’s night, people do get mugged, you know.”

“The statistics of that are so low. We’re really not in any danger, considering the population and how many times that sorta thing happens.”

He shifted uneasily behind her. “Whatever, we’re raising the chances by being out here at night.”

Lea rolled her eyes. “I’m not missing this opportunity.”

“I know that. Neither am I.”

“Good.”

They came to a cross section behind two major offices where the loading docks and dumpsters sat for both of them. A stream of water trickled down the concave cement into the large sewer grate. Old garbage left a fume hanging around, and the humidity only made it worse.

Lea double- and triple-checked her coordinates, cross-checking with her notes. “This is it. Within I’d say, a fifteen foot diameter, low to the ground.” She shoved the phone in her cargo pocket. “Perfect.”

“How long?”

“Roughly ten minutes.”

Ten minutes may as well have been six hours. She paced back and forth, her sneakers scuffing the gritty pavement.

Gabe continued to keep a watchful eye out for muggers or vagrants. What a dork.

She snickered quietly. For someone who didn’t know his own experiences, he sure seemed paranoid. She watched him standing straight, darting his eyes to the entrance and even up to the windows above them. Watch out bad guys, Gabe’s on to you. She smiled and turned to see what looked like heat waves rising from the cold cement. Crap. The interaction had already started.

“Gabe…” She waved him over next to the loading dock.

This interaction provided no shining lights or obvious movement. Not much stood out visually, except maybe the air glistening like summer heat waves if she squinted hard enough, but her digital thermometer found the coldest point.

“Here,” she whispered, not wanting anyone or anything on the other side to hear. She stretched her arms forward, and Gabe did likewise.

“On the count of three.” She waited for him to nod. “One…two…three.”

They both reached through the interaction point and grabbed at the thicker air. Nothing. They tried again, pulling, grasping, and making any sort of motion to trigger a rip. Finally, Gabe leaned in and pulled out at just the right angle, because the light tore across like a jagged line. Lea grabbed the edge of it and tugged, opening the tear wider until they both fell through.

About the Author

Laura has an MA in Technical writing and is a Senior Editor at Anaiah Press for their YA/NA Christian Fiction. She’s excited to release her debut YA Urban Fantasy SCHISM, and she’s finishing up the sequel UNITY.

Her gamer husband and amazing daughter give support and inspiration every day. Their cats, Talyn and Moya, provide entertainment through living room battles and phantom-dust-mote hunting. Somehow, they all manage to survive living in Texas where it is hotter than any human being should have to endure. Check out her blog at LauraMaisano.blogspot.com.

Website: http://www.LauraMaisano.Blogspot.com

Twitter: @MaisanoLaura

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraMaisanoWriter

Google + https://plus.google.com/+LauraMaisano

The Importance of Words

Last week, while driving around the Finger Lakes, I saw several signs that gave me a good laugh. Sadly, I didn't think to take pictures at the time, but I've made recreations of them to share with you.

After we dropped our son off at school, we stopped to fill up the car. While my husband pumped gas, I read the advertisement board in front of me.

Yep. Someone slapped a "when you buy two" label near the health warning. The label blended in so well, it made it appear to be part of the warning. When my husband got in the car, I pointed at the sign and said, "So if you buy one you're okay?"

The next sign came in the bathroom of one of the wineries. 

There are things you want flushed down the toilet. Trust me. It's bad when they don't get flushed.

Finally, as we were heading back home, we passed a restaurant that proclaimed:

I'm pretty sure that if you were selling illegal beverages, you wouldn't be advertising it.

The point of all this? It's not just important what you say, but how you say it. The wording on all of these signs actually meant something different than intended. The same thing can happen in your writing, so be careful and say what you really mean.

Seen any signs that gave you a chuckle? Share then in the comments.

Be sure to stop back tomorrow for the SCHISM Blog Tour and an excerpt from SCHISM by Laura Maisano.

#TBR Thursday-THE DEVIL TAKE YOU

This week I'm feeling a little nostalgic-probably because I just celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary. Anyway, because I'm enjoying remembering my past, I'm choosing my favorite Historical Romance for this week's #TBR. 

When I first read this book, I quickly fell in love with the hero and heroine. Man with tortured past trying to claim his birthright saves girl from a horrible fate, tying her to him without realizing that she could be the key to all that he wants.

Set in Scotland during the transition from King Edward I to King Edward II, this book takes you from the highlands and into England.

So, what book is it?

Need more information? Here's the book blurb:

Gard Marschand will stop at nothing in his pursuit to regain what is lost. Concealing his true identity, he will associate with his enemies, kill his own countrymen, even sell his soul to the devil if all else fails. He will lie, cheat, steal, rape and siege his way across two countries gaining power and reputation in his malevolent wake. His determination all consuming, until King Edward commands Gard to lay siege on Ross-shire holding, where Braelynn Galbraith obliterates his single-minded purpose.

Braelynn Galbraith wants peace for her beloved Scotland, marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Callum, and a house full of children. In that order. But evil incarnate in the form of Gard Marschand, turns her life inside out and destroys all hope of a decent marriage.

Can Gard abandon his deep-seated need of revenge for a love that might just save his soul, or will he succumb to the demons that hound him and surrender to the devil within?

I believe your stay in purgatory has only just begun...

If you're looking for a dark read, I highly recommend this one! 

Have a book you've read you want to recommend? Share in the comments below.

Mary's Musings

It was a beautiful weekend in our neck of the woods. So, did I spend it outside working on my flower beds? No. I spent it inside attacking the mess that was my bedroom.

It all started so innocently. Saturday I decided my dresser had become an eyesore and I clean it off. (You know- flat surface...everything in the world gets set on it :-) ) So, I cleaned it all off and dusted it. Then it was a trip to the store for something to hang my necklaces from as I was out of room in my jewelry box. By Saturday night, my dresser was clean, my winter clothes changed out for summer, and my bed newly made.

Seems I'd have Sunday to work on those flower beds, right? Wrong. As my husband and I lay in bed watching the NHL playoffs, I happened to look up at my curtains and see that they were covered with dust.

A full cleaning of the room had to be done.

Sunday, I pulled everything out from under the bed, vacuumed, and returned the winter clothes bins underneath the bed (I LOVE under-the-bed storage.) Then I vacuumed the curtains, and the entertainment center. I took all the ball caps outside where my hubby and I took turns cleaning the layers of dust off with the air hose. (It was more fun than it sounds.) Once everything was dusted, then I organized (leaving myself a huge project for next weekend as my office is filled so full of things you can barely walk in it!)

All in all, it was a successful weekend. And, I did manage to get some sunshine while eating on the back deck, taking a reading break, and going for a walk.

So, how did you spend your weekend?

#TBR Thursday-CARTER REED

Here it is. My first TBR recommendation. And boy was this hard! With all the books one my shelves (both physical and electronic) choosing what to feature first was quite a difficult task. But one book kept popping up in my mind over and over. WARNING: This book is for 18+ only.  

So, what book is it?

If you like dark, gritty stories where a girl on the run for her life turns to a guy who may be more dangerous than the one chasing her, then this is a book for you.

I don't remember how I stumbled upon this book, but when I went to Amazon and clicked on the "Look Inside" feature, I knew I had to read more. I was caught from the first sentence:

"Douchebag's here."

What an opening line! Add in a murder, the mob, and and a smexy hero. This book kept me turning pages to see how things would work out between our hero and heroine.

Need more information? Here's the book blurb:

Emma decided to skip the gym and went home early. It was the last easy decision she made because she found her roommate being raped by the boyfriend. She had two choices. Call the cops and be killed by his family’s mafia connections or kill him first and hope to survive. There was no choice to her. She killed the bastard first and went to the one person who could protect her. Carter Reed. He’s a weapon for the rivaling mafia family, but he’s also Emma’s secret. Not only was he best friends with her brother, but she’s the reason he became that weapon in the first place. 

If you're looking for a dark read, I highly recommend this one! 

Have a book you've read you want to recommend? Share in the comments below.

Same blog, New Format

Since the end of last year and into this year, I've been trying to come up with a better way to theme my post days. Something that will encourage me to want to post more (yeah, I know I've been hit and miss!) and be interesting for you to read.

After months of thinking and looking at other blog themes, I've finally found my themes!!

Mondays will be Mary's Musings. On these days, I'll post whatever I feel like talking about. Hockey. Baseball. Lacrosse. Life. Writing. Share writing tips. Share excerpts from WIPs. Things like that. I may also host another author or do books promos. It all depends on what I feel like talking about!

Thursdays will be #TBR Thursday. In these post I'll recommend specific books/authors. Any book mentioned here will be one that I've read. Any author featured I will have read at least one book by. I'll give you my opinion of the book/author and tell you why I think you should add it to your #TBR pile.

So, I hope you'll come back this Thursday to see what book/author is my featured post for the day!!

THE EXTRACTION LIST by Renee N. Meland

I'm super excited to be a part of the blog tour for Renee N. Meland's YA Dystopian The Extraction List. 

BLURB:

When fifteen-year-old Riley Crane finds out her best friend Olivia is being abused at home, she knows just who to turn to: her mother Claire, writer and spokesperson for President Gray's Parental Morality Law. Under this law, Task Force Officers remove children from their homes if their parents do not meet certain guidelines, taking them to government-run boarding schools. Once they arrive, supervisors rehabilitate them, turning them into productive members of society. Or at least that was how it was supposed to work...

Now, after a government official threatens to make Riley the law's latest victim, Riley and Claire must rely on Cain Foley, a gifted killer with a tongue as sharp as the knives he carries, to get them out of America alive. Though he slices through men's necks as if they are warm butter, Riley can't seem to keep her cheeks from flushing every time he speaks. But when they stumble upon a deserted boarding school, Riley sees that escaping the country is only part of their problem. Together, Riley and Cain figure out that a killer can save a life, and a mother can damn a nation.

RELEASE DATE: April 7th, 2015 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Renee N. Meland lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two dogs. Her favorite obsessions are Rome, learning new recipes, and exploring the world around her. She is an avid reader of speculative fiction, and believes that telling stories is the best job in the world.

FIND RENEE ONLINE:

Twitter: @reneenmeland

Blog: https://reneenmeland.wordpress.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Renee-N-Melands-Books/311899338826241 

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8194285.Renee_N_Meland

EXCERPT:

Sometimes a killer can save a life. In this case that life happened to be mine. I wish I had met him before the whole mess started. Maybe he could have saved more of us.

Maybe he could have saved us all.

I met the man who saved my life exactly one month after he killed his twentieth person. Of course he didn’t call it “murder,” he called it surviving, though sometimes I thought he should try to explain the difference to the people buried in the ground. To me, one label didn’t necessarily cancel out the other.

***

One of my teachers used to say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Trust me, I knew all about it; I called that road “mother.” That teacher never mentioned what the road back was made with. I figured it was because nobody’d ever found one. Hell sort of struck me as a one-way-ticket kind of thing.

The night the Taskforce showed up on our doorstep, my mom screamed. After my brother Aidan’s death, then Dad leaving, hearing her carrying on like a crazy person wasn’t exactly new and different. I didn’t even flinch at first. I figured maybe she was missing my dad all the way to the bottom of a tequila bottle—again.

After a couple minutes though I slammed my copy of Crime and Punishment shut and left my room. I took my sweet time going downstairs to see her, hoping to hold on to the little bit of normal I’d had just seconds earlier. I stopped by the bathroom and grabbed a giant bottle of aspirin. Just in case.

Then I decided I was kidding myself. I knew better. There was no way she wouldn’t need aspirin.

“Riley! Get your stuff! We have to leave right now!” I ducked as Mom greeted me with a scene full of flying paper, jackets, and a few photo albums. They seemed to spin like a paper and plastic tornado, twirling through the air and landing unevenly in a giant duffel bag spread open at her feet. Even in the chaos I paused for a second to wonder how Mom’s hair managed to stay fastened perfectly in place. The image in front of me looked almost ordinary, a beautiful blonde woman in a fitted black skirt, white blouse, and hair pinned back in a bun, with a briefcase resting just inside the door.

Except this woman had thrown half our living room into orbit.

“Mom, what’s going on? What happened?”

Mom grabbed me by the shoulders and stared right into my eyes. “We need to leave right now, okay? I need you to not ask questions and just go pack a bag. You need to just trust me and do what I tell you, okay? And do NOT come downstairs until I say so.” Mom didn’t blink. I remembered the last time she didn’t blink during a whole conversation: When she told me that she and Dad needed to “work on their communication.” I found out later that was Mom-speak for “Dad’s about to abandon us and slam the door for the last time.”

I suddenly wished for the empty tequila bottle.

“You are my life.” Mom kissed my forehead, and I ran up the stairs. I didn’t come down again until I heard the gunshots. At fifteen, I was all too familiar with the sound. A person was never too young to know the snap of a gun anymore. But it was different coming from our house, like a firecracker going off inside my brain.

When I got to the entryway, a pool of blood belonging to a man in a gray suit tried to hold my shoes to the floor. The sticky mess grabbed the soles of my sneakers and smelled like raw steak fresh out of the plastic wrap. I winced as I stepped through it toward my mom. A pink piece of paper rested on top of the pool, slowly flooding with the dark red liquid. Bo, my mom’s best friend, had appeared too. Pistol smoke swirled gently from the tip of his weapon.

It wasn’t the blood, but the paper that made me scream. I felt the color drain from my cheeks, and I wondered if I looked as white as the dead man lying on our floor. “What the hell is going on? Is that pink paper what I think it is?”

Mom ignored my question. I hated being ignored more than anything, especially by her. But since there was a dead body involved, I figured I’d make an exception.

“Oh my GOD—you KILLED him!” Mom screamed, and in all her stick-thin glory started flailing her arms, hitting Bo with the strength of a flightless bird. Her bony fists bounced off his body as if his chest were made of rubber. If it hadn’t been a murder scene, it would have been kind of funny.

“Are you SURE? I saw him push you and I panicked. Maybe he’s just wounded.”

Thank God Bo didn’t panic more often.

Mom took a deep breath and stepped through the blood. She gently picked up the man’s hand and placed two fingers on his wrist. When she released it, her fingertips were stained red. “Yes. He’s dead.” She made a grand gesture, starting at his head and finishing toward his feet. “That’s what dead people look like. What are we going to do?”

My hands shook, partially from fright and partially because no one would tell me why there was a dead guy in the entryway.

Or why he had the pink slip of paper.

Bo grabbed Mom by the shoulders and held her still. “Claire, we’re going to grab Riley and we’re going to get out of here before more people come looking for this guy. I’ll tell you the plan on the way.”

Mom scoffed at him with wide eyes. “Plan? I don’t need your plan. I’m going to go straight to President Gray about this and he’s going to fix it. He has to.”

A twinge of hope rose inside me, working its way up from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. Maybe we wouldn’t have to leave our home after all. Maybe our little visit was just a really complicated, really messy misunderstanding. “Yeah, Mom’s right. I’m sure he’ll fix this. I can’t actually be on the Extraction List, right, Mom?”

“Of course not. There’s no way.”

Mom started toward the door, but Bo stepped in front of her.

“Claire, you saw the paperwork with your own eyes. Gray knows all about this. His signature is there.” He pointed to the guy on the floor. “This guy was going to grab your daughter. We need to go right now.” Bo took Mom by the hand and dragged her out the door.

I hesitated, frozen in the growing pool of red. Sweat broke out on my forehead, and it wasn’t because of the crippling D.C. heat. If I was on the Extraction List, I was supposed to end up like all those other people from my class, the ones who the Taskforce grabbed right from their desks. Those were the ones who disappeared. Since Mom had written the law that the Taskforce was responsible for enforcing, I never thought that I would ever be a target. Politics was all about protecting its stars, and there was no bigger star than my mother.

But that little pink piece of paper could only mean one thing. I forced myself to look down at it. I searched the document, eyes falling on the bottom right corner. It was faded, stretched by the blood into an unnatural shape, but it was there—the President of the United States’ signature.

I grabbed the bag Mom had been trying to pack and zipped it shut. I swung my own bag over my shoulder and followed Mom and Bo out of our house, hoping that I would someday be able to come back. But deep down, I knew we were about to drive away forever.

***

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