Cover Reveal: Before I Shatter by Mandy Peterson

Hey guys!

Today is the cover reveal for Before I Shatter by Mandy Peterson. This cover reveal is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The cover was designed by MSN Art Studio (Maduranga Sampath).
This is an exciting rebranding of the original cover as the author prepares to release book 2 in the series.

Before I Shatter (Before I Shatter #1)
By Mandy Peterson
Genre: Science Fiction
Age category: Young Adult/ New Adult
Release Date: July 2016

Blurb:
Seventeen-year-old Vita is the next step in human evolution.

The daughter of two prominent scientists, Vita is content to live in the spotlight. After all, it affords her a lifestyle most only dream of: living in a Lunar Colony, luxurious gifts, and her unique ability to project her consciousness onto different planes without the aid of injections.
Succeeding where others have failed has a price. A growing population of Shells - people whose minds have shattered from the stress of experimentation - shows just how ruthless the Director can be in pursuit of his goal.

When Vita makes a startling breakthrough, the ambitious Director takes over her development, and he wants to see just how far she can go. It's up to Vita's young Processor, James, to catch her before she breaks.

But he's keeping a dangerous secret.
Someone is playing games with her.

A game where the loser ends up shattered.
Vita must make the choice:
Continue risking her life for a cause she doesn't believe in
or make an unprecedented escape?

You can find Before I Shatter on Goodreads

You can buy Before I Shatter on Amazon

Excerpt:
“Vita!” James is panicked, shaking my shoulders, when my eyes begin to crack open. The bright light violates my pupils, and I slam my eyes shut again. My head is pounding.
“Stop shaking her, boy. We don’t know what damage that could cause.” I relax a bit as my body takes in the grandfatherly voice of wisdom. James’s hands release me. “She’s coming around. Give her a moment.”
I moan, raising an arm to cover my closed eyes. “I’m fine.”
“She could pave a road with those words.” The Old One’s voice gets farther away.
Before I can even wonder what that means, the light mercifully wanes, and I dare to peek out from under my arm. I begin to piece together where I am. The tiny white room. Lying on my monitoring station.
A visibly shaken James is sitting next to me, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes, face ashen.
“Hey,” I coax. “It’s okay. Nothing to be worried about.”
James shakes his head and looks down. A sniffle seems to actually compose him, and he looks up at me. “Vita, I’m so sorry. If I would have known, I would have warned you.”
Still hazy, I recall my experience in the meadow with the solider boy. Before speaking, I resolve to never let myself be that helpless again. Starting right now. Just like James said, I will be the one doing the breaking. Well, maybe not right now. After I recover from whatever this is.
“Warned me about what?”
“The dazers,” he practically whispers, but I still hear the George’s tongue cluck from the computer station. His disapproval is thick. “You passed out on the steps. I couldn’t wake you up. When I brought you here, I thought you were dead.”
“Yes, the drugs caused your heart to race,” the wizard explains, less emotionally. His eyes never leave the tablet in his hands. “Your heart didn’t care for that so it shut down...for a bit.”
“It shut down?” I echo as panic begins to rise from my toes.
“Only for a moment.” His hand waves dismissively. “Everything’s fine.” The Old One smirks, finally looking up at me as he turns my own words around on me.
“I died?”
“For a second.” George holds up two fingers very close together in an attempt to keep us positive.
Whoosh. “I came as soon as I heard.” Long brown hair whirls through the room. Mom busies herself snatching the tablet and replacing James at the side of my bed. She grasps my hand, leans in, and begins examining my eyes. I have no idea what they look like, but her fear and disgust focus across the room. “George, thank the stars you are still here! How could this have happened? I’m not even sure what this means.” She shakes the tablet at him, the data revealing itself to me shortly. “Where was she? Who was with her?”
James makes a move to step forward and the Old One stops him. “She was just doing as I instructed. Taking time off. Meeting new people. Trying out a party. I’m sorry. I didn’t know she would be confronted with...substances.”
Mom visibly calms down. I guess maybe she couldn’t be too angry with the man who had just saved her daughter’s life? She lays the tablet down gently. “What can I do for her?”
“Nothing, I’m afraid. The drugs have to work their way through her system. She won’t be able to start training until they are flushed out. Her new friends just may have bought her enough time to completely restore before the next round.”
My eyelids feel as though they are made of lead. My hand is nestled between stronger ones. I fight to stay awake behind the fading light.
“What will we ever do without you?” My mother’s whisper floats across the room to me.
His firm response slices through the darkness closing in around me. “The director has plans but so do we. Stick to the plan. Thanks to your husband’s—ex-husband’s—news story, she’s about ready to enter a world where everyone knows her and what she can do. She needs you two more than ever.”
I didn’t know then that when I awoke, it would be to a new world. A world without George, without visits from my dad, and without panic attacks. A world where I was a celebrity, a scientific wonder, and no longer alone. Never mind that I put my life at risk each time I pushed one the boundaries of human capability. I lived by the words I was never meant to hear:
“Vita’s never going to be broken. She’s going to be the one doing the breaking. She’s stronger than any of us will ever know.”

About the Author:
Mandy Peterson grew up all over Nebraska and eventually settled down there with a family of her own: husband, daughter, and son.

When she isn't writing about herself in third person, Mandy the high school librarian can be found digging through young adult and new adult lit. An avid reader of all genres (but she secretly told me she loves sci-fi the most), you will usually see her with her nose in a book or face to her Kindle app, iced or blended coffee drink in hand. A former roller girl and roller derby referee, she can also be found watching roller derby online or dragging her family behind her to cheer on teams in person all over their great state.

You can find and contact Mandy here:
- Website
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Goodreads
- Amazon
- Newsletter

Giveaway
There is a cover reveal wide giveaway for the cover reveal of Before I Shatter. One winner will win a 10$ Amazon Gift Card.

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:

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Grab a free copy of Synchrony

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Blurb:

Against all odds, Destiny fought for love and won. Her story continues when she finds herself facing an entirely new set of problems, leaving her with festering doubts.

When she discovers her boyfriend, Isaac's, terrible secret, she is completely shattered. As the darkness threatens to engulf her, Preston, her childhood friend, comes to the rescue, giving hope that with time she could be whole again.

When heartbreaking disaster strikes her friends, Destiny must learn to heal her heart by giving unselfish service to others before Isaac walks back into her life, threatening to rekindle feelings she’d hoped to bury forever.

Grab a copy here: https://www.instafreebie.com/free/hgP3E

Exciting News and Author Interview + Giveaway with Kelly Oram

Exciting CINDER & ELLA news + Giveaway! Exactly two years ago, a little book titled Cinder & Ella made its way onto Amazon. And then it exploded, making it's way to # 1 on Amazon in all of its categories and even hitting the top 20 on all of Amazon. (Way to go Cinder & Ella!) And nearly every day of the two years since its release, author Kelly Oram has received requests for an epilogue or a short story or something--anything--that would give readers more of their beloved Brian (aka Cinder) & Ella. It may have taken 2 years, but Kelly has finally decided to grant all of those requests, which means:

Cinder & Ella is getting a SEQUEL!!

That's right people, there's a whole second book coming! But that's not all. Not only has the book been announced, it's less than 5 months away, and today we're revealing the cover and blurb! Along with this cover reveal the first book, Cinder & Ella, is also getting a new look. They've redesigned the cover to match the sequel.

THIS:

           

IS NOW THIS:

Title: Cinder & Ella
Author: Kelly Oram
Publisher: Bluefields
Pages: 312
Buy Links: AMAZON & KINDLE UNLIMITED  

Written by the inestimable Kelly Oram, Cinder & Ella is a contemporary Cinderella re-telling set in present day Hollywood. 4.8 out of 5 stars with over 1,500 reviews on Amazon!    

Summary:

What would you do if your anonymous Internet best friend turned out to be Hollywood’s hottest celebrity?
Cinder458: Your blogaversary is coming up, right? 
EllaTheRealHero: Do all those Hollywood friends of yours know you use words like blogaversary? Cinder458: Of course not. I need your address. Got you a blogaversary present.
Cinder got me a gift? My heart flipped. Not that I was in love with my Internet best friend or anything. That would be utterly ridiculous. The boy was cocky and stubborn and argued with everything I said just to be infuriating. He also had lots of money, dated models—which meant he had to be hot—and was a closet book nerd. Funny, rich, hot, confident, book lover. Definitely not my type. Nope. Not at all.
 It’s been almost a year since eighteen-year-old Ella Rodriguez was in a car accident that left her crippled, scarred, and without a mother. After a very difficult recovery, she’s been uprooted across the country and forced into the custody of a father that abandoned her when she was a young child. If Ella wants to escape her father’s home and her awful new stepfamily, she must convince her doctors that she’s capable, both physically and emotionally, of living on her own. The problem is, she’s not ready yet. The only way she can think of to start healing is by reconnecting with the one person left in the world who’s ever meant anything to her—her anonymous Internet best friend, Cinder.

***

Hollywood sensation Brian Oliver has a reputation for being trouble. There’s major buzz around his performance in his upcoming film The Druid Prince, but his management team says he won’t make the transition from teen heartthrob to serious A-list actor unless he can prove he’s left his wild days behind and become a mature adult. In order to douse the flames on Brian’s bad-boy reputation, his management stages a fake engagement for him to his co-star Kaylee. Brian isn’t thrilled with the arrangement—or his fake fiancée—but decides he’ll suffer through it if it means he’ll get an Oscar nomination. Then a surprise email from an old Internet friend changes everything. With a heartwarming online celebrity romance reminiscent of Jennifer E. Smith’s This Is What Happy Looks Like, bestselling young adult author Kelly Oram has struck gold with her new adult contemporary retelling of the timeless fairytale classic Cinderella.

"A story that has it all: tears, laughs, sparks and a drop-dead swoonworthy hero. Give it a while and DreamWorks will pick up this story for a movie adaption, no doubt." Anna Katmore, Author of Play With Me & Neverland 

"Both funny and heart-wrenching, Cinder and Ella will give you all the feels. It’s the best twist on the Cinderella tale I have come across. I am not just a fan of Kelly Oram. I am an addict." Cassie Mae, author of Switched & How To Hook A Bookworm 

"Cinder & Ella is a beautiful modern-day fairytale with a great cast of characters that made me laugh and swoon. It had me staying up late at night to read just one more chapter, and at the end, I was left with a big grin on my face." Cindi Madsen, USA Today Bestselling Author of Falling For Her Fiancé & Cinderella Screwed Me Over

 If this hasn't convinced you to check this book out, you can preview the prologue and first chapter by reading along with Kelly Oram.

And now for the moment you're all really waiting for...

 

Are you ready...?

 

Okay...here it is!!!

 

Title: Happily Ever After
Series: Cinder & Ella #2
Author: Kelly Oram
Publisher: Bluefields
Release Date: February 14, 2017
Buy Links: Signup to Kelly Oram's NEWSLETTER to be notified upon release.

Summary: The end of one story is often the beginning of another. Hollywood heartthrob Brian Oliver and his Cinderella princess Ellamara Rodriguez have finally found love outside the digital world. But leaving their anonymity behind creates a whole new set of obstacles for the nation's new favorite sweethearts. With the stress of Brian's fame and the pressures of a new relationship weighing down on them, the It Couple quickly begins to wonder if they can hold on to their newfound joy, or if maybe happily ever after is only a fairy tale.

***Sign up for Kelly's newsletter to be notified when Happily Ever After releases!***

Author Info & Links:

Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen—a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which her family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and likes to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, four children, and her cat, Mr. Darcy. Don't miss the latest news from Kelly Oram! Sign up for her newsletter to receive e-mail notifications for all of her new releases, events, sales, & giveaways. This is a monthly newsletter often with exclusive giveaways and freebies from some of her favorite authors.

Author Interview:

Tell us a little bit about you.

I love to read and I'm a ginger. I wrote my first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about my favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which my family and friends still tease me. I’m obsessed with reading, talk way too much, and like to eat frosting by the spoonful. I live outside of Phoenix, Arizona with my husband, four children, and my cat, Mr. Darcy. And we named his litter box Pemberly because it’s where he makes ten thousand (poops) a year!

The Fun Stuff:

1. I love to sing and went to college as a voice performance major.

2. I once competed in the Miss Michigan Teen USA pageant. (I did not win LOL.)

3. I’m a baseball fanatic. (Go D-backs!)

4. I broke my head as a kid and had to wear a hockey helmet to school as my cast.

5. I own my own 10-sided dice for role-playing that no one but me is allowed to roll.

6. I’m left handed.

7. I am credited as associate producer for the independent film Amber Alert.

8. I live for road trips. Best vacation I ever took was a three-week coast-to-coast-and-back drive with my father.

9. The Backstreet Boys were my 1D in high school, and I was a total fangirl. I still have a whole collection of fan paraphernalia.

10. I took both golf and bowling classes in college to fulfill my PE credits. (I still suck at both.)

Where did you grow up? Tell us a little of your childhood. 

I grew up with two amazing, loving parents and a bunch of siblings that I only realized were amazing after I grew up and moved away from them. We moved around quite a bit, but I spent the majority of my life in Colorado, Michigan, and California. My childhood was crazy and chaotic at times but fun and full of love. I have no complaints.

What was it like living in Los Angeles right out of college? 

LA is crazy, and the film industry is rough. It was overwhelming for my husband and I to go there when we were so young, had never been there, and had no family within hundreds of miles. But it was an adventure. We learned a lot, grew up a lot, and have a lot of great memories of our time there.

Share with us one thing most people do not know about you? 

Umm… like I mentioned about in the fun facts, I modeled a little bit as a teenager and once competed in the Miss Michigan Teen USA pageant. Neither modeling, nor the pageant circuit was really my thing and I quit both pretty quickly. But it was an experience I’m glad I had. I got to do something that not many get the chance to do. I also learned that I belong behind the spotlight, not in it. LOL.

If you could pick one, which one of your books would you make a movie based on? 

Hmm. I think it would be a toss up between Serial Hottie and Cinder & Ella. Serial Hottie is just fun and I can totally picture it being done similarly to The Burbs, or Suburbia. A fun quirky murder mystery romance. I’d love it. But I’m also a HUGE sucker for anything Cinderella, and it’s always done so well in the movies. Seeing Brian and Ella on the big screen would be so awesome.

Do your family and friends read your books? 

Some of them. The ones who enjoy reading do. I never expect people I know to read my work, and I only encourage them if I think they will genuinely enjoy my stories. As a writer, I know not everyone is going to love my work, but my friends and family don’t always believe me when I say it’s okay if they don’t like my books. I’ve had friends read my books because they were curious but who don’t normally read the YA romance genre and then they felt really bad when they didn’t like it. It’s really okay. But it’s also fun when someone I know comes up to me and says, “OMG I finally read one of your books and I loved it!”

If you couldn’t be an author, what would your ideal career be? 

Uh… are there other options? Kidding. Well before this I was a stay home mom and it worked well for me. I’d also love to give musical theater a shot. Broadway would be fun!

 What inspired you to write Cinder & Ella?

I didn’t need to be inspired for this one. I have ALWAYS wanted to write my own Cinderella story. It’s my favorite fairy tale. I will watch and read every single Cinderella adaptation I can find. And I will read or watch them over and over and over again. So ever since I started writing, I knew that one day I would write a Cinderella retelling of my own. I simply had to wait for the right idea. I actually had the idea of the celebrity and the “normal” girl knowing each other from an online roleplaying game and meeting up at a fantasy or gaming convention sitting in my “idea” folder. And one day when I was between projects I was looking over my list of ideas and I thought that would be the perfect idea for a Cinderella story and voila … Cinder & Ella was born.

What scene was your favorite to write?

My favorite scene to write was probably the scene where Brian and Ella finally meet face to face. That’s not necessarily my favorite scene in the book, but it was a lot of fun to write. To think up the moments and conversation that would make Brian recognize Ella, and getting to have them banter as strangers was a lot of fun! Seriously, not to be egotistical or anything, but when Brian told Ella to say car for him… I almost died laughing. Kinda thought I was a genius for a while. (Of course, then I went back and read the first draft when it was done and realized that genius was a bit of a stretch! LOL) But anyway, yeah, the face-to-face was a lot of fun.

Who is your favorite—Brian or Ella? 

Pshhh. That totally depends on which one of them I’m dealing with and how they are treating me at the time. Kind of like my kids, it’s hard to play favorites, but well behaved characters are usually higher on my list than the difficult ones.

Connect with Kelly: 

Website * Newsletter * Facebook * Instagram * Amazon * Goodreads * Google+ * Reader Squad/Street Team * GR fan group

Enter this Rafflecopter to win a signed copy of Cinder & Ella WITH THE NEW COVER.

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Book Blitz: Love, Defined by Leila Tualla

This is my stop during the book blitz for Love, Defined by Leila Tualla. This book blitz is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 4 till 10 August, you can view the complete blitz schedule on the website of Lola’s Blog Tours.

Love, Defined
by Leila Tualla
Genre: Romance
Age category: Young Adult
Release Date: August 4, 2015

Blurb:

In their final summer before graduating college, three childhood friends expect an uncomplicated transition to adulthood…but learn they all still have some growing up to do.

Alex Makapulo is facing a crisis of faith.
Raised a Catholic, Alex is considering becoming a member of her best friend Jack Page’s church—against her family’s wishes—but she can’t quite take the final step of baptism. Jack loves Alex and doesn’t understand her hesitation, and Alex wonders if Jack’s love is a blessing or a distraction to test her religious conviction.

Lori Hanson embarks on the trip of a lifetime.
For her twenty-second birthday, Lori’s grandfather presents her with a summer vacation in England. While preparing for her adventure, she meets British musician Colin Watson online and quickly falls for him. They plan to hook up when she lands in London, but her grandfather forbids it. Due to complicated family dynamics, Lori must regretfully comply with his wishes, though she vows never to forgive him.

Andy Taylor is looking for love in all the wrong places.
When Andy runs into an old crush, she decides she wants a more meaningful relationship with sexy Miles Webber. But when she confides in Alex, her friend warns her Miles only wants her for sex. Andy becomes angry and devises a reckless plan to distract Alex’s attention from her relationship. Things don’t go quite as she expected, though, and Andy is left facing a crushing moral dilemma.

As the summer unfolds, three young women learn love and faith go hand in hand, not everything is black and white, and sometimes in a fast-paced world you have to slow down, breathe a little, and find your own definition of love.

About the Author:
Leila Tualla is a Christian blogger and writer. She blogs at www.tuallaleila.blogspot.com and writes about her misadventures in faith, in motherhood, and whatever else inspires her. She holds a membership to the American Christian Fiction Writer. Her current project is a YA Christian Romance.

You can find and contact Leila here:
- Website
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Instagram