For The Love Of Books: February 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

Feature Author: Yolanda Olson

We would love to welcome the amazing Yolanda Olson to our page!! Get to know her and her books you will not regret it!

~Raquel~

Escaping Eden – Erotica

Ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Eden-Yolanda-Olson-ebook/dp/B00I3SZJMU/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1393606119&sr=1-4

Review

4 star read loved this story. Love Eden shes a fun outgoing girl but doesn't want a relationship cause she still has feelings for her ex. Her friend has something else in mind she wants Eden happy so she introduces her to Simon the sexy Australian here on a Visa. Eden try's to help Simon find the right girl but she is definitely in for more then that. This story was funny and had the right amount of emotion. Escaping Eden is the perfect example of opposites extract. Escaping Eden is a fun loving romance that's characters draw you in. Yolanda Olson has a way of writing that you cant help but smile this romance is one you need to add to your TBR.

~Raquel~

Saving Marley – Erotica

Ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Marley-Yolanda-Olson-ebook/dp/B00GUXWECI/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1393606171&sr=1-6

Claiming Olivia – Erotica

Ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Claiming-Olivia-Yolanda-Olson-ebook/dp/B00HNZAP4Q/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-2&qid=1393606052

Review

4 stars. This was a short and fun read. I love how Olivia goes to Spain to find herself. Olivia is strong and independent I love her character. When her and Alejandro meet their connection was instant and you hope for the happy ending Olivia deserves. This book was an enjoyable read I would have loved it to be longer so I can enjoy it more.

~Raquel~

Monster – YA Horror

PB: http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Corpse-Serenade-Volume-1/dp/1492807990/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1393605933&sr=8-11&keywords=Yolanda+Olson

Unwound – Fiction Horror

Ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Unwound-Poison-Willow-Yolanda-Olson-ebook/dp/B00B1XIECQ/ref=sr_1_3_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393606003&sr=1-3

Author bio:

Yolanda Olson grew up in Bridgeport, CT and currently resides in Bloomington, IL. Through her love of writing, she has channeled the emotions of early life experiences into characters that are intriguing and powerful. Her vivid imagination and her love of video games and horror movies are evident in her writing style.

Amazon like page: http://www.amazon.com/Yolanda-Olson/e/B009OEABAC/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1393606239&sr=1-2-ent

Author Interview

What inspired you to write your first book? My first self-pub is called Monster: The Rebirth of Finnegan Sloane under a pen name. I was watching a music video one day and the girl in the video kind of sparked something in me. So I wrote something that I would want to read.

Do you have a specific writing style? No, I try to do my best to keep horror related gore in everything which is why I’m going back to my PNR. Erotica is fun, but the horror keeps fighting its way out of me lol

How did you come up with the title? I’ll pick a random title :p Monster is how Finnegan sees herself. She hates herself for being a Monster even though it was never her choice to be one.

What's your next project? I’m working on a vampire PNR about a soul eater and … you’ll see! ;)

What's your favorite love story? (movie or book) Legend. OMG I’m not one for love stories, but Legend has been my favorite movie since I was a child so that will always be it for me!

What’s your favorite quote from your book? “Was I ever crazy? Maybe. Or maybe life is… Crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever. They were not perfect, but they were my friends.” ― Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted

If we Googled your name what would we see? You’d see a list of my books and stuff!

Who was your favorite character to write about? Probably Caelum from Unwound. He goes through a lot and he never loses faith in what he’s doing.

If you could have been told one thing that you weren't told when you were a teenager, what would you like to have heard? Don’t graduate. Once you do it’s real world time lol

Are there any Authors you feel inspired you? Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison, & Tonya Hurley

you a morning or night person? Night definitely. You don’t want to be near me in the morning until the coffee has settled lol

If I wasn't afraid I would _go to the circus. Clowns stop me dead in my tracks all the time.________ (What?)

Someday, I want to __visit Spain and Greece_______ (What?)

What is the best thing you have done in your life? Been an aunt. I know it’s nothing I did personally but being able to love those kids like they are my own makes life worth living.

What are your favorite hobbies? Reading, writing, playing video games.

Do you believe in love at first sight? I want to say no BUT it so happened to me. I’m still married to my first love at first sight experience lol

Does Prince Charming exist? Nope. Don’t ever think he’s there. I’m a realist when it comes to that.

List five adjectives to describe yourself. Ambitious, honest, trustworthy, shy, and loyal.

What are your pet peeves or interesting things about you that you dislike? I have a thing with balance. Maybe it’s the Libra in me, but I always try to put a tattoo in the opposite spot of where I have one. Currently, my right arm has been driving me nuts because I have a half sleeve of Alice in Wonderland on my left arm and nothing on my right. >_<

xo Yolanda

Promo: Wanted by You

Steph Nuss

Title: Wanted by You

Series: Love in the City – Book #1

Steph Nuss and Bandit Publishing are excited to share with you the Cover Reveal for Wanted by You by Steph Nuss. Make sure to join us at the Release Day and Blog Tour Event starting on February 27th - join by clicking the below link.

TO BE RELEASED: FEBRUARY 27th

Carter was captivated by Ellyson Evans the moment he laid eyes on her,

but she was the one girl who didn't beg for his attention.

He wanted her.

Ellyson vowed to never fall in love, because love can destroy you,

but then she met Carter Jennings.

She wanted him.

Unwilling to risk their comfortable friendship, neither confessed their desires.

Losing touch after college, a chance meeting reconnects them.

They want each other.

But love in the city is never quite that easy.

Steph Nuss was born and raised in rural Kansas, where she currently resides with her black Labrador son named Gunner. She grew up with a passion for reading and writing. When she’s not immersed into the land of fiction, she enjoys listening to music that came before her time, watching movies and reruns of her favorite shows, and hanging out with her family and friends. She also has a bachelor’s degree in psychology that she’ll never use…unless she’s profiling her characters of course.

Website: http://stephnuss.com/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/StephNussAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephNuss13

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7392900.Steph_Nuss

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/StephNuss13/

Broken City Blog Tour

TITLE – Broken City

SERIES – Broken City

AUTHOR – D.D. Chant

GENRE – Post Apocalyptic/Dystopia/Romance

PUBLICATION DATE – 2011

LENGTH (Pages/# Words) – 97,187

PUBLISHER – Self Published

COVER ARTIST – Laura Tunstall

Deeta Richards has never seen the outside world. Before she was born a banking crisis brought civilization to an end and now no one leaves the safety of the compounds unless they need to, but Deeta still dreams of seeing more than the building she was born in.

Tom is in the guard, this group are the only people that the tribal elders allow to leave the compound and Tom knows only too well that Deeta could never survive the harshness that exists outside. Then tragedy strikes and Deeta and her Sister Jan find themselves captured by a hostile tribe. Why does Tom know so much about these people? And why do they know so much about him? As this mystery draws to a climax, they discover that their friend Tom is not quite what he seems.....

Review:

So, many of you guys know that when I review a book I like to go in blind…I don’t read the excerpts of the synopsis… I read the title and proceed. I started doing this because I felt like it would enhance my reviews by eliminating any preconceived notions and bias that I could unwittingly take into the book. The unexpected benefit that I found for myself, is that I actually end up enjoying books more, I don’t just go on auto-pilot as I’m reading, looking for whatever plot twist or particular action I may have subconsciously developed while reading the synopsis.

Ok, with that being said… I loved this book! I found myself getting swept along in this post societal break-down environment that author D.D. Chant created. Rarely do I find a book that has equal strength in character and plot development. Added to that the pace and flow of the story was so well done that “Broken City” really delivers on a well-rounded and thoroughly engaging adventure/action/romantic saga.

The main character is obviously Deeta… but what’s interesting, the remaining characters have such depth of emotion and personality, that I just can’t see myself responding with the same positivity had they not been included as well. In a world struggling for survival for just the most basic of needs… there’s also the sense of an internal struggle in finding north again on the moral compass of humanity. It truly makes an argument to what civility exists within the structure of standards within a conflict-free society and one where laws and any kind of peaceful foundational system is pretty much non-existent.

When I finished reading “Broken City”, I was surprised with the impact it left me with. Thinking of our current economic challenges that we’re facing in our world today, it’s not that much of a stretch to anyone’s imagination that the events that took place in this book could easily occur in our present day world. And where most written stories and TV and/or movie productions with similar economic & society downfalls… D.D. Chant chose not to rely on mutants/zombies/supernatural beings to introduce conflict (don’t get me wrong, my all-time fave show is “The Walking Dead”, so the exclusion of these things is not a bad thing) instead choosing to the absolute horror of losing just about everything that people have relied on for generations and realizing the new rule of law is to keep, gather and protect what’s deemed important by any means necessary… which usually includes some form of violence. D.D. Chant has done an exceptional job in creating a world where love and kindness can still exist due to the sheer will of human strength and compassion, but still be so fleetingly fragile.

5 Stars ~Kathy

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