RACING HEARTS Book #2 by Laura
Lascarso
Release Day Celebration
June 30th, 2015
ABOUT THE BOOK
Racing Hearts
Book 2
Author: Laura Lascarso Release Date: June 30th,
2015
Publisher: Leap Books
SYNOPSIS:
See you at the
finish line…
With the big race weeks away, eighteen-year-old
Jesse Copeland struggles to keep his head in the game and his hands off his
smoking hot competition. But when Brooke reveals a secret that could destroy
Jesse’s family, it sends him into a tailspin of self-doubt.
Jesse must pull himself together if he hopes to
have a shot at the prize money, save his home, and win the heart of the girl he
loves.
Can these two competitors overcome the sins of
their fathers or will a shadowed history destroy their dreams forever?
Laura Lascarso strives to
craft stories that are honest and real. Her debut novel COUNTING BACKWARDS,
which deals with mental illness, won the 2012 Florida Book Award gold medal for
Young Adult Literature. RACING HEARTS is a series of e-novellas that tells the
story of two star-crossed lovers thrust into the world of competitive car racing.
Laura lives in North Florida with her darling husband, two children, and a
menagerie of animals.
There are people in our lives who are exceptional in many ways but for various reasons we do not give them the romantic consideration they deserve. Sometimes the one that got away may be someone you never fully considered, and a great relationship can end before it begins if it is never given a chance.This was the notion that inspired Reunion of Souls, which was written from the perspective of a young woman, Jodi, who is five years removed from high school. A half decade after graduating, her life is turned upside down following the death of her mother, for whom she temporarily derailed her professional career and moved back home to care for her. Her high school relationship with an older boy did not work out and she is alone. As she is thinking about those days, she remembers Nick, a boy in her class who was really nice but she never paid any serious attention to him. As she is emotionally beating herself up over this now, an invitation to her five year class reunion arrives and she discovers that Nick will be flying in from Chicago to attend. Jodi realizes she may have one final chance to start over again and be with Nick – if he also wants to be with her. It is a big risk, but worth the risk and she decides to go for it. This book is obviously a fantasy, a chance to make right a situation like the one I described above about lost romantic opportunities.
About the Author
Paul Lonardo has had short fiction, book length fiction and non-fiction books published. Most recently he has co-authored "Life, with Cancer," a biographical book about Newsday journalist Lauren Terrazzano's life and battle with lung cancer.
Two previous true crime titles include "Caught in the Act, a Courageous Family's Fight to Save Their Daughter from a Serial Killer," and "Thrill Killers, A True Story of Innocence and Murder Without Conscience," the latter a collaboration with the lead detective who investigated the double homicide chronicled in the book.
Paul also collaborated with Gina Russo on From The Ashes, Surviving the Station Nightclub Fire, the personal memoir and reflections of a survivor of the 2003 Rhode Island fire disaster that claimed the lives of 100 people is the subject of this book.
In Strike IX Paul recounts the story of the 1999 Providence College baseball team, which learned that their sport would be eliminated at the end of the upcoming season in order for the school to comply with Title IX sex discrimination mandates.
Two early out-of-print novels, The Apostate and Monstrosity, are now available in electronic formats.
Paul attended Columbia College, a film school in Hollywood, CA and studied screenwriting. He received an A.S from Mt. Ida College in Newton, MA and received a B.A. in English from the University of Rhode Island.
Paul lives in Lincoln, RI with his wife and son. Visit Paul's Website: http://paullonardo.com/ Purchase: Ebook: Amazon Paperback: Amazon Book
Grift follows a crew of orphaned teenage con artists living in Las Vegas. Piper, the main character, masquerades as a prostitute to con rich men. Unlike the others, she must split her time between hustling and raising her younger sister Sophie. Disaster strikes when Sophie gets kidnapped by the Las Vegas mafia, and the crew must rally to piece together the ransom money before the clock runs out.
Many Straight-A students memorize facts, do well on exams,
then soon forget nearly everything. What a terrible waste of time, effort and
money. Too often, parents and teachers
praise students for their grades, not what they learned. Many books on study skills also suggest ways
to get high grades rather than focusing on learning. This book will help
students do both: They can learn more, get a great education and still make
good grades.
In this book,
students will discover:
·Flexible time management
·Research-based learning strategies
·Test-Preparation without cramming
·20 strategies for organizing information
·10 ways of thinking
·10 pathways to long-lasting memory
·Ways to strengthen concentration and willpower
·Skills employers want most
·How to get a life-changing education
Straight A’s Are Not Enough is a research-based book and is
still fun to read. It includes memorable stories, vivid metaphors, diagrams
and, best of all, a few comic strips. You can read about the monkeys who
enjoyed doing puzzles and why they lost interest. You will be shocked when you
understand why 5000 girls every year do not get the credit they deserve for AP
Calculus. Even more surprising is that both stories reveal how you can learn
more effectively.
Straight A’s Are Not Enough is written for:
·High School students who are preparing for
college.
·College freshmen who need to get organized learn
the most effective strategies and habits.
·Other college students who want to improve their
strategies and habits and who will appreciate the section of what employers
want most.
·Teachers, parents and others interested in the
recent research and new ideas about how we learn.
Author Bio
Judy Fishel is an award-winning science and math teacher who went from asking how to learn more in college to asking how she could help her students learn more effectively. Her efforts led to twice winning the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics. When she retired, she created two websites on study skills, one for high school and one for college students. As she discovered even more exciting research on how we learn, she knew she needed to write a book, a book that could help students be more excited about learning and to get the kind of great education they need.
She lives in South-eastern Florida with her husband, Bob. They both enjoy bird watching, world travel, photography, reading gardening and playing with their four delightful grandchildren.
Angus is an 1880s cowboy riding and hiding on Ten Shoes Up, a 10,000 foot mountain straddling the border between
New Mexico and Colorado. With a slack rein, he rides straight-legged, always on
the lookout. Angus doesn't talk much except to Tucson, his bay gelding. Men
admire the way he sits a saddle, and women wonder if he's going to dismount. As
he rides into a new town, any fool can see he’s well-armed, confident, and
riding a fine horse. He’s often taken for a scout or a trapper, or an outlaw. Some
say his coming down off "his" mountain was reluctant. Others say it's
about time. Town folk still mull their all too human problems, but Angus depends
on the horse he rides, the trails he follows, and the rivers he crosses. His
code—Hold true to nature, hide your
misery, stay out of sight. In his
early twenties, Angus is on a mission and struggles to resolve issues he
thought were buried with his young wife.
His life bears little likeness to today’s frenetic culture. Still, what
happens to him parallels choices made by many young people today. While the
West is no longer wild, today's culture owes much of its footing to men like
Angus. Angus and Tucson are the same story—the onrush of civilization and its
fated codes that clash with deeply held beliefs.
Author Bio
I earned degrees in business and
law at the University of Arizona, and practiced law in Phoenix Arizona for a
long time. In the 1990s, I started writing long form, outside the office. I grew up in Gallup New Mexico and always
“hankered” to write a book about rural life in the southwest.
I currently teach creative writing
to law students at Arizona State University. I write every day. My stack
includes hundreds of short stories, articles, monologs, op-eds and blogs about
writing and writers. I got back to my cowboy roots in the nineteen-eighties,
which might explain why I’m now writing about life out west in the
eighteen-eighties. Gallup, Tucson and
Darlene are my horses; they’ve taught me a good deal about who I am over the
last thirty years. Ten Shoes Up is
the first of a three-book series set in the 1880s along the New Mexico Colorado
border. These books can’t be booted down into the traditional western genre.
They chronicle the challenges that young men and women faced at the turn of the
19th Century. From Angus’s point of view, as portrayed on my blog,
not all that much has changed.
The Children of Darkness, book one of the dystopian trilogy, The Seekers by David Litwack
"But what are we without dreams?"
A thousand years ago the Darkness came--a time of violence and social collapse when technology ran rampant. But the vicars of the Temple of Light brought peace, ushering in an era of blessed simplicity. For ten centuries they have kept the madness at bay with "temple magic," eliminating forever the rush of progress that nearly caused the destruction of everything.
Childhood friends, Orah and Nathaniel, have always lived in the tiny village of Little Pond, longing for more from life but unwilling to challenge the rigid status quo. When their friend Thomas returns from the Temple after his "teaching"—the secret coming-of-age ritual that binds the young to the Light—they barely recognize the broken and brooding man the boy has become. Then when Orah is summoned as well, Nathaniel follows in a foolhardy attempt to save her.
In the prisons of Temple City, they discover a terrible secret that launches the three on a journey to find the forbidden keep, placing their lives in jeopardy. For hidden in the keep awaits a truth from the past that threatens the foundation of the Temple. If they reveal that truth, they might release the long-suppressed potential of their people, but they would also incur the Temple’s wrath as it is written:
"If there comes among you a dreamer of dreams saying 'Let us return to the darkness,' you shall stone him, because he has sought to thrust you away from the light."
“A must-read page turner.” Kirkus Review
“Litwack’s storytelling painted a world of both light and darkness–and the truth that would mix the two.” Fiction Fervor
“The Children of Darkness is a dystopian novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.” C.P. Bialois
“A fresh perspective on our own society...[an] enjoyable read that will make you wonder just how
society will judge us in the future.” Lexie
Author David Litwack
The urge to write first struck when working on a newsletter at a youth encampment in the woods of northern Maine. It may have been the night when lightning flashed at sunset followed by northern lights rippling after dark. Or maybe it was the newsletter's editor, a girl with eyes the color of the ocean. But he was inspired to write about the blurry line between reality and the fantastic.
Using two fingers and lots of white-out, he religiously typed five pages a day throughout college and well into his twenties. Then life intervened. He paused to raise two sons and pursue a career, in the process becoming a well-known entrepreneur in the software industry, founding several successful companies. When he found time again to daydream, the urge to write returned.
After publishing two award winning novels, Along the Watchtower and The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky, he’s hard at work on the dystopian trilogy, The Seekers.
David and his wife split their time between Cape Cod, Florida and anywhere else that catches their fancy. He no longer limits himself to five pages a day and is thankful every keystroke for the invention of the word processor.
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash.
Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified.
The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author.
They exist in two different centuries, but their love defies time.
Cassandra is a headstrong teenager craving drama and adventure, so the last thing she wants is to spend her summer marooned with her mother and new stepfather in a snooty Massachusetts shore town. But when a dreamy stranger named Lawrence shows up on their private beach claiming it’s his own—and that the year is 1925—she is swept into a mystery a hundred years in the making.
As she searches for answers in the present, Cassandra discovers a truth that puts their growing love—and Lawrence’s life—in jeopardy. Desperate to save him, Cassandra must find a way to change history—or risk losing Lawrence forever.
Biography
Renee Collins grew up on a beach in Hawaii. Sadly, she never met anyone from the past on those shores, but she did go on to get a degree in History, which is almost the same.
* * * READERS' FAVORITE GOLD MEDAL AWARD WINNER--ROMANCE 2014 * *
*
Still reeling from the death of her
father, Alexandria hopes to find both independence and reprieve from her grief
by heading off to college. However, life throws her a serious curve ball when
she discovers that her roommate isn’t quite the person she had imagined.
Smoking, tattoos, and street racing for
fast cash are Elijah’s only interests. A harsh life has made him apathetic and
indifferent, until Alexandria enters his life. When their paths cross, turmoil
abounds.
An inevitable encounter, an undeniable
attraction, and an unexpected chance at love-will it be enough?
"At first glance, no one would believe Elijah's tough guy exterior
hides a genuine and giving heart. But, you cannot help whom you
“Adam is an unusual hero—and he faces a frightening question: Computers can’t kill—CAN they? I’m still shaken by the answer. Will the near-future really be this terrifying?” —R.L. Stine, bestselling author of the Goosebumps and Fear Street series
“An exciting action story chock-full of characters you’ll love. The Six is full of big ideas, big questions, real science, and things that will make you think and wonder and lie awake late at night.” —Michael Grant, New York Times bestselling author of the Gone series
“The Six are introduced as terminally-ill teens, but there’s plenty of high-speed action in which they engage. Their physical disabilities and limitations through disease are forgotten as the teens’ hearts, minds, and personalities shine through...questions of principle, power, and possibility keep this look at our modern, hardwired existence fresh and fascinating.” STARRED Booklist
“Alpert's exploration of neuromorphic electronics raises interesting questions about ethics, technology, and human nature…a haunting ending scene will leave readers pondering the line between progress and loss. A thought-provoking clash between humanity and machinery.”- Kirkus Reviews
“A well-researched, hardcore science-fiction joyride, great for fans of first-person shooter video games like Halo and Destiny. Highly recommended” –School Library Journal
“Do not just read The Six; make your friends read it too.” –VOYA Magazine
Avatar meets The Terminator in this thrilling cyber-tech adventure…
Book Info:
Adam’s muscular dystrophy has taken his motility, his friends, and in a few short years, it will take his life. He takes solace in playing video games he’s programmed to reflect the life that he used to have. Virtual reality is the one realm where he can be the hero, and it’s where he chooses to spend his time, until an entity called Sigma tries to kill him.
A dangerously advanced artificial intelligence program created by Adam’s computer-genius father, Sigma has escaped its cyber prison and is threatening global destruction and domination. But Adam’s father has a plan. He will stop Sigma by using the technology he developed to digitally preserve the mind of his dying son.
Adam’s consciousness is uploaded into the body of a weaponized robot, along with a group of five other gifted teens who are terminally ill. Together, they must learn how to manipulate their new mechanical forms and prepare for combat before Sigma destroys humanity. Adam can finally play the hero for real, but will his new body be worth the sacrifice of his human existence?
This innovative and thought-provoking young adult debut, from the critically acclaimed author of adult thrillers Final Theory and The Omega Theory,questions what it means to be human and whether we are destined to be defined by our physical bodies or our intellect.
Mark Alpert is a former editor at Scientific American, and the author of several adult thrillers. He’s been praised by Douglas Preston as the “heir to Michael Crichton.” Visit Mark online at markalpert.com.
Shannon rears back in her seat as if she’s been slapped. “And where are you going to store the copies of our brains?” Her voice is furious. “In a supercomputer? A big electronic prison?”
Dad doesn’t take offense. He answers her calmly. “The scanning process converts human intelligence to a digital form, allowing it to run on any neuromorphic computer that has enough memory and processing power. But in the initial stage right after the transfer, we believe it’s important to connect the intelligence to a machine that can move around and sense the outside world. A human intelligence is accustomed to controlling a body, so if we want to preserve its sanity, we’d better give it something to control. Here, let me show you.”
He puts the vial of nanoprobes back in his pocket and pulls out something else, a small remote--control device. He points it at the doorway beside the stage, and a moment later I hear a loud clanking. The noise startles the soldiers standing by the doorway. They step backward, flattening themselves against the wall. Then a seven--foot--tall robot emerges from the doorway and brushes past them.
The robot strides across the stage. It has two arms and two legs, but otherwise it isn’t very humanlike. It has no head or neck. Its torso is shaped like a giant bullet, with the rounded end on top. Its legs angle downward from the base of its torso and rest on oval steel--plate footpads that clang against the floor.
The machine marches briskly past the podium and stops in front of my dad, who presses a button on his remote control. This command extends the robot’s arms, which telescope to a full length of six feet. They look like multi--jointed tentacles. The machine’s hands, though, resemble human hands, with dexterous mechanical fingers and thumbs.
Dad presses another button, and the robot’s rounded top starts to turn like a turret. “The cameras and acoustic sensors are up here,” Dad says, pointing at the top end. “But the neuromorphic electronics are deep inside the torso, encased in armor plating. These robots were originally designed for the war in Afghanistan, so they’re pretty sturdy.” He raps his knuckles against the torso. “All in all, it’s an excellent platform for a newly transferred intelligence, but really it’s just the beginning. The whole point of the Pioneer Project is to bridge the gap between man and machine, and that means the human intelligences must explore their new environment. The Pioneers will have to learn how to use their new capabilities, and that includes transferring their intelligences from one machine to another.”
His voice grows louder again, full of enthusiasm. “Once the Pioneers have mastered these tasks, our hope is that they’ll be able to establish a connection with Sigma. If all goes well, they’ll start communicating with the AI before it launches any of the Russian missiles. And then the toughest challenge will begin. At the same time that the humans are learning how to be machines, they’ll have to teach Sigma how to be human.”
IN THE MOUTH OF THE WOLF
Twin Willow’s Book #2 by Nicole Maggi
Release Day Celebration
June 16th, 2015
ABOUT THE BOOK
In The Mouth of the Wolf
Twin Willows Book 2
Author: Nicole Maggi Release Date: June 16th, 2015
Publisher: Medallion Books
SYNOPSIS:
A continuation
of the Twin Willows Series that began with WINTER FALLS... The Twin Willows Waterfall is now under the
control of the Benandanti, but for Alessia, the victory comes at a steep price.
And the arrival of Nerina, one of the seven Concilio elders from the Friuli
Clan, only complicates her life. Now she’s hiding a 450-year-old immortal on
her farm, juggling school and her increasingly frustrated friends, and trying
to keep the Malandanti from regaining the Waterfall. But it’s the passion that
still lingers between her and Jonah that really keeps Alessia awake at night.
After a fatal visit from the Malandanti’s mage,
Alessia brings in Jonah’s twin sister, Bree, to serve as a Benandanti spy. Bree
has her own reasons for wanting to bring down the Malandanti, and soon she and
Alessia find themselves in a tenuous alliance. But not even the powerful magic
that Bree possesses nor the strong leadership that Nerina provides can stop the
vicious Malandanti. As the two Clans barrel towards their inevitable collision,
Alessia and Jonah are swept into the devastation and forced to make the
ultimate choice.
Nicole
was born in the suburbs of upstate New York, and began writing poems about
unicorns and rainbows at a very early age. She detoured into acting,
earned a BFA from Emerson College, and moved to NYC where she performed in lots
of off-off-off-Broadway Shakespeare. After a decade of schlepping
groceries on the subway, she and her husband hightailed it to sunny Los
Angeles, where they now reside, surrounded by fruit trees, with their young
daughter and two oddball cats. She is also the author of THE TWIN WILLOWS
TRILOGY, published by Medallion Press. The first book, WINTER FALLS, is
available now.
One
Winner will get an annotated set of books 1&2 in the Twin Willows Series
One Winner will get a $25.00 Powell’s Books gift card – they ship anywhere in
the world!
