Winner! Also Link up your giveaway!

The winner for the choice of book in the Immortal Guardian series is...

Karen R.!

Don't forget you can still enter at Dianne's site for:

Just go HERE to get the deets!

You still have time to enter for:

Fathom

Click pic to go to post! 3 ebooks!

and

Click pic to go to post! US only

Don't forget to also check out the giveaways listed on the side bar and up top for those hosted by others, but you can enter them here.

Do you have a giveaway? Don't forget to list your giveaways on this page (and here... link below) and check out the holiday links to other's giveaways like...

Got a giveaway you want to list? Just make sure it's book related (this will also show up on the giveaways/contests page) Also try to put end date so I can delete it when the contest is over. For example: Name of Giveaway (US or Intl) end date. (this will be seen on the giveaways/contests page listed below the header)

Author Guest Post: The Home for Halloween Giveaway

Enter the Rafflecopter to win your choice of a Kindle Fire, Nook HD, or Kobo Glo, (two winners total!) as well as signed books and audiobooks in the Home for Halloween giveaway from author Scott Nicholson.

The giveaway celebrates the launch of paranormal thriller The Home. Experiments at a group home for troubled children lead to paranormal activity—and the ghosts are from the home’s dark past as an insane asylum. In development as a feature film, it’s available in ebook at Amazon US, Amazon UK, BN.com, Kobo, and Smashwords.

The Home

When twelve-year-old Freeman Mills arrives at Wendover, a group home for troubled children, it’s a chance for a fresh start. But second chances aren’t easy for Freeman, the victim of painful childhood experiments that gave him the ability to read other people’s minds. 

At Wendover, Freeman and the other children are subjected to more secret experiments, organized by a shadowy organization called The Trust. But the experiments do more than open up clairvoyant powers--the electromagnetic fields used in the experiments are summoning the ghosts of the patients who died at Wendover back when it was a psychiatric ward. 

Now a new scientist has been brought into the project, an unstable and cruel pioneer in ESP studies who performed most of his work on a very special subject: his son, Freeman Mills. 

EXCERPT: THE HOME
By Scott Nicholson
(From Chapter 30)

Freeman couldn’t concentrate on the history lesson. Ever since group homes had been turned into charter schools, with shrinks and teachers teaming up to make a bad situation worse, education had become yet another weapon the system used against you. Take the history teacher, for example. He might as well have “This space for rent” stamped across his pasty forehead, but he got to decide who was smart and who had a future and which kids were failures. All because he wore a necktie.

Leave it to a loser to be able to pick out the other losers. The teacher’s voice was like chalk on a blackboard as he talked about patriots sneaking onto somebody else’s ship and dumping tea into the Boston harbor. Creepy little vandals. And now they were hailed as heroes.

People sure didn’t know much about heroism back then. The patriots even dressed up as Indians, that’s how pathetic they were. The teacher was calling them Freedom Fighters. If you did that kind of thing today, you’d be called a terrorist and locked up for observation with no attorney. Or shot on sight.

Well, the winning side always wrote the history books and freedom was subjective. Being confined in a group home with barbed wire around the perimeter, right here in the Land of the Free that God had blessed above all other countries, didn’t seem a bit contradictory to the teacher. Having Social Services telling Freeman where to live wasn’t exactly what the Constitution meant by the “pursuit of happiness.” The First Amendment didn’t prevent shrinks from getting an endless ride inside his head.

To Freeman, it seemed the only people who got to do what they wanted were the grownups and the ghosts.

Author Blog Post: Merrie Destefano with Giveaway!

Walking on the Dark Side 

By Merrie Destefano 

The sun goes down, the sounds of the city grow quiet, and the rest of the family nestles, safe and sound in a world of incandescent light. Meanwhile, one person huddles alone in a darkened room, face turned toward a screen, eerie blue light carving shadows on her face while her fingers slowly tap out a message, letter by letter.

A writer is writing.

October winds blow outside her window, leaves gather in shadowed corners of the yard and nearby trees sway, branches creaking.

The writer is writing a scary story.

Why do some writers always return to the dark side of literature, spinning out tales that make readers sit on the edge of their seat? Perhaps an even better question, and one that I’d like to discuss here, is why do some people love to read scary stories?

While, I can’t answer this question definitively, I can offer some suggestions.

1. ADRENALINE RUSH: This is my favorite answer, although many of the others are just as good. We read scary stories so we can experience artificial situations of “fight or flight.” These scenarios, whether real or imagined, get your body ready for action by giving you an extra dose of adrenaline. Your heart beat speeds up, your breathing increases and your blood pressure increases—in other words, it’s like an instant dose of caffeine combined with heavy exercise. You’re ready to leap over tall buildings in a single bound, although you may be screaming “Mommy!” all the way.

2. FAMILIARITY: You’ve been here before and you liked it. You’ve been reading scary stories for years, you have a list of favorite authors and you’re waiting in line, with sweaty palms, when his/her next book releases. You stay up late (reading these stories is always better at midnight, right?), turning pages while everyone else is asleep. But the truth of the matter is you can’t sleep, can you? Not until you know what happens next…

3. A VISCERAL REACTION: The desire to feel something strongly—no matter what the emotion is—can drive readers to these books. Detailed descriptions of eviscerated body parts in zombie stories may not get you excited, but there are plenty of readers out there who live for this stuff.

4. TO FEEL ALIVE: Similar to the answer above, books that put you on the edge remind you that you are alive. You’re not watching some soap opera at lunch time; you’re hunched over a novel wondering if the heroine is really strong and smart enough to survive that demon horde that’s been chasing her for the last twenty pages.

5. TO CONQUER THE DEMONS: We all have our demons, things we’re afraid of but don’t want to admit. Things like clowns (It), menacing dolls (Chucky), the end of the world (The Stand), rampant pestilence (Contagion), rabid dogs (Cujo), vampires (Interview with a Vampire) and serial killers (Darkly Dreaming Dexter). By vicariously facing your fears in a novel, you’re able to tame them, or at least, imagine that you’ve tamed them. Until they show up the next night, waiting for you in the closet.

6. TO EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN: There are boundless supernatural realms, where wonder and horror walk side by side—realms where people rise from the dead or where someone learns the future in their dreams or where someone is giving an extraordinary power. There’s just enough enchantment and mystery to make you want to know more, and just enough danger to make you glad this is fiction.

7. TO FEEL STRONG EMOTIONS: Anger—hatred—fear—love—surprise—terror—repulsion—empathy…Scary stories have all these emotions and more trapped between the pages, just waiting for an innocent reader to come along and release them. Before you know it, you’re experiencing the same emotions. Again, this is similar to Number Three, but I felt that it needed to stated again. (It is my list, no?)

8. TO PROVE WE CAN SURVIVE: Isn’t that what it’s all about? You’re secretly taking notes, so if X, Y or Z ever really happens, you’re ready. Doesn’t everyone know what to do in a zombie/alien apocalypse by now? And if so, why? Because you’ve all been making a list and checking it twice while watching The Walking Dead or Falling Skies.

9. SATISFACTION WHEN TERROR IS OVERCOME: There’s an unbelievably sweet moment when the heroine finally plunges a stake through the heart of the last vampire—almost instantly, your muscles relax, you slump backward in your chair and then breathe a well-deserved long sigh because, without realizing it, you’ve been holding your breath and sitting on the edge of your seat, ready to run.

10. TO PROVE THAT DRAGONS NOT ONLY EXIST, BUT THAT THEY CAN BE DEFEATED: What? Scary stories can give you hope? To quote someone more knowledgeable on this subject than me: “Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”― G.K. Chesterton. Watching a character deal with the monster in the closet can give you the courage to face up to your own monsters. Yes, tales of terror can actually be uplifting, when written with that purpose in mind.

Which of these categories do you think you fall into? And what book did read recently that made you feel this way?

~~~~~~~~

Bio:

With twenty years’ experience in publishing, Merrie Destefano left a 9-to-5 desk job as the editor of Victorian Homes magazine to become a full-time novelist. Her first two novels, Afterlife: The Resurrection Chronicles and Feast: Harvest of Dreams were published by HarperVoyager. Fathom is both her first YA novel and her first indie published novel. When not writing, she loves to camp in the mountains, walk on the beach, watch old movies and listen to alternative music—although rarely all at the same time. Born in the Midwest, she now lives in Southern California with her husband, their two German shepherds and a Siamese cat.

Links:

Fathom

http://www.merriedestefano.com/fathom.html

Author website:

http://www.merriedestefano.com/

Author blog:

http://merrie-destefano.blogspot.com/

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/MerrieDestefano

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1205132688

Author’s HarperCollins micro author site

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/36854/Merrie_Destefano/index.aspx

Fathom

Everything is changing . . .

Turning sixteen can be hell, especially if everyone in town thinks your mother killed herself and your sister. All Kira Callahan wants to do is swim, hang out with her best friend, Sean, and ignore the kids who torment her at school. That is, until one day when she gets invited to a party. For three minutes her life is wonderful—she even kisses Sean. Then somebody spikes her drink and some girls from out of town lure her into the ocean and hold her underwater.

Kira soon discovers that the group of wild teenagers who have come to visit Crescent Moon Bay are not as innocent as they seem. In fact, nothing is as it seems—not the mysterious deaths of her sister or her mother, not her heritage, not even her best friend. And everything seems to hinge on the ancient Celtic legends that her mother used to tell her as a child.

 Merrie is graciously giving away 3 ebooks to 3 lucky winners! And since they are ebooks... it's INTERNATIONAL! Whee! Just fill out the rafflecopter form below to enter!

Good Luck!

Fathom by Merrie Destefano

Everything is changing... 

Turning sixteen can be hell, especially if everyone in town thinks your mother killed herself and your sister. All Kira Callahan wants to do is swim, hang out with her best friend, Sean, and ignore the kids who torment her at school. That is, until one day when she gets invited to a party. For three minutes her life is wonderful—she even kisses Sean in the driveway. Then somebody spikes her drink at the party and some girls from out of town lure her into the ocean and hold her underwater. 

Kira soon discovers that the group of wild teenagers who have come to visit Crescent Moon Bay are not as innocent as they seem. In fact, nothing is as it seems—not the mysterious deaths of her sister and mother, not her heritage, not even her best friend. And everything seems to hinge on the ancient Celtic legends that her mother used to tell her as a child.

Fathom is a selkie tale steeped in lore and mystery. Kira is a typical teen girl who feels invisible but has a couple of great friends she can depend. She has never felt secure in herself ever since when she was 6 her mother went crazy and killed both herself and her sister. When she turns 16 she feels the whispers of a legacy she would rather forget especially when she looks in the mirror. Everyone notices she looks exactly like her mother.

I have to say that for most of the book, I was connected to Kira on a level, but it wasn't very deep until much later in the book. I think this is because there was so much mystery surrounding Kira, I was more involved in learning what was going on. The mystery was the consuming factor and I didn't mind it at all.

As we move along in the story we start finding out little tidbits, crumbs for us to follow. As frustrating as learning only tiny bits of mystery could be, it was also captivating and I wanted to know more. I wanted to just read faster. While this is happening, I was becoming more connected to Kira and I wanted to solve the mystery for her. We also get hit with a couple of plot twists. One I really didn't see coming!

I did have a couple of small criticisms. One was the potential love triangle. It really never came off totally like that, but it did threaten to rear it's head. In the end there is no complete love but yet not one absent either. It was nice, to be truthful and although anything can change in the books to come, nothing felt too forced... at least with Sean. Now, Caleb was another matter. Although they became friends, I just didn't get that connection. We were told this happened, but did not witness it. I would have liked more information on how that organically grew. Other than that, I enjoyed Caleb as well. Mostly because he helped solve a big portion of the mystery.

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. I recommend it to those that love lore and mythology especially those of the fae. I'm curious as to where this series goes in the next book.

I received this eARC from the author an no compensation for my review was given.

Bloggy note:

Come back tomorrow for an author blog post by Merrie Destefano and giveaway!

Ghost Town by Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, and Tim Waggoner

From the stars of the SyFy network’s popular show Ghost Hunters, the second novel in a new spine-tingling supernatural series. 

When Amber, Drew, and Trevor are invited to a paranormal conference in the most haunted town in America, they confront a murderous ghost called the Dark Lady and her human servant: Amber’s abusive ex-boyfriend Mitch. The three friends must stop the Dark Lady before she destroys the entire town, and they'll have the help of a surprising and spooky ally…

 This is the second book in the series. The first being, Ghost Trackers. I enjoyed that one and so was excited to get this one. We follow the same characters we do in the first, so I would say to read that first book. You are able to then get the references placed in this book about their adventure in the last. You also get a better feel for the characters. You could read this one first, but like I said, the enjoyment would be more if read in order.

In this book we also get to see the relationship of Amber and Drew in a better light. Mostly because Amber is much more confident in herself. She also has a great sense of self that may throw a few since she was so broken in the first. However, this didn't bother me at all. I just enjoyed the more confident Amber.

Amber is also thrown by a reemergence of an old abusive boyfriend. One who is hellbent on making her pay for dumping him. Of course the paranormal gets involved and what was dangerous becomes even more harrowing. The friends have to figure out what is going on, what they are up against, and what to do before more people die. How are they able to fight something that can draw from illusion and you can't touch? It's an interesting conundrum.

I have to say that this adventure was fun. It wasn't scary to me (I'm a big chicken) because the scariest thing wasn't the Dark Lady (although she was a close second) but the abusive ex, Mitch. Probably because I can see that as more of a danger IRL than who or what the Dark Lady represents. Still, the adventure was suitably dark. I also have to say that I was pulled out of the sense of dark by Drew's psycho-analytical observances. It had a tendency to shed light into the darkness so it was much less scary than if he didn't do that. I must say, however, I did like his analysis so this really isn't a complaint. Just an observance myself. :) Still, it may bother some people who are looking for an extremely dark novel.

I think my biggest criticism of the book is the secondary characters. I have to admit, I was not a fan. Still, as long as the main characters are interesting, I really don't mind as much. I just hope that the next book finds these characters a bit more exciting and confident. Confidence in something evil makes it seem much scarier, IMO. Plus, it would be great to see more confident females as well.

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. I enjoyed the story but it wasn't as dark as I feel it was leaning toward. I enjoyed Amber and Drew's romance and I like the main characters. I think this is a continuing series so I guess I'll end with (and those that enjoy Ghost Hunters will recognize this:) "On to the next..." ;)

I received this book from the publisher, Gallery Books and no compensation for my review was given.