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Dia, Buona & Amir

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The Not-So-Literary Heiresses (that's us!) are two sisters and their cousin who share a passion for reading. We are nieces of multi-awarded Filipino author Jose F. Lacaba and the late Eman Lacaba, who is considered the only poet warrior of the Philippines (and whose biopic is being released late this year!).

You would think being related to literary geniuses would sprinkle a little bit of writing talent and ambition our way, but one of us is a bank executive, another one is a broadcast tech on a cruise ship, and another one is in business school. The one thing we've all inherited is an undisputed love for books. This blog is our way of sharing our passion. More?

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Showing posts with label Book Highlight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Highlight. Show all posts

15 January 2014

Emblem of Eternity Series Excerpt + Giveaway!



Eternal Starling

Book 1

A love so strong, even eternity can’t separate them.

Evie Starling has lived a relatively uneventful life hanging out with friends, gossiping about boys, and driving her 1966 Mustang. All of that changes when she moves to Gunnison, Colorado, to start college and meets two mysterious men.

For centuries, Alex Night and Emil Stone have yearned for Evie—but they each have their own reasons for wanting to be with her. When both men claim to be her soul mate and tell her about an unbelievable past, Evie learns that she’s not the person she thought she was. Soon, Evie finds herself in the middle of an age-old battle between the Amaranthine Society—the soul protectors, and the Daevos Resistance—the soul destroyers. With a past she doesn’t understand, and a future rife with danger, Evie has to decide who she can trust. But Alex and Emil aren’t the only ones who want Evie, and her soul is about to become the rope in an eternal tug-of-war.




Eternal Echoes
Book 2
She thought she stopped the evil.

She thought she was safe.

Everything she thought was wrong.

Almost four months have passed since Evie Starling learned she was a Tracker and helped defeat a Daevos Clan that was taking others like her—but that wasn’t the end of the abductions. As an unknown evil emerges, Evie vows to help solve the mystery of the missing Trackers, regardless of the risk.

With new powers she doesn’t understand and can’t control, she turns to Alex and Emil, her two soul mates, for help. But her feelings for them both are tearing her apart.

As the world around her is thrown into chaos, Evie is confronted with what could be a destiny-altering truth. Will she accept her history, her memories, and her role in this life, or choose to ignore the echoes of her past?




Eternal Echoes Excerpt by Angela Corbett
(Emblem of Eternity trilogy, Book 2)

I took a deep breath as I came out of the memory. I was getting better at keeping my flashback reaction less noticeable, but I still steadied myself against the gate. Alex noticed. “Are you okay?” he asked.
            I nodded, my breath less ragged. “I’m fine.”
            “Are you sure?” He came over and stood behind me, a commanding presence. His hands were a gentle weight on my arms as he turned me toward him. At first, he seemed to be looking for signs of distress, but as our eyes caught and held, I knew his thoughts were in other places, and mine were headed there, too. His hand slipped feather-light over my arms and down until they rested above my hips.
            Like I was having some sort of out-of-body experience, I watched as my hand went up to his face, tracing the line of his jaw. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” I said in a very unconvincing way.
It wasn’t that I didn’t mean what I said. I did. And I still had enough blood flowing to my brain to vocalize it. But I was having a hard time convincing my rational side I shouldn’t be making out with Alex. Especially when my rational side was practically screaming that I’d kissed Emil last night and to be fair, I should also make out with Alex. My rational side told me I wouldn’t want a double-standard. My rational side had lost its mind.
            “Why?” Alex asked, inching slowly closer, his eyes dark in a way that made my legs feel like pudding.
            There were so many possible answers to that question, with reasonable arguments why we shouldn’t proceed, that I wasn’t sure which to choose. I started with, “What if the bracelet doesn’t work?”
            Alex glanced down at my bracelet, giving a very slow smile I could only describe as predatory before eying me like he was preparing for an attack. Apparently a couple of centuries of sexual frustration will do that to you.
“It will,” he answered, still moving toward me.
            “How can you be sure?”
            Alex’s mouth curved slightly in a smile part rapacious, part entertained. “I’ve been waiting a long time for a relationship with you, Evie. And for everything that comes with it. I wouldn’t have given you the bracelet if I wasn’t sure it would work. I gave it to you because I intend to put it to use.”
            Sheesh! Judging by his dark, focused gaze, I knew he wasn’t kidding.
            “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” I shook my head, like that would emphasize my argument and stop his sultry advances. It didn’t.
His arms went around me tight, pulling me to him. My chest crushed into his, the hard planes of his stomach obvious even through our clothes. He stared down at me, not loosening his embrace. My breath was shallow as I stared back, wondering how long it would be until we both lost all common sense. He moved his lips over my cheeks, the soft skin brushing wispy strokes over my face. When he got to my ear, he took the soft pad in his lips and nipped lightly, then whispered one word. “Why?”
Why? Why what? Had there been a question? I fumbled around in my head for what we’d been talking about. Oh. That’s right. Bad idea. This is a bad idea. Why is it still a bad idea? What was my list again? I did more fumbling and found one. “What about Emil?”
I felt Alex tense, his shoulders becoming taut under his shirt. “He’s not invited to this conversation.”
Geez! Alex had always been overbearing, but apparently when it came to sex, he was not only overbearing, but alarmingly primitive. Again, I attributed the aggression to decades of pent up frustration.
“Don’t you think he’ll be pissed?”
Alex kept kissing down my neck, and I moaned. His hands moved around to my stomach, unzipping my coat. He quickly discarded it on the ground.
“We all agreed to the rules,” Alex said, his hands moving lightly under my sweater, inching it up ever so slightly. I’d never been addicted to anything, but imagined this was how addiction started. A little at a time. Alex pulled my sweater over my head, then kept kissing back up my neck and along my jawline. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”
I looked at where our hands were, and the clothes slowly making their way to the ground. We were about to be doing things that were wrong in a very good way. “I guess it depends on your definition. Emil would think this is seriously wrong.”
The muscles at Alex’s jaw ticked, his eyes glittering with a combination of passion and anger. “I told you,” he said, moving swiftly, one arm sliding under my thighs, the other around my back. He lifted me, cradling me in his arms, and walked down the row of stalls to an empty stall at the end of the barn. Fresh hay was scattered in large mounds, creating a soft bed on the ground—albeit a scratchy one, but better than the dirt floor. He laid me down gently in the hay then straddled me, the years of want and need, written across his face. “We’re not talking about him.” With that, he was on top of me, the kiss aggressive. I could feel my soulmark burning, and my bracelet seemed to be giving off heat as well. If this kept up, I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole barn burst into flames.




Angela Corbett graduated from Westminster College with a double major in communication and sociology. She started working as a reporter when she was sixteen and won awards for feature, news, and editorial writing. She has also done freelance writing. In addition to writing, she works as a director of communications and marketing. She loves classic cars, traveling, cupcakes, and U2. She lives in Utah with her extremely supportive husband and their five-pound Pomeranian, Pippin, whose following of fangirls could rival Justin Bieber's.

She writes YA/NA titles under the name Angela Corbett, and adult titles under the name Destiny Ford.

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30 December 2013

The Forgotten Ones Teaser + Giveaway!


Title: The Forgotten Ones
Author: Laura Howard
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Series: The Danaan Trilogy #1
Published: April 28, 2013

Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember.

What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.









Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.






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21 December 2013

Insanity Excerpt + Giveaway!

Title: Insanity
Author: Cameron Jace
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Expected publication: December 20, 2013

After accidentally killing everyone in her class, Alice Wonder is now a patient in the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum. No one doubts her insanity. Only a hookah-smoking professor believes otherwise; that he can prove her sanity by decoding Lewis Carroll's paintings, photographs, and find Wonderland's real whereabouts. Professor Caterpillar persuades the asylum that Alice can save lives and catch the wonderland monsters now reincarnated in modern day criminals. In order to do so, Alice leads a double life: an Oxford university student by day, a mad girl in an asylum by night. The line between sanity and insanity thins when she meets Jack Diamond, an arrogant college student who believes that nonsense is an actual science.





Excerpt from chapter 1

The writing on the wall says it's January 14th. I am not sure what year. I haven't been sure of many things lately, but I’m wondering if it’s my handwriting I’m looking at.

There is an strange key drawn underneath the date. It's carved with a sharp object, probably a broken mirror. I couldn’t have written this. I'm terrified of mirrors. They love to call it Catoptrophobia around here.

Unlike regular patients in the asylum, my room is windowless, stripped down to a single mattress in the middle, a sink, and bucket for peeing--or puking--when necessary. The tiles on the floor are black-and-white squares, like a chessboard. I never step on black. Always white. Again, I'm not sure why.

The walls are smeared with a greasy pale green everywhere. I wonder if it's the previous patient's brains spattered all over from shock therapy. In the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum, politely known as the Warneford hospital, the doctors have a sweet spot for shock therapy. They love watching patients with bulging eyes and shivering limbs begging for relief from the electricity. It makes me question who is really mad in here.

It's been a while since I was sent to shock therapy myself. Dr. Tom Truckle, my supervising physician, said I don't need it anymore, particularly after I stopped mentioning Wonderland. He told me that I used to talk about it all the time; a dangerous place I claim I have been whisked away to when my elder sister lost me at the age of seven.

Truth is, I don't remember this Wonderland they are talking about. I don't even know why I am here. My oldest vivid memory is from a week ago. Before that, it's all a purple haze.

I have only one friend in this asylum. It's not a doctor or a nurse. And it's not a human. It doesn't hate, envy, or point a finger at you. My friend is an orange flower I keep in a pot; a Tiger Lily I can't live without. I keep it safe next to a small crack in the wall where a single sun ray sneaks through for only ten minutes a day. It might not be enough light to grow a flower, but my Tiger Lily is a tough girl.

Each day, I save half of the water they give me for my flower. As for me, better thirsty than mad.

My orange flower is also my personal rain check for my sanity. If I talk to her and she doesn't reply, I know I am not hallucinating. If it talks back to me, all kinds of nonsense starts to happen. Insanity prevails. There must be a reason why I am here. It doesn’t mean I will easily give in to such a fate.

"Alice Pleasance Wonder. Are you ready?" the nurse knocks with her electric prod on my steel door. Her name is Waltraud Wagner. She is German. Everything she says sounds like a threat and smells like smoke. My fellow mad people say she is a Nazi; that she used to kill her own patients back in Germany. "Get avay vrom za dor. I an coming in," she demands.

Listening to the rattling of her large keychain, my heart pounds in my chest. The turn of the key makes me want to swallow. When the door opens, all I can think of is choking her before she begins to hurt me. Sadly, her neck is too thick for my nimble hands. I stare at her almost-square figure for a moment. Everything about her is four sizes too big, all except her feet, which are as small as mine. My sympathies, little feet.

"Time for your daily ten-minute break," she approaches me with a straitjacket, a devilish grin on her face. I never get out. My ward is underground, and I take my break in another empty ward upstairs, where patients love to play soccer with a hedgehog’s head.

A big muscled warden stands behind Watlraud. Thomas Ogier. He is bald, has an angry-red face and a silver tooth he likes to flash whenever he sees me. His biceps are the size of my head. I have a hard time believing he has ever been a 4-pound baby.

"Slide your arms into the jacket," Waltraud demands in her German accent, a cigarette puckered between her lips. "Slow and easy, Alice," she nods at warden Ogier, in case I misbehave.
I comply obediently and stretch out my arms for her to do whatever she wants. Waltraud twists my right arm slightly and checks the tattoo on my arm. It’s the only tattoo I have. It’s a handwritten sentence that looks like a thin arm band from afar. Waltraud feels the need to read it allowed, “’I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.’” I was told I have written it myself while still believing in Wonderland. “That Alice in Wonderland has really messed with your head.” She puffs smoke into my face as she mocks me.

The tattoo and Waltraud’s mocking is the least of my concerns right now. I let her tie me, and while she does, I close my eyes. I imagine I am a sixteenth century princess, some kind of a lucky Cinderella, being squeezed into a corset by my chain smoking servant in a fairy tale castle above ground, just about to go meet my Prince Charming. Such imagery always helps me breathe. I once heard that it was hope that saves the day, not sanity. I need to cool down before I begin my grand escape.





Things you might want to know:

Cameron writes books that he can't find elsewhere, basically to amuse himself. Everything Cameron does is for fun, so don't take him seriously. Never call him a writer. He hates that. He prefers the word: Storyteller, or the boy next door who claims he can tell stories.

If you like his books, horaaaay! He loves ya too. If ya don't, hoooray! Now we know in advance that this relationship isn't going to work.

Although his books are ordinary on the surface, they hold many secrets that he might reveal one day. What matters the most to him are characters struggling to find their identities and place in the world.

Things you don't need to know:

He celebrates his birthday twice a year, the day he was born and Friday the 13th. He wants to live in a bubble house. He is a damn good guitar player. He is damn good architecture college drop out. He likes boats, beaches, bears, beards, bananas, bars, barfights, beans, bikes, bones, butter, babes, bakery, blizzards, and pirates (he thought it was spelled Birates when he was a kid.)

And honestly, writing in third person sucks! It's so fake. 




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16 December 2013

Kiss of Fire Book Highlight + Giveaway!

Joclyn Despain has been marred by a brand on her skin. She doesn't know why the mark appeared on her neck, but she doesn't want anyone to see it, including her best friend Ryland, who knows everything else about her. The scar is the reason she hides herself behind baggy clothes, and won't let the idea of kissing Ryland enter her mind, no matter how much she wants to.

The scar is the reason she is being hunted.

If only she knew that she was.

If only she had known that the cursed stone her estranged father sent for her 16th birthday would trigger a change in her. Now, she is being stalked by a tall blonde man, and is miraculously throwing her high school bully ten feet in the air.

Joclyn attempts to find some answers and the courage to follow her heart. When Ryland finds her scar; only he knows what it means, and who will kill her because of it.




“Loved the world, the concept, all of the characters (good and bad), and just everything about this story! On to the next one!” -Jena, Shortie Says

“I loved this book from the very first lines… I think it will be hard to move on to another story for a while." -Steele Reviews

“It’s amazing and left me at the edge of my seat through the night as I read.” - Zach’s YA Reviews



On sale now for $.99!

Can also be found on Barnes & Noble







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Rebecca Ethington is a story teller and author from Salt Lake City, Utah. She has been telling stories since she was small. First, with writing crude scripts, and then in stage with years of theatrical performances. Rebecca’s first stint into the world of literary writing, The Imdalind Series, was released in October 2012 and since its release each book has been found in several top 100 lists on Amazon. Rebecca is a mother to two, and wife to her best friend of 14 years. Her days are spent writing, running, and enjoying life with her crazy family.

Website † Facebook † Twitter † GoodReads




13 December 2013

Program 13 Excerpt + Giveaway!


Program 13 by Nicole Sobon
316 pages; published August 15th, 2012
Young Adult, Sci-fi

Two identities. One Body. 17-year-old Emile Reed, may have died, but she isn't dead. Her body now belongs to Program Thirteen, where her every thought, every movement, is controlled. Until Emile begins to find her way back inside of Thirteen's core, where she manages to fend off Thirteen’s programming to reclaim the life that she lost. But Charles McVeigh, the owner of Vesta Corp, isn’t willing to let Thirteen go. And he will stop at nothing to reclaim control of Thirteen's programming. Because without her, McVeigh has nothing.

What makes you human?



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The leather straps constricted my wrists forcing me to endure the electric current soaring through my body. With each jolt of energy, the wires beneath my skin buzzed, sending a shrill throughout my core. Programmed to respond to pain, my body flung forward involuntarily.

“Pain is a natural reaction,” they told us. “It’s a part of being human. It is something you will better understand once your human identity is finally installed.”

But no matter how much I might look human, I was not.

I was a Program, a machine built to appear human.

The straps dug into my skin, tearing it slightly. I could feel the cold brushing against the metal surrounding the wires beneath the break. The tearing didn’t hurt, but my Program reacted as though it did. The scientists wanted to see how we react to pain. They wanted to believe we were capable of acting human.

This body, this skin, it was a cover for what I truly was.

“They do not have enough experience with your kind,” the White Coats said. “We just want to make sure you are safe out there. This is your world, too.”

At least, that was what they told me.

“Program Thirteen,” a harsh voice called from behind the glass. I could faintly make out a shadow of the man as he held his clipboard in his hand, carefully checking each box indicating I’d passed my daily inspection. I was making excellent progress, or so I’d heard.

“Your Program is coming along quite nicely,” McVeigh had told me. “I can only imagine how well you will do once your human identity is programmed into your core.”

I knew that McVeigh was happy with my progress here at Vesta Corp, but I did not comprehend much of what he said. What I did know was that as long as my treatments continued to work, I’d remain activated. I’d retain a purpose. That was all that mattered.

Looking down, I could see that the leather straps were hanging down, no longer constricting my wrists. Even without the straps to hold me down, I did not move. I remained seated, waiting for a White Coat to come strolling in through the door. As I waited, I noticed that my skin where it had been torn from the pressure of the restraints was flapping around. I’d have to pay a visit to the doctor again so that she could tend to the tear.

“You must find a way to fight the pain, Thirteen,” she’d tell me, just like she always did.

And then I’d nod, because that was what I was expected to do.

The truth was that I had no control over how my Program reacted to pain. Everything I did, everything I was – it was all controlled by the scientists. I didn’t choose to react. My Program, the one which they’d built, did. I twisted my wrist so that my palm was facing up, and I gazed down at the open skin. No blood. No bone. Only exposed metal.


__________________________________________________




Nicole Sobon is the author of The Emile Reed Chronicles (Young Adult Science Fiction), the Outbreak duology (Young Adult Dystopian), and various short stories.

Her novel, Program 13, was quoted on an episode of Criminal Minds (season 8, episode 13, "Magnum Opus"). 




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03 December 2013

Shelf Life Book Highlight + Giveaway!


Title: Shelf Life
Author: Stephanie Lawton
Genre: Contemporary New Adult
Publication date: December 3, 2013

*Mature situations and sexual content - recommended for ages 17+*

It’s impossible to focus on college biology when your family believes doomsday is imminent and the government is out to get you.

All Pete Wilson’s ever wanted is to become a veterinarian, but those dreams are going up in flames. Commuting to an urban college and helping his parents with their apocalyptic prepper crap is more than he can handle.

Worse, Pete’s asshole neighbor is stirring up trouble, his family’s stockpile has been destroyed and farm animals are turning up dead.

Lindsey Linger is the tomboy sister of his best friend. Now a sexy spitfire, she and Pete are liable to set the barn ablaze as their romance finally heats up. But she’s hiding a terrible secret, and rural life isn’t all bonfires and hayloft romps. That becomes clear one icy winter night when the survival of everyone Pete loves hangs in the balance.

Can Pete be the hero they need, or will this be the end of the world as he knows it?





Join us all day TODAY on Facebook as we chat with Stephanie, as she celebrates Shelf Life's launch day with giveaways, excerpts, special content, free downloads, & more!






Always a misfit, Stephanie Lawton writes twisted romance that tugs the heart strings then punches you in the gut.
She has a tendency to psychoanalyze people, which comes in handy when creating character profiles. She has a fascination with teacher-student relationships, bullies, psychics, doomsday preppers and larger-than-life characters.
Making readers squirm is her greatest pleasure. 
Proceed with caution.

Website | Twitter | Facebook



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