{Blog Tour} THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF OKAY by Laura Steven + Giveaway

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TOUR SCHEDULE

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The Exact Opposite of Okay
by Laura Steven

Bitingly funny and shockingly relevant, The Exact Opposite of Okay is a bold, brave, and necessary read for fans of Louise O'Neill and Jennifer Mathieu.  

Eighteen-year-old Izzy O’Neill knows exactly who she is—a loyal friend, an aspiring comedian, and a person who believes that milk shakes and Reese’s peanut butter cups are major food groups. But after she’s caught in a compromising position with the son of a politician, it seems like everyone around her is eager to give her a new label: slut.

Izzy is certain that the whole thing will blow over and she can get back to worrying about how she doesn’t reciprocate her best friend Danny’s feelings for her and wondering how she is ever going to find a way out of their small town. Only it doesn’t.

And while she’s used to laughing her way out of any situation, as she finds herself first the center of high school gossip and then in the middle of a national scandal, it's hard even for her to find humor in the situation.

Izzy may be determined not to let anyone else define who she is, but that proves easier said than done when it seems like everyone has something to say about her.

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• Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Feminism
• Publisher: HarperTeen
• Add the book on Goodreads!
• Purchase: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / TBD / IndieBound

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Laura Steven is an author, journalist and screenwriter from the northernmost town in England. The Exact Opposite of Okay, her YA debut, was published by Egmont in March 2018. The sequel, A Girl Called Shameless, will follow in 2019.

As well as mentoring aspiring authors through schemes like Pitch Wars, Laura works for Mslexia, a non-profit organisation supporting women writers. She graduated with Distinction from her MA in Creative Writing in 2017, and her TV pilot Clickbait – a mockumentary about journalists at a viral news agency – was a finalist in British Comedy's 2016 Sitcom Mission.

Laura is represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary and Media Inc.

WEBSITE • GOODREADS • TWITTER • INSTAGRAM

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Continue on for the giveaway! ~

{Blog Tour} TEETH IN THE MIST by Dawn Kurtagich + Giveaway

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TOUR SCHEDULE

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Teeth in the Mist
by Dawn Kurtagich

A genre-bending epic horror-fantasy, inspired by the legend of Faust, that spans generations as an ancient evil is uncovered--perfect for fans of Kendare Blake and Ransom Riggs.

Before the birth of time, a monk uncovers the Devil's Tongue and dares to speak it. The repercussions will be felt for generations...

Sixteen-year-old photography enthusiast Zoey has been fascinated by the haunted, burnt-out ruins of Medwyn Mill House for as long as she can remember--so she and her best friend, Poulton, run away from home to explore them. But are they really alone in the house? And who will know if something goes wrong?

In 1851, seventeen-year-old Roan arrives at the Mill House as a ward--one of three, all with something to hide from their new guardian. When Roan learns that she is connected to an ancient secret, she must escape the house before she is trapped forever.

1583. Hermione, a new young bride, accompanies her husband to the wilds of North Wales where he plans to build the largest water mill and mansion in the area. But rumors of unholy rituals lead to a tragic occurrence and she will need all her strength to defeat it.

Three women, centuries apart, drawn together by one Unholy Pact. A pact made by a man who, more than a thousand years later, may still be watching...

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• Genres: Young Adult, Retellings, Horror
• Add the book on Goodreads!
• Purchase: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / TBD / IndieBound

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Dawn Kurtagich is an award winning author of creepy, spooky, and psychologically sinister YA, where girls may descend into madness, boys may see monsters in men, and grown-ups may have something to hide. Her debut novel, THE DEAD HOUSE, was a YALSA Top 10 Pick, An Audie Award Nominee and an Earphone Award Winner. It has been optioned for TV by Lime Productions. She is also the author of THE CREEPER MAN / AND THE TREES CREPT IN, NAIDA and the forthcoming TEETH IN THE MIST, published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Orion Children's Books. If you enjoy a creeping chill along your spine, mystery and little bit of terror, then you're in the right place!

By the time she was eighteen, she had been to fifteen schools across two continents. The daughter of a British globe-trotter and single mother, she grew up all over the place, but her formative years were spent in Africa—on a mission, in the bush, in the city and in the desert.

She has been lucky enough to see an elephant stampede at close range, a giraffe tongue at very close range, and she once witnessed the stealing of her (and her friends’) underwear by very large, angry baboons. (This will most definitely end up in a book . . . ) While she has quite a few tales to tell about the jumping African baboon spider, she tends to save these for Halloween!

When she was sixteen, she thought she'd be an astronomer and writer at the same time, and did a month-long internship at Cambridge's prestigious Cavendish Laboratories. Dawn vlogs on her youtube channel and can be found hanging around Twitter and Instagram.

WEBSITE • GOODREADS • TWITTER • FACEBOOK • INSTAGRAM • YOUTUBE

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Continue on for the giveaway! ~

Book Blitz: BREAKOUT by A.M. Rose + Excerpt

PRESENTED BY YA BOUND BOOK TOURS

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Breakout
by A.M. Rose

Six days.

That’s the amount of time until Lezah’s execution.

She’ll die never knowing what got her locked up in that godforsaken prison in the first place. Her only chance of survival is to escape. Except the monitoring bracelet that digs into her wrist, the roaming AI, and the implant in her neck make freedom close to impossible.

Her best chance is to team up with the four other inmates who are determined to break out, even if one of them is beyond gorgeous, annoying—oh, and in for murder. But he has a secret of his own. One that could break Lezah if she finds out, but could also set him free.

Figuring out how to work with him and the rest of this mismatched group of criminals is the only way Lezah will survive to see the outside world again.

But nothing in this prison is as it seems. And no one.

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• Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy
• Add the book on Goodreads!
• Purchase: Amazon / B&N / Kobo

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Heavy footsteps echo through the hall. From the corner of my eye, two AIRS appear, bigger than the humans they were built to resemble. Artificial Intelligent Roaming Security marching our way means only one thing. Someone’s time is up, and I just pray it isn’t mine. They’re all hard steel where a soft mesh “skin” should be, with inhuman faces that are cold and unforgiving. As if it couldn’t get any worse, these two are larger than any I’ve seen. Something about their mechanical forms appears more menacing than ever. AIRS are the only model of WALTER I’ve ever been afraid of. A drop of sweat slides down my temple, but I know better than to brush it away.

My chin trembles with the rumble in the floor from their heavy frames. They stop at my right, in front of Twelve and Thirty-three, the girls who share the room next to mine. Twelve’s knees shake so hard her bright red hair vibrates. A puddle forms around Thirty-three’s feet.

No one moves.

Or blinks.

Or breathes.

An eternity later, they grab Twelve and spin her around. With a loud crack, her cheek slams into cold concrete; red swells against her pale skin. Tears pour from her blue eyes and slide down her freckled cheeks. She looks as scared as I feel, but I have no right to. She’s the one with blood pooling at the corner of her mouth, with big, scary AIRS assaulting her.

“No!” someone down the line yells.

“Don’t. Stop. You’re hurting me,” Twelve begs, but the AIRS don’t respond. One digs their hand into her pocket and yanks out a fork.

Someone gasps and jerks back, then pays the price for it with an electrical shock from their metal wristband.

“That’s not mine. I swear. I didn’t take it.” Twelve’s voice cuts through me like broken glass. That’s basically what she is now. That’s what they’ll do to her—break her into a thousand shards. She’s already as good as dead. It doesn’t matter what number is on her bracelet, or however many days of her sentence she had left, her expiration date is now.

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A.M. Rose is the author of Road to Eugenica, and Breakout (formerly titled Not Innocent) is the writer of young adult novels, drinker of too much coffee (with way too much coconut creamer), and lover of all carbohydrates.

Currently, she lives in Houston, TX with her three boys (yes, her husband is in that count) and three cats. When she isn’t writing, she is an avid reader, critiquer, (is that even a word?) and trampoline enthusiast. She is a graduate from San Diego State University with a BA in Communication and a minor in underwater basket weaving. (Okay, maybe not the basket weaving part.)

WEBSITE • GOODREADS • TWITTER • FACEBOOK

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Thanks so much for stopping by! ♥ Happy Reading!

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{Blog Tour} ALL OUR BROKEN PIECES by L.D. Crichton—Author Interview + Giveaway

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TOUR SCHEDULE

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All Our Broken Pieces
by L.D. Crichton

"You can’t keep two people who are meant to be together apart for long..."

Lennon Davis doesn’t believe in much, but she does believe in the security of the number five. If she flicks the bedroom light switch five times, maybe her new L.A. school won’t suck. But that doesn’t feel right, so she flicks the switch again. And again. Ten more flicks of the switch and maybe her new step family will accept her. Twenty-five more flicks and maybe she won’t cause any more of her loved ones to die. Fifty times more and then she can finally go to sleep.

Kyler Benton witnesses this pattern of lights from the safety of his treehouse in the yard next door. It is only there, hidden from the unwanted stares of his peers, that Kyler can fill his notebooks with lyrics that reveal the true scars of the boy behind the oversized hoodies and caustic humor. But Kyler finds that descriptions of blonde hair, sad eyes, and tapping fingers are beginning to fill the pages of his notebooks. Lennon, the lonely girl next door his father has warned him about, infiltrates his mind. Even though he has enough to deal with without Lennon’s rumored tragic past in his life, Kyler can’t help but want to know the truth about his new muse.

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• Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance
• Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
• Add the book on Goodreads!
• Purchase: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / TBD / IndieBound

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with L.D. Crichton

LM: What inspired you to write All Our Broken Pieces?

L.D.: I do not have OCD and I’m not an expert but the reason I wanted to write the book to begin with—aside from the fact that it’s important to talk about mental health, was because of my own struggle with mental health. I thought it would a safe place for me to explore my own diagnosed anxieties which for a long time, was mostly me catastrophizing every possible thing. Then in my 20’s my mom passed away which took that overall sense of worry and morphed it into more off a morbid fixation on death, either mine or loved ones.  I wrote from personal experience of being in the throes of panic chasing an illogical belief your brain is trying to tell you is true. Lennon and I have that in common so I gave her some of my thoughts.

However…

When I started writing, I felt that giving her OCD, something that was NOT my own experience, something I would have to research and look at from the perspective of someone trying to educate themselves with facts, would somehow remove me enough emotionally to write her story.

She ended up being a total inspiration to me despite the fact that we aren’t exactly the same.

LM: Which character from All Our Broken Pieces do you relate to the most and why?

L.D.: Gah! Immediately, it’s easy to assume Lennon after reading my answer above. And if I HAD to pick just one, it’s her because girl, I get it. I do.

But I can also relate to Kyler. I am an avid devourer of music. Any and all kinds of music. I know what it’s like to spill your heart onto paper, and constantly doubt yourself like he does.

I can relate to Claire and her loving mama vibes, or Josh and his sometimes abrasive protectiveness over his child. I understand Macy’s challenge of having an over-protective brother!

I guess the best way to put it is so many of my pieces are in All Our Broken Pieces.

LM: Give us a glimpse into your book—share one of your favorite quotes or scenes from the story!

L.D.: I love this question! Some backstory: Silas, Kyler’s band mate says, “She’s just a girl, bro” in reference to Lennon. Kyler repeats this in his narrative, when he is afraid he’s catching feelings. This scene is immediately after he shows Lennon his face, and she in turn reveals her OCD and what happened to her mother. I’ve always loved Kyler here.

SHE’S JUST A GIRL, BRO.

I came up here to do a school project, and now we’re in the midst of an emotional hurricane filled with all the issues Lennon from Maine with Serious Issues Who Sews has. The storm of feelings I’m immersed in is maximum-force, category-five brand of bullshit.

Bullshit because we’re sharing.

Not my strongest point.

I showed her my scars.

She showed me hers.

And now we’re connected on some weird level that part of me wanted to avoid while another part of me wanted so see bloom. She’s shaking in my arms like crazy, sobbing, falling apart at the seams, and I’m just trying to keep all the broken pieces of her together. She smells like rain. I love when it rains.

LM: In one sentence only, tell us why we should read All Our Broken Pieces.

L.D.: Self-acceptance, because are any of us every okay, really?

LM: Do you listen to music while you write? Any particular song/artist that inspired you while writing All Our Broken Pieces?

L.D.: YES! I listen to music ALL THE TIME. From the moment I wake until I sleep! I’m not sure you want me to answer this question because I have thousands of songs on playlists that rotate a lot based on my mood.

As a writer, in general, the band Marianas Trench never fails to inspire me. Canada’s greatest export—they are heavy features on every single playlist I have.

All Our Broken Pieces has a massive playlist of over 100 songs. Here’s a “few” LOL. If you’re not a music enthusiast, maybe keep scrolling. I’ll start with my beloved Marianas Trench and go from there.

-   Ever After - Marianas Trench

-   Masterpiece Theatre Pt 1 - Marianas Trench

-   Toy Soldiers - Marianas Trench

-   Porcelain - Marianas Trench

-   Good To You - Marianas Trench

-   All To Myself - Marianas Trench

-   Cross My Heart - Marianas Trench

-   Who Do You Love? - Marianas Trench

-   Lullaby - Young Guns

-   Last to Fall - Starset

-   Follow You - Bring Me The Horizon

-   Bleeding Out - Imagine Dragons

-   Take My Pain Away - Anarbor

-   Monster - Skillet

-   Something More - Adelitas Way

-   Pieces - RED

-   Shadows - RED

-   No One Looks As Good As You In That - Parabelle

-   A Life Less Ordinary - Motion City Soundtrack

-   Anywhere but Here - Mayday Parade

-   Be My Escape - Relliant K

-   Wait For You - Atreyu

-   Far From Perfect - Rise Against (Ghost Note Symphonies) <— If I had to pick ONE song for Lennon and Kyler, this is it!

-   And of course ANYTHING NIRVANA (Kyler!)

Phew. And that’s not even the whole thing. Shameless, passionate love for music!

LM: Which author(s) are you most inspired by?

L.D.:That’s hard. So many. I adore Colleen Hoover. I love that she’s so approachable. I was fortunate enough to meet her an at event and she’s a very funny lady. But there’s so many trailblazers I’m inspired by: Sarah Dessen, Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera, Tamara Ireland Stone, Rainbow Rowell, Nicola Yoon, Jennifer Niven, Jenny Hahn, Angie Thomas, Stefanie Perkins, Jandy Nelson — there are so many! 

LM: Tell us what you enjoy doing when you aren't writing!

L.D.: Curating ridiculous music playlists! :)

I love to travel! I just returned from two amazing weeks in Bali on my first ever solo trip! I also enjoy making graphics (for fun), reading, cuddling with my dog, and spending time with my mini-humans. I love to meditate and take a lot of time to do that— pretty simple.

LM: Thank you so much for answering my questions today! Is there anything you'd like to add; anything you'd like to say to your readers?

L.D.: Thank you for having me. I guess it would be this: From the bottom of my heart, thank you to anyone who has taken the time to step into Lennon and Kyler’s world. Your support means the world to me. Also:  Stay Weird. ;) 

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L.D. Crichton is the author of THE ENCHANTMENT OF EMMA FLETCHER, which received a starred review from School Library Journal. She’s a coffee devotee and lip gloss enthusiast whose infatuation with music is truly astonishing. If she’s not reading, writing, or checking her horoscope for signs from the Universe, you can find her by the water in search of mermaids because they're real. ALL OUR BROKEN PIECES is her first young adult novel. Represented by John Silbersack @ The Bent Agency. She is one of 6 hosts for a weekly Twitter chat about writing. Search the hashtag #Wattpad4 Monday nights at 8:00 PM EST on Twitter to join in!

TWITTER • GOODREADS • FACEBOOK • INSTAGRAM

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Huge thanks to L.D. Crichton for answering my questions so thoughtfully today! ♥

Readers, please continue on for giveaway details! ~