Friday, January 9, 2015

5 star Review of UnHappenings by Edward Aubry #timetravel #sci-fi #romance




UnHappenings
Genre: Literary Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Romance
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Date of Release­­: January 8, 2015
Cover Artist: Andy Garcia


Description:

When Nigel Walden is fourteen, the UNHAPPENINGS begin. His first girlfriend disappears the day after their first kiss with no indication she ever existed. This retroactive change is the first of many only he seems to notice.

Several years later, when Nigel is visited by two people from his future, he hopes they can explain why the past keeps rewriting itself around him. But the enigmatic young guide shares very little, and the haggard, incoherent, elderly version of himself is even less reliable. His search for answers takes him fifty-two years forward in time, where he finds himself stranded and alone.

And then he meets Helen.

Brilliant, hilarious and beautiful, she captivates him. But Nigel’s relationships always unhappen, and if they get close it could be fatal for her. Worse, according to the young guide, just by entering Helen’s life, Nigel has already set into motion events that will have catastrophic consequences. In his efforts to reverse this, and to find a way to remain with Helen, he discovers the disturbing truth about the unhappenings, and the role he and his future self have played all along.

Equal parts time-travel adventure and tragic love story, Unhappenings is a tale of gravely bad choices, and Nigel’s struggle not to become what he sees in the preview of his worst self.



My Review:
Wow. I said that several times reading this book and then several more times after I finished it. Not sure I could have said anything else without sounding like a babbling idiot. 

I rarely give 5 stars to YA or adult books. Five stars is usually reserved for Maggie Stiefvater, an author who writes emotion like no other. But UnHappenings gets 5 stars from me and I'd go higher if Goodreads and Amazon would let me. In case you can't tell, I think this book was spectacular. 

Now, I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and time travel in particular. The first story I every wrote that made me think writing was a thing I could do was a time travel story. And better yet, when a book has complex world rules that I want to follow and tear apart and wonder if they're real, I know I'll want to read over and over.

I will say the rules are a bit complex and I don't think I've got the chops to keep enough in my head to follow it all, but for those who don't appreciate excessively technical books - don't worry. Just take the ride. Because deep down, this is a love story asking the question - if you had unlimited means, just how far would you go to keep the person you love. 

There were times I wanted to pound Nigel for not asking the questions I knew he should, but he knew he wouldn't get an answer. Through 2/3 of the book, he was on as much of a ride as the reader. But when the answers start coming, oh, they're so painful and beautiful.

The style of this book has very short chapters, so it feels like a fast read. I appreciate the how the choppiness contributed to how Nigels life would have felt. There are many books I read and check out the page numbers to see my progress. In this case, I kept checking the page numbers, desperate that it wasn't close to ending. I would have followed this adventure for another couple hundred pages and I very much hope to see more from this author.

A side note to the Whovians out there - this book contains the real Impossible Girl!

Go buy this book now! You won't regret it. Best book I've read in a long time.




About The Author:

 

 

Edward Aubry is a graduate of Wesleyan University, with a degree in music composition. Improbably, this preceded a career as a teacher of high school mathematics and creative writing.

Over the last few years, he has gradually transitioned from being a teacher who writes novels on the side to a novelist who teaches to support his family. He is also a poet, his sole published work in that form being the sixteen stanza “The History of Mathematics.”

He now lives in rural Pennsylvania with his wife and three spectacular daughters, where he fills his non-teaching hours spinning tales of time-travel, wise-cracking pixies, and an assortment of other impossible things.

Find Edward Aubry Online:


#M9BFridayReveals - featuring Spring 2015 debut and #giveaway







M9B-Friday-Reveal
Hello everyone! Welcome to the Month9Books Spring 2015 Debuts Blitz!
These upcoming M9B books will be ones that you'll definitely want to add to your TBR list!
You can enter for a chance to win 1 of 4 prize packs of eBooks open Internationally.
Horror Business by Ryan Bradford
Coming February 2015

Armed with a passion for classic B-grade horror movies, a script co-written by his twin brother, and a wicked crush on his death-obsessed neighbor; hardcore horror fan Jason Nightshade must finish his student film.
Horror-Business-CoverBut his plans are derailed when the children of suburban Silver Creek start disappearing – his twin brother among them. Battling a possessed video camera, a crazy zombie dog, a monstrous bully, and a frighteningly broken down family life, Jason embarks on a mission to find his lost brother so the two can write an ending for his story.
As an any horror fan knows, saving the day won't be easy, as Jason finds himself forced to face the real world where death isn't just a splash of fake blood on a camera lens.
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ryanauthorpic3-300x200Ryan grew up in Park City, Utah. His fiction has appeared in Quarterly West, Paper Darts, Vice, Monkeybicycle and [PANK]. He currently lives in San Diego where he acts as Creative Director for the nonprofit literary arts organization So Say We All. He’s the co-editor of the anthology Last Night on Earth and founder of the literary horror journal, Black Candies. Find him at ryancbradford.com
Fingers in the Mist by O'Dell Hutchison
Coming February 2015
Fingers-in-the-Mist-CoverSixteen-year-old Caitlyn Foster never believed in the legend of the Redeemers. That was before the trees started to whisper her name. Before a murder of crows attacked the town. Before she and her family came home to find a bloody handprint on their front door, marking one of them as a sacrifice. As Caitlyn’s friends are ripped from their homes, she knows it’s only a matter of time before the Redeemers come for her. Caitlyn has the power to stop the terror, but she’ll have to decide if she’s willing to sacrifice herself to save those she loves.
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ODell-Hutchison-HS-1-300x244O’Dell was born in a small rural town in Idaho. There were no Redeemers living there (that he knows of). After attending college in the Pacific Northwest, he found his way to the Houston area. By day, he is a Business Systems Analyst and at night you can either find him sitting at home, dreaming of random super powers he wishes he had, or directing plays and musicals at various theaters around Houston.
Lucas Mackenzie and the London Midnight Ghost Show by Steve Bryant
Coming February 24, 2015
Lucas-CoverLucas Mackenzie has got the best job of any 10 year old boy. He travels from city-to-city as part of the London Midnight Ghost Show, scaring unsuspecting show-goers year round. Performing comes naturally to Lucas and the rest of the troupe, who’ve been doing it for as long as Lucas can remember.
But there’s something Lucas doesn’t know.
Like the rest of Luca’s friends, he’s dead. And for some reason, Lucas can’t remember his former life, his parents or friends. Did he go to school? Have a dog? Brothers and sisters?
If only he could recall his former life, maybe even reach out to his parents, haunt them.
When a ghost hunter determines to shut the show down, Lucas realizes the life he has might soon be over. And without a connection to his family, he will have nothing. There’s little time and Lucas has much to do. Can he win the love of Columbine, the show's enchanting fifteen-year-old mystic? Can he outwit the forces of life and death that thwart his efforts to find his family?
Keep the lights on! Lucas Mackenzie’s coming to town.
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Purchase HERE!
Steve-Bryant-241x300Steve Bryant is a new novelist, but a veteran author of books of card tricks. He founded a 40+ page monthly internet magazine for magicians containing news, reviews, magic tricks, humor, and fiction; and he frequently contributes biographical cover articles to the country’s two leading magic journals (his most recent article was about the séance at Hollywood’s Magic Castle).
The Perilous Journey of the not so Innocuous Girl by Leigh Statham
Coming March 17, 2015
Perilous-Journey-coverLady Marguerite lives a life most 17th century French girls can only dream of: money, designer dresses, suitors and a secure future. Except she suspects she may be falling for her best friend Claude, a common smithie in the family's steam forge. When Claude leaves for New France in search of a better life, Marguerite decides to follow him and test her suspicions of love. But the trip proves more harrowing than she had anticipated, revealing secrets and testing her strength as well as her heart. Love, adventure and restitution await her in Canada, but only if she can survive the voyage.
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LStathamAuthorPic-213x300Leigh Statham was raised in the wilds of rural Idaho, but found her heart in New York City. She worked as a waitress, maid, artist, math teacher, nurse, web designer, art director, thirty-foot inflatable pig and mule wrangler before she settled down in the semi-quiet role of wife, mother and writer. She resides in North Carolina with her husband, four children, five chickens and two suspected serial killer cats. If the air is cool and the sun is just coming up over the horizon, you can find her running the streets of her small town, plotting her next novel with the sort of intensity that will one day get her hit by a car.
I Heart Robot by Suzanne Van Rooyen
Coming March 31, 2015
Sixteen-year-old Tyri wants to be a musician and wants to be with someone who won't belittle her musical aspirations.
Q-I-99 aka 'Quinn' lives in a scrap metal sanctuary with other rogue droids. While some use violence to make their voices heard, demanding equal rights for AI enhanced robots, Quinn just wants a moment on stage with his violin to show the humans that androids like him have more to offer than their processing power.
I-Heart-Robot-coverTyri and Quinn's worlds collide when they're accepted by the Baldur Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. As the rift between robots and humans deepens, Tyri and Quinn's love of music brings them closer together, making Tyri question where her loyalties lie and Quinn question his place in the world. With the city on the brink of civil war, Tyri and Quinn make a shocking discovery that turns their world inside out. Will their passion for music be enough to hold them together while everything else crumbles down around them, or will the truth of who they are tear them apart?
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Suzanne-van-Rooyen-1-1-200x300Suzanne is a tattooed storyteller from South Africa. She currently lives in Finland and finds the cold, dark forests nothing if not inspiring. Although she has a Master’s degree in music, Suzanne prefers conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. When not writing, she teaches dance and music to middle schoolers and entertains her shiba inu, Lego. Suzanne is represented by Jordy Albert of the Booker Albert Agency.
Where the Staircase Ends by Stacy Stokes
Coming April 2015
Where-the-Staircase-Ends-coverAfter her best friend orchestrates the lie that destroys her reputation, Taylor wants more than anything to disappear from her life. But when an accident turns this unspoken wish into reality, instead of an angel-filled afterlife, Taylor must climb a seemingly endless staircase into the sky.
Instead of going up, the journey plunges her into the past. As she unravels the mystery behind her friend’s betrayal, she must face the truth about life and find the strength to forgive the unforgivable -- unless the staircase breaks her first.
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StaceyStokes-300x200
Stacy grew up in Dallas, TX, but has lived all over. After spending time in Austin, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, she is happy to call San Francisco her home, where she lives with her husband. When she’s not bringing the voices in her head to life, she’s working as a brand and marketing professional in the consumer products industry. She has a slight obsession with puns (they are, in her opinion, the highest form of humor), which might be linked to the three years she spent studying improv comedy at Chicago’s Second City and IO theaters. She holds a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business. WHERE THE STAIRCASE ENDS is her debut novel.
Nobody's Goddess by Amy McNulty
Coming April 21, 2015
In a village of masked men, each loves only one woman and must follow the commands of his “goddess” without question. A woman may reject the only man who will love her if she pleases, but she will be alone forever. And a man must stay masked until his goddess returns his love—and if she can’t or won’t, he remains masked forever.
M9B-cover-reveal-3DWhere the rest of her village celebrates this mystery that binds men and women together, seventeen year old Noll is just done with it. She’s lost all her childhood friends as they’ve paired off, but the worst blow was when her closest companion, Jurij, finds his goddess in Noll’s own sister. Desperate to find a way to break this ancient spell, Noll instead discovers why no man has ever loved her: she is in fact the goddess of the mysterious lord of the village, a Byronic man who refuses to let Noll have her right as a woman to spurn him and who has the power to fight the curse. Thus begins a dangerous game between the two: the choice of woman versus the magic of man. And the stakes are no less than freedom and happiness, life and death—and neither Noll nor the veiled man is willing to lose.
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Amy-McNulty-Author-Pic-240x300Amy McNulty is a freelance writer and editor from Wisconsin with an honors degree in English. She was first published in a national scholarly journal (The Concord Review) while in high school and currently spends her days alternatively writing on business and marketing topics and primarily crafting stories with dastardly villains and antiheroes set in fantastical medieval settings.
The Artisans by Julie Reece
Coming May 19, 2015
The-Artisans-coverThey say death can be beautiful. But after the death of her mother, seventeen-year-old Raven Weathersby gives up her dream of becoming a fashion designer, barely surviving life in the South Carolina lowlands.
To make ends meet, Raven works after school as a seamstress creating stunning works of fashion that often rival the great names of the day.
Instead of making things easier on the high school senior, her stepdad's drinking leads to a run in with the highly reclusive heir to the Maddox family fortune, Gideon Maddox.
But Raven's stepdad's drying out and in no condition to attend the meeting with Maddox. So Raven volunteers to take his place and offers to repay the debt in order to keep the only father she's ever known out of jail, or worse.
Gideon Maddox agrees, outlining an outrageous demand: Raven must live in his home for a year while she designs for Maddox Industries' clothing line, signing over her creative rights.
Her handsome young captor is arrogant and infuriating to the nth degree, and Raven can't imagine working for him, let alone sharing the same space for more than five minutes.
But nothing is ever as it seems. Is Gideon Maddox the monster the world believes him to be? And can he stand to let the young seamstress see him as he really is?
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Julie_Reece_Image_3-253x300Born in Ohio, I lived next to my grandfather’s horse farm until the fourth grade. Summers were about riding, fishing and make-believe, while winter brought sledding and ice-skating on frozen ponds. Most of life was magical, but not all.
I struggled with multiple learning disabilities, did not excel in school. I spent much of my time looking out windows and daydreaming. In the fourth grade (with the help of one very nice teacher) I fought dyslexia for my right to read, like a prince fights a dragon in order to free the princess locked in a tower, and I won.
Afterwards, I read like a fiend. I invented stories where I could be the princess… or a gifted heroine from another world who kicked bad guy butt to win the heart of a charismatic hero. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? Later, I moved to Florida where I continued to fantasize about superpowers and monsters, fabricating stories (my mother called it lying) and sharing them with my friends.
Then I thought I’d write one down…
Hooked, I’ve been writing ever since. I write historical, contemporary, urban fantasy, adventure, and young adult romances. I love strong heroines, sweeping tales of mystery and epic adventure… which must include a really hot guy. My writing is proof you can work hard to overcome any obstacle. Don’t give up. I say, if you write, write on!
Summer Of The Oak Moon by Laura Templeton
Coming May 5, 2015
Rejected by the exclusive women’s college she has her heart set on, Tess Seibert dreads the hot, aimless summer ahead. But when a chance encounter with a snake introduces her to Jacob Lane, a black college student home on his summer break, a relationship blooms that challenges the prejudices of her small, north Florida town.
M9B-cover-reveal-3DWhen Jacob confesses that Tess’s uncle is trying to steal his family’s land, Tess comes face to face with the hatred that simmers just below the surface of the bay and marshes she’s loved since birth. With the help of her mentor Lulu, an herbal healer, Tess pieces together clues to the mysterious disappearance of Jacob’s father twenty-two years earlier and uncovers family secrets that shatter her connection to the land she loves.
Tess and Jacob’s bond puts them both in peril, and discontent eventually erupts into violence. Tess is forced to make a decision. Can she right old wrongs and salvage their love? Or will prejudice and hatred kill any chance she and Jacob might have had?
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Laura-Templeton-author-photo-300x287Laura Templeton lives near Athens, Georgia, with her husband, son, and a menagerie of animals. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, gardening, ice skating with her family, and taking long walks on the quiet country roads near her home. Her previous novel, Something Yellow, was released in 2013 and is set in one her favorite places – the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Vessel by Lisa Cresswell
Coming May 26, 2015
The sun exploded on April 18, 2112. It exploded in a Class X solar storm the likes of which humankind had never seen.
They had nineteen minutes.
Vessel-CoverNineteen minutes until the geomagnetic wave washed over the Earth, frying every electrical device created by humans, blacking out entire continents, every satellite in their sky.
Nineteen minutes to say goodbye to the world they knew, forever, and to prepare for a new Earth, a new Sun.
Generations after solar storms have destroyed nearly all human technology on Earth and humans have reverted to a middle ages like existence, all knowledge of the remaining technology is kept hidden by a privileged few called the Reticents and books are burned as heresy.
Alana, a disfigured slave girl, and Recks, a traveling minstrel and sometimes-thief, join forces to bring knowledge and books back to the human race. But when Alana is chosen against her will to be the Vessel, the living repository for all human knowledge, she must find the strength to be what the world needs.
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Lisa-T.-Cresswell-300x214Lisa, like most writers, began scribbling silly notes, stories, and poems at a very young age. Born in North Carolina, the South proved fertile ground to her imagination with its beautiful white sand beaches and red earth. In fifth grade, she wrote, directed and starred in a play “The Queen of the Nile” at school, despite the fact that she is decidedly un-Egyptian looking. Perhaps that’s why she went on to become a real life archaeologist? Unexpectedly transplanted to Idaho as a teenager, Lisa learned to love the desert and the wide open skies out West. This is where her interest in cultures, both ancient and living, really took root, and she became a Great Basin archaeologist. However, the itch to write never did leave for long. Her first books became the middle grade fantasy trilogy, The Storyteller Series. Her first traditionally published work, Hush Puppy, is coming soon from Featherweight Press. Lisa currently lives and writes in Idaho with her family and a menagerie of furry critters that includes way too many llamas! You can visit her website at www.lisatcresswell.com
Chapter-by-Chapter-header---Giveaway
  • Three (3) winners will receive eBook prize packs of 5 Month9Books of your choice, upon their release (INT)
  • One (1) winner will receive all these titles, upon their release (INT)

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Thursday, January 8, 2015

4 Star Review - L.R. Trovillion's False Gods #ya

False Gods by L.R. Trovillion is available on Amazon in print and ebook.  All proceeds from sales during the months of December and January are being donated to the Glenelg United Methodist Youth Program (www.glenelgumc.org)  

My review:
False Gods by L.R.  Trovillion tells the story of Cory Iverson, a teenage girl afraid to fail. Her solution to avoiding failure is to avoid trying, running away at the first sign things are going wrong. She doesn’t have the most supportive home, her divorced mother sleeps with creeps and is addicted to prescription meds. Her sister is extremely focused on becoming a dancer, to the point of starving herself to have the right body.

In spite of Cory’s fear, she does try things and even takes things into her own hands like her clarinet lessons. But the scary band instructor sends her running from the room. Luckily, Cory’s dog leads her to the one thing with the ability to help her overcome her fears – a horse farm. At the barn she finds supportive people and, best of all, horses.

As I've found in my own life, horses are so forgiving and never have an ulterior motive or judge even when we make mistakes. Not only does Cory keep up with her  job at the barn and riding lessons, she makes a goal of qualifying for a high-level jumping competition.

But her boss remains a mystery – someone who used to be at the top and now refuses to show. Did she lose her nerve and run away too?

Cory digs around her bosses past, opening painful wounds and nearly ending her chance at finally sticking with something.


I won’t give an spoilers, but Cory’s fight to come to terms with herself and her family feels real and raw. Ms. Trovillion makes the reader care about Cory and want to solve the mystery of her boss along with her. The book is well written and cleanly edited (for those of you that know my nitpickiness!) Definitely worth reading for people who love horses, music, or remember those teen years when life controlled us rather than the other way around. And if you purchase in January, all proceeds are going toward a good cause, a youth group.

This book gets a solid 4 stars from me (high praise, I expect perfection for 5 stars). Recommended purchase!

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Outsider (Flawed #2) by @beccajcampbell is LIVE! #NA #paranormal #thriller #giveaway

Outsider_CVR_SML

Outsider Book Release and Goodies

This week marks the release of Outsider, the second book in Becca J. Campbell's New Adult Paranormal series Flawed. To celebrate, Becca is hosting a giveaway and a book sale! The Prize Pack The giveaway at the end of this post is for a prize pack that includes: one autographed paperback of Outsider, one 12" x 18" poster of the cover art, and two square collector's buttons (one of Empath and one of Outsider). Please note, this giveaway is open to those with an address in US or Canada.













Empath buttonOutsider Button

  The Book Discount The regular price of the Outsider eBook is $3.99, but for the first week, you can purchase a copy for only $2.99 (ends January 12th). On Jan. 13th, the price increases to $3.99, so make sure to get your copy now! Here are the purchase links:

About Outsider (Flawed #2)

After a psychopath tried to kill his friends, Josh Schuyler figured 'normal' was far off. The real problem: Josh's friends have all acquired supernatural abilities, while he's still the same average guy. Josh has always believed he was destined for greatness, but he's been out of college for two years without a clue of his purpose. After watching his friends and siblings develop superhuman traits, he wonders if he might be meant for something grand, too. Can Josh even hope for an extraordinary event in his own future? And how long must he wait for this transformation - if there is one? When Alex met the Schuylers, she was grateful for new friends to whisk her away from her lonely life in California and give her an escape from her divorced, bickering parents and aimless future. But Josh won't drop his defenses, and Alex isn't sure she wants to trade her old life for this new, uncertain one. Nicodemus has an amazing ability he's been milking for years to get whatever or whomever he wants. Things are going great until a young woman - Alex - inadvertently busts his latest swindle. Nic is furious when he discovers his power has been disabled, and he vows to find her in order to wreak his vengeance. She will be punished. All he needs is a little help from his friend, Ethan Black. Josh has been waiting for his big break, or for the chance to be a hero, or just the opportunity to stand out in his own, extraordinary way. Will Josh discover his purpose in time to stop Nic?

More Flawed Books

Empath eBook cover SMEmpath (Flawed #1) Supernatural empathy isn’t a gift, it’s a curse. Anywhere she goes, Jade’s emotions are replaced by those of the people around her. Jade grew up in a suburb of Colorado Springs, protected from other people by her parents. Now she faces college—and the world—with nothing to shield her from unwanted feelings. When Cam, a classmate with a major crush on her, unintentionally hijacks her emotions, Jade struggles to keep from being carried away in feelings of attraction. When Ethan, a psychopath with a thirst for fear, fixates on her, the emotional impact could be lethal. Caught in a deadly trap, Jade must untangle the emotions and find a way to use her empathic curse to overcome this killer or be overcome by him.





Pulled_CVR_XSMLPulled (A Flawed Short Story) Eight-year-old Juniper has been labeled many things—troubled kid, orphan, runaway—but none of her foster families have known what she really is: a girl with a unique and brutally inconvenient ability to teleport. Her spontaneous jumps are not only beyond her control, they get her into trouble. When Juniper disappears, no one believes her wild stories, so she's stopped trying to convince them. One day when Juniper gets pulled away, finding her way back is harder than ever. Stranded on the side of a deserted highway, she must rely on her own instincts to determine who is a creepy stranger and who she can trust. Resourcefulness may get her home, but is getting home enough when you don't have parents that love you? Juniper knows something most people don’t: there are others like her with unexplained abilities. Until now, she’s exercised stranger-danger caution, but maybe these people can offer what she needs. Will Juniper find a family she can share her secrets with?

About the Author

IMG_9817 a lowres Becca J. Campbell is the author of the Flawed series as well as Science Fiction novels Foreign Identity and Gateway to Reality, and Sub-Normal, a series of short stories. An avid lover of stories that tiptoe the line between fantasy and reality, Becca looks for new angles on bridging the gap between the two. She holds a special place in her heart for any story that involves superpowers or time travel. Her passion is defying the limits of her own creativity. You can find her on her Author Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Amazon.

Giveaway

Enter the Outsider prize pack giveaway below: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, January 2, 2015

#Giveaway & 2014 Review of #Month9Books #amwriting #amreading

M9B Friday Reveal Blitz: 2014 M9B Books you may have Missed with Giveaway
M9B-Friday-Reveal
Hello everyone! Welcome to Month9Books 2014 Books you may have Missed Blitz!

Check out all M9B 2014 titles below and enter for a chance to win 1 of 3 prize packs of eBooks! International
Click on the cover for book information.



Tantrum Titles


Chapter-by-Chapter-header---Giveaway
(3) winners will receive eBook prize packs of 5 Month9Books of your choice! International