Book Blitz + Giveaway: Two Truths and a Lie (PRG Investigations #1) by Ashley Stoyanoff

Two Truths and a Lie (PRG Investigations #1)
by Ashley Stoyanoff
Release Date: February 28th 2015
Genres: New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

One year ago, I became a missing person. I left everything behind—family, friends, school. It seemed like a good idea at the time. My only option, really, until I realized running from a police officer isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

It’s been exactly three-hundred and sixty-five days since I left home, but I’m finally ready to take the step I should have taken a year ago. I’m done hiding. I’m done running. I’m going to take my life back.

It was supposed to be easy. A meeting with Jason Pierce, a private investigator, was set up for me. All I had to do was go to him, let him do his thing, and then I could go home, or so I thought.

That is, until I met Jason and things got … complicated.

“Stop,” he shouts, the sound of his shoes hitting the pavement coming faster.  “Just stop for a minute.”

Quickening my stride, I keep my eyes on my car, as I rifle through my purse for my keys and call out, “Stop following me.”

Where the hell are my keys?  Pushing back a swell of anger-fueled anxiety, I keep searching.  My fingertips brush against the metal ring.  I clasp onto it, pulling them out, just as a large hand wraps around my bicep and I’m jerked to a halt.  I yelp, and stumble, rocking on my heels, and dropping the keys.  Another hand settles on my hip, steading me.

Then, I’m pulled around to face Jason.  His eyes flicker over my face a few times, doing what looks like a silent assessment, and whatever he sees makes him draw his lips tight and his brow dip in a frown.  “Are you okay?”

Am I okay?  I laugh.  I don’t even know how to answer that question.  I probably should be.  I know that.  I’ve waited a year for this chance, to have someone like him help me, but right now, after the exchange in the bar, with his hand locked around my arm and another on my hip, I don’t feel okay.  Not even a little.

“Yes, I’m good,” I stammer, taking a hasty step back, yanking myself free of his grasp.  “Everything’s just fine.”

He doesn’t look reassured by my answer.  Actually, he looks a little annoyed.  He arches a questioning brow and folds his arms over his chest.

I stand there, hesitating, contemplating whether or not I should turn around and run.  My car isn’t far.  Another twenty, maybe thirty steps.  Will he chase me again if I do it?

“Can I go now?” I ask, not ready or wanting to endure another chase.

He shakes his head slowly.  “If you want to make a lie believable, you gotta weave it with the truth.”

My brow furrows, confused by the comment.  “What?”

“Two truths and a lie, babe,” he says.  “Makes the lie harder to pick up on.”

Is this guy for real?  He looks it, serious, a little brooding.  He’s watching me, waiting for … I don’t even know.

“Okay, fine.”  I throw up my hands, exasperated, and sigh, long and loud.  “I’m fine, just in a hurry to find a hotel and grab a shower.”  I bend down and snag up my keys; then, I meet his eyes.  “Better?”

He laughs under his breath, but there is not a stitch of humor in the sound.  “Yeah, but I’d rather you didn’t bother with the lie.”

I scoff.  “Well, I’d rather you didn’t chase me through a parking lot.”

Ashley Stoyanoff is an author of paranormal romance books for young adults, including The Soul's Mark series and the Deadly Trilogy. She lives in Southern Ontario with her husband, Jordan, and two cats: Tanzy and Trinity.

In July 2012, Ashley published her first novel, The Soul's Mark: FOUND, and shortly thereafter, she was honored with The Royal Dragonfly Book Award for both young adult and newbie fiction categories.

An avid reader, Ashley enjoys anything with a bit of romance and a paranormal twist. When she's not writing or devouring her latest read, she can be found spending time with her family, watching cheesy chick flicks or buying far too many clothes.

Ashley loves hearing from her readers, so feel free to connect with her online.

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Blog Tour: Where Dead Bodies Lie (Body Dowser #1) by Kat Cazanav

Where Dead Bodies Lie (Body Dowser #1)
by Kat Cazanav
Release Date: 12/16/14

Synopsis:

For as long as I can remember, I have been told to follow three important rules;

1. Always guard my ability

2. Never share my secret

3. And pretend to be normal.

However, those three little rules don’t make my life easier. I still find dead people and deal with strange visions. Not to mention, an attraction to a boy who doesn’t exist. Whenever we cross path’s he mists away like smoke on a mirror. He drives me crazy, that Kaff Cooper.

As a flock of dead crows fall from the blackened sky, Kaff becomes the only one who can see the truth straight to the dark underbelly of who I actually am.

My hands feel the pull to extract the forsaken, the lost, the forgotten. It comes as naturally as breathing and there is no stopping it.

WHERE DEAD BODIES LIE

by Kat Cazanav

“If you need tutoring, I’m available. I aced anatomy last year.”

“I don’t need tutoring,” I said under my breath.

“Really? Then tell me the most important body part.”

“Don’t be a perv.”

His mouth spread into a crooked grin. “ You’re blushing.”

“Eff off.” Lightheadedness hit me hard. All of a sudden I was praying the hottest boy I’d ever seen would leave me alone. “I’ll get detention if I keep talking to you.”

He didn’t budge. “The most important body part is the mouth.”

“A mouth isn’t necessary for survival,” I snapped.

He locked his doe eyes on me. “Lips are pretty important.”

I stared straight ahead out of fear I’d stutter if I looked him straight on. “You may think a mouth is important, but guess what?” I was clearly falling apart. “If you didn’t have a mouth you’d breathe through your nose, eat through a tube, and type words with your big toe.” 

He thought about this. “You’re missing the point. What about kissing?”

Kissing? Jezzzus. This guy was hard-core. His beautiful lips were important for kissing someone, just not me. I rubbed my sweaty hands on my skirt and scratched my throat to buy some time. “I usually don’t kiss guys I don’t know.”

He struggled not to laugh. “Thanks for the heads up but the point I was trying to make was without a mouth, nothing starts.”

“My throat tightened. “Starts what?”

“As an example? Well, ever heard the saying, ‘nothing starts without a kiss’?”

Heat rushed to my cheeks. “No, I’ve never heard that.”

“Well, now you have.” And then he delivered the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen.

Guys like him went for shock value. They always did.

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Book Blitz: Where Dead Bodies Lie (Body Dowser #1) by Kat Cazanav

Where Dead Bodies Lie (Body Dowser #1)
by Kat Cazanav
Release Date: 12/16/14

Synopsis:

For as long as I can remember, I have been told to follow three important rules;

1. Always guard my ability

2. Never share my secret

3. And pretend to be normal.

However, those three little rules don’t make my life easier. I still find dead people and deal with strange visions. Not to mention, an attraction to a boy who doesn’t exist. Whenever we cross path’s he mists away like smoke on a mirror. He drives me crazy, that Kaff Cooper.

As a flock of dead crows fall from the blackened sky, Kaff becomes the only one who can see the truth straight to the dark underbelly of who I actually am.

My hands feel the pull to extract the forsaken, the lost, the forgotten. It comes as naturally as breathing and there is no stopping it.

He laughed and his smile lit up the space we shared. I couldn’t help but wonder what he’d look like shirtless. His chest so broad, his arms muscular, his hair even wilder, and his brown eyes a shade darker and deeper to swallow you whole. I bet he broke a lot of hearts.

“You’re wondering how I managed to stay in school all this time and not get kicked out.” He glanced at me then returned to the road in front of him. “I think it’s because I ditch class. The school kicks the bad stuff under the rug.”

“So the school forgot about you?”

“Yep.”

And I forgot deodorant. I was sweating like a pig. “I don’t think that’s it. You’re hard to forget.” Ugh. Why did I say that?

He hesitated, then smiled. “You too.”

Ohmygawd. “How much longer until we get to school?”

“Five minutes, tops.” He drove on and we didn’t speak after that. It was a relief on my part. Underneath all the civility was an undercurrent of attraction. It had always been there but I never admitted it to myself until now. I mean, why would I like a guy who, inadvertently, robbed me of high school? I mean, I wound up dead in a hole.

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Book Blitz Organized by:

Interview with Skylar Dorset

The Girl Who Never Was (Otherworld #1)
by Skylar Dorset
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: June 1st 2014

Synopsis:

THE GIRL WHO NEVER WAS is the story of Selkie Stewart, who thinks she’s a totally normal teenager growing up in Boston. Sure, her father is in an insane asylum, her mother left her on his doorstep—literally—when she was a baby, and she’s being raised by two ancient aunts who spend their time hunting gnomes in their Beacon Hill townhouse. But other than that her life is totally normal! She’s got an adventurous best friend who’s always got her back and an unrequited crush on an older boy named Ben. Just like any other teenager, right?

When Selkie goes in search of the mother she’s never known, she gets more than she bargained for. It turns out that her mother is faerie royalty, which would make Selkie a faerie princess—except for the part where her father is an ogre, which makes her only half of anything. Even more confusing, there’s a prophecy that Selkie is going to destroy the tyrannical Seelie Court, which is why her mother actually wants to kill her. Selkie has been kept hidden all her life by her adoring aunts, with the help of a Salem wizard named Will. And Ben. Because the boy she thinks she’s in love with turns out to be a faerie whose enchantment has kept her alive, but also kept her in the dark about her own life.

Now, with enchantments dissolved and prophecies swinging into action, Selkie finds herself on a series of mad quests to save the people she’s always loved and a life she’s learning to love. But in a supernatural world of increasingly complex alliances and distressingly complicated deceptions, it’s so hard to know who to trust. Does her mother really wish to kill her? Would Will sacrifice her for the sake of the prophecy? And does Ben really love her or is it all an elaborate ruse? In order to survive, Selkie realizes that the key is learning—and accepting—who she really is.

Click here to learn more about the Otherworld

THE GIRL WHO NEVER WAS is about a girl who thinks she’s totally normal but finds out she’s half-faerie-princess, half-ogre, and that she’s destined to lead a coup d’etat to overthrow her evil mother. Her life gets pretty complicated pretty quickly, as you might imagine.

Selkie is a Boston teenager who feels young and old all at once. She is smart and capable and determined, but she doesn’t see herself that way at all and considers herself to be flailing about without a goal. But I think that’s the best thing about Selkie: Even when she’s confused and feeling overwhelmed, she just keeps on going. She gets a lot of crazy stuff thrown at her and she never feels like she has any idea what she’s doing, but she also never lets that stop her from doing *something.* And all while keeping a wry and self-deprecating sense of humor to boot!

The opening image of Selkie’s story, about a man walking in to find a strange woman asleep on his couch, came to me in a dream. Eventually, I figured out that this was the story of Selkie’s parents, and that I wanted to write about Selkie herself. I didn’t do *specific* research, but her story was influenced by the city I was living in at the time. Every little odd Bostonian quirk somehow found its way into Selkie’s story. Every time I learned a new little fact about New England history, it was fun to work its way into the story I was telling.

I think the most difficult part of the book to write was the ending. I wanted to get it just right. There are a lot of swirling emotions and also important plot points all at the same time, and I wanted to hit that balance. My favorite part of the book to write would be a spoiler to tell all of you but suffice it to say it involves cuddling in the rain. ;-)

I think they need to know that it’s a truly awful place that has terrified all of the supernatural creatures in the kingdom with a cruel and capricious rule. Also, it’s a place that dislikes remembering and forces you to forget. And to realize how bad that is, all you have to do is think of your favorite memory and think of having it taken away from you.

I stayed up all night writing the climactic scenes of the book, and I still couldn’t sleep even when I was done and ended up giving up and just sitting in bed, re-reading what I’d written.

The Otherworld is populated mainly by faeries, ogres, gnomes, and goblins. If I had to be one, I admit I’d probably be a goblin, because they like to cause mischief and have fun.

Never trust a faerie!

I actually listened to one album over and over and over again while I was writing the book, and it was Andrew Belle’s The Ladder. I highly recommend discovering it if you haven’t already. The one song I think describes the whole story the best is “Oh My Stars” from that album:

Oh, my my

Oh, my stars

Everything we see is ours

Or it could be

If you would try

I wish you would

I wish you might

Oh, if everything you’ve said to me’s been true

Then all my stars are leading me to you

It’s been magical! Which is probably a clichéd way to describe having a fantasy book published, but it’s so apt. Sometimes I feel like it’s all happening to someone else, or like it’s just another story I’ve written in my head, how wonderfully this has all turned out. J

BE STILL MY HEART on the big screen thing. But casting is always the hardest question from me because I’m always like, “Who’s that girl who’s in the thing? It would be her.” But here’s what I think currently:

Can I get Claire Holt (from “The Vampire Dairies” and “The Originals”) to play Selkie with an American accent? And Torrance Coombs (Bash from “Reign”) to play Ben.

I can tell you that it’s AWESOME. Does that count?

I can also tell you that it involves lots of new characters and all of the old ones, kisses and quarrels, subways and bells. And a spangly silver-and-black coat.

The key to happiness is finding a tea or coffee beverage that is readily available to you at all times.

Skylar’s first story was a tale of romantic intrigue involving two feuding factions of squirrels. Think “Romeo & Juliet” but with bushy tails and added espionage. She was seven.

Since that time, Skylar’s head has been filled with lots of characters and lots of drama. She is delighted to be able to share some of it with all of you now, because, honestly, it was getting pretty loud and crowded in there.

Skylar is a born-and-bred New Englander, which is why Boston was a natural setting for her debut novel, THE GIRL WHO NEVER WAS. Skylar shares her home with a cardboard cutout of the Tenth Doctor, lots of Mardi Gras beads from the time she spent living in New Orleans, and a harp she’s supposed to be teaching herself to play. She’d like to get a dog.