Red Eye Halloween Blog Tour: Let's play dress up.

 

It's the last week of October, and with it Halloween, or as my neighbours think, time to put up the Christmas decorations. I wish I were kidding. 

So, in the spirit of Halloween and all things horror, I have the current Red Eye authors talking about their Halloween costumes growing up/what/who they would dress up as this year.

#DarkSummerRead: Guest Post by Virginia Boecker and Giveaway!

Look who has free reign of the blog, yes, indeed, it's Virginia Boecker, talking about creepy stories and summer and imagination. Enjoy! And thanks for taking the time to write the guest post, Virginia! We also have a giveaway for the #DarkSummerRead below!

When I think of childhood summers, I think of the month my brother, cousins, and I spent together with our relatives, far from home. They lived in a small town (the inaptly named Metropolis), on the edge of a lake at the end of a long dirt road, surrounded by trees of all shapes and sizes filled with creatures of all shapes and sizes. Both house and town were a bit of a place time forgot: creaking doors, odd drafts, and strange nocturnal sounds in the former; roadside food stands, barefoot children, gravel roads, and rust-fendered trucks spewing exhaust in the latter.

The days were hot and sticky, the air full of humidity, the sound of cicadas, and the briny scent of catfish and bluegill that stocked the lake.  The five of us spent hours on the water: canoeing (read: tipping the canoe), sailing (read: idling; there was never much of a breeze), fishing (read: watching the fish; none of us wanted to hook a worm) swinging from the death-defying heights of the tree swing before returning home to make homemade ice cream (always vanilla, always more melted than frozen.)

Our afternoons were the things of stories. Our nights were too, albeit stories of a different kind. We took advantage of being temporarily parentless to indulge in the things “forbidden” to us at home (no, not that): hair-raising books and movies of the R-rated variety.  Stephen King’s Christine, Friday the 13^th, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None were a few of our favorites: they were what frightened us and got our imaginations running. We took the stories and made them our own, twisting them in an ever-escalating effort to raise the hair on one another’s neck.

Maybe those ancient trucks we saw rattling around Metropolis during the day were waiting somewhere at night, maybe in a garage like Darnell’s, their fenders popping out dents by themselves, their ripped vinyl seats stitching themselves back together, the long broken radio tuning itself to a long-defunct am station to play 50s hits from Buddy Holly, The Coasters, Dale Hawkins, before turning out, driverless, to cruise the streets.

Maybe the lake wasn’t just a place for fishing and fun. Maybe a boy drowned here once too, the body never recovered. Maybe he’s come back for revenge, living in a shack in the woods, sharpening his machete by day and stalking the woods by night, looking for children alone, away from their parents, to flay with his machete… (now I’m freaking myself out.)

Or maybe, just maybe, my loving aunt and uncle weren’t so loving at all. Maybe they brought us here to atone for our “crimes” (being tardy to class, passing notes during class, doing poorly in class: this was all high treason for thirteen year old). There would be no escape from this house, from this town, until justice was served. We could choke, we could drown, we could be stung by wasps or have an “accident” with a kitchen knife or simply, one by one, the five of us would begin to disappear.

Since then, time has caught up: the home of our summers has been remodeled: no more cold drafts from nowhere or things that go bump in the night. As for Metropolis itself, riverside casinos have swept into town, bringing with them paved roads, heeled feet, and restaurants. My cousins and I have moved on, too. But any time we get together we still love to dig into the archives, pull out a VHS or a paperback or two, and delve back into the dark summers of our past. 

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Blog Tour: What You Left Behind, Guest Post by Jessica Verdi

What You Left Behind
Author: Jessica Verdi 
Publication Date: August 4th 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

It’s all Ryden’s fault. If he hadn’t gotten Meg pregnant, she would have never stopped her chemo treatments and would still be alive. Instead, he’s failing fatherhood one dirty diaper at a time. And it’s not like he’s had time to grieve while struggling to care for their infant daughter, start his senior year, and earn the soccer scholarship he needs to go to college.

The one person who makes Ryden feel like his old self is Joni. She’s fun and energetic—and doesn’t know he has a baby. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to keep his two worlds separate. Finding one of Meg’s journals only stirs up old emotions, and Ryden’s convinced Meg left other notebooks for him to find, some message to help his new life make sense. But how is he going to have a future if he can’t let go of the past?

You guys, I am so ecstatic about having Jessica Verdi on the blog today, talking about parents in YA, because let's be honest, we all know how parents in YA usually goes, and fortunately, that is definitely not a problem in What You Left Behind. Which, *cough* coincidence *cough* is out now!

Blog Tour: Rain

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Welcome to my stop on the Rain blog tour. Firstly, thank you to Christie for inviting me along, unfortunately due to my schedule I couldn't review Rain, so we came up with a guest post for today! So, I asked Christie what ten books that she thought everyone should read or have on theirs, and ones that would be on her bucket list.

 

Top Ten Book Bucket List

Top Ten Books on my bucket list:

1.       A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

2.       Stolen by Kelly Armstrong

3.       The Year of Chasing Dreams by Lurlene McDaniel

4.       The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski

5.       Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

6.       Breakable by Tammara Webber

7.       Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

8.       Rage Within by Jeyn Roberts

9.       Opposition by Jennifer Armentrout

10.   Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

 

Now, my question to you guys is...

Q: What would be on yours?

 

 

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Author: Christie Cote
Buy Rain: Amazon

Publication Date:  May 6th 2014 by Christie Cote (first published May 3rd 2014)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Taylor Sullivan took her life for granted until she received news that would change her life forever. In a state of denial she met Kyle, who didn’t end up being what she expected. She wasn’t able to escape her new reality, but with his friendship, just maybe she could survive it.

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About the Author:

 

Christie Cote resides in Vermont with her Husband and their dog. When she isn’t reading, writing, or dreaming up her next story, she can be found shooting targets with her bow, drawing or baking.

Rain is her first book.

 

Christie writes Young Adult Realistic Fiction, Fiction, and New Adult novels.

 

 

 

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 Visit the Author:

 

 

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