Thursday, November 24, 2016

Shadow Fall by Audrey Grey: An XPresso Book Tour




Are you ready? The shadow is falling, and the meteor is coming... SHADOW FALL by Audrey Grey has arrived! You can get your copy now for the special release price of 99 cents, and be sure to meet us at the Facebook Party happening right now!
about the book:

The asteroid hurtling toward the earth will kill billions.
The Emperor and his Gold Court will be safe in their space station, watching from the stars. The Silvers will be protected underground. But the Bronzes must fight it out at the Shadow Trials for the few remaining spots left on the space station.
When an enigmatic benefactor hands Maia Graystone a spot in the Trials, she won’t just get a chance at salvation for her and her baby brother, Max: She gets to confront the mother who abandoned her in prison, the mad Emperor who murdered her father, and the Gold prince who once loved her. But it’s the dark bastard prince she’s partnered with that will make her question everything, including her own heart. With the asteroid racing closer every day, Maia must trust someone to survive. The question is who?

about the author:

Audrey Grey lives in the charming state of Oklahoma, with her husband, two little people, and four mischievous dogs. You can usually find her hiding out in her office from said little people and dogs, surrounded by books and sipping kombucha while dreaming up wondrous worlds for her characters to live in.


EXCERPT:
My legs wobble as I step into the now lukewarm water. I sink to the bottom. Tiny bubbles escape my nose as I watch all the ugly remnants from the last seven years leave my body.
Lungs burning, I rise and come face-to-face with Pit Boy.
I glare at him. “You really have to work on the knocking thing.”
Despite the fact that I’m indecent, his attention never falls from my face. I almost wish it would, just to give me a break from the intensity of his focus.
“I only get a few more hours to be the ‘one-eyed freak’ from the pit. Might as well take advantage.” He doesn’t dare crack a smile, so it’s hard to tell if he’s joking or serious.
“Don’t worry. In my heart, that’s exactly who you’ll always be.”
His words remind me that soon we’ll be reconstructed using forbidden nanotech. But it won’t just be our flesh they’ll reengineer. It will be our brains, too.
I don’t foresee my rewiring being too complicated, but Riser needs to upload almost twenty years of false memories. That will be tricky and time-consuming.
And time is the one thing we don’t have.
Riser flicks his gaze to the mirror. He lifts a hand, touches the patch of mottled flesh where his eye should be.
“How did it happen?” I ask.
“Careful, my lady.” His gaze settles on my face. “You’re beginning to sound like you care.”
I roll my eyes. “And I thought was lacking in conversational skills.”
He focuses his attention on the graffiti sprayed across the mirror.
“It’s written language,” I blurt, even though all I want to do is end the conversation so Pit Boy can leave. His presence unnerves me more than the other Pit Leeches ever could. “It’s how we communicate.”
“I know what it is.” He examines his jagged thumbnail. “I just . . . can’t read it.”
“It’s just stuff about the Chosen. You know, insults.” The populace is finicky. As much as they love watching the Chosen with their petty intrigues and court life, they would be just as happy to see their heads on a pike.
“Chosen?”
Time to explain what you are, Everly, Nicolai’s voice grates inside my head. Riser’s eyes flutter just enough that I know he’s heard Nicolai’s voice too.
You do it, I think, watching Riser’s reaction. But his face remains emotionless; either he’s a good actor or only Nicolai can hear my response.
“The Royalist astronomers discovered the asteroid twenty-one years ago,” I begin. “It’s actually a slow moving planet called an earth-crosser, meaning its orbit and ours intersect every twenty-thousand years. Usually it’s too far away to affect us, but this time it will pass close enough to wreak havoc and make the earth uninhabitable for years.” I stir the water with my big toe. “Before I was born, the Emperor decided that creating a population of genetically superior humans would be a great idea, you know, just in case the Caskets don’t work or the asteroid does more damage than predicted.”
Riser’s hyper-focused gaze bores through me. “You’re one of them?”
“Yes.” I run my hand through the filthy water. “But my father’s a Bronze, so even though my mother comes from a Gold House, the Emperor only allowed them one Chosen instead of the customary twins. So it’s just me . . . not Max.”
“What makes being Chosen so special?”
“I don’t know . . .” I bite my lip, trying to remember everything my parents told me. “My genes are perfect, I guess.”
For some reason, talking about my body makes me remember that I am naked in a room with a boy. As if reading my mind, Riser slowly lets his gaze fall, his expression both curious and unapologetic as he takes me all in, his thoughts cryptic.
“What are you staring at?” I blurt, smashing my breasts beneath my hands. Not like there’s much there to cover. “Haven’t you seen a naked girl before?”
A smile twitches his lips. “Not one that’s genetically flawless.”
“It doesn’t work that way! You can’t just look at us and tell. We look like everyone else—”
“No.” Riser shakes his head, a dark swath of hair covering his damaged eye. “You don’t. Whatever you are.”
“You must be happy . . . about our reconstruction, I mean,” I mumble, trying desperately to change the subject. “They’ll fix your eye . . . and . . . and all those horrible scars.”
I freeze as he slides off the counter, unable to look away as he hooks one finger beneath his shirt and lifts.
Scars ravage his anemic body in varying shades of red and silver and white. Some deep and pitted like the craters of a far-away planet, others smooth and neat. One particular nasty scar carves down his shoulder, tunneling across his chest and stomach. A fresh red wound nestles just below his throat.

He carefully touches the long ugly one. “I’m not ashamed for surviving.”

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Catalyst by Kristin Smith: An XPresso Book Tour



Giveaway Below!

Catalyst 

by Kristin Smith 
(The Deception Game, #1) 
Published by: Clean Teen Publishing
Publication date: November 21st 2016
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult

Synopsis:

Too pretty.
Too smart.
Too perfect.

In a crumbling, futuristic Las Vegas where the wealthy choose the characteristics of their children like ordering off a drive-thru menu, seventeen-year-old Sienna Preston doesn’t fit in. As a normal girl surrounded by genetically modified teenagers, all of her imperfections are on display. But after the death of her father, everything she’s ever known and loved changes in an instant.
With little skills to help provide for her family, Sienna clings to the two things that come easily—lying and stealing. But not all thief-for-hire assignments go as planned. When a covert exchange of a stolen computer chip is intercepted, she becomes entangled with a corrupt government official who uses her thieving past as leverage, her mother as collateral, and the genetically modified poster boy she’s falling for as bait.
In order to rescue her mother, there may only be one option—joining forces with the Fringe, an extremist group, and their young leader who’s too hot to be bad. Problem is, these revolutionaries aren’t what they seem, and the secrets they’re hiding could be more dangerous than Sienna is prepared for. In the end, she must be willing to risk everything to save the one thing that matters most.
Catalyst is a thrilling adventure of danger, romance, intrigue, and deception.


Purchase:


AUTHOR BIO:
Kristin Smith writes young adult contemporary and science fiction novels. When she’s not writing, you can find her dreaming about the beach, beating her boys at Just Dance, or belting out karaoke (from the comfort of her own home). Kristin currently resides in the middle-of-nowhere North Carolina with her husband and five incredibly loud but extremely cute boys. To read more about her obsession with YA novels or her addiction to chocolate, you can visit her at kristinsmithbooks.com.


Author links:

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Sunday, November 20, 2016

Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

I took my kids to see J.K. Rowling's newest, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  The movie is a spin-off from the Harry Potter world with new characters and Harry Potter references. This story is about a man (Eddie Redmayne) who comes to America in the 1920's to capture fantastic magical beasts that are on the loose and put them back in their habitat.  They live in sort of a zoo that can be accessed through Eddie's suitcase.  While in New York, he gets arrested by another wizard for practicing magic in the open.  A muggle or non-maj (non magic) gets involved while Eddie tries to track down his beasts.  New York City blames these beasts for all of the destruction, but they are supposedly harmless.  There is another story line that is about an evil woman who adopts orphans of magical parents and beats them.  One of the children, Credence, has evil magical powers that are unleashed.

My Review: We saw the movie at Moviehouse and Eatery, a new type of cinema that features recliners, waiters, and a Applebee's-ish menu.  That in itself was a real treat.  We all chowed and enjoyed the variety of food.  The awesome special effects of the movie were meant to see on the big screen, but that was the best part of the movie.  The actual story had more holes than a truckload of Swiss cheese.  The conflict was, like magic, childishly resolved with a down pour of rain that washed away everyone's memories.  I particularly didn't like the Credence/evil adopted mom story.  It didn't fit in with the main plot.  Plus, there was a murder of a political candidate that had no place in the story line.  The story seemed rushed and slapped together.  Despite the movie's flaws, I did like two characters, one was a non-mag baker and the other was a beautiful wizard who had to erase his memory.  They were interesting and likable, but everyone else was two dimensional.  Very disappointing flick.  I expected much more.  1/5 Star

Monday, November 7, 2016

NWO: A Satanic Celebration in Switzerland

I had the good fortune of being a guest on Paranormal Soup, an excellent talk radio show.  The host asked me what I thought about a televised celebratory event that happened last June in Switzerland.  I had no idea about what he was talking about.  He and his crew brought up a Youtube video that gave me the highlights.  Initially, I was shocked.  But the event played into a bigger theme-New World Order-NWO.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel was opened last spring.  It currently holds the record for being the world's longest rail tunnel. Switzerland commemorated the achievement with a show that could have only been directed by Satan himself. 

Volker Hesse, a German director, put on an 8.9 million dollar production consisting of over six hundred dancers, actors, acrobats, and composers.  
This show is the most bizarre display of entertainment that a government has publicly put on.  Over six hours of acts that pertain to paganism and the Bible were televised for all the world to see.  The audience included the Swiss president, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (a fan of ruining European culture via mass immigration and globalization), along with France's Hollande and Italy's Matteo Renzi.
The ceremony began with a large group of people marching like zombies, wearing orange jumpsuits. I can only guess that this symbolizes the masses, all prisoners and slaves.  Then a train car rolled onto the stage, filled with people in their underwear.  Those who ride the car looked like a Calvin Klein commercial, kissing and touching each other to suggest homosexuality and group sex.  Could this be glamorizing a 'no rules' sexual world?  Or is this another symbol of slavery?  A person with an odd baby head and wings is suspended from the ceiling, flapping his arms.  Later on, a naked woman/angel falls from the ceiling, suggesting a fallen angel.  The most telling symbol is a man who comes in and out of the scene, wearing a goat's head.  This has to be an ode to the famous demon Baphomet.  
So what does all of this mean?  Obviously this ceremony has much to do with demonic worship.  So what does the devil have to do with a train tunnel?  Does the new train routes represent a more inter-connecting world?  Are the very people who completed the job paying their respects to their higher power.  Switzerland represents money with their banking system.  They have had a long history with NWO.  Bottom line-pagan and devil worship is now in plain sight for the world to watch.  World leaders are commissioning witch rituals for their citizens' entertainment.   Our world is about to change.  Please leave your thoughts and views.  Love to hear your opinion.
The goat man in the ceremony

Baphomet



Review of Universal Studios and Fright Night

Last October, I went to Universal Studios (Hollywood) and Fright Night with my two young adult daughters. Below is a summary and review of t...