ECHO Blog Tour - Alicia Wright Brewster's TOP FIVE AUTHORS + Giveaway

I have the absolute pleasure of welcoming Alicia Wright Brewster, author of ECHO, on my blog today. Before getting to her guest post, here is a little bit more about her.

About the Author: 

Alicia Wright Brewster is a mild-mannered lady of average height and above average paranormal obsession. By day, she works in an office. At night she is an author, an electronics junkie, and a secret superhero. (Please don't ask what her superpower is; that's not very polite.)

In her virtually non-existent free time, she loves to read, watch movies, and eat food. She is particularly fond of the food-eating and makes a point to perform this task at least three times per day, usually more.

Where to stalk her:

Website              Facebook              Twitter

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GUEST POST

~*~ Alicia's Top Ten (FIVE) Favorite Authors ~*~

This is actually a Top Five list. I hope that’s okay. If I write about ten authors, I could ramble on for ages! And my “top” five probably change on a daily basis, so let’s call it a Top-ish Five list.

Now that I’ve completely changed your post topic (I know, I know: I’m the worst guest ever; it’s like I came into your house and propped my dirty shoes on your coffee table), here are my top-ish five authors in no particular order:

Laini Taylor: This woman makes me swoon with her words. Each word is the carefully placed stroke of a master painter. She makes me see not only her settings, but also the feelings, with just the way she crafts her words. Daughter of Smoke in Bone may be my all-time favorite young adult paranormal romance.

Brandon Sanderson: He builds worlds and magic systems that are completely unique and original. On top of that, he can craft the most amazing action scenes that utilize his unique settings. This man is a genius. Sometimes, I consider dropping by his house to sing him a special selection of my favorite songs. He deserves it! Of course, I wouldn’t want him to have to take out a restraining order…

J.K. Rowling: Speaking of world building, I must give a shout-out to the queen, Ms. Rowling. She created a magical world that could so easily fit into our world. Who’s to say whether there are magical creatures, witches, and wizards hiding among us, and we mere muggles are ignorant of it all?

Michael Crichton: My freshman year in high school, Crichton introduced me to speculative fiction in the book medium. His novel Sphere was perhaps the first science fiction book I ever read that wasn’t assigned to me at school. Crichton will always have a special place in my heart. Rest in peace.

Ilona Andrews: The Ilona Andrews writing team authored one of the first urban fantasy books I ever read, Magic Bites. Although I was on the fence about this first book in the Kate Daniels series, I’ve continued to read and each book amazes me more than the last. The way Andrews took Atlanta and morphed it into a destroyed, magic-ridden version of itself awes me—especially since Atlanta is my home.

See how much I wrote about just five authors? Now aren’t you glad I didn’t do a Top Ten list? Thank you so much for having me on your blog today.

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For the record, you definitely are NOT the worst guest ever!!! I am almost embarrassed to admit I haven't read a single book by J.K. Rowling, and right now I feel like I should go and hide in a corner somewhere. I have read a few of Michael Crichton's books, however, and have thoroughly enjoyed them.

Thank you so much for sharing your Top Five Authors with us today, and I would be more than happy to welcome you back on my blog any time.

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About the Book:

Goodreads Description:

The countdown clock reads ten days until the end of the world. The citizens are organized. Everyone's been notified and assigned a duty. The problem is . . . no one knows for sure how it will end.

Energy-hungry Mages are the most likely culprit. They travel toward a single location from every corner of the continent. Fueled by the two suns, each Mage holds the power of an element: air, earth, fire, metal, water, or ether. They harness their powers to draw energy from the most readily available resource: humans.

Ashara has been assigned to the Ethereal task force, made up of human ether manipulators and directed by Loken, a young man with whom she has a complicated past. Loken and Ashara bond over a common goal: to stop the Mages from occupying their home and gaining more energy than they can contain. But soon, they begin to suspect that the future of the world may depend on Ashara's death.

ECHO is available NOW:

Amazon                        Barnes & Noble

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Check out the tour schedule below for all the other stops:

April 29^th

Good Choice Reading - www.goodchoicereading.com Character Highlight

Curling Up with a Good Book, http://curling-up-with-a-good-book.blogspot.com: Interview

April 30^th

Must Read Faster, http://mustreadfaster.blogspot.com: Review

A Dream Within a Dream, http://adreamwithindream.blogspot.com: Excerpt

May 1^st

Paulette’s Papers, http://paulettespapers.com: Guest Post

Frankie Blooding’s Bookshelf, http://frankieblooding.wordpress.com: Character Highlight

Zach’s YA Reviews, http://zachsyareviews.com: Guest Post

A Book Lovers Review - Teaser

May 2^nd

Reads and Thoughts, http://karlaamaemaglaoy.wordpress.com: Review

Bookish Things & More, www.bookishthingsandmore.com: Teaser

May 3^rd

Finding Bliss, http://www.laurahoward78.blogspot.com,: Interview

A Bibliophile’s Thoughts on Books, http://bibliophilesthoughtsonbooks.blogspot.com: Review

May 6^th

Cherie Reads, http://cheriereads.blogspot.com: Character Highlight

Reading Under the Stars, http://readingunderthestars.blogspot.co.uk: Review

May 7^th

The Solitary Bookworm, http://thesolitarybookworm.com: Teaser

Smiling_Ina’s Bookish Corner, http://smiling-ina.blogspot.ca: Guest Post

May 8^th

Deal Sharing Aunt, www.dealsharingaunt.blogspot.com: Review

Shortie Says, www.shortie-says.com: Excerpt

May 9^th

Turner’s Antics, http://turnersantics.blogspot.com: Guest Post

Good Choice Reading: Interview

May 10^th

Turning the Pages, http://www.turningthepagesx.blogspot.com: Review

I’m Luvin’ Books, http://ya-im-lovin-books.blogspot.co.uk: Character Interview

Musings of a Blodger, www.novacritiquesebooks.blogspot.com: Interview

Books and their Worldly Realm, http://booksandtheirwordlyrealm.blogspot.com: Excerpt

LEOPARD MOON Book Blast & Guest Post

To help spread the word about the fact that Jeanette Battista's LEOPARD MOON, the first book in the Moon series, is available for free at Amazon for the Kindle until the end of the month we've invited the author to the blog to share a guest post about her experience writing the book.


The Moon series consists of four books - LEOPARD MOON, JACKAL MOON, HYENA MOON and HUNTER MOON - and is a series author Melissa Marr says, "... is filled with action and romance, shape shifters and strong heroines."


To check out all the books in the series on Goodreads, CLICK HERE.


The guest post follows below, but first here's some information about the awesome book and author and places you can find them both online!

About the Book



Title: LEOPARD MOON (Moon Series #1)

Author: Jeanette Battista

Publisher: CreateSpace

Release date: March 7, 2012

Pages: 204

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

***Kindle format free at Amazon - HERE***

Description:


How do you disappear when you come from a family of predators?

A wereleopard, Kess is forced to flee her home and family in Miami once her brother's obsession with her turns violent. She runs from city to city, trying to stay one step ahead of the investigators her family has dispatched to bring her home. Kess ends up in the mountains of North Carolina and attracts the attention of Cormac, a young man with a secret of his own. As she attempts to live as normal a life as her were-nature allows, her brother Sek continues to hunt for her. He believes she is the key to revitalizing their weakened clan and is driven to extreme measures to ensure their continued existence. As Kess' relationship with Cormac deepens, Sek closes in, threatening Cormac's life and Kess' freedom.

When the moon rises, the hunt is on….

Dimitri Williams Photography
Source: Author's website

About the Author


Jeanette Battista graduated with an English degree with a concentration in medieval literature which explains her possibly unhealthy fixation on edged weapons and cathedral architecture. She spent a summer in England and Scotland studying the historical King Arthur, which did nothing to curb her obsession. To satisfy her adrenaline cravings—since sword fighting is not widely accepted in these modern times—she rode a motorcycle at ridiculously high speeds, got some tattoos, and took kickboxing and boxing classes. She gave up the bike when her daughter came along, although she still gets pummeled at the gym on a regular basis.


When she’s not writing or working, Jeanette spends time with family, hikes, reads, makes decadent brownies, buys killer boots, and plays Pocket Frogs. She wishes there were more hours in the day so she could actually do more of these things. She lives with her daughter and their ancient, ill-tempered cat in North Carolina.


Find her: Goodreads | Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

I'll be honest--I wasn't planning to write a book like Leopard Moon. I had an entirely different story in my head at the time, but it just wasn't coming into clear focus. That's the funny way writing works though: there I am, sitting at a red light on my way to meet my friends for a birthday martini and pedicure, listening to Florence + the Machine and WHAM! The song Howl comes on and this whole lovely scene just starts unfolding in my head. There was Kess, running through the woods, ripping off of her clothes as she triggered a change into a black leopard. And there was Cormac, standing in a different part of the woods being beaten mercilessly by the villain. I didn't know Sek was going to turn out to be Kess' brother, but I did know who he was as a character and what he wanted.


It was truly a gift: the entire final fight scene just unspooled itself along with the song lyrics. Each beat of the song matched a key point in the fight. The more I listened, the more I realized that the lyrics could apply to all of the characters in the main triangle at some point in the story I suddenly wanted to tell. And I wanted that story to be more than just boy meeting girl--I wanted that story to be about girl saving boy, but more importantly about girl saving herself. The song Howl gave me Kess first and Sekhmet second, so a lot of what I tried to do with them was to show them as two halves of a whole, two sides of a coin. Howl, at least to me, wasn't a love song at all--it was a song about possession and obsession and all of those things that show up in our animal drives. that we'd like to forget exists.


So when I began to craft Kess and Sek, Howl played on a continuous loop. And though the song speaks of wolves, I knew these two had to be cats. Wolves have a more social nature and are more easily understood by us--I think it comes from them being a a precursor to our beloved dogs. Cats are an unknown quantity, strange and separate, even if they choose to share space with us. I wanted real darkness there, not just a brief bit of danger that would be easily resolved. Obsession and mental illness gave Sek that scariness, but also--I hope--a bit of sympathy. He really does love his sister and wants what is best for her and his clan. I never intended to excuse his behavior, but I did want to try and understand it.


Just like the song made me understand that narrator of that story. I can only hope I did half so well.

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To meet Kess, Cormac and Sek in this first book in the Moon series, head over to Amazon to download the Kindle eBook for free until January 31st.

It can be found HERE!