Pick Your Pack...MG/YA Novels for Everyone

Monday, March 11, 2013




As some of you know, I’ll be launching my Middle-Grade Novel Christine’s Odyssey on March 27. A wonderful group of female authors will be helping me make the launch something remarkable by giving of their own books as prizes in an easy-peasy contest set for March 27. 

Other than checking out the books below, all I’m asking you to do is to help me spread the work by signing up to announce the book's release on March 27, 2013. 

The Inlinkz list is at the bottom of the page. For those who've signed up, details will be sent to you shortly and without further ado, here are the MG/YA books you stand a chance of reading come March 27.


Kings & Queens - Seventeen-year-old Majesty Alistair wants police to look further into her father’s fatal car wreck, hopes the baseball team she manages can reclaim the state crown, aches for Derek…or, no…maybe Alec…maybe. And she mostly wishes to retract the hateful words she said to her dad right before slamming the door in his face, only to never see him again.

All her desires get sidelined, though, when she overhears two fellow students planning a church massacre. She doubts cops will follow up on her tip since they’re sick of her coming around with notions of possible crimes-in-the-works.

So, she does what any habitual winner with zero cred would do…try to I.D. the nutjobs before they act. But, when their agenda turns out to be far bigger than she ever assumed, and even friends start looking suspect, the truth and her actions threaten to haunt her forever, especially since she’s left with blood on her hands, the blood of someone she loves. My review is posted here.

Songbird - There are defining moments in life when everything changes. For Dani Mays, it was the day she witnessed her brother's murder. Afterward, she bounced between her alcoholic mother and foster homes until she found a permanent place. And a reason to want to stay: Reece Tyler. He's her best friend, yet Dani wants more from him. Faced with losing Reece, Dani struggles to escape her memories, even as people from her past reappear.


Givin’ up the Ghost - A modern day medieval village teeming with spirit activity is no place for sixteen-year-old psychic and ghost whisperer Indigo Eady. Not when all she wants is to forget about these supposed gifts. After all, when needed most, it didn’t help save her father.

After her father’s death, Indigo moves to a new town and has the chance to start over where nobody knows about her psychic abilities. Hiding her secret is easy until the ghost of Bart Bagley ruins everything by barging in and begging her to solve his murder. Tempted to ignore him, she only relents because he was the father of her new friend, Badger. That and the survivor’s guilt she feels over her own father’s death.

A murder investigation is hard enough without the disruption of interfering ghosts and a mysterious soul collector with her name topping its list. But when Indigo’s psychic abilities short-circuit, sparks start to fly in more than one direction. The resulting mishaps compromise the success of the investigation and put the budding but fragile attraction between Indigo and Badger at risk.

When the body count mounts and a suspect ends up dead, Badger becomes a “person of interest" and they must surge ahead to solve the murders before they become the next victims. 


My review of this  Givin’ up the Ghost is here.
Six. Whole. Months.
The longest time her mother stayed home in the last few years.
Enough time that a sense of security snuck into Abigail’s heart, lulled her mind into forgetfulness.
But the monster hadn’t forgotten.
~~~
So starts Abigail Bishop's descent to the final low in her life. Seventeen doesn't seem such a bad age to die.

For Basil Hines, perfection is the key to earning his parents' love, especially his mother. He never suspected sharing this thought with a friend would bring hellish results.

Abigail's rash decision, and failure to take her own life, leads her to V'Salicus Academy, a place to start anew, become a Cleanser, a guide to show lost souls the way to The Gates for Judgment. Basil ends up duty bound to hell, his soul gambled and lost to the Devourer, all for the price of a few words. As the devil's newest Harvestor, Basil must steal lost souls to feed his new master's constant craving.

In their new roles in life, love is forbidden, but when their paths cross, true love is what Abigail and Basil finally discover in each other. Can they hold tight to their love, or will duty trump all, leaving them both to a fate of Neverlove?


Wanna see what I thought of Neverlove? Check here




Priscilla the Great - Hi, I’m Priscilla, an ordinary seventh grader with some extraordinary gifts. As if middle school isn’t hard enough, not only do I have to fight pimples and bullies, but genetically enhanced assassins trying to kill my family and me! But with the help of my genius best friend, Tai, we’re gonna bring down the evil Selliwood Institute, an organization dead set on turning children into killing machines.

And so starts this hilarious series starring precocious Priscilla. See my review of book one and two

 Bok 1-3 will be available come launch date. 




Break from You - Brooke Myers wants to believe she has it all: the perfect guy, the perfect relationship, the perfect life. She wants to believe it so much that she's willing to overlook the fear, the isolation, and the pain her boyfriend has caused her. She knows it isn't right but tells herself that love isn't always easy.

However, when a fire destroys the restaurant during homecoming dinner, she forms an instant bond with the boy who saves her, one her boyfriend wouldn’t like. With the pain of a concussion reminding her of how bad things can get, she is forced to re-evaluate the relationship she has with her boyfriend and face the ghosts that haunt her. Brooke once believed love was all it took…but is it enough? Is it truly love when you've lost yourself in it?

Outcast - Noelle dreams of a different life, one where Trina Brockwell doesn’t exist. Trina has bullied Noelle since junior high. Now she’s tired of it. With the help of her black-sheep aunt and a defiant new classmate, Noelle seeks revenge. But vengeance comes with a price: Noelle risks friendship, her first love, and herself to get back at those who have wronged her.


Alligators Overhead - Alligators, witches and a spooky mansion aren't your average neighbors . . . not unless you live at the edge of the Ornofree swamp in the backwater town of Hadleyville. Pete Riley may only be eleven, but he's already up to his eyeballs in big trouble, and this time the town's bad boy, Pete, didn't cause it. This time the trouble arrived when a legendary hundred-year-old mansion materialized next door with someone inside, someone who came to seek him out. 

Then the Ornofree alligators declare war to try to save their swamp from being bulldozed for a shopping mall, and Pete discovers he's living among a coven of "sadly-out-of practice" witches. When one of their ancient "magick" spells goes wrong and all the witches vanish, including his guardian aunt, Pete's left to face the perils of the Ornofree Swamp War alone. He soon discovers that he just might have inherited the family talent for witchcraft, and, although he doesn't know one thing about the practice of spell casting, he's the only one left in Hadleyville to do it. It's up to him work some dangerous "magick," restore his aunt and bring back all the other witches. He might stand a chance of succeeding if his one friend, Weasel, sticks with him, but even the two of them may not succeed.

My Zombie Dog - Take one shy teenage boy, a dopey best mate, a granny who's lost her marbles (and teeth), a kid sister who bites back and a smelly demon dog. What you'll get is My Zombie Dog.

All Zane wants for his birthday is a dog. A real dog. A guy's dog. But his mom brings home this little mutt and wants to call it 'Fluffy'. Seriously? It's shaggy, smells undead and bites people. And why does its victims all turn sluggish and keep asking Zane for brains? One by one, everyone he knows is becoming infected. Join Zane as he takes on the neighborhood zombie plague. 


My Review of My Zombie Dog is here.


There's a book here for every YA lover. Please help me spread the word by hitting the tweet button on your way out. Sign up linky for the announcement post is below. Thanks! 

34 comments:

  1. Yay! I'm so excited to be part of this and help out :) Did a shout out on my blog today. Will tweet and etc.

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  2. I'm sending out a tweet! There's like so much in this post it feels kind of overwhelming lol. Lots of books galore! I love the name Indigo.

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    1. Thanks, Mike. Yup, there is a lot here. When I do it again, I'll condense.

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  3. Congrats on the release. And, my heck, but I think you've got just about everything covered with all those books. Isn't this writing community awesome?

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  4. So many fun looking books! I want to get the Priscilla one for my friend of the same name! :-)

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  5. I can't wait to read Christine's Odyssey! I love, love, love how you set this up, Joy. Thanks for thinking of the Partners in ParanormYA. And thank you soooo much for the lovely review! I'm thrilled! *squeeee*

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  6. Thanks, Donna and yes, writers are awesome. I figure that people will be more inclined to participate if there's something that caters to their taste.

    Deniz, the Priscilla books are quite funny, not to mention full of adventure.


    Gwen, many thanks to you and Angela for your support. I wanted to do something a little different. I like books set in England, had a steady diet of them while in high school, so yours brought back memories from that time. Excellent job on the setting and atmosphere.

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  7. Hey Joy! A great collection of books!
    I linked up but can't see the link?? I dunno what's happened.

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    1. Not sure what happened with your link, Michelle. I'll check it out. Thanks so much for helping me with this. It's much appreciated.

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    2. I checked and it only showed me that there's no thumbnail image. I'm not seeing one with your comment, so wonder if that's why, but I'm thinking that there should at least be a link to show that you signed up. Let's see if it anything turns up later.

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    3. I'm having a problem with the picture. Do you want to rather remove the link and let me try again?

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    4. Okay, I'll delete the link, but as long as you're picture is not showing up here, I think you might have a problem with the link. I've deleted it. You can try again.

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  8. This is such a great launch, J.L. I'm happy to be a part of it.

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  9. Lee, thanks for participating. I appreciate it more than I can say.

    Diane, thanks ever so much.

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  10. Yay! Can't wait ... and of course I'll do a shout out for you! :)

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  11. Very excited about this release happening soon and to be a part of it. Hope you made sure to enter to win the Reviewer Appreciation giveaway I'm doing :-)

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  12. Congrats and best of luck with the launch of your latest book.

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  13. Congrats on the book J.L. The books sounds great. A very touching and powerful story!

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  14. All ready to go! Some great stuff there. I already have a number of those books on my Kindle and TBR list.

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  15. Thanks very much for your support guys. Writers make the journey more fun and less lonely.

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  16. Congratulations on you middle-grade! I'm signing up for the launch. And what a great batch of books to be giving away!

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    1. Thanks so much, Bish. Yes, these books are pretty cool.

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  17. I will definitely be helping on March 27! I remember what a great job you were doing on Christine's Odyssey back in first draft :) Also have your others on my kindle,

    Best and hugs

    Diana

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    1. Diana!!! We need to do some catching up. It's been ages. I'll email you soon-soon, as we say in Jamaica. It's been an 8-year journey with this book and it's still giving me some agony, but that's life.

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    1. Tyrean,
      Many thanks for dropping in and for helping out.

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  19. Excellent post Joy, I'm looking forward to it!

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Don't be shy, I'd love to hear what you think.