Blitz: Everafter - M. Lathan (The Immortals of Westchester Prep #1)

Everafter
M. Lathan
(The Immortals of Westchester Prep, #1)
Publication date: May 15th 2016
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

After years of battling leukemia, seventeen-year-old Sydney Long has made peace with her impending death. She expected pain, she expected tearful goodbyes, but she never expected to be turned into an immortal monster who can, with the slightest touch, control life and death.
Now, flowers are stirring when she walks by, she’s oddly drawn to death and the dying, and she must wear gloves to keep her living parents safe.
While her family toils with this supernatural nightmare and finding a way out of it, Sydney falls for magic and an equally as enticing boy who she can’t seem to stay away from.
But nothing comes without a price. When Sydney is targeted for her illegal magic, she’ll learn a whole new meaning of fighting for her life.

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—

EXCERPT:

Dying hurt as much as I’d thought it would.

My burning lungs begged for relief as air hissed into my nose through a plastic tube. The shallow breaths wheezing out of my mouth somehow tasted like medicine and sweat.
They tasted like my life.
Instead of violins and the somber music that played on movies in moments like this, I was dying to the soundtrack of beeping monitors and the soft shuffling of my parents’ feet. They moved around our suite quietly, like ghosts, as they waited for me to become one and finally lose to leukemia.
I’d spent the last three weeks at an upscale ski resort in Lake Placid, just watching my health fade and my time on Earth dwindle to nothing. The view of the constant snow and the towering mountains in the distance usually distracted me from the pain. I needed that view more than ever tonight. Everything hurt, but in my mind, if I didn’t mention it, if I didn’t break, I would beat cancer in my own way.
We couldn’t afford to stay in this snowy paradise, but my parents didn’t want me to die in a sterile hospital. We’d moved to Lake Placid five months ago to chase another faint glimmer of hope, but the clinical trial had ended like all of the others—with me getting sicker. This time, we weren’t doing anything about it. After five years of giving cancer all we had, my parents had decided that we’d fought too much, cried too much, and hoped too much to do it again.
And that was okay. It had to be.
My final days were passing in a blur of tearful calls from my grandparents, long stares from my mom and dad, and smiles from my strangely exuberant hospice nurse. Sarah, with her endless energy and joy, was easily my favorite person on the planet. She supplied medicine that stopped me from feeling and long stories that kept me thinking, which made me feel alive.
Tonight, she was so busy gabbing about her ballerina days that she’d forgotten a dose of painkillers. I didn’t mention it. As she adjusted my oxygen tube, I stared at her beautiful, pixie-like face and the bright red hair framing it. Her tiny features and permanent smile made her a living fairy to me. My personal Tinkerbelle.
“It’s going to happen tonight, isn’t it?” She didn’t answer me. She draped another blanket over my legs without making eye contact. “They gave me a week to live … a week ago.”
“Sydney, I don’t want you to be concerned about death. Ever. Only focus on life and the living. Remember that, sweet girl.”
What a weird thing to say to an almost-corpse. I didn’t need to remember anything anymore. I laughed at her, and that disturbed my failing lungs. One cough turned into two, and soon Sarah had to hold me as my chest heaved relentlessly. The awful sound summoned my parents to my room.
They crept in with red eyes and rivers flowing down their cheeks, wearing yesterday’s clothes.
Nothing said that I was dying more than my dad being home. No matter where we moved, he worked, thanks to his special talent of finding a job within a day. He’d emigrated from China with his parents as a kid, and his entire family worked like one day off would mean certain death. So that was what he did—he spent his days toiling at dead-end jobs to barely keep us afloat. Except for today.
He squeezed my mom’s hand as they approached my bed. Her long dreads were down and wild tonight, and she looked beautiful despite her swollen face and runny nose. My mom had four piercings in each ear, an effortlessly cool hippy style, and a thick Trinidadian accent. Once, I’d wanted to be just like her, but now, I didn’t know what being like her meant other than crying a lot and receiving bad news.
“Mr. and Mrs. Long,” Sarah said, “I was just about to give Sydney her medicine. She’ll be asleep soon, and you don’t look like you’ve gotten much rest. I can watch her tonight.”
“Sarah,” I whispered, as my chest finally calmed. “Go home. Your shift is over.”
She pressed her warm hand to my cheek. I could’ve sworn, for a moment, I felt completely okay.

Author Bio:
M. Lathan lives in San Antonio with her husband and mini-schnauzer. She enjoys writing and has a B.S. in Psych and a Masters in Counseling. Her passion is a blend of her two interests - creating new worlds and stocking them with crazy people. She enjoys reading anything with interesting characters and writing in front of a window while asking rhetorical questions ... like her idol Carrie Bradshaw.

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Excerpt: Daughter of the Sun - Zoe Kalo

Daughter of the Sun (Cult of the Cat book 1)

Chapter 1

One month before the summer solstice…

Goosebumps snaked up my spine.

I'd had the same sensation last night while gazing at the moon, when for an instant I’d picture it red, bathed in blood. Then the rippling, bristling feeling had come back this morning as I brushed my teeth and stared at the reflection of my eyes in the bathroom mirror. In a flash the green orbs had turned crimson. I’d blinked, struck by a wave of vertigo, the cold tiles shifting under my feet.

“Trinity...you all right?” Brianna nudged my arm, bringing me back to the present. We were walking down the main staircase of the orphanage—where we’d lived all of our lives—toward the open-air playground for our usual half-hour break after lunch.

“Fine. Just restless.”

“Maybe lunch did it. All those veggies. They take you for a rabbit.”

The touch of humor in her voice didn't lift the dark cloud hovering over me. I shot her a sideways glance. “No, not the veggies,” I muttered. “Something else.”

She stopped in the middle of the staircase and her hazel eyes studied my face. “What?”

I stopped, shrugging. “Don't know.”

“I saw you in the dormitory last night, staring out the window. You seemed so far away.”

Red moon.

The sky had been so clear, the stars twinkling like gems, so unusual for the common grayness of the English countryside.

Blood moon.

I’d been mesmerized, as if its eerie splendor had spoken to me in an ancient, alien language. I hadn't been able to understand it, but I’d felt faint by its allure.

“Trinity?”

“It's nothing. You know me. One day up, one day down.” I looked to the bottom of the staircase, past the hall to the open doors to the courtyard. Now the sky was gray. The girls played outside, chatting incessantly. The little ones ran this way and that, their black and white uniforms a blur.

When I looked back at Brianna, I saw she was staring at something past my shoulder. I turned around and glimpsed a flash of black through the window.

“Did you see that?” I asked. “Looked like a limousine.” Not that I’d ever seen one in real life, only in the movies we were sometimes allowed to watch in the weekends. “I wonder if it’s coming here.”

But Brianna didn’t answer. Her spaced-out gaze was still fixed on the window. There was something odd about her expression.

“Brianna. Hello. I’m talking to you.”

She blinked, startled. She looked at me. “What? Oh. Right. You know…I just—I just remembered… I have to help Sister Anne at the library.”

“Now? All of a sudden?”

“Like I said, I just remembered.”

I made a dismissive gesture with my hand. “Tell her you forgot.” I did feel a twinge of guilt. Sister Anne was one of the nice ones. “She's so old, she won't even remember.”

“Don’t be mean. I promised her.”

“You know, people take advantage when you’re always nice.”

She didn’t answer, but I read the gentle reproach in her eyes.

“All right, all right,” I muttered. “I'll see you later.”

She smiled and, to my surprise, gave me a tight, warm hug. “Cheer up. I don't like it when you get the blues. I want you to be happy.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled. Her chestnut hair, streaked with copper and gold and woven into a braid like we were all supposed to wear, smelled like soap, clean, fresh. Which reminded me: I had not braided my hair today.

Brianna was my best friend in the world. Nearly seventeen years ago, when we were tiny babies, we had been found at the door of the orphanage only a day apart—a very odd event, according to the nuns. When we were babies we were often put in the same crib and we sucked each other’s thumbs and took turns crying for attention.

We drew apart and she hurried up the stairs, the old wood creaking under the rubber soles of her shoes.

I moved in the opposite direction toward the courtyard.

Outside, the sky was covered with virulent clouds, promising a downpour. A cool breeze hit my cheeks, made me instantly alert. The air was redolent of fertilizers from the nearby farms. The temperature was unusually cold for late May. Sister Eveline and Sister Celeste already kept guard, but as one of the older girls, my duty was to keep watch during playtime. The courtyard was big and was enclosed by high, rusted, spiked iron gates crawling with vines and wisteria. Beyond the gates, on one side, a massive weeping willow loomed, its leaves rustling in the breeze. On another side, rolling hills made most of the landscape, dotted here and there with the silhouettes of nearby farms.

The courtyard was made of concrete and had swings and see-saws for the younger girls. The rest was just empty space with a few stone benches for us to sit.

The Sisters strolled across the courtyard toward the main doors, their heads tilted downward, deep in conversation—or so I thought. In their wimples and flowing habits, they looked like two big black birds. Sister Eveline suddenly turned toward me with a hard expression and made a gesture about my hair.

“I’ll braid it after the break,” I said, trying not to sound annoyed. I gave her a lovable grin and pointed to the younger children. “I have to keep an eye on them, as you know.”

The look she gave me told me she didn’t buy my sweet disposition, but she let it drop and continued her way to the doors.

I crouched and chatted with the little ones for a while, and pushed their backs at the swings. I giggled at their silly, innocent tales. Sophie, a sweet five year-old with red corkscrew ringlets, wrapped her small arms around me and I whirled her in the air.

When I put her down, I spotted Beth Thompson and her two evil minions emerging from the corner of the orphanage. A cat trailed behind her.

I narrowed my eyes. Beth had tied a string around the cat’s neck and was pulling it along like a pet—but, as I knew only too well, girls like Beth didn't keep pets.

Then Beth did something she shouldn’t have done: when the cat refused to budge, she yanked the string, almost choking the animal.

I winced, feeling the pain as my own.

A shiver rippled up my spine. Again.

10 Cloverfield Lane (Movie Review)

Release Date: March 11, 2016

Genre: Fantasy/Mystery

Synopsis: After surviving a car accident, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up to find herself in an underground bunker with two men. Howard (John Goodman) tells her that a massive chemical attack has rendered the air unbreathable, and their only hope of survival is to remain inside. Despite the comforts of home, Howard's controlling and menacing nature makes Michelle want to escape. After taking matters into her own hands, the young woman finally discovers the truth about the outside world.

I don't even know where to begin for this movie. I really don't. It is not a good thing but it isn't necessarily a bad thing either. 

Virtually knowing nothing while going into the movie, I didn't know what to think of the movie overall. The trailers revealed nothing and I felt nothing. Did I feel like I got what my money paid for? No. Not at all. Sure, the movie was suspenseful but overall, it was confusing as hell. 

And is it just me or does the creature look like the creature from Alien? Or are they related? Like long estranged cousins?

Was the man just clinically insane or was he actually right about an alien invasion? So many questions, needless to say ran through my head. I personally didn't like this movie and it is only because it was rather boring. As the story unravels, the worse it got. 

What I did enjoy was the fact that the alien was decently creepy. 

What I hated was everything else. The movie was felt rushed and I felt no connection to the characters such as how the characters' minds were slowly unraveling and there was no way to comprehend what was happening. 

To be honest, I felt bad for one of the characters. He didn't deserve the demise he got because although he was not a relevant character, it was a painful watching what happened. 

Did I feel the psycho-activity of the older man? Yes. Yes, I did. But it was just because there was something deteriorating in his brain and he could not comprehend his fantasies and he had to bring his crazy to others. So I am going to go ahead and rate this a 2.3 out of 5 stars.

Blog you later, awesome nerds.

Blog Tour: Chasing Azrael - Hazel Butler (Deathly Insanity #1)

Published Date: April 23, 2014

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Synopsis: When Andee Tilbrook’s husband died, her preoccupation with death turned to obsession. Thanks to her unique ability to commune with the dead, her husband remains all too close, yet never close enough.

Mired in grief, she clings to James’s spirit, slowly losing touch with the world, her friends, and any desire to continue living. But when her friend Josh becomes the target of Natalya, a jealous, capricious and violent Russian beauty, Andee somehow finds the strength to free herself from her misery long enough to help him.

They soon discover that Natalya is wanted by the police for her involvement in a series of grisly murders, and Andee is dragged into the inquiry by the same man who investigated her own husband’s death. Torn between new feelings for Josh, and fear that he might be involved in the murders that seem to threaten anyone who comes close, Andee must face the realities of her life, her past, and her very nature-and do it all in time to save her own life.

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About Hazel:

 Hazel is an author, artist and archaeologist from Cheshire, England. She is currently in the final year of her PhD, which focuses on Gender Dynamics in Late Iron Age and Early Medieval Britain. She has two archaeological papers published in international journals, as well as several research papers published through Bangor University and the University of Vienna.

Hazel has also published Out of the Dark (an edited volume of Gothic art work, showcasing over thirty artists from around the world), All the Night-Tide (a collection of Gothic/Steampunk fusion short stories based on the poems of Edgar Allan Poe), and ‘Grave’, a short story included in Willow, Weep No More, a fairy tale anthology giving female characters more agency in their roles. Her new novella, Bleizgeist, is a Dark Fantasy tale about a young woman’s isolation and social ostracism due to her unique magical abilities, and her struggle to accept her true nature.

Wanna connect? 

Hazel's Website  Facebook  Twitter  Goodreads

A huge thank you to XPRESSO tours for putting together this amazing tour and bringing me one of the most unique books my eyes have feasted upon. Keep reading for a review and a giveaway. ;)

Review: 

Andee is definitely one of the most unique characters that I have ever met. She's dark and she makes my heart ultimately break. Andee is someone who is socially ostracized for her unique abilities. 
I'm not going to lie, this is a very long book but the fact that I got halfway through it just after the first day is definitely an accomplishment for myself.
I kind of fell in love with Andee. Want to know why? She's weird and she isn't afraid to show it. She's damaged. She's smart. She's brave.
There are times that I wish that I could just insert myself in the story because the scary part about it is that this book is a sick mix of Edgar Allen Poe and some crazy mix of fantasy. I just can't get enough of this book. 
Now personally, this whole book was a whole lot of crazy shite that I cannot even wrap my head around. 
It's centered on European myths and it truly was a terrifying and different take on the books that I usually read. It still had its creepy love story in the background but I can't deny that this was an interesting book. With a rating of 3 out of 5 stars, I can say that if you love creepy books and urban myths and folklore, this is definitely a book for you.

GIVEAWAY TIME where you can win a copy of Chasing Azrael and art prints of the cover. 

Blog you later, awesome book nerds.