Monday, June 20, 2016

Faded Perfection by Cassandra Giovanni Blog Tour + Excerpt + Kindle Fire Giveaway

Seconds.
That’s all it takes to have everything ripped away from you.
No one knows this better than Adam Beckerson and River Ahlers.
Each is fighting a losing battle with the death of Bobby and the fallout it causes. Adam loses a brother; River her best friend.
And while Adam finds himself fading into the bottom of a bottle, River finds the only thing she can do is run away from everything-- including Adam.
Sometimes when you lose everything, you lose yourself. The important part is finding your way back again.
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Flawed Perfection FREE for Limited Time! 
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EXCERPT ONE

Someone had to do this, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be Adam. I breathed in and closed my eyes, only opening them as I exhaled and put one foot in front of the other. The key was hot from the heat of my body as it shook its way into the door knob. The metal clunked, and the wooden door swung open, leaving me staring at the empty room once filled with happiness. My eyes rushed over it as my mind flashed with memories, and my feet somehow continued in--all the way to Bobby's bedroom door. My chest constricted and stars popped in my vision as I swung it open. I found myself blinking rapidly as my eyes wandered the room, stopping on the dresser where frames contained pictures of Adam and me, Bobby and me, the three of us, and then Tara and Bobby. My feet yet again propelled me forward, but I stopped as I breathed in, choking on the air.
My body warmed as my chin trembled and I breathed in again.
There it was again.
Bobby. The room smelled like him.
My eyelashes fluttered against my cheeks as the scent encircled me. Bath and Body Works' Twilight Woods. The cologne we picked together when we were twelve. For fifteen years he'd worn it, even after Tara told him she hated it.
My eyes opened and moved to the hockey jersey hanging half out of a drawer--exactly where he left it that morning. My knees shook, and I found myself sitting on the bed staring at it. I reached forward, and the worn fabric embraced me as I brought it up to my chest. I pursed my lips together as the tears gathered and I pulled the jersey over my head, engulfing myself in his scent--it was embedded into this clothes despite constant washing. In my memories, his laughter carried through the room. It wasn't the first time I wore one of his jerseys. I closed my eyes and curled into a ball on his bed.
"So you remember it too?" Bobby's voice reached my ears, and the darkness behind my lids drifted away, parting until it was him and me in the tree house. I sat up on the bed, looking at him as he smirked at me from the edge of it. "See the thing is, I imagined it like this--you know? You practically naked;" his teeth ran over his bottom lip as his eyes ran up my legs, barely covered by my sleeping shorts. "in my jersey."
He moved forward and his hand cupped my chin as his thumb caught a tear. "You weren't crying in my fantasies, though. You cry so much now, Riv. I don't want you to cry."
I closed my eyes as my vision blurred from the weight of them, burdened by the false warmth of his touch.
"I've lost myself just as much as I've lost you," I whispered, trying to memorize the feeling of his soft hands against my skin. So caring and loving when everything seemed so cold now. "All my dreams are shattered without you."
Bobby's hands reached for my face, turning it, so I was looking at him. He was beginning to waiver in and out, and panic burned its way up my throat.
He was going to leave.
But this was so real.
"Please don't leave," I said, and the tears and clenching of my throat made the words as physically painful as they were emotional.
"I thought all my dreams shattered when I found out Adam was with you--and it was over for me--that I didn't have any more chances. My dreams realigned, though, Riv--they changed, refit into even better dreams. I expect you to do the same," he said, and he was fading faster; his body just a wisp and his touch a mere warmth with nothing substantial behind it.
"But Adam--"
"You'll figure out what to do, it might be hard, but in the end, it will work out. You and him are what's left of me. Remember that. Together you make me whole," he said, and his lips reached for my cheek, sending heat through my body as he disappeared.
"Bobby!" I yelled, and suddenly I was sitting straight up in the bed sobbing, the warmth of his lips against my cheek a stinging pain. I leaned back, pulling my knees to my chest and cried until the darkness consumed me.
This time, Bobby's warmth didn't return.
EXCERPT 2

West's lips parted, but he seemed at a loss for words. "You can't not have friends-- you're so--"
"Nice, but driven and being driven tends to drive people away. In college I drove away all my friends by the end...except..." My voice faded, and I swallowed, glancing out at the dimly lit yard.
West reached across the table and put his hand over mine. "The tattoo?"
I bit my lip nodding.
He squeezed my hand and leaned back, his thumb drawing soft circles over my skin. "What about family? In my experience, they're kind of hard to drive away."
I scoffed, shaking my head as I looked down at our hands. "I see my dad once a week-- he comes up on Saturdays, and we spend the day watching TV, having dinner and talking."
"That sounds nice--so why do you seem so angry about it?" West's voice was soft, his words said slowly, as if he was afraid to insult me.
I fought the urge to stand up and sit in his lap--to be in the warmth his smile sent me-- to be wrapped in his natural happiness.
"My dad comes secretly. My mom and I... I'm not on good terms with her. I guess we were never on good terms but last year on Thanksgiving she crossed a line and I haven't been able to get passed it," I said, and my eyes moved up his hand to his arm spiraling with color --waves, koi fish, lotus and cherry blossoms. Mom would die if she saw him. If I was skanky, he was an absolute man-slut.
Jesse did say he's a womanizer. And you're a man-eater.
"Doesn't agree with your choices?" West asked as he lifted his wine up to his thin, very kissable lips.
My chest rose as I nodded.
"Well, let's say you'd probably go into shock if you met my family-- blue collar, nose in the air, house on the vineyard people. Very un-tattooed."
"And how do they take to--" I signaled to his arm and collarbone, my pulse hitching as he winked at me.
"You haven't even seen them all," he replied, and his eyes locked on mine, devious in their twinkle as if he knew I wanted to know where the others were. As if to say it's only a matter of time.
I swallowed hard, looking down at my pasta.
"Let's just say they got used to it...and my mom tries to think of it as art--my dad tries to think of it as proving I have a high pain tolerance and a talent with my hands."
My eyes shot up at that, and he leaned back laughing. My face burned, and my mind raced to places it should definitely not be.
"Do you now?" I managed to stutter.
Flirt. You're such a damn flirt.
I wasn't sure if I was chastising him or myself in my head--or worse, neither.
He reached across the table and flipped my arm, running his fingertips up to the tattoo he gave me and traced its outline. The tingling started from somewhere other than my arm, and I bit hard on my cheek as he sat back, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Yeah," I said as I leaned forward and grabbed my glass of wine. "You're talented alright."

Cassandra doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t writing. In fact, the first time she was published was when she was seven years old and won a contest to be published in an American Girl Doll novel. Since then Cassandra has written more novels than she can count and put just as many in the circular bin. Her personal goal with her writing is to show the reader the character’s stories through their dialogue and actions instead of just telling the reader what is happening. Besides being a writer, Cassandra is a professional photographer known for her automotive, nature and architectural shots. She is happily married to the man of her dreams and they live in the rolling hills of New England with their dogs, Bubski and Kanga.

Cassandra Giovanni is published by Show n’ot Tell Publishing based out of Connecticut, USA

Connect with Cassandra on Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter.  Learn more about her and her novels at her website, www.cgiovanniauthor.com and read the first ten chapters of each of her published novels through her Book Catalog.
Finding the Cure
Amazon ~ Kobo ~ Google Play ~ B&N

In Between the Seasons (The Fall Series #1)

Love Exactly  

 Walking in the Shadows 


Thursday, June 16, 2016

Faded Perfection by Cassandra Giovanni Release Blitz + Giveaway + Excerpt

Seconds.
That’s all it takes to have everything ripped away from you.
No one knows this better than Adam Beckerson and River Ahlers.
Each is fighting a losing battle with the death of Bobby and the fallout it causes. Adam loses a brother; River her best friend.
And while Adam finds himself fading into the bottom of a bottle, River finds the only thing she can do is run away from everything-- including Adam.
Sometimes when you lose everything, you lose yourself. The important part is finding your way back again.
Amazon ~ Kobo ~ iTunes

Flawed Perfection FREE for Limited Time! 
Amazon B&N ~ Kobo ~ Google Play ~ iTunes ~ Goodreads

Someone had to do this, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be Adam. I breathed in and closed my eyes, only opening them as I exhaled and put one foot in front of the other. The key was hot from the heat of my body as it shook its way into the door knob. The metal clunked, and the wooden door swung open, leaving me staring at the empty room once filled with happiness. My eyes rushed over it as my mind flashed with memories, and my feet somehow continued in--all the way to Bobby's bedroom door. My chest constricted and stars popped in my vision as I swung it open. I found myself blinking rapidly as my eyes wandered the room, stopping on the dresser where frames contained pictures of Adam and me, Bobby and me, the three of us, and then Tara and Bobby. My feet yet again propelled me forward, but I stopped as I breathed in, choking on the air.
My body warmed as my chin trembled and I breathed in again.
There it was again.
Bobby. The room smelled like him.
My eyelashes fluttered against my cheeks as the scent encircled me. Bath and Body Works' Twilight Woods. The cologne we picked together when we were twelve. For fifteen years he'd worn it, even after Tara told him she hated it.
My eyes opened and moved to the hockey jersey hanging half out of a drawer--exactly where he left it that morning. My knees shook, and I found myself sitting on the bed staring at it. I reached forward, and the worn fabric embraced me as I brought it up to my chest. I pursed my lips together as the tears gathered and I pulled the jersey over my head, engulfing myself in his scent--it was embedded into this clothes despite constant washing. In my memories, his laughter carried through the room. It wasn't the first time I wore one of his jerseys. I closed my eyes and curled into a ball on his bed.
"So you remember it too?" Bobby's voice reached my ears, and the darkness behind my lids drifted away, parting until it was him and me in the tree house. I sat up on the bed, looking at him as he smirked at me from the edge of it. "See the thing is, I imagined it like this--you know? You practically naked;" his teeth ran over his bottom lip as his eyes ran up my legs, barely covered by my sleeping shorts. "in my jersey."
He moved forward and his hand cupped my chin as his thumb caught a tear. "You weren't crying in my fantasies, though. You cry so much now, Riv. I don't want you to cry."
I closed my eyes as my vision blurred from the weight of them, burdened by the false warmth of his touch.
"I've lost myself just as much as I've lost you," I whispered, trying to memorize the feeling of his soft hands against my skin. So caring and loving when everything seemed so cold now. "All my dreams are shattered without you."
Bobby's hands reached for my face, turning it, so I was looking at him. He was beginning to waiver in and out, and panic burned its way up my throat.
He was going to leave.
But this was so real.
"Please don't leave," I said, and the tears and clenching of my throat made the words as physically painful as they were emotional.
"I thought all my dreams shattered when I found out Adam was with you--and it was over for me--that I didn't have any more chances. My dreams realigned, though, Riv--they changed, refit into even better dreams. I expect you to do the same," he said, and he was fading faster; his body just a wisp and his touch a mere warmth with nothing substantial behind it.
"But Adam--"
"You'll figure out what to do, it might be hard, but in the end, it will work out. You and him are what's left of me. Remember that. Together you make me whole," he said, and his lips reached for my cheek, sending heat through my body as he disappeared.
"Bobby!" I yelled, and suddenly I was sitting straight up in the bed sobbing, the warmth of his lips against my cheek a stinging pain. I leaned back, pulling my knees to my chest and cried until the darkness consumed me.
This time, Bobby's warmth didn't return.

Cassandra doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t writing. In fact, the first time she was published was when she was seven years old and won a contest to be published in an American Girl Doll novel. Since then Cassandra has written more novels than she can count and put just as many in the circular bin. Her personal goal with her writing is to show the reader the character’s stories through their dialogue and actions instead of just telling the reader what is happening. Besides being a writer, Cassandra is a professional photographer known for her automotive, nature and architectural shots. She is happily married to the man of her dreams and they live in the rolling hills of New England with their dogs, Bubski and Kanga.

Cassandra Giovanni is published by Show n’ot Tell Publishing based out of Connecticut, USA

Connect with Cassandra on Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter.  Learn more about her and her novels at her website, www.cgiovanniauthor.com and read the first ten chapters of each of her published novels through her Book Catalog.
Finding the Cure
Amazon ~ Kobo ~ Google Play ~ B&N

In Between the Seasons (The Fall Series #1)

Love Exactly  

 Walking in the Shadows 


Monday, June 6, 2016

At This Moment by Karen Cimms Blog Tour + Giveaway

Sometimes life gives you what you need, even if you don’t believe you deserve it.

Kate Daniels wants it all—a big, crazy life, lots of kids, and an adoring husband. Someday. For now, she’ll be happy just to survive her first semester of college. Billy McDonald wants it all, too. Since the day he got his first guitar, he’s had one goal—to prove he’s worth something. His dream is so close, he can almost touch it.

Thrown together during a freak snowstorm, Kate and Billy’s lives become permanently entwined. On the outside, they have nothing in common, but scars aren’t always visible and abuse doesn’t always leave a mark. Kate keeps the pain of her past buried, while Billy carries his like a weapon.

In spite of finding love, Billy continues to be haunted by his childhood and tempted by the excesses of the music industry. He struggles to keep his career on track and his inner demons at bay, until one night, he makes a mistake that could cost him everything. Kate may have found her happily ever after, but for Billy, the nightmare has just begun.

Set against a backdrop of heavy metal and emerging grunge, At This Moment is the first book in the Of Love and Madness trilogy. A love story that unfolds over twenty-five years, it’s the tale of two damaged people trying to make their way in the world without destroying themselves or each other in the process.


   Billy didn’t say a word when he picked them up at the subway station, and he did little more than grunt when he dropped Joey off at his station a few blocks later. He remained quiet as they drove through Brooklyn, over the Williamsburg Bridge, and into Lower Manhattan. Kate tried several times to engage him in conversation, but he just stared straight ahead, saying nothing.
   After they pulled into the parking lot behind their apartment, he turned off the van and sat drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. She waited until he got out, then followed, expecting to help carry his bags.
   “I got it,” he snapped.
   “Fine.” It was her turn to get angry. She’d only agreed to do this video because of him.    Plus it was his idea—or Christa’s, the little blond weasel—that no one know they were a couple. It wasn’t her fault she caused a stir. Not totally.
   She bolted ahead, letting the door slam shut as he approached, and stomped up the stairs and down the hall to their apartment. Throwing her bag on the couch, she went into the bathroom to take off her makeup.
   When she came out, Billy was sitting on the bed.
   “You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you?”
   “Me? I think I’m hilarious.”
   As she stormed past him, Billy grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into his lap, locking his arms around her. She sat stiffly, staring straight ahead, her jaw tight, not willing to look at him.
   “I’m sorry,” he said finally, pressing his forehead into her shoulder. “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at me.”
   “That makes two of us.”
   “I’m an idiot. I shouldn’t have talked you into this, and I shouldn’t have agreed to keep you a secret.”
   “Are you saying that because you didn’t like Bailey hitting on me or the other guys looking at me?”
   “I didn’t like any of it. I also didn’t like you having to walk in without me and leave without me, even with Joey—who hates me, by the way.”
   “He doesn’t hate you.”
   He snorted. “I’ll call Christa tomorrow. Tell her we’re not doing this.”
   “The video?”
   “No. That we have to do. But I’m not making believe we’re not a couple. I don’t see the need for it. I’m not in this for the women. I’m a musician, not a gigolo.”
   “You don’t want to be both?”
   He shook his head.
   “Aww,” she purred. “Too bad.”
   He looked up, surprised. “What does that mean?”
   “You’ll see.”
Excerpt 2
“So what was your favorite part?” Billy asked as they waited for a table at the deli across from the Winter Garden Sunday evening. That morning he’d surprised Kate with tickets to Cats. The entire weekend was costing him a small fortune, but when the lights went down and the overture began, the look on her face convinced him it was worth every cent.
“I loved it all,” she gushed. “But if I had to pick my favorite, it would be ‘Growltiger’s Last Stand.’”
“Not ‘Memories’?”
“I love that, too, but when they started singing opera, I felt it.” She placed her hand on her heart. “I have no idea what they said, but it touched me. It’s how I feel sometimes when you play, especially the acoustic. It’s so beautiful, I could cry. Don’t you ever feel that way?”
“I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a piece that made me cry.” He thought for a moment, then laughed. “Although, to be honest, bagpipes make me want to bawl my eyes out. Guess it’s my Scottish blood.”
Smiling coyly at Billy, the hostess motioned for them to follow her to a two-top in the back.
“So, you like opera?” he asked after they were seated.
Kate picked up her menu and shrugged. “After hearing that, I’d be willing to give it a shot. It would have to be something romantic, though, and Italian.” She crinkled her nose. “I don’t know that I could get all teary about a German opera like Die Fledermaus, especially if it’s about a real mouse.”
He tried not to laugh. “Pretty sure that’s a comedy. And die fledermaus is a bat.”
She shuddered. “Even worse. So what was your favorite part?”
Watching you, he wanted to say. He’d found himself spending more time glancing down at Kate’s face than he had watching the show, and finding her way more captivating. Could he possibly get any cheesier?
“Oh, I think it was all pretty good.”
She flipped her hair over her shoulder, and he imagined the weight of it dragging across his chest. He wanted to lean forward and kiss every freckle from one cheek to the other, then get lost in her gray-green eyes. He wanted to skip dinner and go back to the hotel. Instead, he fumbled with his menu and asked what she was going to have.
“Chopped liver with onion and a giant pickle.”
“Jeez, I hope that comes with a side of Listerine,” he muttered.
Her face fell. “Do you want me to get something else?”
“No, that’s OK. I’ll just eat onions, too, and hope for the best.”
Later, as they walked back to the hotel, holding hands and taking in the lights and the sounds of the city, he asked if she’d ever want to live there.
“As much as New York has to offer, I’d rather just visit. I like the peace and quiet of the country. I like to see the stars. What about you?”
“The big city’s pretty exciting. It might be fun for a while. I guess it would be difficult with kids, though.”
“So now you’re having kids?” She poked him gently in the ribs. “You weren’t even sure you wanted to fall in love.”
He guided her over to a store window, out of the path of the other pedestrians. “A guy can change his mind, can’t he?” Then he leaned down and kissed her.
“Hmm. Liver.”
Karen Cimms is a writer, editor, and music lover. She was born and raised in New Jersey and still thinks of the Garden State as home. She began her career at an early age rewriting the endings to her favorite books. It was a mostly unsuccessful endeavor, but she likes to think she invented fanfiction.

Karen is a lifelong Jersey corn enthusiast, and is obsessed with (in no particular order) books, shoes, dishes, and Brad Pitt. In her spare time she likes to quilt, decorate, and entertain. Just kidding–she has no spare time.

Although she loves pigeons, she is terrified of pet birds, scary movies and Mr. Peanut.

Karen is married to her favorite lead guitar player. Her children enjoy tormenting her with countless mean-spirited pranks because they love her, or so they say. She currently lives in Northeast Pennsylvania, although her heart is usually in Maine.

“At This Moment” is her debut novel.

  Facebook ~ Twitter: @KCimms ~ Website