Blog tour + Review + Giveaway: Return to Arèthane by Kelly Riad

Today, i'm super excited to be part of this blog tour by SupaGurl Tours. I loved this book and if you want a chance to win a copy of this then see below!

Return to Arèthane (The Elves of Arèthane #1)
by Kelly Riad

Pages:

Publisher:

Pub date: May 30th 2012

Synopsis:

16-year old Emily has accepted her fate with each weakening beat of her heart, but after her best friend's brother and sister arrive in town and turn out to be more than what they appear, Emily's life is turned upside-down. When their friendship includes confronting wizards who harbor dark secrets and dancing with an elf prince, Emily discovers there are some things still worth living for.

Review:

A copy was provided by the author for a honest review.

Return to Arèthane was a refreshing read. It's full of adventure, action, fantasy and romance. Emily has been friends with the beautiful Dafne ever since they've met. When Emily is saved by a hot guy in a embarrassing situation she doesn't think anything of it. But that all changes, when Dafne's siblings come home. Both of her siblings are gorgeous, like Dafne, but she's met one of them before. Jarrad, he's the one who helped her at the restaurant. Emily knows Dafne and her siblings are hiding something from her. The flowers bloom when Dafne passes them and Kara was glowing!

The story was in third person perspective but the characters were still enjoyable to read. Emily was strong even though she has a heart problem and that she always has to act like a adult in her family. Especially, with her mum who is always drunk or spotted with alcohol. Seeing through Kara's perspective was a fun experience. You get to know the story even deeper and understand it even more.

Now, the plot and Kelly's writing was superb! I breezed through the book easily and didn't want to put it down. It was all merged together with everything i liked; action, adventure, romance, heart throb moments and fantasy. And it wasn't all muddled up it blended in together exquisitely. Furthermore, the writing style of Kelly Raid was perfect for me. Even with all of these positive points, i had a problem with the ending. It was just there. It was left hanging and no i don't mean a cliffhanger. It was just left there hanging. So, that really let me down.

To end this review, i would say to everyone that they should definitely check it out soon. It kept me buried in its pages and i'm sure you'll be the same as well. Without a doubt, i am looking forward to read the next installment in this series.


About the author:

Kelly Riad is from Texas where she lived with her husband and a house overrun by pets. She now lives in the San Francisco Bay area and is determined to bring the y'all to the West Coast. While she published her first book - a handmade pop-up titled "The Lost Puppy" - in the fifth grade to much acclaim by the first graders, she only recently picked the craft back up. "Return to Arèthane" is her second published novel.

Find more about Kelly Raid at: Goodreads/ Her blog/ Twitter

Find more about Return to Arèthane on: Goodreads/ Shelfari/ Amazon UK/ Amazon US/ Smashwords

Giveaway!

That's right you have a chance of winning an eBook copy of Return to Arèthane! 

 -Open Internationally
- Must be 13 or older
- Ends 1st of October
-The winner will be emailed. You will have 48 hours to reply or another winner will be chosen.

Enter using the RaffleCopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BLog Tour: An excrept of Moa

Please enjoy this excerpt from Moa, a paranormal YA novel with a literary bent by Tricia Stewart Shiu. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including $6000 in Amazon gift cards, a Kindle Fire, 5 autographed copies of Moa, and 5 autographed copies of its sequel, Statue of Ku.

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Eighteen-year-old, Hillary Hause’s left thumb searches frantically to turn on the “I’m Okay to Fly” hypnotherapy recording. Her nerves on edge, fuchsia fingernails press into the blue pleather armrests of her airplane seat.

“No spells can help you now,” she whispers to herself under her breath—then checks to see if anyone notices. Nope, they don’t.

The plane lifts through the early morning, gray fog of California, “June Gloom” giving way to the azure sky, and Hillary covers her curly brown head and retreats beneath the questionably clean plane blanket cranking the volume to drown out the drone of the engines.

“Outer shell close to breaking.” This time she doesn’t care if anyone hears.

I hover just beyond her “outer shell”—a movement in the periphery, a faintly familiar scent, a fond memory just beyond recognition, a non-human observer. Before the week is up, Hillary will save my life, as I will hers. But, for now, more about Hillary.

The drink cart rolls past the blanket, which has, by now become a moist steamy cave.



“Hey, freak. I hope your plane crashes.” The memory reverberates through her brain despite her attempts to distract herself with the hypnotherapy recording. She increases the volume, but the ugly conversation, which occurred just before school ended, still haunts her mind.

“I guess the only people they check on those flights are the suspicious ones,” Krystal Sykes, a bully from her home room, leans in as Hillary hastens to grab books for her next class. Krystal, also a senior, has hounded Hillary since the first day of freshman year and this is the final day during the final hour at this tiny high school of 376 students —where everyone knows everyone else’s business.

“Look, Krystal.” Hillary turns her eyes toward the sneering blonde. “It’s the last day of school, we’ll never see each other again. Can you give it a rest?” These are the most words the two young women have exchanged in the entire four years of high school.

A look of shock replaces Krystal’s smug snick, “Oh, so now you talk.” She leans in, so close that her spray tan becomes a patchy Impressionist painting. Her pores are blotched with cakey, two shades too dark powder, her unblended cream eyeshadow creases across the center of her lid and her tropical breeze flavored breath threatens to strangle the words right out of Hillary.

“I know all about your witchcraft practices and have made a few spells of my own. Trust me. You’ll never make it to your sister’s house in Hawaii.” Krystal’s backpack jingles and Hillary watches her spin around and skip down the hall.



Hillary is not a witch. She has, however, carefully crafted a “shell” to protect herself from bullies like Krystal—who, as far as Hillary can tell—is not a witch either. She has watched Krystal throughout elementary, middle and high school and has not been able to discern whether or not she practices witchcraft. No matter what Krystal’s background, her intent is to harm. And there is nothing worse than a spell with an aim to hurt. Hillary has had no choice but to remain in a constant state of defensiveness.

The twenty-minute recording ends and Hillary falls into a troubled sleep—feeling every bump and hearing every creak of the plane.

With about an hour left in the flight, Hillary awakens with a “turtle headache.” Hillary’s older sister Molly taught her this term which means a headache caused by sleeping too long underneath the covers of one’s bed.

Sadly, Molly lost her husband, Steve, last year in an unfortunate surfing accident. The throbbing pain in Hillary’s left temple could be the result of remaining submerged beneath an airplane blanket and wedged between the window and armrest, or it could be from worry about how Molly and her niece, Heidi are dealing with their devastating loss.

Disoriented, Hillary pokes her head out just in time to glimpse puffy clouds and sparkling sea below. A flood of excitement and sheer wonder flows through Hillary in the form of a tingle from her head to her toes. And then, a lovely thought: “…And for an Everlasting Roof, The Gambrels of the Sky…” She will enjoy this plane ride, thanks in part to Emily Dickinson.

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As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the Moa and Statue of Ku eBook editions have both been dropped to just 99 cents this week. What’s more, by purchasing either of these fantastic books at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include $600 in Amazon gift cards, a Kindle Fire, and 5 autographed copies of each book.

All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment–easy to enter; easy to win!

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• Purchase your copies of Moa and Statue of Ku for just 99 cents

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About Moa: Eighteen-year-old, Hillary, anticipates adventure as she embarks for trip to Honolulu, but gets more than she bargained for when Moa, an ancient Hawaiian spirit, pays her an unexpected visit. Get it on Amazon.

About Statue of Ku: The second book in the Moa Book Series, “The Statue of Ku” follows Hillary and Moa as they jet to Egypt on the Prince’s private plane to reclaim Moa’s family heirloom, the inimitable statue of Ku. Get it on Amazon.

About the author: Tricia Stewart Shiu combines her addiction to the written word with her avid interest in the healing arts and all things metaphysical in her novels Moa and Statue of Ku and looks forward to finding new ways to unite her two loves. Visit Tricia on her website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.