Blog Tour: True Born (True Born Trilogy #1) by L.E. Sterling

True Born (True Born Trilogy #1)
by L.E. Sterling
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Release Date: May 3rd 2016

Synopsis:

Welcome to Dominion City.

After the great Plague descended, the world population was decimated...and their genetics damaged beyond repair.

The Lasters wait hopelessly for their genes to self-destruct. The Splicers pay for expensive treatments that might prolong their life. The plague-resistant True Borns are as mysterious as they are feared…

And then there's Lucy Fox and her identical twin sister, Margot. After endless tests, no one wants to reveal what they are.

When Margot disappears, a desperate Lucy has no choice but to put her faith in the True Borns, led by the charismatic Nolan Storm and the beautiful but deadly Jared Price. As Lucy and the True Borns set out to rescue her sister, they stumble upon a vast conspiracy stretching from Dominion’s street preachers to shady Russian tycoons. But why target the Fox sisters?

As they say in Dominion, it’s in the blood.

by L.E. Sterling

Hey, everyone! Thanks for letting me spin some tunes for you. I’ve put together a little playlist for my (romantic, fantastic) dystopian world of True Born, songs that I actually listened to while writing.

A song for Dominion City: Godspeedyoublackemperor - The Dead Flag Blues

An Upper Circle song: Electrelane - The Valley

A song for an Upper Circle dance: Glen Miller - Moonlight Serenade

Lucy’s theme: Radiohead - Nude

Lucy’s theme #2: Radiohead - How to Disappear Completely

Margot’s theme: Pixies - I bleed

Storm’s theme: David Bowie - Cat People

Storm’s theme #2: Portishead - Pedestal

Lovers’ songs (for Jared and Lucy): Mazzy Star - Fade into You

Leonard Cohen - Take this Longing

Jeff Buckley- Hallelujah 

Fight song #1: Pixies - UMASS

Fight song (Mohawk’s theme): The Runaways - Cherrybomb

Jared’s song: My Body is a Cage - Arcade Fire

Jared’s Song #2: You and Who’s Army? - Radiohead

Jared and Lucy (a song for the end of the novel): David Bowie - Absolute Beginners

But, having shared my playlist with you (songs I also listened to while writing the novel) I’d love to hear your picks! Get in touch with your #dystopianmixtape

Follow the tour and don't miss anything. Check out the tour schedule.

L.E. Sterling had an early obsession with sci-fi, fantasy and romance to which she remained faithful even through an M.A. in Creative Writing and a PhD in English Literature – where she completed a thesis on magical representation. She is the author of two previous novels, the cult hit Y/A novel The Originals (under pen name L.E. Vollick), dubbed “the Catcher in the Rye of a new generation” by one reviewer, and the urban fantasy Pluto’s Gate. 

Originally hailing from Parry Sound, Ontario, L.E. spent most of her summers roaming across Canada in a van with her father, a hippie musician, her brothers and an occasional stray mutt – inspiring her writing career. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2014 Debut Authors Bash: Interview with Melissa Landers

Welcome to the 2014 Debut Authors Bash! Today we have in my site, an amazing YA author. Melissa Landers!!! She's the author of the Alienated series and one of my favorite authors. 

Alienated (Alienated #1)

by Melissa Landers 

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Release Date: February 4th 2014

Synopsis:

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them. 

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class. 

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

Invaded (Alienated #2)

by Melissa Landers

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Release Date: February 3rd 2015

Synopsis:

The romantic sequel to Alienated takes long-distance relationships to a new level as Cara and Aelyx long for each other from opposite ends of the universe...until a threat to both their worlds reunites them. 

Cara always knew life on planet L’eihr would be an adjustment. With Aelyx, her L’eihr boyfriend, back on Earth, working to mend the broken alliance between their two planets, Cara is left to fend for herself at a new school, surrounded by hostile alien clones. Even the weird dorm pet hates her.

Things look up when Cara is appointed as human representative to a panel preparing for a human colony on L’eihr. A society melding their two cultures is a place where Cara and Aelyx could one day make a life together. But with L’eihr leaders balking at granting even the most basic freedoms, Cara begins to wonder if she could ever be happy on this planet, even with Aelyx by her side.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Aelyx, finds himself thrown into a full-scale PR campaign to improve human-L’eihr relations. Humans don’t know that their very survival depends on this alliance: only Aelyx’s people have the technology to fix the deadly contamination in the global water supply that human governments are hiding. Yet despite their upper hand, the leaders of his world suddenly seem desperate to get humans on their side, and hardly bat an eye at extremists’ multiple attempts on Aelyx’s life.

The Way clearly needs humans’ help . . . but with what? And what will they ask for in return?

Can you tell our readers a little bit about Invaded, the second book in the Alienated series?

You bet! In the first book, ALIENATED, valedictorian Cara Sweeney met (and fell in love with) a smokin'-hot alien exchange student named Aelyx, who stayed with her family for part of the school year on Earth. In the sequel, INVADED, their roles are a bit reversed. Cara travels to L'eihr as a human exchange student while Aelyx remains on Earth to help repair the alliance between their people. It's the ultimate long-distance relationship with plenty of mystery, danger, and of course, romance.

How did you come up with Cara and Aelyx’s story?

I was driving down the interstate in October of 2009, trying to come up with a story idea for that year's NaNoWriMo. (National Novel Writing Month) A few concepts came to me, but I dismissed them because they were boring or had been done before. Then it just came to me: What if a teenage girl had to host an alien exchange student? Bam. The rest is history. 

For those who haven’t read the first book, yet, could you describe Cara and Aelyx and their relationship?

Cara is whip-smart (hello, she's the valedictorian!) and crazy competitive, so when she meets Aelyx, a highly-evolved boy who easily defeats her at every game, she's not too happy about it. And neither is he. Aelyx's view of humanity is quite dismissive, and he doesn't want to be on Earth any more than Cara wants him there. But they slowly learn to respect each other, and that respect turns into friendship, which gradually turns to love. 

Do you have a favorite quote from any of your Alienated books that always steals a goofy smile from you?

I think my favorite quote from ALIENATED is "I won't be your intergalactic booty call." 

As a writer and a reader, what would you say an extraterrestrial love story has to have to make readers fall in love?

With any paranormal or extraterrestrial romance, the otherworldly character needs to be relate-able. Readers need to feel enough familiarity--and glimpses of humanity--in the character to see themselves falling in love.

This should feel like choosing who’s your favorite son, but which Alienated cover is your favorite one?

Oh, that's easy. The cover for ALIENATED is my favorite. I love the vibrant colors and the overall romantic feel to it. 

Imagine that we get the chance to see the Alienated Series on the big screen (*hope so!*). We have picked our own dream cast, but who would you pick to represent your characters?

This is SO HARD, because I've never found an actor who looks like the Aelyx in my head. The closest I've ever come is an actor named Steven Strait, who played Warren Peace in Disney's "Sky High." As for Cara, I think Emma Stone would portray her well!

Click on the banner below to follow all the stops in the 2014 Debut Authors Bash!

Melissa Landers writes light, romantic sci-fi for teens and the young at heart. ALIENATED is now available from Disney Hyperion, and the sequel, INVADED, will release February 3, 2015.

**IMPORTANT** Please do not request an ARC through Goodreads. All review copies are distributed by the publisher.

Sia by Josh Grayson

SIA a novel

Josh Grayson

Release Date: November 20th, 2013

Rate: Average

We have received an ecopy of SIA via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I want you to remember that this is my personal opinion. I don’t intend to offend the author or to be disrespectful. I apologize in advance if this review is an offence to the author or to our readers. 

Once clear that, let's talk about SIA. SIA is Josh Grayson’s debut novel. This is a book about a girl facing new obstacles, learning to be a better person and realizing that money is not happiness. 

I was going to write an “about the book” part, but I think that the synopsis describe perfectly this book. It is what it is, a mean girl who doesn’t know who she is. She’s been living on the street for a week. After that, she goes back to her wealthy life. When she is back at school, she realizes that she was the meanest girl there and that nobody used to like her (besides her parents and her snob friends).
But she is a different person now. She is kind and wants to help others. Does it sound familiar to you? Or is it just me? (I have been watching a lot of “mean girls” movies).

What I wanted to say with the paragraph above is that the plot isn’t something new. It is a story about a mean girl wanting to be a better person. SIA reminds me a lot of another book, Vain by Fisher Amelie. It may have some difference, like the amnesia, but I keep thinking that the plot is so similar to Ms. Amelia’s book (or other films). That makes me keep thinking that it is not an original plot. 

Nevertheless, the fact that the plot wasn’t something that would blow your mind, does not imply that SIA is a bad book or a boring one or even that Josh’s writing isn’t good. In fact, SIA is a fun read and Mr. Grayson has talent, it needs to be polished a little bit, but he sure has talent. I assure you that SIA was an enjoyable and a quick read. I had fun reading Mr. Grayson’s book. 

I know I have said that the plot wasn’t mind-blowing, but Josh wrote SIA in a way that made me enjoy the read. His writing was clear, easy to understand and smooth. As I have said before, it was a quick read (It took me a couple of hours to end this book).

Once I have made clear my opinion about the plot and Josh’s writing, I want to talk about the character of this book. I have to say that I didn’t identified with any character of the book, but I liked some of them. It was kind of hard for me to “feel” the characters, because first, where I come from there is no such a thing like mean girls (or not as books and films make it look), and second because I couldn’t. 

It was fun to read SIA, but some of the actions of the characters, specifically Sia's, didn’t feel real. Here is an example of what I’m talking about: when Sia woke up and realized that she didn’t know where she was or who she was, she freaked out a little, but even in her position she stayed calm. If I has just woken up, and I had no idea what I was doing there I would have freaked out extremely! I mean, I would have been crying hysterically like a crazy woman! Wouldn’t you?

Anyway, even though I had a hard time believing some situations, I ended up liking Sia’s character. She used to be a cruel person (I would have liked seeing some of her bad-girl personality), but after the whole amnesia thing, she was different. I like her because she was trying to make amends. What I liked about her character was that when she was trying to come clean, it wasn’t easy for her! People didn’t believe her, they were incredulous. People marginalize her. But even when she was alone, she did not give up. She wanted to be better, she was better. She had her flaws, but she wasn’t like how she used to be before.

One thing that keeps me exciting about this book was Kyle. He is a typical no-one kind of teenager, something like a geek (a sexy one *wink*). He is one of the things that made this novel exhilarating. He was smart, grumpy and with a heart as big as the sky. I like how he was involved with helping other people. What I liked most was his relationship with Sia. It was the few things that seemed real to me; he was cautious not to fall for her, and with every time they spent together Sia’s attraction for Kyle began to grown increasingly. I could perfectly see this happening in real life; it didn’t happen out of the blue, they took their time, and several pages after starting the book (much more than half the book) I finally had what I was looking for: A real and beautiful romance.

There were other characters, and I didn’t like almost any of them, like Amber (Sia’s best friend). I would be more than glad to tell you why I didn’t like her, but I want you to meet her and decide by yourselves. 

Did you think it was over? Not even close, well yes... it is over, I ended SIA. The end wasn't unexpected at all. But I liked it, tough. It was romantic and it had its beautiful parts. It is a happily-ever-after kind of end (which is what we were expecting right? Otherwise I will be complaining about not having my happy ending! *frowning*). Now, I know you think I’m bipolar, but I want to clarify that I am NOT complaining about the end. As I have said, it was beautiful! 

So guys, after reading my thoughts about Josh Grayson’s debut novel, I hope, if you haven’t thought about it yet, you want to read SIA. I’m sure you will have a nice time reading SIA, and you sure will find it an entertaining read. That’s why, dearies, I’m giving SIA three gorjuss doll. Why three, then? Because I expected some surprise and unexpected turns, however it was a great story!

“True friendship is when two friends can walk in opposite directions, yet remain side by side.”

"He and I exchange a glare, but before we can object she pushes us onto the dance floor. Suddenly I feel shy; I can tell from Kyle’s expression that he feels the same way. He looks almost apologetic when he puts his hand on my waist, but I like the feel of it there. I slide in closer and rest my chin on his shoulder. I loop my arms around his neck. His embrace tightness, and my pulse begins to race.”