Book Blast and Giveaway: EKHO by Marie D. Jones

EKHO by Marie D. Jones

Ten-year-old Elvis Jones is tired of being picked on, taunted, and teased by the bullies at his elementary school, so he does what any smart, technologically brilliant kid his age would do: he creates EKHO, the Evil Kid Hunting Organization, a sophisticated network of kid spies and secret agents that utilize a variety of cool gadgets to stay one step ahead of the enemy – the bullies. They hire kids, make them swear allegiance to the organization, and train them as Commandos, Privates, and Elite Spies. As kids rise through the ranks, the missions, posted on an encrypted EKHO website, require more smarts and skill, especially when the bullies form their own counterspy group called DEKE (Destroy EKHO Kids Everywhere).

It’s all in good fun, until the kids of EKHO must put their pretend skills to use for far more serious, and dangerous, missions. As field agents come across evidence of more sinister forces, they now have to deal with the strange, weird, and the unknown as they look for the truth about the bizarre and creepy threats to their school, their families, and their own lives. They experience betrayal, intrigue, infiltration and counter-espionage as well as teachers and adults who act more mysterious with each passing day, which leaves Elvis and his EKHO team wondering: who can you trust when the person standing next to you might not be entirely human?

Coming February 4, 2014

Amazon (affiliate link) * Barnes & Noble * The Book Depository

Tour Schedule

Author Marie D. Jones

Marie D. Jones is a best-selling author with an extensive background in unknown mysteries, metaphysics, science, and the paranormal. She has been featured multiple times on the History Channel in Ancient Aliens and Nostradamus Effect. Marie also served as a special UFO/abduction consultant for the 2009 Universal Pictures movie, The Fourth Kind. She is a staff writer for FATE Magazine and Intrepid Magazine and a regular contributor to Paranoia Magazine and New Dawn Magazine. Marie has been interviewed on hundreds of radio talk shows all over the world, including Coast to Coast AM, and has been featured in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and online publications, internationally. She has lectured widely at major paranormal, new science, and self-empowerment events, and is the screenwriter and co-producer of 19 Hz, a paranormal thriller in development with Bruce Lucas Films.

Website * Facebook * Twitter

BookBlast Giveaway

$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 2/28/14

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.


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Affiliate Links

Hello everyone!  I am going to begin including affiliate links to my reviews.  I have read so many great books over the course of this blog and I would really like it if you were able to enjoy these books with me!  I will now be including links to purchase these books in my posts.  If you follow the links, I will also be able to get a small portion of the profits (4%) in exchange for my referrals.  This will help me to be able to purchase more books and enable me to bring more content to this blog.  It will also help the authors and publishers too!

Thanks for the continued support!

Jessica

Prime of Life

Book Title: Prime of Life

Author: P.D. Behendam

Publish Date: July 1, 2012

Genre:  Christian Fiction

Find it Here:   Amazon(affiliate link)

Plot (from Goodreads):  Ben used to be a cardiothoracic surgeon before he suddenly abandoned his career and became a janitor at a retirement facility. Now, other than dealing with minor problems such as an unhealthy obsession with prime numbers, an inept boss, and a feud between two cantankerous retirees, he lives a relatively stress-free life. There is even hope for romance when an attractive podiatrist shows an interest in him.

But it is not long before his past catches up with him and his carefully protected world begins to unravel. He is forced to face deep issues about life and God head-on, rather than hide behind his cleaning cart. 

P. D. Bekendam is a practicing eye surgeon. Prime of Life is his debut novel.

Why I Read this Book: I was given a copy of this book for review purposes from Netgalley.  This in no way affected my review.

Review

The eloquent writing style grabbed me from the beginning.  I read from 5% to completion in one day!  I really enjoyed the unique plot and characters.  The suspense in this story was perfect; it gave me enough information to want to keep reading, but not enough that I figured out the ending.  I am not going to lie.  I was a little disappointed to find out that this book had an epilogue and was not going to be a series.  I enjoyed the book so much that I wanted to keep reading.  My favorite character had to be Ben.  I often don't enjoy the main characters as much as the side characters, but Ben was so humor and quirky that I could not get enough of him.  One of the few disappointments was that there was some adult humor and that the epilogue was a little disappointing.  Overall, this is a great debut novel!
 

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age:  Adult (adult humor present)

Overall Rating: 4/5

Blog Tour, Series Review, and Giveaway: The Nightmare Series by Robert Gray

Tour Schedule

Series Title: The Nightmare Series

Author: Robert Gray

Publish Dates: November 8, 2011 (Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks), September 16, 2012 (Eve Hallows and the Book of Shadows), and October 26, 2013 (Eve Hallows and the Book of Shivers)

Genre:  Children's Paranormal

Plots (from Goodreads):  

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks

For fourteen-year-old Eve Hallows, life can be summed up in one word?horrible. She has the most horrible friends. She lives in a horrible old castle. Even her family is a bunch of horrible monsters. However, in the monster-inhabited world of Gravesville?a world where messages are sent through Ouija boards, jack-o?-lanterns get facials to suit their moods, and the worst thing Eve has to deal with are those annoying zombie tourists who overrun her favorite graveyard during the Halloween season?horrible means wonderful. And everything for Eve is perfectly horrible. But her life is about to go head over heels when a mysterious group known as The Source starts terrorizing Gravesville. Now she must move to the human world?where everything is opposite ... and for Eve, that's absolutely adorable!

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shadows

Ever since encountering The Source and its minions on Halloween, Eve Hallows has found life surprisingly quiet … not to mention adorably boring! So when Dad receives a Ouija message that she must return to Gravesville, Eve couldn't be happier—at least until she discovers the Director of URNS, also known as the Grim Reaper, has a special job for Eve … one that will lead her to New York City and to the true identity of The Source.

With The Book of Shrieks offering zero help and a new URNS agent driving the school boys—and Eve!—crazy, Eve's beginning to realize this whole saving-the-world nonsense isn't what it's cracked up to be.

All this and she still has to find The Book of Shadows....

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shivers 

So far, Eve's summer vacation has been uneventful, but when her grandparents—traveling all the way from the monster world known as Gravesville—appear at her doorstep, she learns that the URNS Director has gone missing. Worse, a new director, bent on destroying humans, has taken over URNS.

Eve and her family are no longer safe in the human world, and as they race to escape this new threat, Eve stumbles into a trap, which forces her back to Gravesville along with her family and friends. But once there, everything goes adorably wrong, and her best chance to get out of this mess is to seek out The Book of Shivers and the elusive author Sedrick Creach—the only creature who knows the secrets of the Nightmare Books. Unfortunately for Eve, searching for Sedrick and the next book in the series will reveal uncomfortable details about her own murky past.

Once again, Eve and her friends find themselves on an incredible adventure—one that involves underground battles with bloodthirsty creatures, a lightning-fueled train, and some unexpected new allies.

Hilarious and bone-chilling, this third book continues the story of an unlikely hero trying to save not one, but two worlds … This time around, though, Eve's not sure she can even save herself. 

Why I Read this Book: I received an electronic copy of each of these books as part of a blog tour hosted by I'm a Reader, Not A Writer.  This in no way affected my review of this book.

Review

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks

This was such a cute and fun book!  I think that any kid would enjoy this book, whether they are male or female.  This series follows Eve Hallows, a human girl that was found on the door step of monsters and raised in the monster world.  "The Source" is suspected of murdering monsters and Eve's Dad is asked to investigate by moving his family to the human world.  Eve now has to attend a human school when she has never even seen another human.  This was an exciting and cute read that I would love to read again when I have kids of my own to read it with!
Purchase  Kindle * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shadows

Filled with adventure and suspense, this book exceeded my expectations.  As Eve continues her journey and fights the source, I began to fall in love with the characters.  Eve Hallows and the Book of Shadows was slightly more terrifying than the first book and I am not sure if I would want young children reading this book as it might lead to nightmares.  This series would be perfect for a 4th or 5th grader though!

Purchase  Kindle * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shivers

What can I say?  This book is even better than the rest.  This is a great series that I did not want to put down.  I cannot wait to see what the fourth book in the series has for Eve Hallows and her friends!  I cannot say too much without giving away information about the other books, but the writing style is addicting and perfect for the type of books these are (children's fiction).  The plot was perfectly developed and I did not guess the ending at all (which I loved!).  The characters are developed SOOOO well!!!  I love so many of them!

Purchase Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age:  Middle School and Above

Overall Rating:  5/5

Praise for the Books

Praise for Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks:

"Move over, Neil Gaiman’s CORALINE and THE GRAVEYARD BOOK … make room, Lemony Snicket’s A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS … you’ve got company and competition for shelf space!" -- THE HORROR FICTION REVIEW"WOW! What an absolutely horrible book (horrible meaning fantastic!) ... This book was laugh out loud funny. I loved when Mom accidentally turned people to stone. Dad's crazy attempts at running a pizza store were just hysterical." -- KIDS 'N' BOOKS

"This is the perfect book to be read aloud, read at night under the covers or simply devoured in one sitting. Robert Gray’s Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks simply shines with all of its fun creepiness, compelling characters and stellar writing. A MUST read for any MG fan!" -- WORD SPELUNKING

"Eve Hallows is highly imaginative without being too complex for its target audience. Fall in love with Eve, her friends and her family of adorable monsters. Lose yourself in a light read that will remind you of those days when your English teacher just want you to read something, anything. This book is it. The one that you wish you read when you were in grade school." -- JOYOUS READS

"Overall, this book was fantastic. It presents an admirable role model as well as a strong family unit which will benefit young readers. When so many books right now have presented teens in a not-so-flattering light, it is so wonderful to find a book like this one." -- BOOK COVER JUSTICE

Praise for Eve Hallows and the Book of Shadows:

"This book was perfectly horrible! Horrible meaning amazingly awesome, of course. Eve's world once again sucked me in and would not let go until this part of Eve's story was finished" -- LILI LOST IN A BOOK

"This is a perfect combination of YA, Horror, Paranormal and Fun!" -- BOOK LOVERS PARADISE

"I love love love Eve. She's a strong, awesome, female character that I would be delighted to recommend to any little girl. (No sexism at play here, boys will love this book too!)" — MUST READ FASTER

"I absolutely love this series and cannot wait to keep reading the fun adventures of Eve Hallows. Mr Gray has such a fantastic style of writing and his books are such fascinating tales, that everybody should read them for the fun factor. The topsy turvy lingo, adorable creatures and imaginative Gravesville, make one horrible book." — TURNER'S ANTICS

Author Robert Gray

Robert Gray is a writer. If that job description doesn’t impress you, how about fantasy writer? Too general? Well, he doesn’t get insulted if you call him a horror writer. If horror’s not your thing, then scratch out horror and replace it with suspense. And for the kiddies, you can slap on a YA or MG in front of that title.

Gray lives in Bushkill, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads

Blog Tour Giveaway Details

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 2/8/14

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.



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Forgiveness by Matthew West

Book Title: Forgiveness

Author: Matthew West

Publish Date: July 23, 2013

Genre:  Christian Nonfiction Inspirational

Similar Author:  Max Lucado

Find It Here: Amazon (affiliate link)

Plot (from Goodreads):  Whether giving or receiving, forgiveness is "the "key toward true healing and blessing.

God says there are no limits to forgiveness toward others or ourselves. And when Matthew West set out on a journey asking people to share their true life stories, Renee shared about how she chose to forgive the drunk driver who hit and killed her daughter.

This remarkable story and others like it bring peace and healing to the one needing and the ones giving forgiveness. Fifty powerful stories share forgiveness through divorce, betrayal, addiction, abandonment, death, and more. Each story ties into the promises of God's faithfulness and healing, and ends with the story of God's ultimate forgiveness through the message of salvation.

Why I Read this Book: I received this book as part of a giveaway from the publisher.

Review

This is a great book that includes testimony from several people who wrote to Matthew West about how forgiveness affected their lives. It also includes parts that are written by Matthew West, the famous Contemporary Christian artist. These parts include scripture and quotes from other people that help to back up the biblical teachings that West presents in this book.  This book has made me more thankful for the forgiveness that I receive daily from Jesus and has also made me more aware that I need to daily forgive others just like Jesus does for me.

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age:  Any

Overall Rating:  5/5