Monthly Archives: August 2015

Minutes Before Sunset: Book Tour, Review, and Excerpt too

photo Minutes-Before-Sunset-Tour-Banner.png

Good Morning, all. 🙂

I’m happy to be a part of the blog tour for Minutes Before Sunset by Shannon A. Thompson. It’s a great book and the plot and characters are quite dynamic. If you’re looking for an interesting new Young Adult read written in an urban world mixed with supernatural sparkle, I highly suggest it.

You’ll find my review below, and of course an excerpt from the book. Stick around, enter to win a giveaway. Of course you can also visit the official tour page to find out more about the book.

I think you’ll find Minutes Before Sunset as intriguing as I did.

So without further delay, here is the book…

About the Book.

Title: Minutes Before Sunset

Series: The Timely Death Trilogy #1

Author: Shannon A. Thompson

Published: July 28th, 2015

Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Content Warning: Violence, Adult Language

Recommended Age: 13+

Synopsis: Two destinies. One death.

“Her kiss could kill us, and my consent signed our death certificates.”

Eric Welborn isn’t completely human, but he isn’t the only shade in the small Midwest town of Hayworth. With one year left before his eighteenth birthday, Eric is destined to win a long-raging war for his kind. But then she happens. In the middle of the night, Eric meets a nameless shade, and she’s powerful—too powerful—and his beliefs are altered. The Dark has lied to him, and he’s determined to figure out exactly what lies were told, even if the secrets protect his survival.

Jessica Taylor moves to Hayworth, and her only goal is to find more information on her deceased biological family. Her adoptive parents agree to help on one condition: perfect grades. And Jessica is distraught when she’s assigned as Eric’s class partner. He won’t help, let alone talk to her, but she’s determined to change him—even if it means revealing everything he’s strived to hide.

Additional Purchase and Review Information:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodReads

Excerpt from Minutes Before Sunset by Shannon A. Thompson.

“You look mad,” he said, quieter this time.

I wouldn’t look at him. “I am.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t get you,” I admitted. “I have no idea why you’re acting this way, and it makes me feel like I don’t know you.”

“I didn’t realize you wanted to know me,” he said, and I turned around, momentarily meeting his eyes. They were dark, shadowed by an expression I hadn’t seen before.

“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked, feeling heat crawl over my neck. “We’ve already spent a lot of time together.”

“For a project that’s completed, Jessica,” he said, and he shook his head, driving silently through my neighborhood. I waited for him to speak, but he didn’t. Soon, we were at the end of my driveway. Eric shoved the gears into park, and I reached for the door, but he locked it.

“Why are you so interested in my life?” he asked, and my heart pounded. I didn’t say anything. His eyes met mine, filled with an intensity that made me shudder. “It’s not that great.”

“I know,” I managed. My voice was shaking.

His face reddened. “But you ask questions.”

“And you answer them.”

His mouth opened, but then it snapped shut. He sighed, turned away, and grabbed the steering wheel as if he were driving again. We remained parked. “I’m Eric James Welborn,” he stated, his voice wavering into an awkwardness I’d never heard with his normally confident and cocky attitude.

James? His middle name felt personal—like he had opened up a side of himself he’d forgotten about. But I didn’t feel intrusive. I felt comforted, like I already knew the answer before he’d spoken it. But I hadn’t.

“Your name doesn’t tell me who you are,” I said, surprised by my fluidity.

He barely smiled. “Maybe I like it that way.”

“I don’t.”

About the Author.

Shannon A. Thompson is a twenty-three-year-old author, avid reader, and habitual chatterbox. She was merely sixteen when she was first published, and a lot has happened since then. Thompson’s work has appeared in numerous poetry collections and anthologies, and her first installment of The Timely Death Trilogy became Goodreads’ Book of the Month. As a novelist, poet, and blogger, Thompson spends her free time writing and sharing ideas with her black cat named after her favorite actor, Humphrey Bogart. Between writing and befriending cats, she graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in English, and she travels whenever the road calls her.

Clean Teen Publishing Links:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter

My Review. Minutes Before Sunset.

Grade: 4 Stars

Humans by day, super beings by night, teens Jessica and Eric find each other amidst the chaos of a lost identity and an age-old war. There’s a historical prophecy, which will define the greater ruling power of either the traditions of the dark or the hungers of the light, but sudden shifts in history are discovered and the impact could potentially mean extinction for either side. Where will their love fit and will it survive? You’ll have to read Minutes Before Sunset, to find out.

The book deserves 4 stars for the combination of its solid craft and also the depth in the character development. The chapters pushed forward in a logical sequence and some of the supernatural scenes were so vivid I could picture myself right there with Jessica and Eric. Of course the love story was amazing and I loved the first scenes of touch and of course the chemistry in the kiss.

Should the book be broken in two? From my perspective, I do believe it could have pushed my rating up to a five. The historical piece is very original and I would have liked to see these scenes slowed down a bit. But all in all, I loved the dialogue and the way author Shannon A. Thompson described the places and spaces her characters inhabited.

Great book!

Giveaway Details:

There is a tour wide giveaway. Prizes include the following:

A bookmark swag pack, winner’s choice of any Clean Teen Publishing eBook, and a $15 Amazon gift card.
Giveaway is International.

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Cover Reveal: “The Story’s End” by Danielle E. Shipley

Aug 5

Posted by Erika Beebe

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday, all.

I have some great news to share. My author friend Danielle E. Shipley is revealing the cover of her new book, The Story’s End, the 7th book in The Wilderhark Tales. I had the privilege to read and review one of her earlier books in the series. Danielle E. Shipley is a dynamite writer of fairy tales and fiction, and if you’ve ever liked Disney “feel-good” fairy tales, or grew up reading some of those stories by Hans Christian Andersen, you should definitely check out all of Danielle’s seven books.

So without further delay, here is the new cover.

About the Book.

For Gant-o’-the-Lute, “ever after” has been less than happy. With the last of Carillon’s charm over him gone, the minstrel-king puts royalty behind him in pursuit of the music he once knew and the lifelong dream he let slip through his fingers. But dark whispers on the wind warn that time is running out – not only for Lute and the apprentice in his shadow, but the whole of earth and Sky.

The Story’s End
Book Seven of The Wilderhark Tales

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An enchantress’s curse turns a spoiled royal into a beast; a princess’s pricked finger places her under a hundred-year spell; bales of straw are spun as golden as the singing harp whisked down a giant beanstalk – all within sight of Wilderhark, the forest that’s seen it all.

You’ve heard the stories – of young men scaling rope-like braids to assist the tower-bound damsel; of gorgeous gowns appearing just in time for a midnight ball; of frog princes, and swan princes, and princes saved from drowning by maidens of the sea. Tales of magic. Tales of adventure. Most of all, tales of true love.

Once upon a time, you knew them as fairytales. Know them now as Wilderhark’s.

About The Author.

Danielle E. Shipley’s first novelettes told the everyday misadventures of wacky kids like herself. …Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to them all, half of her characters were actually closeted elves, dwarves, fairies, or some combination thereof. When it all came to light, Danielle did the sensible thing: Packed up and moved to Fantasy Land, where daily rent is the low, low price of her heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, firstborn child, sanity, and words; lots of them. She’s also been known to spend short bursts of time in the real-life Chicago area with the parents who home schooled her and the two little sisters who keep her humble. When she’s not living the highs and lows of writing, publishing, and all that authorial jazz, she’s probably blogging about it at www.EverOnWord.wordpress.com.