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Author of the Year 2013

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2013 Book of the Year

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Best Villain of the Year:

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Best Male Character

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Best Book Couple

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Best Cover Designer

***BEST I'VE READ 2013 and GIVEAWAY ALERT!***

“I’m so honored that FIREFLY was chosen to be featured as 2013 BIR over at Nicole's lovely blog: Books Complete Me!” Belle Whittington said.  “There’s no greater compliment a book reviewer can pay an author than to say her book is one of the best one’s the reviewer read the whole year.  Wow!” I bet you’re thinking you wish you could see what all the buzz is about, don’t you?  Well, there are two options for you right now! 1.     You can pop on over to Amazon, B & N, Smashwords, or CreateSpace and purchase a copy of Belle’s books.  They are both on sale right now!
2.     You can pop on over to Books Complete Me book blog, check out Nicole’s interview with Belle’s main character Blair Reynolds, and ENTER TO WIN A COPY OF "FIREFLY"!!!

~ Belle Whittington

Happy Holidays from Belle Whittington!

Click Here to Download Firefly!

Guest Poster: Brandi's POV, Review of The Lair

In the battle against the vampiric Ticks, humanity was slowly but certainly headed for extinction. For months, twin sisters Lily and Mel had been “quarantined” with thousands of other young people being harvested for their blood—food for the Ticks. Finally escaping with a few friends, the twins are separated—and must continue the fight on their own . . . After making it to a resistance base camp in Utah, Lily learned to survive at all costs. But when a Tick attack decimates the fighters, Lily and her pregnant friend, McKenna, decide to make the hard trek north to Canada—and safety. Meanwhile, Mel is being taught how to survive by the very vampire that turned her. Living without her sister is hard, but dealing with the fact that her autism was cured by the vampire bite is an even bigger challenge. But when a monstrous betrayal places Lily in mortal danger, Mel must set out to find her, save her, and begin to unravel the empire of destruction that the Ticks have built.

Brandi’s POV:

Brandi Peel - Guest Book Reviewer

Where to start??!!! Where do I even start with how much I love these characters, story and series???!!! Let me start by saying that when I read the first book in the series, “The Farm”, I literally felt like someone punched me right in the stomach, but in a totally good way. “The Lair” picks up right where “The Farm” left off. The action, conflict, romance, literally everything is non-stop. While I was reading, I was so lost in the characters and the events of the story that I not only lost track of time, but I had emotions slamming into
my brain faster than I could process them. I LOVE, how Ms. McKay gives us three separate and distinct points of view in this story; Lily, Mel and Carter. I know some readers do not like this, but I thought she pulled it off beautifully and it really allowed me to get to know the characters better and to feel and see what was happening to them as it was occurring in the story. The ability to do this made me feel very engaged with the plot.

One of the things that impressed me most about this book was the definite character growth I could see in both Lily and Carter. I think it was brilliant of Ms. McKay to give us more scenes from Carter’s
point of view. It helped me to understand his decisions and actions a little better than I did in the first book. It helped me not to judge him too harshly for his mistakes; he is after all an 18 year old boy tasked with dealing with insurmountable odds.  I liked Lily’s snark and spirit in the first book, but I loved her even more in this one.

She opens up more and shows her vulnerability with Carter and also becomes more trusting of him. Even though they don’t always agree, there is a definite trust built between the two of them that was missing in the first book. Two other things I love about Lily is that the word “quit” is not in her vocabulary and she never backs away from a fight. She is not a maiden waiting for the hero to swoop in and rescue her, she’s fighting right there beside him, holding her own!

Sebastian is my favorite character because he’s so calculating and complex. I think that’s very intriguing and sexy! I never know what he’s going to do or say next. I like that he’s not entirely good (by a long shot) but he’s not entirely evil either. I think there’s something so arresting about moral ambiguity!! I’m always guessing about his motives and sincerity. I try to think what I would be like after living over two thousand years, with endless tragedies and struggles to endure. I cannot say that I wouldn’t be that different than Sebastian. It would be terribly hard to hang onto any humanity after seeing and doing so many things to survive. At the end of this book there are some events that occur, however, I don’t think everything concerning Sebastian is as simple and straight forward as we are lead to believe. I can only hope that more of Sebastian’s story and motive will be revealed in much greater detail in Book 3. I for
one cannot wait!!!!

The last 50 pages of the book left me stunned, stupefied and thinking “WTH”???!! In a totally kick ass awesome way! Trust me this is one story you do NOT want to miss out on. Now, the only problem I have 
with this story is waiting until next year when the last book comes out!!

Link to my review of “The Farm” by Emily McKay:
http://www.abook-loversreview.com/2013/03/my-pov-farm-by-emily-mckay.html

Books in the Trilogy:
The Farm
The Lair
Untitled (2014)

Rating: Five (and then some!)
Quotes: 

“Kudos to me for being the worst boyfriend ever.”

“Oh, jeez, you make it sound so easy.”

“I’m sorry. If saving your girlfriend’s life is too difficult for you,
then by all means, skip it and play some video games instead.”

“Screw you.” I was so pissed off at Sebastian, it was all I could do
to just not hang up on him then.

Zeke stood there, the rifle dangling from his hand. His skin looked a
little pale.

“Holy crap,” he said. His gaze moved up to mine. “Ely said you were
hard core, but I had no idea. You freakin’ tried to strangle him with
your handcuffs.”

“What’d you expect me to do?”
“You were four feet away from the tranq rifle!”

I yanked the other side of the handcuffs off my wrist and dropped them
on the chair.

“Yeah, well, my handcuffs were only four inches away from his neck…”

“Great. I’m bunking tonight with Katniss Everdeen. I’ll let you know
if we need that.”

“Okay, genius, what do you want to do now?” Ely asked from the driver’s seat.
“I’m thinking.” But they were out of options.

“You wanna turn around now or should we just wait here until a snow
plow comes to dig us out?”

“Okay, smartass, what ideas do you have?” Lily demanded.

From the front sit, McKenna was just looking back and forth from Ely
to Lily like she was waiting for a bomb to go off.

Ely held his hands up in the universal sign for hey-this-ain’t-my-fault. “What do I look like, the world-renowned professor of making shit up?”

“No. You look like a guy who thinks he’s smarter than everyone else,
so he doesn’t open his mouth unless he can prove it.”

My vision cleared just enough for me to realize what I’d done. I lowered my friend to the ground. Ely just stood there for a moment with his hands raised in a palm out gesture of innocence.

“What the hell, man” I didn’t answer the question. Instead I jammed a finger in his face.

“You keep her safe. Do you understand me?”

“Yeah. I got that.”

“No. I mean, no matter what. You keep her safe.”

“Of course.”

“Like she was yours. That’s how safe she needs to be. Like she was your sister, your whatever. You put her first. Above anything else. You got it?”

Author:

Emily McKay has been reading romance novels since she was eleven years old. Her first Harlequin Romance came free in a box of Hefty garbage bags. She immediately fell in love with the genre and has been devouring them ever since.

In her spare time, she loves to garden and cook … well, bake. Mostly cookies.

Naturally, she still loves to read a good romance. She’s been blissfully married for eleven years. When they can ditch their five pets for a couple of weeks, she and her husband like to travel to exotic and exciting locations like Greece, Costa Rica, and Ignorant Flats, Texas.

She has a degree in English from Texas A&M University. After college, she taught middle school for four years. While teaching America’s disenfranchised youth to appreciate fine literature, she learned very little about writing romance but a lot about finding humor in any situation. Eager for a job where she wouldn’t have to dodge spitwads, she fled the teaching profession to write full-time. Though her characters sometimes misbehave, they almost never throw things at her.

Links:

Author Website:  http://emilymckay.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/messages/#!/emily.mckay.52

Summer Author Blitz Schedule!

Come one, come all to the 2013 Summer Author Promo Blitz!  

Follow along for author interviews, guest posts, giveaways, a super-fun scavenger hunt, a twitter party, a Facebook Event, and a full-panel author discussion on Authors on the Air!  

Belle and Tabatha hope everyone enjoys meeting all these new authors and bloggers during this month-long blitz!

July 1	SWAG Contest! YA Book Nerd Blog
July 2	Jessica Lee Anderson Guest Post Books Complete Me Blog
July 3	Janet Fox Interview Jennzah Blog
July 4	Happy Independence Day!  The scavenger hunt begins at Exit Ramps! Janet Lee Carey Interview Lucky Books Blog
July 5	Cory Putnam Oakes Guest Post Word to Dreams Blog Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 6	No posts due to alien abductions Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 7	LB Whittington - creator of book covers and trailers Interview I Rawr Books Bobbi Kornblit Guest Post Belle Whittington’s Tumblr Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 8	Kimberley Griffiths Little Interview Samantha Clark’s Blog Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 9	Stacy A. Moran Guest Post CU’s Author Spotlights Michelle Pickett Interview Iris Alandra’s Tumblr Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 10	Missy Jane Guest Post Demons Do It Better Blog Janni Lee Simner Interview YA Books of Witchcraft and Wizardry Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 11	Cinda Chima Williams Interview Beauty and the Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 12	Nikki Lofkin Guest Post From Tots to Teens Blog Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 13	More alien abductions … those pesky aliens! Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 14	We’re still looking for the missing persons who disappeared near a crop circle yesterday.  Until we find them, take a moment to watch the book trailers for CICADA and FIREFLY. Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 15	Jocelyn Dex Interview Montgomery County Book Festival Blog Joy Preble Guest Post Ralu’s Book Basket Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 16	Alberto Arcia Interview Illustrious Illusions Blog Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 17	Krissi Dallas Guest Post Peace, Love and Fangirl Blog Jo Whittemore Interview Sher A Hart Blog Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 18	Belle Whittington Interview Literary Meanderings Blog Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 19	Nicole Story Interview Paranormal Book Club PJ Hoover Interview Your Friendly Librarian CC Hunter Guest Post Between the Lines Blog Twitter Party at 7 PM: Use #2013SummerAuthorBlitz Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 20	Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 21	Faith A. Rice-Mills Interview Belle Whittington’s Tumblr Nickie Seidler Guest Post Steph’s Book Corner Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 22	Ashley Nemer Guest Post Reader’s Candy Blog Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 23	Heather Poinsett & Chris Dunbar Interview We Heart Bookz Editorch Guest Post Nickie Storey’s Blog Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 24	Ali Cross Interview I Read Indie Blog Mickey Mills Guest Post Meduza Blanda Blog Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 25	Jennifer Bray-Weber Interview Celtic Romance Queen Blog Dom Testa Guest Post Michelle Pickett’s Blog Heather Lamb Interview Official Site of Allison Cassatta Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 26	Dicey Grenor Interview Red Letter Reads Alexia Purdy Interview YA Book Nerd Facebook Event at 3 PM:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1393136437566649/ Authors on the Air Interviews! Missy Jane Heather Lamb Jennifer Bray-Weber LB Whittington Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 27	Dean Wilson Guest Post Kayla’s Place Blog Authors on the Air Interviews! Belle Whittington Michael Cadnum Michelle Pickett Joy Preble LS Broomfield Melissa Studdard Dicey Granor Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 28	Hafsah at IceDesigns Interview Willing to See Less Blog Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 29	Steven E. Metze Interview Bianca2b Michael Cadnum Guest Post Your Friendly Librarian L.S. Broomfield Guest Post A Daydreamer's Thoughts Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 30	Melissa Studdard Interview Fuzzy Sox Blog RH Ramsey Guest Post Vixie’s Stories Samira Bellisimo Interview Falling In Love With Books Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!
July 31	Heidi McLaughlin Interview First Page, Last Page Blog E. Kristin Anderson Interview Books and Broomsticks S. Frankie Blooding Interview The YA Lit Chick Authors on the Air Interviews! PJ Hoover E Kristin Anderson Cinda Williams Chima S. Frankie Blooding Krissi Inman Dallas Kimberley Griffiths Little Janni Lee Simner Dom Testa Janet Lee Carey Steve Metze Scavenger Hunt at Exit Ramps!