So the Shudder Blog Tour is officially over.  WOW!  That was an action-packed summer, if I say so myself.  :-) BUT the excitement isn’t done *quite* yet…  You may have noticed some Grand Finale Recap posts like this one at Colorimetry going up at your favorite blogs over the past few days (and coming to more blogs in the next couple weeks!).  These handy posts include links to all the awesome Highlight Posts that went up the last few weeks of the tour, and in turn link back t

Wow, I can’t believe it’s September already… and you know what that means.  It’s the LAST OFFICIAL DAY of the Shudder Blog Tour!  Really??  That went by fast! There were also some shocking aspects — in the regard that I don’t find them too absurd to actually happen, like right now. Genius and insanity are utterly and truly a very fine line that tends to blurr alot. … Alessa and Isaac proofed very strong, very conflicted, yet also very open characters. They struggled through a

Second-to-last day of the Shudder Tour!  We’re rounding this out today with more highlights about your favorite characters and the villains you love to hate, plus an awesome review!  And of course two more chances to enter the grand finale giveaway! Huge thanks to Ruth and Kayla for hosting! #highlights #blogtour #giveaway #characters #badguys #shudder #reviews

T-4 days on remaining on the Shudder Blog Tour and we’re celebrating with 2 excellent 5-star reviews and tour highlights featuring “Praise for Pacing” and “Painstakingly Plotted World!” First, the “Praise for Pacing” highlights and an awesome review from Mel’s Shelves: Oh, my! Dystopia at its finest! … Shudder takes off right out of the gate and doesn’t stop. We get the perspective of different people. … I loved all the back and forth and it wasn’t confusing at all. I had a h

Start the countdown – only 5 DAYS left in the Shudder Blog Tour!  Where did the time go?? Anyway, three more great stops today, including two stellar reviews and two more awesome set of highlights!  First, swing by YA Book Addict for an amazing 4.5 star review: What a fantastic follow up to book one in the Stitch trilogy!! I absolutely loved it, from start to finish!!  … I truly loved Isaac in this book. He remained caring and supportive at all times. I think there was only o

Holy monkey truckers what an ENDING! This story is keeping my head bent to my kindle. Ms Durante has IT, ladies and gentlemen. That thing that some authors have that just keep you turning the pages to see what new little twist will come out, to find out if what you THINK you know is truth, to see if your characters hold true to their personalities. <continue reading> Thanks so much to Tiffany for hosting!  More tour highlights coming tomorrow.  :-) #blogtour #giveaway #review

Whew!  SO MUCH excitement over the weekend!  Okay, I’m doing to do my best to keep it short and recap all the goodness you might have missed in the past 3 days. First, from Friday: Guest post at My World in Words and Pages on the topic of “Family & Relationships in a Dying World” – here’s a sneak peek: Imagine the world ended tomorrow. You have no more career, no school, no obligations. Money is meaningless. All the material possessions you’ve accumulated are useless, except

Despite how popular dystopian YA has become, Samantha Durante was able to bring something fresh to the genre. This series is in no way cookie cutter dystopian. … The author has a great writing style that delivers something for everyone, whether you are a romance, science fiction or paranormal fan. Samantha really works all these aspects together wonderfully. Shudder was just as good as the first in the series and I expect the final installment to be equally as epic. Fast pace

At JeanZBookReadNReview, an excerpt and e-book giveaway, plus an excellent review: “I really enjoyed Stitch and I was a little worried as sometimes in a Trilogy it’s BK#2 that tends to suffer and not be very good. But this is so not the case with Shudder. I found Shudder an even more exciting and intriguing read than Stitch.  So did I enjoy the book?  Yes!   Would I recommend the book? Yes! as it’s a great series so far and it has such a great selection of genres within it I’

Have you ever committed to something (perhaps somewhat reluctantly, or without really thinking about it), and then one day you look up and you think, “Omg, what have I gotten myself into?” It happens to the best of us.  Maybe it was volunteering to organize that big event, or agreeing to watch a friend’s kids/pets while they were away.  Maybe it was diving headlong into a project at a new job that you don’t have a lot of experience with, or committing to cooking dinner for mo

Happy 1 Year Anniversary to Stitch! Guess what: today is the 1 Year Anniversary of the Stitch Blog Tour!  Exactly one year ago today, I announced to the world that I’d written book.  Wow – where does the time go??  To celebrate, today we’ve got a guest post at Head Stuck in a Book where I recount the lessons I learned along the way, and how I even found myself writing a book to begin with.  Here’s a sneak peek: But it wasn’t always an easy road to get here.  It required (like

From Total Book Nerds: There is so much going on in this book, I felt like it was a tv-show, where each chapter was like an episode, and it kept ending with tiny cliffhangers that kept me reading so I could find out what happened next. This book will definitely blow your mind away, this book is something I would recommend to everyone, no matter what genre you like, this is a book that is a must read. <continue reading> From The Muse Unleashed: Shudder picks up immediately fol

From the Alessa/Isaac interview:Naomi: Hi Alessa and Isaac! Welcome to my Paranormal Palace!! Alessa: We’re very excited to be here! Isaac: Thanks so much for having us, Naomi! Naomi: The pleasure is mine, I assure you! Alright, let’s get straight into the nitty gritty. How are you both adjusting to life now that you are out of the spotlight, not that you realised that you were being filmed before… A: (big sigh) It’s a relief!  It was SO difficult during Stitch once I realize

Book Two, Shudder, picks right up where Alessa and Isaac left off—outside Paragon and on a critical mission to find a suitable place to relocate the rebels so they can reclaim their lives and fight against the Ruling Few who are doing unspeakable things in the name of Utopia… otherwise known to those of us in the know as Communism. Yes, every time they try it, it fails.  But that’s not stopping these self-indulgent, power hungry moguls from giving it another go.  You see, it’

This book is packed with action and adventure. You are not sure what’s going to happen at every turn. I can honestly say it kept me on my toes not knowing what to expect next. My emotions ran the gamete from fear, to elation, to happiness and some sadness, as well. <continue reading> Swing by The Cover Contessa for the rest, and have a great weekend!! #excerpt #blogtour #giveaway #shudder #reviews

Hi Isaac, thank you so much for stopping by to talk to us today (Sigh – he is definitely a hottie).   (blushing)  Thanks a lot for inviting me, Ellen, I’m happy to be here. Can you tell us something about yourself that we don’t learn from the book? I harbor secret fantasies of overthrowing Paragon’s government… and keeping the entire city for myself, muahahahaha!  JUST KIDDING!  Seriously though, I’m a pretty straightforward guy – what you see is what you get, and I pretty mu

From the review:Shudder is an enjoyable follow-up to Stitch, continuing the story of Alyssa and Isaac and their friends trying to resist a repressive society. … There are some action scenes through the book though, and they are very tense – sometimes scary! I think this has to be one of the most well-written Indie series I’ve read in a long time. … Overall, Shudder builds towards what I am hoping will be a blockbuster ending to the trilogy. Bring it on! <continue reading> Fro

First, check out yesterday’s guest post at Cocktails & Books about how to avoid the dreaded Second (Middle) Book Syndrome: Middle books in a trilogy have gotten a bad rap, particularly in YA.  They’re often known to be bland filler, simply a bridge between the first and last books in the series, where not much of anything happens and the characters just kind of, well, stagnate, whittling away the hours while they (and the readers…) wait (im)patiently for Book 3 to come along.

Excerpt and giveaway at Books with Bite Guest post featuring another Sayings SMACKDOWN (this time w/ Lizzie and Janie) at Coffee Books & Me A great review (“another great novel that captured my attention with standout characters and worldbuilding”) and excerpt at An Avid Reader’s Musings Author interview, review, and giveaway at Red Reader Reviews Review, giveaway, and guest post (“Why I Love the First Line of Shudder”) at Bex ‘n’ Books Follow the links above for the full sto

At Books for Company, the guest post “Top 5 Must-Haves for Your Post-Apocalyptic Adventure” as recommended by characters who know what they’re talking about!  (Also an e-book giveaway) At Sarcasm & Lemons, the guest post “Sayings Smackdown w/ Isaac & Alessa” where Alessa and Isaac debate the merits of some common idioms (and another e-book giveaway!) At Forever 17 Books, an awesome review (“wonderfully fleshed out characters I can’t help but root for”) plus an excerpt Thanks