Release Day Launch + Giveaway: Again by Lisa Burstein

 

It's release day for Lisa Burstein's Again. Check out the release day blitz, and all the book details, and be sure to enter Lisa's amazing giveaway!!! :)

About Again: 

How far would you go for a second chance?

Eleven years after flunking out of college, Kate has finally hit rock-bottom. Losing her job and boyfriend in one drunken night, she’s determined to fix her life by going back to the moment when she let partying and sex take over. And do things right this time. At twenty-nine, she heads back to freshman year of college, with a catch.

Pretending she's nineteen with a new roommate and full class schedule is easy. When she meets her shy, sexy and seven-years-younger RA, Carter, following her self-imposed sobriety and celibacy rules is proving to be anything but.

A senior enduring years of regret, Carter is more than ready to graduate. He’s anxious to move on from the party his freshman year where he witnessed his frat brothers about to commit a sexual assault. Instead of doing the right thing and stepping in, he looked the other way and left. His guilt has made for a lonely four years.

When he meets the new freshman on his floor, spunky and confident Kate, he wonders if his time as an outcast has finally come to an end.

Kate and Carter’s growing friendship and undeniable attraction make it harder to hide the demons from their respective pasts. But when their secrets are finally revealed, will their chance at starting over together still be there?

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She is the author of Pretty Amy, The Next Forever, Dear Cassie, Sneaking Candy and The Possibility of Us. As well as a contributor to the essay collection, Break These Rules: 35 YA Authors On Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself. Again is her self-publishing debut. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. 

Author Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LisaBursteinAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaBurstein
Website: www.lisaburstein.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5430977.Lisa_Burstein

Buy Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1rwZUy7
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1o16nMU
I-books: http://bit.ly/1o16YhN
Kobo: http://bit.ly/Z8wDiT

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Entangled Embrace Blog Tour: Sneaking Candy Review + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Entangled's Embrace blog tour! Today I have my review of SNEAKING CANDY by Lisa Burstein and don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of the post!

Sneaking Candy

Author: Lisa Burstein

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: December 9, 2013

Publisher: Entangled Embrace

Description:

All I ever wanted was to make a name for myself as Candice Salinas, creative writing grad student at the University of Miami. Of course, secretly I already have made a name for myself: as Candy Sloane, self-published erotic romance writer. Though thrilled that my books are selling and I have actual fans, if anyone at UM found out, I could lose my scholarship…and the respect of my faculty advisor, grade-A-asshole Professor Dylan.

Enter James Walker, super-hot local barista and—surprise!—my student. Even though I know a relationship is totally off-limits, I can’t stop myself from sneaking around with James, taking a few cues from my own erotic writing…if you catch my drift. Candy’s showing her stripes for the first time in my real life, and I’ve never had so much fun. But when the sugar high fades, can my secrets stay under wraps?
  

Sneaking Candy is a fun and steamy New Adult contemporary romance that follows our main character Candice Salinas as she attempts to combine her graduate classes, her TA job, and her love life all while trying to become a great writer. But Candice has a secret that only her roommate knows about - she writes erotic romance under the pen name Candy Sloane to help pay her bills. She's doing well as a romance writer, but knows that if her secret got out, her academic career and the hopes of being taken seriously as a writer would disappear. Everything seems to be going fine until Candice gets up the nerve to ask out the hot barista, James, from the local coffee shop. What she wasn't expecting was the fact that James is actually an undergraduate at the school and is one of her students. Knowing that any type of relationship with James is off limits, Candice can't keep herself away from him and they begin a relationship that even her counterpart Candy would be proud of.

This was a light and fun contemporary romance that had it's share of both incredibly hot scenes and more serious parts mixed in. I really liked the character of Candice. She was down to earth, determined, and smart. She also had her flaws, like her incredibly low self-esteem after her last breakup and insecurities about her ability to write. I found her to be realistic and easy to identify with. The setting was at a university in Miami, which was perfect for the book. Being a reader and an English major myself, I really loved that Candice wanted to be a writer and was teaching English at the college. She even mentions bloggers and their reviews of her erotica books in the story, which was fun to identify with. It kinda felt like she was talking about me in a way, which I thought was really cool. James is (of course) super hot, smart, and basically the perfect guy. Naturally, there has to be a reason that Candice can't be with him - that's one of the things I hate about these types of stories - but they try to make things happen anyways. I loved watching them get to know each other and seeing their relationship develop. As I mentioned, there were some really steamy scenes in the book that definitely had me blushing. Overall, this was a well written book with an interesting and engaging story line and lots of great romance and sexy scenes. Definitely recommended for fans of New Adult and contemporary romances.

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She is the author of Pretty Amy, The Next Forever, Dear Cassie and Candy, Stripped. As well as a contributor to the upcoming essay collection, Break These Rules: 35 YA Authors On Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats.

Links:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Author Goodreads

Buy Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

KOBO

a Rafflecopter giveaway


 

Entangled Embrace December Launch Party + Giveaways!

Today we’re celebrating the release of two New Adult books from Entangled Embrace!

Forged by Fate by Reese Monroe


He’s waited more than 900 years to love her…

Being the Gatekeeper to Hades is no small feat, and waiting almost a millennia to meet your mate is damn near impossible. But Theo Bradford’s mark has finally surfaced on his intended. Now all he has to do is find her and convince her to embrace her supernatural heritage.

Young genius, Sadie Nowland, has got life figured out. Graduating college at the age of eighteen and accepting a six-figure job is just what she needs to prove she’s made something of herself. But when a strange tattoo mysteriously appears on her shoulder and Theo starts talking about Mates, it catapults her neatly laid out life into chaos.

Targeted by a vicious demon escaped from Hades, Sadie is thrust into the volatile world of Shomrei warriors and a connection to Theo her brain can’t comprehend and her body can’t deny. That primal bond proves more imperative to their survival than either could have ever imagined—and just may be the key to the world’s survival.

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Goodreads

Originally from Minnesota, Reese Monroe currently enjoys living in the sunny Arizona desert with her husband of seventeen years and her loveable Shetland Sheep dog, Maddux. Monroe holds a degree in psychology from Southwest Minnesota State University and a master’s degree from the University of Iowa. When she’s not busy writing her next trilogy, she can be found pounding the pavement, training to run her first marathon.

Reese Monroe is a contributing blogger at the widely popular site New Adult Alley and has been part of the New Adult revolution for years having penned over twenty-five novels in the exciting new category.

Author Links: Twitter | Facebook | Website | Pinterest | Google+ | Goodreads

To celebrate her release, Reese is giving away a $25 Amazon giftcard! Play along for a chance to win. No purchase necessary to enter or win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sneaking Candy by Lisa Burstein

All I ever wanted was to make a name for myself as Candice Salinas, creative writing grad student at the University of Miami. Of course, secretly I already have made a name for myself: as Candy Sloane, self-published erotic romance writer. Though thrilled that my books are selling and I have actual fans, if anyone at UM found out, I could lose my scholarship…and the respect of my faculty advisor, grade-A-asshole Professor Dylan.

Enter James Walker, super-hot local barista and—surprise!—my student. Even though I know a relationship is totally off-limits, I can’t stop myself from sneaking around with James, taking a few cues from my own erotic writing…if you catch my drift. Candy’s showing her stripes for the first time in my real life, and I’ve never had so much fun. But when the sugar high fades, can my secrets stay under wraps?

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Goodreads

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She is the author of Pretty Amy, The Next Forever and Dear Cassie. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats.

Author Links: Twitter | Facebook | Website | Goodreads | Blog

To celebrate the release of Sneaking Candy, Lisa is giving away several prizes. Play along for a chance to win. No purchase necessary to enter or win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



 

Release Day Launch + Giveaway: Sneaking Candy by Lisa Burstein

I'm excited to be participating in the release day launch for Lisa Burstein's new novel - SNEAKING CANDY! Read on for more info on the book and don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of the post!

Sneaking Candy

Author: Lisa Burstein

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: December 9, 2013

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Description:

All I ever wanted was to make a name for myself as Candice Salinas, creative writing grad student at the University of Miami. Of course, secretly I already have made a name for myself: as Candy Sloane, self-published erotic romance writer. Though thrilled that my books are selling and I have actual fans, if anyone at UM found out, I could lose my scholarship…and the respect of my faculty advisor, grade-A-asshole Professor Dylan.

Enter James Walker, super-hot local barista and—surprise!—my student. Even though I know a relationship is totally off-limits, I can’t stop myself from sneaking around with James, taking a few cues from my own erotic writing…if you catch my drift. Candy’s showing her stripes for the first time in my real life, and I’ve never had so much fun. But when the sugar high fades, can my secrets stay under wraps? 

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She is the author of the YA Novels: Pretty Amy and Dear Cassie and the NA Novella: The Next Forever. Sneaking Candy is her first full-length new adult novel.

Author Links:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Author Goodreads

SNEAKING CANDY Goodreads

Buy Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

KOBO

a Rafflecopter giveaway


 

Dear Cassie Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway

Dear Cassie
Author: Lisa Burstein
Genre: YA/New Adult Contemporary
Release Date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Pages: 352

Buy Links:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
The Book Depository

Description:

What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?  

 

Dear Cassie is a raw and emotional novel about Cassie Wick, whose life has basically sucked for as long as she can remember - and only gets worse after prom. She's arrested for crimes she and her two best friends committed the night of prom. Only the one behind everything that happened that night has taken off and the other friend ratted Cassie out in order to avoid punishment. Now Cassie's left taking all the blame and she's being shipped across the country to rehab. But this rehab isn't what Cassie's expecting - this is a rundown summer camp reformed into rough rehab for messed up kids like her. The real reason Cassie believes she's been sent to this hell on Earth isn't because of what they did on prom night - it's what happened afterwards - what a cute guy made her believe and the horrible things that happened because of it. Now Cassie's tough outer shell is threatening to break wide open and all her secrets and pent up feelings are going to come gushing out. To make matters worse - there's a sweet guy at Turning Pines who is hell bent on getting to her, even though she swore she would never let it happen again.

This was a deeply emotional and very real novel about a teenage girl's life and the consequences one must make in life - along with the heavy toll they will take. Cassie was a great main character - she was obviously very flawed and damaged, but she doesn't try to hide it. She knows that she has big issues and she's trying her best to fight her feelings by keeping everyone - including herself - from getting close to her heart. We get to see Cassie undergo major character growth and maturation throughout the novel, which is deeply personal and emotional for both the character and the reader. I had an inkling of Cassie's secret early on in the novel, although it takes a good while for her to admit to it in the book. Her journal entries, which make up the book, show her struggling with the truth and not being able to accept or forgive herself. It was an interesting choice to use journal entries as the way of telling the story, but it works really well because the reader gets to see the occurrances throughout the novel along with getting to experience Cassie's thoughts and feelings. The entire novel was gritty and realistic with lots of emotion and even some romance thrown in. It felt like reading a real journal of someone going through these terrible events, which I liked because it felt authentic. The novel deals with some deep topics like love, forgiveness, self realization, guilt, family, and friendship. It deals a lot with personal issues like forgiving yourself, accepting your flaws and shortcomings, learning to move on from devastating choices and events, and taking control of your own life. Highly recommended for fans of contemporary fiction.

 

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University and is glad to finally have it be worth more than the paper it was printed on. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats.


She wrote her first story when she was in second grade. It was a Thanksgiving tale from the point of view of the turkey from freezer to oven to plate. It was scandalous.

PRETTY AMY May 2012 Entangled Publishing / THE NEXT FOREVER January 2013 Entangled Publishing /  DEAR CASSIE March 2013 Entangled Publishing
 
Where you can find her:

Website/Blog/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


 

Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Dear Cassie by Lisa Burstein

Dear Cassie

Author: Lisa Burstein

Genre: YA Contemporary

Expected Release Date: March 2013

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Description:

What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?  

We kept walking on the lake trail, the bullfrogs croaking. There was also a humming in my ears from the nicotine.

 It could only be from the nicotine. It had nothing to do with being outside, at night, alone with Ben. It had nothing to do with Ben coming to the cabin and taking me instead of Nez and it definitely had nothing to do with the stars above us shining like they were the sky’s tiara. 

I stopped on the trail and looked up, taking them in, when all of a sudden bright colored lights exploded in the sky—fireworks, one after another, on top of each other, huge kaleidoscopes of light, like sparkling rainbow spiders.

“How did you know?” I asked, my voice going softer, like if I talked too loudly they would stop. It was so beautiful, after weeks of so much ugly. 

Ben turned to look at me, the colored lights in the sky turning his skin pink, blue, green. “I’m magic.” He shrugged.

I geared up to tell him to fuck off, because that was some corny-ass shit, but then I realized that he really kind of was. In that moment he was able to actually make me forget being me.

 “I would try to kiss you,” he said, “but I’m afraid you’d kick me in the balls.”

“I probably would.” I laughed, the sky filling with noisy color like paint launching from a giant popcorn popper. “But like I said, it wouldn’t be about you.”

“I guess I’ll have to figure out how to make it about me,” he said, taking off his boots and socks and standing. “Come on.”

“There is no way I am getting near that water again,” I said.

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” he said, holding his hand out to help me up.

            I looked at his palm, open, waiting, just wanting to hold mine. For once, I didn’t think about anything except that there was a cute, sweet, smart-ass boy standing in front of me with his hand out.

I pulled off my boots and socks and took it.  

We stood at the lakeshore, our hands still clasped, the water licking our feet, fireworks decorating the sky.

I turned to him. He was looking up, his mouth open in wonder like he was trying to swallow the moment.

It was definitely one worth keeping.

  

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Fiction from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She lives in Portland, OR, with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. Dear Cassie is her second novel. 

Author Links:

 Facebook

Twitter

Website 

Buy Links for Dear Cassie:

Goodreads

The Book Depository

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Buy Links for Pretty Amy:

Goodreads

Powells

The Book Depository

Amazon

Barnes and Noble    

In addition to the DEAR CASSIE cover reveal, Lisa is hosting an EPIC CONTEST to celebrate DEAR CASSIE’ s cover reveal. Lisa wants you guys to share diary entries of your favorite fictional characters with me. That’s right, choose ANY character from books, TV, movies, a cereal box and write a 500-750 length diary entry from their point of view.

We will choose the top 5 and then let the masses vote on their favorite. The favorite will be published in the final version of DEAR CASSIE. You read that right, published with the author’s name! The additional four will win $20 book buying gift cards.

So get diary-ing! Send your entries to prettyamystories@yahoo.com by January 1st!
 
Voting for the top 5 will begin January 7th, with the winner being announced January 14th!

What do you think of the cover? Leave a comment!