Mandate Thirteen Blog Tour: Excerpt + Giveaway

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot  on the MANDATE THIRTEEN by Joseph J. Dowling Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my  post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

   

MANDATE THIRTEEN
Author: Joseph J. Dowling
Release Date: January 10, 2023
Publisher: Manta Press, Ltd.
Formats: Paperback, eBook

Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/MANDATE-THIRTEEN

Description:

In a world with dwindling birth  rates, all young women must submit to compulsory fertility checks at the age of  thirteen. For those able to conceive, a docile existence inside the Birthing  Schools beckons—far worse if they fall into the wrong hands.

When the clandestine Baby Farmers, and their brutal leader Miko, arrive to  snatch his daughter, Michael must make a split-second choice: risk his own  freedom to protect hers… or lose her forever. Mandate Thirteen is  a gritty dystopian thriller for fans of Children of Men, A Handmaid’s  Tale, and The Running Man.
 
“An action-packed, cross-country adventure between father and daughter as they  dodge authorities, reconnect with old acquaintances, and meet new people (good,  bad, and crazy), forging connections at every stop. I loved every aspect of  their journey and how they learned so much about themselves on the way. This is  dystopian in every way that matters. A worthy addition to any library.” Preye,  Literary Darlings

 

Joseph always knew he would write seriously one day. That  moment arrived in 2020, when his thriving hospitality business was temporarily  shuttered. With time on his hands, he quickly fell into an obsession and became  a keen student of the craft. 

Since finding the passion, Joseph can't imagine life without  stories rattling around his head. Eager to make up for lost time, he's been  fairly prolific, and his short stories have appeared in several anthologies and  literary magazines. Even better, his rejections are getting nicer by the week.

Joseph lives in London with his wife and their Scotty dog. Mandate: THIRTEEN will be his first published novel. Scroll to the bottom of  the page on his website to sign up for his newsletter!

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub 

  

1 winner  will receive a $30 Manta Press Gift Card - International.   

1 winner  will receive a book poster (pictured below) - International.   

5 winners  will receive a bookmark from this etsy store (pictured below) - International. 

Ends February  14th, midnight EST.

   a Rafflecopter giveaway    

 

Tour Schedule:

Week One:                                                                        

1/16/2023	Mythical Books	Excerpt/IG Post
1/17/2023	Lady Hawkeye	Excerpt/IG Post
1/18/2023	YA Books Central	Excerpt/IG Post
1/19/2023	Epic Book Society	Excerpt/IG Post
1/20/2023	#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog	Excerpt/IG Post
1/21/2023	Two Chicks on Books	Excerpt/IG Post

   

Week Two:                                                                                    

1/22/2023	A Dream Within A Dream	Excerpt
1/23/2023	bookmama85	Review/IG Post
1/24/2023	Rajiv's  Reviews	Review/IG Post
1/25/2023	@froggyreadteach	IG Review
1/26/2023	OneMoreExclamation	Review/IG Post
1/27/2023	Books and Zebras	IG Review
1/28/2023	Wanderingwitchreads	TikTok Review/IG Post

   

Week Three:                                                                                    

1/29/2023	Jazzy Book Reviews	Review/IG Post
1/30/2023	the book near me	Review/IG Post
1/31/2023	amandainpa	Review/IG Post
2/1/2023	The Book Countess	Review
2/2/2023	The Momma Spot	Review
2/3/2023	Kim"s Book Reviews and Writing Aha's	Review/IG Post
2/4/2023	Review Thick And Thin	Review/IG Post

   

Week Four:                                                                 

2/5/2023	@carlysunshinebooks	IG Review
2/6/2023	Brandi Danielle Davis	IG Review/TikTok Post
2/7/2023	Pick  a good book	Review/IG Post
2/8/2023	Nerdophiles	Review
2/9/2023	A Blue Box Full of Books	IG Review/LFL Drop Pic
2/10/2023	Fire  and Ice	Review

 

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Skin Hunter by Tania Hutley

 

Skin Hunter
Author: Tania Hutley
Genre: YA Dystopian/Science Fiction
Publication Date: June 18, 2019


Description:

She didn’t want to do it… But she was desperate.

Trying to escape the dangerous streets of Old Triton, the buried city, Milla takes the ultimate risk

Could a dead girl’s identity be her way out? A ticket to a richer, brighter world high above the muck and gloom of her old life?

Now she’s part of a high tech contest, with a prize beyond money, fame and everything she has ever known. A chance to become something… new.

But if anyone finds out who Milla really is, she’s dead.

The other competitors come from privilege, their faces and bodies tweaked to perfection. Rich and handsome Cale could be the most dangerous of all. Why is he so interested in a scarred, ugly “sinker” like Milla?

To survive, she needs to be brave.

To win, she needs to evolve.

Just try and stop her.

Skin Hunter is an upper YA science fiction novel – a futuristic, dystopian thrill-ride with a spark of romance.

Goodreads / Amazon

Tania Hutley is a USA Today bestselling author who loves sci fi movies and wishes she lived in the Whedon-verse.

Tania also writes sexy contemporary romance using a top-secret pen name. She could tell you what that pen name is, but then she'd have to turn you into a chicken.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Book Blitz + Giveaway: The Rule of Many by Ashley Saunders

 

The Rule of Many (The Rule of One #2)
Author: Ashley Saunders
Genre: YA Dystopian
Publication Date: May 7, 2019
Publisher: Skyscape

Description:

Born to a death sentence in a near-future America, rebellious sisters herald a revolution—if they can survive.

Twins Ava and Mira Goodwin defy the Rule of One simply by existing. The single-child law, ruthlessly enforced by Texas’s Governor Roth, has made the sisters famous fugitives and inspirations for the resurgent rebellion known as the Common.

But the relentless governor and his implacable Texas State Guard threaten that fragile hope, as Roth consolidates his power in a bid for ultimate authority.

As Ava and Mira relinquish the relative safety of their Canadian haven to stand against Roth, new allies arise: Owen, a gifted young programmer, impulsively abandons his comfortable life in a moment of compassion, while Zee, an abused labor camp escapee, finds new purpose in resistance.

The four will converge on Dallas for a reckoning with Roth, with nothing less than their destinies—and the promise of a future free from oppression—on the line.

Disobedience means death. But a life worth living demands rebellion.

Goodreads / Amazon

MIRA

Limos and luxury cars line the extensive circular driveway, stuffed with partygoers ready for the welcoming bash. Mrs. and Mr. Cross have already arrived with much fanfare from their son and his doting employees. I wonder if Ciro’s sisters are here.

I hear him get on the microphone, introducing his unwitting parents onto the stage of the overflowing banquet hall, the governor of Alberta and the mayor of Calgary looking on from the front row.

Everything’s falling nicely into place. If only the man of the hour would show.

I look at my watch: 7:30 p.m. He’s late. Ava’s knee bounces furiously, as if she can shake out her anxiety.

“He’ll come,” I say.

From our hideout in the corner of the foyer, shadowed and easily overlooked, we have the best seats in the house. A perfect vantage point to see and be unseen. Ava scans the budding festivities through the glass walls on our left. I keep my eyes on the glass windows straight ahead, seeing past the dazzling flares from the cars’ headlights, holding out for the first glimpse of the president.

A string quartet begins to play, and an electric energy pulsates through the hotel, enlivening the crowd around us with a giddy exhilaration, and I can’t help but feel it too. Eager, I spring to my feet. I pace up and down our tucked-away corner, checking the time, watching Emery from across the room, waiting on her signal.

“Do you hear that?” Ava asks. She stares up at the ceiling. I move beside her as we listen to the muffled roar of whirling blades slicing the air somewhere above the building.

“A helicopter,” Ava says.

“He’s here.”

We look to Emery, who stands near the entrance, her gaze locked skyward. Guests file past as she removes a headscarf from her pocket, drapes the silk over her distinctive curls, and pulls it into a tight knot at the back of her neck. She folds her right arm over her chest, our cue to move.

I feel, rather than see, Barend steal into place behind us, our long shadow, as we push to the end of the foyer. Pawel detaches himself from the crowd and crosses our path as he follows Emery out the front door. “Lots of luck,” he whispers earnestly. Like luck has anything to do with it. It’s all up to us.

Our target is the oversized clock that consumes the entire wall alongside the vacant concierge desk. Ava stops before the number six, and we slip behind a false door and stride side by side down an empty staff hallway. Three right turns, two left, a final door, and we’re outside.

There are no lights behind the hotel and no people. The night is chilly and moonless, but we find the footpath we were directed to take and make our silent way to the small grove of trees just twenty yards out.

Ten paces in, Ava and I turn from the path and weave through the evergreens until we spot the narrow clearing that is to be our stage. We position ourselves in its center, shoulder to shoulder, and wait. Somewhere to our right, concealed within the trees and darkness, Barend stands guard.

When told of the plan, Emery immediately authorized the private rendezvous. She knows pleading our case face-to-face with the president is the only way. Cameras and screens provide a barrier, Emery said. The media paints you solely as American rebels. Let him see how human you are. With Pawel at her side, Emery is to meet and escort the president here, while Ciro entertains his parents and guests, keeping them safely ignorant inside the banquet hall.

The minutes tick off, and Ava starts to shiver from either the cold or nerves. Or is that me shivering? Ava and I brought no weapons with us, to show good faith. No guns, no knives. Just us, with our naked conviction and hope.

This could be our last stop, a final end to the endless chase. A place to plan and plot and devise our crucial counterattack.

Ava nudges me with a sharp elbow. She points to the trees in front of us. Two distinct shapes emerge, a faint silhouette floating behind.

“Ready?” I whisper needlessly. Ava tightens her jaw, and I ball my hands into white-knuckled fists. I take a big gulp of air and exhale slowly. My breath comes out in swirling smoke, reminding me of a dragon. There’s a fire inside me, and suddenly I feel warm and calm. One look from Ava and I know she feels it too.

We’re ready.

The outlines become faces and bodies. Emery appears first, then President Moore, with Pawel a few steps behind. I stare at Moore, transfixed, my eyes glued to the man who can grant us refuge.

He stumbles forward, as if his own eyes have not yet adjusted to the dark. I search his every feature, looking for any hint of surprise, or shock, or understanding. But his face, though startlingly attractive in the starlight, is blank. Indifferent.

“President Moore,” Emery says, “this is Ava and Mira Goodwin.” He looks at us cross-eyed, his round eyes squinting as he takes us in. We all stand motionless, awaiting his response.

“You don’t look identical to me,” the president finally states, his thin voice magnified in the still night air. “One of you’s slightly taller, the other rounder.”

The leader of the free world opens with an insult. My first reaction is to defend my identicalness. Surprising, when all I’ve ever wanted is to be seen as different from Ava.

“Sir—” Ava and I speak at the same time.

The president laughs. “Ah, there it is.” The ground spins as he turns to leave. “This conversation will be moved to a different setting. Just the twins and me.”

Barend detaches from the shadows. Pawel and Emery enclose my sister and me. Ava grabs my arm, her grip tight enough to bruise.

“We do not agree to any change—” Emery starts, but Moore shouts over her.

“Security!”

Everything shatters, all plans and expectations smashed to pieces.

A gunshot rings out, then two more.

“Run!” Emery yells.

The last thing I see is Ava’s face, twisted in fear and fury.

Then something covers my eyes. My mouth.

I’m thrown over a bulky shoulder, the deafening sounds of a helicopter growing louder with every footfall. With every one of my muffled screams.

I’m shoved against something solid. I reach out, arms flailing, but there’s no one beside me. Ava.

I feel the chopper lift into the sky. Two spinning blades taking me higher and higher away from Common ground.

Hailing from the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, Ashley Saunders and Leslie Saunders are award-winning filmmakers and twin sisters who honed their love of storytelling at The University of Texas at Austin. While researching The Rule of One, they fell in love with America’s national parks, traveling the path of Ava and Mira. The sisters can currently be found with their Boston terriers in sunny Los Angeles, exploring hiking trails and drinking entirely too much yerba mate.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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Book Blitz + Giveaway: Ruins of Fate by Jamie A. Waters

 

Ruins of Fate (The Omni Towers: Prequel)
Author: Jamie A. Waters
Genre: Adult Dystopian/Fantasy/Post-Apocalyptic
Publication Date: April 4, 2019

Description:

One wrong decision, and the future will crumble…

Skye Levanthe traded everything she owned in order to secure a place for herself and her son, Veridian, in a scavenging camp.

But all contracts have an expiration date.

Desperate to obtain the resources they need to survive, Skye agreed to navigate the dangerous ruins of fallen cities to search for tradeable materials. When a strange storm forced Skye and her scavenging partner into forbidden territory controlled by The Omni Towers, a ruin collapsed, nearly taking their lives and destroying countless others.

Only one other person survived the ruin collapse: a mysterious young girl named Kayla.

Faced with the decision to save her son or abandon her new foster daughter to a terrible fate, Skye agreed to the only possible course of action—to go into exile and take on the Omni traders in their own den.

No one ever said survival would be easy.

And every choice has consequences.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play

Another gust of wind kicked up, throwing her off balance. The antenna whipped out of her hand and she fell backward, tumbling off the edge of the lookout and onto the roof. A scream ripped out of her throat. Skye scrambled, grabbing at anything to stop her rapid descent as she slid down the roof and toward the ground.

Her fingers brushed against an exposed metal beam, and she bit back a curse as the jagged edge cut through her gloves and into the meat of her hands. Grabbing it, she struggled against the pain to hold on. The roof underneath her boots gave way and fell inward. She gripped the beam tightly, trying desperately to pull herself back up.

“Skye!” Leo shouted over her headset.

Reaching out with her other hand, Skye tried to find purchase on the roof. Her feet flailed, but there was nothing beneath her. Between her angle and the slope of the roof, it was impossible to pull herself back up.

“I can’t hold on, Leo,” she managed, trying to suppress the panic rising inside her. She couldn’t die. Not like this.

Jamie A. Waters is an award-winning writer of science-fiction and fantasy romance. Her first novel was a winner of the Readers' Favorite Award in Science-Fiction/Fantasy Romance and the CIPA EVVY Award in Science-Fiction.

Jamie currently resides in Florida with two neurotic dogs who enjoy stealing socks. When she's not pursuing her passion of writing, she's usually trying to learn new and interesting random things (like how to pick locks or use the self-cleaning feature of the oven without setting off the fire alarm). In her downtime, she enjoys reading on her Kindle, playing computer games, painting, or acting as a referee between the dragons and fairies currently at war inside her closet.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Bookbub / Amazon / YouTube

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