Win a copy of Summer Break Blues - link

If you would like to win a copy of Summer Break Blues - a very good YA vampire novel (ebook) by J.A. Campbell-  go to YA Book Addict  for an excerpt and a chance to win.
Nothing to lose, go give a try.

Pimpin' out the books wink, grin and a review of Summer Break Blues by J.A. Campbell

A while ago I read a very good book, e-book, titled Senior Year Bites by J.A. Campbell.  To be perfectly honest, I was able to read the book before it was published, so I feel lucky and honored that the author trusted me to read it before editing, etc.  That's gotta be hard to do, put your book out there.  However - Campbell is one of those authors that I think can write, no matter what the genre or subject matter.  So far, even though I'm not a major YA fan, I've enjoyed everything I've read by her.

(click on book cover for excerpt)

J.A. Campbell  has written a sequel, titled Summer Break Blues, which I have also read, and loved.  The ending- the ending is so cool.  Summer Break Blues is currently available and if you go to this page, there is 'round-up' of all the websites you can go to for a chance to win a copy.

But if you don't win, don't despair, because this is an e-book, and one of those reasonably priced e-books, and so is  very affordable.  Available for purchase at all the big book stores online, as well as Smashwords and Decadent Publishing.  All the info and links are on Ms Campbell's site.

Love this cover.  Click on it for an excerpt

There is going to be a third book in this series - The Clanless is the series title - but I can't remember the name, or even if there is a name for the third novel yet.  My memory is not so good at times, to be honest.  She might have told me the title, but she also had to tell me the title of Summer Break Blues a couple a few times.  She's so patient with me, lol.

Senior Year Bites is the story of Meg, who has survived a vicious attack during an illfated game of Truth or Dare.  She picked Dare.  It bit her in the....well, it BIT her.  This is the story of how she and her friends come to the realization that she is, indeed, vampire. She'd been having all these weird symptoms, and they seemed to be getting worse instead of better.  Eventually they come to the vampire connection.  Something of course, that she always thought was a horror story figure. Of course, not many of us would be so quick to think when we're sick, that we might be turning into a vampire! With the help of her friends, who she doesn't at first want to involve, she manages to not only survive her senior year of high school, but keep her condition from her mom and others, feed, explore her powers, and then....there is a major complication.  So - first novel - brilliantly done - dialogue (they SOUND like teens) and attitudes, as well as differing characters.  If you're interested I reviewed it here.

The second novel - Summer Break Blues takes up after the events of Senior Year Bites.  They graduate, and make plans....only there are complications.

Ann's parents have disappeared, so the friends plan a road trip to help find the parents.  Only Ann is behaving rather strangely.  And Meg keeps having to deal with this crazy fae - they're not happy with her since the events of her senior year (spoilers for first book, so no details). With Summer Break Blues - great title for a brilliant sequel, by the way - J.A. Campbell has done it again.  Taken a group of friends and not only put them in danger, with a mystery to solve, as well as parents to hopefully save from danger, but now relationships are shifting, and Meg is feeling strange about a certain someone who is supposed to be in love with a certain friend, and oh boy, things are becoming awkward and might become even more so, but Meg is trying to be good, trying not feed on her friends, or attack them physically OR verbally while she fights off attacks and still tries to help her friend find her parents - even though her friend is acting more odd than normal. Talk about peer pressure.  A few of her friends expect superhero behaviour out of her, while Ann seems to expect something else. 

J.A.Campbell knows how to make her teen characters sound like teens.  She can write moments that are awkward and romancey at the same time - just like when you first realized as a teen that you're attracted to someone and they just might be attracted to you, and yet....you shouldn't act on it for one reason or another....yet the romance in no way overshadows the action or fantasy elements of the book.  The book is all about the mission - find Ann's parents; and the aftermath of the mission.   The changes in the friends' relationships, the new friends (from Senior Year Bites) and even newer finds - as well as Meg's discoveries about herself, her powers and her dangers.

Because while the friends and crew are on their mission, Meg is still learning about herself and her powers - and has questions...like why hasn't she ever come across her 'maker'?  Things would be nice if there was a guide of some sort, so she didn't have to fumble along with her friends (well meaning as they are) possibly putting them in danger from herself and yet needing them.  

There's a lot packed into this book - relationships, danger, knowledge, changes, sadness and happiness and everything in between.

Good read, I encourage reading this - especially if you want something fresh - a bit different than the average urban fantasy where the main character doesn't seem to have any female friends and yet has all these guys after her.  Refreshing with good action scenes, suspense, twists and some great plotting.  You'll like it whether you're a teen or a twenty-something, thirty-something - even past 50, because there are some sweet moments that are nostalgic of teen years threaded throughout the tale.  Not the vampire stuff (not for me anyway, never had to deal with that, *wink*) but those moments of young crushes or love just starting out. :)  Can't wait to read the third novel.  It's going to be good.

*Trivia moment here - before Senior Year Bites had a publisher, there was a very cool cover an artist friend of hers had done for her.  The artist is very talented, and with this particular cover really 'got' the main character.  I do like the published covers - they are beautifully done, but I still think this original unofficial cover really captured Meg, her personality, and the way I would have pictured a teen vampire trying to stay un-noticed.

Here is the original cover by S.N. Holl.

 

Really - check out the blood, the gum, the earphones, all the little details.   Really captures the teen vampire trying to be under the radar, and yet being a TEEN. 

J.A. Campbell is the author of many, many stories - short stories and novels.  She has an online serial that has evolved into a few published e-books/novellas titled about Doc, The Vampire Hunting Border Collie (drop down menu gives access to free online shorts); a six part story about Tina who is a teen transplanted from big city to small desert ghost towns and experiences first love as well as time travel and bandits; she's written a steampunk novella that is to be published; as well as short stories that are in a variety of anthologies. She has been working on a fantasy currently titled Arabian Dreams, a full length novel that needs to be published, I hope it gets picked up so people can enjoy her novel.  Girl HAS to write, it's just a part of who she is.  She's also been known to take some pretty cool photos, works with horses, dogs, has cats (or, rather, they try to own her-you know how cats can get) and has written the occasional comic.  

Westward, Home! by J.A. Campbell - review

Westward, Home!

J.A. Campbell
Into The West #6
Young Adult
E-book,
fantasy

cover - look at this cover!  as with the other covers in this miniseries, it fits the whole feel of the story.

I've been following the writings of J.A. Campbell for quite a while now, and haven't had one bad experience reading her fiction.  Now I usually keep my reading to the "adult" realm (being an advanced adult of 50something) but once in a while I get pulled into a good young adult story.  J.A. Campbell's stories usually do this, as well as Lili Saintcrow's Y/A writing.  It takes a good YA storyteller to keep my interest - because it's hard for a woman of 50 + years to stay interested in the doings of teens unless the teens are interesting enough to want to follow.

Fortunately, Tina of the Into The West series is a character I enjoy reading.  Written in the second person, her voice is strong and interesting.  And she still sounds enough like a teenager to make the story work.  It's hard to review short stories from a serial style of fiction without  posting serious spoilers.  The basic plot of the entire series is of a young woman who moves westward with her family when her father's work takes him to an area that is like a ghost town.  Desert climate, along with an extreme change in population is just one of the challenges that Tina faces.  Tina is a citygirl, a teen used to mall shopping, manicures, shopping for fun, fashion, cell phone/texting etc.  All the perks of big city living.  Tina also has a love of horses - which might be the one thing that she is looking forward to with being forced to live in a hot little town in Arizona with no malls, spotty cell phone service and all that sun that wreaks havoc on the skin, hair and nails that is so important to a teen.   So moving to a small town in a desert area must be culture shock.

Refreshingly, Tina's character isn't one of those sullen hate all family and adult types of teens.  This girl, though used to shopping, fashion, pampered nails and all is the type of girl who gets along with her family and is a friendly type of girl.  During the course of the previous installments of Into The West, Tina has been learning how to ride a horse ranch style, has been learning how to work on a ranch, has met a handsome young man from the past and become involved with a range war situation in the past, while trying to make some friends in the present and getting a little bit of help in all of this from a medicine man called Eli.  Most of this she has to keep quiet from her family - because, who would believe that she's been in and out of the past?

Westward, Home! is a fun ending to the series. Tina travels to the past one last time to help her new crush and his employer.  Tina and a new friend, Angie {the apprentice of medicine man Eli} end up in a few scary, suspenseful situations and in a turn from the usual they end up rescuing a man   instead of having to be rescued.  I have fun reading these type of adventures.  This was no exception.  This final adventure with Tina, Rowe and the rest of the characters was a satisfying read.

There's just enough danger and excitement to keep one on the edge of the seat without being overwhelming for a younger teen.  And the dialogue - the dialogue fits all the characters.  This is very important to me - this can make or break a book experience for me.  Campbell does an excellent job making her characters sound and speak like a cowboy, a young teen of the 21st century, a sometimes annoying younger sister and parents trying to be understanding while being firm.  And the budding romance between this young teen from the present and the young man from the past - just enough is hinted that you finish reading the book believing that somehow, they're going to have a future together.  It's sweet.

This is a young adult miniseries that I'm happy to have read.  I'm going to make sure that I keep this file saved so when my grandchilren are old enough we can share this story.  Afterall, I'm pretty sure that this is the type of story that can stand the test of time.  It'll be just as interesting in five or ten years as it is now.  And I'm looking forward to being able to read this to my grandchildren or let them read it on their own.

If you haven't yet experienced any of this series, start with Westward, Yo! the first of the series.  There are six altogether, and you pay less for all six than you would for a paperback at the bookstore.
The other titles in this series include.....

Westward, Yo! #1

Range Feud #2

Silver Rush #3

Desert Dreams #4

Sagebrush Song #5

Westward, Home! #6

J.A. Campbell is also the author of Senior Year Bites currently available and Summer Break Blues - soon to be released

Additionally, she's the author of the quirky vampire hunting dog series titled Doc, The Vampire Hunting Dog - some of the stories are available free online, and there is also a novella version available in print and e-book. Doc also has a facebook presence

Not only that - Ms Campbell will be releasing (hopefully soon) a fantasy titled Arabian Dreams about a horse that isn't your average horse and is currently working on other projects.  She can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and also is part of a website called Fabulous Young E-Pub. 

Explore her website - there are guest posts, contests, and links to other fun things.

All of J.A. Campbell's novels are available on a variety of online bookstores- Amazon, Amazon.UK, OmniLit, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble - just click on the links of the titles above.  I've put a different e-book link on each title.

Teaser Tuesday

Some exciting news - J.A. Campbell's YA urban fantasy, Senior Year Bites, was released in e-book form in June of 2011. Luckily for us fans, Campbell has been working on a sequel titled Summer Break Blues - She just found out that her sequel is being published. Woo-Hoo!

Let's hear it for first time sequels!

As soon as I find out when it'll be published, I'll post it - but you can keep an eye out by going to J.A. Campbell's website.

Now it's time for Teaser Tuesday. Hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading - you guessed, we tease with snippets of our current reads, or in some cases, a book that's handy. :)

I'm in the middle of The Sagittarius Command by R.M. Meluch.

I've corrected it (them), but it seems almost everytime I posted about this series, I've mispelled her name - sometimes I put MJ Meluch and other times RJ Meluch. Must have been Trippin'! It's for sure R.M. Meluch (right in front of me, so I know for reals, for sure)

from page 191/192

'She boarded Merrimack under a Marine watch the whole way.

"What was that?" Cain Salvador cried after Amadea was escorted off the deck.

"White Tiger," Said Ranza Espinoza.

"I mean on her chin!"

"That would be a beard," said Ranza.'

Oh Yeah!

I don't have much more for you than this tonight - still having formatting and browser difficulties. I have to go to one browser to post and another JUST TO INSERT LINKS. How crazy is that? Uninstalling adobe shockwave didn't do the trick - I think it's a browser thing.

Here's another LOL Cat, because I'm obsessed, therefore, you should be too!