Mia's Heart Release Day Blizz and Giveaway

 

About Mia’s Heart

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My name is Mia Giannis.
I am seventeen years old.
I live in Valese, Caberra.
This has become my mantra and my lifeline, having recently lost my memory due to a scary natural disaster.
Yeah.  I have amnesia.  Messed up, right?
You don't know the half of it.
Not remembering anything has turned my world upside down. My parents try their hardest to “remind” me of who I was, but it doesn't feel right. Or, if what they're saying is true and that really was me, I'm not sure I like that person very much.
And then there’s my love life.  Apparently, Gavin Ariastasis is my oldest and best friend in the world. Also, apparently, we’ve never dated.  But now, noticing him for what feels like the first time, he’s making my heart do somersaults.  He knows me inside and out—the real me.  Plus, he’s sexy and charming as hell.  Sounds perfect, right? But then... there’s the new guy. Quinn McKeyen – tall, gorgeous and deliciously American.  His mischievous grin and slow Midwestern drawl turn my insides to mush in two seconds flat making me question who I really am and what I really want.Seriously. What am I supposed to do with all that?!  I feel torn between them, but I barely even know who I am, let alone what I want. I just hope my indecisive heart will clue me in.  And sooner rather than later…before I lose what little of my mind that I have left. 

Excerpt of Mia's Heart:

I flip over and suddenly, I’m terrified.
I’m panicky.
The sea is so very vast.
And I’m so very alone.
I scream. I can’t help it. And as I do, I accidentally gulp in a huge mouthful of
water. Everything that follows is a blur.
I start coughing and flailing my arms and even though I’m wearing a life-jacket, I’m
thrashing around like a lunatic. I hear the boat motor start up and then I feel the wake
of the boat as it crests up to me. Gavin is next to me and before I know it, he’s hauling
me over the side of The Shining.
I’m in his lap, on the floor of the boat and he is holding me and I am shaking.
OhMyGod.
I’m such an idiot.
I’m such an idiot.

And I must be repeating it out loud, even though I don’t mean to, because Gavin is
telling me, “No, you’re not.”
But I am.
I really am.
“I don’t know why I got so afraid,” I tell him. “I think I had a panic attack.” My voice
sounds pathetic and I hate it.
Gavin tightens his grip on me, his strong arms are wrapped around me and I
suddenly realize that his skin is pressed against mine and it feels really, really good. I
push into him harder and clutch him to me.
Because for some insane reason, I’m still unnerved.
“It’s okay,” he tells me softly. He’s stroking my back and I’m trying to catch my
breaths like a normal person. “You’ve been through a lot. I shouldn’t have let you float
like that alone. You seemed like you were doing fine, so I climbed up onto the boat to
watch you and I must have fallen asleep. I’m so sorry. This is my fault, Mi.”
I look up at him. He’s so sexy and concerned and my heart melts.
“It’s not your fault that I’m insane,” I tell him firmly. “I don’t know why I panicked. I
can’t even explain it. Everything just all of a sudden felt so big and I felt so small and
alone. I guess I kind of freaked out.”
Understatement of the year.
Gavin’s dark eyes are soft as he stares at me. He brushes a thumb across my
cheek and says that he is so very sorry.
“It makes sense, Mia,” he tells me. “You can’t remember who you are. So you feel
sort of alone in the world. And when you fell asleep while you were floating and woke
up, the sea felt big. And everything came down on you at once. It’s okay. I get it. But
you’re never alone. I want you to know that. You will always have me. You always
have and you always will.”
My heart swells until it might burst.
It feels so incredibly, amazingly good to have this beautiful boy tell me that. To
know that he has always been my friend, that he knows me inside and out. And then I
do something unexpected.
I lean up and kiss Gavin.
On the mouth.
Sweet Angel of Mercy.
His lips are soft and warm from the sun. I can taste the sea on them and I weave
my hands into his hair, pulling him closer. He tightens his grip on me and kisses me
back; hard, hard, harder. He tastes like fruit and smells like sunshine.
It’s really nice.
Wonderful.
Amazing.
My heart is doing flip-flops when I finally pull away.

Gavin stares down at me in shock.
“I’ve always wondered what that would be like,” he admits. “Kissing a firecracker, I
mean.” I smile.
“And?”
“It’s really too difficult to say from just one kiss,” he says, his dark eyes twinkling.
“We should try it again so that I have more to go on.”
He cups my face in his hands and dips his head, his lips meeting mine.
He tastes of butterscotch and man.
Twenty-five beats of my heart later, he pulls away.
“And?” I breathe.
“You’ll do,” he grins.

About Courtney Cole 

 

website | twitter |  facebook | facebook fan page

Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could.
She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds.
Every Last Kiss is her debut novel and she followed it with the rest of The Bloodstone Saga (Every Last Kiss, Fated, With My Last Breath and My Tattered Bonds).
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
Learn more about Courtney and her books at www.courtneycolewrites.com

Check out Dante's Girl - the first book in the Paradise Diaries Series  
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Review: Dante's Girl

Author: Courtney Cole
Publisher: Lakehouse Press
Release Date: June 22, 2012
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Pages: 356
Source: Publisher and Kismet Book Tours
Summary from publisher:

I have spent every summer since I was ten years old with my father in London.  Every summer, since I was ten years old, has been uneventful and boring.
Until this year.
And this year, after a freak volcanic eruption strands me far from home, I have learned these things:
1.  I can make do with one outfit for three days before I buy new clothes.
2.  If I hear the phrase, “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” even one more time, I might become a homicidal maniac.
3.  I am horribly and embarrassingly allergic to jellyfish.
4. I am in love with Dante Giliberti, who just happens to be the beautiful, sophisticated son of the Prime Minister of a Mediterranean paradise.
5.  See number four above.  Because it brings with it a whole slew  of problems and I’ve learned something from every one of them.
Let’s start with the fact that Dante’s world is five light-years away from mine.  He goes to black-tie functions and knows the Prime Minister of England on a first name basis.  I was born and raised on a farm in Kansas and wear cut-off jeans paired with cowboy boots.  See the difference?
But hearts don’t care about differences.  Hearts want what they want.  And mine just wants to be Dante’s girl.
My heart just might be crazy.


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My Thoughts:
I don't think I've ever read a more perfect summer romance than Dante's Girl. Courtney Cole did an amazing job of capturing teens at their best and worst in this novel. She hit on the perfect mixture of teen angst without over doing it and making the characters annoying or overly mature for kids about to be high school seniors.


The Characters:

The characters made this book for me. I loved how Courtney Cole wrote each and every one of them. Reece our main character had so many layers and like a real person I didn't love every layer. She had some great qualities and some that drove me crazy but that's why I loved her so much. Dante's major flaw was that he wanted to make everyone happy. If you've ever tried to do that then you know it's impossible. I was rooting for him to grow a pair and make himself happy for a change. Reece and Dante have such wonderful chemistry, they played off of each other so well throughout the entire book.

The Setting:

Cole did a great job painting a picture of Dante's beautiful homes and the island of Caberra where he lives. She really made me want to get up and travel except maybe not on a plane. That whole thing with the plane really freaked me out.

The Plot:

Parts of this book are your typical girl and boy meet, they fall in love, ect. However, there were definitely some twists that I never expected and never once did I think hey, this book reminds me of...

The Writing:

Cole's writing is easy to read and very engaging.

The Ending:

I knew how I wanted this book to end and I was pretty sure it was heading in that direction but then the direction changed. I think I was even happier with Cole's ending than I would have been with my own.

The Cover:

While the cover is cute and it really does capture the theme of the book it's just a little busy for me.

Mature Situations:

There is some teen drinking, though technically the legal age is lower in Caberra. Some mentions of sex and some making out, but nothing over the top.

Overall:

I think it's pretty obvious that I really enjoyed this book. I'm happy to recommend this book, especially to those who enjoy a good young adult romance.

&

Dante's Girl by Courtney Cole Coming June 22nd

About Dante's Girl
Release: June 22nd by Lakehouse Press

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I have spent every summer since I was ten years old with my father in London.  Every summer, since I was ten years old, has been uneventful and boring.
Until this year.
And this year, after a freak volcanic eruption strands me far from home, I have learned these things:
1.  I can make do with one outfit for three days before I buy new clothes.
2.  If I hear the phrase, “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” even one more time, I might become a homicidal maniac.
3.  I am horribly and embarrassingly allergic to jellyfish.
4. I am in love with Dante Giliberti, who just happens to be the beautiful, sophisticated son of the Prime Minister of a Mediterranean paradise.
5.  See number four above.  Because it brings with it a whole slew  of problems and I’ve learned something from every one of them.
Let’s start with the fact that Dante’s world is five light-years away from mine.  He goes to black-tie functions and knows the Prime Minister of England on a first name basis.  I was born and raised on a farm in Kansas and wear cut-off jeans paired with cowboy boots.  See the difference?
But hearts don’t care about differences.  Hearts want what they want.  And mine just wants to be Dante’s girl.
My heart just might be crazy.



About Courtney Cole

website | twitter |  facebook | facebook fan page

Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could.
She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds.
Every Last Kiss is her debut novel and she followed it with the rest of The Bloodstone Saga (Every Last Kiss, Fated, With My Last Breath and My Tattered Bonds).
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
Learn more about Courtney and her books at www.courtneycolewrites.com

Dante’s Girl by Courtney Cole

Excerpt From Chapter One

It is impossible to look hot in the dingy fluorescent light of an airport bathroom. Or as my best friend Becca would say, hawt.

At this particular moment, I’m not hot or hawt.  I make this revelation as I vigorously scrub at my arms and face and then use a wet paper towel under my pits.  

And what is it about peeing in an airport toilet ten times in a day that makes you feel so completely scummy?  I glance around at the crumpled tissues strewn about on the scuffed floor and the dirty toilets peeking from behind half-closed doors and cringe.  That answer is clearly ‘because of the germs’. Ack.  

Trying not to think about it, I clean up the best I can.  After running a brush through my hair, I stick a piece of gum in my mouth, apply a thin layer of lip gloss and call it good.  I glance into the mirror and cringe.  It isn’t good enough, but it will have to do.  Very soon, I’ll put this dreadful four hour layover in Amsterdam behind me and before I even know it, I’ll be in London.

With my father.

For the summer.

It would be torture.

Just shoot me now.

And it’s not because I don’t love him, because I do.  My reluctance doesn’t stem from lack of love.  It comes from the deep-seeded fact that Alexander Ellis doesn’t understand me.  He never has and he never will. It’s something that I’ve made my peace with and I’m not angry about it.

I’m his only child and he works his life away as some top-secret agent for the NSA.  His job is so secret that I don’t even know what he does. In my head, I imagine him jumping from helicopters and saving starving children in war torn areas.  But in reality, I know he probably sits behind a desk and analyzes information from a satellite stream or a taped telephone conversation. I’m pretty sure that’s what the NSA does, anyway.  They aren’t the cool kind of spies.

Also, he isn’t exactly sure what to do with a daughter.  I was supposed to have been a boy. Seventeen years ago, sonograms apparently weren’t as absolute as they are today, because the technician told my parents that she was 99.9% sure that I was a boy.  They painted my nursery blue and picked out my name and everything.  I can only imagine the shocked horror on my father’s face when I was born with lady parts.

Regardless, I know he loves me.  Even though he had willingly given my mother full custody when they divorced years ago, I know he only did it because he works overseas so much and he isn’t exactly sure how to raise a girl.  He does okay.  But then again, I do have some reason to believe that he still pretends that I’m a boy, just to make it easier on himself.  It’s fairly easy to do since I still have the boy name that they originally picked out.  

With my head down, I trudge back out into the congested halls of Schiphol airport.  Weary travelers bustle around me and I shift my bags so that I can pull the stubborn strap of my tank top back over my shoulder where it belongs.  As I do, I crash into someone with enough force that my bags go flying out of my hands and scatter onto the ground under people’s feet.

“Son of a –“ I blurt before I even think.

“Buck?” a male voice offers helpfully.  

Looking up, I stare into the most unique and beautiful shade of blue that a pair of eyes has ever possessed. Of that I am certain.  Blue just shouldn’t be that multi-faceted and twinkling.  There should be a law or something.  

Or at least a warning label:  

Caution, these eyes may cause female knees to tremble.

Before I can help it, I scan the rest of him.  Sweet Mary.  This guy had lucked out in the gene department.  Tall, slender, beautiful.  Honey colored hair that had natural highlights that could even catch the crappy airport light, broad shoulders, slim hips, long legs.  He is tan and golden with a bright, white smile.  

I am surely staring at Apollo, the god of the sun.  Probably with my mouth hanging open, which makes me realize that I must look like an idiot- the personification of what foreigners think Americans to be.  I snap my mouth closed.

“I’m sorry,” I say quickly, trying to still my racing heart.  “Did I run into you?”

“Only a bit,” Apollo says gentlemanly, with a shrug of his strong shoulders.  I can tell he is strong even through his shirt sleeves, which are snug across his toned biceps.  Sweet baby monkeys.  

“How can someone run into someone else only by a bit?” I ask with a nervous smile as I kneel to retrieve my stuff.  

Please don’t let him smell me right now, I silently pray to any god who cares to listen. I am sure that at this point in my travels, I probably smell like soiled hamster bedding.  

He bends next to me and picks up the contents of my spilled purse. He smells like sunshine.  And rain.  And everything beautiful that I can think of.  I try not to cringe as his fingers grasp a tampon and slide it back inside my bag.  He doesn’t even flinch, he just casually continues to pick up my things like he’s used to handling feminine hygiene products.

“Oh, it’s fairly easy, really,” he answers.  He has an exotic sounding accent that I can’t place.  “At least, when you’re not looking where you’re going.”  My head snaps up and he laughs.  

“I’m kidding,” he assures me as he extends an arm to me. Even his hand is graceful.  I gulp as his fingers curl around mine.  “You can bump into me any time you’d like.”

“Thanks,” I mumble.  “I think.”

“I’m Dante,” he tells me, his impossibly blue eyes still twinkling.  

“I’m Reece,” I answer with a sigh, already anticipating his reaction. “Yes, I know it’s a boy’s name.”

“You’re not a boy,” Dante observes.  “Most definitely not a boy.”

Is that a note of appreciation in his voice?  Surely not. I look like a bedraggled Shih Tzu.  

“No, I’m not,” I agree.  “I just don’t know that my dad ever got that memo.”  

I look past Dante and find that he is alone.  He seems to be about my age so that’s a little unusual in these circumstances.  My parents had flown me as an ‘unaccompanied minor’ across the ocean for years, but other people’s parents are usually a little squeamish about that.  

“I’m sure that fact hasn’t escaped him,” Dante tells me in amusement.  Why do his eyes have to sparkle so much?   I usually go for brown-eyed guys.  But this boy is most certainly making me re-think that stance.

“That’s debatable,” I sigh.  Realizing that we are impeding the busy pedestrian traffic like a dam in a rushing river, I smile.

“Thank you very much for helping me pick up my things.  Safe travels!”

I turn on my heel and pivot, walking quickly and what I hope is confidently in the other direction.  Hitching my heavy purse up on my shoulder, I fight the urge to turn and look at him.  Something about him is practically mesmerizing.

But I don’t look.  I keep walking, one foot in front of the other.  When I reach the moving walkway, I hop on and focus ahead of me, eyes straight forward.

Don’t look back.

Don’t look back.

Don’t look back.

Regardless of my silent chanting, when I step from the walkway I discreetly check behind me.  Apollo is nowhere to be seen.  With a sigh, I continue on to the British Airways terminal.  Only three short hours left until take-off.  Plugging my earbuds into my ears, I settle into a seat and close my eyes.

Once Upon A Read- a-Thon Update and Mini Challenge

So I didn't get nearly as much read as I was hoping, but I had fun trying to get a lot read.

I was able to finish Grave Mercy, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Site, and Dante's Girl. 

For the mini challenge

What is your most anticipated book for 2012?

My most anticipated book of this year was Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver, and I for one was not disappointed it was amazing. 

Waiting on Wednesday (6/12/2012) Dante's Girl

Author: Courtney Cole
Expected Release Date: June 29th, 2012

Summary from Goodreads:
I have spent every summer since I was ten years old with my father in London. Every summer, since I was ten years old, has been uneventful and boring. 
Until this year. 

And this year, after a freak volcanic eruption strands me far from home, I have learned these things:

1. I can make do with one outfit for three days before I buy new clothes.
2. If I hear the phrase, “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” even one more time, I might become a homicidal maniac.
3. I am horribly and embarrassingly allergic to jellyfish.
4. I am in love with Dante Giliberti, who just happens to be the beautiful, sophisticated son of the Prime Minister of a Mediterranean paradise. 
5. See number four above. Because it brings with it a whole slew of problems and I’ve learned something from every one of them.

Let’s start with the fact that Dante’s world is five light-years away from mine. He goes to black-tie functions and knows the Prime Minister of England on a first name basis. I was born and raised on a farm in Kansas and wear cut-off jeans paired with cowboy boots. See the difference? 

But hearts don’t care about differences. Hearts want what they want. And mine just wants to be Dante’s girl. 

My heart just might be crazy.


This sounds like it could be one of those perfect laying by the pool reads.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we (bloggers) are anxiously awaiting. So what book are you excited about right now?