Book Blitz – The Dylan Dilemma by Patricia B. Tighe

April 24, 2018April 24, 2018 karenjo461 Comment

The Dylan Dilemma
Patricia B. Tighe
Published by: Swoon Romance
Publication date: April 24th 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

High school senior Kenzie Harper-Shea has no time for dating, especially after the arrival of the basketball coach from hell. Now Kenzie has lost her confidence, is in a slump, and in danger of losing out on a scholarship to play college ball. The last thing she needs is her “vacation boyfriend,” Dylan McCoy, distracting her with warm smiles, inside jokes, and swoony kisses.

Dylan, however, is totally ready to date. He finally lives in the same town as Kenzie and is not about to lose the chance to let their relationship grow into something more. But for now, he’ll stay in the friend zone because he’s determined to find out what has her running scared. It can’t be just about basketball.

As Kenzie spends more time around Dylan, her feelings become a jumbled-up mess. It’s obvious they’re into each other. So, why does she panic whenever she thinks about dating him? Is it connected to basketball or to something deeper? She’s not sure. Does she have the courage to examine her heart, even if it means breaking Dylan’s?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

excerpt2

Kenzie

At the school gym on Monday, I wiped sweat from under my eye with the collar of my T-shirt. Jana thumped me on the back before jogging back to her place in line.

“Keep moving,” she said under her breath.

Right. I threw the basketball to Carly, who jerked when she caught it and then passed it to the next girl. Tension filled the air like when you step outside and a thunder storm is about to hit. Coach Dunbar, gray hair flattened like a steel helmet, prowled among us, her whistle at the ready. We were all freaked about the changes. You could see it in the way my usually confident teammates stumbled over their feet or missed shots or flubbed passes.

This passing drill, normally something I could do in my sleep, was making me crazy. I’d already jammed my index finger on one catch, but after a scowl from Coach, I shook my hand and kept going. No one wanted to get on her bad side, which made us so nervous that we looked like amateurs.

Sneakers squeaked on the gym floor, exclamations rang out, and the girls beside me breathed so hard I could hear it. Holy crap. When would we all settle down? Things just didn’t feel right and last Friday hadn’t been any better. Halfway through, Coach sat us down and gave us a lecture on teamwork because she said she wasn’t happy about what she saw.

Well, neither was I. I missed Coach Shultz. I missed how her happiness gave all of us a lift—even when we were working hard.

“Kenzie!” Carly shouted.

I turned and a basketball hit me in the stomach. But miracle of miracles, I caught it. Coach blew her whistle in one long shrill sound.

“All right, girls!” she called. “This is pathetic. Time for laps.”

Laps? That wasn’t how practice was supposed to go. “But we never run until—”

Jana, who I hadn’t realized was beside me, squeezed my elbow, cutting off my words. What the heck was I doing? I should know by now the woman didn’t appreciate my helpful hints.

Coach Dunbar walked toward me through the crowd of my frozen teammates, favoring her right leg. Maybe Jana had been right and there was something wrong with the woman. “Mackenzie,” she said, her voice hard. “If you have a suggestion, you can raise your hand. Otherwise, if you don’t like the way I conduct practice, you can leave. There’s nothing stopping you.”

authorbio2

The mother of two grown sons, Patricia B. Tighe lives in West Texas with her husband and dog. She eats way too much pizza, drinks way too much coffee, and watches way too much NFL football. On the bright side, she also reads and writes teen fiction. She promises to include as much romance, angst, and adventure as possible in her books.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

Blitz-wide giveaway (INTL) – Win an eBook copy of The Dylan Dilemma and $15 Amazon gift card

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway

sincerelykarenjo2

Blog Tour – Platform Dwellers by Katarina Boudreaux

April 24, 2018April 24, 2018 karenjo462 Comments

PLATFORM DWELLERS

Hello bookworms! Welcome to my Blog Tour Stop for Platform Dwellers by Katarina Boudreaux hosted by Rock Star Book Tours. Today, I have an excerpt to share with you and a giveaway at the end.

platformcover

Published by Owl Hollow Press May 8, 2018

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 268

Find it: Amazon, Goodreads

synopsis2

On the remnants of oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and Dauphin Island, Joe is a typical Nob Platform teenager, except that her Mom left a year ago for a more social Platform, and her Dad sometimes forgets she exists. But she knows she wants a career in Communications, so her high school senior project “See-Saw” focuses on long-distance underwater connections. Drayton, Joe’s best friend, discovers lights moving on Land at the same time Joe picks up SOS signals with her See-Saw.

Though Land has been silent since technology was destroyed during the Moralist Revolution, Joe and Drayton discover that the Platform Planning Commission (PPC) seems to be ultimately responsible for the Bone Virus that precipitated the Revolution. They enlist the help of Flox, a debunked scientist, to take them to Land to investigate the remnants of human Land society—before the PPC can stop them. What they find on Land will forever change the course of their lives and the lives of all Platform Dwellers.

excerpt2

“Stop. No, really. What has salvaging come to? We’re eating on Yield signs.”

“Well, how many real plates do you have left?”

My great-grandmother hadn’t thought to bring plates, just scientific equipment. So my father had grown up eating out of whatever his mother could find that was serviceable—shells, Styrofoam cones, or with his hands from the cooking vessel. But my mother had brought almost twenty plates to their marriage. She didn’t take any of them with her, so there are eighteen left. Most of them are patched, but two are in pristine condition.

Lisette nudges my arm, and I jerk in my seat. Duritz scoops an interesting seaweed salad onto my plate. The seaweed has been sun baked in a light yellow sauce. I don’t even look at Lisette’s plate. I’m not fond of eels.

“Bon appetite,” Duritz says happily and backs away from the table.

I don’t mind the taste of seaweed, so I take a big bite. The yellow sauce is tangy, but I can’t place the flavor. Whatever it is, it’s much better than the plain sea grass that I had for dinner last night.

“Not bad,” I say between mouthfuls. “Yours?”

Lisette makes a face. “Should have gone with the farmed sponge. Going to have to force this down.”

We don’t waste any resources on the platform, including food. We save bones, recycle waste water, and use every scrap of material that we have until it goes in the permanent scrap pile. Even then we keep it to stuff beds.

Lisette gags and gulps down her water.

I push my glass toward her. “Have some of mine. At least it isn’t octopus. That would be a real mess before our last classes. Indigestion on a plate.”

authorbio2

Katarina

Katarina Boudreaux is a writer, musician, composer, tango dancer, and teacher—a shaper of word, sound, and mind. She returned to New Orleans after circuitous journeying.

Her chapbook “Anatomy Lessons” is available from Flutter Press. Her play “Awake at 4:30” is a finalist in the 2016 Tennessee Williams Festival. Her novel “Still Tides” is a semi-finalist in the 2016 Faulkner-Wisdom competition.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Giveaway Details

1 winner will receive a finished copy of PLATFORM DWELLERS, US Only.