The Gates of Atlantis Sale and Giveaway

We are excited to announce the amazing sale of THE GATES OF ATLANTIS COMPLETE COLLECTION on eBook. You can get this fantastic middle-grade series for just $0.99 (regularly $19.99). This sale price will available December 29^th through January 12^th. To help celebrate such a sale the Atlantis authors are giving away a Kindle to one lucky winner. 

Don’t forget to enter the GIVEAWAY at the bottom of this post!

About THE GATES OF ATLANTIS:

Centuries ago the great city of Atlantis had to be hidden from humans. Now magically buried in the depths of the ocean, it is the source of all magic. All is well in the magical world…until the leaders of Atlantis listen to the whims of a mad man.

A group of teens set out on their own unique quests to fight for the world they love. They face dangers they didn’t know existed. As they battle their way through mysterious tunnels and secrets of the ancient world, they find themselves in a race against time. One by one, the mad man will shut down the Gates of Atlantis and destroy the magic. Can these unlikely heroes stop him before it’s too late?

Book 1: BANSHEE AT THE GATE, by Wendy Knight: Half-human, half-banshee Seven loves her life with her awesome brother Haran and her dad while delivering souls safely to death...until Death comes calling for Haran.

Book 2: GUARDIANS OF THE GATES, by Laura D. Bastian: Mermaid Talia wants to be a Guardian. Exander wants to leave Atlantis and explore the upper world. An accident at one of the gates gives them both their chance, but they also make a startling discovery—someone is destroying the gates.

Book 3: SECRETS OF THE MINE, by Juli Caldwell: Adam believes in myths and magic. Clancy doesn’t. Two normal kids’ lives change when they embark on the adventure of a lifetime on the back of a sea kelpie...if only they can get away from the strange creatures that are determined to stop them.

Book 4: MAGICIANS OF THE DEEP, by Jaclyn Weist: A trip to Ireland changes Colin’s life when a bite from a mysterious fish awakens unlimited knowledge and dormant magical powers. He knows exactly how to save a magical world, but can he get there before it’s too late?

Book 5: MADNESS BEHIND THE THRONE, by J.R. Simmons: Phoibos, bullied and taunted by other kids, believes something is wrong with Atlantis. His charm with the nobility and skill as warrior as he grows make him believe nothing will stop his quest to purge Atlantis from everything he finds impure.

Book 6: BATTLE FOR ACROPOLIS, by Mikey Brooks: Talon keeps getting in trouble. It’s not his fault things around him randomly burst into flame, but he’s not sticking around to find out what happens next. When foster sister Hattie encourages him to run, they make a break for it, only to find an unexpected destiny awaiting them in Atlantis. They just have to get there first. When they do, they find a lot of help. Characters from all the previous books appear to help fight Phoibos. These unlikely heroes risk it all to save the magic and fight for Atlantis.

Where to get the series on eBook:

Kindle: http://goo.gl/tiku9j

Nook: http://goo.gl/dmXSXN

Kobo: http://goo.gl/HqGuhC

iTunes: http://goo.gl/sSeNxB

The GIVEAWAY!

One lucky winner will be selected to win a Kindle, 6" Glare-Free Touchscreen Display, Wi-Fi (Retail price of $79.99). A winner will be selected from those living within the continental United States. The winner will be announced January 13^th and they will be notified via email to provide a valid mailing address. Good luck to all the entries and thank you for helping us share the news about this awesome series.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Paparazzi Jewelry and Accessories

I've started selling Paparazzi Jewelry! I am super excited about this new adventure and can't wait to offer all the great products to you! My absolute favorite  part about this whole thing is that everything is JUST $5.00. That's right only $5.00 jewelry! Hook me up I'm sold.

Jewelry is fabulous and I love wearing it but once I started having babies I stopped wearing it because they pull on it and have broken to many of my more expensive pieces. So to stop all the sadness about my broken jewelry I just stopped wearing it! Well I've started wearing it again. This jewelry is gorgeous and I am in love with so many of the pieces! If one just happens to break from my kids constantly pulling on it then I don't feel so bad about it breaking. Most of the time I can fix it, if not I go buy another piece I love!

The items that I sell are:

Necklace and earring sets (sold together for only $5.00)

Bracelets ($5.00)

Rings ($5.00, one size fits most with a stretchy back)

Earrings ($5.00)

Hair Clips ($5.00)

Headbands Traditional and wrap arounds ($5.00 each)

I always have inventory on hand, so if you know where I live come on over anytime to look through all my pieces. If not, or your too far away feel free to go check out my website: paparazziaccessories.com/29854 you can order online straight from there!

I hope you all fall in love with the jewelry that I have.

Feel free to contact me about hosting your own paparazzi jewelry party or joining my team to sell all these wonderful products yourself! Just send me an email with Paparazzi somewhere in the subject line. brooke_trout19@hotmail.com

Remembering Isaac: The Wise and Joyful Potter of Niederbipp

Author: Ben Behunin

Description: (amazon.com)

Jake, a soon to be college graduate stumbles upon an ad in an art magazine. The town of Niederbipp is looking for a new potter to replace, Isaac, the seventh potter in a long string of potters reaching back to 1717. For the past 8 years, Jake has dreamed of being a village potter. He applies for the job, despite his plans for the summer and to his surprise, is awarded the Pottery, an apartment and a vast collection of old pots.  With the help of his new friend Amy, Jake begins to piece together the secrets of life Isaac lived by and shared with all who knew him.

Review:  

This is a fun read. You really get to know the town’s quiet little charm and spunk; as well as the eclectic mix of people that live there. Seriously once you read it you’ll be wishing the town of Niederbipp truly existed, so you could visit the charming town and people who live there.  It is the first of three books in the series. It is fantastic and leaves you wanting to read the other two. I truly loved Jake and wanted everything to work out for him, he is a real and likable character. Don’t be intimidated by the length of the book, it is a really quick and easy read.

A little more background info on the author, Ben Behunin, he is a Utah native and a real life potter, so he knows what he’s talking about with all the pottery in the book. He actually opens his home sudio twice a year for people to come and view/purchase his pottery creations. Quite the experience, he is very talented.  

Rating: Five out of Five stars

Book Review Tuesday

Minding Mama by: Marilyn Arnold

Genre: Humorous Fiction

Description: (target.com)

A road trip across America is no easy feat, and even tougher when one of the guests is no longer present? so to speak.

Review:

This book is hilarious! Constantly had me laughing out loud. A very easy and light read. I enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it to anyone.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Book Review Tuesday

The Night Circus by: Erin Morgenstern

 

Genre: Fiction

Description: (amazon.com)

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will…

The game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Review:

I did enjoy this book. Granted it was a little strange, and long, I am glad I stuck with it and read the whole thing.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Book Review Tuesday

 Genre: Middle Grade Urban Fantasy

Banshee at the Gate by Wendy Knight 

 Description: Thirteen-year-old, half-breed banshee, Seven, likes her life. She leads souls safely to Death and she has the planet’s most awesome dad and little brother. But a cryptic message from Atlantis asking for her help changes all that. And then there’s Death, who has decided it’s time to take her brother’s soul. Now she’s racing across the world, trying to stay one step ahead of Death.

Unfortunately, getting to Atlantis from Ireland isn’t easy, there are evil minions determined to keep her away every time she turns around. But fighting for their lives teaches Seven one very important lesson—she isn’t human, and she isn’t a banshee. She has to be both if she wants to save her brother and make it back home alive.

Guardians of the Gate by Laura D. Bastian

Description: Thirteen-year-old merman, Exander, wants to leave Atlantis to mingle with the humans and explore the world above. Talia, his best friend, wishes she was a guardian of a gate leading to the surface. She'd keep those nasty humans out of her beloved city of Atlantis. When Talia accidentally short circuits a gate, Exander is trapped on the wrong side, getting a crash course in navigating the human world. As Talia fights to help Exander come home, she learns someone is closing the other gates, and it’s destroying the magic of Atlantis. If they can’t convince the magical creatures of the world to save the gates, the destruction of Atlantis will only be the beginning.

Secrets of the Mine by Juli Caldwell

 Description: Adam Alfaro daydreams about magic, myths, and becoming famous for discovering the lost city of Atlantis. The only problem? He has to spend spring break in Africa while his mom works. To make it worse, everyone expects him to be friends with the annoying Clancy Pitt while he’s there. It’s dislike at first sight...until he realizes she might know a few secrets about Atlantis.

Then he meets Nef, a spirited sea kelpie who needs help rescuing kidnapped naiads, left to die in an ancient mine. Suddenly the strange creatures Adam dreamed of become all too real. And they’re after him. Can Adam, Clancy, and Nef fight their way through the maze of tunnels in the mine and reach the naiads before it's too late?

Magicians of the Deep by Jaclyn Weist

Description:
Thirteen-year-old Colin knew nothing of the magic world until he is bitten by a mischievous pixie. He meets thirteen-year-old Alleya on a secret website devoted to magical creatures.  Alleya has been hidden away from the rest of Atlantis because of who she is. She accidentally lets slip a dark secret—the gates to Atlantis are being shut down and it's destroying magic. For her treason, Alleya is exiled to Indiatlantis. 

Together, Colin and Alleya must find a way to bring back the old magic and fight to save Atlantis.

Madness Behind the Throne by JR Simmons

Description: Callidora is an Atlantian noblewoman and member of an elite guard whose purpose is to keep Atlantis pure...until her life is turned upside down by the birth of a son.

Phoibos, bullied and taunted by other kids, is sure of one thing: something is wrong with Atlantis. Impure, Atlantian-Human hybrids are ruining his city, and he'll stop at nothing to rectify that. Callidora is the only one who knows the truth of who her only son really is, and how dangerous he can be. Can anyone stop Phoibos before his need for purification brings Atlantis to the very brink of destruction?

Battle for Acropolis by Mikey Brooks

Description: Thirteen-year-old Talon is in trouble...again. He didn't mean to burn down the school library. It just happened. Things like that always happen to Talon. His life is a mixture of the weird and bizarre. No one else he knows can shoot fire from their hands or cause an earthquake...but he can.

Every night the same dream haunts Talon: the destruction of an underwater city. He doesn't have a clue what it means but he feels like fate is trying to warn him. It's not until he runs away with his foster sister Hattie that he discovers his trouble-making powers and strange nightmare are connected. Together they are the key to saving magic...to saving Atlantis.

Review:

Honestly I have only read one of these books, however being on the inside of the interworking of this series I have a good idea of what each book entails. They are written to be a series but technically could be read separately. The one book that I have read is number 6, Battle for Acropolis. It was a fabulous book and could be read, like each of the books, on its own, however it helps tremendously to read each book to get the whole story. The characters appear throughout the different books in the series. Saying this, I read the last book in the series and when introduced to a huge amount of characters in the end of the story became a little confusing remembering who everyone was. I feel the confusion would have been avoided if I knew these characters better from reading the books they “star” in as well. I look forward to reading the other books in this series and would recommend anybody to read the series in its entirety

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Buy the books:

Banshee at the Gate:

Paperback | Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks

Guardians of the Gates:

Paperback | Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks

Secrets of the Mine:

Paperback | Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks

Magicians of the Deep:

Paperback | Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks

Madness Behind the Throne:

Paperback | Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks

Battle for Acropolis:

Paperback | Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks

Enter to Win fun prizes from the authors

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review Tuesday

With school getting ready to start up again I’m hoping I will have more time to devote to my blog. Bean is going into Kindergarten and Buggy will start preschool. My babies are growing up so fast! My goal is to start reviewing books, and posting them on a weekly basis. Book Review Tuesday! One of my favorite things to do (when I can find the time) is reading! My husband is constantly telling me I read far too much, and to my author husband I said if it wasn’t for people like me he’d be out of a job :) needless to say he doesn’t bug me about reading anymore ;)  So I thought why not put more into my reading and help other people find good books out there to read and also which to avoid… in my opinion anyways. So here is goes…

The book I would like to start with is very dear to me! One of my favorite books that I have read too many times to count… the book is falling apart if that tells you anything.

Return to Red Castle by Dorothy Keddington

Genre:  Clean Romantic Mystery

Description: (found on Amazon.com)

     Red Castle ... an ancient citadel of wine-red stone in the heart of Utah's primitive High Uinta Mountains. Hidden away near its rocky base, a small plane lies twisted and broken.

     The four men ... desperate, ruthless, will stop at nothing to retrieve the plane's valuable cargo, but their only clue to its location are the words ... Red Castle.
     Jesse Chisholm ... rugged, lonely, one of the new breed of modern Mountain Men. As a geologist for the Forest Service, he calls the wilderness his home and only the mountains know the secrets of his heart.
     Melissa Heydon ... spirited, young, in love with life, the mountains, and Jesse Chisholm.

Review:

This book is seriously one of my all-time favorite books. It is one of the first books I can remember reading and is a big part of why I love reading so much! I can’t remember quite when, sometime in my early high school years, I was bored during the summer so my mom made me read this book. I fell in love with it and have been a read-a-holic ever since. That summer I went through countless novels and haven’t stopped reading since.

I couldn’t tell you a bad thing about this book, I love everything about it! Dorothy is great at painting a picture in my head of the scenery and things she describes. When I read her books I feel like I’m watching a movie in my head as I read.

Rating:

5 out of 5 stars (seriously 10 out of 5)