Posts Tagged ‘fame’

Welcome to my stop on the Chasing Invisible Tour!

Isn’t this cover art breathtaking!

Read on to learn more about Chasing Invisible.

And don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

Chasing Invisible Tour

From award winning children’s author Karen Pokras Toz comes the contemporary adult novel

Chasing Invisible

 

 

Could you handle life in the spotlight?

 

Julia Alexander is a quiet girl from a small town. Content to spend her days with her small group of friends and a pile of books, Julia thinks her future is set. When she unexpectedly meets Chase, a fellow college student and budding musician, she is unaware of just how drastically things are about to change. 

 

Suddenly thrown into the limelight, her life is no longer her own. Relentlessly followed by the paparazzi, Julia is forced to make tough decisions about fame, love, family, and relationships. But just how much will Julia have to sacrifice to become invisible…

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dXsHrPUBm8?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent]

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Enjoy this excerpt.

“Julia!”

“Julia! Over here!”

“Julia!”

The screams from the sidewalk outside pierced my ears before the limousine had even rolled to a complete stop.

My hands fumbled, barely allowing me to dab on some powder. “Good enough, let’s get this over with.”

The glass shield separating me from the driver began to descend. “Are you ready, ma’am?”

“Yes, thank you.” Hopefully, the driver could hear my voice over the sound of my heart pounding. My sweaty palms nervously smoothed out my grey wool skirt. The crowd seemed to be moving closer. I don’t owe them, or anyone for that matter, an explanation.

The driver swiftly opened my door, allowing in a sea of flashbulbs. My now ubiquitous forced smile overtook my face. I stopped to pose for the cameras, grateful there were velvet ropes separating the multitude of photographers and reporters trying to get close to me.

Julia, what is your reaction to this latest round of accusations? a voice yelled from my left.

I turned abruptly on my heels, facing the direction of the voice, as the heat rose to my cheeks. “I try not to pay attention to petty rumors.”

Spinning back around to the right, I addressed the waiting crowd. “Thank you all so much for your support.”

I waved before turning back to the left, trying to brush off the last question. It’s none of their business. Waving once more, I headed into the stately building without looking back.

The large entryway was quiet, and the marble wall felt cold against my body; a welcome relief to the heat of the tension outside. I was thankful to have escaped the media relatively unscathed. A moment of calm, so foreign to me now, briefly took over.

The double doors at the end of the hallway creaked open, breaking the silence.

Susan began to walk toward me. “Oh good, you’re here. They’re ready for you now.”

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Buy at Amazon

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Giveaway

Enter to win this Prize Pack & $25 Amazon Gift Card!

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Click on the rafflecopter link below to enter.

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Author Bio

Karen Pokras Toz

Karen Pokras Toz, recently discovered her love for writing. Karen writes middle grade and adult contemporary fiction. Her middle grade childrenⳠnovels have won several awards including the Grand Prize in the 2012 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards and First Place for a Global E-Book Award for Pre-Teen Literature. Karen is a member of the Society of ChildrenⳠBook Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI). A native of Connecticut, Karen now lives outside of Philadelphia with her family. For more information, please visit http://www.karentoz.com.

Links

Website: www.karentoz.com

Blog: http://kptoz.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/karenptoz

Twitter: www.twitter.com/karentoz

Amazon: http://amzn.to/11wuyqn

Barnes & Noble:

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/325554

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5009570.Karen_Pokras_Toz

Giveaway Prize: $25 amazon gift card, tote bag, key chain, bookmarks, notebook, postcard

A GWR Publicity promotional event paid for by the author. Giveaway is sponsored by the author who is responsible to prize fulfillment. FUONLYKNEW received no compensation for this post.

Welcome to my stop on the Chasing Invisible Tour!

Isn’t this cover art breathtaking!

Read on to learn more about Chasing Invisible.

And don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

Chasing Invisible Tour

From award-winning children’s author Karen Pokras Toz comes the contemporary adult novel

Chasing Invisible

Could you handle life in the spotlight?

Julia Alexander is a quiet girl from a small town. Content to spend her days with her small group of friends and a pile of books, Julia thinks her future is set. When she unexpectedly meets Chase, a fellow college student and budding musician, she is unaware of just how drastically things are about to change.

Suddenly thrown into the limelight, her life is no longer her own. Relentlessly followed by the paparazzi, Julia is forced to make tough decisions about fame, love, family, and relationships. But just how much will Julia have to sacrifice to become invisible…

~~~~~~~~

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dXsHrPUBm8?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent]

~~~~~~~~

Buy at Amazon

Join Karen Pokras Toz for a Twitter Party

June 18 at 8 pm eastern

#ChasingInvisible

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Giveaway

Enter to win this Prize Pack & $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Panel 0

Click on the rafflecopter link below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~~~~~~

Author Bio

Karen Pokras Toz, recently discovered her love for writing. Karen writes middle grade and adult contemporary fiction. Her middle grade childrenⳠnovels have won several awards including the Grand Prize in the 2012 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards and First Place for a Global E-Book Award for Pre-Teen Literature. Karen is a member of the Society of ChildrenⳠBook Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI). A native of Connecticut, Karen now lives outside of Philadelphia with her family. For more information, please visit www.karentoz.com.

Links

Website: www.karentoz.com
Blog: http://kptoz.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/karenptoz
Twitter: www.twitter.com/karentoz
Amazon: http://amzn.to/11wuyqn
Barnes & Noble:
Smashwords: Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/325554
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5009570.Karen_Pokras_Toz

Giveaway Prize: $25 amazon gift card, tote bag, key chain, bookmarks, notebook, postcard

A GWR Publicity promotional event paid for by the author. Giveaway is sponsored by the author who is responsible to prize fulfillment. FUONLYKNEW received no compensation for this post.

Hello and welcome to my stop on the Jaded and Faded Tour.

I have two reviews for you today and a fantastic giveaway.

Let’s get this Rock Star Tour started.

Jaded (Rock Star, #1)

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Jaded will be ON SALE for the blog tour. It’s normally 2.99 but it will be .99 for 7 days only! Here are the links!!!
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I’m Scarlett Ryan.Yes, THAT Scarlett Ryan. I live an extraordinary life: millionaire rock star, owner of exotic cars, pictures of me in every magazine, millions of fans, and a name that is recognized world wide. It’s supposed to be my dream come true. But, my life IS a fantasy, and I want real. I want exciting. I want… NORMAL. So, I moved from California to Florida, hoping to obtain some normalcy. Instead I find…Stephan Montgomery.He’s an arrogant jerk. Seriously, I hate him. I swear if he tells me one more blonde joke, I will punch him… again… Unfortunately  I can’t stop thinking about him, or his gorgeous green eyes. Trust me, I know that he’s bad for me. If only my heart would listen.I also find out that my parents have kept a LIFE CHANGING secret from me. I need to know the truth.The harder I strive for normal, the stranger things seem to get.

My Review

There is a big age difference between me and the characters in this book. Also, I’m not rich or famous. But Jaded still brought back many memories from when I was a teenager. Foremost were the strong bonds with my girlfriends and the insecurity about my decisions, and boys. Oh, the pain and angst of young love.

Right from the start I liked Scarlett Ryan. She’s nineteen years old and been touring with her rock band for four years. She’s never had a chance at a normal life. Too busy touring to make lasting friends or fall in love.

She knows she’s acting like a spoiled brat when she throws a tantrum, telling her manager, who also happens to be her father, that she’s had enough and storms off.

She catches the first flight out of California and lands in Hope, Florida.

Being rich and having a personal assistant has its perks as everything is taken care of while she’s high above the clouds.

She arrives at her posh new digs and her stylist has her enrolled in school and even filled her wardrobe with clothes appropriate for her age group.

Lying out is her outfit for her first day of school, along with this note.

“You told me to dress you like a normal teenager, and I did my best. Don’t blame me that you look extraordinary, no matter what you wear. Good luck with high  school. Go to lots of parties, get drunk, and kiss lots of boys. But no matter what you do: DON’T FALL IN LOVE!(Trust me, high school love sucks, and always ends in heart-break). Have fun!”

Ain’t that the truth.

I really connected when Scarlett begins highschool and attempts to live a normal teenager’s life.

Her first day of school is daunting. Once the fervor of who she is dies down, she literally bumps into Thor. Her name for this handsome God.  She doesn’t know his name and he’ll only tell her when she meets him for lunch.

Then she meets Stephan. Your typical confident, young alpha male, but he does have something going for him. A wonderful smile. He’s not impressed with who she is and quickly gets under her skin, especially when he shortens her name to Scar.

At first I was thinking, Oh no, a love triangle, and these two are step brothers. But this doesn’t last long and you clearly know where Scarlett’s interest lies. With the guy “with black hair, gorgeous green eyes, snarky attitude that makes you want to slap him…” Stephan.

Ethan and Stephan quickly become an important part of Scarlett’s life, treating her like everybody else and teasing her relentlessly.

Just when things seemed to be going smoothly, Scarlett got some startling news that shocked her. She seemed to accept it too readily, but who knows how someone would react, especially a young, vulnerable woman trying to find her way.

You are taken in a whole other direction and I could see what might be going to happen. I liked the idea and hoped it would be so.

While Jaded is written for a younger audience, Ya and New Adult, I thoroughly enjoyed this romp and raced to see what could possibly happen next, grinning all the way.

And the ending. Oh no! The ending leaves you thinking, “No way!” Luckily I already had Faded, Book Two, and dove right back in.

4 Stars

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Now for Faded!

Faded (Rock Star, #2)

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Buy Links

AmazonBarnes&Noble / Smashwords

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I left Hope – the only place I’ve ever felt at home. So now what? Where do I go from here?

When I left, I didn’t just leave my home. I left my friends, my sisters, and Stephan… I just found them. I can’t lose them now.

I know that I want to do MY music. I need to remember WHY I wanted to play music in the first place. And the only way to get that is by firing my dad, but that may be harder than I thought.

On top of everything, I now have cameras following me around everywhere. Even my own home isn’t safe anymore.

I’ve come to realize that normal will never be an option for me.

My Review

Faded starts off right where Jaded left us. I really liked that, as the ending left me with lots of questions.

Scarlet leaves Florida believing it is best for her friends. She thinks it’s not fair to them to have their privacy invaded because of her fame.

She can’t stay away though. She needs them and misses them. Especially Stephan. So she returns.

Faded reveals answers to many questions from Jaded. Scarlett is maturing, becoming a stronger, emotionally grounded young woman, despite her notoriety and unusual younger years.

The secondary characters from Jaded begin to come into their own with this second book, and are an integral part of this series now.

It’s hard to review a second book without spoilers, so I’ll just that Faded is every bit as good as Jaded, if not better, since we are led further into Scarlett’s and her friends relationships and stories.

I’ll warn ya. The ending is a wowser. Just sayin. You’ll definitely be reading the third book, Hated, when it’s released.

4 Stars

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Giveaway

Check out these awesome Giveaways.

PRIZE PACK #1 – Signed paperback copy of Jaded, Faded, & You Got Me. Tote Bag. Swag pack!

  • PRIZE PACK #2 – Signed paperback copy of Jaded. Swag pack!

Click on the rafflecopter link below to enter.

***US Only***

Rafflecopter Giveaway

And another giveaway.

***International***

5 e-book copies of Jaded

5 e-book copies of Faded

Click on the rafflecopter  link below to enter.

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AUTHOR BIO

I am a YA/ NA author of the books: Don’t Tell, You Got Me, and the Rock Star Trilogy: Jaded, Faded, and Hated. I have a slight addiction to the TV series Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries. I’m 23 years old, and I currently live in St Louis, with my husband of 2 years.

FACEBOOK –  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mercy-Amare/466953106650292

TWITTER – https://twitter.com/MercyAmare

WEBSITE – http://www.mercyamare.com

GOODREADS – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6464549.Mercy_Amare