Grand Finale Blitz: A Family for Christmas By Tara Taylor Quinn

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Book Tour Grand Finale for

A Family for Christmas By Tara Taylor Quinn

We hope you enjoyed the tour! If you missed any of the stops

you can see snippets, as well as the link to each full post, below:

Launch - Note from the Author

Welcome to a very very special story in my Where Secrets Are Safe series. If you’ve never been to The Lemonade Stand – please, come in. Visitors to the Stand are transitory so you’ll fit right in with the rest of the current batch of residents, who are also new here. If you’ve been here before, buckle your seat belts because you’re in for a double treat...

Becky on Books - Review

"Oh my goodness, this book…

A Family for Christmas brings together so many threads, both in this series on the whole and this book in particular. There are two main romantic relationships–Cara with Simon and Lila (finally!) with Edward–and two families coming together for Christmas, families that include parents, children, and grandchildren that have been apart for far too long. . .

Once again the romances here are very slow moving, because the characters have so much more to deal with than just finding their ways to romantic HEAs and there aren’t easy fixes for what they have to do–but that just means that when they do get there everything will be that much sweeter."

Harlequin Junkie - Exclusive Interview & Giveaway

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

This story has two heroines and two heroes and that kind of surprised me. I knew the older couple, have known the older heroine for all 16 books in this series, and she surprised me most of all. I’ve always known she had issues, but I didn’t understand them until this book. She showed them to me and made me cry.

The younger heroine – she took me on a journey I did not intend to take, with a topic I had no intention of exploring. But there you go…welcome to my world.

Thoughts of a Blonde - Review

"A healing opportunity! If you read the previous book in this series (For Joy’s Sake), you will quickly pick up on the fact that this is a direct continuation of the on-going plot of that story. . . . None-the-less, I was happy read the completion of this mystery, and I enjoyed Simon & Cara’s relationship a lot!"

Wishful Endings - Review

"A FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS is a moving story about characters who are trying to rise above their fears and abuse to find love and fulfillment in their lives. Heartbreaking and raw in places, sweet and intimate in others, it is a story that will draw on the reader's heart and drive them to hope for a happily-ever-after ending. Highly recommended to those who like their characters to rise victorious over their struggles—to find that happiness can be for everyone, even those with deep scars."

Busy Bumble Bee Book Reviews with Review

"I really enjoyed this book. It pulled me in from start to finish. I laughed at times, I found I had tears in my eyes at times. I found myself being pulled into these characters lifes and cheering them on. I will definitely be going back and reading other books from this series."

Inside The Mind of an Avid Reader - Review

"A family for Christmas is the thirteenth book in the Where Secrets Are Safe series by Tara Taylor Quinn. . . . Cara and Simon needed more focus on them and not what was happening with Cara's daughter. Overall I enjoyed the read."

Book Lover in Florida - Review

"When I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I had to read it. . . . This book provides the true meaning of blood being thicker than water – no matter what, your family will be there for you. An enticing story to be read in front of the fireplace with a cozy blanket."

Harlie's Books - Review

"The reason why this book is pure perfection is the way Ms. Quinn wrapped up all the loose threads that we didn’t know where there. . .

Again, I’m so very sad if this is the last book in the series. I’ve come to love The Lemonade Stand and everything that it stands for. Ms. Quinn has written that rare series that is relevant, relatable, emotional, swoon-worthy, at times raw but in the end of so satisfying."

Don't forget to contribute to a local shelter near you and enter the giveaways

below, if you haven't already. They'll be running until the end of November...

A Family for Christmas
(Where Secrets Are Safe #13)

by Tara Taylor Quinn
Adult Contemporary Romance

Mass Market Paperback & ebook, 384 pages

November 1st 2017 by Harlequin Superromance

A second chance for Joy
While recovering at a remote cabin, Dr. Simon Walsh stumbles across Cara Amos. Injured and left for dead, Cara is harboring dark secrets. Yet Simon can't help falling for his mysterious patient. As her memory returns and her injuries fade under his gentle care, he vows to help her find her missing daughter.
At The Lemonade Stand shelter, managing director Lila McDaniels is helping Cara's estranged father, Edward Mantle, bond with his traumatized granddaughter, Joy. And his feelings extend well beyond gratitude.
Bringing this family together seems impossible… Luckily, Christmas is the season of miracles.

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About the Author

The author of more than 70 original novels, in twenty languages, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA Today bestseller with over six million copies sold. A 2015 RITA finalist Tara appears frequently on bestseller lists, including #1 placement on Amazon lists, and multiple showings on the Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller list. She has appeared on national and local TV across the country, including CBS Sunday Morning.

Tara is a supporter of the National Domestic Violence Hotline. If you or someone you know might be a victim of domestic violence in the United States, please contact 1-800-799-7233.

Website│Goodreads│Amazon│Facebook│Twitter│Pinterest│Instagram│Wattpad

Domestic Violence Shelter Drive

As Tara supports speaking out against domestic violence and supporting those who have been abused, both through her books and in her community, she would love for you to join her in donating items to a shelter in your area. Find out more here.

Tour Giveaways

1ST RAFFLECOPTER:

1 winner will receive ebooks of Where Secrets are Safe series books 1 - 13 (open internationally)

1 winner (per the four tour segments) will receive a $10 Amazon eGift Card (open internationally)

2ND RAFFLECOPTER:

1 winner will receive 25,000 Harelquin My Rewards Points, equivalent to 5 books (US and CAN only)

1 winner will receive 5,000 Harelquin My Rewards Points, equivalent to 1 book (US and CAN only)

Both Rafflecopter giveaways end November 30th, 2017

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Book Blitz: This is Not a Werewolf Story By Sandra Evans - Excerpt + Giveaway

On Tour with Prism Book Tours.

Book Blitz for

This is Not a Werewolf Story By Sandra Evans

This Middle Grade Fantasy is perfect for Halloween! Full of fun and mystery, and set at a boarding school where everything isn't quite as it seems. Read the excerpt and enter the giveaway below...

Title: This is Not a Werewolf Story
Author: Sandra Evans
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publication Date: July 26th 2016
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Description: This is the story of Raul, a boy of few words, fewer friends, and almost no family. He is a loner—but he isn’t lonely. All week long he looks after the younger boys at One Of Our Kind Boarding School while dodging the barbs of terrible Tuffman, the jerk of a gym teacher. 
Like every other kid in the world, he longs for Fridays, but not for the usual reasons. As soon as the other students go home for the weekend, Raul makes his way to a lighthouse deep in the heart of the woods. There he waits for sunset—and the mysterious, marvelous phenomenon that allows him to go home, too. But the woods have secrets . . . and so does Raul. When a new kid arrives at school, they may not stay secret for long.

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Excerpt

Chapter 1

This is the chapter where the new kid runs so fast, Raul decides to talk 

New kid. New kid. The words fly around the showers and sinks. I can almost see them, flying up like chickadees startled from the holly tree in the woods.

All the boys are in the big bathroom on the second floor, washing up before breakfast. The littlest kids stand on tiptoe to peek out the windows that look onto the circle driveway.

I pick Sparrow up and hold him so he can see. He’s the littlest of the littles but the kid is dense--like a ton of bricks.

I can’t believe my eyes. No kid has ever come to the school on the back of a Harley. Not in all the years I’ve been here, and I’ve been here longer than anyone. The driver spins the back wheel and a bunch of gravel flies up.

The new kid is holding onto the waist of the driver. He must have a pretty good grip because the driver looks over his shoulder and tries to peel the kid’s fingers away one by one. Then the driver takes off his helmet. We all gasp, because it turns out the driver is a lady with long straight black hair.  

Next to me Mean Jack whistles. “What a doll!”

Mean Jack thinks he’s a mobster. A made man, that’s what he calls himself. I call him a numbskull, but not out loud.

About the Author

Sandra Evans is a writer and teacher from the Pacific Northwest. Her forthcoming middle grade novel, This is Not a Werewolf Story (Simon & Schuster July 2016), was inspired by her favorite 12th century French tale, Bisclavret, by Marie de France. Born in Washington state, Sandra spent her childhood on U.S. Navy bases from Florida to Hawaii, and returned to the Northwest as a teenager. Since then, she has lived and traveled in France and Europe, but has never strayed far for long from the Puget Sound region.

Website│Goodreads│Facebook│Twitter

Blitz Giveaway

2 winners will receive a print copy of THIS IS NOT A WEREWOLF STORY plus Swag

Open to UK and US entrants

Ends October 31st

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Release Celebration: My Unscripted Life By Lauren Morrill - Excerpt + Giveaway

On Tour with Prism Book Tours.

Release Celebration for
My Unscripted Life By Lauren Morrill

Excerpt & Note from the Author

I had just moved from Boston to Georgia, didn’t know anyone, and so was spending all my time binging The Vampire Diaries on Netflix. Someone on Twitter pointed out that it was filmed in Georgia, and so I did a little Googling and found out that they were hiring extras! I submitted a photo and my info, and the next day I got a call asking if I wanted to work.

I ended up doing several episodes of The Vampire Diaries (Ian Somerhalder talked to me!), and later some episodes of the spinoff show, The Originals. I fell in love with the crazy behind-the-scenes stuff that was happening on set and all the people on the crew who worked to make the magic happen. And so when I was starting to write my fourth novel, I knew I wanted to use a lot of the stuff I’d seen and learned on set.

And that’s how Dee wound up working as PA for a movie that comes to film in her small Georgia town. This scene is from the first chapter, when Dee and her bestie are talking about the fact that Naz will be heading off to Governor’s School soon, leaving Dee (who was rejected) home alone. And then fate drives by…

From Chapter 1 of My Unscripted Life…

A car pulls up to the stoplight in front of the cafe and screeches to a halt. It’s a compact, shiny black sports car, and right away I know the driver isn’t from around here. First of all, it’s about eleventy bajillion degrees outside, and the top of the convertible is up. And when the driver whips into a parallel spot directly in front of our sidewalk table, I know it for sure. Wilder residents have many skills, but parallel parking is not one of them, which is why there are always so many empty spots along Poplar Street downtown.

The door opens and an older man steps out, his silver hair mussed, partly due to some intricate styling and partly due to the fact that he keeps running his hand through it as he glances up and down the street. His crisp, dark denim jeans, boat shoes, and white oxford tell me he’s not only not from around here, he’s from way out of town. I can see the shadow of his passenger through the dark tinted windows.

His frantic gaze settles upon Nazaneen and me, though Naz is oblivious. At this point it would take a real live New York Met walking up to our table and sitting down to get her attention.

“Excuse me,” the guy says, crossing the sidewalk to our table, “do you know where Roff Avenue is?” He holds up his phone. “My GPS keeps trying to get me to turn onto the train tracks.”

I immediately wonder why a handsome, well-dressed guy in an Audi is asking for directions to the part of downtown Wilder where one would stash a body, if there were ever any actual murders in our tiny town.

“Yeah, actually your GPS isn’t wrong. Roff is immediately after the train tracks.” I curve my hand sharply to the left to show him the turn. “It doesn’t even look like a road, but it’s there.”

He stares at me, his eyebrows knit together to form a little canyon of skepticism on his forehead.

“Just trust me and turn,” I assure him. He looks down at his phone screen. “Thanks. You live around here?”

Something about his clipped tone makes me think he’s not looking for any long answers, so I just nod.

“Well, listen, we’re going to be setting up production on a film here.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a black leather case, smaller than a wallet, and from it he produces a crisp white card and passes it to me. Robert Lewin, it reads in shiny black letters, and underneath in italics, Producer, Director. I run my thumb over the raised letters and feel a rush of excitement through my core. This was not at all what I expected when he stepped out of the car. Lawyer? Sure. Doctor? Possibly. But a movie filming in Wilder? This is news that qualifies as a distraction. “We’re still looking to fill a couple PA spots. Just runner-type stuff, but still. If you’re looking for a summer internship, call my office. We can always use a few locals on set.”

It’s not as big a deal as an actual New York Met, but it’s enough to draw Naz’s attention from her phone screen and her floundering team. We’ve just heard that a movie is going to be filming in our small, so-sleepy-as-to-be-in-a-coma home-town.

Naz reaches for the card in my hand and flips it over, as if maybe she’s going to find the words “Just kidding!” printed on the other side.

“A movie? For real?” she asks.

“For real,” he replies. He sticks out his hand for me to shake. “Rob Lewin.” There’s a look on his face like maybe we might recognize the name, maybe even that we should, but I don’t. One glance over at Naz, who is giving him a purposely blank stare, tells me she doesn’t either. It’s not like we’re country bumpkins. We see plenty of movies, Once football season ends, it’s pretty much the only thing to do on a Friday night. And I could name most of the actors in them. I’ve just never really paid much attention to directors other than, you know, Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese (he’s a director, right?).

“Like, a real movie?” I ask.

“I don’t make fake ones,” he says.

Naz is still not convinced. “Who’s in this movie?” She manages to keep her hands from making the implied air quotes, but her voice betrays her heavy skepticism.

“Well, it stars Milo Ritter, and—” Rob begins.

“Oh my God,” I blurt out. My voice comes out as a whisper, which is good, because I worried it would be a shout.

“The singer?” Naz snorts. I know she’s thinking back to our slumber parties the summer between sixth and seventh grade, when we’d make up dances to Milo Ritter songs and perform them for her older sisters in their backyard. We both used to have a poster of him hugging a beagle puppy, his bright blue eyes and white smile beaming down at us from above our respective beds. He was only fifteen when he released his first album, so it was way too easy to crush on him.

Rob chuckles at the mix of shock and disdain. He glances over his shoulder, then back at us, his mouth quirked into a wry smile. “Yeah, the singer. He’s trying something new. This’ll be his first film.”

Naz chuckles too. She hands Rob’s card to me, apparently satisfied with his legitimacy. “Good thing,” she says. “His last album sucked out loud.”

“Naz!” I stare wide-eyed at her.

“What? It was like music to have a coma to,” she says, and shrugs.

I shoot Rob an apologetic smile and hold up his business card. “Thanks. I’ll have to check with my—” I stop myself just before I say “parents.” I barely look my seventeen-almost-eighteen years, so he has to know I’m in high school, but I don’t want to seem like a child. “I’ll think about it and get back to you.”

Rob nods. “You talk to your mom and dad and let me know,” he says. “Oh, and where’s a good place to eat around here?”

“The Diner,” Naz and I reply in unison.

“Best burgers in town,” I tell him, and point him down the road and around the corner and give him strict instructions to order the onion rings. He climbs back into the sports car and pulls away.

I watch the taillights disappear around the corner. “Okay, did that just happen, or am I having a stress-induced stroke?”

I feel light and tingly, like I’m in that hazy space between dreaming and awake. Naz, on the other hand, looks completely nonplussed.

“You’re definitely having a stroke if you’re thinking of calling that guy,” she replies.

“What? Why? It’s not like I have anything else to do this summer.”

Naz winces at the reminder of our impending separation. Even though I told her over and over not to, I know she feels guilty for leaving me. It’s not her fault the admissions committee immediately recognized her science genius but found my art two rungs below amateur.

“I’m pretty sure doing nothing is better than getting ax-murdered by some ‘director,’ ” she says. This time she definitely hooks her fingers into air quotes.

“You just don’t like him because he’s a Yankee fan.” I wave the business card in her face. “He’s legit!”

She snatches it from my grasp. “Lemme see about this.” She holds the card in one hand and her phone in the other, typing the name in with her thumb. Within seconds, the screen is filled with links topped by a row of photos of the man who was just standing in front of us.

“Oh my God, is that—” I point, and Naz taps the tiny photo until it fills the screen with Rob in a sharp black tuxedo clutching a shiny golden statue.

“Okay, so he might be legit,” Naz says. She clicks back and opens his ScreenData page. The list of credits for movies and TV shows looks endless—stuff he’s written, directed, produced. Some of the titles I recognize, but there’s not much listed that I’ve actually seen. Mostly stuff that gets talked about on the public radio station my parents listen to, mentioned in the same breath as all the major movie awards and festivals. Like I said, I like movies, but I’m not much of a film buff. But just from looking, it’s clear he’s definitely legit.

I take the business card back from Naz and stare at the text. I may not have a best friend, and my future may still be in question, but I may have just solved the summer-plans problem.

— Lauren

Title: My Unscripted Life

Author: Lauren Morrill

Genres: YA Contemporary

Formats: Hardcover & ebook, 288 pages

Publication Date: October 11th 2016
Publisher: Delacorte

Description: Perfect for fans of Jennifer E. Smith and Huntley Fitzpatrick, you'll love this funny and sweet contemporary romance about a Southern girl ready for a ho-hum summer until she meets the boy of her dreams who happens to be an international pop star.
Sometimes love stories go off script.
Another sultry Georgia summer is about to get a lot hotter. Dee Wilkie is still licking her wounds after getting rejected by the precollege fine arts program of her dreams. But if she'd gone away, she wouldn't have been around to say yes to an unbelievable opportunity: working on the set of a movie filming in her small Southern town that just happens to be starring Milo Ritter, the famous pop star Dee (along with the rest of the world) has had a crush since eighth grade.
It's not like Dee will be sharing any screen time with Milo—she's just a lowly PA. And Milo is so disappointingly rude that Dee is eager to stay far away from him. Except after a few chance meetings, she begins to wonder if just maybe there's a reason for his offensive attitude, and if there's more to Milo than his good looks and above-it-all Hollywood pedigree. Can a relationship with a guy like Milo ever work out for a girl like Dee? Never say never. . .

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Lauren Morrill is the author of YA novels Meant to Be, Being Sloane Jacobs, The Trouble With Destiny, and the forthcoming My Unscripted Life (Oct 11, 2016). When she’s not writing, she’s busy stalking the shelves of the bookstore and the library in Macon, GA, where she lives with her husband and son.

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Signed copy of Being Sloane Jacobs By Lauren Morrill 

US Only
Ends October 16th

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Cover Reveal: Love Me, Love Me Not by Alyxandra Harvey

YA Fantasy / Fairytale retelling of The Swan Maiden with a blood feud twist like Romeo & Juliet? Say whaaaat?

Welcome to the cover reveal for

Love Me, Love Me Not by Alyxandra Harvey

presented by Entangled Teen Crave!

Who else is excited for this book???

Sign up here to join the tour!

Dating isn’t easy when you’re in the middle of a blood feud.

Anastasia Vila’s family can turn into swans, but just once she’d like them to turn into responsible adults.

After hundreds of years, they still cling to the blood feud with the Renard family. No one remembers how it started in the first place—but foxes and swans just don’t get along.

Vilas can only transform into their swan shape after they have fallen in love for the first time, but between balancing schoolwork, family obligations, and the escalating blood feud, Ana’s got no time for love. The only thing keeping her sane is her best friend, Pierce Kent.

But when Pierce kisses Ana, everything changes.

Is what Pierce feels for her real, or a byproduct of her magic? Can she risk everything for her best friend? And when the family feud spirals out of control, Ana must stop the fight before it takes away everything she loves.

Including, maybe...Pierce.

This Entangled Teen Crave book contains language, violence, and lots of kissing. Warning: it might induce strong feelings of undeniable attraction for your best friend.

Love Me, Love Me Not by Alyxandra Harvey
Publication Date: February 22, 2016
Publisher: Entangled Teen Crave

Alyxandra Harvey lives in a stone Victorian house in Ontario, Canada with a few resident ghosts who are allowed to stay as long as they keep company manners. She loves medieval dresses, used to be able to recite all of The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson, and has been accused, more than once, of being born in the wrong century. She believes this to be mostly true except for the fact that she really likes running water, women’s rights, and ice cream. Aside from the ghosts, she also lives with her husband and their dogs. She likes cinnamon lattes, tattoos and books.

Connect with the author: Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads

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