Five awesome authors. Five books to read.

I'm a little late on these, but I'm super excited to share with you these new books written by talented authors. I've read most of them and loved 'em. The other two are waiting on my Kindle to be read. You should check them ALL out!

Shucked 

by Megg Jensen

Fifteen-year-old Tabitha has had the kind of life that would impress even the greatest adventurers. She's escaped a croc attack in the Amazon, walked the length of the Great Wall of China, and earned a black belt in taekwondo in Korea. She owes her worldly experience to her mother's career in archaeology, but when her mother takes on a dangerous new assignment, Tabitha is devastated to learn she can't tag along.

Instead, she's forced to live on a midwestern farm with her grandparents where she'll have to attend a full year of public school. It's Tabitha's greatest nightmare, because despite all her adventures, she has no practical experience with the one thing that frightens her the most - other teenagers.

Her math teacher is her mom's old high school boyfriend, she can't tell the friendly girls from the mean ones, and she develops a major crush on a boy she knows she can't trust. And just when she thinks she'll never get the hang of this normal teenager thing, an attack brings the danger of her previous life right up to her midwestern porch. Who could have ever guessed that getting totally shucked would bring her face-to-face with her most exciting adventure yet?

Red Line

Book 4 in the Full Throttle Series

by Lisa Nowak

Now that Jess DeLand has escaped her alcoholic mother’s grip, all she wants is a chance to be normal. To hang out with her wisecracking-but-intuitive boyfriend Cody, learn as much she can about restoring cars from her mentor Kasey, and fill in as substitute big sister to Rhett when her friend Teri Sue goes off to college. But when her past crashes headlong into her present, all hopes of normal go spinning off into the weeds. Jess’s attempts to spare her friends—and herself—from the things she’d rather keep hidden, threaten to destroy the new life she’s built. Maybe normal is too much to ask for.

Found

Penny Black Series #1

by Stacey Wallace Benefiel

Penny Black hasn’t had it easy. Just about everything you’d expect to happen to a harassed foster-kid turned junkie has happened to Penny. Add in the mysterious power to rewind time, conducting events around her, and it’s a wonder she held up on the streets for so many years. Now, at seventeen, the New Society has found her. Finally, Penny is where she belongs. But that doesn’t stop the visions, or the need to protect the victims shown to her.

Wyatt Adams is excited and intrigued when his sister Melody assigns him to be Penny’s Lookout. Being the youngest, and hopelessly ordinary in the family that created the New Society, has left Wyatt feeling like he has a lot to prove -- and Penny is a big deal. She’s got abilities that surpass any he’s seen before…and pretty much every quality he looks for in a girlfriend, but no one needs to know about that, especially Penny.

Soul Catcher

The Soulkeeper Series Book 4

by GP Ching

Dane Michaels has been to Hell and back and isn't interested in repeating the experience. But as a human caught up in the Soulkeeper's world, his life isn't exactly his own. No one can explain why Dane was allowed through the gates of Eden, but it's changed everything. Now, the only one who can make him feel safe is Ethan, the telekinetic Soulkeeper with a dark past and a heart of gold.

When Malini asks Dane to be part of a mission to find the last Soulkeeper, Cheveyo, more than one team member thinks she's tempting Fate. But Malini suspects Fate has had a hand in Dane's life for some time and that he could be the key to unraveling Lucifer's latest plan of attack.

Still Nights

A Novella (adults only)

by Jasmine Davis

Being in control of her anger was always an issue for Sam. Violent outbursts followed by amnesia were business as usual, until she was caught dealing drugs and bounced off the force. After that, she sets out to become a new woman—seeks counseling, stops drinking, and becomes a useless piece of crap that sits on the couch all day long. One night, she receives a worrisome call from her ex-lover and mother of her adopted son. She rushes out into a raging storm to locate her. What she finds would scare the shit out of any man or woman, and it lands her in a life threatening predicament.

Fans of American Horror Story will enjoy STILL NIGHTS

Introducing DRIVEN by Lisa Nowak

The last thing on 16-year-old Jess DeLand’s wish list is a boyfriend. She’d have to be crazy to think any guy would look twice at her. Besides, there are more important things to hope for, like a job working on cars and an end to her mom’s drinking. Foster care is a constant threat, and Jess is willing to sacrifice anything to stay out of the system. When luck hands her the chance to work on a race car, she finds herself rushing full throttle into a world of opportunities—including a boy who doesn’t mind the grease under her fingernails. The question is, can a girl who keeps herself locked up tighter than Richard Petty’s racing secrets open up enough to risk friendship and her first romance?

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“The first romance is captured beautifully—just the right combination of natural and awkward, of eager and scared.”

~ Bob Martin, writing professor, Pacific Northwest College of Art

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• Buy it on Smashwords

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In addition to being a YA author, Lisa Nowak is a retired amateur stock car racer, an accomplished cat whisperer, and a professional smartass. She writes coming-of-age books about kids in hard luck situations who learn to appreciate their own value after finding mentors who love them for who they are. She enjoys dark chocolate and stout beer and constantly works toward employing wei wu wei in her life, all the while realizing that the struggle itself is an oxymoron. Lisa has no spare time, but if she did she’d use it to tend to her expansive perennial garden, watch medical dramas, take long walks after dark, and teach her cats to play poker. For those of you who might be wondering, she is not, and has never been, a diaper-wearing astronaut. She lives in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband, four feline companions, and two giant sequoias.

• Lisa's blog
• Follow Lisa on Twitter
• Like Lisa's Facebook page
• Subscribe to Lisa's newsletter for upcoming releases

Someday Famous YA Author -- Lisa Nowak

I've talked about this talented author a couple times before. We met a few months ago while on the Rain Boots Required YA Author Tour. She's smart, funny, and writes awesome stories. She was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about her writing and the Full Throttle series.

A Little About Lisa

Lisa is the author of Running Wide Open and Getting Sideways, a retired amateur stock car racer, an accomplished cat whisperer, and a professional smartass. She lives in Milwaukie, Oregon with her husband, four cats, and two giant sequoias.

A Little About Lisa Q and A Style

1. What inspired you to write this series?

Getting to know the racing community. I was really impressed by this particular subculture of American society. They’re the kind of people who will fight fiercely on the track, then turn around and lend a part to a competitor in the pits. They’re willing to take anybody in as one of their own. Sure, they might think you’re a little odd if you don’t fit the mold, but since you love racing, you’re one of them. Not that they don’t have their rivalries and squabbles. But I guess all families are like that, right? In fact, that’s probably the perfect analogy. The racing community is like one big family. They might not like everything you do, but they love you, and they’ll stick up for you.

2. Who got you interested in racing? Tell us a little about your career as a race car driver.

There wasn’t really any one person who got me interested. I started teaching myself how to work on cars after I took the first one I owned (a ’72 Gremlin) to a shop and felt like I got ripped off. I’ve always been pretty independent (go figure, an indie author who’s independent) and a tomboy, so it was only natural for me to want to know how to work on my own car. That led to an interest in cars in general, which led to racing.

I started competing in the Street Stock division at Eugene Speedway in 1987. That was the community I truly fell in love with. I dedicated my first book to them. My most memorable experience there was rolling my car, and it was more fun than scary, though the repairs afterward weren’t exactly a picnic. After four years, I moved to Hickory, North Carolina because I was obsessed with the sport. Back then, if you lived anywhere but the South, only diehard fans cared about it. I spent almost five years there, racing at Hickory Motor Speedway and Tri-county Speedway, but I wasn’t very competitive. I’d say I spent more time learning how to build cars than driving them. It was a valuable experience, though, because I really came to enjoy the metal fabrication process. In 1995, I moved back to Oregon and raced at Portland Speedway in the Limited Sportsman division until they tore up the asphalt and went to dirt in 2000. They closed entirely the year after that.

These days I sponsor a driver at Sunset Speedway. Last year it was a 12-year-old boy, and next season it’ll be his 15-year-old brother, who took the Pure Stock championship in 2011 before he was even old enough to have a drivers’ license. Being a sponsor is so much less stressful than building and driving a car. Stock car racing can be a fairly high-contact sport, even though it’s not intended to be, which results in a lot of maintenance and repairs. It’s like having a second full time job, only one that takes all your money instead of paying you.

3. Gardening and racing. Two occupations at opposite ends of a spectrum, yet you enjoy them both. One is full of excitement and adrenaline, and the other, well, not. Does one cancel out the other to keep you balanced? What aspects of each do you love the most?

“Balance” is a good way of putting it, Angela. In fact Cody (my MC) talks about that very concept in Getting Sideways, only the “yin” to his racing “yang” is karate. I was just getting into gardening when I was driving, and it did seem to be therapeutic. Now, as a landscaper and a writer, I’ve found that the physical aspect of the landscaping balances the mental aspect of writing. It’s been very helpful to me to have two distinctly different ways to spend my time. When I’m getting too much of the one, I can rely on the other to bring me back into balance.

4. What more adventures are in store for Cody? How many books can we expect from this series?

There are five books in the series, but they’re not all written from Cody’s point of view. After the first two, Jess comes into the picture. She’s Cody’s love interest. Only she’s not really that hot on having a boyfriend, especially not Cody. She mistakes him for a player and doesn’t want anything to do with him at first. As the daughter of an alcoholic, and a girl mechanic struggling to be taken seriously, she has some trust issues. Jess narrates Driven and Redline, which will be published in 2012. The last book, which doesn’t have a title yet, is written from a split POV.

5. What is one question that you'd like to answer that hasn't been asked of you yet? And answer the question.

Why did you write a contemporary realistic boy book? Are you flippin’ crazy?

I guess I probably am. I never thought about marketing when I started this series, I just wrote about a subject that was near and dear to my heart. Writing from a boy’s perspective is a lot of fun for me. There seems to be a fifteen-year-old boy living inside my head, and frankly it kinda sucks because he hogs all the pizza.

Thanks, Lisa!

Thanks for hosting me, Angela. :)

Running Wide Open and Getting Sideways are now available! I know you'll want to purchase them now, so here are the links:

Running Wide Open: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

Getting Sideways: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. 

To find more about Lisa, you can check her out on these sites:

Blog: http://lisanowak.wordpress.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Lisa_Nowak
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LisaNowakAuthor
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/LisaNowakNewsletter

Getting Sideways by Lisa Nowak (who is very awesome, btw)

Getting Sideways: Book 2 in the Full Throttle Series Getting shipped off to live with his uncle Race was the best thing that ever happened to fifteen-year-old Cody. Then a wreck at the speedway nearly ruined everything. Cody’s making every effort to get his life back on track—writing for the school paper, searching for the perfect girlfriend, and counting the days until he gets his drivers’ license—but there’s no escaping the nightmares that haunt him. A chance to build his own car seems like the perfect distraction. Until Cody realizes he’ll have to live up to Race’s legendary status. But that’s the least of his worries, considering he doesn’t have his dad’s permission. All he has to do is the impossible: keep Race from discovering his lie until he can convince his dad that racing’s safe. Yeah, sure. That’ll be easy.

• Buy it on Amazon
• Buy it at Barnes and Noble
• Buy it on Smashwords

Haven't read the first book? Running Wide Open is on sale now for 99 cents. Running Wide Open: Book 1 in the Full Throttle Series Cody Everett has a temper as hot as the flashpoint of racing fuel, and it's landed him at his uncle's trailer, a last-chance home before military school. But how can he take the guy seriously when he calls himself Race, eats Twinkies for breakfast, and pals around with rednecks who drive in circles every Saturday night? What Cody doesn't expect is for the arrangement to work. Or for Race to become the friend and mentor he's been looking for all his life. But just as Cody begins to settle in and get a handle on his supercharged temper, a crisis sends his life spinning out of control. Everything he's come to care about is threatened, and he has to choose between falling back on his old, familiar anger or stepping up to prove his loyalty to the only person he's ever dared to trust. Praise for Running Wide Open: "It doesn’t matter if you are a racing fan or not, Running Wide Open will captivate you and capture your heart." – Cari J, Amazon reviewer “The roar of engines practically explodes off the page in this compelling, heart-thumping debut. Cody Everett is a straight-shooter with attitude, smarts, and whip-cracking wit; he doesn’t pull any punches, and neither does author Lisa Nowak. The collision of Cody and the world of stock car racing makes for a great story, one of the best I’ve read in a long time. Running Wide Open is a book not to be missed.” - Christine Fletcher, author of Tallulah Falls and Ten Cents a Dance "The racing is easy to understand and does not get in the way of a rattling good story. I still couldn’t put it down on a re-read." – Elisabeth Miles, Amazon reviewer "We race stock cars during the summer and even though this is a recommended read for Young Adults, we are seniors and enjoyed every page. We can hardly wait for the sequel to come out. MUST READING!" – Maxci Jermann, Barnes and Noble reviewer "I say read this book, it’s fun, it’s beautiful, it’s a very cool read that will give you a feel-good state of mind. Awesome read." - L.E.Olteano, Butterfly-o-meter Books

• Buy it on Amazon
• Buy it at Barnes and Noble
• Buy it on Smashwords

Author Bio: In addition to being a YA author, Lisa Nowak is a retired amateur stock car racer, an accomplished cat whisperer, and a professional smartass. She writes coming-of-age books about kids in hard luck situations who learn to appreciate their own value after finding mentors who love them for who they are. She enjoys dark chocolate and stout beer and constantly works toward employing wei wu wei in her life, all the while realizing that the struggle itself is an oxymoron. Lisa has no spare time, but if she did she’d use it to tend to her expansive perennial garden, watch medical dramas, take long walks after dark, and teach her cats to play poker. For those of you who might be wondering, she is not, and has never been, a diaper-wearing astronaut. She lives in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband, four feline companions, and two giant sequoias. Connect with Lisa online:

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/Lisa_Nowak
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LisaNowakAuthor
• Google +: http://bit.ly/LisaNowakGooglePlus
• Blog: http://lisanowak.wordpress.com/
• Subscribe to her newsletter for updates about coming attractions: http://bit.ly/LisaNowakNewsletter