TRANSFER STUDENT BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY

TRANSFER STUDENT is the latest novel from Laura A. H. Elliott and will release on Amazon and Barnes & Noble March 20th. Here’s a little bit about the novel and an excerpt written from Ashley’s POV about her obsession with Rhoe’s best friend, Yuke. Be sure to read to the end to enter to win the EBOOK GIVEAWAY and this week’s SWAG!

Two Worlds––Two Teens––One Wish

Geek Rhoe and Surfer Ashley would never be friends.


Even if they lived on the same planet.


But, they’ll become so much more.


They’ll transfer.

Earthling Ashley’s world revolves around winning daily popularity contests at Beverly Hills High School and surfing competitions with sweet scholarship prizes that will finally help her break free of her control-freak mother. Ashley never loses. Ashley never wishes on stars. But that changes when her senior class takes a field trip to the Griffith Observatory where Ashley’s conflicting feelings about her predatory best frenemy Tiffany, throws Ashley’s carefully-crafted Queen of B.H.H.S. title under the bus.

Meanwhile on planet Retha, Rhoe misses his dad, loves his mom’s home-cooked Glechy crag with a side of Ory sauce, is desperate to heal his sick brother and wants more than anything to win The Retha New Invention Competition. He and his best friend Yuke have worked for the past two years constructing the teleporting telescope Rhoe started building with his dad before an accident killed him. Rhoe’s never kissed a girl. Rhoe’s hero is the eccentric physicist, Ramay. But that changes when the telescope teleports Rhoe across the universe with an unintended side-effect. Ashley and Rhoe transfer––swap lives––when they make the same wish at the same time.

Popular-surfer-turned-boy-geek alien Ashley must handle life on Retha as Rhoe complete with webbed feet, low-gravity, and an obsession with Yuke, all the while being hunted by Rethan spies and resenting her hairy, flat chest. Boy-geek-turned-popular-surfer Rhoe must fit in at Beverly Hills High School as Ashley, compete in The Laguna Beach Invitational without becoming shark food, dodge boys’ affections, cool his preoccupation with Tiffany and his new body, on his quest to find the healing rocks he believes will save his brother’s life.

If only it were that simple. Some wishes can’t come true. Some have to. How far would you go for someone you love?

EXCERPT:

Yuke catches up to me. We walk side-by-side in silence through the Golden Meadow. The airboard launch, a sort of gigantic upside-down slide, peeks over a row of Truffula Trees.

      “Listen, there are three things you have to remember about soaring. You’ll never soar if your mind is on the ground. Put it up on The Ridge,” Yuke says, pointing to a purple-blue mountain ahead of us. “Rhoe taught me that.”

   The way he says Rhoe I know it’s happened. He knows. He really knows I’m not Rhoe, I’m…Ashley. It’s sunk in. Finally. I stop walking and can hardly breathe. It’s the first time he’s ever seen the real me, and his gaze warms me down to my frog-feet. Yuke spots the question in my eyes.

   “The Ridge of No Return,” he says with a small smile, “It’s the prime place to catch air. But beware The Devil’s Grip. Soar too high and you’ll be caught in The Grip and lost to The Other Side. Forever.”

   He misreads the question in my eyes. Again. I shiver thinking about The Grip and dying in the mythic ice and snow of The Other Side. I stare at my hideous frog-feet, my peds. I don’t care about The Ridge. There’s only one person I care about. One boy I’ll never have. Yuke.

   “What else?” I ask, peering deeper into Yuke’s alien eyes.

   “You’ve got to feel the beat of the wind in your peds. Surrender to the air. And know, deep in your hearts, no one is its master.”

   I hear and don’t hear every word Yuke says. For the first time in my life I can’t speak. I can’t take my eyes off Yuke, now that he knows I’m not Rhoe. He wouldn’t be telling his best friend, an Astral, how to airboard unless he knows I’m Ashley, someone who doesn’t know much about soaring.

   “Your catchers will always stop you if you fall,” Yuke says, filling the silence between us. He raises his arms above his head. Delicate wings expand out from under his arms. Thin pinkish-purple skin stretches over delicate, long bones. No feathers at all. Just smooth, glimmering skin. And it’s crazy. A week ago I wouldn’t even look twice at a guy with a big nose, but now, I’m hot for an alien. With wings. He’s that hot. 

   I have to touch him. It’s beyond wanting to. The way Yuke spreads his wings makes his pecs flare and his biceps seize. He’s beyond gorgeous. The way his sheer wings take to the breeze makes Yuke more unreal than he already is to me. He’s everything I never wanted and everything I can’t live without. It feels like we’re the only souls in the universe. The look in his golden exotic eyes melts my ability to stay away from him.

   “You can’t be real,” I say taking a few steps closer to him, holding my hand out to touch his wing. Waiting for him to let me. To know it’s OK. He flexes and lets his head fall back a little inviting my touch. I lay my alien fingers on his smooth taught skin, and run them over his wing’s thin hollow bones. My eyes fill with tears. His wings flutter in a breeze. He’s beautiful.

   Yuke sticks his chest out and when he drops his arms his catchers vanish back into his biceps. “I can’t let you soar. Not now,” he says, the crowd cheers just beyond the trees.

   Only then do I remember where we are. What we’re here to do. A band begins to play a set of songs. The crowd beyond the row of trees cheers again and again.

   “I have to. I’m doing this for Rhoe,” I say.

   Yuke puts his hand on my shoulder. I shudder.

   “And for me,” I say.

   Yuke’s golden eyes focus only on mine, on the Earthling inside of this alien body.

   “And for you,” I say, feeling the beat of my hearts in my throat. “We’re going to win this damn thing.”

GIVEAWAY:

Here’s how to enter to WIN A TRANSFER STUDENT EBOOK here today! Just follow @Laurawriting and tweet: [leave a comment here with your link-- Winner announced here tomorrow!]

TRANSFER STUDENT by @Laurawriting RELEASE DAY 3/20! Blog Tour & Giveaway! #teenreads #scifi #romance #ya http://wp.me/P1J9jx-bs

THAT’S NOT ALL:

Every week all comments are entered to win some great swag too! THIS WEEK’S SWAG: EXPEDITION TO THE STARS 3-D MODEL, an IN-N-OUT Burger T-SHIRT, signed bookmarks, Griffith Park Observatory postcards, real meteorite fragments, Space Shuttle Commemorative playing cards! Check out the weekly swag here: http://wp.me/P1J9jx-bs

THIS WEEK’S GIVEAWAY OPEN UNTIL MARCH 19! 6PM PST. 1 swag winner will be picked. Open internationally!

Laura loves writing about enchanted road trips, birthday gifts that are out of this world, and alien romance while eating lots of popcorn. She’s the author of Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale inspired by her life-long love of a little-known town, Avenal, CA, and her equal love of enchanted teenage road trips. 13 on Halloween is the first book in the Teen Halloween Series. 14 on Halloween, book 2 in the Teen Halloween series, will be released in the summer of 2012. Her new release, TRANSFER STUDENT will be available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble March 20^th.

To find out where in the world Laura is and more about her upcoming books, visit her blog Laurasmagicday: http://laurasmagicday.wordpress.com/ and friend her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Laura.A.H.Elliott... If Twitter is your thing she's @Laurawriting. Or, drop her a line at elliwrite [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Laura is a plume-carrying member of THE PARANORMAL PLUME SOCIETY, and is also a member of The YA INDIE CARNIVAL & THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST YA AUTHORS as well as a member of the SCBWI.

Blog Tour Stop: Channeler's Choice by Heather McCorkle

To celebrate the release of Channeler's Choice I'm doing a blog tour that launches today and goes through March 17^th along with a giveaway. Here are the prizes:

Winner #1:

An eBook of Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper

An eBook of Running Wide Open by Lisa Nowak

An eBook of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll (if you don’t have a copy yet, or a paperback if you don't have an reader)

A paperback of Born Of Fire & Dies Irae (novella combination by Heather McCorkle and Christine Fonseca released through Compass Press)

And of course, Channeler’s Choice swag (bookmarks, postcards, etc.)

Winner #2

An eBook of Beautiful Demons & Inner Demons by Sarra Cannon

An eBook of Bound by C.K. Bryant

An eBook of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll (if you don’t have a copy yet, or a paperback if you don't have an ereader)

A paperback of Born Of Fire & Dies Irae (novella combination by Heather McCorkle and Christine Fonseca released through Compass Press)

And of course, Channeler’s Choice swag (bookmarks, postcards, etc.)

Stop by Heather's blog to enter!

Channeler's Choice is available here:

Amazon 

Barnes and Noble

The Book Depository

Here is a bit about Channeler's Choice:

With her parents’ murderer’s dead, Eren can finally concentrate on fitting in at Spruce Knoll High, not to mention figuring out what it means to be a channeler. If only it were that easy. It turns out she isn’t normal even among channelers - she may be a legendary warrior meant to protect the earth in a last great battle.

But Mayan prophecies are the least of her worries as she involuntarily starts to gather her own Society, another girl moves in on Aiden, her powers rage out of control, and worst of all, someone is stalking her. To top it all off, Eren discovers she doesn’t have to be a channeler after all - she has a choice.

As an old threat closes in and she risks ending up like her parents, she is forced to decide. Be a normal teenager and leave the legendary warrior stuff to someone else, or embrace a dark destiny?

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