Weekly Preview & Giveaway (2)

Welcome to week two of my new feature where I preview what I will be reviewing this week and also where you get a chance to enter to win one of the books I am reading this week plus two books from my giveaway page.  All you have to do to enter is leave your name and email in the Rafflecopter below.  All other entries are optional.  Open to US/Canada only, ends 10/22.  Please note The Concert Killer,
Second Hand Heart, Change of Heart, and Amongst the Ruins are not part of the giveaway - I read the ebook version.

First up last week's winner is: 

Audrey (email starts with:  arho...)  

Audrey will be notified tomorrow, but if you are Audrey and you see this before my email feel free to email me at crystalfulcher(at)ec.rr.com

Up for Review:

The Comfort of Home by Jodi Thomas (review, giveaway and guest post on Tuesday)

In Harmony, Texas, twenty-year-old Reagan Truman has found her place, and found her family. But with her uncle taken ill and her friend Noah lost and disheartened with his life, Reagan is afraid of ending up alone again, and she's not the only one. When a terrible storms threatens the town, the residents of Harmony are forced to think about what they really want. Because making the connections they so desperately desire means putting their hearts at risk...

Unnatural and Unwelcome by Michael Griffo (reviews with Teen Book Scene Tuesday)

Unnatural:

In the town of Eden in northwestern England stands the exclusive boarding school known as Archangel Academy. Ancient and imposing, it’s a place filled with secrets. Just like its students…

For Michael Howard, being plucked from his Nebraska hometown and sent thousands of miles away is as close as he’s ever come to a miracle. In Weeping Water, he felt trapped, alone. At Archangel Academy, Michael belongs. And in Ciaran, Penry, and especially Ciaran’s enigmatic half-brother Ronan, Michael finds friendship deeper than he’s ever known.

But Michael’s only beginning to understand what makes the Academy so special. Ronan is a vampire—part of a hybrid clan who are outcasts even among other vampires. Within the Academy’s confines exists a ruthless world of deadly rivalries and shifting alliances, of clandestine love and forbidden temptations. And soon Michael will confront the destiny that brought him here—and a danger more powerful than he can imagine…

Unwelcome:

Archangel Academy is more than a school to Michael Howard. Within its majestic buildings and serene English grounds, he's found friends, new love, and a place that feels more like home than Nebraska ever did. But the most important gift of Archangel Academy is immortality. . .

Life as a just-made vampire is challenging for Michael, even with Ronan, an experienced vamp, to guide him. Michael's abilities are still raw and unpredictable. To add to the turmoil, the ancient feud between rival vampire species is sending ripples of discord through the school. And beneath the new headmaster's charismatic front lies a powerful and very personal agenda.

Yet the mysteries lurking around the Academy pale in comparison to the secrets emerging from Michael's past. And choosing the wrong person to trust—or to love—could lead to an eternity of regret. . .

Baby, It's Cold Outside by Susan May Warren (Litfuse Publicity tour Wednesday)

Five strangers with broken hearts. One raging blizzard. Brrr, baby, it’s cold outside! But a warm fire and a string of Christmas lights just might provide the perfect remedy.

It's been years since Edith Miller hosted the annual Snowflake, MN, Christmas Extravaganza. After her
son was killed in the war, some five years ago, her Christmas spirit died along with him. So she is more than happy to loan all her Christmas decorations to Stella Hanson, the new teacher in town. After all, what does she have to celebrate?

But when the blizzard of the decade traps Stella—and four other wanderers—in Edith’s home, Edith finds that by opening her door, she just might open her heart to a new reason celebrate Christmas.

The Concert Killer by R.J. McDonnell (ebook, guest blog, review Thursday)

A religious fanatic serial killer, who hates rock music, tries to shut down the concert industry. A group of independent concert promoters hire private investigator Jason Duffy and his staff of former outpatient mental health clients to catch him. The killer believes that God rewards His favorites with the most money, and keeps score of his victims on the back of a dollar bill. Jason uses his background as a counselor and club musician to battle his cleverest and most twisted adversary ever.

The author of the 2010 Mystery/Thriller of the Year, Rock & Roll Rip-Off, once again adds LOL humor in between compelling action scenes. Besides offering readers a backstage pass to the music industry, The Concert Killer brings to light a potentially catastrophic danger that few have ever considered.

A Necessary Deception by Laurie Alice Eakes (Revell blog tour review, Friday)

When young widow Lady Lydia Gale helps a French prisoner obtain parole, she never dreamed he would turn up in her parlor. But just as the London Season is getting under way, there he is, along with a few other questionable personages. While she should be focused on helping her headstrong younger sister prepare for her entré into London society, Lady Lydia finds herself preoccupied with the mysterious Frenchman. Is he a spy or a suitor? Can she trust him? Or is she putting her family in danger?

Readers will enjoy being drawn into this world of elegance and intrigue, balls and masquerades. Author Laurie Alice Eakes whisks readers through the drawing rooms of London amid the sound of rustling gowns on this exciting quest to let the past stay in the past and let love guide the future.

Second Hand Heart by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Author this or that post, Teen Book Scene tour, Friday)

Vida is 19 and has never had much of a life. Struggling along with a life-threatening heart condition, her whole life has been one long preparation for death. But suddenly she is presented with a donor heart, and just in time. Now she gets to do something she never imagined she'd have to do: live.

Richard is a 36-year-old man who’s just lost his beloved wife, Lorrie, in a car accident. Still in shock and not even having begun the process of grieving, he is invited to the hospital to meet the young woman who received his wife’s donor heart.

Vida takes one look at Richard and feels she’s loved him all her life. And tells him so. Richard assumes she’s just a foolish young girl. And maybe she is. Or maybe there’s truth behind the theory of cellular memory, and maybe it really is possible for a heart to remember, at least for a time, on its own.

Second Hand Heart is both a story of having to learn to live for the first time, and having to learn to live all over again.

Change of Heart by Jackie Chanel (review for the Blog Tour de Force on Saturday, ebook)

Millions of adoring fans...loving and devoted parents...fantastic friends...the world belongs to Asia Pierce, at least she thinks so.

There is only one thing that eludes the girl who has it all...unconditional and everlasting love. Asia wants what every woman wants, the fairytale. And Asia always gets what she wants.

With three men vying for her heart, Asia has a decision to make. Who can she trust? Which one will love her the most? The answer is right in front of her. But will years of bad judgement and one bad romance cloud her judgement? Will one more bad decision make her miss out on the best thing that has ever happened to her?

Change of Heart will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride as Asia's career and love life spiral out of control until she makes the decision that will change her life forever.

Amongst the Ruins (The Chronicles of 2020 #1) by Saewod Tice (author interview for Sizzling PR tour)

In the year 2220, only about 15% of Earth's population have survived and thrived after the Nuclear Disaster of 2020.

With the collapse of modern society, the population has regressed into eight clans.

Amongst these clans, an unusual girl grows from child to adult.

Raised on the run and in hiding, Shilo wants to be free of the expectations of women. But in a ruined world where anyone could be an enemy, only the radiation-twisted mutants are clearly identifiable. A fertile female is a precious treasure, and any lapse in caution can mean a loss of the freedom she longs for.

Training as hard as a soldier would, in order to free herself from social constraints, she finds herself faced with an offer from a new clan--an offer that provides her with what she desires. But her recently found independence brings discovery, and discovery brings two very different men from her past—and each of them is determined to claim her.

One is obsessed with owning her, the other desires her as the only person who can make him love again