Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Bloggers choose two
sentences out of our current read to peak others' curiosity.
Rouge by Leigh Talbert Moore
Teaser:
"Out with a gentleman at this hour? Without a chaperone?" Rosa cried. "Gavin'd hae a guard posted at the door if that happened."
Trapped in the underground theater world of 1890s New Orleans, Hale Ferrer has only one goal: escape. But not without Teeny, the orphan-girl she rescued from the streets and promised to protect.
Freddie Lovel, Hale's wealthy Parisian suitor, seems to be the easy solution. If only his touch could arouse her interest like Beau's, the penniless stagehand who captures her heart.
Denying her fears, Hale is poised to choose love until an evil lurking in their cabaret-home launches a chain of events that could cost her everything.
Top Ten is an original feature/weekly meme created here at
I am very excited to read this series. I will be doing a review stop for the tour on January 1st. The books sound very exciting and I just love the covers!
The Doorknob Society by M.J. Fletcher
YA Urban Fantasy/ SteamPunk/Paranormal
February 9, 2012
Free right now on Amazon!
Chloe Masters’s world changed in a heartbeat - and all she did was touch a doorknob.
When she was young Chloe’s mother vanished. Wracked by feelings of abandonment and anger she lost herself traveling with her father's magic act, where illusions were part of her everyday life. Yet everything changes when they are pursued by a mysterious man in black out to kill her father. Touching a doorknob activates abilities she never knew she had and she finds herself thrust into a world of ancient societies and secrets.
When her father disappears it is a race against time to find answers before she loses what is left of her family. Now Chloe must choose who to trust, the man who will do anything for her or the one she can’t stop thinking about.
We stood outside the arched wooden door while Jess texted Nightshade that we were there. The cold night air was starting to take a toll and I wrapped my arms around myself rubbing my sides to keep warm. Slade stepped behind me, placed his hands on the sides of my arms and ran them up and down warming me up until I wanted to melt against him.
The door creaked opened, Nightshade stood framed in the archway. He wore jeans with his ever present skeleton key belt buckle. He was shirtless; his chest was not as thick as Slade’s though well-defined with a natural cut of muscles and with a patch of hair running across it. He lifted his hand sliding it through his messed hair. He glanced lazily around to each of us until he rested on me —or more precisely— Slade’s hands on me and then he shifted his attention to my face and I could have sworn I saw annoyance in his eyes.
“Jess, you didn’t tell me you were bringing Paladin’s cutest couple.” He laughed and stepped aside waving us in.
Slade’s hands tensed on my arms and I grabbed one squeezing it gently and held on to it.
“Sorry, Jimmy.” Jess smiled and stood next to Nightshade after entering
“No problem, beautiful,” he said. His fingers slid across her cheek and she blushed.
He swung the door closed after Edgar, the last one to enter. We followed him up the stairs to a large open room that contained a couple of couches, a small kitchen tucked off to one side, and a breakfast bar and two stools protruding at the end.
“We need some help, Jimmy,” Jess said as he walked to the fridge, pulled it open and pulled out a can of soda. He turned and flipped it in the air toward Eddie who caught it and smiled.
“Thanks, Nightshade.” Eddie popped the top and drank.
“Anyone else? Lovebirds, I could give you two straws.”
“That’s it, Nightshade, one more comment…” Slade headed for him his hand pulled back in a massive fist.
Nightshade laughed and leaned against the kitchen counter and smirked. “Anytime you want to try Slade you go right ahead.”
His mocking grin made my blood boil. “This was a mistake.”
“What’s a mistake?” Nightshade asked.
As much as I wanted to leave, I needed Nightshade’s help. I grabbed my phone, clicked the photo of the list of names and slid it across the breakfast bar to him. He picked it up and looked over the list.
“Okay so?”
“The SKG member on the list do you know him?” I stared into his strange colored eyes and waited for an answer, hoping and praying it wouldn’t be some lie to further his own ends.
“I recognize the name.”
“Can you help us find him?” I asked.
“No,” he said not even giving it thought.
“What? Why not?” My frustration leapt but I caught it before it reached my tongue and I spit words at him that I’d regret since I desperately needed his help.
“Jess.” He turned away from me to her. ‘What’s going on? Why are you helping non-guilders?”
“They took… Gran.” As soon as Jess mentioned Gran her control slipped. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she started to tremble.
I moved to comfort her but Nightshade was there before me. He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her against him. She buried her head in his chest and sobbed. He pressed his cheek against hers whispering something in her ear that I couldn’t make out. He stroked her hair as he did, and I watched in amazement at how caring and loving he could be when I had known only his sardonic side.
Nightshade looked directly at me. “Give us a minute.” He then took Jess and they walked out of the room and I heard a door close down the hallway.
“What was that all about?” Slade asked.
“She’s upset. It’s been a rough night,” I said as I slid down on the couch beside Edgar.
“I guess,” Slade said as he sat on the opposite couch. “Though I doubt it hurts that Nightshade’s half naked.” He laughed.
“What are you talking about?” I snapped annoyed at what his humor suggested.
“Didn’t you see the way she looked at him? I think Jess was angling for more than some comfort.” Slade winked.
“She’s just upset.” I got even more annoyed when Slade raised his hands in mock defeat. I didn’t like what he was implying. We’d been through a lot and I doubted Jess was thinking about getting James alone. And it’s not like Nightshade would fall for that anyway, his conniving nature would see right through it.
Time seemed to slow down as we waited. Eddie rested his head back on the couch and was asleep within minutes. Slade was next stretching out on the other couch and drifting off to sleep. I sat alone with my thoughts, growing ever more frustrated that Jess and Nightshade had disappeared on us. I mean seriously, people, we’re running for our lives and she goes off with some guy and why? Because he’s hot with his shirt off?
After an hour I heard the click of a door and approaching footsteps. Nightshade entered still shirtless, his hair messier than before if that was possible. He looked around the room at the others sleeping and waved his hand for me to follow him. I got up quietly trying not to wake Eddie, who snored and rolled over on his side into a ball on the couch.
We left the room and at the end of the hall he touched a skeleton key on the wall and it fell away revealing a spiral staircase. James headed down; I took a deep breath and followed.
The staircase ended in a massive room filled with various makes and models of cars while several images of skeleton keys hung on the walls. In the middle of the room sat an old-fashioned car. It was deep blue and had red flames on the hood. James was standing by a workbench and grabbed a t-shirt off it and slid it on.
“What’s all this?”
“My garage, it’s quiet down here. We can talk and your friends can rest.”
“Talk about what?” I asked leaning up against the old-fashioned car. Nightshade stepped toward me, reached out and took hold of my arm. I looked down at his hand and back at him, and then he pulled me forward. My breath caught and I didn’t move.
“That’s a classic Hudson Hornet, please don’t lean on it.”
I pushed his hand off me and stepped away. Men and their stupid cars. “Whatever, are you going to help us or not?”
“Jess, told me what’s going on. It seems pretty serious and it’s a damn bold plan, I give you credit for that.” He grinned.
“But?” I knew something was coming, though I didn’t know what.
“I don’t know if I’m willing to stick my neck out for the lot of you.”
“Jess is your friend and so is Edgar?” I reminded, trying the guilt tactic, hoping it might convince him.
“But I can’t stand Slade, and then there’s you.” His half smile taunted me.
“I know you can’t stand me either, I get it.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious.”
“I hadn’t realized. I should work on controlling my emotions better.”
“Sorry, I’m not a shrinking violet like my cousin. I didn’t come here to weep on your naked chest. I came here because I need help and you’re the only one I could turn too. If I couldn’t work up tears for my lost father or injured grandmother, I doubt I can do it for you. Okay, I’m broken, and you can’t stand me. I get it, alright!” I took a deep breath angry at myself for letting him get under my skin again.
He stared at me with those damn intense eyes. He didn’t say anything just stared, making me feel uncomfortable and stupid. Why do I always seem not to be able to shut up around him?
“Quit staring at me and say something.”
“I’ll help you on one condition.” He didn’t smile or smirk and he didn’t stop staring. It was as though he stared straight inside me and that made me more nervous than if he had worn one of his evil grins.
“Which is?”
“You and I have to go see him alone.”
“Alone?”
“He isn’t going to talk to a bunch of people from the different societies. He knows me and he doesn’t really like anyone other than Guilders. It will be safer that way.”
“Jess is a Guilder?” I questioned unsure of going alone with him.
“You and I that’s the deal take it or leave it.”
What choice did I have and so I wouldn’t debate my decision I quickly said. “Fine we go alone.”
He nodded. “You’d better get some sleep. We’ll head there tomorrow.”
I didn’t bother to ask him where, he wouldn’t tell me anyway. I followed him up the stairs and part way down the hallway he stopped, opened a door, entered and waved me in.
“I’ll stay with the guys,” I stammered, though I entered the room.
“I don’t think so, they each have a couch. Take the bed; you’ll have it all to yourself.”
“Oh,” Did I really think he’d been inviting me to sleep with him? “Okay thanks.”
“I’ll be in by Jess.”
He turned and left through another door closing it behind him. I was glad he didn’t look back and see me flush red at his comment. I wanted to slam the door that opened onto the hall shut but didn’t want to wake the guys so I shut it quietly and turned into the room. I threw myself on the bed and took my frustration out on the pillows punching them several times. So what if James Nightshade and my cousin spent the night together… let them. They deserved each other, they only thought about themselves anyway.
I pulled my hoodie off and slid it into my bag .My hand connected with a small metal object. I took the locket out and turned it over in my hand. When this was all over I was going to need to figure out what it was that I deserved.
Book 2: The Impossible Engineer by M.J. Fletcher
YA Urban Fantasy/ SteamPunk/Paranormal
Chloe Masters’s world changed in a heartbeat - and all she did was touch a doorknob.
When she was young Chloe’s mother vanished. Wracked by feelings of abandonment and anger she lost herself traveling with her father's magic act, where illusions were part of her everyday life. Yet everything changes when they are pursued by a mysterious man in black out to kill her father. Touching a doorknob activates abilities she never knew she had and she finds herself thrust into a world of ancient societies and secrets.
When her father disappears it is a race against time to find answers before she loses what is left of her family. Now Chloe must choose who to trust, the man who will do anything for her or the one she can’t stop thinking about.
MJ Fletcher is the creator of the comic book series Adam Zero: The Last Man of Earth published by Ronin Studios. He’s also been published in Hope: The Hero Initiative and Digital Webbing Presents. The Doorknob Society series is his first book series and he’s thrilled about it. He lives near the beach with his wife, daughter, dog and a crotchety cat.
Stacking The Shelves is a hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Come join the fun and share all the book you received this week.
From the Library:
Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst
In a desert world of sandstorms and sand-wolves, a teen girl must defy the gods to save her tribe in this mystical, atmospheric tale from the author of Drink, Slay, Love.
Liyana has trained her entire life to be the vessel of a goddess. The goddess will inhabit Liyana’s body and use magic to bring rain to the desert. But Liyana’s goddess never comes. Abandoned by her angry tribe, Liyana expects to die in the desert. Until a boy walks out of the dust in search of her.
Korbyn is a god inside his vessel, and a trickster god at that. He tells Liyana that five other gods are missing, and they set off across the desert in search of the other vessels. For the desert tribes cannot survive without the magic of their gods. But the journey is dangerous, even with a god’s help. And not everyone is willing to believe the trickster god’s tale.
The closer she grows to Korbyn, the less Liyana wants to disappear to make way for her goddess. But she has no choice: She must die for her tribe to live. Unless a trickster god can help her to trick fate—or a human girl can muster some magic of her own.
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield
An arresting un-coming-of-age story, from a breathtaking talent
Becca has always longed to break free from her small, backwater hometown. But the discovery of an unidentified dead girl on the side of a dirt road sends the town--and Becca--into a tailspin. Unable to make sense of the violence of the outside world creeping into her backyard, Becca finds herself retreating inward, paralyzed from moving forward for the first time in her life.
Short chapters detailing the last days of Amelia Anne Richardson's life are intercut with Becca's own summer as the parallel stories of two young women struggling with self-identity and relationships on the edge twist the reader closer and closer to the truth about Amelia's death.
For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology. Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jump-starting the wheel of progress, and Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.
But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret—one that could change their society... or bring it to its knees. And again, she's faced with a choice: cling to what she's been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she's ever loved, even if she's lost him forever.
Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig
Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.
Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”-known to everyone as the Glitterati-without them suspecting a thing, is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.
The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her-evening the social playing field between the have and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.
But when the cops start investigating the string of burglaries at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could he wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?
Audio Bought
Angelfall by Susan Ee
It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.
Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.
Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.
Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.
Reached by Ally Condie
After leaving Society and desperately searching for the Rising—and each other—Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again: Cassia has been assigned to work for the Rising from within Society, while Ky has been stationed outside its borders. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts and things shift once again.
In this gripping conclusion to the #1 New York Times-bestselling Matched Trilogy, Cassia will reconcile the difficulties of challenging a life too confining, seeking a freedom she never dreamed possible, and honoring a love she cannot live without.
