Mara Valderran's third novel, Altar of Reality, a Young Adult Dystopian novel, with some Science-Fiction and Romance elements, was released this week, on January 22, 2015 by Curiosity Quills Press. The beautiful cover art was created by Alexandria Thompson at Gothic Fate.  

The amazing and talented, Mr. Kevin Craig has done it again... he's releasing another new Young Adult novel next month and today, he is giving us a peek at the new cover. It looks FANTASTIC! I can't wait to add this to my YA bookshelf.

Half Dead & Fully Broken Synopsis:

Carter Colby is the most unpopular teen at Jefferson High. This would be easier to deal with if his identical twin brother, Marcus, weren't the hottest, most popular boy in school. 

When Marcus is killed in a motorcycle accident, Carter discovers the one thing more painful than trying to compete with Mr. Wonderful: wearing his dead brother's face.

He felt invisible before the accident, but with Marcus dead everybody turns away from him in mourning. How can he blame them? He can't bear to look in the mirror. 

When Carter begins to see Marcus's ghost, Mr. Wonderful's quest to save the world and spread happiness may not be over after all, even in death. Marcus knows that Justin Dewar, the boy who drove the truck that crashed into his motorbike, is struggling with the guilt of taking a life. Melanie, Marcus's mourning girlfriend, was also hard hit by the tragedy. Marcus wants to make things right before it's too late. 

With Marcus's help, Carter experiences love and friendship for the first time in his life. But is Mr. Wonderful's helping hand enough for Carter, Melanie, and Justin - three kids fully broken by the tragedy - to save one another? 

If you would like to pre-order Half Dead and Fully Broken, use this link to Amazon.com: 

If you missed out on Kevin Craig's newest novel, Burn Baby Burn Baby, released this week, you can find it here:

Kevin, a fellow Muskoka Novel Marathon writer has a knack for telling edgy, emotionally packed stories for Young Adults. If you have teenager in the house, you should be checking out this YA Author. He is currently working on the sequel to Half Dead and Fully Broken right now... and has several other novels on the go. He is full of ideas and can't wait to share his stories with you. 

If perhaps, you are a writer and a reader, Kevin Craig will be at the upcoming Ontario Writers' Conference from April 24-25, 2015. He is one of the Blue Pencil Mentors during the conference, so he is ready to read your work and he'll be happy to give you feedback (not editing) on three-pages from your manuscript. You can chat about your writing life, process or any other issues you're having in the writing of a manuscript. You can sign up for the Ontario Writers' Conference and a  Blue Pencil Session with Kevin here: 

BURN BABY, BURN BABY, Kevin Craig's fourth Novel, a contemporary young adult novel is being released by Curiosity Quills Press on December 11, 2014... that's TOMORROW. You can PRE-ORDER a copy today at AMAZON for only $4.99 for a Kindle version. Click the button below:

Today, I have the pleasure of being part of the Burn Baby Blog Tour and sharing my Review of the novel with you. Before I do that, I just want to tell you that I am a huge fan of YA (Young Adult) novels. I'm an avid reader and I read books from every genre, but, I love the YA category the best. In fact, I am also a writer in the same genre, so believe me when I say, "I KNOW MY YA! With that said, I will just blurt out, Burn Baby, Burn Baby was a FANTASTIC QUICK READ!

I read this book in one evening, while sitting in my rocking chair, wrapped in a fleecy blanket, chewing on my fingernails (especially during the last seven chapters or so). Actually, I believe this is the ONLY book I've read during 2014 (out of 83 books so far), that I have stayed up past my bedtime to finish reading it. It was that good. 

I do have a confession I want to throw out, actually it is more of a brag... I believe, I was actually in the same room as this writer, when he was pounding the keyboard during the Muskoka Novel Marathon writing this very novel. Kevin Craig is a machine. He hardly ever sleeps. I have been lucky enough to watch him create four novels over the past four summers and I can't wait to read each and every one of them. The amazing part of this, he was writing these novels while raising money for Literacy. What a wonderful cause to support!

Kevin has a talent with developing characters you fall in love with like Francis, the main character who is abused and bullied almost all his life. I dropped a tear or two reading about specific moments he spent with his father. I just wanted to reach inside the book and hug the poor boy. Take him home with me and try and protect him. Kevin created Francis's best friend Trig, who continuously stood up for Francis and was his full-time protection against the meanest kid in high school, Brandon Hayley, who I couldn't help but despise. Kevin, also created Rachel, a girl who was able to look past the ugliness and find only things to smile about... and kiss gently. My emotions were all over the map on this book: I went from happiness, to anger, to frustrated, to horror with every page I turned. I could easily picture this novel as a movie, as Francis was quite often doing, and I feel that I actually knew a few of these kids when they attended my high school back in the day. 

This book was a fantastic portrayal of the every day teenage life, with sticks and stones thrown in to make us gasp, including some trial and errors of coping with his problems, using methods such as alcohol, that every child experiences at one time or another. Teens are often struggling to find the right path on how to deal with small issues, let alone larger ones that happen near the end of the book. Sometimes, it's hard facing the truth of what life is like behind the closed door...sometimes, you never know. I loved the references of the Shakespeare quotes and the Paul Simon mentions. I can't give this away though, no spoilers from me, so you'll just have to wait and read it yourself. It's not what you think, I promise. PLUS, I loved all the author's acknowledgements at the end of the book... I possibly shed a tear or two.

Burn Baby, Burn Baby is a must read for all kids over the age of 12... and any parent who might have a child living in their house who may be abusive to others, or more importantly, may be the one getting tortured and is now scared to leave the house for worry, he may never come home alive.

You should add this novel to your Christmas Wish List this year.  ~  5 out of 5 Stars.