The Book Voyagers

Hello, beautiful people. Today's post is about a very cool and interesting book coming out today! I'm very excited to talk about this book and also share with the world what Lee Blauersouth, the author, wants to say a bit more about it and definitely yes on behind-the-scenes details.

Title: Secondhand Origin Stories

Author: Lee Blauersouth

Series: Second Sentinels #1
Release date: March 15th, 2018

Pages: 324

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Opal has been planning to go to Chicago and join the Midwest's superhero team, the Sentinels, since she was a little kid. That dream took on a more urgent tone when her superpowered dad was unjustly arrested for protecting a neighbor from an abusive situation. Now, she wants to be a superhero not only to protect people, but to get a platform to tell the world about the injustices of the Altered Persons Bureau, the government agency for everything relating to superpowers.

But just after Opal's high school graduation, a supervillain with a jet and unclear motives attacks the downtown home of the Sentinels, and when Opal arrives, she finds a family on the brink of breaking apart. She meets a boy who's been developing secret (and illegal) brain-altering nanites right under the Sentinel's noses, another teenage superhero-hopeful who looks suspiciously like a long-dead supervillain, and the completely un-superpowered daughter of the Sentinels' leader. Can four teens on the fringes of the superhero world handle the corruption, danger, and family secrets they've unearthed?

Of Beginnings and Inspirations

Lee Blauersouth

It started with a flu.

Years ago, I caught a nasty flu that had me sipping NyQuil on the couch for days. After running through my entire collection of superhero movies, I got a little desperate and ended up watching a stunningly bad, made-for-tv, Avengers movie about the children of the Avengers. At the time, I was finishing up my education to be a family therapist. I ended up ranting a lot about media depictions of complicated family dynamics. Particularly when found family, persistent danger, and trauma are involved.

But that was only the start. This book is a mashup of so many things I care about.

Much as I love watching superheroes fight supervillains, I wanted to see more heroes that fight real world problems I care about.

I see a lot of fights that need fighting. I'm a multiply-disabled, queer therapist who spends their work days embedded in systems of addiction, trauma, criminal justice, disability, and public assistance. If I was going to write superheroes, I wanted to write stories of hope, and community, and fighting spirit. I wrote this story for my own sake, but I feel like a lot of us could use these sorts of stories now.

I hope, if you read it, that I can give you some of the same feelings.

After about a decade drawing comics independently or with small presses, Lee started writing prose out of a combination of peer pressure and spite, then continued out of attachment to their favorite made-up people. They live in Minnesota even though it is clearly not a habitat humans were ever meant to endure, with their lovely wife/editor, the worlds most perfect baby, and books in every room of the house.

If you like categories, they're an ENFJ Slytherin Leo. If you're looking for demographics they're an agender bisexual with a couple of disabilities. If you're into lists of likes: Lee loves comics, classical art, round animals, tattoos, opera, ogling the shiner sciences, and queer stuff. Please have a look around and get to know their work!

Website | Twitter

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Hi beautiful people! I'm back for you only. I decided to create and compile a small list of foodie romances. All that I know of and have heard of and actually added to my wishlist or my tbr pile. Even I remembered some other ones that I saw on Twitter and searched for them again. They're all here. I'm a big fan of foodie romances, they always manage to make me more hungry and I can do nothing about that result. It's nice to read about the descriptions and the food making process of it. It's also nice to hear about that business, of either side, be it the food makers or the food sellers.

I do want to point out that some I know of and some I haven't read. So if I'm missing something like if it has a main character of color, do tell me! For the ones I don't know, I search in reviews and such to find out more about the book. Sorry in advance if I got something wrong!

Here is our menu.

In the mood for something specific? Pick whatever you want.
🚩 Written by authors of color
✧ Main characters of color
* Not released yet

Where do you want to eat?
🚩✧ Short Soup by Coleen Kwan // Goodreads

They have always been together. Not only they are best friends but their families own a restaurant together. But they grew up and when she returns to their hometown, he realizes that he wants to win her love.

🚩✧ North To You by Tif Marcelo // Goodreads

Being the guardian of her little sister and the owner and head chef of a food truck, she can't have any distraction. Her childhood love returns.

🚩✧ Just a Little Taste by Farrah Rochon // Goodreads

She wants to have her own food truck. The only problem? The best food truck renovator is her ex.

🚩✧ The Dancing Lady by Mimi Milan // Goodreads

Diner owner searching for a bride who can help him in his business. Flamenco dancer only wanted to be a celebrated entertainer, but because of various circumstances she couldn't. Then she sees a mail-order bride request.

🚩✧ Delicious Destiny by Yahrah St. John // Goodreads

For pastry baker her only two loves are her son and her bakery. Famous restaurateur is set to track down his past love. What he doesn't expect is the kid besides her who looks exactly like him.

The Opposite of You by Rachel Higginson // Goodreads

Food truck owner wants to prove to the chef across the plaza that his fancy food and his Michelin star restaurant are no better than her street food.

🚩✧ Mister Second Chance by Cherie Love // Goodreads

Once a waitress, now owner of a restaurant empire, she will need the help of a certain man who broke her heart to save the crab shack.

✧ Fired by Cora Brent // Goodreads

After getting fired and unsuccessful interviews, she accepts a job at a small chain family-owned pizzerias while trying hard to not fall for the boss.

Team Phison by Chace Verity // Goodreads

For this restaurant owner playing his favorite video game is a good way to spend his nights. Never mind that he is alone and that online dating is not working for him. Listening and teaching this younger gamer is what brings him joy. (M/M)

Misfits by Garrett Leigh // Goodreads

Restaurant owner meets a young man one night. But this restaurant owner already has a partner who has been there for ten years and have an open relationship. (M/M/M)

🚩✧ The Perfect Mix by Caridad Piñeiro // Goodreads

Contractor has too many ghosts to fall for his new client, up-and-coming restaurant owner.

A Touch of Cinnamon by Bethany Lopez // Goodreads

Prime Beef owner and one of the sisters in Three Sisters Catering had once been an item back in college. The two got their hearts broken. Now the only thing they can do is watch each other from afar from their shops.

🚩✧ Love Wills Always Remember by Tracey Livesay // Goodreads

Political lobbyist wakes up from a coma to find out she can't remember the last six years of her life! Gorgeous chef tells her he is her fiancé, but in reality, his twin brother is and he is just stepping in because his brother asked him while he is away.

🚩✧ A Dash of Heat by Christina C. Jones // Goodreads

In search of something sweet, she might have found more when she walks away from this food truck with the owner's delicious baked goods in her hands.

Small Change by Roan Parrish // Goodreads
Grumpy tattoo artist works to keep her mind away from the loneliness. Everything changes when she meets the fine man who just opened his sandwich shop. Things start to unravel and she might have to ask for help. Bisexual representation.

🚩✧ Acute Reactions by Ruby Lang // Goodreads

Restaurateur falls head over heels for his new allergist. Allergist knows she can't, her medical license in line, but fate keeps throwing them back together.

🚩✧ Idlewild by Jude Sierra // Goodreads

Gastro pub owner fires everyone and hires new staff. Between the new faces, he finds a friendship with a college graduate who soon enough finds himself falling for the boss. (Genderqueer MC)

The Bouquet List by Barbara DeLeo // Goodreads

After a near-death experience, she decides to make her a Bouquet List, a list of things to do after you thought you were going to die. One of them is having a fling with a man out of your league. Restaurateur, who is also her brother's best friend, is perfect for that.

To drink?
Alcoholic beverages:
Pretend It's Love by Stefanie London // Goodreads
Bar manager needs a date to his brother's wedding. Cocktail specialist wants her business to not fail. Both of them need something. The perfect solution? Fake date and he can put her product in his bar.

Hot and Bothered by Kate Meader // Goodreads

She is looking for love and thinks her best friend and wine bar owner is the perfect candidate. But one rejected kiss might be the end for them. He thinks their friendship is forever so he doesn't want to ruin it but he can't stop thinking about that kiss.

🚩✧ Thirsty by Mia Hopkins* // Goodreads

Ex-con wants to start a new life. Making craft beer seems impossible but it's the only thing going for him. For the single mom, this ex-con is an unwelcome tenant, but the two together are dinamite.

The Simplicity of Cider by Amy E. Reichert // Goodreads

Prickly cider-maker's life is interrupted when single dad and his son arrive at her family's orchard.

Legs by Kelly Siskind // Goodreads

Competiting against her one-night stand in a sommelier contest is not something she wished for. A one-night stand she cannot remember!

Blush for Me by Kristen Proby // Goodreads

Wine bar manager is afraid of flying. When she is forced to travel by plane, she has no choice but to clung onto the guy on the next seat, who happens to work at a wine tour company. They meet again when he gives a tour at her restaurant.

As Deep as the Ocean by Serenity Woods // Goodreads

New Zealand set. To get her hands on her inheritance and to save the vineyard, she agrees on a marriage of convenience with the vineyard manager.

🚩✧ Savannah's Secrets by Reese Ryan // Goodreads

Her plan is to infiltrate as the event manager at the bourbon empire and take what was once hers and her family's. She didn't expect the older son to be so different from what she imagined.

Sotto Voce by Erin Finnegan // Goodreads
Wine critic gets asked by his publisher to spend a year writing about rising stars of California's wine country. He even develops a competition! When a young winemaker happens to appear, his world changes.

Non-alcoholic beverages:
🚩✧ Love and a Latte by Jamie Pope // Goodreads

Corporate accountant falls for his family's bakery's barista when she places a latte in front of him. He knows he shouldn't mix business with pleasure, especially because he is her boss.

Served Hot by Annabeth Albert // Goodreads

Barista with a coffee cart has a major crush on the finance director that always orders his "usual". When he sees him at the Pride festival, he thinks it's time to take the next step. (M/M)

Knit Tight by Annabeth Albert // Goodreads

Knit Night is an event they do at this barista's coffeehouse. One night the nephew of the yarn shop owner walks in. (M/M)

✧ Medium, Sweet, Extra Shot of Geek by R. Cooper // Goodreads

Former soldier is working as a barista. He crushes on the single dad who keeps talking about comics and Star Treck. (M/M)

Daily Grind by Anna Zabo // Goodreads

Coffee shop owner has no time for relationships when his ship is falling apart with his barista. But soon comes a British high-tech whiz to brighten up this man's day. (M/M)

🚩✧ Ezra & Donnya Have Tea by Gisele Walko // Goodreads
This tea house owner and tattoo artist met years ago and had to part ways even though they had a connection. Now years later, they meet again. The tea house owner thinks he has too many tattoos, he's too rude. The tattoo artist only wants to impress her.

🚩✧ Beach Thing by DL White // Goodreads
She has always wanted to open a smoothie shop by the sea. She didn't expect to find a hot neighbor in the mix.

For main dish?
Valentine Kisses by Ann B. Harrison // Goodreads

Her reality TV show is on a hiatus so she decides to visit her sister's town and take the chef position at Lake Hotel. When she almost burns down the place, the fire chief helps her.

Feel the Heat by Kate Meader // Goodreads

Photographer spends time working at her family's Italian restaurant. A celebrity chef challenges her father to a cook-off. Everything goes wrong when a video of her and the handsome chef kissing goes viral.

Chef's Special by Susan X. Meagher // Goodreads

For this chef, the journey has been hard but finally she continue to climb up the ladder of this business. Her new boss is demanding but she knows she can learn from her. If only, she didn't think about her boss so often! (F/F)

🚩✧ Romancing the Chef by Robyn Amos // Goodreads

Chef is invited to participate in a TV contest. She finds out her friend from culinary school and one of the hottest celebrity chef is her rival.

🚩 Perfection by Té Russ // Goodreads

Chef gets hired to be the head chef at this hotel in Jamaica. Her new boss is set on his career and doesn't have time for a relationship, but hot nights together are game changers.

🚩✧ Private Acts by Delaney Diamond // Goodreads

A handsome sculptor falls hard for the chef who is singing for her life at a karaoke competition. Set in Ecuador.

🚩✧ Seared by Suleikha Synder // Goodreads
Ten years since she saw her step-brother. Ten years and he became a famous chef! She's ready to give him all of her.

🚩✧ A Taste of Pleasure by Chloe Blake* // Goodreads

Chef moves to Italy to have a new beginning. There she meets millionaire restaurateur and single dad who is ready to settle down.

🚩✧ Yes, Chef by Linda Verji // Goodreads

Chef has had a massive crush on the woman who came to his kitchen and asked for a job. And when she breaks up with her boyfriend, he thinks it's time to make his move.

Too Hot To Touch by Louisa Edwards // Goodreads

He knows how to compete and he always comes out winning. As a master chef he traveled the world but now it's time to come home where he finds a new chef working at his family's tavern.

Hot Under Pressure by Louisa Edwards // Goodreads

Former Navy cook finds out his competition for the title of Rising Star Chef is his estranged spouse. She wants the divorce and he thinks of the perfect deal: he'll give it to her, but if he wins, he wants one last night with the only woman he ever loved.

🚩✧ Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai // Goodreads

He shouldn't fall in love with his brother's widow. But then he offers to help her with her little cafe and she is unable to resist the boy she once adored. (Bisexual representation)

Under the Knife by Laurin Kelly // Goodreads

Chef is excited to participate in the newest season of this culinary competition. He isn't excited about his cold competitor though he knows he can cook, but hates what comes out of his mouth. (M/M)

Burn for You by JT Geissinger // Goodreads

To secure his inheritance, the heir to a bourbon dynasty makes an outrageous request to this chef: Marry him. Even though he treats her staff horribly, she needs the money to help with her mother's medical bills.

🚩✧ To Me I Wed by KM Jackson // Goodreads
Tired of always being the bridesmaid, she decides to marry herself at a celebrated chef's restaurant.

🚩✧ The Kitchen When It Sizzles by Chrissie Peria // Goodreads

She has a perfect life and a perfect job. The only thing missing is how she cannot cook! She hires hotshot chef to teach her how. But he's here only temporary and a fling might be too much for her heart.

Strays by Garrett Leigh // Goodreads

His friend askes him to take on a new apprentice: a young man who has never set foot inside a professional kitchen. This chef only thinks about work and has little time to think outside of it. (M/M)

Chef's Table by Lynn Charles // Goodreads

He has worked hard to get where he is now: an executive chef at one of New York's hottest restaurants. But with all the fame and awards, he has forgotten what or who got him there. He decides to visit this diner's chef to try his recipes again. A spoiled pug might appear. (M/M)

✧ Yes, Chef by Alex Cohen // Goodreads

Old wounds have closed this chef's heart. The only thing that keeps him going is being chef at one of the top restaurants in town. Then his boss brings in a new, young helper. (M/M)

Nuts by Alice Clayton // Goodreads

She was once a private chef for Hollywood's wealthiest wives. An accident made her career fall apart so now she is back home running her family's diner. Local farmer brings her one day some organic walnuts but she is set on returning to the west coast when summer ends.

🚩 Luck on the Line by Zoraida Córdova // Goodreads

Her mother challengers her to finish something she has started for once. She decides to help her mother launch her newest restaurant. Even though there is an infurating bad-boy chef in the kitchen.

A Taste of Heaven by Penny Watson // Goodreads
A cooking competition takes this single mom and widower from Vermont to Scotland, side-by-side with a grumpy Scottish chef who she is set to beat.

🚩✧ Let Us Dream by Alyssa Cole // Goodreads
1917 Harlem. Chef starts working at this cabaret. At first he clashes with the cabaret owner but then they start to gro closer.

Chef Cutegirl by Nicolette Dane // Goodreads
Head chef of one of the most acclaimed restaurants agrees to participate in a reality TV food competition. She becomes fast friends with a fellow competitor, but it develops into more! (F/F)

🚩✧ Breakfast in Bed by Rochelle Alers // Goodreads

Chef decides to take a trip to New Orleans to finally open the restaurant of her dreams. While her friend is transforming the inn into perfection, she takes the role of an apprentice at famed restaurant.

🚩✧ The Waitress's Secret by Kathy Douglas // Goodreads

Wealthy city girl is on the run. A chef helps her by offering shelter and a waitressing job. She doesn't want for him to like her by her money so she doesn't tell. But he has been burned before and is not ready to eat more lies.

🚩 Delicious by Sherry Thomas // Goodreads

Historical romance. She is known for her cuisine and her scandalous love life. She is hired to work at this political star's estate.

Here Comes The Bridesmaid by Avril Tremayne // Goodreads

Her friend is getting married and she has to plan it perfectly. Sadly, she has to do it with the Best Man, a top chef, who doesn't care about anything but yet still gives his opinions about everything. Who she just slept with.

Recipe for Temptation by Maureen Smith // Goodreads

Doctor Reese St. James is taking time off from her job. She decides to dine at her TV crush's restaurant, world famous celebrity chef Michael Wolfe. Since the moment she steps inside his restaurant, she is treated like a VIP.

For dessert?
The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish // Goodreads
Holiday romance. Baker finally opens the bakery of his dream. He gets easily bewitched by one of his costumers. Then that same costumer begins to work at the bakery. (M/M)

Grounded by Aidan Wayne // Goodreads
Pastry chef is fine with his life even though he is lonely. He likes to bake and do capoeira. When his friend introduces him to another capoeira student, he is drawn to him. (M/M)

Whip, Stir, and Serve by Caitlyn Frost and Henry Drake // Goodreads
Woodworker thinks she can make cinnamon buns for her father's retirement party. Things are looking harder than it seems. She thinks she needs a little magic so she goes to take a look at the guy behind the deli counter.

Taste on my Tongue by Beth Bolden // Goodreads
Dropped by his label, his agent thinks entering a food competition show is the perfect way to climb up again. Pastry chef wants to make it and signs up to do the program as well. (M/M)

Balancing the Scales by Laura Carter // Goodreads
A hotshot Manhattan attorney and a British pastry chef agree on a meaningless fling. She is running from her past and he wants a promotion.

Baked Fresh by Annabeth Albert // Goodreads
Baker always goes for what he wants and now he wants the man who volunteers with him at the homeless shelter. (M/M)

🚩✧ The Sweetest Kiss by Candace Shaw // Goodreads
Real estate developer sets his eyes on baker and decides he's ready to fall in love again. But soon he finds out his next business deal will make problems for her bakery.

🚩✧ Mocha Pleasures by Pamela Yaye // Goodreads
He's challenged to start a bakery and he does it with high marks, gaining costumers by the minute. The one woman who is immune to his charms happens to be his competition.

🚩✧ Cappuccino Kisses by Yahrah St. John // Goodreads
Pastry baker gets her dream job to run her family's legendary Chicago bakery. The competition is real. She teams up with coffee importer and together they come up with a secret weapon.

🚩✧ Decadent Dreams by A.C. Arthur // Goodreads

For talented baker is hard to resist to temptation. He has worked with her for years at her family's patisserie and now she has in her mind to seduce him.

🚩✧ Delectable Desire by Farrah Rochon // Goodreads

Artisan baker knows a pretty face when he sees them. Heiress to a jewelry dynasty has trouble with love when men fall for her bank account instead of her heart.

🚩✧ Noble Love by Té Russ // Goodreads
Music producer decides to come back home to help with his family's business. He then walks in to this baker's family bakery and their passion rapidly grows!

🚩✧ Baked With Love by Tina Martin // Goodreads
He becomes obsessed with this bakery owner's cupcakes. But not only that! He wants to get to know this shy baker more and more.

🚩✧ Delicious Temptation by Sabrina Sol // Goodreads
She gave up her dream of being a renowned chef so she could help her family's Mexican bakery. When sexy bad-boy returns home, her good girl image is forgotten.

Sugar by Kimberly Stuart // Goodreads
She agrees to work for ex-boyfriend at his new restaurant as executive pastry chef with her own staff! What she doesn't expect is cameras and staff preparing to start filming for a reality show.

A Taste of Honey by Rose Lerner // Goodreads
Historical romance. He risked everything to open up his dream bakery. Now he has a catering order to prepare and his apprentice is out of town. Shop-girl has been trying to make her boss look at her instead of his sweets.

🚩✧ Delicious Satisfaction by Sabrina Sol // Goodreads

Baker has a history of getting with the wrong kind-of men. A confrontation with her ex-boyfriend lands her in legal trouble, so she has to call a lawyer and family friend to bail her out.

🚩✧ Save the Cake by Stella Torres // Goodreads
Cake artist gets hired to do the cake for her friend's high-society wedding. There she meets videographer, cousin of the bride.

✧ Certanly, Possibly, You by Lissa Reed // Goodreads
Pastry shop's head decorator doesn't know what's coming in her future. But when she wakes up next to the pretty ballroom dancer, it might draw a path towards that future. (F/F)

✧ Sweet by Alysia Constantine // Goodreads

Two lonely people. One is a baker. One is a numbed-to-the-world accountant. Both will find their way to each other. (M/M)

When Only Cupcakes Will Do by Daisy James // Goodreads

Everything fell apart. First her boyfriend said no to her proposal and then she lost her job! She decides to start a cupcake business out of the back of an ice cream van with her sister.

A Place to Rest by Erin Dutton // Goodreads
She wants to avoid taking her place in her family's restaurant, so she goes from job to job trying to find something to take her attention. She meets a shy baker who does. (F/F)

🚩✧ Wrapped by Rebekah Weatherspoon // Goodreads
Pastry chef matches in a dating app with someone from her past. Christmas novella.

🚩✧ Her Sweet Seduction by Sabrina Sol // Goodreads

Single mom and romance author writes a tell-all novel about her former lover. Imagine him coming to her signing and telling her he enjoyed the book.

Sweet Gone South by Alicia Hunter Pace // Goodreads

With only his daughter, single dad is lonely for another person. They move above chocolatier's candy shop and soon enough his daughter and this woman fall in love instantly. He realizes, when his daughter calls her "Mommy", he has to propose. But the chocolatier finds out her love is stronger than his.

🚩✧ In Her Wildest Dreams by Farrah Rochon // Goodreads
Her business specializes on creating fantasy date nights. She has to create an ultimate Valentine's day experience for the consulting firm, interested in franchising her company, accepts to do it. She calls her best friend and chocolatier to help her.

Sweet Life by Nina Lane // Goodreads
Holiday romance. Ice queen fashion stylist hates the holidays. President and owner of a candy company has been her friend for thirteen years and knows her better than anyone. But one night changes everything.

🚩✧ Sweet Persuasions by Rochelle Alers // Goodreads
War hero is happy to just play the field and to never settle down. Not sometime soon. When he walks in to this chocolatier's shop, he starts to think differently.

🚩✧ The Marriage Contract by Danie Ford // Goodreads
Tech mogul needed a husband to get past the codicil in his grandfather's will. He didn't expect love. His husband, former Marine turned chocolatier, is returning home and with him he is bringing a puppy named Apollo. (M/M)

✧ The Masked Minotaur by Chace Verity // Goodreads
A marriage of convenience united the noblewoman and the confectionery shop's owner. Her mind is elsewhere when various raids start to happen and she hears about a Masked Minotaur saving humans as sort of a vigilante. (F/F)

Want to leave a comment?
🚩✧ Cooking Up Love by Candace Shaw // Goodreads

With the decision of continuing her medical career or not, she accepts a position as a food critic. She meets a handsome chef who dislikes doctors.

Can't Stand the Heat by Louisa Edwrads // Goodreads
Getting the job to do an exposé for this hotshot chef is this food critic's dream. When the chef finds out she doesn't even know how to cook, he proposes to give her private lessons.

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy E. Reichert // Goodreads

You've Got Mail meets How to Eat a Cupcake. Food critic arrives at chef's restaurant. He doesn't know it's the worst day of the chef's life. When the review comes out, the chef faces her restaurant's closure and the food critic faces popularity. They meet a pub without knowing who they are.

🚩✧ West Coast Love by Tif Marcelo // Goodreads

Online food blogger gets the job as a food host to cover BBQ festivals with cameras around her. The cameraman also auditioned for the same job!

Taste by Tracy Ewens // Goodreads

Once upon a time she was studying in Paris at a culinary school. Sadly, she was called back to be the senator's perfect daughter. Now, working as a food critic, she is asked to write a feature on the new chef and his restaurant. He happens to be a former lover from Paris.

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie, Bob Mayer // Goodreads
A food critic and a hitman meet unexpectedly.

🚩✧ It's In His Kiss by Reon Laudat // Goodreads

Food critic gives an awful review to this chef's restaurant. What does she do? She takes her dish and puts it all over his office and leaves his review as a garnish on top. He is mad but intrigued.

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Hello beautiful people! I'm so happy to be in this blog tour. I'm a big fan of Kit Rocha and you should all be to be honest. They're doing a rebranding of their Beyond series and let me tell you they're all fabulous. If you want to see every cover that has been revealed, you can check out all of them by clicking here.

Bree has some notes and words about the process of this particular cover.

Beyond Ruin has always been the troublesome cover in the bunch. Since it has two heroes AND two heroines, we have a lot of options when it comes to who gets to be on the cover. Both Scarlet and Jyoti could have been amazing, but we felt it was important to let our WOC heroine shine, front and center.

And boy, does she shine! Finding this picture made me so happy. She’s beautiful and glamorous, of course, but Jyoti has always been more than that. There’s a look in her eyes, a hint of mystery, an alllmost quirk of her lips that says she knows something you don’t. As one of the most self-controlled and powerful women in the series, Jyoti usually knows more about what’s going on than she’s telling, and I think this cover captures it perfectly.

I had a lot of choices for the background of this cover, but I went with a lush, exotic garden. Jyoti spends a lot of this book in Sector Two, in a very lavish house, and her refuge is always the gardens. And the gardens are where a very pivotal scene goes down.

(Without further ado, here it the new beautiful cover of Beyond Ruin!)

Adrian Maddox fled his royal life—and tragic past—in Sector One, choosing instead to join up with the O’Kanes. For years, he’s lived by one rule: love fast, love hard, and always be willing to walk away. He’s managed to guard his heart, keep it whole and untouched—until now.

They couldn’t be more different—Dylan, the brilliant, burned-out doctor from Eden who drowns his pain with drugs and self-destruction. Scarlet, the sensuous, sexy rocker from Three, a woman unafraid to embrace the world. And Jyoti, the whore turned spy from Sector Two, who battled addiction and came out stronger than anyone he’s ever met.

Separately, they make Mad long to open his heart, to tumble head-first into a sea of possibilities and wild love. Together, they make him burn, inside and out, with lust and unbearable, unimaginable pleasure.

Then one fateful moment shakes their world to its foundations—and leaves the sectors on the verge of all-out war with Eden. It’s the biggest fight the O’Kanes have ever faced, and Mad and his lovers are at the dead center of it. They could end up with everything they never knew they wanted—or lose it all. Including their lives.

Buy it:

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Kit Rocha is the pseudonym for co-writing team Donna Herren and Bree Bridges. After penning dozens of paranormal novels, novellas and stories as Moira Rogers, they branched out into gritty, sexy dystopian romance.

The Beyond series has appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, has been nominated for best erotic romance in the RT Reviewer’s Choice award five times, and won in 2013 and 2015.

Connect:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Merch

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Hi lovely people! Good morning to you all and happy Friday.

When I was approached for this, I was over the moon. Firstly because wow. I totally didn't expect it and I was so happy I could cry. And secondly because it was for a book that I was already excited about so it made things ten thousand times better to be honest? I had added this book on various lists and I'm so happy I get to show you all the perfect cover of 500 Words or Less by Juleah del Rosario. It's a book you want to TBR and keep on your sight when it releases.

You can also check out the exclusive interview we had with author Juleah del Rosario.

The Book Voyagers: Can you tell us the process of how the final cover came together?
Juleah del Rosario: Sarah Creech a designer at Simon Pulse worked with illustrator Cannaday Chapman to create this striking cover after reading an early draft of the novel. My editor presented me with this design about a month after we finished the final edits. This was actually the second cover designed, and I loved it when I first saw it. What I love about this cover is that there are so many different details that I notice each time I see the cover, which is kind of like the experience of reading a verse novel. I really wanted to create a story that works on different levels, allowing readers to have different experiences with the story. I think this cover reflects the layers that exist in novels written in verse, but particularly in 500 WORDS OR LESS.

The Book Voyagers: Tell us a bit about the novel. What can we expect from the insides of this book? Or are we up to some surprises *grin*
Juleah: 500 WORDS OR LESS is about a high school senior, Nic Chen, who has been branded as the girl who cheated on her charismatic and lovable boyfriend. She seeks to redefine her reputation by writing her Ivy League-obsessed classmates college admissions essays.

But the more essays Nic writes for other people, the less sure she becomes of herself, the kind of person she is, and whether her moral compass even points north anymore.

In writing 500 WORDS OR LESS, I really wanted to explore the type of people who can be extremely driven and accomplished on the outside, and yet deeply flawed on the inside. Without the accolades and GPAs and laundry list of extra- curriculars that we write on our college applications, do we know who are we?

I also explore the concept of identity throughout. How is one’s identity as a person of color shaped by living in a predominately white community? Who are we if our identity is performative, if we are always performing a version of our self? What does it mean to be a daughter when one’s relationship with one’s mother is fraught? These are the questions that I wanted Nic, and the characters in 500 WORDS OR LESS to grapple with.

The Book Voyagers: How excited are you to get this book out to the world? What are your thoughts and what are you feeling?
Juleah: 500 WORDS OR LESS is ultimately a story about messy and flawed people, and explores complexities of life that can’t be tied into a neat little bow. There have been many moments in my teenage and adult life where I needed to read about flawed people, to feel that I wasn’t alone, to see the complexities in relationships and life that didn’t always end neatly, or even satisfyingly. I hope that this book can reach readers who might see something or feel something in this story that validates their own lived experience—in all its messy and unsatisfying complexity.

The Book Voyagers: What’s that one thing you’re anticipating so much to see/do when your book is out?
Juleah: I’m a librarian and a complete library nerd. While seeing the book in my local public library would be amazing, what I’m most excited about is view the catalog record of my book in WorldCat. How many holdings will my book’s record have? What will be the book’s OCLC number? Which subject headings will be assigned? These are all super nerdy librarian questions.

I am also looking forward to smelling the pages of the hardcover. I love the smell of a new book.

The Book Voaygers: I was so excited (still am!) when I found out your novel is written in verse. That’s so enchanting. For you, is it easier to write from prose or harder? What drew you in? And why did you think it was a perfect way to tell this story?
Juleah: While I am an avid reader, I’m also a slow reader. I have been drawn to reading novels written in verse because I can read and finish something that is still full of depth and meaning.

The first draft of 500 WORDS OR LESS was written in prose. But I got to the end and I felt like the emotional quality of the novel was off. Something wasn’t working. So I started to experiment with form and verse.

Now that I better understand verse novels, I think writing in verse is more reflective of the type of human experience I want to explore in my writing. Our experiences are filled with unknowns, with white space, with feelings we cannot easily explain.

The Book Voyagers: I would love to know from whom or where you draw inspiration, for example for writing. Who are your favorite authors you look up to?
Juleah: Two of my all-time favorite authors are Jacqueline Woodson and John Green. I love the way both authors use language, and the way each word they write feels deliberate and inventive without distracting from voice and character.

In terms of verse novels, here are a few of the titles that were influential in writing 500 WORDS OR LESS

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones
Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen
True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff

The Book Voyagers: What are your 2018 resolutions?
Juleah: I have started working on a new project, but have found that it is extremely challenging to go from finishing a novel with fully formed characters whose inner most secrets you have lived with for 4+ years, to meeting a new character who essentially has said two words to you and you attempt to create a novel out of the brief interaction thus far. But as a writer, I also know this is just an excuse to not write. So my 2018 resolution is to get over it and just sit down and keep writing until I finish this next project.

Juleah del Rosario is a librarian at a university thus fulfilling her love of books and leafy green campuses simultaneously. Author in the in between hours. Born & raised in the Seattle area. Now calls Colorado home. According to Teen Vogue out of all the Emmas, she is most like Emma Watson, and according to Seventeen, her prom dress style is classic-preppy. Both results feel spot on.

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