Blog Tour & Giveaway: Stitch: Samantha Durante
Release Date: August 1st 2012
Series / Stand Alone: Book #1 In the Stitch Trilogy Series
Genre: Paranormal Romance/ Dystopian/ Sci-Fi
Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa’s body screams at her to run… but yet she’s powerless to move.
Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence.
In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees – and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell – Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.
Because what Alessa hasn’t figured out yet is that she’s not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university’s idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface…
The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.
Samantha Durante lives in Westchester County, New York with her
husband, Sudeep, and her cat, Gio. Formerly an engineer at Microsoft,
Samantha left the world of software in 2010 to pursue her
entrepreneurial dreams and a lifelong love of writing. A graduate of the
University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management &
Technology, Samantha is currently working full time for her company
Medley Media Associates as a freelance business writer and
communications consultant. Stitch is her first novel. Top 5 Things I Love About Being an (Indie) Author by Samantha Durante:
I recently published
my first novel, Stitch, and though I’m still
new at this whole “author” thing, it’s really been a dream come true! To celebrate, here are the top five things I
LOVE about being an author (so far!), in no particular order:
1. Total empowerment.
There were a lot of reasons I decided to go the indie route
when publishing Stitch, but by far the main one is that I’m a bit of a control freak and I really liked
the idea of having final say over every little detail of my book. I worked with an artist to design the cover, devoted
painstaking hours to formatting the e-book versions, and made the final
decision about every word, every punctuation mark, and every plot twist. While this is a little scary (after all, I
know there are people out there who can do all of these things far better than
me!), it also means that the success of my book lies solely on my shoulders… And therefore, as long as I’m willing to put
in the work (which I am!), I know my book will do well!
2. My book IS me.
2. My book IS me.
Following with #1, since I didn’t have to get sign-off from
a publisher, I could write about whatever I wanted, even a genre-bending
thriller that combined paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi in one (yes,
one!) book. I pulled in ghost lore,
super-geeky spacetime physics, post-apocalyptic scenarios, a biological
pandemic, and of course, a kick-ass female protagonist and sexy-but-sensitive
male lead. And yes, the fact that my
book does not fit squarely into one genre makes it kind of difficult to market
(which is why the traditional publishing industry would be wary of it), but it
is full of the things I love. And since
– as an independent author – I have the exclusive right to decide what gets
published under my name, the fact that I
was excited about my book and believed in it was all that mattered.
3. Quick delivery to readers.
3. Quick delivery to readers.
The other big factor that drove me to go indie was the
ability to get my book to market QUICKLY.
It can take months – even years – for a first time author (going the
traditional route) to find an agent and a publisher and go through the editing
and revision and publication process. Even
though part of me wanted the validation of having credible industry
professionals sign-off on my work before it went to the public, a bigger part
of me just REALLY wanted to share my book with readers NOW (and the thought of
waiting that long to get my book out was like a knife to the gut!). By publishing the book myself, I was able to
get it to readers only weeks after it
was done, instead of months/years (and now that readers are clamoring for part
two of the trilogy, I’m really glad that I’ll be able to get it to them as soon
as I can!).
4. Bloggers, bloggers, bloggers.
4. Bloggers, bloggers, bloggers.
WOW. I have never
met a more supportive and encouraging community of people than the world of
book bloggers. Since I am doing all my
marketing myself (notice a theme here? :-),
I’ve been in personal contact with literally hundreds of bloggers since my book
and blog tour launched a few months ago, and each and every one of them has
absolutely blown me away. There’s just
been an incredible outpouring of assistance and enthusiasm from the blogging
community, and I feel SO grateful to have made contact with all of these amazing
people. Thank you SO MUCH to all of the
bloggers who have helped me promote Stitch!
You guys are amazing!!
5. Reader commentary!
Last but CERTAINLY not least are the readers
themselves! It has been just INCREDIBLE
to share Stitch with so many people and to hear their feedback and see them
getting excited about the story the same way I am. Stitch is definitely a different sort of book,
and I have to say, even though I knew I loved
the story, I didn’t know if most readers would feel the same. So when 4- and 5-star reviews started popping
up all over the internet, you can only imagine how gratifying that felt! I’ve read every review that’s been posted
online and it always makes my day to
hear that someone enjoyed the book. I’m
SO indebted to every reader who’s taken the time to read and talk about
Stitch! Nothing is more motivating than passionate fans who are itching for
the next installment – I can’t WAIT to get started on the next one for you
guys!5. Reader commentary!
Learn more about
Samantha on her website
Find Samantha Durante All Across The Web:
Facebook Page For Stitch • Facebook Author Profile • Stitch on Goodreads • Samantha on Goodreads • Twitter • Librarything • Shelfari
This book tour post was organized and designed by:
Book Excerpt:
Nikhil and Alessa were pressed together ever closer by
the crowd, their bodies moving as one in time with the music. Alessa could feel the hair sticking to the
back of her neck as her skin started to glisten, but she didn’t care. She threw her arms up and tossed her head
with the beat, reveling in the moment.
Nikhil gently placed his hands around Alessa’s hips, seemingly mesmerized. The crowd swelled and they were pressed together once more, his arms wrapped around her waist, her hands on his taut swimmer’s chest and shoulders. He leaned over, nudging his face so close to hers that she could feel the heat rising off his skin. Alessa parted her lips and looked up at Nikhil, preparing to surrender to her body’s impulses.
But instead of the dark brown eyes she expected, she saw only blue. Unfathomable, sparkling blue, glittering with facets of ocean and sky, boring deep into her soul and clutching at her heart. Once again, a single word rose in the back of her throat – Isaac – and she knew this night was over.
Nikhil gently placed his hands around Alessa’s hips, seemingly mesmerized. The crowd swelled and they were pressed together once more, his arms wrapped around her waist, her hands on his taut swimmer’s chest and shoulders. He leaned over, nudging his face so close to hers that she could feel the heat rising off his skin. Alessa parted her lips and looked up at Nikhil, preparing to surrender to her body’s impulses.
But instead of the dark brown eyes she expected, she saw only blue. Unfathomable, sparkling blue, glittering with facets of ocean and sky, boring deep into her soul and clutching at her heart. Once again, a single word rose in the back of her throat – Isaac – and she knew this night was over.
4 out of 5 Stars
Tammy & Kim's Review:
First of all we would suggest not reading the blurb or any other info about this book and just start reading it! Part of the fun of this book is just trying to figure out for yourself what is really going on. It is so creative and imaginative. You are immediately drawn in and intrigued. Alessa has been seeing an apparition in her sorority house at College. So the first part of the book involves the mystery of the apparition. Who is he? Why does he appear to Alessa? Where is he from? When is he from? Is he a ghost? Is time travel involved? Is something else going on here?
The mystery deepens and just when you think you know what is going on, there is a twist. And such a unique twist! We really do not want to give anything away so we really am just not going to say anything about it. And it is so hard not to! But this book starts out at one place and totally ended up going somewhere completely different. It was very refreshing and interesting. And really it is better just to go along with and discover it on your own.
It covers several book genres and they meshed well together. It has well developed characters and emotion. Alessa is a strong female character and I loved her friend Janie. There is a deep chemistry between Alessa and Isaac that I think will only deepen in the following books in the series. There is mystery, suspense, action, interesting plotlines, and surprises. It ends in a good place and is perfectly set up for the next book in the series Shudder. This will be a trilogy. It was an excellent debut for Samantha Durante.
And suddenly Alessa knew it, viscerally, could feel it deep within her core. Isaac was hers. He was as much a part of her as her own blood, as the oxygen that seeped through her body.
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2 comments
What a coincidence, I got my blog done by Sarah Bryan too, how did you find her? I actually saw your social media icons on her site and loved it. I'm also participating in some of the same book tours as you LOL
ReplyDeleteAngelica @ Paperback Princess
She is a friend of Tammy and does amazing work! We have been fortunate to have her expertise when designing our blog. Your blog is too cute!
ReplyDelete