A Tempest is Brewing + Giveaway

As some of you know, I recently had the great pleasure of doing a signing at Books of Wonder, and one of the lovely ladies with me was Julie Cross:

That's her, second to the left! Thanks, SLJ, for posting the picture!

I got this book to read for review when I was grumpy. That's the nicest thing I can say about my attitude. I was terribly grumpy and prone to hate everything. The copy of the book I got had no cover, and very little description. I picked it up, expecting to hate the whole thing and continue being grumpy.

Instead, I loved it.

I devoured the whole book, totally caught in the story and enraptured by the world. It's a time travel book which, right there, should be a sign that I would love it, but the fact that this book (a) picked me up out of a serious reading slump, (b) made me quit being so grumpy, and (c) made me ignore everything to read for two days straight meant that I had to blurb it. So I did :)

“Julie Cross's thrilling debut is brimming with 

excitement, romance, and intrigue. 

I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!” 

That bit about not being able to turn the pages fast enough? That's actually true. There's a few scenes there where I got so anxious that I remember having my fingers caught between three or four pages, the faster to turn them with. And it was all I could do not to skip to the end and make sure everyone makes it out okay!

I'll be doing a more complete review and an interview with author Julie Cross in the next two days, but in the meantime, you can find out more about this book here:

• GoodReads page (all the buy-the-book links are there)
• Author blog
• FREE downloadable short story set in the world of TEMPEST
• Great review of the book by the LA Times

And since I really want to share this brilliant book with people, I'm giving away a SIGNED copy that I picked up at Books of Wonder just for you! Since Julie's a debut author, why not give her a shout-out in the comments to let her know how much you want to read her book, what you think of the cover or trailer, or just a good luck wish? (I'm not making this mandatory, I just think it'd be nice :)

Additional contest information:

• Open internationally
• Entrants must be 13 years old or older
• Only one entry per person
• Must enter in the Rafflecopter below to qualify
• Contest closes on February 1, 2012

a Rafflecopter giveaway