Happy New Year!

We want to wish all of you a Happy New Year!

 

We are very much looking forward to this new year and we hope for much success on our blog and for all of you out there.

New challenges! New books to read! A blog make over! New author spotlights! And so much more to come in the new year of 2013!

We wish you the best year ever!

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{Author spotlight} Thank you Michelle Madow + giveaway winners

Hi everyone!

It is new years eve and it is the last day that we have Michelle Madow with us here at rather barefoot than bookless!

We want to thank her so very much for joining us during the month of December! It has been so much fun having you with us Michelle and I hope you will be back again one way or another.

We thought the perfect end to this amazing time with Michelle would be to announce the winners for the Giveaway of Remembrance!

We have selected two winners for the awesome giveaway of One copy  in paperback for a US winner and a copy 

 in e-book for an international winner.

The winners were selected by Rafflecopter! You have 48 hours to respond to the email that will be sent out to you! Congrats to.......

Shelly Hammond! You won the paperback!

Micaela! You won the e-book!

And thank you everyone who participated in our giveaway!

TIMELESS, the third and final part of the Transcend Time Saga by Michelle Madow, released on November 20, 2012. The Transcend Time Saga is about a high school student named Lizzie who has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England, but doesn’t realize it until she meets her soul mate from the past and he triggers her memories to gradually return. The series began with REMEMBRANCE (published July 25, 2011), and continued with the short story VENGEANCE (published December 8, 2011). The series has sold a significant number of copies so far, and has received much praise from reviewers.

Quotes from Reviewers about TIMELESS

"The combination of time travel, magic, and love makes Timeless an unforgettable page turner!"-For Those About to Read

"Timeless had great twists, particularly towards the end. For something inspired by a Taylor Swift song, Michelle has come up with a great series!"-Addiction to Words Reviews

"Just when I think I know what to expect, Michelle throws me a curveball! It was spectacular. And marvelous. And a little bit daring, which is what makes Timeless stand out so much!"

-Sparkles and Lightning

Purchase links:
REMEBRANCE: Amazon | B&N | book depository | ibookstore | kobo
VENGENCE:       Amazon | B&N | book depository | ibookstore | kobo
TIMELESS:         Amazon | B&N | book depository | ibookstore | kobo

For more info about Michelle Madow and her books go to;

Twitter:  @michellemadow

Blog of Michelle Madow

Official website

Facebook personal

Facebook fanpage

Goodreads

Read More

{Author Spotlight} Excerpt from Timeless by Michelle Madow

Hello to you all and welcome to todays Author spotlight post! We have an awesome excerpt from the third and final book in the transcend saga, Timeless,  for you to enjoy today.

IT'S A RACE AGAINST TIME.

In Remembrance, Lizzie and Drew changed the course of fate so they could be together.

In Vengeance, Chelsea set fate back on its original, deadly path.

Now, strange things keep happening to Lizzie. Things that are omens of darkness to come. A curse has doomed her to die an early death, just as she did in her past life. To make things worse, even if she can figure out who cast the curse, it's irreversible. There's only one option left for her to save herself. It's crazier than anything she's heard yet, and to do it, she'll need Drew and Chelsea's help.

Because to make things right, they must go back to when it all began …

TIMELESS CHAPTER ONE

“I can’t believe you’ve never made s’more’s before,” Drew said, jabbing a marshmallow with an iron s’more stick and handing it to me.   

“Not all of us went to fancy summer camps when we were younger where we made s’mores and sang Kumbaya around a campfire.” I laughed and took the stick from him. Luckily we weren’t sitting outside—New Hampshire at the end of November wasn’t conducive to that, and I hated the freezing cold. Instead, we sat in front of the fireplace in Drew’s living room, surrounded by a bag of marshmallows, a Hershey’s chocolate bar, and a box of graham crackers.  

The living room was huge, probably as big as half of my house, and being in there felt like being back in time. The furniture was French antique, and the hardwood floor was covered with a woven Turkish rug. I loved curling up my toes and feeling the softness of it underneath them.  

With the fire blazing and Drew sitting next to me, I felt happier than I had in years.  

“That wasn’t all what my summer camp was about,” Drew said as he prepared his marshmallow on the stick. “We also played sports, and did color war.”  

“What’s color war?” I asked.  

“My camp colors were blue and buff, and at the end of the summer we were assigned to one of the colors as a team,” he explained. “We would do cheers and play games against each other.” 

“I have a hard time picturing you cheering for a color team.” I laughed.  

“I got into it when I was younger,” he said. “You should have seen it. I put zinc on my cheeks and everything.” 

“You’ll have to show me a picture,” I told him. 

“I will later,” he promised.  

I looked into his dark brown eyes, the light of the fire reflecting against the flecks of gold inside them. After everything we’d been through in the past few months, it was hard to believe we were here now, making s’mores and talking about our lives.  

When I first saw Drew, he seemed so familiar to me, but I couldn’t place where we’d met. I felt a connection to him, but I was dating Jeremy at the time, so I couldn’t act on it. I also couldn’t act on it because for the first two months after we met, Drew pretended he wanted nothing to do with me. He dated my best friend, Chelsea, and avoided interaction with me as much as possible.  

I didn’t understand what I’d done to offend him so badly, and it hurt to be treated like that. But as much as I told myself that I shouldn’t want anything to do with someone who acted that way, I couldn’t dislike him. The undeniable connection I felt toward him wouldn’t allow it.  

Then I started having flashes of memories from a life long past—a life I’d lived in Hampshire, England in 1815. A life I’d shared with Drew. 

Or a life I would have shared with Drew, if I hadn’t suffered an untimely death in a carriage accident, destroying any chance we had to be together in our past lives.  

Because I, Lizzie Davenport, an average high school junior at the Beech Tree School in Pembrooke, New Hampshire, have been reincarnated. It’s still strange to think about. There are days when I wonder if it’s actually possible, that I have memories of a life lived in a time so different from my own. 

Then I see Drew and I know the love we share is stronger than just this life—it runs all the way from the past into the present.  

Our love wasn’t the only thing that still existed from the past—the tragic end I’d suffered back then was trying to happen again as well. But after I narrowly avoided death in the present when I stopped Jeremy from getting us into an awful car accident that would have paralleled the carriage accident in the past, Drew came clean to me about why he’d been determined to avoid me. He thought if he didn’t allow us to be together in current day, it would have prevented the past from repeating, and stopped my death from happening again.  

His avoiding me didn’t work. Seeing Drew for the first time made my memories of the past bubble to the surface, and after a vivid flashback at the Halloween dance, I approached him about what I was seeing. He confirmed that yes, we were together in the past, although he hid his knowledge of my death. At first I was angry he withheld such important information, but now I understand why he did it—knowing that you died young and might die young again is tough to process.  

Since I stopped the accident from happening again, we were now safe to be together, without having to worry about my possible death. It was relaxing to be able to enjoy my time with Drew. The two of us could finally be normal teenagers. 

Well, as normal as teenagers can be after realizing they were reincarnated to have another chance with their one true love.  

I held the stick with my marshmallow over the fire. The marshmallow hovered over the flames, the edges turning light brown. Drew took another approach, shoving his straight in. A few seconds later, he brought it out and blew out the fire surrounding it. The outside was charred crisp.  

I had no idea how he could think that tasted good.  

“What’re you thinking about?” he asked, squishing his blackened marshmallow between the graham crackers. Even though it was burned on the outside, it was gooey and soft on the inside.  

“Just about everything that’s happened,” I said, rotating my marshmallow to evenly distribute the heat. “I still feel terrible about Chelsea. She had no idea about the history between us, and now she hates me …” A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed it away. Drew was my soul mate, but Chelsea was my best friend.  

At least she was my best friend until Drew and I told her we were together. Now she refused to be in the same room as me. Thinking about how I’d betrayed her made me feel sick. But I couldn’t just not be with Drew, the person I’d been reborn to spend this life with. Anyway, Chelsea’s reasons for wanting to be with Drew were superficial. All she seemed to care about were his looks, and her fascination with his growing up in New York City. It was like being known throughout school as “Drew’s girlfriend” was more important to her than being with him and getting to know him.  

What made me feel terrible was that I handled it wrong. I should have been honest with Chelsea about my feelings for Drew from the start.  

But I couldn’t change the past, so I had to focus on moving forward.  

“She’ll get over it,” Drew assured me, draping his arm around my shoulders. “You just need to give her time.”  

“Speaking of time,” I said, “We need to make sure I’m back home by 10:00. Curfew on school nights and all.” I glanced at my watch, squinting at the face of the clock when I saw it said 5:15. The sun had set hours ago. “That’s strange,” I said.  

“What?” Drew asked.  

“My watch stopped.”  

“It probably needs a new battery,” he said. 

“But I got the battery replaced last month.”  

“Maybe you got a bad battery.”  

“Yeah.” I shrugged, unable to come up with another reason. “That must be it.”  

Since my watch wasn’t working, I checked the time on my phone. 9:20. Drew and I had thirty minutes together before I had to drive back so I got home before curfew.  

“We’ll get it fixed after school tomorrow,” Drew said. “Okay?” 

“Okay,” I said, my thoughts returning to where they had been before noticing my watch had stopped. “I keep thinking about Chelsea, though. She’s not the kind of person to forget about how we hurt her—even if neither of us did it on purpose. What if she never wants to be friends with me again?” 

“If she doesn’t want to be friends with you anymore, then she doesn’t deserve your friendship,” Drew said. “Besides, you have other friends. You were telling me the other day how you wanted to spend more time with Hannah, and you and Keelie are hanging out now, too. Both of them are nicer than Chelsea, anyway.”  

“You would know,” I said. “You dated her.”  

“Hey.” Drew nudged me with his shoulder. “I thought you were over that.” 

“I am,” I said. “And I know you never loved her. I just …” 

“Wish I had been honest about everything from the beginning,” Drew finished my sentence. “I’ll say ‘I’m sorry’ a million more times if that will make you forgive me.” 

“I’ve already forgiven you,” I said honestly, looking into his brown eyes with the familiar flecks of gold around the pupils. “I love you too much to not forgive you.”  

“And I love you, too,” Drew said, touching the silver heart bracelet he gave me yesterday. “Always and forever.”  

Drew helped me make my s’more, although unlike his, I didn’t put a bar of chocolate in mine. I’m one of the few people—okay, the only person—I know who doesn’t like chocolate, or sweet foods in general. Jeremy thought it made me a freak of nature. I was only tolerating the marshmallow, which was a big ball of sugar, because it was fun to cook in the fireplace.  

Drew remembered how I didn’t like chocolate in my past life, either, and he thinks it’s cute. I’m not sure how not liking chocolate can be cute, but to him it is.  

I didn’t say anything as I ate my s’more, surprised that I liked it. This was definitely something I missed by going to a church art camp instead of an outdoor sports camp like the one Drew attended. Once finished, I wiped my lips to make sure there wasn’t any gooey marshmallow stuck on them.  

“I think my mom is dating someone,” I said, stabbing a second marshmallow with the s’more stick.  

“Is that a weird thing?” Drew ate his burned marshmallow right off the stick. Apparently we were done making them into marshmallow/graham cracker sandwiches, and were now eating them straight. It was less messy that way, and the good part was the marshmallow, anyway. 

“Not weird,” I said. “She dates sometimes. But it’s never anything serious, and she always tells me about the guy she’s going out with. I’ve gotten run-downs on all her past dates. But she’s being so secretive about whoever she’s seeing now, and I can’t help but wonder why.”  

“You should ask her,” Drew said, like it was the simplest solution in the world.  

“Yeah.” I rotated my s’more stick to cook the other side of the marshmallow. “I will.”  

Drew reached for the bag of marshmallows to put another one on his stick. Then I heard a strange sound from the chimney—like something was trying to come through. A frantic flapping, followed by a loud squawk that sounded like a bird.  

I didn’t have time to ask Drew what was going on before a huge black crow slammed into the fire.  

I yanked my s’more stick out of the flame and backed up on the rug, with no idea what to do. The bird’s feathers caught fire, combusting around its body, its eyes panicked. I wanted to reach in and help it, but I couldn’t put my hand in the flames. Plus, the bird had stopped moving. I had a feeling it was past the point where it could be saved.  

Then a sickening smell filled the room—burning flesh. I covered my nose with my hand, not wanting to breathe in the aroma of death. I felt like I was going to be sick. I wanted to look away, so I didn’t have to see the painful last moments of the poor animal being burned alive, but I couldn’t pull away from the grisly scene. All I could see was the crow’s hollow eye socket staring at me. Blaming me. Like it was saying, “You’re next.” 

I shook the thought away—it made no sense. Why had I thought something so gruesome? 

“Go into the kitchen.” Drew’s voice entered my panicked thoughts. “I’ll take care of this.” He grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look away from the dead bird in the fire. But not seeing it didn’t erase the smell. Cooked flesh. Burning feathers.  

The overwhelming aroma of death trapping me, leaving me no room to escape.

TIMELESS, the third and final part of the Transcend Time Saga by Michelle Madow, released on November 20, 2012. The Transcend Time Saga is about a high school student named Lizzie who has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England, but doesn’t realize it until she meets her soul mate from the past and he triggers her memories to gradually return. The series began with REMEMBRANCE (published July 25, 2011), and continued with the short story VENGEANCE (published December 8, 2011). The series has sold a significant number of copies so far, and has received much praise from reviewers.

Quotes from Reviewers about TIMELESS

"The combination of time travel, magic, and love makes Timeless an unforgettable page turner!"-For Those About to Read

"Timeless had great twists, particularly towards the end. For something inspired by a Taylor Swift song, Michelle has come up with a great series!"-Addiction to Words Reviews

"Just when I think I know what to expect, Michelle throws me a curveball! It was spectacular. And marvelous. And a little bit daring, which is what makes Timeless stand out so much!"

-Sparkles and Lightning

Purchase links:
REMEBRANCE: Amazon | B&N | book depository | ibookstore | kobo
VENGENCE:       Amazon | B&N | book depository | ibookstore | kobo
TIMELESS:         Amazon | B&N | book depository | ibookstore | kobo

For more info about Michelle Madow and her books go to;

Twitter:  @michellemadow

Blog of Michelle Madow

Official website

Facebook personal

Facebook fanpage

Goodreads

Read More