Blog Tour: Libera Me by Christine Fonseca

Welcome to the Virtual Blog Tour for LIBERA ME, Book #2 in the Requiem Series by Christine Fonseca.
Beginning after Lacrimosa and the short story Mea Culpa, Libera Me follows Zane and Aydan as they try to figure out who Nessa really is. Here's the blurb:

What happens when everything you’ve sacrificed for is lost? 
Aydan thought Nesy’s death would be the end of him, until he meets Nessa and his hope is restored. Could she be Nesy reborn? He is certain she must be. That is, until her lack of memories and incessant nightmares begin to erode his faith.

Zane is used to trusting his mind, his wisdom and his angelic senses. But these attributes are no help with Nessa. He has no way to be certain of her identity, no way to know the truth. That is, unless he listens to the one thing he has refused to acknowledge throughout his existence - he feelings for Nesy. 

Blind to both angel and demon, Aydan and Zane must figure out the truth behind Nesy's identity before all is lost, Azza discovers the truth and the Beast is again unleashed. 

The lines between good and evil have never been so blurred.

Libera Me officially releases October 30. And be sure to check out the other books in the series:

LACRIMOSA

DIES IRAE (Free from Amazon and Smashwords)

MEA CULPA (Free from Amazon and Smashwords)

Today I am super excited to get a SECOND day to participate in Christine Fonseca's Libera Me tour!!! I absolutely love this book and the Requiem series in general.

Chrsitine has generously offered to share a deleted scene from book 1 of the Requiem series: Lacrimosa. It's such an awesome scene! And it's from a character who I absolutely and positively LOVE: Lorelei! Let's see what it's all about, shall we?

Deleted Scene from Lacrimosa – Part #1

~~

When Lacrimosa was initially written, I toyed around with 3rd person POV and told the story from the POVs of Aydan, Nesy and Lorelei. Through the revision process a lot changed, and although I did not keep the Lorelei chapters, her character has always held a special place in my heart. So much so that I wrote a special short story for the Winter Wonder’s anthology releasing in December.

With that in mind, I thought I’d share one of the Lorelei chapters with all of you. This one hints at the story that I will share in depth in December.  In this scene, Lorelei has just been taken by Azza into Infernum (his realm). (**Note, I split the scene into three posts, see the link at the end for the next post)

Hunted

            Lorelei fell backwards through the shadows, into a dream world. A nightmare. The fog cleared, revealing a stone labyrinth of ruins. Ancient buildings, half ravaged by the decay of time and war filled the space around her. Rotting corpses and discarded bones littered the ground. Distant sounds of lamentation combined with the stench of death and filled her senses.

What is this place, she thought, as she struggled to remain calm.

Tendrils of black smoke appeared from the ruins themselves. They closed around her ribs and neck, squeezing the oxygen from her lungs. Her body ached for air. Blackness enveloped her senses and her mind closed in on itself.

            Memories of her life before circled her thoughts. Life with the angel-turned-sister who watched over her. The emptiness and fear that engulfed her when that angel left. And the monster that sought to destroy her—simply for being born.

For years she and her mother hid their secret. Before she stopped aging. Before the Seers started to disappear.

One by one her species faded into oblivion. Murdered, it was said, by a demon like none they’d ever seen. Powerful. Ruthless. Cunning. He lured the Seers to their death, masquerading as a trusted friend or an intimate lover. With one embrace, one kiss, he robbed them of their souls. Until they began to recognize him: solid black eyes and intricate markings that extended from his jaw to his collar bone.

Lorelei’s mother promised that Elle would come back and help them. Stop the monster. Protect them both.

She never did.

Lorelei felt her pulse pound too fast against her neck as the darkness continued to permeate her cells. Images frayed her emotions. Moments of her life she wanted to erase. Needed to leave behind. Moments she’d never forget.

Her mother’s voice echoed against the emptiness that surrounded her as she drifted back.

“Run, Lorelei! Run!”

She heard the words. Remembered running through the forests that surrounded her village.

            “You can't hide from me forever, little Seer. I will find you. And when I do, you will help me fulfill a promise to an old friend.”

            Lorelei ran from the devil. His promise guaranteed her death. Her mom had taught her that much. She pushed further as the twigs and branches scrapped her arms. Her legs. She ignored the pain that shot through her limbs, desperate to put as much space as possible between her and the monster.

            “I will kill your mother, little Seer. And then I will kill you.”

            She ran faster, trying to outrun the devil's voice in her head. The deeper into the forest she went, the louder his voice. Until she couldn't run anymore and she collapsed.

            Lorelei pushed against the images in her thoughts, desperate to chase them away. Shadows continued to surround her. Cold. Wet. Threatening. A blanket of fear covered her as a familiar voice whispered in her ear.

“Remember me? I’ve been searching for you for a long time.”

Part #2 will be released on 11/6 at the Bonnie Gets A Say blog. 

About Christine:

School psychologist by day, critically acclaimed YA and nonfiction author by night, Christine Fonseca believes that writing is a great way to explore humanity. Her many titles include TRANSCEND, DIES IRAE, LACRIMOSA, MEA CULPA, and in nonfiction: 101 SUCCESS SECRETS FOR GIFTED KIDS and EMOTIONAL INTENSITY IN GIFTED STUDENTS.

When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, she can be sipping too many skinny vanilla lattes at her favorite coffee house or playing around on Facebook and Twitter. Catch her daily thoughts about writing and life on her blog.

For more information about Christine Fonseca or the series, visit her website – http://christinefonseca.com or her blog http://christinefonseca.blogspot.com. 

To celebrate to release and thank her readers, Christine is hosting a little contest honoring each of the main characters. Prizes include a new release YA book, Book swag, and even some of her own titles. She is also giving a Kindle as part of her Fall Release Party. Check out both giveaways below.

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Blog Tour: Libera Me by Christine Fonseca

Today I could not be more excited! It's my day to host Christine Fonseca for the blog tour of her second book of the Requiem series Libera Me! People, this series is TO DIE FOR! I kid you not. It's totally and completely amazing. If you have not started it, get out there and get them because I promise you you will not be disappointed!

Here's a little tease about this totally fabulous book!

What happens when everything you’ve sacrificed for is lost?  

 Aydan thought Nesy’s death would be the end of him, until he meets Nessa and his hope is restored. Could she be Nesy reborn? He is certain she must be. That is, until her lack of memories and incessant nightmares begin to erode his faith.  Zane is used to trusting his mind, his wisdom and his angelic senses. But these attributes are no help with Nessa. He has no way to be certain of her identity, no way of knowing the truth. That is, unless he listens to the one thing he has refused to acknowledge throughout his existence - he feelings for Nesy.   Blind to both angel and demon, Aydan and Zane must figure out the truth behind Nesy's identity before all is lost, Azza discovers the truth and the Beast is again unleashed.   The lines between good and evil have never been so blurred.  

Availability: 

Publisher: COMPASS PRESS 

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13414128-libera-me 

Buy information will not be available until October, but it will be available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other  fine retailers. 

Additional Titles in the series include DIES IRAE (a Requiem Novella), LACRIMOSA (Requiem Series #1) and MEA CULPA (a Requiem Novella). 

About Christine: 

School psychologist by day, critically acclaimed YA and nonfiction author by night, Christine Fonseca believes that writing is a great way to explore humanity. Her many titles include TRANSCEND, DIES IRAE, LACRIMOSA, MEA CULPA, and in nonfiction: 101 SUCCESS SECRETS FOR GIFTED KIDS and EMOTIONAL INTENSITY IN GIFTED STUDENTS. 

When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, she can be sipping too many skinny vanilla lattes at her favorite coffee house or playing around on Facebook and Twitter. Catch her daily thoughts about writing and life on her blog. 

For more information about Christine Fonseca or the series, visit her website – http://christinefonseca.com or her blog http://christinefonseca.blogspot.com.  

To celebrate to release and thank her readers, Christine is hosting a little contest honoring each of the main characters. Prizes include a new release YA book, Book swag, and even some of her own titles. She is also giving a Kindle as part of her Fall Release Party. 

As part of my stop, the lovely Christine has agreed to do a little interview. I asked her some unusual questions in the hopes it would give us some insight into who she is. Let's hear what she has to say!

What is your guilty pleasure?

I would have to say Dark Chocolate. I try to stay away from sweets, but I have a huge love of dark chocolate! HUGE. In the non-food domain....shoes. LOL

If you were a super hero, what power would you have?

Absolutely, I’d be an empath – someone who can feel and influence the emotions of others.

 If you were a super hero, what would be your "kryptonite?"

Using that same Empath scenario from above, I’d have to say watching people in pain, unable to do anything about it. That is my ultimate weakness. I have to get involved. I can’t watch it happen and do nothing

 If you could choose another author to co-author with, it can be anyone of your wildest dreams, who would you pick?

Anyone in my wildest dreams, hun....Libba Bray or JK Rowling. I think they are both master storytellers, incredible writers, and people I strive to be more like. Yea, I am a total fan girl for both!

 You are trapped on a desert island, name 5 things you would want with you.

Fresh drinking water; sunscreen (I FRY), bug repellant, paper and a pen or pencil. Everything else I can find, make, or figure out.

 If you could be a character in any book you've read, which one would you choose?

I think I’d want to be Hermione Granger from Harry Potter.

 How many purses do you own?

Um, ten or so. I love purses the way I love shoes!

 What is the one food you cannot say "no" to?

Breads. If they are in the house and near me, I eat them. Period.

 If one of your books were to be optioned for a movie, which one would it be and why?

That is a hard one. I am a visual-writer, meaning I “see” the scenes I write. So, I think all of my fiction is well suited for the big screen. Transcend would be a fabulous, creepy film. And the Requiem series I could see being very addicting to watch – especially with the special effects. EEP, the idea of it gives me chills.

 Tell us what you have planned as far as writing for the future. 

My goodness I have a TON planned. I recently mapped out my writing goals per month, and I am either drafting, editing or promoting (and usually 2-3 of those at once) every single month for the next year. I have a short coming out in Dec, as well as two nonfiction books and two novels slated for 2013. Fun...INSANE, but really fun. I am incredibly blessed. And I have all of YOU readers to thank for that!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, Christine, and giving us a little insight into who you are. And as part of the tour, Christine has offered two great giveaways, so scroll all the way down to enter and win!

I was fortunate enough to get to read an ARC of this unbelievably amazing book. Do you want to know what I thought? Read on below, I promise, no spoilers (at least none that I intended!).

I would like to thank my friend and the author Christine Fonseca for trusting me with a rough draft/ARC of this BEAUTIFULLY AMAZING book to read and give an honest review. I am honored and humbled to have been trusted to read this masterpiece of literature. And I was not in the least bit disappointed with it, as I knew would be the case. It took me a while to pull my thoughts together to be able to write this review because I just did not know how to coherently put my words on paper! Yes, this book is THAT good, THAT amazing. If you enjoyed Lacrimosa (Requiem #1) then you will be blown out of the water by what Libera Me offers to you! This book was so amazing that I read it TWICE, yes, you read that right, TWICE, just because I had to go back and re-wrap my mind around the story so I could get that much more out of it.

For starters I must comment on the cover of this book. It so accurately captures the theme of the book. The characters laying in opposite directions signifies to me the push and pull you feel between them as the book progresses. And how it depicts the two characters together, well, it's just HOT! You cannot get much better than that. I like this cover much more than the original one. When I first saw the new cover, I was so excited. Christine shared it with me before it was completed and I loved it then. Then I got to see it grow with her process of changing it and WOW! What an amazing choice for this book!

As always, the characters in this series completely and totally keep me wanting more. They are so well developed, it is not possible to not get completely and totally engrossed in them. I feel connections with each and every one of them. I love that this book takes a turn and tells the story from Aydan and Zane's points of view. It completely captures their feelings for Nesy, their torture in loving her and their struggle with whether or not to let her go. Reading of their struggle throughout this amazing piece of work was so hard. And yet, I could not stop because I needed to know how things would end for these characters.
Aydan is so conflicted, so tortured, my heart was always in my throat when I was reading his chapters. Watching him unravel is heart wrenching. Watching him battle his demons made me want to cry (and I did). I just love him and feel so badly for him as he tries to come to terms with his torment. And the ways in which he choses to deal with this torment kept me on the edge of my seat. I think the most interesting part of Aydan's struggle in this book is watching him try to figure out what is real and what is not. Trying to figure out if the beast still lives inside him, or if what he's feeling, seeing, and sensing is real.
Zane, well, it was so great getting to really know him in this book. We got a glimpse of who he is in Mea Culpa. We saw his torture and felt his growing need to find Nesy. In this book, you are once again let in on his journey. His soul is just as tortured as Aydan's. And because he remains an angel, it pulls that much more on your heart strings because he knows he is not ever supposed to get emotionally involved. He knows that angels should not possibly feel what he does, and yet it is right there, smacking you in the face. Zane is powerful and sexy, loving and surprising. I loved him more and more as I read for his need to find Nesy. He struggles with the sacrifice he has made for Nesy, and this causes him such pain you feel it ripping at your heart.
And Nesy (Nessa), well, she is and is not what we expect her to be. I won't say much more than that because I don't want to spoil things for the reader! Just know that her whole being is so much more complicated than you could have possibly thought.
The supporting characters are well developed and thought out. We watch as Cass struggles with keeping Zane safe. She's torn apart by possibly losing another being that she loves. And Caim, well, it's hard to say anything about Caim because I didn't trust him from the first book, so why should I have trusted him in this one? He just has wrongness written all over him. And when I see that he's placed with Zane's team to investigate Nessa, I simply could not understand the logic. How could he be trusted after what happened with Lori?

The plot of this book is completely overwhelming. And I do not mean that in a bad way. It's an incredible journey through the minds of two very different characters who want the same thing, the safety and love of someone they are not sure is really who they think she is. While Christine was writing this story, she would send me small emails saying how torn she was between Zane and Aydan. How they were torturing her and constantly calling her back to writing their story. Once you read this story, you will completely understand why. While the plot is not new (bad versus good and the struggle between who will win), the way in which Christine goes about selling it to you is different from anything else you will ever read. I promise the surprises that happen are so unexpected they will have your mind reeling and your heart racing out of control to see where everything ends up. This is a story of sacrifice, love, and torment, of faith, anguish and horror. While this book is not a psychological thriller, some of those elements are in the story line and that makes for a completely different twist on a paranormal read.

As for Christine's writing, well, she is truly a poet. I cannot tell you how engrossed I get when reading her stories. The words flow so easily, one after the other dragging you in, twisting your heart, and blowing your mind. She tells the story in way that makes you want to continue to read and never stop. I found myself sneaking peeks at work just so I would know what was happening next. The words give so much life to the story, chosen so carefully and constructed into a melody that speaks in such an amazing way. It's like reading a song on paper. That's how amazing this writing is. I found myself holding my breath as I turned each page, the words forming amazing images in my mind, like art swirling to life effortlessly on a piece of canvas.

This book will blow your mind in so many ways. If you read Lacrimosa, and enjoyed the awesomeness that was the first book in the Requiem series, then this story will shatter your mind into so many pieces you will have to pick them up and read the book again to fully absorb it's awesomeness!

5 out of 5 shining stars from me, if I could give it more, I totally would! I need book #3 in hand RIGHT NOW!

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Synopsis Saturday

Another week has flown by and as usual I feel like I didn't get nearly enough done reading wise. I have so much I want to do! ACK! 

In any case, here's what I've been focusing on and/or have finished up this past week :)

Title: The Star Dwellers (Dwellers #2)

Author: David Estes

Publication Date: September 30, 2012

Publisher: David Estes

Buying links: Barnes and Noble, Amazon

After rescuing her father and younger sister, Adele is forced to leave her family and Tristan behind to find her mother in the cruel and dangerous realm of the star dwellers. 
Amidst blossoming feelings for Adele, Tristan must cast his feelings aside and let her find her own way amongst the star dwellers, while he accompanies Adele's father to meet with the leaders of the moon dwellers and decide the fate of the Tri-Realms.
Will Adele be able to rescue her mother and make it back to the Moon Realm before the President and the sun dweller soldiers destroy her family?
Can Tristan convince the moon dweller puppets of the error of their ways?
Was Adele's lost kiss with Tristan her one and only chance at love?
In her world there's only one rule: Someone must die.

I'm just about done with this little ARC I received from author David Estes (who will be featured here on Tuesday October 16th as part of his Star Dwellers Book Blog Tour, so stop back!). I should be able to review this by tomorrow.

Title: Iron King (Iron Fey #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publication Date: February 1, 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Buying Links: Barnes and Noble, Amazon

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.
Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.
But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Since I got an ARC of this one:

I figured I should read the series, as I think I'd be lost if I didn't. I'm about 80% done, so I'll move on to the second one as soon as I can pick it up from the library. I have to say I had a hard time getting through the first half, but then it picked up. And I have heard great things about this series, so I will keep reading!

 I am reading and ARC of this next beauty  as author Christine Fonseca sends it to me in bits and pieces through her editing process. It is UTTERLY AMAZING. I cannot put it down once I start reading it, so it's killing me to only have it in bits and pieces :)

Title: Libera Me (Requiem #2)

Author: Christine Fonseca

Expected Publication Date: October 30, 2012

Publisher: Compass Press

What happens when everything you’ve sacrificed for is lost? 
Aydan thought Nesy’s death would be the end of him, until he meets Nessa and his hope is restored. Could she be Nesy reborn? He is certain she must be. That is, until her lack of memories and incessant nightmares begin to erode his faith.
Zane is used to trusting his mind, his wisdom and his angelic senses. But these attributes are no help with Nessa. He has no way to be certain of her identity, no way to know the truth. That is, unless he listens to the one thing he has refused to acknowledge throughout his existence - he feelings for Nesy. 
Blind to both angel and demon, Aydan and Zane must figure out the truth behind Nesy's identity before all is lost, Azza discovers the truth and the Beast is again unleashed. 
The lines between good and evil have never been so blurred

And finally, not to be left out EVER, I got this today, started and finished it this morning! OH HOW I LOVE LOVE LOVE Armentrout and her writing! I want to have Aiden's babies! LOL! Believe me, this will be getting 5 stars!

Title: Elixir (Covenant #3.5)

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Expected Publication Date: November 26, 2012

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Aiden St. Delphi will do anything to save Alex. 
Even if it means doing the one thing he will never forgive himself for. 
Even if it means making war against the gods.