{Review, Guest Post, Interview & Giveaway} Poughkeepsie Enhanced Collector's Edition App by Debra Anastasia

 {Blog Tour: Interview & Giveaway} Poughkeepsie Enhanced Collector's Edition App by Debra Anastasia

What is the Enhanced App???

Check it out:

 Summary:

Immerse yourself in the world of Debra Anastasia’s Poughkeepsie.Experience this bestselling novel for the first time…again as you break all the rules about books with Omnific Publishing and Debra Anastasia. In this enhanced version of the novel, you’ll enjoy insights from the author, music by Ron Pope and other artists to set the mood, and images and video that bring the scenes to life as you read. You’ll delve deeper into the world of Poughkeepsie through nearly 50,000 words of added scenes (more love, more drama, more romance!) and informative insights into how this marvelous story and its characters came to be. Self-contained in this app (no wifi needed after downloading):•complete novel Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia•author/director’s pop-up commentary•music by Ron Pope, Rustic Overtones, Monoxide G, Violet Winter, Bo Heart, and Jeff Epstein and the City Line Singers•more than 100 images to enhance the story•videos of your favorite characters in action•special animation•sound effects•interviews with the characters, author, and more•interactive games•trailers for the Poughkeepsie Brotherhood series•how-to knitting instructions•how-to instructions for making a paper rose•recipe for the dinner Livia makes for Blake

My Review:
I've said time and again how much I absolutely love Poughkeepsie. I've read the book so many times and each time I find something new that I fall in love with. So, I was so very excited when Debra mentioned an app with all these goodies included. I've been very lucky and feel very honored that I am a part of Debra's badass street team for Poughkeepsie and got an exclusive look at this amazing app. What can I say about it? Seriously, if every book had an app like this, I'd be in freaking heaven.  All the music, pictures, interviews.....my mind is blown.  I am so happy for Debra to be launching this app and that I was included in helping her announce the release. If you haven't read the book, I encourage you to not only read the book but get this extraordinary app and get the experience of a lifetime.

Short interview with the lovely Debra Anastasia:

1. I have to say that Poughkeepsie is so unusual and so very extraordinary. Where did the idea of this book start? 

I was really inspired to write a romance that had a lead hero with nothing more than his love to offer the girl of his dreams. I wanted to highlight the every day kind of love that I think is the most special.

2. Have any of the characters in the series been based on any personal friends or someone you know personally? They are each so unique and have had such random backgrounds. I was always curious ;-)

You are so sweet! There are parts of everyone I love in each of these characters. Blake reminds me of my husband and Beckett came from a steady diet of stories form my father and uncle growing up. They were both dead set on doing the right thing, every time no matter what!

3. How did the idea of this enhanced app come about? 

Omnific approached my almost two years ago and I jumped on the chance. Anyway to give my readers more content to Poughkeepsie, I was going to take.

4. It seems like a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this app. Knowing how much of a hard long process this would take, what made you decide to go through with it? 

I had no idea it would take what it did. I knew I set the bar really high and I was supported in that goal by my publishier, so even in the darkest moments, I had to get it done. They believed in me and I wanted it to be everything it could for my readers.

5. Are you planning on having any more of the series made into an enhanced app? Because I seriously will snatch them up. ;-) 

Thank you! No plans as of right now. I actually worked on a brief handbook for other authors on how to create an Enhanced version, but right now my focus is writing Saving Poughkeepsie (Poughkeepsie Brotherhood Series #3)

About Debra:

Debra Anastasia is busy, just like every other mom. There’s dinner, the dogs, the two kids, and her violent IBS–which is under control thanks to medication except for occasional multi-tonal farts. Her first love and crowning achievement is her thriving career as the weirdest mom on the block.

Her writing started a decent handful of years ago when–along with the animals and humans in her house–the voices of characters started whispering stories in Debra’s ear. Insomnia was the gateway to plots that wouldn’t give up, wouldn’t let go. Now they stalk her everywhere. Halfway through making lunches, a twist takes hold and–fingers full of peanut butter–she finds somewhere, anywhere to write it down.

She’s eternally grateful to Omnific Publishing, which has now published four of her books: two in the Seraphim Series and two in the Poughkeepsie Brotherhood Series, as well as her novella, Late Night with Andres. That one is special because 100% of the proceeds go to breast cancer research. (So go get it right now, please!) She also very much appreciates her open-minded readers, who embrace everything
she has to offer, with a focus on anti-heroes and bathroom humor.

Debra lives in Maryland with her family. You can find her at DebraAnastasia.com and on Twitter @Debra_Anastasia. But be prepared.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Amazon * Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway And this blog is giving away eCopies of Poughkeepsie and Return to Poughkeepsie to celebrate!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A quick note from Debra:

When I started my Street Team, I knew it would be an amazing group. My readers are my favorite people. I know for a fact that we would all have a great time together. They are smart, adorable and deal with my crazy ass.

These ladies were on my mind while constructing the Poughkeepsie Enhanced Collector’s Edition app. I wondered what I could add to the novel that they had already read that would help it feel like they were reading it for the first time…again.

So I decided on commentary, and I imagined us all at a table and picked out the stories I would share. My developer made them into little pop up bubbles on text. That was the first layer of this huge project. Then came the building blocks or the music, the extra scenes, sounds, moving gifs, videos and so much more. The end result is literally my dream come true. It’s like the most deluxe reading experience I’ve ever seen.

In my head I wanted to make my Street Team proud, and I really hope they like this new version of Poughkeepsie. Of course, they are awesome helpers with the app release your. We will be getting together to have a huge Twitter flash mob on March 19^th at 7pm EST. It will be our second one. The first was such a blast, I can not wait to do it again.

Jessica from Hackaroo’s Reviews here is on my Street team and I cherish her! Thank you so much for letting me on your blog today. XOX

{Review} Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines

{Review} Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines

Goodreads Description:

Rush promised her forever... but promises can be broken.
Torn between his love for his family and his love for Blaire, Rush has to find a way to save one without losing the other. In the end one has to be more important. Letting go isn’t easy.
Blaire believed in her fairytale... but no one can live in a fantasy.
Her love for Rush and desire to have a family keep her believing that they can find a way for this to work. Until she has to make the right decision for her and the baby. Even if it breaks her heart.
Can they find the forever that they both want or has it all just gone... too far?

What did I think? I will say, first off, that this is honestly one of the hardest reviews I have ever had to write. One, because the author was a favorite of mine and two, because I really really didn't care for it. At all. It breaks my heart. Truly it does, but I have to be honest here. First of all, I've read the other two books in this series. That's right....there are two books before this one. Fallen Too Far  & Never Too Far are the other two in the series. Those should have been it for this series in my opinion. Forever Too Far shouldn't have been written.  Why? You ask....well...it's because....It is the same story. 99% of this book is EXACTLY like the other two. There was no plot, no story line and no character development. I knew this was going to be bust when I started to read it but I wanted to give the author the benefit of the doubt because she was a favorite of mine. I read this with my bestie April. We are in the same boat in regards to the author and her books so were pretty wary walking into it. Here are some examples about what I'm talking about: 1.  No Plot Okay, so if you've read either of the first two books, you know that Rush and B;air are 'in love' and all that jazz. This is just a continuation of their relationship. The only thing that's really different is that Blair is farther along in her pregnancy. Nothing else happens. Oh wait....there's sex. Of course. There is always sex in these novels nowadays. Oh ya! Blair re-unites with her dad. Again.
2. No Story Line See what I mentioned above? It applies here too. This book was just a waste of my time and energy. I will be more honest and say that I probably skimmed over 75% of this book because it was all the same things. There was no climax, no comic relief.....blah.
3. No Character Development Seriously...this part was the most irritating to me. In the first two books, Rush is a dick with a capital "D" and takes Blair for granted. Blair is too "naive or nice" to really stand up for herself. Rush leaves her when she needs him most and it's for his evil bitch of a sister Nan. Yea...nothing has changed in any of the characters. Rush does the same damn thing and leaves Blair in a crucial moment to go "rescue" his sister. Blair runs away instead of facing her problems and forgives Rush because she "loves" him so very much and she's having his baby.
4. The Sex Please don't get me wrong. I like sex scenes as much as the next blogger/girl. But I like it when it isn't so.... raunchy really. I like the sex to have meaning in it and the story to back it up. This doesn't happen here.  One thing that I will touch on that made me EXTREMELY irritated is that Blair is nearing the end of her pregnancy....she's "huge" and has an episode where she starts to bleed.  Now I know you can bleed during pregnancy and it's nothing really bad. But the way it was described in the book, she went to the hospital because she was having pains as well. That's a pretty good idea of danger zone. And yet.....they still have sex after her hospital trip. If Rush really cared, it wouldn't be so much of an issue to say, "you know what? maybe we should just wait." But both of them are such horn dogs, they can't stand to not have sex at least once a day. 5. "Love" Are Rush and Blair really in love or just in lust? Rush constantly puts his sister above Blair and doesn't give Blair the back up she should have. Example:

Blaire was pregnant and her emotions were harder for her to control. However, I needed to talk to her about just being quiet around Nan.

Are you effing me?! This is the type of guy ladies want now? An insensitive a**hole? Excuse me while I throw up a little in my mouth. I know this review was a bit ranty. I have to be true to my feelings and be honest.  I used to love books by Abbi Glines. They were great when she first started. The story had depth and no sex in it. I still adore those books but I found out that she is re-writing them to make them more "steamy" and I can't even....it hurts.  I won't be buying any more of her books from now on because I want my stories to be just that. STORIES. Not just sex books. If I wanted to read about sex I'd get erotica and call it a day. But I'm not that into the erotica.  I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Here is another review that's along the same lines as mine:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/681796992

I know A LOT of people LOVED this book and the series. Here are some of the reviews they wrote about it:

Review

Review

I just.....I can't get over the fact that this is so popular and it's a series where the main guy is a total douche. Yes, he's good looking....but why not be a nice guy and not a man-whore? I mean, really.... This is what we want our little girls to think is ok? I'm so over this author and what these books stand for.