Release Day Book Blast: Until Beth (Life and Beth #1)

Happy Book Birthday UNTIL BETH! We're so excited to be sharing this fantastic Young Adult novel by Lisa Amowitz with you today! Be sure to stop in at the bottom, and enter the giveaway for books, swag and a guitar pick necklace! The giveaway is open internationally!

About The Book

UNTIL BETHAuthor: Lisa Amowitz
Release Date: September 29^th, 2015 Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press  ISBN-13: 978-1633920330

She doesn’t just play, she kills it.
Talented rock guitarist Beth Collins has been barely holding herself together for months, ever since her boyfriend and bandmate became the latest victim in a string of suspicious disappearances. When her brother is injured an accident and she sees something dark billowing around him as he hovers close to death, she’s convinced her sanity is collapsing for good.

Then she's accepted by a boarding school for the musically gifted. All of her new friends are bursting with talent, but they're also keeping secrets. Can she trust Vincent, who's so sweet that his very touch makes her fears melt away? Or Xavier, who's trying to tell her something but is hiding even more?

And will anyone be safe when her true Talent comes out?

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Praise For Until Beth

"I  wish I could have read about a protagonist like Beth when I was growing up--a girl who doesn't fit into her society and must learn to use her abilities for good instead of evil. Her struggles will resonate with teen readers, and the hidden agendas of the school and its students will keep readers guessing up to the final page." - Lyn Miller-Lachmann, author of Rogue

"This unique and compelling novel grabbed me on the first page and wouldn't let go. With unforgettable characters and a story that is by turns heartbreaking, thrilling and uplifting, UNTIL BETH is a must-read.” - Christine Johnson, author of The Gathering Dark

About The Author

Lisa Amowitz was born in Queens and raised in the wilds of Long Island, New York where she climbed trees, thought small creatures lived under rocks and studied ant hills. And drew. A lot. She is a professor of Graphic Design at her beloved Bronx Community College where she has been tormenting and cajoling students for nearly twenty years. She started writing eleven years ago because she wanted something to illustrate, but somehow, instead ended up writing YA. Probably because her mind is too dark and twisted for small children. Lisa is represented by Shannon Hassan of Marsal-Lyon Literary Agency. shannon@marsallyonliteraryagency.com

BREAKING GLASS, released in July, 2013 from Spencer Hill Press, is her first published work. VISION, the first of the Finder series was released September, 2014. FRACTURED, a novella combining the worlds of BREAKING GLASS and VISION releases as an ebook only, June 7, 2015. UNTIL BETH, the first in the Life and Beth trilogy will be released September 2015.

Lisa Amowitz is available for guest appearances, Skype visits, school visits, libraries & interviews. Please contact her for scheduling.

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Giveaway

Grand prize US:$25 gift certificate to Amazon, Powell's or B&N (Winners Choice)
Ebooks of Breaking Glass, Vision & Fractured also by Lisa Amowitz
Swag AND a hand made (by the author!!) guitar pick necklace.
(International will only be ebooks and gift certificate)

Second prize:Ebooks of Breaking Glass, Vision & Fractured also by Lisa Amowitz
(International: ebooks only)

Must be 13+ To Enter | Open Internationally with restrictions
Please see Terms and Conditions for full contest rules.
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Book Review: Until Beth (Life and Beth #1)

Release Date: September 29, 2015
Author: Lisa Amowitz
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Length: 260 pages
Source: eARC from NetGalley

She doesn’t just play, she kills it.

Talented rock guitarist Beth Collins has been barely holding herself together for months, ever since her boyfriend and bandmate became the latest victim in a string of suspicious disappearances. When her brother is injured an accident and she sees something dark billowing around him as he hovers close to death, she’s convinced her sanity is collapsing for good.

Then she's accepted by a boarding school for the musically gifted. All of her new friends are bursting with talent, but they're also keeping secrets. Can she trust Vincent, who's so sweet that his very touch makes her fears melt away? Or Xavier, who's trying to tell her something but is hiding even more?

And will anyone be safe when her true Talent comes out?

    

Review:

Protagonist: Beth Collins is a very gifted guitar player, and because of this she's been scouted by a world class academy to help her perfect her talent... or so she thinks. Once she arrives strange things begin to happen and she soon find out there's more to this school than meets the eye. On the whole I really like Beth, we get a really good feel for the strong person she is. She's an enjoyable narrator, even if there are a few moments where she isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. As for her character development, well, it took me some time to realize and see how she develops over the course of this book, but it's there all the same.

Romance: I really don't know what to think of the romance in this book. First off we have Sam, who never actually makes an appearance in the book, who Beth still holds on to after his mysterious disappearance, then we have Xavier, an outcast boy who Beth forms an almost instant connection with but it's hard to tell if there was supposed to be romantic subtext there or if I was misreading the situation, and finally we have Vincent, the boy who is labeled by many characters as Saint Vincent for his constant support, attention, and perfection, he seems to have an odd effect on Beth and is honestly the only obvious love interest in this book. Luckily even though this romance is very confusing and had me wondering where my loyalties lied, there wasn't that much romance in this book.

World-Building: The world building in this book is fantastic, though because of it's fast pace it feels as though things are happening and the info is being dumped a bit too fast. I love the idea of the Talents though I wrongly assumed that the Talents would be something directly related to music. It was fun and interesting getting to know the talents of various characters and seeing Beth's reaction to the fact that there's this whole supernatural world that she's unknowingly a part of. There is quite a bit of set-up in this book and I have a feeling that the things we learned in this book are just the tip of the iceberg for this series.

Predictability:On the whole this book was fairly unpredictable, there were a few times that I thought I knew what was going to happen, or that I thought I knew a huge twist, that I was completely wrong about, ironically if I had read this book in one sitting rather than nursing it for the past week I would have figured some things out a lot easier. The things that I was able to predict were rather more vague feelings that came to fruition over the course of the book.

Length: The ending of this book felt like it had a lot of moving parts, there were so many high octane moments so close together that led to more questions than answers. The very end of the book had quite a few answers but still left me confused as to what the future of this series holds. There's actually a cliffhanger at the end of this book, even though the ending plateaued quite a bit before hand. I felt the urge for the next book in the series, there's still so much left to learn.

Rating:

So I'll be honest, I had a few problems with this book, from some awkward writing here and there, to some confusions over plot, however, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next one!

Waiting on Wednesday: Until Beth

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly awaiting!

Title: Until Beth

Author: Lisa Amowitz

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Expected Publication Date: September 29, 2015

Blurb:

She doesn't just play, she kills it.

Talented rock guitarist Beth Collins has been barely holding herself together for months, ever since her boyfriend and bandmate became the latest victim in a string of suspicious disappearances. When her brother is injured an accident and she sees something dark billowing around him as he hovers close to death, she’s convinced her sanity is collapsing for good.

Then she's accepted by a boarding school for the musically gifted. All of her new friends are bursting with talent, but they're also keeping secrets. Can she trust Vincent, who's so sweet that his very touch makes her fears melt away? Or Xavier, who's trying to tell her something but is hiding even more?

And will anyone be safe when her true Talent comes out?

    

About the Author:

Lisa Amowitz was born in Queens and raised in the wilds of Long Island, New York where she climbed trees, thought small creatures lived under rocks and studied ant hills. And drew. A lot.

Lisa has been a professor of graphic design at  Bronx Community College where she has been tormenting and cajoling students for nearly eighteen years. She started writing eight years ago because she wanted something to illustrate, but somehow, instead ended up writing YA. Probably because her mind is too dark and twisted for small children.

BREAKING GLASS which was released July 9, 2013 from Spencer Hill Press, is her first published work. VISION, the first book in the Finder Series, released September 9, 2014 and its unnamed sequel will release winter, 2016. UNTIL BETH, a YA urban fantasy, will release September 2015.

Author Links:

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