Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Blog Tour: Redeeming Hope by Shell Taylor #Excerpt #Review #Giveaway

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AboutTheBook

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Title: Redeeming Hope 

Author: Shell Taylor 

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press 

Cover Artist: L.C. Chase 

Length: Novel – 206 Pages 

Release Date: October 5, 2015 

Blurb: Home for Hope: Book One 

Fifteen years ago Elijah Langley’s world came to an abrupt halt with the death of his high school boyfriend. He keeps his past—and his sexual orientation—hidden until he attends a fundraiser for The Center for HOPE, an LGBT youth center, where he meets Adam Lancaster, HOPE’s infuriatingly stubborn and sexy founder. 

A survivor of a turbulent childhood, Adam understands better than most the challenges his youth face. He’s drawn to Elijah’s baby blues and devilish smile but refuses to compromise his values and climb back into the closet for anyone—not even the man showering time and money on HOPE. Months of constant flirting wear down Adam’s resolve until he surrenders to his desires, but Elijah can’t shake his demons. 

When a youth from the center is brutally assaulted, Elijah must find a way to confront the fears and memories that are starting to ruin his life, so he can stand strong for those he loves.


CommonExcerpt


Eli clutched the glossy eight-by-ten as tears welled in his eyes. He could hardly believe the emaciated, washed-out figure in the picture was the same person he’d centered his entire world around just a few weeks earlier. Eli would recognize that face anywhere. God knows, he’d spent enough time staring at it—running his fingers over those soft lips, sucking on the kidney-shaped birthmark just below the ear. He never imagined he’d see those eyes so lifeless.

“It’s him,” Eli whispered, dropping the picture on the officer’s desk.

His mother rested a hand on his shoulder. “E.J.—”

“Don’t pretend to care, now that he’s dead.” Eli shrugged out of her grasp and clenched his jaw to hold in the gut-wrenching sobs brewing in his chest. “Will I need to identify the body in person too?”

The officer avoided Eli’s eyes, but his voice was kind. “If you’re certain, this is good enough for us. He’ll be released in the next thirty-six hours. Will you be claiming him, or will the city keep him?”

Eli’s eyes widened, and panic ripped through his heart. He’d never expected the search to end with a dead body, and there was no way he’d be able to give his boyfriend the funeral he deserved—the one Eli owed him for his own part in Brian’s death. Prepared to beg, he turned and met his father’s eyes for the first time since Brian disappeared from their house almost three weeks earlier.

“We’ll take care of his arrangements.” Eli’s mother spoke quietly but firmly, and his father dipped his chin in silent agreement.

Relief carried Eli back to his parents’ car, but grief consumed him as soon as he slid into the back seat. Burying his head in his knees, he shut out the rest of the world. Eli didn’t leave the quiet safety of the car until long after he arrived home, his cheeks crusted with salty tears from mourning the loss of the future he’d been so sure of.




It’s an amazing thing when an author writes a book that is not only amazing, beautiful, and wonderfully written but also tackles major issues. Shell Taylor has wrapped all the characters in Redeeming Hope into a reality that is overlooked too often. Our LGBT youth. Or as I like to call them, a huge chunk of our future.
Elijah and Adam are the MCs in this book. Elijah is a closeted bisexual man harboring great heartbreak and it’s affected him more than I think even he knows. Adam runs HOPE the center for these troubled kids. Together they not only have an amazing love story brewing but they are powerful and detrimental to the future of the center.
Then Shell Taylor went and did something that made me love and hate her. Enter Kollin. I saw Kollin in this story as the voice of the kids of HOPE. I LOVED that she wrote him. Many times I felt he was an MC and not a secondary. He is a glue, he is hope.
The dialog was brilliant and the emotions come across like you are actually feeling them. Shell Taylor has started something here. A series that I feel will be a favorite of mine.
Mastering reality within fiction isn’t always easy, yet Shell Taylor makes it look effortless. I highly recommend this moving book.


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  AboutTheAuthor   

Shell Taylor is a full-time mother of three exuberant and loving kiddos and one fur baby, a tiny but fierce Yorkie-poo named Rocco. As a Christian who practices love, grace, and humility rather than hatred and judgement, she tries her best to instill these same virtues in her rowdy kids. She just recently learned how to crochet to start bombarding new mothers with matching hats and booties. She is a huge Marvel fan and because of the superhero-plastered tees paired with jeans and Chucks has been told when helping out in her son’s classroom that she looks more like the students than a parent. Her favorite way to procrastinate is to binge watch entire seasons on Netflix. Best of all, she’s been married ten years to a man who’s turned out to be everything she never knew she needed.


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Winner’s Prize: $20 Amazon Gift Card.
Runner-up’s Prize: $10 Amazon Gift Card.


TourSchedule 

October 6: 
MM Good Book Reviews 
Drops of Ink 

October 7: 
My Fiction Nook 

October 8: 
Molly Lolly: Reader, Reviewer, Lover of Words 
Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents 

October 9: 
The Purple Rose Tea House 
A Celebration of Books 

October 12: 
Wicked Faeries Tales & Reviews 
Bike Book Reviews 

October 13: 
Hearts on Fire 

October 14: 
Diverse Reader 

October 15: 
Bayou Book Junkie 

October 16: 
Wake Up Your Wild Side 

October 19: 
Jessie G Books 

October 20: 
World of Diversity Fiction 
Gay Media Reviews 

October 21: 
Prism Book Alliance 

October 22: 
BFD Book Blog 
Love Bytes Reviews 

October 23: 
Divine Magazine

5 comments:

  1. Hhhm how likely I'm going t buy this book. Well it seems like a great book with important message so it would be high on my list to read. On the other hand the price is $ 6.29 for me so I think I'll wait a bit and see if there will be a sale..

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  2. This sounds fantastic. I already purchased it and plan on diving in this weekend with a box of tissues. I have a feeling I will need them.

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  3. Added to my wish list. I will buy this book. It sounds great and like something we all need to read. Thanks for the chance

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  4. The book sounds good and I am likely to purchase it.

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