Welcome to my stop on the
Virtual Book Tour, presented by Goddess Fish Promotions, for Ruined by Marian Cheatham. Please
leave a comment or question for Marian to let her know you stopped by. Marian will be awarding an eBook copy of Ruined to
a randomly drawn commenter at each stop during the tour. A Grand Prize of a
signed paperback copy of Ruined plus a new DVD of Much Ado About
Nothing starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson will be awarded to a
randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour (US ONLY). You must comment to enter the Rafflecopter
giveaway. You can follow the rest of
Marian’s tour here, the more stops you
visit, the better your odds of winning.
Ruined
By Marian Cheatham
Stratford High, Book 1
Publisher: Marian Cheatham
Release Date: June 27, 2014
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Length: 140 Pages
ASIN: B00LCR3UWK
Buy Links: Amazon Barnes & Noble
About the book:
When your life has been
ruined by lies, do you seek justice … or revenge?
Blythe Messina spends her
senior year focused on her studies and college, and not on her ex, Stratford
High's lacrosse star, DB Whitmore. At least, that's what Blythe keeps telling
herself. But her younger cousin, Bonni, knows otherwise. Same goes for DB, who
swears to be over Blythe and their breakup, but his teammates aren’t fooled.
When scandalous photos of
Bonni and the team captain are texted around Stratford, Bonni's virtuous
reputation is ruined. She professes her innocence, but no one believes her. No
one, except Blythe and DB, who come together to uncover the truth. But, will
they stay together?
Ruined is a modern twist on a
classic Shakespearean romance.
"Deceit, loyalty, honor,
and romance--Ruined has it all! A teen version of Much Ado About Nothing that
Shakespeare aficionados are sure to savor!”
Kym Brunner, Author of Wanted: Dead or in Love &
One Smart Cookie
All books in the Stratford
High series will be modern retellings of a Shakespeare classic. Ruined is
inspired by Much Ado About Nothing.
ExcerptJON PRINCEI headed for the Sports Arena, Sly and Slash trailing behind like the obedient lackeys they were. “The idea of that fool, Cory, dating Messina money makes me wanna puke.” I stopped in front of the Basketball Throw and swiped my card in the slot. “I’d love to find a way to bust Cory and Bonni up.” Four balls rolled down the shoot into the pocket in front of me.“I could beat the crap out of him for you,” Slash offered.“That could make them even tighter. Bonni would feel sorry for Cory. Want to nurse him back to health.” I took my first shot. “No, what I need is a way to humiliate them.” The ball circled the rim and then dropped off to one side. “I want to ruin their spotless reputations.”“Like that Facebook incident,” said Sly, “that happened to that Maggie chick I dated freshman year. Some of her friends posted some embarrassing pictures of her. Mags was so ashamed, she missed two weeks of school.”“I saw those pictures.” I took another shot. “Hysterical. Especially that drunk one of her puking in her dad’s Escalade.” The ball bounced off the backboard and forward over the rim. “We need something more damaging, like photos of Bonni hooking up with another guy.”“How we gonna get those?” asked Slash. “When she’s all over Rash?”I took my third shot. The ball hit the outside of the rim and dropped like a boulder to the floor. “What if we got Cory to think she was cheating on him?”“That would kill him.” Sly sniggered. “His good girl gone bad.”“And what if the guy turning the good girl bad is my brother? That would get Paolo into hot water with his tight buddy, Leo Messina.” I spun on Slash. “Can you get your hands on some Roofies?”“The date rape drug?”“You got a problem with that?”Slash shook his head. “Nope. I’m your guy. But those pills cost.”“Don’t sweat it. I’ll front the money. In fact, there’ll be some serious cash for both of you if you help me pull this off.” I raised my last ball and released. The ball slipped right through the net. “Slam dunk.” Slash and Sly jumped up to shoulder bump each other. “Let’s do this. First chance we get.”“When will that be?” Slash asked.I wandered past the sporting games. I wasn’t in the mood for baseball or golf. I wanted to pound something. “When the opportunity presents itself, I’ll know.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Marian is a full-time writer
of contemporary and historical young adult fiction. A native Chicagoan and a
graduate of Northern Illinois University, Marian taught special education and
worked in the business world before pursuing her dream of becoming a writer.
She would rather be at her desk than almost anywhere else, but of course, that
isn’t always possible. So when she’s not writing, she enjoys reading,
gardening, walking the dog, travelling with her husband, and researching new
projects. Not necessarily in that order.
She adores anything
Shakespeare. An avid reader of Shakespeare biographies, she has travelled the
world to see his plays, visiting Stratford, Canada as well as
Stratford-Upon-the-Avon, Great Britain, and the new Globe Theater in London.
Her latest YA novel, Ruined, Book One in her new Stratford High series – modern
retellings of Shakespeare’s plays - is inspired by the Bard’s classic romance,
Much Ado About Nothing. Book Two, inspired by the Merchant of Venice, is due
out fall 2014.
Her debut YA, Eastland, came
out in February 2014. Based on the real-life story of the 1915 Eastland boat
disaster in Chicago, Marian lectures about the Eastland to schools, libraries,
and book clubs, as well as co-hosting haunted Chicago tours of Eastland
disaster sites. She writes a post on the subject on the Tribune’s Chicago Now
blog site. Visit her at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mariancheatham.author
Maria,
ReplyDeleteThank you for being part of the tour for Ruined! I look forward to a great day on Queen of All She Reads. I'll check in later.
Marian Cheatham
I really like the excerpt and the book cover. Looking forward to reading the book. Thanks for having the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteA captivating story and interesting relationship with the Shakespearean play. Enjoyable excerpt. Thanks for this lovely giveaway. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteAnita,
ReplyDeleteThank you for checking in on Ruined's Book Tour. So glad you liked the excerpt. The villainous Jon Prince was so much fun to write. I hope you get a chance to read the novel. He only gets worse. As for the cover, I was so very happy with the way it turned out. I can't wait to see what my designer has in store for the rest of the series. Stay in touch!
Marian
Traveler,
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting Queen of All She Reads and for you comments on Ruined. I'm glad you're interested in the book. As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan of Shakespeare and this whole series has been so enjoyable to research and write. Thanks again and stay in touch.
Marian
Nice cover
ReplyDeleteThank you! I love it, too. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteMarian Cheatham
Maria,
ReplyDeleteThank you for a successful day! You truly are the Queen of All She Reads. Your blog is awesome. Good luck always. I hope you'll be open to hosting Book Two in the Stratford High Series when it comes out in a few months. Once again, thanks so much. Take care.
Marian