Blog Tour: Blood Ties - Mari Mancusi - Teenage Garage Sale

Mari Mancusi is here today with a Teenage Garage Sale Post courtesy of the Teen Book Scene blog tour for her newest release, Blood Ties. Thank you for being here today, Mari! You can follow along with the tour here. Enjoy! 

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Doc Martens steel toe shoes, cherry red

I absolutely loved these shoes and felt so cool wearing them out. Even though they weren't exactly practical; my toes would always bang against the steel tips and bruise. But hey--sometimes you had to suffer for punk rock fashion. (Even though there was no practical reason on Earth I needed steel toes--not like I was going to get into a fight on the way home from school...) Today I prefer a pair of eight hole, non-steel toe, black Doc Martens boots. Simple, but effective.

CD player with 3 disc changer

I thought this was so cool--you could change CDs without ever opening the player. Unfortunately, I could never remember which CDs I'd put in which slot, so it was kind of a crapshoot. Also, now that I'm used to having thousands of songs at my fingertips, thanks to my iPod, I think I can safely get rid of this player.

Cure T-Shirt - Disintegration Album

My pride and joy concert t-shirt, even though I bought it at a used record store, not a concert. Sadly I didn't get to see the Cure live until I was in college. I did, however, go see a number of other awesome new wave and alternative bands in college. My favorite had to be Peter Murphy, former lead singer of Bauhaus, my favorite goth band. My friends' parents got us front row tickets to the show and he leaned down and sang lines from his son "Deep Ocean, Vast Sea" to me. Swoon!

Pair of skis

No good to me now because I gave up skiing in college to start snowboarding and never looked back. Mostly because all of my boyfriends were snowboarders (and skaters) and, at the time, I had it in my head that it was cooler than skiing. Now I just think it's more fun. Snowboarding also helps me avoid my two biggest problems on the slopes--crossing my skis over one another and losing them in a snowy crash, halfway up the mountain.

David Bowie Poster

This particular poster came free with an advertisement for Sassy, my absolute favorite teen magazine back in the day. I thought they were so cool to make David Bowie their pin-up, instead of, say, New Kids on the Block. Totally earned my respect. If only there could be a magazine like Sassy out there for today's teens. Something smart and cool that encouraged girls to be creative and independent, instead of always following the crowd and worrying about their hair and makeup.

Labyrinth VHS tape (very worn)

Speaking of Bowie, Labyrinth was definitely a coming of age movie for me and David Bowie became one of my first teenage crushes. (After pre-teen crushes on Michael Jackson (!?!) and Luke Skywalker.) I probably watched this film fifty times. Especially the end scene where David Bowie promises to be Jennifer Connelly's slave if she gives him her brother. Um, what an easy choice that would have been for me. Sayonara, kid!

Classic Mickey Mouse watch

Even back then, I was a huge Disney fan. Though it wasn't until I was in college and started working at the Disney Store that I became extremely obsessed with all things Mouse. I even moved to Orlando after graduation and got annual passes so my friends and I could hang out at the parks nearly every weekend. Young twenty-somethings at Disney--oh the stories I could tell! (Would probably get me banned from the parks for life!) Even to this day, I make it a point to go to Disney at least once a year. And I cannot wait until my daughter is old enough to appreciate the most magical place on Earth.

Love these garage sale items, Mari! ;) Thank you so much for being here today! 

Mari Mancusi can be found on her website, her blog, and on twitter. 

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The final battle is brewing between Vampires and Slayers. But for Sunny McDonald, the true war is being fought over her heart.

Though now officially back in the arms of her vampire boyfriend Magnus, Sunny finds she still can't forget the gentle mortal Jayden who once saved her life. And when the darkness threatens to steal his humanity, Sunny finds herself with a choice. Stay true to Magnus and the Blood Coven or defy them in a desperate attempt to save Jayden’s soul.

Meanwhile, the Blood Coven is gearing up for its toughest fight yet--going head to head with a splinter group of Slayer Inc who's regrouping in Tokyo, Japan, still determined to take over the world. In dark blood bars and hidden temples, it'll be Vampires vs. Slayers in a showdown that could cost Sunny not only her heart...but also her very life.

Synopsis taken from goodreads.

Blog Tour: Night School - Mari Mancusi - Excerpt & Giveaway

As part of the Teen Book Scene blog tour for Mari Mancusi's Night School, today's stop is an excerpt. Clicking the banner will lead you to the tour details. Enjoy! The giveaway is posted below the excerpt.

“This is so not good. So not good!” Sunny moans as she hits disconnect and sets down her cell phone after leaving her gazillionth message for Magnus to please, please call her. After attending the play, her vampire boyfriend had hopped on his private plane back to New England, where the Blood Coven's headquarters are. He’d be incommunicado, he’d told her, for at least five hours. At the time, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal; Sunny had assumed she’d spend a peaceful night with Mom and Dad—a rare treat—and then jump on a plane herself the next morning to join him back home.

Now everything has changed. Our lives have been flipped upside down. And not being able to share the news with Magnus is tearing Sunny apart. My own boyfriend, Jareth, is also traversing the world somewhere without cell phone service, but, to be honest, I am in no great hurry to mention the skeleton wings in our family closet. I mean, fairy princess? Could there be anything more embarrassing for a self-respecting vampire? After all, everyone knows real vampires don’t sparkle.

After hearing the news, we somehow convinced Mom and Dad to let us out of the condo for a few precious moments of decompression. We’d found a local diner and gotten a booth, each ordering a cup of coffee to keep the waitress Nazi at bay. I’d have preferred a vodka straight up but unfortunately my fake ID was confiscated last night at the Excalibur and also as a vampire I can’t get drunk, so the spirits would be worthless anyway.

“Sunny, relax,” I tell my twin as she bangs her head against the table in frustration. I look around and catch the waitress eyeing us suspiciously from across the room. “It’s going to be okay.”

Sunny looks up, tears streaming down her cheeks. “In what freaking universe do you live in that any of this could possibly be okay?” she demands.

“Uh,” I look down at my mug and notice a faint stain of pink lipstick on the rim. Good point.

“Why does this keep happening to me?” Sunny wails. “First I get turned into a freaking vampire. Now I find out I’m an effing fairy princess!”

“At least you’ll probably find the fairy wardrobe preferable,” I mutter, wishing she’d keep her voice down. “Lots of pink?”

Sunny shoots me a glare.

“All I want to be is a human,” she sniffs. “A normal, everyday human who grows up and goes to college, gets married, has babies and lives in a four bedroom two and a half bath house with an open kitchen, granite countertops and a pool out back. Is that so wrong?”

“It’s pretty specific, but I guess it's not wrong,” I say, reaching out to her, squeezing her hand. “But you know, Sun, we can’t always get what we want.”

“Please don’t start quoting Rolling Stones songs. Seriously, I will stake you.”

I let go of her hand. “Look. You gotta have faith. And no--” I hold up a hand “--I’m not quoting George Michael, so don’t even start. Dad’s working on it and he's assured us that everything will be okay."

“Like how he assured us he’d be there for our birthday last spring?” Sunny asks pointedly. She picks up her cell phone. “I’m going to try Magnus again. Maybe he had a stop-over…”

I give up, pushing away from the table and throwing a handful of change down for my un-drunk, lipstick-stained mug of coffee. “You know you’re not even supposed to be telling anyone any of this, remember? Dad and Mom were both pretty clear on that. They said it could be dangerous.”

“It’s not anyone,” Sunny says, phone to ear. “It’s Magnus. If anyone can help, he can."

“Of course. All while achieving world peace and solving the nation's financial crisis while he's at it, I'm sure," I mutter. To my sister, Magnus is not only coven master, but Superman, Batman, and The Incredible Hulk all rolled into one. But I don't buy it. After all, the guy couldn't even tell that his own freaking Blood Mate was an evil imposter. "I'm going home."

I can hear her scrambling after me as I stalk out of the diner and another stab of pity bites into my gut. I don’t mean to be short with her—she has every right to be upset about the situation. But I hate that she won't let me help her. I’m her twin—I’m supposed to be there for her. Yet all she cares about is her stupid boyfriend. Sigh.

She catches up, but still has the damn phone glued to her ear so I ignore her and cross the street, taking a right into Dad’s condo building. I hear her leave yet another co-dependent message as she steps into the elevator behind me.

“I hope he didn’t get in a plane accident,” she comments worriedly as the doors slide close. Argh. If I didn’t love my hair so much I’d be pulling it out until I was bald right about now.

As the doors slide open on the seventeenth floor, I grab her by the shoulder and turn her to face me. “Look, I know you’re upset,” I say, my voice as stern as I can make it. “But try to suck it up in front of Mom and Dad, okay? They’re doing all they can and Mom’s clearly freaking out. So don’t go and make her feel even worse.”

Sunny scowls. “I won't. Geez. Give me a little credit here."

Shaking my head, I push open the apartment door. Mom, Dad and Heather are curled up together on the couch, eating a big bowl of popcorn and watching that eighties movie Ferris Beuller’s Day Off. Mom bursts out laughing.

"Oh that Ferris!" she says, giggling. "He's such a scamp."

“Clearly freaking out, huh?” Sunny mutters in my ear.

“So, uh, what’s the plan anyway?” I ask. Dad grabs the remote and pauses the movie and the three of them look over at us, surprised.

“Your mother and I are going back to fairyland tomorrow with our Slayer Inc lawyer,” Dad says, “to plead our case. You guys are going to stay here with Heather.”

“What about school?” Sunny asks. “We’re supposed to go back Monday.”

"Consider it a bonus vacation. I’ll talk to your teachers,” Mom replies.

“But I’ve got a field hockey game on Tuesday!”

“Then you’ll have to miss it,” Dad butts in firmly. “I'm sorry, but you can’t go back. It’s not safe.”

“The court knows where you live,” Heather adds. “Their soldiers been watching the house. If you hadn’t had that super security system installed, I’m not sure your mom would have gotten out so easily."

David. I’ve had my squabbles with the guy, but thank goodness he was there for Mom while we were away. I should have never come to Vegas in the first place after he told me she might be in danger. What kind of slayer/daughter does that?

“Then when can we go home?” Sunny cries, sinking to a nearby chair, her face ashen. I realize she’s back to thinking about Magnus again.

Mom rises to her feet and goes over to give her a hug. “I don’t know, honey,” she says, smoothing her hair. “But we’re together and that's the important part. And there’s no way the fairies know we’re here.”

Suddenly, as if on cue, a weird thundering noise assaults the apartment. Like the buzzing of a thousand bees. I look over to the window and my jaw drops as I see a shirtless man hovering outside, peering in...

Beating his wings.

“Um,” I say, pointing. “Are you sure about that?”


© Mari Mancusi

That's it, I'm hooked. Are you? :)

Giveaway

Courtesy of Teen Book Scene, and Mari Mancusi, I have a finished copy of Night School (Blood Coven #5) to giveaway. Thank you, Mari for providing this copy! 

Contest is US/Canada only. Sorry to those of you who are international. :(

Contest ends December 27, 2010.

Giveaway has ENDED. Thank you to those who participated!

Please fill out this FORM to enter. Comments are deeply appreciated, however they won't count as entries.