Blog Tour: Cam Girl by Leah Raeder + Giveaway

Welcome to our stop on the Cam Girl tour for Leah Raeder!

---

Cam Girl
Author: Leah Raeder
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: November 3, 2015
Review Source: Atria Books

Vada Bergen is broke, the black sheep of her family, and moving a thousand miles away from home for grad school, but she’s got the two things she loves most: her art and her best friend—and sometimes more—Ellis Carraway. Ellis and Vada have a friendship so consuming it’s hard to tell where one girl ends and the other begins. It’s intense. It’s a little codependent. And nothing can tear them apart.

Until an accident on an icy winter road changes everything.

Vada is left deeply scarred, both emotionally and physically. Her once-promising art career is cut short. And Ellis pulls away, unwilling to talk about that night. Everything Vada loved is gone.

She’s got nothing left to lose.

So when she meets some smooth-talking entrepreneurs who offer to set her up as a cam girl, she can’t say no. All Vada has to do is spend a couple hours each night stripping on webcam, and the “tips” come pouring in.

It’s just a kinky escape from reality until a client gets serious. “Blue” is mysterious, alluring, and more interested in Vada’s life than her body. Online, they chat intimately. Blue helps her heal. And he pays well, but he wants her all to himself. No more cam shows. It’s an easy decision: she’s starting to fall for him. But the steamier it gets, the more she craves the real man behind the keyboard. So Vada pops the question:

Can we meet IRL?

Blue agrees, on one condition. A condition that brings back a ghost from her past. Now Vada must confront the devastating secrets she's been running from—those of others, and those she's been keeping from herself...

Cam Girl takes us on a whirlwind ride through the emotions and struggles of Vada. Vada and Ellis were best friends, and more, until a car accident does some damage.

Cam Girl, though keeping me interested the entire time through, did start off a bit slow. About halfway through things picked up, and when they picked up THEY PICKED UP. Vada was such an interesting character to read. I'd never had a character be so broken. I almost felt exactly the way she felt and I'd say that's a testament to Raeder's writing. You're completely consumed by it.

A lot of what holds your interest is wanting to know who the heck the mystery guy "Blue" is! I never had a clue, and I love that I couldn't guess! Along with this mystery, Vada's arc is also a huge interest grabber. You just don't know what to expect from her storyline. She pushes and pulls Ellis and battles her emotions constantly so you never really knew how she'd end up. Overall Cam Girl by Leah Raeder was a brilliant read with a great cast. I loved it!

---

Leah Raeder is a writer and unabashed nerd. She is also the USA Today bestselling author of Unteachable and Black Iris. Aside from reading her brains out, she enjoys graphic design, video games, fine whiskey, and the art of self-deprecation. She lives with her very own manic pixie dream boy in Chicago. Visit her at www.leahraeder.com.

---

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal: Cam Girl by Leah Raeder

Guys. GUYS! Leah Raeder’s third novel, CAM GIRL doesn’t go on sale until November 3, 2015…BUT…we’re itching to share the book’s absolutely gorgeous cover with you right now! Take a peek!!!

---

Cam Girl

Author: Leah Raeder

Release Date: November 3rd 2015

Publisher: Atria

Vada Bergen is broke, the black sheep of her family, and moving a thousand miles away from home for grad school, but she’s got the two things she loves most: her art, and her best friend and soulmate, Ellis Carraway. Elle and Vada have a friendship so consuming it’s hard to tell where one girl ends and the other begins. It’s intense. It’s a little codependent. And nothing can tear them apart.

Until an accident on an icy winter road changes everything.

Vada is left deeply scarred, both emotionally and physically. Her once-promising art career is cut short. And Ellis pulls away, unwilling to talk about that night. Everything Vada loved is gone.

She’s got nothing left to lose.

So when she meets a smooth-talking lothario who offers to set her up as a cam girl, she can’t say no. All Vada has to do is spend a couple hours each night taking off her clothes on webcam, and the “tips” come pouring in.

It’s all just kinky fun till a client gets serious. “Blue” is mysterious, alluring, and more interested in Vada’s life than her body. Online, they open up to each other intimately. Blue helps her heal. And he pays well, but he wants her all to himself. No more cam shows. She agrees, because she’s starting to fall for him. And when he asks to meet, she says yes. Because she’s dying to know the real man behind the keyboard.

Even if one of his conditions is to bring Ellis. The girl who wants nothing to do with her anymore.

Now Vada must confront the past she’s been running from. A past full of devastating secrets—those of others, and those she’s been keeping from herself…

---

Leah Raeder is a writer and unabashed nerd. Aside from reading her brains out, she enjoys graphic design, video games, fine whiskey, and the art of self-deprecation. She lives with her very own manic pixie dream boy in Chicago. Visit her at LeahRaeder.com.

   

Blog Tour: Black Iris by Leah Raeder

Welcome to our stop on the Black Iris tour for Leah Raeder.

---

Black Iris
Author: Leah Raeder
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: April 28, 2015
Review Source: Atria Books

It only took one moment of weakness for Laney Keating’s world to fall apart. One stupid gesture for a hopeless crush. Then the rumors began. Slut, they called her. Queer. Psycho. Mentally ill, messed up, so messed up even her own mother decided she wasn't worth sticking around for.

If Laney could erase that whole year, she would. College is her chance to start with a clean slate.

She's not looking for new friends, but they find her: charming, handsome Armin, the only guy patient enough to work through her thorny defenses—and fiery, filterless Blythe, the bad girl and partner in crime who has thorns of her own.

But Laney knows nothing good ever lasts. When a ghost from her past resurfaces—the bully who broke her down completely—she decides it's time to live up to her own legend. And Armin and Blythe are going to help.

Which was the plan all along.

Because the rumors are true. Every single one. And Laney is going to show them just how true.

She's going to show them all.

I cannot properly tell you all the ways that I loved Laney, and Black Iris. But, I'll try…

Let's start with this captivating book cover! *Swoons* It's quite simple, but hard to miss. Now on to Laney and this freaking amazing story, for lack of better words. Black Iris has earned it's spot in my favorite read of 2015. Yup, I said it! Mark my words! Leah Raeder's writing is beyond perfection. Every. Single. Word. In this book did things to me. If I were sitting there highlighting beautiful lines, the entire book would be highlighted.

Black Iris is a dark and beautiful story about a messed up girl. While this sounds too common, I guarantee you it is anything but. I have never met a character like Laney. I have never wanted to personally meet a fictional character so much. Laney has a hard exterior with no cracks and she likes it that way. And, the strange thing about her is that I didn't want to "save" her. In most books where a girl is broken I am always rooting for her saving moment. In Black Iris, I loved Laney through and through the exact way that she is. In all her exterior coldness, and interior struggle.

The story itself is also brilliant. Without saying too much, it's a story about revenge, and about self discovery and exploration. Raeder's words are like magic and she will have you engaged and obsessed within seconds.

---

About the Author

Leah Raeder is a writer and unabashed nerd. Aside from reading her brains out, she enjoys graphic design, video games, fine whiskey, and the art of self-deprecation. She lives with her very own manic pixie dream boy in Chicago.

Cover Reveal: Black Iris by Leah Raeder + Excerpt

We are so stoked about this cover reveal for Leah Raeder! Isn't the cover BEAUTIFUL!

---

Black Iris
Author: Leah Raeder
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Atria Books

It only took one moment of weakness for Laney Keating’s world to fall apart. One stupid gesture for a hopeless crush. Then the rumors began. Slut, they called her. Queer. Psycho. Mentally ill, messed up, so messed up even her own mother decided she wasn't worth sticking around for.

If Laney could erase that whole year, she would. College is her chance to start with a clean slate.

She's not looking for new friends, but they find her: charming, handsome Armin, the only guy patient enough to work through her thorny defenses—and fiery, filterless Blythe, the bad girl and partner in crime who has thorns of her own.

But Laney knows nothing good ever lasts. When a ghost from her past resurfaces—the bully who broke her down completely—she decides it's time to live up to her own legend. And Armin and Blythe are going to help.

Which was the plan all along.

Because the rumors are true. Every single one. And Laney is going to show them just how true.

She's going to show them all.

FIRST CHAPTER EXCERPT:

April is the cruelest month, T.S. Eliot said, and that’s because it kills. It’s the month with the highest suicide rate. You’d think December, or even January—the holidays and all that forced cheer and agonized smiling pushing fragile people to the edge—but actually it’s spring, when the world wakes from frostbound sleep and something cruel and final stirs inside those of us who are broken. Like Eliot said: mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. In the deepest throes of depression, when sunlight is anguish and the sky throbs like one big raw migraine and you just want to sleep until you or everything else dies, you’re less likely to commit suicide than someone coming out of a depressive episode. Drug companies know this. That’s why antidepressants have to be marked with the warning MAY CAUSE SUICIDAL THOUGHTS.
Because what brings you back to life also gives you the means to destroy yourself.

---

Leah Raeder is a writer and unabashed nerd. Aside from reading her brains out, she enjoys graphic design, video games, fine whiskey, and the art of self-deprecation. She lives with her very own manic pixie dream boy in Chicago. Visit her at LeahRaeder.com.

Book Review: Unteachable by Leah Raeder

---

Unteachable
Author: Leah Raeder
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 14th 2014 (paperback edition)
Review Source: Atria Books

An edgy, sexy USA TODAY bestseller about falling for the one person you can’t have.

Maise O’Malley just turned eighteen, but she’s felt like a grown-up her entire life. The summer before senior year, she has plans: get into a great film school, convince her mom to go into rehab, and absolutely do not, under any circumstances, screw up her own future.

But life has a way of throwing her plans into free-fall.

When Maise meets Evan at a carnival one night, their chemistry is immediate, intense, and short-lived. Which is exactly how she likes it: no strings. But afterward, she can’t get Evan out of her head. He’s taught her that a hookup can be something more. It can be an unexpected connection with someone who truly understands her. Someone who sees beyond her bravado to the scared but strong girl inside.

That someone turns out to be her new film class teacher, Mr. Evan Wilke.

Maise and Evan resolve to keep their hands off each other, but the attraction is too much to bear. Together, they’re real and genuine; apart, they’re just actors playing their parts for everyone else. And their masks are slipping. People start to notice. Rumors fly. When the truth comes to light in a shocking way, they may learn they were just playing parts for each other, too.

Smart, sexy, and provocative, Unteachable is about what happens when a love story goes off-script.

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

Unteachable is a book that will draw the readers attention because of the situation the main characters have to deal with.  Student and Teacher relationship definitely made me curious to read this book. I wanted to see how the author would take this big no-no between the two and deliver us a story we could understand and accept. Raeder did that and more, sometime I want to say it was a little too much on the more, if you get my drift. I could have done with less details in certain stations and focused more on the romance, which was awesome. I felt it was a genuine love story even though what was taking place is not allowed. 

The story between Maise (student) and Evan (teacher) from the beginning I felt connected to. I really did love how they both complimented each other even with their skeletons in the closets. When they finally began to drop their guard more, then that when the romance really took off. it was so powerful that they even began to forget that they had to be careful and not get caught. Maise was of legal age, but it is still wrong because she was Evan's student. So when the romance went from out side of school, to inside the classroom, things began to crumble. 

I also enjoyed all the secondary characters such as Maise only good friend Wesley and his awesome mom. I enjoyed a lot the moment his mom has with Maise towards the end of the book, that really brought a smile to my face. Then you had Maise mom, that I just wanted to run over with my car for being the way she was with her daughter. Like I said everything came together in this book how I liked. I know that it is new adult, but I wouldn't have mind less on the detailed sex, I think at times it dragged and I just wanted to get done with it so I could read what was happening next in their relationship. Hope that makes sense, I do love reading about Bom-Chicka-Bow-Wow scenes but in this particular book, less would have been better for me. But other than that I truly did love love love the story and recommend to those that love a great love story. 

And just one more mention is that book cover, I heart it big time. The colors and detail make a perfect fit for the story. I glad they redesigned it for the paperback release. The original is great too but this one tops it. Happy Reading!!!