Bottled by Carol Riggs Blog Tour!

ery excited to feature an excerpt today from Carol Riggs' new novel, Bottled.

Book Blitz Organized by: YA Bound Book Tours

At seventeen, Adeelah Naji is transformed into a genie and imprisoned in a bottle. For a thousand years, she fulfills the wishes of greedy masters -- building their palaces, lining their pockets with gold, and granting them every earthly pleasure. All that sustains her is the hope of finding Karim, the boy she fell in love with as a human. When at last she finds a note from her beloved, she confirms he has access to the elixir of life and that he still searches for her.
But someone else also hunts her. Faruq -- the man who plots to use her powers to murder and seize the life forces of others -- is just one step behind her. With the help of a kind master named Nathan, Adeelah continues to search for Karim while trying to evade Faruq. To complicate matters, she begins to experience growing fatigue and pain after conjuring, and finds herself struggling against an undeniable attraction to Nathan.
As Faruq closes in, Adeelah must decide just how much she'll risk to protect Nathan and be with Karim forever. How much power does she really have to change her future, and what is she willing to sacrifice for an eternity of love? If she makes the wrong choice, the deaths of many will be on her hands.

Carol Riggs is an author of YA fiction who lives in the beautiful green state of Oregon, USA. Her debut novel, The Body Institute, released Sept 2015 from Entangled Teen, exploring body image and identity. Her fantasy YA, Bottled, will release from Clean Reads on July 7, 2016, and her sci-fi YA, Safe Zone, will release from Entangled Teen in October 2016. She enjoys reading, drawing and painting, writing conferences, walking with her husband, and enjoying music and dance of all kinds. You will usually find her in her writing cave, surrounded by her dragon collection and the characters in her head.

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Excerpts from BOTTLED:

Bello scoops up my slender but sturdy glass bottle from the bed, greed churning behind his eyes. “So you can give me whatever else I want? Gold, whiskey? Foxy women?” “I’ll grant you any wish within my ability, Master,” I say. He frowns. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you all-powerful or not? It doesn’t matter if I have endless wishes if all I can get is chutney, cold beer, and pita.” I hold back a sigh. I prefer to tell him I’m unable to fulfill any of his wishes, limitless or not, but the bottle won’t let me lie. “My powers are restricted only when the wishes involve people. I can’t materialize people who don’t exist or bring them to you against their will. I can’t make them alive if they’ve died, or directly kill them. I also can’t change their bodies, minds, or personalities. But I’m able to take you places, modify objects, and grant you many tangible things.” “Tangible. What’s that?” I must say, this guy isn’t the swiftest camel in the caravan. “Things you can touch. No wishing for things like happiness, true love, and infinite world peace.” His glance bounces around the room. “Touchable stuff. Okay.”

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“Someone’s coming,” I hasten to say. “If you don’t act soon, my bottle and my services will be snatched from you.” Alarm spikes across Bello’s face. He clutches my bottle in a death grip. “Take me to Kenya, genie. Quick!” I skip the pleasantries of an “as you wish.” With the sound of someone’s fist pounding on the door, we swirl from the room in a massive flash of wind and dissolving particles. I probe his mind and acquire the location. It’s there in the forefront of his memory: a remote area near the place he grew up, thick with pungent cedar and podo trees. We begin to merge back into normal dimensional space. Fear lingers on my tongue as a bitter metallic aftertaste. Is it the African’s fright, or mine? As the transfer comes to an end, I whisk back into my bottle. It’s always better to stay out of sight after a location change. Air rushes into my lungs as I regain form. I lean against my cushions, head down, hands trembling against my knees. That was too close. Much too close.

Carol's also hosting a giveaway! Sign up here:

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I'd scheduled last week's post before I saw the new Insecure Writer's Support Group Day feature -- a question!

This month's question is: What's the best thing someone has ever said about your writing?

Oddly enough I can't think of anything specific. I've won a couple of prizes at school, been short listed a few times (including for the Surrey International Writers' Conference a couple of years ago!) and had lots of fun and learned a lot from sharing on the writers' forum over the years.

But something specific? Hmmm...

Why is it harder to retain the positive?