Wednesday, October 30, 2013

COVER LOVE...ENVY...LUST?


Ahhhhh.....my first book I fell in love with had a....

GORGEOUS cover!

I have to admit, that if they are going to try to get me to purchase a book it's got to do the following.

ATTRACT ME! Yep, love at first sight is a big deal when it comes to catching a reader.

FIT IN! It's got to fit in with what my expectations are for the genre. No! No! No! I do not like the 'Bait then Switch' where you put a sexy guy with brown hair on the cover but the hero has red hair! That's just wrong.

TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD! The cover must highlight aspects from the book that are intriguing. Yep, it has to be perceived from the cover. Don't give too much away but tease me a bit.

Lastly....

BACK IT UP with a great story.

Here are some great COVERs that I have envy ... uh LOVE for presented by my fellow authors in

THE SOCIETY FOR YA WRITERs

Check them out





 

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Hunter by KC Blake



Need another great Halloween read? Well get your VAMP fix on with HUNTER by KC Blake!

Hunter begins with Bay-Lee in Maine, living a normal life—sort of. It's impossible to completely banish the supernatural when your boyfriend is a ghost. Nick insists he isn't sticking around to haunt her. According to him, he wants to protect her. But that doesn't make sense. Why would he be concerned about her when it was her fault he'd died?

She's in History, taking a test, and Nick pops in with a warning. The Order (monsters living in the Spirit Realm) have put a hefty bounty on her head. Nick wants her to go home to her father in New Zealand where she will be safe, but she's determined to graduate from the school in Maine. Everything seems to be fine. Why should she run from something that 'might' happen?

Then a reaper tries to collect the bounty.

Bay-Lee will return to her father's school and begin her training anew, despite the fact Nick's brother doesn't want her there. An old enemy returns, and a familiar student threatens her relationship with Nick. It doesn't help that Nick thinks he should leave her for her own good. Surviving is her number one priority. Keeping the love of her life at her side is a close second. Together, they will battle reapers, their inner demons, and each other in this YA paranormal romance with bite.


BAIT the first book in the series is FREE at Amazon, Smashwords, etc.

 

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Dark Seraphine by KaSonndra Leigh

Been thinking about what to read this Halloween?

Think no more! Check out DARK Seraphine by KaSonndra Leigh





Sponsored by~



Genre: Young Adult Dark Fantasy
Blitz Host: Lady Amber's Tours






Synopsis:
**The Re-launched Second Edition will be published on 10/27/13**

"Mom always says the angels walk among us. She forgot to tell me that sometimes they're not all fluffy and nice."

Seventeen-year-old Caleb Wood has seen people he calls the walkers since he was a baby. It didn't take long for him to realize something…no one can see these strangers but him. They never stuck around or tried to touch him. And they never said a word. That was until one day on the first day of class in his senior year when an incredibly gorgeous girl strolls into his life…and things are never the same again.

Soon Caleb realizes he has stepped into the middle of a growing conflict between two ancient groups. And his ability to see the invisible ones, the half-breeds that want to modify the human race, just might be the only hope both he and the mysterious, but infuriating, Gia, have of making it out alive.
 
Author Bio:
I live in the City of Alchemy and Medicine, North Carolina. I write about people doing fantastical things in magical worlds. Sometimes they fall for each other and make sacrifices for their friends. Oh, and sometimes they love music and nature too. I live with my two sons,a guinea pig, a cat, and two dogs. Now that I have completed my MFA in creative writing, I find that I have a little extra time to play CLUE more often. I live in an L-shaped house dedicated to my grandmother. It has a secret library complete with fairies, venetian plastered walls, and a desk made out of clear blue glass.

Links:
Author website: www.kasonndraleigh.com
Prelude's Pinterest Board: http://pinterest.com/alestasia/the-prelude/



Monday, October 21, 2013

A Novel isn't Built in a Day

You heard the phrase, "Rome wasn't built in a day..."



Neither is a good novel.

For some reason, this year, it's taken me way too much time to finish the novels I'm writing for release next year.
MY NATURAL WRITING RYTHM

I have a natural writing pace of 0 to 71K words in four months. I know to many that sounds ambitious but for me, it's a comfortable writing pace. Also, I'm a speed typist which helps.
WHEN the RYTHM is OFF

Now, there are some writer friends I know that fight through lulls or times when they can't write for various reason. Well for me, I just couldn't muster up the desire to do it as often or fast as I usually did. Maybe because my already hectic life got a bit more hectic or that long vacation kind of made me a bit more lazy, I don't know. But for the first time in 5 years my momentum came to a screeching halt.
WRITING IN SPITE OF

I tried to write in spite of my lack of desire or energy to do so. And you know what? My first draft totally sucked. Yep, it was horrible. Bad.
I felt like it was a waste of time, but I saw the story there and well, I edited. And edited, and cut, and pasted and changed. At the end of the day, it took just as long as it would've taken had I gone with my 'off' writing flow and just sat down to do it when I felt like it.

WHY NOT TAKE A WRITING BREAK
Most full-time writers who make a living at writing don't have the luxury to just well, take off. So if you want to have a writing career, make a living at what you love to do, than you better be able to produce or have a spouse that pays most of the bills.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Fall into Reading!

DID YOU HEAR?

I've got a Give Away To share with you from the Indelibles!


And my beauties are in there also: The Pack and The Pack Retribution.


The temperatures are dropping, and it's a great time to cuddle up with a new book!

So for One Week Only, we've dropped the price on NINE HOT New Releases and Bestselling Titles, and combined them with a chance to WIN Amazon gift cards, ebooks, and more!

Check it out and spread the word~


Get ALL for only 99 cents this week!

QUICK LINKS:



READERS ARE SAYING...

**The Only One by Magan Vernon -- "Sweet and sexy!! Loved it! This is the type of story you read again and again." --#1 New York Times best selling author Rachel Van Dyken


**Dominus by Christine Fonesca -- "A thrilling end to a fantastic supernatural series!" --Leigh Talbert Moore, bestselling author of The Truth About Faking


**Dragonfly by Leigh Talbert Moore -- "The characters were intriguing, the mystery and story were interesting and definitely have ME WANTING MORE!!!!!!!" --Mandy, The Romance Bookie


**Crossing by Stacey Wallace Benefiel -- "Beautiful. Heart wrenching. A true tale of love. It'll make you laugh, cry, and have you running out to buy a tube of red lipstick." --RaShelle Workman, bestselling author of the Blood and Snow series


**ClockwiseR by Elle Strauss -- "Time-travel adventures, scary cliffhangers... Strauss's strength in describing battle scenes and wartime add to the historical parts, and the resolution was not what I expected. Great writing and a superfun book!" - Leigh Talbert Moore, bestselling author of The Truth About Letting Go


**Protected by Cindy Hogan -- "This anticipated sequel sizzles with equal parts thriller, suspense and romance. A spine tingling story I could not put down." - C.K.Bryant, author of Bound


**A Spy Like Me by Laura Pauling -- "Move over Gallagher Girls, there's a new spy in town! A Spy Like Me is a fast paced, high energy ride through Paris that left me almost as breathless as Pauling's hot hero. Super fun beginning, great story, and an ending that won't disappoint!" --Gemma Halliday, NYT best selling author of Spying in High Heels


**The Pack - Retribution by L.M. Preston -- "The action in this book was phenomenal! There was never a dull moment. Shamira and the group were always fighting off the bad guys and with style too." --P. Bradish, Amazon Reviewer


**Untraceable by S.R. Johannes -- "This thrilling story is a dramatic entanglement of mystery, deception and teen romance.  The action flows like a brisk mountain stream interspersed with rapids, holding suspense to last page." -- Kirkus Review 

* * *

Enter to WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Top YA Monsters! You Got 1?

Okay, are we really going to have to ask that question?

The Society of YA Storytellers at http://www.yastorytellers.com are chatting it up about ... Monsters...that teens love! Hate? Are frightened of? or Love to hate. Gosh I don't know which.


When I was a kid, I loved, loved, loved...did I say love? The Lost Boys movie. It had a hot, evil, sexy vampire and a gorgeous kid they were turning.

Then, I fell in love with the Vampire Lestat.

And how could we not want to just trade places with Elaina in Vampire Diaries?


 I mean, does she REALLY need 2 hot vampire brothers fighting over her? Gosh!

But we can't forget Bella...and Edward. Yeah, I personally would've picked the werewolf but hey, Edward had his sparkle baby!





To see more of what the secret society (oh, of course it's not that secret :-D but you can join) says about monsters, CLICK here.

Meantime, take a moment to meat Bay-Lee, Van Helsings daughter in the great new release, Bait (Order of the Spirit Realm) by K.C. Blake! FREE for a limited time.


Join her and the rest of the crew on GOODREADS for our BOOK CLUB discussion on Bait!


Monday, October 7, 2013

Forever Fredless by Suzy Turner


Spotlight on a ChitLit feature! I know, I don't usually do anything that's not YA, but I couldn't help myself



Forever Fredless by Suzy Turner
SYNOPSIS
Kate Robinson has spent the past two decades yearning to find her soul mate, the boy she found and then lost during a family holiday.
Shortly after her twenty-eighth birthday, however, she inherits a fortune from an old family friend and becomes something of an overnight celebrity. Can her new-found fame lead her to him after all this time?

EXCERPT
Thank God for anti-perspirant, I thought as I sat on the couch and waited for the countdown to begin. I clutched at my hands until they were white and looked across at the two people sitting opposite, both completely at ease in front of the cameras.
Five, four, three, two, one...
'Welcome back to this morning's edition of Good Morning GB,' announced Ireland Rothschild, the blonde-haired, blue eyed darling of morning TV.
'I'm here with Fergus O'Reilly and we've a special guest with us this morning. None other than Britain's love-struck multi-millionaire, Kate Robinson.
Welcome, Kate,' she said with a dazzling smile aimed more towards the camera than at me.
As my cheeks began to heat up, I was so grateful to the make-up artist, who had insisted on caking on the foundation before the show had started. In fact, I had so much make-up on that I was hoping once I'd removed it, nobody would recognise me when I headed to the airport in my now rather stupidly chosen car. I couldn't exactly blend in driving a pink Mini could I?
'Good morning,' I whispered shyly.
Fergus grinned back at me, tilting his head as if he was about to speak to a child. 'Now, tell us, Kate dear, how does it feel to never have to worry about money ever again?' he asked, his toothpaste advert teeth twinkling beneath the heat of the studio lights.
'Erm, well, I guess it's... erm, kind of... erm,' I felt so bloody stupid. Great time for my brain to stop working. 'I - erm. Great,' I nodded. 'Great, really great.' Idiot.
Ireland glanced across at her grey-haired colleague and pouted before nodding. 'Tell us how you knew this man. This,' she glanced down at the iPad on her lap and continued, 'Samuel?'
I cleared my throat and lifted my head, feeling like my brain was back in action. 'He was a very good friend of the family, some years ago,' I answered.
'Just a friend? Why did he leave you all his money and his property?' asked Fergus.
'He didn't have any family and I guess you could say that my mother and I were the closest he ever had to a family.'
'Isn't that lovely?' pouted Ireland. 'You certainly are a lucky woman. But what about your mother? Didn't she receive any of his inheritance?'
'No,' I said before swallowing hard. 'My mother lives a rather... nomadic lifestyle, in Africa. She doesn't want any of it. All she asked of me was to donate a sum to charity which, of course, I have done.'
'She lives in Africa? A nomadic lifestyle? That sounds intriguing. Perhaps we should interview her one of these days,' laughed Ireland and Fergus together.
'Have you splashed out on anything since receiving your inheritance back in June?' they asked, leaning forward eagerly awaiting my answer.
'Yes I have actually. I bought a car and a new house.'
'Well good for you, Kate. But now, most of us are curious about this boy you lost. Tell us about him?'
Oh no. Why did I agree to this?
Taking a deep breath, I knew I had no choice. Several articles had been printed since the one in Liberty; everyone wanted to know more and nobody was going to leave me alone until I told them everything.
'He was just a boy who I had a connection with when I was much, much younger. It was at Skegness. At an afternoon disco for kids. I was dancing and I felt someone touch my back and when I turned around there he was. The most beautiful boy I'd ever seen,' I said, stopping and smiling as I reminisced. ‘It was one of the happiest memories of my life.'
Sighing, I continued, 'We just looked at each other and it was like everything else just disappeared into the background. We stood staring, for what seemed like ages. I could barely move. And then, almost as soon as it had begun, my dad appeared and took me away. I couldn't do anything as we walked to the car. I looked around for the boy but he was gone. And then, just as we were driving away, I turned around in my seat and there he was. He had a daffodil in his hand. I always assumed he'd gone to pick it for me, but that's just a childish fantasy, I guess. The whole thing is probably nothing but a childish fantasy, really.'
Ireland was very carefully dabbing at her eyes with a tissue, pretending to be moved, while Fergus smiled sadly.
'What a beautiful story, Kate. I don't believe for one second that this is a childish fantasy. It's romantic and beautiful,' Ireland said.
'Now, tell us, Kate. Why did you call him Fred?' asked Fergus.
Smiling, I explained about the Right Said Fred song, just as the music began in the background.
'What a wonderful tale. Thank you, Kate, for joining us today. It's been a pleasure having you with us to share your story,' said Fergus.
'Thank you,' I whispered before the camera moved back to Ireland as she straightened her skirt and looked alluring. 'Do you remember this moment in time?'
she asked. 'Are you the elusive Fred? We'd love to hear from you. You can contact us at...'
Before I could hear anything else, I was ushered off the couch and back behind the scenes where Jo stood, waiting patiently for me, with open arms.

PURCHASE LINKS
(more coming soon)

AUTHOR BIO
Suzy Turner has worked as a journalist, assistant editor, features editor and magazine editor. Early in 2010 however, she began writing full time and has since completed six books for young adults (the Raven Saga and The Morgan Sisters series) and one chick lit novel, Forever Fredless.
Although Suzy is a Yorkshire lass at heart, she left her home town of Rotherham, UK, to move to Portugal with her family when she was ten. The Algarve continues to be her home, where she lives with her childhood sweetheart and husband of 15 years, Michael, and their two neurotic dogs and a cat who thinks

she's a princess.
For more details about Suzy and her books, visit:
Suzy's website
Suzy's YA Blog
Facebook page
Twitter
Pinterest

Friday, October 4, 2013

Creepy and Lovin it

Want more fun on CREEPY? Check out other post from The Society of YA Storytellers!

Here's a taste of the GOOD and EVIL in PURGATORY REIGN
I'm going to take this moment to reminisce over the creation of my most Evil Villian.

Gavin Steele from Purgatory Reign, which comes out in ebook February 2013 and print May 2013.

First, let me give you his Bio:

Gavin Steele is thirty years old, gorgeous, fit, blond, a billionaire owner of a multi-million dollar company that specializes in exotic metals, bio-genetics, drugs and uhum some other sordid dealings. He has a obsession with killing things slowly and slicing them up. Also, he's a loving older brother to Lucien who was created to do his bidding.




Note: this isn't the final edited excerpt from Purgatory Reign

Gavin knew from experience he’d only have a short time to get his answer before the greedy one would consume the spirit in which it hid and demand the price. “The name of the one who can stop me, the one I should remove from the equation,” he demanded from the psychic.



She hissed, and her white pupils turned on him. “Peter. Peter Saints.”

Her body jerked from side to side in an attempt to fight her way free of an invisible force, but it was too late, the price would be paid. For one moment, shock and fear laced her expression before she slumped to the floor, permanently silenced. He slipped his hands into his pocket, pulling out rubber gloves and a knife that he calmly unfolded. For a brief moment he stared in space while in thought. 

“Peter. Peter Saints.” the sound of the name left a foul taste on his tongue.

Shrugging off his jacket, he grinned. Messes, he hated to leave messes. And tonight, like all the other nights, he’d clean it up.


PETER SAINTS is Sixteen years old, large for his age, has an attitude problem, and grew up in an orphanage.




 Interview with Peter
            Describe where you sleep.
Sleep? Man, who sleeps in an orphanage filled with kids who all got the stink of a chip on their shoulder? But if you wanna know where I lay my head, it’ll be a toss up between the hole in the cellar on a raggedy mattress or in the converted pantry closet of the orphanage. 

Where do you have a scar or birthmark? Describe circumstances surrounding your scars.
You would ask me about it. The scar – or gift, Hanna told me it was. But she put it there, right on the palm of my hand, as revenge I think – for causing her death. I’m not talking about it anymore, cause it’s something no one’s supposed to know about. Haven’t figured out why yet, but it scared Pastor Finn to death when he saw it.

What is something you feel guilty about?
Guilt. Now that’s a word I’m not wanting to hear. I got a lot of it, and it all stems from the fact that I’ve caused the death of at least three people I cared about. I don’t know why, but I’m cursed or something. And even with the death of my parents, Hanna’s death, in my heart I know I caused it.

Describe yourself sitting in your favorite spot.
In the cellar. I’m alone there. And me being alone is probably the safest thing for me or anyone around me.

What do you do to have fun?
Dancing is my thing. I love to do it. I sneak out of the orphanage all the time to go to the club, dance and joke around with the girls there. When I’m not doing that, I like to tick off Pastor Finn so him and I can fight it out, then he takes me on the back roads to drive his sports cars. Don’t let that get out about him letting me drive his cars, the other kids at the orphanage don’t know, and if they did, they’d probably start ticking him off as much as I do.

What kind of girl would you fall for?
I like my girl gorgeous with some fight in her. She can’t be a pushover, but she’s got to love me – only me, cause I don’t share. Ever.














To pre-order PURGATORY REIGN, click here.

What creepy, scary things you will find in Purgatory Reign are:

- Blood Drainers
- Psychotic Killers
- Kidnappers
- Evil Orders
- Deadly supernatural forces
- And more!

A bit of the movie PUSH, I-AM NUMBER FOUR and WANTED with a splash of action!