Friday, January 31, 2014

Cover Reveal: Now That You're Here by Amy K. Nichols

About NOW THAT YOU’RE HERE: Danny and Eevee are meant to be together . . . Just not in this universe.



Eevee Solomon has high school down to a science. Get the grades. Get the recommendations. Get into an Ivy League college, and eventually land a killer job at NASA.


Then Danny Ogden enters the equation.


Danny is a street-smart graffiti artist. He’s always managed to stay out of serious trouble, but this time he’s out of luck. One minute he’s running from the cops, and the next, he jolts awake in an unfamiliar body–his own, but different. Somehow, he’s crossed into a parallel universe. Now his friends are his enemies, his parents are long dead, and coolheaded Eevee is not the brazen girl he once kissed back home. Then again, this Eevee may be his only hope of getting home.


Eevee tells herself she’s only helping him in the name of quantum physics, but there’s something undeniably fascinating about this boy from another dimension . . . a boy who makes her question who she is, and who she might be in another place and time.

And for the cover

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About Amy Nichols: Amy has been crafting stories for as long as she can remember. She earned a Master's in literature and worked for years as a web designer, though, before realizing what she really wanted to be was an author. Her first novel, YA sci-fi thriller Now That You're Here, will be published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on December 9, 2014. The follow-up, While You Were Gone, will be published in 2015. She is mentored by award-winning crime novelist James Sallis.
Amy is represented by Quinlan Lee of Adams Literary. She's an active member of SCBWI and SFWA, as well as a member of the Class of 2k14 debut authors.


Social Media Links:
Class of 2k14: http://classof2k14.com

Monday, January 27, 2014

Cover Reveal: The Fine Art of Pretending by Rachel Harris

A friend of mine Rachel Harris has another fabulous release coming out this year. It's a great YA Contemporary that I highly recommend.


Release Date: September 30, 2014
Author: Rachel Harris 



According to the guys at Fairfield Academy, there are two types of girls: the kind you hook up with, and the kind you're friends with. Seventeen-year-old Alyssa Reed is the second type. And she hates it. With just one year left to change her rank, she devises a plan to become the first type by homecoming, and she sets her sights on the perfect date—Justin Carter, Fairfield Academy’s biggest hottie and most notorious player.

With 57 days until the dance, Aly launches Operation Sex Appeal and sheds her tomboy image. The only thing left is for Justin actually to notice her. Enter best friend Brandon Taylor, the school’s second biggest hottie, and now Aly’s pretend boyfriend. With his help, elevating from “funny friend” to “tempting vixen” is only a matter of time.

But when everything goes according to plan, the inevitable “break up” leaves their friendship in shambles, and Aly and Brandon with feelings they can’t explain. And the fake couple discovers pretending can sometimes cost you the one thing you never expected to want.







About The Author
Rachel Harris grew up in New Orleans, watching soap operas with her grandmother and staying up late sneak reading her mom's favorite romance novels. Now a Cajun cowgirl living in Houston, she still stays up too late reading her favorite romances, only now, she can do so openly. She firmly believes life's problems can be solved with a hot, powdered-sugar-coated beignet or a thick slice of king cake, and that screaming at strangers for cheap, plastic beads is acceptable behavior in certain situations. She homeschools her two beautiful girls and loves watching reality television with her amazing husband. She writes young adult, new adult, and adult Fun, Flirty Escapes, and LOVES talking with readers! 

Friday, January 24, 2014

Cover Reveal: Elevated by Elana Johnson

Elana Johnson the author of an awesome dystopian series Possession has a new book coming out, and this is a contemporary!

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The last person seventeen-year-old Eleanor Livingston wants to see on the elevator—let alone get stuck with—is her ex-boyfriend Travis, the guy she's been avoiding for five months.

Plagued with the belief that when she speaks the truth, bad things happen, Elly hasn’t told Trav anything. Not why she broke up with him and cut off all contact. Not what happened the day her father returned from his deployment to Afghanistan. And certainly not that she misses him and still thinks about him everyday.

But with nowhere to hide and Travis so close it hurts, Elly’s worried she won’t be able to contain her secrets for long. She’s terrified of finally revealing the truth, because she can’t bear to watch a tragedy befall the boy she still loves.


Buy Links:
iTunes:


Praise for ELEVATED:
"ELEVATED will take you on an emotionally gripping journey through the highs and lows of first love."
~Carolee Dean, author of Take Me There and Forget Me Not

"Poignant, raw, and intense, ELEVATED is a novel that will grip your heart and linger in your mind long after you turn the last page."
~Stasia Ward Kehoe, author of Audition and The Sound of Letting Go




About Elana Johnson: Elana Johnson’s work, including Possession, Surrender, Abandon, and Regret, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster), is available now everywhere books are sold. Her popular ebook, From the Query to the Call, is also available for download, as well as a Possession short story, Resist. School teacher by day, Query Ninja by night, you can find her online at her personal blog or Twitter. She also co-founded the Query Tracker blog, and contributes to the League of Extraordinary Writers.


Social Media Links:
League of Extraordinary Writers: http://leaguewriters.blogspot.com/



People can enter to win $15 Paypal cash by helping to spread the word about ELEVATED. 
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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Marketing for Authors

Even if an author is signed with big publisher the author needs to be pre-pared to market their book. Most authors I know seem to rely on the publisher to market the book, but you have to help out as well. You want your book to succeed.

A writer friend of mine who lives in Dallas Victoria Scott did a blog post on a young adult blog about marketing. Victoria is one to go to for questions about marketing she has a masters degree in it. 

Book Bloggers
Well the first thing I believe would be the best marketing tool is for writers to connect with book bloggers. You want to be friends with them. See what books they like to read, or if you have the same taste in reading. Since a lot of book bloggers only review books from big publishers ask them if you can mail them a paper copy of your ARC. I prefer the paperback than e-books. A notehr thing to be weary about is if the author is self published there are some book bloggers that will not review a self published book.

A Social Media Platform
Get connected with social media. Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter are your best bets for being a writer. Even if you aren't published yet start your platform now. Now and days most agents want to sign a writer with a platform of some sort. Twitter is good for writers because you can easily find your favorite authors, and Goodreads is like facebook for book lovers. Another thing she recommended was connected all of your social media platforms together so that all your posts go to all of your social media platforms. For those who don't know Goodreads is the best because it allows you to connect with readers.You become friends with writers and readers, and you can see what books you have in common. I've been on Goodreads for a long time now, and I love it. Of course I now review books on my other blog.

Website
A writer should have a website or a blog of some sort. Your website should be kept clean, and simply, and not to over crowed. She recommend Wordpress. Some writers I know use blogger, and then just buy the domain connecting it to their blog. I've tried the free version of wordpress and it's okay you just can't really customize font like you can do with blogger. 

So far this is some of the things she recommend on the post, and while 

Monday, January 20, 2014

Cover Reveal: Model Position by Kitsy Clare



BLURB:
For Sienna, love and art are perilous games. Is she ready to take that gamble?

Sienna is a beautiful, talented artist poised on the precipice of soaring into the glamorous, yet cutthroat Manhattan art scene.

Dave Hightower is a hooked-up, handsome heir to the hippest gallery in NYC, Gallery Hightower.
Erik is the live drawing model with his sizzling green eyes fixed only on Sienna.

Three’s a crowd, so Sienna must make a choice: date Dave and ride the fast track to landing a show at Gallery Hightower and hobnobbing with the art glitterati, or follow her heart and take a chance with Erik, the stunning male model who’s stealing her heart. But Erik has some worrisome secrets, and who in their right mind would make live modeling their career?

Dare Sienna throw away her chances of hitting it big to follow her heart?



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
When Kitsy Clare isn’t creating stories on her favorite Mac Air, she teaches speculative fiction and creative writing workshops. She also loves to draw, travel, read spicy romance, sci-fi and all kinds of thrillers. She divides her time between New York City and her studio in the Catskills, where she enjoys the sounds of birds, bullfrogs and the random coyote. 
Kitsy Clare is the pen name for her new adult romance. She also writes young adult fiction using her real name, Catherine Stine. Her YA futuristic thriller, Fireseed One won finalist spots in both YA and Science Fiction in the 2013 USA Book News International Book Awards. It was also granted an Indie Reader Approved notable stamp. Her YA Refugees, earned a New York Public Library Best Book. Ruby’s Fire, the new companion novel to Fireseed One, is receiving high praise from reviewers. She’s a member of SFWA, SCBWI and CBIG. She can be found on www.catherinestine.com, www.catherinestine.blogspot.com, and https://twitter.com/crossoverwriter

Friday, January 17, 2014

Savoring Book Series as Whole

I was talking to some of my friends and they were telling me about books they have been reading. I told them I haven't read it yet, and they were stunned.

"Why haven't you read it yet?" she asked me.

"Because I like to wait until the whole series is out so I can read it straight through."

Yeah that's me. I like to wait until the whole book series is out so that I can read it straight through. Now it does sound weird, but I have been doing it for a while and it works really well for me.

Part of the reason I do that is because it takes a long time for the next book to be released and I get too anxious with all the waiting. The first time I experience that sort of impatient waiting was growing up and waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out. Then the next book series I fell in love with was The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot, and I also hated having to wait for the next book in the series to come out.

As I started seeking agents to query, and learn more about the business of publishing I learned why it would take about two years for a book to get published. SO now I do order the books, and pre-order the rest of the books in the series leaving them sitting on my shelves until I have all the books then I start reading the whole series. Sometimes depending on the publisher I will buy the boxed set, or I will buy the first two books in the series in paperback with the final book in hardcover.

So when my friends tell me I am behind in the books that are really good that everyone is reading, I really don't care.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Supporting Authors

A lot of people view supporting authors from a variety of ways. A lot would go to book signings, ordering bulk of their books at once, chatting with the authors on Facebook about how much they really enjoyed their book.

Here are the ways I support an author

1. Pre-Order Books
I like to pre-order books. Now I may buy the book but then I wait until I have the last book in my hands so I can read the series straight through. Some authors even have it as to where if you forward them the receipt of their book you ordered online they'll mail you autographed bookmarks, or some swag buttons.

2. Order the Hardcover or Paperback
I'm a college student so naturally my money is sucked up by the price of textbooks. Hardcover books tend to be expensive. So I end up just waiting for the paperback version to be released. Don't forget sales are everything. There have been times where the publisher has cancelled a book series because there wasn't enough sales, and they thought people weren't interested in the series.

3. Write Reviews
Review the books you've read. Now don't go on a long rampage on why you hated the book and thought it was the worst book you've ever read (believe me I've seen plenty of those) just keep your review simple, and professional as you possibly can. What you liked about the book, what you didn't like, then rate it.

4. Contact the author
Most authors are on Twitter, and really like it when a reader tells them they just bought the book, and really enjoy hearing compliments from their readers.

5. Recommend books to friends
When I read a book I really, really like I recommend it around. I love trading books with my friends which is why I like having paperback books. I swap books with my friends for the weekend.



Also in support of authors they have to do book signings. In order for them to do a book signing the bookstores have to stay open. Help keep bookstores open. For every book you order online through Amazon go buy a book at Barnes and Noble.

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. 

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. 

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. 




Le Cirque de Rêves is a magical circus draped in shades of black, white, and gray. It was conceived as being more refined than most circuses and was built to be housed in many rambling tents, awaiting each attendee's personal discovery of them, instead of one large tent for everything. The circus only opens at night, and it comes and goes without any announcement traveling all over the world. The main characters, Celia and Marco have been in a decades-long game of a magical duel. 

I would walk into a bookstore and see this book, especially at the book store at target. A lot of people on goodreads have read this book and really liked it so I bought it from Target. It took me a year to finish this book. Not because I thought the plot was boring, but I just loved the story so much I didn't want to finish it in a hurry because the book was truly beautiful. There are moments when the plot was just gut wrenching, while the couple who falls in love when they shouldn't. I want books like this that just make me appreciate the book. i looked at the authors website and saw that it was a series of NaNoWriMo projects. This read is amazing and I highly recommend it. This is one amazing NaNoWriMo published book. And it's been optioned for film! YAY!

Monday, January 06, 2014

Fated by Alyson Noel

Until now, he's existed only in her dreams - but fate is about to bring them together. I shove through the crowd, knocking into girls and bouncing off boys, until one in particular catches me, steadies me. I feel so secure, so at home in his arms. I melt against his chest-lift my gaze to meet his. Gasping when I stare into a pair of icy blue eyes banded by brilliant flecks of gold that shine like kaleidoscopes, reflecting my image thousands of times.
The boy from my dream. The one who died in my arms.

Strange things are happening to Daire Santos. Crows mock her, glowing people stalk her, time stops without warning, and a beautiful boy with unearthly blue eyes haunts all her dreams. Fearing for her daughter’s sanity, Daire’s mother sends her to live with the grandmother she’s never met. A woman who recognizes the visions for what they truly are—the call to her destiny as a Soul Seeker—one who can navigate the worlds between the living and dead.

There on the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico, Daire sets out to harness her mystical powers. But it’s when she meets Dace, the boy from her dreams, that her whole world is shaken to its core. Now Daire is forced to discover if Dace is the one guy she's meant to be with...or if he’s allied with the enemy she's destined to destroy.



Daire Santos travels the world with her mother while she does the makeup for actors on film sets. When Daire turns sixteen the essence of her family's bloodline of her to navigate the worlds of the living and the dead come forth. After fearing that she may be institutionalized for seeing things no one else can see Daire is sent to live with her estranged grandmother who helps Daire with her training to assume her destiny, and awhile Daire is assuming her training she falls for a local boy who happens to be someone she's not sure she can trust.  While I was a fan of her other stand alone Art Geeks & Prom Queens, and her Immortal series, this book felt too familiar to The Immortals. Now while I appreciate an author stepping out of their comfort zone and writing about another culture with the main character of mixed races, but I also felt like the author was confused or given false information between the Native American culture and the Hispanic culture. The book plot doesn't pick up until you get towards the end of the book. I've reading the second book in the series and I very curious as to how the rest is played out. The cover is what drew me to the book the most, I felt like the whole series was pretty much laid out by first half of the book, the author gave too much of the background of the world pretty similar to Stephenie Meyer. Too much telling, and now I get it when I'm told I tell instead of show.

Sunday, January 05, 2014

Cover Reveal: Alliance by Aubrie Dionne

BLURB:

“Saving him meant saving her colony…”

Lyra Bryan has been saving people her whole life from a chick in the ventilation pipes to her mentally ill brother when his mind drifts back to Old Earth. She meets her match when she finds a gorgeous alien man aboard the arachnid ship. Captured after a failed attempt to save his people, his spirit is broken, craving only vengeance. To save her colony, Lyra must save his body and soul.

Lyra’s lifemate, Tauren, is jealous of her obsession with the alien man and will do anything in his power to break them apart. While they travel to the arachnid’s home world to defeat the mother brain once and for all, they must set aside their differences and work as a team. But, can Tauren be trusted? 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Aubrie Dionne is an author and flutist in New England. Her books have received the highest ratings from Romance Times Magazine, as well as Night Owl Reviews and Two Lips Reviews. She has guest blogged on the USA Today Happily Ever After Blog and the Dear Teen Me blog and signed books at the Boston Book Festival, Barnes and Noble, and the Romance Writers of America conference. Her writings have appeared in numerous publications including Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, Emerald Tales, Hazard Cat, Moon Drenched Fables, A Fly in Amber, and Aurora Wolf. Her books are published by Inkspell Publishing, Astraea Press, Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Publishing, Lyrical Press, and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. When she's not writing, Aubrie teaches flute and plays in orchestras.


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