Spectral by Shannon Duffy Book Trailer

The above trailer is the upcoming book from my lovely friend, Shannon Duffy, called Spectral. It is set to be released April 10th. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do and remember to pick up, Shannon's book on April 10th!
 

Spring Into Reading: A Call For Prizes

So, I've been reading a lot of good books lately. It's one of my favorite things to do when I'm not writing. As I was reading an amazing book the other day by a friend, I decided it was time for a contest. What I love about this contest is, that it's all about books.

I'm doing an open call for prizes for the Spring Into Reading Contest being held from April 1st to April 8th. That's right! It's a week long contest.You may donate your book or sponsor a book (the winner chooses and you pay,) as prizes. If you are an editor, you may offer one of your services or a percentage off of one of your services. All prizes are welcome!

All prizes will be listed with pictures of the book along with a short blurb so those who enter will know what your book is about. For editors, a picture will be included along with a short blurb about you.

If you'd like to donate a prize, you can leave a message in the comments with a way for me to contact you or tweet/DM me on twitter.

Thank you all for donating prizes for Cass' contest and thank you in advance for donating to mine. If I gather enough prizes, The contest will begin on April 1st. No joke! See you then!!

Cassandra Marshall's Awesome Contest Starts Today

Not long back, I did a post that was calling for prize donations for my friend, Cass' wonderful free edit contest. A lot of my awesome friends answered the call and I love you all for doing so!! You may also recall that I mentioned that contest would start March 19th. Guess what? TODAY's March 19th!!

If you're looking for an amzaing editor but don't have the cash at the moment, I highly urge you to sign up for this contest. Cass is amazing!! Beyond really! All you have to do is go to Cass' website, (clicking her name will send you there,) and fill out the form. Easy?! Yeah!

Good luck to everyone! And if you're only looking for amazing prizes, sign up! She's got lots of them!

Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lucky Seven Meme

I was tagged by my friend Shannon Duffy for the lucky seven meme. I've been wanting to share a part of my current wip, thanks to Shannon, now I can!

Here are the rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS.

2.  Go to line 7.

3.  Copy down the next 7 lines-sentences or paragraphs and post them as they are written. No cheating!

4.  Tag 7 authors

5.  Let them know they've been tagged!

Luckily, I just managed to write past page 77 on my current wip. I hope you all enjoy the sneak peek! If you get a chance, swing over to Shannon's blog and read her excerpt because it's really good!!

This is from my YA Urban Fantasy titled CROSSING BRIELLE:

She gave his hand a squeeze. “You may be different, but you're definitely not a monster.”

Jason's head dipped toward hers. Eyes lock with Brielle's, he asked, “I'm not?”

“No, silly.” She shook her head, making her rainbow tips flirt with the light breeze finding its way into the flower hut. “You're just, Jason. A hot guy that just happens to be a fey.”

The 7 lucky authors I've chosen are *drum roll*:

Brielle B.

Cassandra Marshall

Tiffany King

Erica Chapman

M.R. Merrick

Kara Stefanowich

Christy Brown

I hope you enjoyed my excerpt! One day, there will be more to come! If you want to share your 7th line of your 77th page, leave it in the comment section below! Thank you again, Shannon! This was lots of fun!!

Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!!

Rachel Harris' My Super Sweet 16th Century Cover Reveal!!

My friend, Rachel Harris' debut book MY SUPER SWEET 16TH CENTURY, is set to be released from Entangled Teen on September 11, 2012. From the moment I first heard about this book, I've wanted to get my hands on it! Every part of it intrigues me and I can not wait to get my hands on it so I can devour it in one day! Which means when Rachel put out the call for bloggers to be a part of the cover reveal, I jumped on the chance like it was a hot guy needing a hug!

I had a tough time choosing between the excerpts that we could choose from. Yes! They were both that freaking amazing! So, after some long hard thinking and re-reading, I worked some magic and got the okay to share both! You have no idea how excited I am to say that! So, here they are!

Premise Excerpt:

I hear their muffled whispers and understand every Italian word. Every witty comment made at my expense.

It’s like my brain is automatically translating. 

I bunch the soft fabric of the dress in my hand and then reach up to feel the ribbon in my hair. I lightly skim my fingers over my chin and feel my lack of zit. I take in the costumes of the crowd, the stench of the animals, and the Italian I can now speak and understand. And suddenly it hits me. 

Reyna must have pulled some kind of gypsy mojo. 

Maybe this is one of those nifty “change your life” magic scenarios like in the movies. I mean, mostly I’m still expecting to blink and be right back in the midst of overpriced, gaudy tourism, but for now, the gypsy-time-warp explanation is infinitely better than thinking I’ve lost my mind. As I decide to go with that option, I feel my frantic tension melt away. 

The growing crowd seems to notice my change in demeanor and begins shooting one another amused looks, but I don’t care anymore. A smile stretches across my face. Evidently, I was wrong earlier; Reyna is a psychic mind reader, because if this is her special brand of bibbity-bobbity-boo, then she made my exact daydream from earlier in the courtyard come to life. 

The long red gown, the braided hair, the Italian merchant’s daughter, the time period. I am in Renaissance Florence.

I stare dumbly at the ground, the words and reality sinking in.

I’m in Renaissance Florence!

Meet Cute Excerpt:

Alessandra jerks back like I just suggested she prance around the square naked or something. “No! I believe I understand your meaning, and Lorenzo is certainly not my suitor. He is like a brother to me—the three of us grew up together.” 

She resumes walking and I fall in step beside her, understanding there has to be more to the story. And as we near the end of the row, I finally ask, “If you’re not into the guy, then what’s the problem?”

At that same moment, a rich, deep chuckle hits my ears. My stomach involuntarily clenches and my gaze sharpens on the back of this mysterious Lorenzo. 

Alessandra sighs. “That is the problem.” She places her hand on my arm and solemnly looks me in the eyes. “You must be careful. Lorenzo is beautiful, and it is not uncommon for a girl to walk away from meeting him with a piece of her heart left behind. But he is just eighteen, and not yet ready for marriage.”

I roll my eyes and laugh, then realize she’s serious. “Yeah, I assure you, there’s no danger on my end. I’m not exactly looking for marriage myself.” Because that would be crazy-town.

Alessandra wrinkles her nose as if she doesn’t believe me, but she removes her hand. We close the distance and Cipriano flashes me an open, honest to goodness, lighthearted smile. 

“Lorenzo, this is the cousin I was telling you about.”

Slowly the guy turns and I fall head first into the richest chocolate-brown eyes I’ve ever seen. He blinks and long, luscious lashes feather across his bronzed cheeks. I can feel myself gawking, but I physically can’t drag my eyes away. Lorenzo doesn’t smirk or act all conceited, either. He simply stares back, his eyes casually skimming over me, causing my skin to warm and break out in a whole body tingle.

Time seems to stop, and the sounds of the market mute. Alessandra was right. This boy is beautiful. 

And he’s looking at me.

See? Amazing, right? And now, for the equally amazingly beautiful cover!!!

How beautiful is that? You can pre-order Rachel's wonderful book at Amazon and Barns & Nobel. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads TBR pile too! Congratulation's Rachel! I can't wait to read it!!

Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!

Cassandra Marshall's Free Edit Ramp-up! A Call For Donated Prizes!

My really awesome friend who just so happens to be an amazing editor, Cassandra Marshall, is hosting another free substantial edit giveaway March 19-26. What makes this contest different from other edit giveaways is that Cass is giving away other prizes donated by others too! That's where you come in!

If you are a self-published author or even a traditionally published author, you can offer your book as a prize! That's right! You can place your beloved baby in the hands of an overly thrilled winner just by donating it as a prize! Easy, right?

Who loves swag? All of us, right!? Well, if you've got swag, we want it! Cass will gladly take your swag as a donated prize to be placed in the loving hands of the winner! So, bring on your swag! We can take it!!

Another cool way to donate to the giveaway is to "sponsor" a prize. For example, a "sponsored" prize could be a book of the winners choice. So, if you don't have a book out yet or swag, you can "sponsor" one for a lucky winner!

If you have any gently loved books, bring those too! All the merrier!!

Cass would like to add that these posts average 2500 unique views, so it's great exposure!!

If you choose to donate or sponsor a prize, Cass will happily include a cover/photo, a short 1-2 sentence summary, and links to you/buy pages. So, win-win!

So, all of my author readers or even contest lovers out there, please donate a prize?! You can leave a comment on my blog if you'd like to donate, tweet/DM me, or click on Cass' name in this post and comment on her blog. Thank you all in advance!

If you don't donate a prize and would like to enter the contest where I have also donated a prize, check out Cass' blog for details!

Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!

Double Facepalm Moment

Sorry for the blog silence lately. I've been super busy polishing my ms along with working on a couple wip's that have my heart in their hands while spending time with my hubby and our friends. I hope you all have been doing wonderful and I'm glad to be back!

So, this post is about something that's going on in my life at the moment. I like to play dress up games (like Barbie with a little edge) when I'm stressed out. I find that just placing clothes on a pixelated doll takes my mind off the things bugging me and when I'm done, I see things clearer. It's a quick fix and I have made a few good friends from doing it. In the past few months, my happy place went to hell. An over-into-himself owner has come back and started making a site that was, boring but still enjoyable, into a place where anger rules all!

Now, when I decided to become a professional author I learned all of the rights and wrongs in marketing myself/my product. One of the first things I learned was never to anger your customer/fan base. To me, that means not calling people names or treating them like their voice doesn't count to you. Yes, I don't have to agree with them, but I should at least treat them with the kindness that I want them to show to me. Never once would I think of treating my readers like trash just for my amusement.

Sadly, this is something this unnamed owner has done. He claims to have a degree in customer service and says he wants this game to be edgy and fun. Sounds great, right? The problem is, he's entertaining himself by humiliating and abusing his own customers. Most would say that's a fast way to destroy a business, but he can't see that. That is what the double facepalm's about.

I've seen some authors act like this guy with their reviewers or even other authors. I've wanted to tell them, "Hey! These are your customers! If you don't treat them right, your career will be over." Face it, once you turn into that person, you're done.

There is one thing to think about if you're having to do anything dealing with the public. How would you like to be treated if you were in their position? I'm betting that you would like to be spoken to in a calm and polite way. I'm hoping this guy gets that soon before he burns what so many love to the ground.

Have you ever been in a situation like this? What did you do?

Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!