GIVEAWAY! K Anne Raines' Shattered Grace

As promised, I have another exciting giveaway for you today! I'll be giving away 3 kindle editions of K Anne Raines' Shattered Grace. Check it out!

Seventeen-year-old Grace grows up knowing she’s different, but she always attributed it to a mother who didn’t want her, a father who abandoned her, and a curse that sets her apart. Despite those struggles, her grandfather remained her rock and confidant. Her life shatters irrevocably after he suddenly dies.

The day of his funeral sets off a chain of events, making Grace question everything she’s ever known to be true, and as a result, who she can truly trust. She inherits his house, part of his money, his Guardian and something that ties them together.

Just before Grace’s 18th birthday, she is thrust into a world she couldn’t fathom existed, and does everything she can to thwart the destiny suddenly forced upon her. She’s been chosen for greatness, but at what cost? With eyes now open, she must choose to either be Chosen, or watch those around her suffer the consequences.

Torn between the man who’s come to protect her and the one sent to destroy her, she teeters on the edge of decision trying to come to grips with who she is, what she wants, and what all of that means for her, those she loves, and the rest of mankind.

AHHHH! How good does that sound?! Entering the rafflecopter is easy. Good luck! And be sure to check out K Anne Raines' giveaway of Hell's Hollow!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday Prompt!

Sorry I've been MIA! I was under the weather, but I'm feeling much better now and have some fun things planned. It's Monday, so I have a writing prompt for you. And I've got another giveaway in the works, so stay tuned!

Today's writing prompt is this: Choose an old photograph. You don't need to spend a ton of time choosing, it can be anything. And then sink back into the memory of that moment. Where was it taken? What was the weather like? What did the air feel like? Were there aromas? Were there other people around? What were you feeling in that moment? Were your inner feelings different than what you showed? What do you feel now, looking back at that moment? Take some time to really sink into the memory. Then, when you're ready, write about it. It doesn't have to be a special event. It can be an ordinary moment in time. Write about it as if you're in that moment. Try to make it come alive!

Happy writing :D

More Cover Reveal Deliciousness - Olivia Mayfield's Ten Days!

I have another fantastic cover reveal for you today. This one is by another author friend: Ten Days by Olivia Mayfield. It is a YA/NA Sci-fi romance, which sounds pretty amazingly unique!

Here's what it's about:

Seventeen-year-old Cally isn’t like the others. In her society, the Machine caters to every whim, ensuring people don’t have to leave their pods. But Cally and her best friend Marshal find themselves drawn to how things used to be, when people lived on the surface of the earth and relied upon manpower, not technology. When physical contact wasn’t uncivilized, and love was normal, acceptable, embraced. Cally tries to swallow down her increasing dissatisfaction with the "rules," as well as her rapidly developing feelings for Marshal, a task getting harder each day.

Then, things start going downhill, fast. Food is spoiled. Air grows musty. The population panics about the dysfunction--is it sabotage? Anarchy? But Cally and Marshal discover the truth: The Machine, the answer to all their problems for longer than anyone can remember, is breaking down. Now, these two have to risk it all to save themselves and the people they care about...before their entire world destroys itself.

Intriguing, right?

A bit about Olivia:

Olivia Mayfield has been an unabashed fan of romance since she was a young teen, secretly devouring her mom’s Harlequins. She has a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing, as well as a Master’s degree in English, and lives with her family in Ohio. In her free time, she loves reading, shopping, wearing absurdly high-heeled boots, cheesecake, singing karaoke, and harassing her friends.

Here's where you can find her:

Author Links:

Website / Facebook / Twitter

And here's where you can add her book on Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17643885-ten-days

And now, the thing you came here to see, the TEN DAYS cover, designed by Jen Naumann

Awesomely eerie :D

Cover Reveal: Trophy Husband by Lauren Blakely!!

I'm so excited to be a part of the cover reveal for Lauren Blakely's TROPHY HUSBAND! As you may know, Lauren is my critique partner, so I have already had the opportunity to read this one and it is fun and funny and romantic and sweet and sizzling hot! But I'm getting ahead of myself. It's not out until May 21st, which seems like a long time to wait. But it will be here before you know it. Spring always flies by! For now, we will have to content ourselves with the smoky hot cover, another amazing design by Okay Creations!

But first :)
Let me tell you about the book!

Sometimes you can't help falling in love, even when you try to do the opposite...Successful fashion blogger McKenna Bell has spent far too long protecting herself after the way her ex-fiancé left her at the altar for a college chick he met the night of his bachelor party. Loving again, trusting again, well, that's just not in the cards. Especially now that her ex is back in town with his new woman, demanding custody of McKenna's favorite creature in the whole world--her dog. No effing way. McKenna's had enough of him, and she decides to even the score by finding her own hot young thing -- a Trophy Husband. Sure, she's only twenty-seven, but doesn't that make it even more fun -- and infuriating to her ex -- to pursue a younger man? When she declares her intentions on her daily blog, her quest quickly skyrockets in popularity, and that's when Chris enters the picture, and he’s got all the assets. He's handsome, successful, and turns her inside out with a kiss to end all kisses, the kind that makes you feel like a shooting star. But loving again could mean losing again, and it's so much easier to focus on getting even, isn't it? Unless, you just can't help falling in love. Which means McKenna will have to come face to face with what she really wants in life -- protecting her heart from hurt, or letting go of her fears of a new beginning.

And about Lauren!

Lauren Blakely is an unabashed fan of clever jokes, toast, and good guys in novels. Like the heroine in CAUGHT UP IN US, she thinks life should be filled with movie kisses and coffee drinks. Lauren lives in California with her husband and children, and spends her days writing both true stories and make-believe ones.

And where to find her!

Author page on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6860216.Lauren_Blakely
Website: http://laurenblakelybooks.blogspot.ca/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenblakely3

And how to add the book on Goodreads!

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17666712-trophy-husband

And now, since you've been SO patient and haven't jumped ahead to peek, I give you the cover of Trophy Husband!

Gorgeous, right?

Monday Surprise

Somehow it's Monday again! Strange how it creeps up on you, isn't it?

Over here, Mondays mean writing warm ups. But first, do you know what today is? Yes, it is Tax Day, which means you should do something nice for yourself! It's also the one month birthday and book blitz finale for Hell's Hollow! So I'm making it easy for you to do something nice for yourself -- for a limited time, Hell's Hollow is on sale across all formats for just 99 cents! What could be easier :D

Now, on to the morning writing exercise: We're going to go with the idea of doing something nice for oneself. Just write for 10 - 20 minutes. Don't feel like it has to be too serious, it's simply to get the juices flowing. Write a story or poem or essay or song. It could be about something nice you've done for yourself, something nice someone you know did for him/herself, or it could be totally fictional. Give it a whirl, see where it takes you!

Indie Life

So as I near the end of my first month in the indie life here's where I am so far:

First, I continue to be hugely grateful for the warmth and welcoming of the community. I'm so appreciative of all the bloggers who signed up for the Hell's Hollow cover reveal, blog tour, and book blitz. They make such a difference in helping to spread the word. And other authors have been kind and helpful. And readers have been awesome!

Still, though, I find that sometimes, as I watch numbers go up and down (which I really need to learn not to do), the lack of control makes me a little seasick and I find myself standing on that mountaintop yelling "Here's my book, please give it a chance!" There are just SO many books out there and so many mountaintops. And sometimes I imagine each author standing on their own mountaintop yelling out into the void.

I'm doing what I can to make connections, to help others spread the word about their books because I know I feel less helpless when I'm helping someone else. It's slow-going climbing down off the mountaintop and trudging up someone else's mountaintop to say hello, which is why I'm so grateful for groups like the Indelibles that bring people together, where we can all catch up and connect!

My hope is that as I spend more time in the indie life, I'll find ways to spend more of it connecting with other authors and with bloggers and with readers and less of it yelling from my mountaintop :D

Monday Prompt

It's Monday! Time for a writing prompt to get your week off to a creative beginning. As any writer knows, it can be an uphill battle to get a full story, whole and complete, onto the page. And it takes persistence and determination to make it happen.

Today I have for you a quote from The Writer's Book of Hope by Ralph Keyes. The quote is by Walter Bagehot:

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

So the writing prompt is to write about yourself or a character doing something that they have been told they cannot accomplish. Maybe someone told you or your character that you or they weren't capable or talented enough or determined enough to follow their dream or to pursue their art or to accomplish a difficult task. Find something you or a character were told you could not do and show them doing it anyway. Be sure to include the inner experience of what that feels like.

Have fun and happy writing!