Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Libera Me by Christine Fonseca Blog Tour Chapter Reveal!!!



Welcome to the Virtual Blog Tour for LIBERA ME, Book #2 in the Requiem Series by Christine Fonseca.
Beginning after Lacrimosa and the short story Mea Culpa, Libera Me follows Zane and Aydan as they try to figure out who Nessa really is. Here's the blurb:
What happens when everything you’ve sacrificed for is lost?
Aydan thought Nesy’s death would be the end of him, until he meets Nessa and his hope is restored. Could she be Nesy reborn? He is certain she must be. That is, until her lack of memories and incessant nightmares begin to erode his faith.

Zane is used to trusting his mind, his wisdom and his angelic senses. But these attributes are no help with Nessa. He has no way to be certain of her identity, no way to know the truth. That is, unless he listens to the one thing he has refused to acknowledge throughout his existence - he feelings for Nesy.

Blind to both angel and demon, Aydan and Zane must figure out the truth behind Nesy's identity before all is lost, Azza discovers the truth and the Beast is again unleashed.

The lines between good and evil have never been so blurred.

Libera Me officially releases October 30. And be sure to check out the other books in the series:
MEA CULPA (Free from Amazon and Smashwords)

Part 3 of Exclusive Chapter Reveal
Thank you for hosting a leg of the tour. Today I want release the first of five parts that make up the opening two chapters for Libera Me. These have never been released to date, and will give you a chance to see the opening of the book.

Part One - The Cover and Everything In Between
Part Two: Jenn Renee Reads

And here is part three:



Be sure to visit Crys Book Review for Part 4 of this exclusive reveal! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

About Christine:

School psychologist by day, critically acclaimed YA and nonfiction author by night, Christine Fonseca believes that writing is a great way to explore humanity. Her many titles include TRANSCEND, DIES IRAE, LACRIMOSA, MEA CULPA, and in nonfiction: 101 SUCCESS SECRETS FOR GIFTED KIDS and EMOTIONAL INTENSITY IN GIFTED STUDENTS.
When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, she can be sipping too many skinny vanilla lattes at her favorite coffee house or playing around on Facebook and Twitter. Catch her daily thoughts about writing and life on her blog.
For more information about Christine Fonseca or the series, visit her website – http://christinefonseca.com or her blog http://christinefonseca.blogspot.com


To celebrate to release and thank her readers, Christine is hosting a little contest honoring each of the main characters. Prizes include a new release YA book, Book swag, and even some of her own titles. She is also giving a Kindle as part of her Fall Release Party. Check out both giveaways below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

A Garden Secret by JH Glaze


An Original Story by JH Glaze

Horror Challenge Topic: Hummingbird
Suggested by Brittany Carrigan
thecoverbybrittany.blogspot.com

  
A Garden Secret

Madeline loved her backyard garden. It was easy to see how much pride she took in every display of color, especially her rose bushes. Although she had never entered any competition, she often said that her roses were prize winning. They were stunning. Every summer, she invited friends for afternoon tea, just to show off her flowers.

One beautiful Saturday morning, she was out in the garden again, fertilizing and pulling weeds. As was her typical routine, she began on one side and methodically worked her way around to the other side, taking care to inspect and improve every inch of the rich black soil that made everything grow so well.

She was nearly finished for the day when she looked back over her work and caught a glimpse of something she hadn’t noticed before. It was some sort of container with strange markings on it. If she had to describe it, she wouldn’t have called it a box, a bottle, or even a cylinder. It was an oddly shaped item to be sure. How she could have worked this soil only a short while ago and not have seen it?

“What in the world? Where did this come from?” she asked aloud to nobody there as she bent to pull the thing from the ground. It was partially embedded as though it had been there for some time. “How could that be?” she wondered. She wrapped her gloved hand around it to pull it out. The thing began to buzz or maybe it was a vibration. Startled, she let go of it. Rather than use her hands, she decided to dig it out with a shovel. She would have to go through the door at the back of the garage to fetch one.

Madeline entered the garage just in time to hear the phone ringing in the house. Her mouth twisted in frustration as she walked through the door that led to the kitchen through the laundry room, removing her dirty gloves as she went. She managed to catch the phone on the fourth ring. “Hello, this is Madeline,” she answered, forcing a cheerful voice.

“Hi, Mads!” the equally cheerful voice on the line greeted her. She immediately recognized her friend, Carol. “What are you up to on this beautiful afternoon? I bet you were working in the garden, right?”

“Yes, I was. You know me so well.” She walked over to the window so she could look out at the object. She could still see it sticking up out of the ground. “As a matter of fact, right now I am looking out my window at all the beautiful color.”

“I bet it’s gorgeous on a day like this.”

“Indeed, it is. It’s the strangest thing, though. I found something odd out amongst the flowers. You might think me crazy, but it looks almost… alien?”

There was a slight hesitation, and then the sound of Carol’s unbridled laughter came ringing out of the phone. “Really, Mads, I just love your sense of humor! That’s why I called to see if you wanted to go shopping at the plaza later. I thought maybe we could get a bite and…”

“No, Carol. I’m not kidding. I found something out there and, believe me, I’ve been working that dirt for years, and I’ve never seen anything like this before.” She swallowed hard. “Tell you what. Come on over in… let’s say, an hour and a half. I’ll dig it out and show you. Then we can go to dinner and shop.”

“Okay then. See you around five.”

“Right. Bye now.” Madeline was eager to get back to the garden. She went back to the garage, put her gloves back on, got her shovel, and then back to the garden she went. For some reason she had felt a little panicked, as if the object might be gone when she returned, but a sense of relief washed over her as she found it right where she had left it.

Careful not to crush any of her flowers, she placed the tip of the shovel against the object and pushed it down with her foot. Lifting the object up and out, it fell away from the dirt as clean as though it had been washed. It was about a foot long and cylindrical in the shape of some kind of missile made of some kind of shiny metal. The end that had been buried in the ground was turned with threads like a screw.

Madeline slid the shovel further under it to lift it out of the flowerbed. It was heavier than she expected. She moved her hands toward the metal head of the shovel and tried again. This time it was easier to lift, and she carried it to the center of the grassy area between the beds and laid it on the ground. She got down on her hands and knees to get a closer look.

It was a work of beauty, smooth and iridescent in the light of the sun. She turned her ear to make out whether the quiet hum she heard was indeed emanating from within the peculiar object. Oddly, she found the sound to be quite soothing.

Without warning, one end of the object began to turn, twisting itself off the cylinder. A full two inches of the flattened end, fell off onto the ground. She was spellbound. Part of her wanted to run away, but the other part wondered what would happen next. A few seconds later, she had her answer.

Madeline saw only a blur, and then she heard a low buzzing noise. The thing took off across her garden, weaving in and out of the flowers the way that a bee might, but this was no bee. A small body, rapid wing movements, and long needle-like beak… Were those legs with feet on them hanging underneath?

Captivated by the flashes of changing color as it flitted about, she followed it with her gaze. It must be some kind of hummingbird, she thought. In a moment, the thing was hovering only inches from her face. “You are a strange little creature.” She spoke quietly so as not to scare it away. Before her eyes, the tiny bird-like creature cycled through a range of the most beautiful colors she had ever seen. “Strange to be sure, but beautiful.” Almost as though responding to her words, the creature buzzed in a rhythm with her voice as she spoke. “I think I’ll call you Buzzby.” She smiled. “But what are you?”

Just as her lips formed the last word of her question, the thing flew straight into her mouth. She let out a squeal of surprise, but there was no chance to spit it out. It braced itself against her tongue and drove the sharp spike of its beak straight through the roof of her mouth directly into her brain.

She could make no more than a muffled sound as the Buzzby blocked her mouth and rapidly extended its beak to a full three feet. It quickly curled through her skull and entwined itself in her brain. When she fell face first into the dirt, Buzzby was stunned for a moment and was forced to regain his footing inside her mouth. He was in the process of surgically connecting her neurons to his consciousness.

The fall jarred his concentration, and he no longer had the control he required. The plump creature he was working on was lying on the ground, jerking and twitching, and that was not what he had intended. He needed to take control so he could begin his feeding. It had been so very long since he had eaten. With a great deal of mental focus, Buzzby finally located the creature’s control center. As the body relaxed, its mouth opened allowing the warm light to shine in. At last, it had stopped moving.

Wasting no time, he began sucking on the fluids that were seeping down along his long proboscis. He vibrated to keep a constant flow. Once he began to feel somewhat satisfied, he realized that something was happening that he wasn’t expecting. Small bumps were cropping up all over his body. At the same time, his hunger returned. The more nourishment he took in, the larger the bumps became.

In minutes, the bumps were so large that he felt his body filling up the small space he currently occupied. He shuddered. Suddenly, the bumps exploded all at once, and Buzzby was dead.  Collapsed inside the host creature’s mouth, his limp body was buffeted by tiny wings as more than a hundred Buzzby clones struggled to free themselves from the cramped space. As they reached the opening, they flew to freedom and spread out across the landscape.

Next door, a woman stood on her back porch calling her dog when the tiny colorful creature flew into her mouth. Seconds later, she tumbled down the steps to land crumpled on the sidewalk below. Two houses down in the other direction, three children were playing on their backyard gym. They were chasing each other and laughing when the small group of ‘bugs’ invaded their bodies. One little girl screamed just before she collapsed, which brought her mother out to see what was wrong. The woman yelled and fell next to her kids where she lay helpless and twitching on the ground.

Madeline’s friend, Carol had decided to leave her house early. As she pulled up in front of her friend’s house, she noticed the man across the street lying in the grass next to his running lawn mower. She started over to help the man but, when she saw his condition, she decided it would be better to call 911 and get help right away. When she got to Madeline’s front door, she loudly pounded on it with her fist. Unwilling to wait for an answer, she tried the doorknob. The door swung open.

Carol ran in calling out to her friend, but there was no one to be found. From the corner of her eye, she saw the phone and hurried to dial for help. The dispatcher asked, “911, what’s your emergency?” Carol told her about the man across the street, gave Madeline’s address as a reference, and hung up the phone. She wondered what could have happened to Madeline. Surely she was around here somewhere, maybe in the garden.

She would go out there just as soon as she got herself a drink. There was a full pitcher of filtered water sitting right in front of her on the counter, and her anxiety had made her extremely thirsty. Probably, Madeline needed a drink as well if she was still out in the garden. She opened the cabinet above the sink and took out two glasses, then poured some water from the pitcher. Just as she put one of the glasses to her lips, a small colorful bug tumbled into the water unnoticed. Hearing sirens, she went to the front window in time to see the ambulance pulling up across the street. She watched as the paramedics got out and ran to the man.

Relieved, she took a long sip of the cool water. No sooner did she swallow than she felt a pain in her stomach. A long needle-like object began to poke through her sweater. It stretched out in front of her nearly six inches. A small spot of red started to spread across her belly as she watched in horror. Panicked, she ran out of the house toward the paramedics. As she rounded the ambulance, she found them convulsing on the ground next to the man. She was so frightened she let out a scream. Another ‘bug’ took advantage of the opportunity and flew into her mouth. It quickly sent her tumbling to the ground.

All through the neighborhood, the cloud of death was spreading. The tiny colorful creatures flew and people fell. It happened so quickly, no one could send out a warning. By the next morning, the sprawling city fell quiet. Bodies littered the streets, and a colorful cloud of tiny creatures drifted across the countryside growing larger by the minute.

No one in their path was warned. They only heard the buzz.


Copyright ã 2012 by JH Glaze. 
Reprint permission granted to thecoverbybrittany.blogspot.com

Author Bio:  
JH Glaze is the Author of “The Paranormal Adventures of John Hazard” series (The Spirit Box, NorthWest & Send No Angel), The Horror Challenge series of short stories, and other books. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Susan and their two dogs.  

Contact:
Visit his website www.JHGlaze.com for more information. His books are available exclusively on Amazon.com in print and eBook formats.

On Twitter @themostcoolone

Watch for new stories coming soon!


Cephrael's Hand by Melissa McPhail Blog Tour Guest Post




Synopsis:
"All things are composed of patterns..." And within the pattern of the realm of Alorin, three strands must cross:

In Alorin... three hundred years after the genocidal Adept Wars, the realm is dying, and the blessed Adept race dies with it. One man holds the secret to reverting this decline: Bjorn van Gelderan, a dangerous and enigmatic man whose shocking betrayal three centuries past earned him a traitor's brand. It is the Adept Vestal Raine D'Lacourte's mission to learn what Bjorn knows in the hope of salvaging his race. But first he'll have to find him.

In the kingdom of Dannym... the young Prince Ean val Lorian faces a tenuous future as the last living heir to the coveted Eagle Throne. When his blood-brother is slain during a failed assassination, Ean embarks on a desperate hunt for the man responsible. Yet his advisors have their own agendas, and his quest for vengeance leads him ever deeper into a sinuous plot masterminded by a mysterious and powerful man, the one they call First Lord.

In the Nadori desert...tormented by the missing pieces of his life, a soldier named Trell heads off to uncover the truth of his shadowed past. But when disaster places him in the debt of Wildlings sworn to the First Lord, Trell begins to suspect a deadlier, darker secret motivating them. Honor-bound to serve the First Lord in return for his life, Trell continues on his appointed path, yet each day unveils new and stranger secrets that eventually call into question everything he knows.


Guest Post:



Building A Fantasy World - Let the Story Be Your Guide?

The average fantasy reader has a quick, intelligent mind and an above average attention to detail. As a reader, they're able to puppeteer many different strings within a story which is often complex and drawn-out over years (both in terms of the story itself and in the time it takes the author to pen it). If you read lots of fantasy, you probably take these skills in stride, but they are skills that many readers have to develop along with their love of the genre.
Yet building a world, whole-cloth, out of one's imagination requires an entirely different skill-set. When you design a world, you become its Maker. You establish its limitations, its physical barriers, and the joys and tragedies of its histories. Ultimately, as its creator, you can make your world any way you like. It could be a world of a single race--Endor or Pandora, for example--or of multiple races and kingdoms as we so often find in epic fantasies. No matter what type of world you're creating, you'll need to know some things about it in order to effectively make it real to your readers.
At the highest level, there are really two main camps when it comes to world-building, and I believe the success of the author using either of these approaches very much depends on the author's innate mindset. 
I call Camp #1 the Engineers.They believe in establishing the entire world from the outset. They've created exhaustive lists of questions that invite the author to explore a variety of topics while fleshing out their world. If you enjoy D&D, Warhammer 40K and other games that involve detailed lists which must be compared with more detailed lists in order to a) set up the game and b) take a turn, Camp #1 is the approach for you. 

You will enjoy establishing country after country, kingdom after kingdom, coming up with names of forests, rivers, towns and cities and examining their respective histories, their geographical boundaries, their ideologies and their economic products. You'll easily spend hours exploring the relationships of the ruling monarchies and plotting their family trees and blood-feuds and love every moment of it. You may find yourself developing story ideas as part of this process. Often as you begin designing a kingdom, determining its neighbors, its topography and the races that populate it, ideas will come to you--certainly you'll have a long list of character names to choose from by the end of these processes. But it is unlikely you will have much of a story.

In Camp #2 are the Gardeners. They simply start writing the story and see how it grows. "But you need to know kingdoms and peoples and places!" you scream. This camp believes all of these and more will come as the author pens the tale, growing organically as the story evolves. Certainly some things are known -- your protagonist, his or her conflict, the antagonists, and basic plot structure should all be in place. With these basics known, the world can grow around your characters.
With the Gardener approach, you might start with a country or kingdom, a few characters who have been insistent in your head for a while, and the idea that spawned your story to begin with. You start writing. Your character is on a horse, so you name the horse. He's going to a town so you name the town. He meets someone so you give them a name. What he sees and experiences while in town establishes how large or small the town is, its relationship to nearby towns or cities, and the struggles and challenges faced by its inhabitants.
The character goes into a tavern, so you name the tavern, deciding in that moment that it is a pirate establishment, so you give all of the men inside nose piercings and wild black hair. They need some kind of history, so you decide they inhabit an archipelago off the coast of this kingdom (or perhaps one far away, which changes entirely the reason they might be in that tavern). How much of their experience you share fleshes out more of the world your protagonist lives in. Each new meeting or interaction offers a chance to provide a little more of the world's varied history--to a) make it up right then, or b) to explain something you've already mentioned once and glossed over to create a mystery for the reader, or c) something you had planned all along. 
Now he's off to the castle. Is the kingdom at war? If so, with who and why. Or maybe they've had a long-standing feud, or a border where skirmishes are frequent. If the border has skirmishes, what is the topography of that region and does its topography contribute to the conflict? Is one side the home of a powerful Duke? Does he support the king or defy him? Each new branching of the story allows you to build a new idea of the world. Sometimes you invent something that changes the direction of the story entirely--which is part of the excitement inherent in this style of writing. You'll explore these ideas when you come to them and see where they take you. 

The character moves on to the next part of his adventure. You're building the world either just ahead of him or right along with him. He meets a girl. Does she become a love interest? Maybe - you'll have to see how it plays out, but for now they enjoy some banter. Does your character have family, friends, enemies? Where do each of them come from? What are their own histories? With each new character you have the opportunity to explore more of the world, its history and culture, or the conflicts that define the ideologies of its kingdoms.
Is one approach more difficult than the other? Again, it depends on your inherent mindset. For Gardeners, endlessly designing a world with no story around it is difficult and tiresome. They need the story in order to flesh out the world. Conversely, the Engineers delight in this exercise and might be wary of entering into the writing of a story with very little known about the world.

And then there are those of us who fall somewhere in between. Certainly, a little planning is helpful, some fleshing out is good. Knowing the names of the surrounding kingdoms and at least their kings or queens (or ruling Empires) is helpful in framing the context of the tale.
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong approach. Wherever you fall on the world-building scale, it's your world to create as you please, and that's the magic in being a genre-fiction writer.


Author Bio:
Melissa McPhail is a classically trained pianist, violinist and composer, a Vinyasa yoga instructor, and an avid Fantasy reader. A long-time student of philosophy, she is passionate about the Fantasy genre because of its inherent philosophical explorations.

Ms. McPhail lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, their twin daughters and two very large cats. Cephrael's Hand, her first novel in the series "A Pattern of Shadow and Light."





Here's the tour lineup ;)
10/30 The Cover by Brittany
10/31 huithiang!
11/1 The Cosy Dragon 
11/2 Window on the World 
11/12 Wolf Majick Reviews
11/12 Cristi's Reviews 
11/16 My Cozie Corner 
11/16 The Cover by Brittany
11/22 Once Upon A Book 
11/23 I am, Indeed
11/26 The Insane Writings of a Crazed Writer 
11/27 Nyx Book Reviews  
11/29 Krystal's Enchanting Reads 

Monday, October 29, 2012

Masquerade by Nicole Flockton Blog Tour Guest Post/Giveaway





SYNOPSIS:
After being humiliated by her fiancée, Sophie Franklyn has decided that getting involved with work colleagues and men in general isn’t for her. Now her focus is going to be on her career and her recent promotion. That is until at a New Year’s eve masquerade ball, she meets a man that tempts her to question her choices.

Alex Scavoni is extremely dedicated to his job, so dedicated that his first marriage crumbled under the pressure of his dedication. Now he’s happily single, with a new job he is excited to start. When he meets a masked Sophie at the ball, she fires desires in him he thought long dead. He spends a wonderful night with her, but wakes up alone.

The next time the two meet, it’s in the high pressure world of Emergency Room medicine where they must work side by side. While they deal with the stresses of the Emergency ward, they endeavour to keep their feelings for each other on a professional nature. When the desire that pushed them together that one night flares to life again, can they ignore them or will their one night together have consequences neither of them planned on?


GUEST POST:
Hi Brittany and thanks for having me visit your blog today!

I was thinking about the topic of this blog and you suggested I talk about any hobbies I might have. Well apart from writing my other hobby is reading. I guess I could regale you about the books I’ve read and well, to be honest I’ve pretty much read romance all my life. Even the Robin Cook books and Sidney Sheldon books I read all had an undercurrent of a romance in them.
But when I was a child I had a few interests. One of the first ones was knitting. My mum and grandma always knitted. So I decided I wanted to learn. I made the most awesome red and white scarf to wear to the football games to watch my favourite team. But it’s not football as in NFL or football as in Soccer. It’s football as in Australian Rules football. I’ve been watching that game since I can remember. It’s really nothing like the NFL. It’s fast and physical and there are no time outs. If you want to know more, google Australian Rules Football, there are plenty of You Tube videos to check out this game that’s unique to Australia. See I start thinking about boys in tight shorts and I lose my train of thought, where was I? Oh that’s right hobbies.

After my foray into knitting, which lasted a few years, I began stamp collecting. I was an avid collector for a few years, but then well, stamps weren’t that exciting. My parents still have boxes of stamp albums at the house. I didn’t bring them with me when we moved to Houston from Australia.
I then found Ballroom Dancing and that I loved. I was pretty good at it too, but I didn’t do competition dancing which I really wanted to do. I was too short and too old – yes at the young age of 14 I was too old to find a suitable dance partner. So the only time I got to wear the pretty costumes was when I was going for a medal. But I love to dance and watching Dancing with the Stars always gets me wanting to get back on the dance floor.

Nowadays writing has become my focus. When I started it was a far off dream. A wouldn’t it be great thought to have my name on the cover of a book. Now I do and it’s the most wonderful feeling in the world.

No matter what your hobbies are, they can take you to incredible highs and fulfil all your dreams.


AUTHOR BIO: 
Nicole is an Australian living in Houston Tx when she’s not chasing the kids or the dog, she is writing romances where she can escape to a world she can control. She writes contemporary romances where you could find yourself in the chaos of a hospital emergency ward or in the high powered boardroom of a powerful, yet sexy, executive. 










LINKS:

You can find out more about her at www.nicoleflockton.com

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The Three Lost Kids and The Death of the Sugar Fairy by Kimberly Kinrade Blog Tour Review/Giveaway



SYNOPSIS: 

Halloween is here and Lexie, Bella and Maddie couldn't be happier. But why does everything feel so different? Fewer houses are decorated and fewer kids are out trick-or-treating. Still, that's not going to stop the three girls from eating as much candy as they can before their parents can stop them, even if that means fighting each other for it.

When they finally discover a haunted house worthy of their favorite holiday, they forget their parents' warnings and go in alone, only to discover that the house really is haunted, and not only that, but they've been transported to a whole different world!

A dying Sugar Fairy in one of the abandoned rooms send them on a quest to find her Sugar Baby and the magic Sugar Flower in order to save her and Halloween. If they fail, Halloween will be gone forever, and they'll never return to their family.

But with Sugar Bug attacks, the Cavity Caves where they must face their deepest fears, and giant gummy bears armed with candy cane swords, the girls aren't sure they'll make it.

Their only chance is to work together, using each of their strengths to help each other. Can they stop fighting over candy long enough? Or will they be trapped in the dying Sugar Land forever?



MY THOUGHTS:
After being introduced to the author's writing in The Forbidden Trilogy, I couldn't help but want to be a part of this tour. I was a bit hesitant at first since I have not read the first three books in The Three Lost Kids series, but had all of my fears dissolved when the author added in descriptions for you to still be able to follow along with this story. You are able to get to know the characters well enough that you aren't completely lost as to how their personalities are, and the author's writing style keeps you wanting more throughout the story so that you don't even realize that you have missed out on the first three books.

The cover alone is enough to make you want to read this enchanting story, but the author's descriptions of scenes have you laughing, crying, and scared along with the main characters. If you haven't sampled any of the author's works, I would highly suggest that you do! She appeals to any age with her amazing series'  :)


GUEST POST:

The Making of a Revolutionary
When my oldest daughter was 2 years old and first learned the sad hard truth of the chicken nugget, she formed a revolt. “The Chicken Nuggets Must Live!” she shouted, tiny fist in air.
She's turning 10 years old this Halloween, and while she still eats the occasional nugget (my children were contemplating a world where nuggets were made of people, butterflies and dinosaurs ^.^), she is still a revolutionary, and the staunchest environmentalist I know.
I have been recycling–and sometimes composting–since she was born. She went to a Waldorf School for her first year, and she loves animals and nature. It’s not surprising then, that she doesn’t want the Earth to die. What is surprising to me is how consistent she is in the little things.
She will pick up the grossest, nastiest piece of garbage you can imagine, and walk blocks to find a proper receptacle for it. As a mother, I cringe. And caution. And buy her gloves. As a human, I applaud her. (I do this as her mom too, don’t get me wrong.) She even cleans up lunch trash while other kids play. And she is making a difference. With each piece of garbage she picks up, she is saving something of our Earth for the future.
Lessons From the Young
So often we as grown-ups get so burdened by oil spills and toxic waste and ozone layers that we forget to bend down and pick up that paper on the sidewalk. Yes, we need to be conscious of the global impact our collective choices make, but, don’t let those issues become so overwhelming as to paralyze you from the simple day-to-day things we all can do to make life more beautiful.
When she was 8 years old, after cleaning up some trash in our neighborhood, she came home and drew the picture you see above. On her own. Without any prompting. I was floored, and awed, and proud. In case the quality makes it hard, that’s an X in the eye of the deer eating trash, because it will die. (The other deer is smiling, by the way, and I’m really mostly sure that’s a leg…)
Inspiration
My kids inspire me daily–in my writing and in life. They are the reason I took a small break from writing my YA paranormal novel Forbidden Fire (book #2 in the Forbidden Series) to write three children’s chapter books based on worlds they discovered.
Now, all three of their books are out, and a new book, The Three Lost Kid and The Death of the Sugar Fairy has just launched. (And I even managed to finish the Forbidden Trilogy as well!)
The first book in The Three Lost Kids series is about the environment.
About Lexie World
5-year-old Lexie is tired of getting in trouble for leaving her stuff and trash outside. She doesn’t mean to litter or ruin her shoes, but it’s just so hard to remember sometimes.
When she, her two big sisters and their dog TayTay end up finding a portal to Lexie World, Lexie discovers the consequence littering has had on Lexie World. Garbage Goblins have taken over and are destroying the Earth!
To save Lexie World, the girls (and dog) must travel with their new Unicorn friend through the Waters of Waste and over the Mountain of Lost Clothes to retrieve a piece of the Mirror of Ice in order to remind the Garbage Goblins of their true form and break their curse.
On this journey, Lexie learns about courage, love and the importance of taking care of her world.
I’m a Mom
I’m a mom, and I wrote this book, and the subsequent books, for my kids. I also wrote them for your kids. Lexie World includes discussion questions for you and your child to talk about how they can participate in caring for the Earth.
And remember, we can help in small ways to keep our Earth beautiful. What are some ways you and your family care for the environment?


AUTHOR BIO: 
Kimberly Kinrade was born with ink in her veins and magic in her heart. She writes fantasy and paranormal stories for children, YA and adults and still believes in magic worlds. Check out her YA paranormal novels Forbidden Mind and Forbidden Fire and her illustrated children's fantasy chapter books Lexie World, and Bella World, all on Amazon.

She lives with her three little girls who think they're ninja princesses with super powers, her two dogs who think they're humans and her husband, also known as the sexy Russian Prince, who is the love of her life and writing partner.

For a list of her books, check out:
http://Amazon.com/author/kimberlykinrade

For a fun fan experience, join the team at I.P.I. at:
http://IPIAcademy.com

For kids and parents of young kids, join the Lost Kids at:
http://ThreeLostKids.com

ONLINE LINKS:
• Website http://KimberlyKinrade.com
• Twitter: @KimberlyKinrade
• IPI Twitter: @IPIAcademy
• Facebook: /KimberlyKinrade
• IPI Facebook: /IPIAcademy
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/KimberlyKinrade
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4687115.Kimberly_Kinrade
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Kinrade/e/B004SEYYC4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

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Desert Rice by Angela Scott Blog Tour Review/Excerpt/Giveaway


BLURB:
Samantha Jean Haggert is a beautiful twelve-year-old girl—but no one knows it. All they see is an awkward boy in a baseball cap and baggy pants. Sam’s not thrilled with the idea of hiding her identity, but it’s all part of her older brother’s plan to keep Sam safe from male attention and hidden from the law. Fifteen-year-old Jacob will stop at nothing to protect his sister, including concealing the death of the one person who should have protected them in the first place—their mother.

Sam and Jacob try to outrun their past by stealing the family car and traveling from West Virginia to Arizona, but the adult world proves mighty difficult to navigate, especially for two kids on their own. Trusting adults has never been an option; no adult has ever given them a good reason. But when Sam meets “Jesus”—who smells an awful lot like a horse—in the park, life takes a different turn. He saved her once, and may be willing to save Sam and her brother again, if only they admit what took place that fateful day in West Virginia. The problem? Sam doesn’t remember, and Jacob isn’t talking.


MY THOUGHTS:
I really enjoyed reading this fast paced story. The first couple of chapters had me hooked to the point that I read it in almost one sitting. Being a part of this tour was a great way to be able to read this absolutely wonderful book. Having the story line keep a realistic score was one of the great points in this book. Some of the scenes were a bit...well...intense for me but that only added to the story. I enjoyed that the author didn't give it the typical "happily ever after" ending, because it just wouldn't have worked for me. This story could not hold up to that kind of ending. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters, and can't wait to read more from the author :)



BIO:
Angela Scott hears voices. Tiny fictional people sit on her shoulders and whisper their stories in her ear. Instead of medicating herself, she decided to pick up a pen, write down everything those voices tell me, and turn it into a book. She's not crazy. She's an author. For the most part, she writes contemporary Young Adult novels. However, through a writing exercise that spiraled out of control, she found herself writing about zombies terrorizing the Wild Wild West--and loving it. Her zombies don't sparkle, and they definitely don't cuddle. At least, she wouldn't suggest it. She lives on the benches of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains with two lovely children, one teenager, and a very patient husband. She graduated from Utah State University with a B.A. degree in English, not because of her love for the written word, but because it was the only major that didn't require math. She can't spell, and grammar is her arch nemesis. But they gave her the degree, and there are no take backs.

ONLINE LINKS:
Blog - www.angelascottauthor.com
Twitter - @whimsywriting
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AngelaScottWriter
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13636317-desert-rice

Stalk me (I like it) at: 

Check out:



EXCERPT:

“Grab ‘er feet!”
Grabbing her feet meant I had to touch her, and that was the last thing I wanted to do.

“Don’t just stand there.” Jacob bent over and took hold of her by the shoulders. “I can’t do this on my own.”

I shook my head. “I can’t.” The stench was awful and it made me gag. Using the collar of my shirt, I pulled it up over my nose to help diffuse the smell.
Jacob stood and starred me down. “Sam, there’s no other way. You have to help me. Just grab ‘er feet so we can get this over with.”
The idea of touching a dead body scared me and I shook my head once more.
“So you want to leave her here?” He swung his arm wide. I flinched, but my brother wasn’t trying to hit me, only emphasize his point. He needed help, and there was no one else to give it to him but me. “Out here, where people can see her and the wild dogs might get at her? Is that what you want?”

No, I didn’t want that. Of course, I didn’t want that. I’m not that cruel, but I still didn’t want to touch her. I didn’t care that she was my momma. I was frightened. I’d never been this close to death before. What would it feel like to touch a dead person? Would she be as stiff as a
board? What if the sheet fell off her face and I saw her staring right at me? I’d have nightmares forever. I just didn’t want to do it.

“We have to get her inside,” Jacob said. “It’s the right thing to do. It won’t be that bad, I swear. We’ll be quick. I need your help, Sam. You have to help me.”
Jacob had already wrapped her in a bed sheet. He rolled her up tight like you see in the movies where they roll a dead body up in a rug. He told me to wait inside while he did it. I was grateful she was covered up, because Jacob said that death makes a person look frightful, especially if they died rather violently, and that I shouldn’t even attempt to look. I had no intentions of looking—none whatsoever. She was already beginning to smell. The smell of death assaulted my senses and it took everything I had not to pinch my nose. I wanted to, but I didn’t. I figured that would be rude. 

Jacob found her outside the trailer, stone cold on the dirt packed ground. He said he could smell the alcohol on her. I didn’t know what it would be like to have a mother who didn’t smell of beer, cigarettes, and cheap perfume. I figured all mommas smelled that way; around these parts, most of them did.


Here's the tour lineup ;)
10/26 Janiera Eldridge 
10/29 The Cover by Brittany
11/8 Books, Books and More Books 
11/13 Keeping Up With The Rheinlander's 
11/15 Red Headed Bookworm
11/16 5 Girls Book Reviews


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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Finding Summerland by Paige Bleu Blog Tour




Synopsis:
After his brothers recent disapearance Wesley Rochester wished he could just fade into obscurity. Searching for closure, he's haunted by visons. Consumed with decoding the messages, he begins turning dangerously deeper inward. Enter an intriguing, 'not quite' human stranger, who mysteriously arrives just as he feels all hope is lost. Together they begin to realize that their destinies are intricately tangled in a drama reaching far beyond the realms of the wold they know. Discovering the secrets plaguing wesley since childhood are no coincidence, and everything he believes is shattered. Captivated by her, he must decide between the life he has and the one he'd forgotten.

'Finding Summerland' is like 'Twilight' in the sense that it is a supernatural, coming of age romance—but has a genre bending, metaphysical element and a much deeper rabbit hole. Follow the journey of two star crossed souls as they explore who they are and the ties that bind them. Enter a world intentionally forgotten. A place buried by history, where only the chosen are aware of its existence. A place covenants are made and broken, where myth leads to truth and forbidden love threatens to destroy or be destroyed, becoming just another casualty in their shadow war.



Author Info:
Paige Bleu is an Indie-Author, currently working on publishing and promoting her supernatural, fantasy series-'The Ameryn Chronicles'. Volume 1-'Finding Summerland'-became available in July 2012. This is the first officially published work of Paige's, who was a ghost writer previously, as well as many other things! Paige is on her own journey of self discovery...learning the ropes of marketing, social networking, and self publishing simultaneously. She shares the experience with followers through blogging...candidly dishing over the perils of juggling work, life, and her passion for writing. Her style is unconventional and unique, reflecting her own eclectic, 'free bird' personality.

Right now Paige is working on the second installment of the 'Ameryn' series, 'LivEternal'. Future projects include another young adult, paranormal series, as well as a few short stories and memoirs. Beyond that could be anything...that's the beauty of being an indie-author...you never know what might come next!


From the Author:
I'm a Sagittarius born in the wrong era....I would have fit better in the 50's I think. I'm hard to peg...a somewhat eclectic mixed breed. I love to read a good book...preferably in hardback. I've never been a tweeter, facebooker, etc....despite the fact I'm on the internet everyday, for hours at a time. Coincidentally, I just set up a facebook for the first time yesterday. I prefer phone calls to texts, and in person, to phone calls. I hate pictures and attention, but did some modeling. I don't drink, but bartended. I made it to the top of the mountain and fell off. When people tell me I can't is when I go from timid to tenacious. I'm writing a book series. Someday I want to go to Tibet and own an Alpaca. I like people, but I'm not 'in love' with them....I'm outgoing, but secretly terified. Yellow is my favorite color. I'm looking forward...


Links:
AMAZON:PAPERBACK
KINDLE

TWO AND TWENTY DARK TALES: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes Blog Tour


Synopsis:
TWO AND TWENTY DARK TALES: DARK RETELLINGS OF MOTHER GOOSE RHYMES. THIS AIN’T YOUR TODDLER’S MOTHER GOOSE BOOK!

Fairy tales sung sweetly can take us back to childhood, but just beneath those same sweet tales, is a hint of something dark…

Month9Books, a new publisher of speculative fiction for teens and tweens launches in October 2012, with the release of TWO AND TWENTY DARK TALES: DARK RETELLINGS OF MOTHER GOOSE RHYMES. This unique collaboration’s proceeds (from the first 5,000 copies sold) will be donated to YALITCHAT.ORG, an organization that fosters the advancement, reading, writing and acceptance of young adult literature worldwide. TWO AND TWENTY DARK TALES: DARK RETELLINGS OF MOTHER GOOSE RHYMESfeatures some of today’s most admired young adult authors, including: Michelle Zink, Lisa Mantchev, Sarwat Chadda, Nina Berry, Leigh Fallon, Suzanne Young, C. Lee McKenzie, Angie Frazier, Jessie Harrell, Gretchen McNeil, KM Walton, Heidi R. Kling, Nancy Holder, Karen Mahoney, Suzanne Lazear, Pamela van Hylckama Vlieg, Shannon Delany with Max Scialdone, Leah Cypess, Sayantani DasGupta, and Georgia McBride, founder of Month9Books. Francisco X. Stork, author of the critically acclaimed MARCELLO IN THE REAL WORLD, provides a foreword that is nearly as riveting as the stories themselves.


My Thoughts:
This was a great retelling of some of my favorite tales. I loved the dark twists in some of the stories and loved being able to check out some new-to-me authors. Some of these stories were outright fantastic, while some of them could have used a bit of expanding to make them more well rounded. I'm not going to go through each story and tell you my thoughts, as I am a bit biased on some and that wouldn't contribute much to the review ;) What I am going to tell you is that some of these will have you chilled to the core! Definitely a great read for this season!!



Interview with Nancy Holder:
1. If you could travel in a Time Machine would you go back to the past or into the future? 

ANSWER: What a great question! Hardly anyone thinks of going into the future. I think I’d go to the past, though, so I could hang out with my parents. They both died when I was quite young and I’d love to tell them about their awesome granddaughter (my kid.)

2. If you could invite any 5 people to dinner who would you choose?

ANSWER: I would invite Richard Dean Anderson, my daughter, my sister, Val Lewton, and Joss Whedon. Val Lewton was an auteur like Whedon. He created a horror unit at RKO and produced some of the scariest movies ever made. Richard Dean Anderson was Colonel O’Neill in Stargate, and he is my favorite actor.

3. What is one book everyone should read?

ANSWER: Everyone should read Two and Twenty Dark Tales, of course! And The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. What the world needs now is an excess of kindness and mercy. Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
4. What would you say is your interesting writing quirk? 

ANSWER: I love writing at Disneyland. It’s my favorite place to work in the world. I often stop there on my way to and from Los Angeles (where I frequently go), get something to eat, and find one of my special writing spots. Fishermen have fishing spots. I have my Disneyland writing spots.
5. What inspired you to want to become a writer? 

ANSWER: I actually dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer the whole time I was growing up. But the whole time I was growing up, I was always writing! My father and grandmother used to say I should become a writer because my maiden name is Jones. They thought it would be funny if I used my real name but told people It was a pseudonym. I have a lot of aches and pains from my dancing days—I quit after an injury. I recently got a treadmill desk and it’s helped with backaches.
6. Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published. 

ANSWER: When someone comes up to me or writes me and says, “How did you know?” I know because I’ve been there. And I’ve come back. Even in the darkest place there is hope. I know this to be true. And I love it when something I’ve written reminds or convinces someone of that.
7. If you could jump in to a book, and live in that world.. which would it be? 

ANSWER: Any book by Martha Stewart! I would love to have more time to do crafts, decorate my house, and make awesome Christmas cookies. I buy lots of craft supplies, paint, etc, and then they sit on the shelves while I work.
8. What's one piece of advice you would give aspiring authors? 

ANSWER: To READ. Listen to audio books, read, read, read. Not enough writers are reading. Lots of us are watching TV. Which isn’t bad in and of itself. But the writers who last are the ones who have more than a passing acquaintance with the written word. And don’t give up on your dream of being published. Every single author in every single bookstore was once unpublished.
9. What's the craziest writing idea you've had? 

ANSWER: Well, I’m still trying to convince someone to buy it, so I’d better not say! I did have an idea for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel where she, Spike, and Angel go into an alternate dimension like the Pirates of the Caribbean, where the pirates are all vampirates. Angel and Spike had their own ships, too. Simon and Schuster passed. 


10. Give us a glimpse into a typical day in your day starting when you wake up till you lie down again. 

ANSWER: On the weekdays: Get up, let dogs out to go potty or walk them if there’s enough time, start my coffee. Read email and start answering it, post on Facebook and twitter. Start breakfast. Feed the cats. Let the dogs back in. Feed the dogs. Drive my daughter to school—20 miles away. On the way back to the house, listen to an audio book. Get into the house and let the dogs out again or if time, walk them. Start writing. I also teach, so I’ll work on student homework. Eat lunch, work some more, get back in the car and listen to my audio book, pick up my daughter. Hang out with her if she feels like it. If not, get some more work done. Get stuff for dinner, make dinner. No TV on school nights, so I usually clean up the kitchen and then do some more work. Read, read, read.

Sometimes I break this up with errands. I’m also involved with my daughter’s school, and I’ll do stuff for the Parent Association. I also try to stay connected to my three friends, Amy, Beth, and Pam. We try to meet once a month just for fun while our kids are in school. 


Quickies: 
1. Favorite place? Disneyland and London!

2. Best Christmas present? The memories of my daughter’s first Christmas. 

3. Favorite smell? Maple sugar.

4. Favorite writing spot? Disneyland!

5. Skittles or M&Ms? Skittles for sure!


Links:
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13594857-two-and-twenty-dark-tales

NetGalley: https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/show/id/18906

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Two-Twenty-Dark-Tales-Retellings/dp/0985029412/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/two-and-twenty-dark-tales-georgia-mcbride/1111472851


Tour Schedule:
October 16-Hypable.com
October 17-A Reader’s Adventure
October 18-Literary Escapism
October 19-Magnet4Books
October 20-Verb Vixen
October 21-ReaderGirls
October 22-Alise On Life
October 23-There’s A Book
October 24-Book Loving Me
October 25-MundieMoms
October 26-Forever 17 Books
October 27-Coverby Brittany
October 28-Pageturners Blog
October 29-Starting the Next Chapter
October 30- Alluring Reads
October 31-Novel Novice
November 1-Chapter by Chapter
November 2-Xpresso Reads
November 3-A Dream Within A Dream
November 4-Moosubi Reviews
November 5-Bloggers Heart Books
November 6-Harmony Radiant Reads
November 7-Books Over Boys
November 8-Once Upon A Twilight
November 9-Supernatural Snark
November 10-Novel Thoughts Blog
November 11-Girls in the Stacks
November 12-Ladybug Storytime
November 13-Reading in Winter
November 14-Minding Spot Blog
November 15-Book Twirps
November 16-Imaginary Reads