Monday, March 25, 2013

Hell's Hollow Blog Tour


It starts today! There are lots of fun giveaways planned! And in honor of the blog tour, the price of Hell's Hollow will be reduced to 99 cents during the blog tour only! So from today through Friday, you can get your copy for less than a dollar!

With huge thanks to Taryn at My Secret Romance for arranging it all, here's the official blog tour schedule:






Every tour stop will be doing giveaways and there will be a few more giveaway surprises during the week. I'll update those as we go.

I hope you'll stop by all these lovely blogs to learn a little bit more about Hell's Hollow (a clean YA paranormal romance)!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

New Giveaway!

I've got an exciting giveaway for you today! I'm offering up -- for 3 lucky winners -- your choice of any Quinn Loftis ebook! First, let me tell you a bit about her most recent release Fate and Fury -- the newest in The Grey Wolves Series.  How gorgeous is this cover?!


Here's what it's about:


The last few days have been the darkest of Sally’s life.  After experiencing the joy of finding her mate, she now suffers the pain of losing everything she holds dear. Both the Romanian and Serbian packs have been captured, ripping Sally’s soul mate away from her almost as soon as she had found him. Her best friend and the emotional glue that usually holds Sally together, Jacque Pierce, lies writhing in a restless coma, having been put down by Desdemona’s dark magic. Jennifer Adams, the unshakable one, has revealed to her friends and her mate that she is pregnant, but the Fates have marked her unborn baby for death.  Though she rails against the darkness, deep inside Jen knows that Decebel’s baby must die as payment for her own life, and the knowledge is tearing her soul to pieces. Cypher, King of the Warlocks, has claimed Jacque’s mother as his mate and agreed to help Desdemona open a door that would release a horde of demons from beyond the Veil.    

Though her world is crashing down around her, Sally holds out hope.  The Great Luna is not sitting idly by.  She has commanded the Fey council to call upon the packs—all of them.  And though Cypher looks for a way to open the Veil for Desdemona, he struggles to protect Lilly and the wolves at the same time.  Peri, the ever-courageous High Fae, and a contingent of the remaining females of the Romanian and Serbian packs, push on through the rough Carpathian Mountains. Though they are bound to the human realm, they continue to search for a way to cross over to the land of the Fey. Meanwhile, in reluctant obedience to the Great Luna, the Fey council sends representatives to the far corners of the globe, meeting with the pack Alphas.  The Fey must convince the Alphas of every pack to lay aside their petty territorial squabbles and battles of dominance. If they refuse, both the humans and the supernatural races will fall at Mona’s feet.

Sally holds to a shred of hope. Though Vasile, Decebel, and their pack mates endure the torture of the In-Between, living their worst nightmares over and over, Sally holds. Though she knows that it is only a matter of time before their wolves take over, she holds. Sally knows that if the males die, then so too will their mates who have performed the Blood Rites, including her best friends Jen and Jacque.  Yet she holds. If the males lose themselves to their wolves and turn feral, so too do their mates.  Still she holds. Though Vasile, the strongest Alpha in their history to unite the wolves, is lost beyond the Veil, Sally holds.  Though Decebel, the only other wolf besides Vaile strong enough to unite the packs, suffers beyond the Veil, Sally will hold.  No one is left to unite their race, and defeat Desdemona. Yet Sally still holds.  She holds out hope that the Great Luna will not abandon them, cannot abandon them.  Throughout the centuries, the Great Luna has always provided a gypsy healer to the packs, especially in times of great need. Now Sally is that healer. Sally fears what role she has to play in the defeat of Desdemona, but she will play it.  Though heaven and hell unite against her, she WILL play it.
For too long the supernatural races have lived in separation, warring amongst themselves, allowing trivial power plays and selfish disputes to keep them from uniting. That separation has made them weak. Now, being summoned as a collective force to the same land, will they come?  Will they come in numbers greater than have been seen in centuries? Will they destroy each other and save Mona the trouble, or will they finally unite and fight as one? 

You can choose to win this ebook or any one of her others! Leave a comment below for entry. You can tell me what your favorite supernatural creature is, or just say please :) Winners will be chosen on Tuesday night!

Extra entries for tweets or FB posts about the giveaway, but be sure to link to it in a comment below to get credit for it! Thanks and good luck!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, Quinn is also giving away copies of Hell's Hollow! Go to her site to enter! 

Monday, March 18, 2013

Giveaway and Prompt

I'm giving away a copy of Off Sides on my FB page! Winner will be announced on Wednesday.

Here's a little bit about the book:


“I'm not sure what possessed me to do it. Maybe it was the impossible expectations I faced, maybe it was my own self-loathing. But I just knew I needed something different to happen. I needed someone...something...to derail me from my current path. Otherwise, I would become lost...a hollowed out shell of a man. So I did it. I approached her, then I pursued her, then I made her mine. And my life was saved...”

Ryan Burnham is the privileged son of a U.S. Congressman and captain of his university’s hockey team. While he is on the verge of fulfilling his dreams to play in the NHL, his parents want him on a different course. One he is expected to accept for the sake of his family’s public image.

Forced to abandon her music career after the heart breaking death of her parents, Danny Cross exists on the opposite side of the tracks from Ryan. She is struggling to make her own way, working two jobs, attending college part time and volunteering in a homeless shelter. She is on a mission to build her own success.

With a chance meeting, their vastly different worlds collide, causing each to evaluate whether they are truly on the correct path to self-fulfillment and happiness. Can their relationship survive? Particularly when others are against them every step of the way. A lot can happen in just ten short days...

Sawyer is also giving away a copy of Hell's Hollow on her FB page. So go win that too!

And now, for the Monday morning writing prompt, in honor of the two giveaways, I'm taking a phrase from Sawyer's synopsis: "a hollowed out shell" 


Write about a hollowed out shell -- it could be an actual seashell or it could be a character who is hollowed or it could be a personal experience, a time when you felt hollowed out inside. 


Ready? Go! :D

Friday, March 15, 2013

Release Day!

Ahhhhhh!!!! It's finally here! The day I have been working toward for so long has finally arrived! Hell's Hollow has made its way out into the world! Hopefully by now all the links are live - at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. iBooks, I'm told, takes a little longer.

I spent so much time wondering if I would be brave enough to take this leap and it feels so good to be here. That's a lesson I've learned a few times too many. If all that's stopping you is the need of courage -- go for it!

So here I am, offering my story. I hope you'll read and enjoy it! I hope you'll let me know what you think. I hope you'll celebrate with me over the next few weeks, when I have some fun games and giveaways planned. To get things started, Lauren Blakely and One More Chapter are giving away copies of Hell's Hollow today! And tomorrow there's another fun giveaway planned at Stuck In Books!

For now, I just want to take the chance to say thank you so very much to everyone who helped me along the way -- my amazing critique partners, the cover designer (Okay Creations), the awesome women helping with the blog tour, cover reveal, and buzz blitz (My Secret Romance and Xpresso Book Tours), all the bloggers who are participating, all the friendly, helpful people in the indie community, and readers, of course! Yay! I'm humbled by the generosity.

There are so many fantastic quotes about courage, but for today, I'll leave you with this one by Anais Nin: "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." Here's to expansion :D

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Indie Life


I'm joining in on the Indelibles Indie Life posting today. It feels appropriate that my first Indie Life post is just a couple of days before my first indie book, Hell's Hollow is released. I'm hoping to some day be able to look back at what a newbie I was with some sort of sweet fondness. But for now, I'm in it -- the newbie-ness of it.
  
And it's sort of terrifying. Everyone in the indie world has been super nice and welcoming so far, so maybe I shouldn't really be so terrified. But at the same time, starting out, it feels a little bit like those scenes you see in movies of the traders in the stock market. You know what I mean -- crushed in a crowded room, screaming something out that no one can hear, hoping to make something happen.

But the thing I try to remind myself is this: It's not about that. It's not about trying to be noticed or grab attention really. It's about telling our stories, sharing our human experience, putting them out there because maybe, just maybe they'll resonate with someone or a few someones. Maybe some part of it will be their story too. So when it comes down to it, it's all really about connection, reaching out, being brave enough to connect.
  
So right now I feel like I'm standing at the edge of a cliff about to leap. It's almost time. So here's to the courage it's taken every indie writer to take that leap! I salute you :D

Monday, March 11, 2013

Monday Warm-Up

It's Monday again. Harder to wake up after that sneaky time change. But I can't complain because daylight savings time means the days are longer, and I love when it stays light out later! Plus, the weather where I am is gorgeous today, really feels like spring, which makes me happy :)

The New Zapata contest has been won. Hop over to my Facebook page to see who won it!

And now for the weekly writing prompt: Picture a perfect spring day -- blue skies, warm sun, gentle breeze, the smell of wildflowers in the air. Now do a quick write about how you or your character would spend this perfect day. Who would you spend it with, what would you do? A free day -- no work or chores or responsibilities. Go wild! Have fun with it :)

Friday, March 8, 2013

Cover Reveal!!

Ahhh!!! It's finally time! The Hell's Hollow cover reveal is going live all over. Okay Creations did an amazing job putting together an incredibly gorgeous cover that really captures the feel of the book. I hope you love it as much as I do! And so now, without further ado, I give you the face of Hell's Hollow.





If you're intrigued, come add it on goodreads!
The ebook will go live on Amazon, BN, Smashwords, and hopefully ibooks next Friday, the 15th.

Thank you so incredibly much to Okay Creations for her amazing work, to the fabulous Xpresso Book Tours for organizing the cover reveal, and to all the awesome bloggers who posted it!

And don't forget to enter my contest to win a copy of Teri Hall's New Zapata either below or on Facebook! Contest ends Sunday at midnight.

And thanks for stopping by to see the cover :D

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Giveaway Fun!

I had so much fun with my 100 likes giveaway on Facebook, I decided to do another one! This time I'll be giving away an e-copy of Teri Hall's NEW ZAPATA.





Here's the blurb:

About forty years ago Roe vs. Wade changed America. Forty years from now,
what does the future hold?

It's 2052, and there's one less state in the union. Texas, now known as the
Republic of Texas, has seceded, just like it did in 1861, though for
different reasons this time.  

Rebecca lives in New Zapata, a border town in The Republic of Texas. She's
nineteen years old, born and raised in the R of T, and doesn't remember a
time when things were different, though her Aunt Cathy does. Rebecca's
married to Chad, the boy who charmed her into an unplanned pregnancy. She
loves her young son, Luke, but she almost died giving birth to him.

That means Rebecca has a problem. Because in New Zapata, birth control and
abortion are illegal. So is divorce. And Chad thinks sex is his husbandly
right.  

There's an underground of sorts in The R of T, and it reaches even as far as
sleepy New Zapata. A group of older women-Rebecca's Aunt Cathy and some
others-have been gathering under the guise of having Bunco parties to try to
help women in Rebecca's position. These ladies remember a time when things
were different, when women did have choices. 

But it's a dangerous game to defy the R of T. 

Rebecca and her friends may end up playing for their lives.

NEW ZAPATA - The Handmaid's Tale for this generation


I have to say, The Handmaid's Tale was my favorite dystopian book of all time, so I can't wait to read this one.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment, either here or on my FB page, telling me why you like dystopian reads OR what dystopian book is your favorite. Extra entries if you tweet or FB the link for the contest (leave me a link to your announcement in a comment.) Deadline for entries is this coming Sunday at midnight. Winner will be announced on Monday. Good luck!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Facebook Success

We did it! We passed 100 likes on the FB page and they keep on rolling in. Thank you so much to all who helped me get there. Winners of the $20 gift card and of the Lauren Blakely ebook set are posted on the Facebook page. Thanks again and stay tuned for the Hell's Hollow cover reveal this Friday!!


ETA: That giveaway was so fun, I'm going to start another one tomorrow ;) Stay tuned!

Monday, March 4, 2013

Delicious Prompt

It's writing prompt time! Today I'm suggesting an exercise to work your use of senses. In Hell's Hollow, Seraphina's mom owns/runs the town bakery. Sometimes Seraphina has to help out there. So I often found myself describing the sights and scents of freshly baked yummies. So if you're up for flexing your writing muscles today, choose one baked or cooked item and describe it using your five senses — without naming what it actually is. See how much information you can get across without having to tell the reader what the dish is. Have fun!

On a separate note, we are super close to the giveaway on FB! Keep sending over likes and it'll be time for the prize :)

Friday, March 1, 2013

Getting Excited

One week from today is the Hell's Hollow cover reveal! I can't wait to finally show it off. It's really beautiful. The cover designer (Okay Creations) did an amazing job. I hope everyone loves it as much as I do. And then one more week after that is the publication date. I've worked on this book for a long time and I just can't wait to share it.

One of the things I love best about this story is the quirky town Seraphina lives in and all the unusual characters who inhabit it. To me they feel like living, breathing people whose lives continue after the last page is turned. I hope they'll feel that way to you too.