Crush on CHBB

Friday, November 23, 2012

Wanna Chance to Read Opal?!

I know I do! The lovely Jennifer L. Armentrout is giving away THREE copies of her soon to be released Opal!! For those of you who haven't been overcome by the awesomeness that is the Lux series, allow me to enlighten you. This series will knock your socks off! Snarky heroines to sexy aliens (yes, you heard right), there is nothing this series doesn't have! So what are you waiting for?

 

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Opal Book Trailer Reveal!!!


 
Opal (The third book in the Lux Series)
Available in both print and digital version on December 18, 2012


 
 
Without further ado, <insert high pitch squeal> here it is!
 
Official Opal Book Trailer

 




 
 

Check out Jennifer L. Armentrout on the following sites:

 
If you haven’t checked out this series, you are seriously missing out! I mean have you seen Daemon Black?! Hey, don’t judge me. I am a total sucker for the ‘holy trinity of hot boys’.
 
Jennifer’s Lux series are my favorite sci-fi books to date and I am tickled pink to be a part of the Daemon Invasion!
 

Monday, November 19, 2012

Indie Authors need to become Indie Reviewers too!


Indie Thoughts by Aneesa Price

 I’ve always been an avid reader and before I began writing I used to read an average of four books a week. Then, once I found and fell in love with writing, my reading time diminished significantly and I averaged about four books a month if I was lucky. Furthermore, I mostly used to read traditionally published books because ‘indie’ was an unknown term to me.

Then I entered the self-publishing arena. When I struggled to get reviews, a prominent blogger and reviewer was kind enough to give me a tip. She suggested that I review a few indie authors’ books too. By doing so I would illustrate a willingness to do what I was asking for -take a leap of faith for another lesser known author. That was essentially what I was asking reviewers to do for me. Once I’d done this, reviews were a lot more forthcoming.

What baffles me is that I’ve seen many indie writers complain about the lack of reviews they get and after observing them for a while I notice that they have one thing in common - they do not give any reviews to other writers. So, it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

There’s another reason to read other indie authors’ works and it is a management 101 tactic - reading other authors’ works, especially if they write in the same genre, is the best way to check out your competition. You’ll gain insight into their writing style, their imaginative capability, how well edited their work is and if you read enough books in the same genre, you may discover an emerging trend in what is being published. Knowing your competitor’s strengths, weaknesses and the genre trends enables you to approach your next book with your reader in mind.

For example, at the moment, erotica is rife within the romance genre. But what varies is how explicit the erotica is. I’m finding that erotic literature is either mildly descriptive or leans towards BDSM. There are few erotic works that fall between those two opposites. This may then be a potential gap in the market. Unfortunately, if authors don’t read other author’s books, they wouldn’t be able to make such observations.

So now you may wonder when on earth you’ll have time to review books when you’re struggling to write too. My advice is to plan your time to do both. I force myself to take a hiatus from writing after every novel I’ve completed and to use a week or two in between writing books to read and review indie books. Of course, there are many traditionally published writers whose work I crave and I’ll add one or two of their books to my reading list during these breaks. The wonderful thing in doing this is that it taps into a different part of my imagination - it feeds it after I’ve squeezed it, emaciating it, during the writing process. I’ve found that I ‘hit the keyboard’ with renewed gusto after such reading exercises.

If you are an author reading this blog and none of it resonates with you, leaving you still unconvinced, then maybe the words of Stephen King (I think we’d all agree that he is an exceptional and hugely successful writer) may do the trick: “If you don’t read, how do you expect to write.”

With that, I bid you happy reviewing.

Yours in romance and reading,
Aneesa Price
(Author of The Coffin Girls and Finding Promise)

Aneesa Price Amazon Page

Saturday, November 17, 2012

The Wicked Blog Tour

 


Book Blurb:

What if you lived in fear of yourself?

For Mage McPherson being afraid of herself is just the norm. Thanks to that fear, being a loner in a small town never bothered the mysterious Mage. Once she received her secret abilities, she figured being alone was the safest way to be. That all changes during her sophomore year at Summerville High when Adam, her equally mysterious secret crush, starts to notice her.

Afraid that she might harm Adam, Mage must learn to either control or deny herself. With Adam by her side she's more powerful than she’s ever been, but is she powerful enough to defeat her worst nightmare? She learns a hard lesson about love and magic when her destiny comes to collect.





I am pleased as punch to be a part of the talented Tabatha Vargo’s Wicked Blog Tour! Here is our favorite excerpt of Wicked Fate.

 

Excerpt:

A loud noise from across the gym catches my attention. Searching the crowd, it seems that no one else even notices the strange commotion. I hear it once more before my eyes are directed to the culprit. A now familiar face comes into sight.
With her back against the wall, Bernie covers her face with her hands as three girls stand in front of her and pummel her with a big red kick ball. They laugh when the ball bounces off of her and she lets out a little hissing noise.
“Stop it!” Bernie yells back. “What are you…five?”
“Are you a freak, too? Everyone saw you with the weird girl today at lunch,” I hear one girl say as she bends down to grab the ball.
Word gets around fast…poor Bernie.
“The gym is the best place for you, fat ass!” another girl says with a laugh.
The ball smacks against Bernie’s leg, causing her to fall to one knee.
Disgusted, I stare helplessly, knowing that this is because of me.  As far as they’re concerned she’s a traitor to the normal people.
Just seeing the backs of the three bullies, I know who they are. I don’t need to see their almost perfect faces. Brandy Phillips, Michelle Sedgwick, and Wendy Baker—The Three Bitchkateers.
All three are fake blondes with tanning bed tans and acrylic nails. I guess they could be considered as pretty—at least on the outside; inside they’re wretched heathens.
I run ideas through my head on how to stop their torment. Before doing anything, I look back up and meet Bernie’s eyes staring back at me with a look of pain on her face.
Please look away!
No way am I doing anything with her staring at me. It would give everything about me away. Not that it matters if she thinks I’m a freak; everyone else does. I just don’t want to go around flashing to the world that they’re right about me.
Finally, she looks away to block the ball. I take advantage of that moment, and I shoot my vision to the little red kick ball. I follow it as it bounces off of Bernie and back into the hands of her tormentors. I let my anger build until I can almost feel the red hotness of my fury burning behind my eyes. 
Never taking my eyes from the ball, I begin to feel its vibrations inside of me. Every time it bounces from one surface to the other, I feel it; even from across the room.
My anger reaches its limits, and I know that I’m now in control of the ball. With one final bounce off of Bernie, I push and add speed behind the ball. Instead of catching it with her hands, the ball flies directly into Brandy’s face. The sound of the red rubber smashing into her echoes through the gym.
 
About the Author:
 
Tabatha has been writing since she could pick up a pencil. Her first publication was a little poem in her elementary school paper, from that point on she was hooked. When she was a teenager, she traded in her girly magazines for personalized writing notebooks.
 
At nineteen, she met her own personal prince charming and writing took a back burner for a while. She is now married to that prince and the mother of a beautiful Six year old princess/rock star. Once her daughter was born, writing came back into her life, and she finished her very first novel in May of 2009.
 
She is pursuing a Bachelors in English and hopes to one day teach while continuing to write.
 
As a stay-at-home mom and full-time student, Tabatha enjoys the freedom of spending a good bit of her days doing what she loves the most . . . writing.
 
Where to find her:
 
I hope you have enjoyed our stop on the tour! Please continue the tour for more wonderful snippets and reviews.
 
 
December 1 – this date is open because my site will be doing something special!
 
                               
 
 

 
 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Six Tasks (Dusty The Demon Hunter #6) by D Michelle Gent

Review for: Six Tasks (Dusty The Demon Hunter #6) by D Michelle Gent
Anne Nelson

Firstly I’d like to thank Author Michelle Gent for opportunity to continue this great series of the “Dusty the Demon Hunter” in this short story “Six Tasks”, I received this as a GIFT for my enjoyment and it’s only fair that I write my fair and unbiased opinion in this review.

As I continue into Dusty’s world with Six Tasks I see the characters are continuing to develop, with each new short story you can actually say, “hey now this is getting real good” and that Dusty or Hunter haven’t done this yet!!! Something new and exciting in their adventures.

Now Hunter and Dusty both have tasks/trials to face, which of course brings into light some horror, which is adding a whole new element to this series.

This installment had me keep clicking my next page button on my kindle, getting ahead of myself before I had even finished reading the last sentence of the page that I was on. (geshhh, I do that a lot) Then having to click the back button, read the last sentence fast, then click next page to continue once more.

Woot, Woot bring on the next installment Michelle (Hey I sure hope that there is one)… I am so enjoying this whole series. I would recommend Dusty The Demon Hunter to everyone looking for a quick fast paced read of the paranormal genre.

*angel hugz* Michelle, you have a huge fan in me.

Recommend: YA and up
Rating: 4.5/5 angel stars
Angel Anne Reviews

D Michelle Gent Amazon Page

Turn Down The Heat - A Short Story Anthology by Wendy Steele

Review for: Turn Down The Heat - A Short Story Anthology by Wendy Steele
Anne Nelson

I’m going to do something different and try to blend the titles together, of course the 5 short stories in this collection are by no means connected, and not in order.

It all started with “The Search”, because I wanted to be married on day. To find “My friend, My Angel”… the one I could say “To Have and To Hold”, in hopes that one day I would have “A Baby of My Own”. But of course no one must know so, “Mum‘s the Word”…. Ssssh !!

Author Wendy Steele is a new author read for me, and what a awesome surprise that awaited me as I turned on my kindle to start the 2 collections that I had!!! *kicking myself* for not starting them sooner.

I absolutely loved “Turn down the Heat” with its fast paced reading of A Baby of my Own, The Search, To Have and To Hold, Mum’s the Word and My friend, My angel.

Wendy to me is a very talented author who gives a great detailed look into her characters that she has created for us in each book. Wendy crams each one with a very FULL story.

I look forward to reading much more in the future from Wendy!! Thank you so much for the wonderful opportunity to read and review this beautiful anthology..

I highly recommend this collection.

Recommend: YA and up
Rating: 4.5/5 angel stars
Angel Anne Reviews

Wendy Steele Amazon Page