Friday, September 16, 2016

Happy Book Birthday, Vengeance and Vermouth!

Hi, friends! Vengeance and Vermouth Part 1 is out today and I'm super stoked to share it with you! If you've read Whiskey and Angelfire, the second Zyan Star book (you've totally read it, right?), then you'll know it ended on a cliffhanger. Like, a MAJOR cliffhanger. As in, several people told me they almost threw their e-readers across the room type of cliffhanger.

So, I give you Vengeance and Vermouth, the third book!


To bring her best friend back from the dead, Zyan will march into Hell itself. But first she needs to amass a force that can challenge Lucifer on his home turf.

With Archangel Michael and the forces of Heaven on her heels, Zyan criss-crosses the globe, gathering a supernatural team of epic proportions. She’s calling in all her favors this time, summoning figures from her past both dangerous and deadly.

And to get into Hell she must work with the worst of them all, the one who murdered her friend in the first place. Zy will have to put aside her burning need for revenge to pull off the biggest mission of her life, but that may prove to be the one thing she can’t do. 

Yep, it's on. Zyan is kicking some serious ass. Join her for 99 cents! Here are the purchase links:

Amazon         Barnes and Noble       iTunes        Kobo

And if you have a moment to give V&V a happy birthday shout out, much appreciated :)

Hope all is well with you guys. Any fun news to share?



Monday, September 12, 2016

Cover Reveal: Timeless!

Hi guys, today I'm helping friend and critique partner Crystal Collier reveal the cover for her awesome book Timeless. It's the third in her Maiden of Time series, and I read it - it's kick ass :) It'll be out on November 1st.

Check it out!


About the book:

Time is the enemy.

In 1771, Alexia had everything: the man of her dreams, reconciliation with her father, even a child on the way. But she was never meant to stay. It broke her heart, but Alexia heeded destiny and traveled five hundred years back to stop the Soulless from becoming.

In the thirteenth century, the Holy Roman Church has ordered the Knights Templar to exterminate the Passionate, her bloodline. As Alexia fights this new threat—along with an unfathomable evil, and her own heart—the Soulless genesis nears. But none of her hard-won battles may matter if she dies in childbirth before completing her mission.

Can Alexia escape her own clock?


Crystal is doing a giveaway, too!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek. TTFN!


Friday, September 9, 2016

Interview: Mark from The Hawaii Project (A Really Cool Book Discovery Website)

Hi, friends! Recently I came across a really cool book website called The Hawaii Project. Mark, who runs the site, got to chatting with me and we decided to swap interviews. His interview of me is right here. And my interview of him is below. It involves cocktails, Hawaii, and obviously books. What better combination?!

Eye candy from the Paranormal Romance page on The Hawaii Project...



Okay, here we go:

Me: The Hawaii Project is such a cool website! Tell us a bit about it.

Mark: The Hawaii Project is a personalized book discovery service. It’s a great way to find books that match your personal interests, favorite authors and reading habits. You tell us a bit about yourself, your favorite authors and the kinds of books you read, and we recommend great books you’d never find on your own, and alert you to news about your favorite authors. We’ll deliver a personalized email once a week with personally relevant books, or you can explore via our website. It’s like a bookstore where every book in the store was chosen just for you. The more you use it, the more it learns about you and the better the recommendations.

Why is it called The Hawaii Project?

There’s nothing better than relaxing on the beach with a great book. That’s my “happy place”. We wanted to share that feeling with other readers.

Are you a writer yourself? Tell us how you came to love books and/or your inspiration for the site.

I’ve always been a reader. I was one of those kids who read the encyclopedia while eating Captain Crunch for breakfast. But I grew frustrated with Amazon and Goodreads and the like, who kept recommending me books that I had no interest in, but forgot to tell me when my favorite authors released new books. I am a technologist as well as a reader, so I decided to build something better.

I especially love the music playlist section you can add for specific books. Are you a music lover? Any specific background there?

I don’t think I could exist without music, and I am very omnivorous about musicI love Jazz, hard rock, classical, bluegrass, indiealmost anything. I do play the guitar (badly), but reading and music have always been together for me. Just as book discovery is hard, music discovery is hard too. Seeing what music people pair up with books is an interesting way to find new music, and add enjoyment to reading too! Your readers can see books with playlists here.

So, you live in Hawaiitotally jealous! What’s something we wouldn’t expect to hear about living out there?

Well, it’s hard to complain. But it’s expensive. A gallon of milk costs $8! And there’s scorpions! I found one in my sink a few days ago. Yikes!

I see you’ve started an in-person book and cocktail meetup (jealous, once again). Tell us about that.

Together with Hawaii-based author Stuart H. Coleman (who wrote Eddie Would Go and other books), we created Books & Spirits. We bring in authors who have local relevance, and get a local mixologist to create a custom cocktail for the event. We’re trying to get more people reading and help promote great books. Ultimately it’s about building community around books and reading. So far it’s only in Hawaii but we have hopes to bring it other cities as well.

How can authors best use your sitetips and tricks?

Authors can create an author account on The Hawaii Project. We’ll create a page for you and your books (for example here’s Alexia’s page). We add your blog to our index of book-oriented blogs, and readers who “follow” you on The Hawaii Project will be notified when you post.

Anything else you’d like to share?


Our basic service is free, and you can sign up here: The Hawaii Project. You can save 25 books and follow 10 authors, and get all the recommendations you want. There are premium accounts for people who want more. Those have a unique “pay what you think it’s worth” annual subscription (you decide), and we donate 10% of our revenue to 3 literacy oriented non-profits, because we believe Books Change Lives.



Hope you enjoyed our interview swap! I love so many things about this website - and donating to charity is awesome! Authors, if you don't have an account, Mark can get you set up (it's free!). And check out my rad playlist for Martinis with the Devil on my page over there :)

TTFN!


Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Finding Time to Write

Hi, friends! It's IWSG time - Insecure Writers Support Group, headed up by Alex Cavanaugh. Check out the other blog hoppers here.



This month's question is: How do you find the time to write in your busy day?

I work full time and so I write in the evenings. If I'm writing a first draft, I set an overall goal for a completion date, and then break that down into a daily word count goal. That might typically be 750-1000 words a day, which is about an hour/hour and a half typically. 

However, at times I've found that counting words stresses me out, so sometimes I'll hide the word count and just write each day until I feel "done". This could be 300 painfully pulled out words or 2,500 written fast and furious because I was really on a roll.

To me, the important part is just to set parameters - a word count, a length of time (30 minutes a day, etc.) and stick to it. Otherwise our lives get in the way and it's too easy for weeks and then months to go by without writing. 

How about you guys? Everyone is different. What works best for you?

As far as my anxieties for the month... just have the third Zyan Star book coming out on the 16th, and the usual worry about sales and whatnot. It's my third book launch this year, so it's been intense!

Hope everyone is doing well! TTFN!