Win a Kindle and a copy of Larkstorm!!!

My buddy Dawn Rae Miller's self-published book, Larkstorm (the first in a series), is set to release on December 6th. Anyone in this industry (or trying to make it in this this industry) knows that this is the BIG payoff. For some of you it might be the dream of money and glory and fame and MORE MONEY, but once you come off that cloud and step into reality of what the biz is really about, just being able to say you're a published author is a huge, GINORMOUS accomplishment and the one true payoff.

So, to celebrate this accomplishment and the release date of Larkstorm, YA Highway is generously giving away a kindle and a copy of her novel. Can you believe it??? I'm so insanely excited that I'm going to shove another Peppermint Oreo in my mouth and take a huge swig of my yummy cold milk because it's too damn early for wine!

Here's the summary of Larkstorm:

In the years following the destructive Long Winter, when half the world’s population perished, the State remains locked in battle against the Sensitives: humans born with extra abilities.

As one of the last descendants of the State’s Founders, seventeen-year-old Lark Greene knows her place: study hard and be a model citizen so she can follow in her family’s footsteps. Her life’s been set since birth, and she’s looking forward to graduating and settling down with Beck, the boy she’s loved longer than she can remember.

However, after Beck is accused of being Sensitive and organizing an attack against Lark, he disappears. Heartbroken and convinced the State made a mistake, Lark sets out to find him and clear his name.
But what she discovers is more dangerous and frightening than Sensitives: She must kill the boy she loves, unless he kills her first.

Tell me that doesn't sound ridiculously awesome?!?

And for another peek at her story, check out the very cool book trailer:




Now get over to YA Highway and enter to win! You only have until Monday night, December 5th, so HURRY!!!!!

CONTEST!!

no, not mine, but i promise you i will be doing one VERY soon!

in the meantime, my buddy, Bethany Griffin, author of Handcuffs (f you haven't read it, shame!) is having a contest over on her blog for an ARC of her book, Masque of the Red Death.

all you have to do is mention a book you are thankful for and you could be a winner! it's that easy. so get over there, join her awesome blog and give yourself an opportunity to win a book of AWESOME PROPORTIONS!

Have a great rest of the week!

The Blogger Blues

Just checkin' in. I have not been blogging lately because, well, because I didn't think I have anything that you would be interested in hearing. And honestly...I still don't. ha. But, I didn't want anyone to think I dropped off the face of the Earth, though I don't know if anyone is really paying all that much attention. In any event, this post is to prove to MYSELF that I did not fall off the face of the Earth. Are you still here, Me?

Yes! Yes! I'm here! Hello *waves at self enthusiastically*

I gots me the blogger blues.

I don't have anything all that interesting to report except that I finished my dystop novel, UCDs, which I'm extremely proud of and excited to query even though I'm scared shitless since Dystopian is out and whatever genre I'm NOT writing is in. I have this tendency to just write the stories that come to me and Dystop it was. I wasn't even sure what genre it was when I started, but alas, Dystop is what I ended up with. Next, I have a SNI for a Vamp horror story. Isn't that funny? A VAMPIRE story? Oy. Will I never learn?

Oh, and I'm extremely annoyed that the comma on my keyboard is not working well.

Okay, yeah, that was super random. But that is the mode I seem to be in.

What have you been up to?

Vampire Academy, A 30-Word Review

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Goodreads summary:

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.



My 30-word review:

Holy ass-kicking MC! Literally.
LOVE ROSE SO HARD! Tough, gorgeous, snarky,
yet vulnerable and flawed.
Brilliantly incorporated dual POV.
Great story. Great world-building. Great characters.
Very addictive reading!


#2? YES PLEASE!!!!!!

Thoughts?

Courtney Summers and...Zombies? HELL YEAH!

Okay, so most writer friends who know me, know how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE Courtney Summers books. I've read all three of her published novels:

Cracked Up to Be

Some Girls Are

Fall for Anything

Since the moment I read the last word of Fall for Anything (which I will admit, I downloaded onto my iPad and then also purchased 'cause I HAD to have a copy of it to add to my others to put on my bookshelf), I have been eagerly anticipating her 4th novel. I had NO idea what it was about, but it didn't matter. I knew if she was writing it, I was going to love it. And I'm excited to have just learned (though I'm ashamed to call myself a fan since this info was posted on her blog on Aug. 26th. Doh!), that she has revealed the cover of her new book titled THIS IS NOT A TEST. Here is the summary/plot as written on Courtney Summers blog.


It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up.

As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, everyone’s motivations to survive begin to change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life–and death–inside.

When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

And here is the COVER!!!!!!

I follow CS on Twitter and I've seen her talk often about zombies. From video games to random thoughts about them, her fascination regarding zombies is so apparent that I don't know why I find myself surprised that she's written a book about them. I guess it's just something so different from her other stories and it really excites me because I lover her writing style, and I love how well she develops and delves into such depth with her MCs. She is the master of "voice" and I have read that she still manages to maintain those wonderful skills and now applies them into a terrifying, heart racing, nail biting plot.

All I need to know now is...WHEN THE HELL DOES THIS BOOK COME OUT????

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz-A 30-Word Review

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

Goodreads summary: Noah’s happier than I’ve seen him in months. So I’d be an awful brother to get in the way of that. It’s not like I have some relationship with Melinda. It was just a kiss. Am I going to ruin Noah’s happiness because of a kiss?

Across four sun-kissed, drama-drenched summers at his family’s beach house, Chase is falling in love, falling in lust, and trying to keep his life from falling apart. But some girls are addictive....

My 30-word review:

Fun, quirky writing style.
Amazingly realistic familial relationships.
LOVE how the story spans over several years.
Brilliantly incorporated deaf character- a
wonderful new experience.
IS runs the gamut of emotions.