Cover Love--My Heart Be Damned by Chanelle Gray

The summary from Goodreads:

If you're a Hunter, there are only three things you must know about the Damned. The Damned can't lie, can't live without a body, and can't leave you alone.

Amerie Carter has the blood of a Hunter, unfortunately. She is one of a rare line of women who, upon her sixteenth birthday, will come into extraordinary powers used to hunt the Damned; escaped souls from Hell who take up residence in human bodies. It's supposed to be her sweet sixteen, but Amerie has never dreaded a day more, and her worst fears are confirmed as the celebration turns tragic when her mother is killed.

Grief-stricken, Amerie vows to never hunt a day in her life. She's determined to hide behind normalcy, attending school, hanging out with her friends and working an after-school job at The Hut. All Amerie wants is to be left alone. But try telling the Damned that. The harder Amerie tries to ignore her powers, the more the Damned come looking for her.

When an attack leaves one of Amerie's friends in the hospital, and endangers the lives of her fellow students, she knows she has no choice: Hunt or Be Hunted. Thankfully, the gorgeous, secretive, and so-off-limits Marshall offers to train Amerie to take out her supernatural enemies. But training with Marshall means leading lying to her friends, her family, and confronting the mysterious circumstances surrounding her mother’s death.

Amerie soon discovers she’s not the only one with something to hide, Marshall's secrets might kill her before the Damned get the chance.

I love this cover! And I'm not just saying that because she's one of my good writing buddies. But as someone who knows how hard it is to make it in the writing industry and all you have to go through, seeing your first cover (or a friend's first cover) is so SOOOOOOO exciting. I love the feel of this cover. I love the model and the creepy fog with a girl in a gorgeous dress standing in a cemetery with a dagger in her hand. It's just made of awesome all around.

Most of all, I love seeing Chanelle's name on the cover! I'm incredibly excited for her! This is a BIG DEAL people! The book is set to release on July 15th and I for one cannot wait to have my very own copy of this book! And I'm not just saying that because she's my friend. I'm saying it because the story sounds awesome. The cover is awesome and it's totally my kind of story!

A LESSON LEARNED REGARDING EMAIL AND QUERYING...

I always thought the spam folder was the best thing ever created for email. I hate all those stupid emails that are obvious scams and have the potential to deliver a bug to my computer system. For a while, I would look through the folder, curious to see what was in there. But after a while, it was the same old stuff, sooooooooo....I started just hitting that little trash can button and deleting them without looking because it was filtering the bad stuff quite well.

Today, for some odd reason, I saw there were 2 emails in the Spam folder and decided to just take a look. And guess what? There was a response letter from an agent re: my query!!!!! W.T.F.??? Okay so it was a Rejection letter and you probably think, meh, could have done w/out seeing that one, but nooooooooo. I love to receive back a letter even if it is a form R because I like having some sort of closure with that agent to file away from my project being queried.

Obviously, my concern now is, what if I have deleted other letters? WHAT IF ONE OF THOSE LETTERS REQUESTED A PARTIAL OR FULL???? GAAAAAHHHHHHH! Such a horrible feeling.

So, my advice. If you are in the process of querying, check that spam folder before deleting and when an agent tells you that it may have accidentally gotten into their spam folder...THEY AINT LYIN'

Damn. :(

Lesson learned.

Carry on.

Melanie is MIA

Yes, I have been MIA for the last few weeks because I have been doing a ton of beta reading and working hard to finish up my own revisions based off of beta reader feedback. Well, I have FINALLY finished all revisions and edits to my novel, UCDs, and I am now on the Query Highway, riding it fast and hard.

I will be back soon and hopefully with some amazing news. A couple of crossed fingers would be cool if you can spare them. Oh, and maybe some crossed legs and crossed eyes, too. :D

Thanks!

Hugs to you all!

First book on an e-reader?

My friend, Dawn Rae Miller, has just come out with her debut novel, Larkstorm. It was released on the 6th and she's been having some amazing success and wonderful reviews all over the place. Yay Dawn!

Another friend of ours JUST got her first e-reader (a Kindle) and she was very excited to be downloading Dawn's book as her very first. I remember that excitement of getting my e-reader and was trying to remember what the very first book I purchased was. It was Courtney Summers' newly released Fall For Anything. Nothing for me will replace the feel of a real book with pages and bookmarks and covers that I can lay on my night table and fall asleep staring at, but there is a real excitement about having any book you want at your finger tips, without having to go anywhere or do a whole lot to get it (actually, that would be the "dangerous" part of e-readers: not getting carried away and downloading EVERYTHING you want to read).

So, for those of you who have an e-reader, what was the very first book you downloaded? If you don't have one and you were going to get one for this holiday season or sometime in the near future, what would be the first book you would want to download?

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!