The Big Reveal

Well, this is what I've been talking about for weeks....at last it's time to unveil the new and improved cover of By Blood!! YAY!!! :-D

First, as a refresher, here's the description:

For 17-year-old Emma Wong, spending a summer in England should be a dream come true. Gorgeous scenery? Check. Lots of hot guys with accents? Yes, please. 

Throw in an estranged mom, annoying new stepdad, and drooling baby half-brother, and it’s a disaster even her favorite cherry red leather jacket can’t fix. Even worse, there’s (hot) live-in research assistant Josh to contend with. The only thing more embarrassing than drunk-kissing him hours after they meet? Knowing he’ll be witness to her family’s dysfunction all. summer. long.

But when Emma meets a mysterious girl who happens to be a Druid, her vacation suddenly promises to be far more intriguing than she anticipated. Powerful rituals, new friends, an intoxicating sense of freedom...and Simon, the sexy foreign stranger she was hoping for. It’s all a perfect distraction from dirty diapers and awkward family dinners.

Trouble is, intriguing doesn’t often mean simple. And Emma is about to discover just how not simple her life really is.

By Blood is a novel about the ways that blood can bind us to others – or tear us apart.

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And now...for the pretty new cover! :-D

Yay!! I think Regina of Mae I Design did an AMAZING job!! What do you think?

Here's what the full wrap looks like...yes, By Blood is now available in paperback!

Guys, I am so in love with this cover! I think it does a great job of encapsulating the spooky, mysterious vibe of Emma's Druid adventures - and check out that cherry red leather jacket! It's Emma, through and through. I couldn't be happier and hope you like it!

Xpresso Book Tours is helping me spread the word about By Blood's paperback release and snazzy new cover...as part of the blitz we're hosting a giveaway! Yay!! Everybody likes free stuff, right? Well, enter below and you could win a signed paperback of By Blood PLUS a $50 Amazon gift card OR a signed By Blood PLUS a selection of awesome YA reads (all hardcover - check out the full list in the "terms and conditions" section of the contest)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check back here later in the week - I'll be posting links to other blogs that are featuring By Blood - there will be some fun guest posts and excerpts floating around the interwebz over the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for stopping by for the big reveal...I hope you like the new cover!! Hit the comments and let me know what you think! :-)

Cover Love: The Sound of Letting Go

I know what you're thinking...TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY?!? How can this be??

Well...yeah. It's a big blog week for me, I told ya! The thing is, I'd already planned to review IMPOSTOR today, when I found out about fellow Bookanista Stasia Ward Kehoe's big cover reveal...and I just had to be part of the celebration!

I LOVE cover reveals...and THE SOUND OF LETTING GO has such a beautiful cover!! Seriously!!

But first...here's a little more about the book:

For sixteen years, Daisy has been good.  A good daughter, helping out with her autistic younger brother uncomplainingly.  A good friend, even when her best friend makes her feel like a third wheel. When her parents announce they’re sending her brother to an institution—without consulting her—Daisy’s furious, and decides the best way to be a good sister is to start being bad.  She quits jazz band and orchestra, slacks in school, and falls for bad-boy Dave. 
 
But one person won’t let Daisy forget who she used to be: Irish exchange student and brilliant musician Cal.  Does she want the bad boy or the prodigy?  Should she side with her parents or protect her brother?  How do you know when to hold on and when—and how—to let go?

Ooh...sounds amazing, right? I love when I read a book description and I really have no idea how things will play out, or even how I *want* them to play out. Books with tough choices and complicated factors. Sounds like THE SOUND OF LETTING GO has all these and more!

To learn more about Stasia and her books, check out her

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

Blog

And now, without further----

Oh wait, did I mention there's a giveaway?? :-D

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Okay, I bet you REALLY want to see it now, huh? 

Your wish is my command..........

 

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

Congratulations, Stasia! Can't wait to read it! :-)

Bookanista Review: Impostor

Happy Thursday y'all! I hope it's been a good week for everybody. It's been a little busy here, gearing up for By Blood's big cover reveal and paperback release next week! But not so busy that I didn't have time to read!

This week I read IMPOSTOR by Susanne Winnacker. And let me just say...holy cow! IMPOSTOR is a serious thrill ride! Before I get to my review, here's a little more info:

From Goodreads:

Can Tessa pose as Madison . . . and stop a killer before it’s too late? 

Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI. When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again. 

Tessa hates everything about being an impostor—the stress, the danger, the deceit—but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep. Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.

My Take

First of all, I LOVE the concept of this book. How ridiculous would it be to pose as someone who is already dead? The implications of that...lying to the person's family, pretending to be friends with her friends....honestly it's an incredibly heart-wrenching situation to imagine. And Susanne doesn't flinch away from the complications and consequences of her main character's mission. IMPOSTOR is a murder mystery and a "superhero" book, but it also has a dark, emotional heart to it that's incredibly compelling.

Tessa is a great character: vulnerable and wounded, but also capable of this extraordinary power. Like most superheroes her unique skills come with a price. I was rooting for her from the first page, and am already looking forward to watching how she continues to grow in book 2.

That's another thing I loved about this book. It's got a great climax, a great ending. There are some tantalizing questions left unanswered, setting up a sequel, but in a way that's fully satisfying. No cliffhangers here! Just the desire to keep reading about Tessa and spending time in her world.

Unique Love Triangle

Yes, there's a love triangle, but interestingly Tessa is NOT at the center of it! Rather, she's got her eye on Alec, a fellow Variant...who already has a girlfriend. This twist on the triangle is really interesting and, frankly, very realistic. How many of us can relate to having a crush on someone who's already taken? Watching Tessa muddle through that situation - sometimes doing the right thing, sometimes not - felt really authentic to me. I appreciated how Susanne set up some really interesting, non-typical relationships in this book. It kept me guessing, waiting to see how everything would play out.

Overall, IMPOSTOR is a fast, intense read that will keep you guessing up until the very end. If you enjoy your murder mysteries paired with some fun scifi....or like your romances angsty and complicated...this is definitely the book for you! I really enjoyed it, and hope you will too!

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See what the other Bookanistas are raving about this week!

Lenore Appelhans  wonders at ALL YOU NEVER WANTED by Adele Griffin

Shari Arnold loves SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL by Trish Doller

Tracy Banghart embraces IMPOSTOR by Susanne Winnacker

Shelli Johannes-Wells  delights in Cory Doctorow’s LITTLE BROTHER and HOMELAND

Nikki Katz gets the shivers for 3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

Stasia Ward Kehoe, Carolina Valdez Miller & Debra Driza  sing out for the cover of THE SOUND OF LETTING GO

Jessica Love raves about ROAD TO TATER HILL by Edith M. Hemingway

Katy Upperman celebrates THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Katja Millay – with giveaway!

What's Up Wednesday

So, it appears this is going to be the week of MANY blog posts!! I was just trolling Twitter (instead of writing, yes, you caught me!) and learned about an awesome summer writing challenge that some of my fellow Bookanistas (and lots of other awesome writers!) are doing! And, seeing as I'm desperate to finish my WIP that I absolutely love...but have been working on for almost two years (that's what having a baby will do!)...a little push, a little comraderie, a little accountability seemed like just the thing! So READY. SET. WRITE! is kicking off today with WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY...

“What’s Up Wednesday” is a fun weekly meme started by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. From Jaime: It’s similar in some respects to the Currently… post, but it’s been whittled down to only four headings to make it quicker and more manageable on a weekly basis. You’re invited to join us if you’re looking for something to blog about, a way to let your blog friends know what’s been going on with you.

Alrighty? So here we go! :-)

What I'm Reading

I just finished IMPOSTOR by Susanne Winnacker (Bookanista review coming tomorrow!!) and am now reading an ARC of 3:59 by Gretchen McNeil. So far it's deliciously creepy and I'm totally hooked! 

What I'm Writing

I just finished edits on Moon Child (coming this August!) and am looking forward to getting back to my current work in progress. It's a YA fantasy, tentatively called Lady Lost, that I started a couple of summers ago. At the time I was on submission and wanted to take a break and write something FUN, just for me. I didn't want to worry about if it was marketable, or on trend, or whether it would ever sell. I knew my agent wasn't really into fantasy, but I got this idea and just couldn't get it out of my head. So I figured - hey, why not? I began writing and immediately fell in love with my main character, Evra, her family, and her best friend Lys. The story is a bit reminiscent of Cynthia Voigt's Kingdom series, with a high fantasy setting and a strong female main character. Since I began writing, the book that was on submission didn't sell, I got pregnant, had a wonderful, adorable baby, and parted ways (amicably) with my agent. Suffice to say...writing became less of a priority for a while. At first out of discouragement...then because I had this sweet, non-sleeping little boy to love.

But now...now it's time. Ollie is seven months old and taking better naps, my submission nightmares are far behind me, and Evra's story is pulling with increasing strength at my brain and heart. SO.

I've signed up to do READY. SET. WRITE!! From Katy Upperman's blog:

Purpose: Drafting/revising/writing novels, flash fiction, or short stories — whatever! As long as we’re writing!

What We’ll Do: Set weekly (or monthly or overall) goals — whatever works for each individual. We’ll update weekly on What’s Up Wednesday? (you know, in the What I’m Writing section). We’ll share what we’ve accomplished and set goals for the new week, and maybe include an excerpt or some gushing about our amazing works-in-progress. (Never heard of What’s Up Wednesday? You can check out some sample posts HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.)

There’s More! We’ll also host occasional (optional) drafting/revising parties on Twitter, providing lots of support for each other, and… We’ll be sponsoring a fantastic writer’s giveaway!

Ready. Set. WRITE! will kick off Tuesday June 11^th with sign-ups on our blogs. We’ll set our first goals as a part of June 12^th‘s edition of What’s Up Wednesday?and update each other each consecutive Wednesday. In the meantime, start thinking about what you want to write/revise. Set some goals. Write a little — or a lot. Grab our button and help spread the word! And be prepared to…

Ready. Set. WRITE!

~~

Okay, I'm back! :-)

Here's my goal: I'm going to write one chapter of LADY LOST a week. Doesn't sound like much, and it really isn't, but it'll still be a challenge, seeing as this summer MAJOR HOTSAUCE and I are moving, and I've got Ollie to play with. But I hope that the words will start flowing, and as I meet this goal I find it easier to keep writing...right on to the end of the story (I'm at about 48k right now...NO idea how long LL will end up, but I'm thinking maybe another 20-40k. That's a nice round window. ;-))

What Else I've Been Up To

This week I've been gearing up for BY BLOOD's big cover reveal and paperback release this coming Monday. I can't WAIT to show off the new cover...and tell you about the great giveaway and book blitz Xpresso Blog Tours is hosting to celebrate the release!

Also, I've been doing a lot of smiling and laughing on account of THIS silly boy (when I wear sunglasses while I babywear, it blows his MIND). ;-)

What Inspires Me Right Now

The Bookanista ladies. Yesterday we had an epic email chat about Bookanista business that basically just made me love and respect the YA writing community even more. If you haven't checked out the Bookanistas - their reviews AND their novels - you really should. This is one fun, talented group of women!

My son. He's just growing up so fast! I know, I know, everyone says that. But right now I'm watching him figure out so many things that I took for granted before - sitting up, rolling over, how to communicate - it's just amazing. His newest favorite activity is listening to music and dancing around with his incredibly dorky parents (who somehow have become TERRIBLE dancers - I swear we were better in college!). Watching us wiggle and shake all goofy-like makes him laugh so loudly, and bounce around and flap his arms...he's just DELIGHTED...which makes ME delighted. He is, truly, a daily inspiration.

So...that's all here! What's up with YOU this fine Wednesday??

A little reorganization

So, I did a little tweaking to my site this week...there are now tabs for each of my novels, rather than being grouped all together under "Books". The reason for this? I wanted to give you a chance to read the first chapters of both By Blood and Moon Child! You can now find these excerpts on each of the specific book pages.

My hope, of course, is that you'll read, enjoy, and want to find out what happens next! By Blood is available on Amazon now (paperback coming Monday June 17th!) and Moon Child will be available August 16th in both ebook and paperback!