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Game of Secrets with The S.L.O.W. Ladies!

Maybe you knew this, maybe you didn't, but I'm a contributor to the Secret Life of Writers blog along with the awesome Stefanie Gaither, the adorable Andrea Hannah, the sweet Heather Marie, and the talented Kelsey Sutton. And today begins an event we're doing over on The Mod Podge Bookshelf called Game of Secrets!

My post will happen on 3/15, but I'd like to go ahead and give a little info on my character: Simon Roberts! (I'll probably be adding to this page as I delve deeper into this character and who he is, so maybe pop back later when my post goes up?)

Simon is smart, shy, and can be seen as creepy sometimes due to his awkwardness around people. He's the kind of guy who doesn't say anything unless it's absolutely necessary. He tends to favor black clothing and his eyesight is so bad that without his glasses, everything is a blur. Friendless in every way, Simon is seriously confused as to why he was invited to this masquerade party.

That's a great question, Jennifer Lawrence, thanks for asking!  This will be a murder mystery like Clue, and also kinda like Clue, once we've given you all of our characters' sides of the story, YOU get to write the ending! Sounds fun, right?! So, why do you want to participate in this event? Well, 1. It's going to be fun and awesome and 2. PRIZES!!! All us Lifers will be giving away fun stuff and gift cards!

THIS COULD BE YOU!

Here's the kind of hub for the Game of Secrets stuff so you can check out the other characters and their posts when they're up. Also, we'll be using #GoS on Twitter, so check it!

Buckle up, it's going to be a mysterious ride!

COVER REVEAL: A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris

YAY! It's a cover reveal! Today I get to help the super sweet Rachel Harris (Entangled Pub. sister and all-around awesome person) with the cover reveal for her second novel, A TALE OF TWO CENTURIES!

Let's check out the blurb, shall we?

Alessandra D’Angeli is in need of an adventure. Tired of her sixteenth-century life in Italy and homesick for her time-traveling cousin, Cat, who visited her for a magical week and dazzled her with tales of the future, Alessandra is lost. Until the stars hear her plea.

One mystical spell later, Alessandra appears on Cat’s Beverly Hills doorstep five hundred years in the future. Surrounded by confusing gadgets, scary transportation, and scandalous clothing, Less is hesitant to live the life of a twenty-first century teen…until she meets the infuriating—and infuriatingly handsome—surfer Austin Michaels. Austin challenges everything she believes in…and introduces her to a world filled with possibility.

With the clock ticking, Less knows she must live every moment of her modern life while she still can. But how will she return to the drab life of her past when the future is what holds everything she’s come to love?

*drool* Sounds awesome, right?! Oh and, Austin, HEY BOY HEY!

Now for the COVER!!!

Go on, pet the pretty... You know you want to!

PLUS, there's an excerpt! Squee!

Austin pushes the red and black Jet Ski into the water, past the first few crashing waves, then throws a leg over the side. He turns to me, extending an upturned palm, but as I watch the water pound against his legs, I slowly shake my head and inch away. Forget the confusion of the past few minutes or my concern if riding wrapped around Austin is appropriate…are jet skis even safe? So far, my experience with modern machines has taught me that they travel at terrifying speeds. What if I were to accidently let go and fly off? I don’t know how to swim!

Austin’s face gentles and he curls his fingers, coaxing me closer to the watery death trap. “I’ve got you, Alessandra,” he says. “I promise nothing’s gonna hurt you. You can trust me.”

The sardonic guise he hides behind drops for just a moment, but it is enough.

I say a quick prayer and place my hand in his.

With my legs straddling the seat, my arms wrapped tightly around Austin’s firm stomach, and my chest and face pressed against his back, I do not need the extra layer my wetsuit provides. I am quite warm without it. Under me, the engine rumbles. Austin grabs my clasped hands, ensuring my death grip. And then we are flying.

Fear is left behind me on the beach. My laughter is swallowed by the wind. And I hold onto Austin. The rest of the world falls away as he powers the machine forward. Whistling sound envelops us yet there’s also silence in the midst of the roar. Out here, there’s no room for worrisome thoughts about the future or about the past. No time for concerns over when I will return or how much I miss my family. In this bubble of Austin, wind, and water, all I can do is live and breathe and smile.

Austin spins us in circles and then we fly straight ahead, free as the winged creatures overhead. He bounces us over a swell and a spray of water splashes my face, tickling the skin left exposed from my wetsuit. I squeal, and under my clasped hands, I feel his taut stomach muscles shake with laughter. Then he takes off again in another sharp turn, racing in the opposite direction of which we came. Excitement has me screaming, asking him to go faster. I close my eyes against the sting of the salty air and the lash of my hair and tilt my head back, feeling more uninhibited than I ever have before.

More free, more alive…just more.

As a teen, Rachel Harris threw raging parties that shook her parents’ walls and created embarrassing fodder for future YA novels. As an adult, she reads and writes obsessively, rehashes said embarrassing fodder, and dreams up characters who become her own grown up version of imaginary friends.

When she's not typing furiously or flipping pages in an enthralling romance, you can find her homeschooling her two beautiful princesses, hanging out with her amazing husband, or taking a hot bubble bath…next to a pile of chocolate. A Tale of Two Centuries is her second novel. 

Follower her (cuz she's amaze-balls):  

Twitter 

Facebook

PRE-ORDER: Amazon..... B&N...

There's one more thing. That's right, A GIVEAWAY!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats on the gorgeous cover, Rachel!!! Can't wait to read about Less and Austin! 

OMG! Look at the PRETTY! and a GIVEAWAY!

Notice anything different?? Huh? *waggles eyebrows* That's right, I now have an official website! It was done by the awesome Rachel Silberman. Please, check her out! She did an amazing job!

Now in honor of my shiny, new site I'm giving away ANOTHER Wonder Woman t-shirt AND a promise of an eARC of THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD! As soon as eARCs are ready, the winner will get it in their inbox :)

So, clicky-clicky around on my new site, use the contact form to send me a message, look at the cute animation on the home page, and don't forget to enter to win!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Once again, this is for US only. I know a few who won't be happy about this, but you guys' turn is coming! 

Wonder Woman T-Shirt Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY TIME!

THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD will be releasing on May 7, 2013, which is only *counts fingers* 80 days away!!! So I figured it's time to start doing some awesome giveaways because I'm so freaking excited and I like you guys and I like these shirts and yeah... 

Isn't it pretty?! *pets pretty shirt*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest ends Friday, February 22!!! Enter Away!

P.S. This is a US only giveaway :( Sorry everyone else, but fear not, this is the first of many giveaways to come!

 

DEAR CASSIE Cover Reveal

Got a beautiful cover from the awesome Lisa Burstein to show you today!

But first, in addition to the DEAR CASSIE cover reveal, Lisa is hosting an EPIC CONTEST to celebrate DEAR CASSIE’ s cover reveal.  Lisa wants you guys to share diary entries of your favorite fictional characters with her. That’s right, choose ANY character from books, TV, movies, a cereal box and write a 500-750 length diary entry from their point of view.

She'll will choose the top 5 and then let the masses vote on their favorite. The favorite will be published in the final version of DEAR CASSIE. You read that right, published with the author’s name! The additional four will win $20 book buying gift cards.

So get diary-ing! Send your entries to prettyamystories@yahoo.com by January 1st!

Voting for the top 5 will begin January 7th, with the winner being announced January 14th!

Now on to the COVER!!!

Gorgeous, right?!

Blurb: What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

                                                                                                                                 

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?

AND there's an excerpt! 

Excerpt: We kept walking on the lake trail, the bullfrogs croaking. There was also a humming in my ears from the nicotine.

 It could only be from the nicotine. It had nothing to do with being outside, at night, alone with Ben. It had nothing to do with Ben coming to the cabin and taking me instead of Nez and it definitely had nothing to do with the stars above us shining like they were the sky’s tiara. 

I stopped on the trail and looked up, taking them in, when all of a sudden bright colored lights exploded in the sky—fireworks, one after another, on top of each other, huge kaleidoscopes of light, like sparkling rainbow spiders.

“How did you know?” I asked, my voice going softer, like if I talked too loudly they would stop. It was so beautiful, after weeks of so much ugly. 

Ben turned to look at me, the colored lights in the sky turning his skin pink, blue, green. “I’m magic.” He shrugged.

I geared up to tell him to fuck off, because that was some corny-ass shit, but then I realized that he really kind of was. In that moment he was able to actually make me forget being me.

 “I would try to kiss you,” he said, “but I’m afraid you’d kick me in the balls.”

“I probably would.” I laughed, the sky filling with noisy color like paint launching from a giant popcorn popper. “But like I said, it wouldn’t be about you.”

“I guess I’ll have to figure out how to make it about me,” he said, taking off his boots and socks and standing. “Come on.”

“There is no way I am getting near that water again,” I said.

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” he said, holding his hand out to help me up.

            I looked at his palm, open, waiting, just wanting to hold mine. For once, I didn’t think about anything except that there was a cute, sweet, smart-ass boy standing in front of me with his hand out.

I pulled off my boots and socks and took it.  

We stood at the lakeshore, our hands still clasped, the water licking our feet, fireworks decorating the sky.

I turned to him. He was looking up, his mouth open in wonder like he was trying to swallow the moment.

It was definitely one worth keeping.

DEAR CASSIE pre-buy links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13628374-dear-cassie

The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Dear-Cassie-Lisa-Burstein/9781620612545

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Cassie-Lisa-Burstein/dp/1620612542/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dear-cassie-lisa-burstein/1113610316

PRETTY AMY Links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13375237-pretty-amy

Powells: http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9781620611197-0

The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Pretty-Amy-Lisa-Burstein/9781620611197

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Amy-Lisa-Burstein/dp/1620611198/

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pretty-amy-lisa-burstein/1108930786

About the Author: Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Fiction from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She lives in Portland, OR, with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. Dear Cassie is her second novel.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#%21/LisaBurstein

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LisaBursteinAuthor

Website: http://www.lisaburstein.com

So, what do you guys think? I love it! All the words! And the guy looks cute ;) Let me know in the comments!

Thank You and a Promise

Yesterday was the cover reveal of my book, The Summer I Became a Nerd, which is just well... CRAZY TOWN!

THE cover... Of a book... That was written by ME... I mean, that's just BONKERS!

If you haven't seen it yet, here you go!

It's adorable and I love it and I think it fits the vibe of the book and just.... *faints*

But enough about that, what this blog post is really about is me saying THANK YOU!

Thank you to all you amazing bloggers who took the time to work up posts for the reveal, who were brave enough to put my stupid face on your blogs, who talked about my book and what you thought of the cover and the concept. To all of you who went to Goodreads and added it to your shelves. I was ridiculously happy all day long!!!

And as I clicked on post after post, the love I felt for the book community and all the readers and authors friends just grew to the point where I realized something. And here's where the promise part comes in. I feel a responsibility and want to make this the best book it can be. I want it to make you laugh out loud! I want you to fall in love with these characters as much as I have! I want it to go in your keeper pile and stay there!

So, that's my promise to all of you. I will make this the best book I can. Because you are all wonderful and...