Okay, everyone, the contest is closed! The winner of the One More Day e-ARC is....
Aaron Thanks you to everyone who entered! If you are still interested in reading One More Day, you can check back in around the beginning of December. There will be group giveaways to c
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Okay, so to help promote Reagan Black's new novel, Bulletproof, I'm participating in the Scavenger Hunt! Here's a little about the book: Title: Bulletproof Author: Reagan Black Published: October 17, 2013 by Getaway Reads, LLC Word Count: 57, 000 Genre: Romantic Suspense Content Warning: Adult sexual content and combat/violence Recommended Age: 18+ Synopsis: A soldier is nothing without his honor. To avoid a dishonorable end to his decorated military career, John Noble made a deal with the devil. He gave up his name, endured harrowing training, and accepted every mission thrown at him for one purpose: redemption. When he accepts his latest orders, providing personal security for a reporter in trouble, he bargains hard to guarantee it will be his last job for the shadow agency he knows only Unknown Identities (UI). An ambitious reporter, Amelia Bennett, is about to break the story of her career, if she lives long enough to tell it. Caving to her boss's demand, she hires a bodyguard and soon it is obvious John Noble is the only obstacle standing between her and certain death. Just when John believes he has found someone he can trust and love, who loves him unconditionally for who and what he has become, his orders are amended: Amelia Bennett is to be terminated. Introducing Unknown Identities: an alternative for elite soldiers and spies facing criminal charges... if they can survive the program. Don't miss Double Vision, the next installment of this sizzling, action packed series. Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodReads About the Author: Regan Black, a USAToday bestselling author, writes award-winning, action-packed paranormal romantic suspense and urban fantasy novels featuring kick-butt heroines and the sexy heroes who fall in love with them. Raised in the Midwest and California, she currently makes her home with her family, two retired greyhounds, two arrogant cats, and two quirky finches in the South Carolina Lowcountry where the rich blend of legend, romance, and history fuels her imagination. Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads | Website The prizes for the giveaway include:
Grand Prize: $20 Amazon Card + Swag Two runner-ups will win : a $10 Amazon Gift Card If you have missed keywords from the previous days, you can be returned to the start-up blog by clicking here to find the links to ALL blogs. The rest of the blogs for today are below. One keyword can be found at each of them. Kristy Centeno One More Chapter Sapphyrias Book Reviews Queen of the Night Reviews Cloud Nine Girl END BLOG: Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews And here is the deleted scene with the missing words (which you should be looking for if you are here!) Amelia's gaze kept sliding to John's hands as he traced the _______ scars on her grandmother's kitchen table. Those hands had battled to preserve her life twice this morning. _______ of writing the story that put her in danger, she found herself wanting to _______ more about the enigmatic man sitting across from her. He looked up and caught her staring. "Did your grandmother have any connection to Senator Larimore?" "Less than you," Amelia said, referring to the picture she'd _____ online of John serving on the protection detail for the senator's daughter. "Why?" "You said it yourself. Larimore has too much access to ________ and everything. Including, or more accurately, you. We ____ to assume he knows about this place and drove you out of the city for a reason." Amelia considered that. Her apartment in ____ Bay had been trashed, her meeting with her _______ interrupted before she could get what she needed. "He couldn't know I'd come all the way out here. The threats were only vague and creepy, nothing direct or personal, until the attacks today." A ______ chill prickled along the back of her neck. Today's attacks had ____ so close to succeeding. Without John… "You were closing in on the truth," he said. "He had to escalate. I think it's a good sign he didn't know you hired me to run interference." She wondered now why she'd been so resistant to her boss' idea of a bodyguard. "You've been a big help." He shrugged. "That's my job." Standing, he paced ____ from the table pausing to lean against the counter at the other ___ of the kitchen. "He thinks he's untouchable." She'd come to the same conclusion. "Until now, he has been. You said this house is defensible." "It absolutely is." "But?" He merely raised an eyebrow, and gestured for her to continue. "It's also isolated." The _________ half-smile tilting his lips felt like a much bigger _______. "You're suggesting the senator wanted me out of the city so I would be easier to kill." "You have a big, public fan base in Boston and you don't have a reputation for being intimidated." "I'm flattered you ______ into my rep." She held up a hand, halting his protest. "Just kidding. I know it goes with your job." "I didn't want to take this one." His whispered admission turned her thoughts sharply away from Larimore. "Not a fan of my work?" He shook his head. _____. It wasn't the first time a guy _______ her profession as an irritant, turn off, or intrusion. Assuming John Noble kept her alive, it wouldn't be the last time. Uncomfortable, she shifted in her seat and ________ to the safer topic. "Isolating me is a valid plan." "The logical assumption is he thinks this location will make it easier to eliminate you without any of the blood getting on his hands." A terrified tremor rattled _______ her and she laced her fingers together so he wouldn't see her hands shake. "Are you always so casual about life and death stuff?" "I'm much more _______ about death." She wished she could convince herself he was joking. I have been given the go-ahead by J. Taylor Publishing to give away one free e-copy of One More Day before the release date in December. If you want to read One More Day before it releases, you can do one of three things. First, like my author page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or, if you already like and follow me, send me a message through my contact form.
I will do a draw the morning of Tuesday, October 22 at 8:30am MDT and the winner will be announced and contacted at some time on that day. If you go through Facebook, watch your inbox, through twitter, watch your direct messages and if you enter through my contact form, be sure to watch your email. You have only two more days to win one of these awesome bookmarks, signed and personalized to you! An awesome opportunity. See the One More Day contest post for details on how you can win one of these beautiful bookmarks.
Normal people don't believe their nightmares stalk them. They don’t fall in love with boys who don’t exist, either. Seventeen-year-old Layla Labelle, though, is far from normal. Her delusions walk the earth. Her hallucinations hunt her, and her skin heats to a burn every time her anger flares. Or is that all in her head? Layla doesn't know what to believe any more because if none of that’s true, Max MacLarnon must be an illusion, and her heart must still be broken. No matter how much she wants to believe Max is real, doing so would mean everything else is, too. How, then, is that possible? The answers lie in an age-old legend the supernatural aren’t prepared to reveal, and with a curse that could tear Layla and Max apart forever—if it doesn’t kill them both first. In TIED, book one in the Fire Born trilogy, learning the truth will mean fighting an arsenal of demons, and being with Max will put Layla on a path toward her own destruction. Just how far will Layla go to protect the one she loves? The answer may never be far enough ... away. An excerpt from Tied: My window opened easily. The same way it had so many times before. Climbing out on the ledge, I found the ground empty and dropped from the second floor—a jump I'd made a hundred times. In another life. My feet sunk into the sand, and I followed the well-worn pathway through the dunes. Even the strong evening winds hadn’t misshaped the deep gully. The ocean's breeze lashed at my hair as the moonlight glinted off the water’s surface. Seagulls flew up from their nesting grounds. They should have recognized me, since I’d been wandering at night for so long. Wrapping my arms around my knees to block the slight chill, I settled in the sand, and the birds quieted in a tight huddle, the wind blowing their feathers in awkward angles. My gaze fell on a figure standing beyond the dunes edge, a shadow hidden within the darkness. My pulse quickened, but I didn't move. Another trick—an illusion. Weary of the games my mind continued to play, I bit back tears and the catch in my throat. I should have been immune to them—the hallucinations—the way they haunted me and followed me, but I wasn’t. Forcing myself to blink, I turned my head away. The visions had grown worse as I’d become older. I’d tried to convince myself they were nightmares—or weird dreams. Hoped for years they were, but only people who sleep dream. Unable, or unwilling to stop myself, I glanced back over my shoulder, thoughts flooding my brain. Memories I knew couldn’t be memories but I cherished all the same. For years I’d tried to shake them away. To make myself forget. I couldn’t. #**#**# A stone raps against my bedroom window. I creep over and peer through the blinds. "You’re late." I lean out over the sill, grinning at the boy staring up at me. "Come on, let’s go before she comes," he says. I climb onto the window ledge. "Be nice. She’s my friend." "Okay. Jump." He waves at me to go faster. "Move, and I will." He takes one casual step to the side. The jump isn’t too high; I make it all the time. He grabs my hand when I land beside him in the soft sand. "Ready?" I nod. "One, two …" "I’m going to tell!" Benny runs across my yard toward me, her blonde pigtails flapping in the wind. "You’re not allowed to talk to that boy, Layla! Your mom said!" Max tightens his grip on my hand. "Shut up, Benny! I'm old enough." "You’re only nine. Don't go! " "Three!" Max and I leave the ground. “You're going to get in so much trouble.” Benny’s yell rings in the distance. Our feet touch down in the wet grass of the Otherworld, icy sea air whipping at my face. "Hopefully, she won’t follow us again." Max lets go of my hand. "She won’t. I told her not to." I lead the way down the cliff face to the ocean. "She never listens to you." You can buy the book here: Amazon And here: Barnes and Noble And now, as part of the Tied blog tour, I asked Laney how the characters from her books have affected her view of the world and interactions with others. Here is what she said: Interesting question. In all honestly, at this point, I can't say that my characters have affected my interactions with others. Generally, I'm not very outgoing, and I kind of sit back in social situations. I watch, I listen, and from that I get a pretty good sense of a lot of different personality types. I use those in my books, and definitely infuse certain charcteristics into my characters. I will say, though, that since having written TIED, some people tend to look and interact with me differently. I find that interesting, and honestly, I was somewhat prepared for it. TIED is a fairly dark and emotional story, and I think sometimes readers have this idea that authors are all writing biographies. We're not. I just finished the second book in the Fire Born series, TORN, and I have to say that one of the main characters in that book has really surprised me. I like him so much. I never saw it coming either. Not until his words were pouring out of me and onto the page. So, I guess in that circumstance, you could surely say that one of my characters changed the way I viewed him. ;) Thanks so much for having me, Marissa. And now here's a little about Laney:
With a passion for the supernatural and all things magical, Laney developed a voracious appetite for reading fantasy at a young age. A vivid imagination helped set the stage for creating her own worlds and placed her onto the writing path. By the time she reached her teens, she'd accumulated notebooks full of poems, which led to short stories and finally novels. Young adult dark fantasy, paranormal romance, and mythology are among her favorite genres. A former classical dancer and chef, she grew up in sultry Florida where she still resides with her family. Contest is open and ready to go!
So a few quick reminders. All submissions must describe what you would do if you only had one more day. They can appear under the following categories: cutenss, seriousness, humour, and fun. Judges have been chosen, and they will be a few of my fellow One More Day authors, Danielle E. Shipley and Kimberly Kay, and of course, myself. Please submit all entries through my contact form and please make sure you tell us which category you wish to submit under. You may submit more than once. Make sure to also include your permission, or lack thereof, for me to post your entry on my blog when I announce the winners. Contest closes Friday, October 11. You can submit here. To see the original post for the contest, you can go here. Thanks for participating! In the interests of gaining possibly a few more bloggers, I feel it might be necessary to do a small explanation of what a blog tour is. It seems to me that a lot of people, around my age especially, but mostly just people outside of the world of publicizing books, don't quite understand what a blog tour is. This is actually pretty normal; I didn't even know what one was until five or six months ago.
So, here's a quick explanation, not going into too much detail, but just an overview: A blog tour for a book is something an author does during the release month of their newest book. Bloggers volunteer to host the author at their blogs on scheduled dates. In fact, the blogger has very little to do other than prepare the post in most cases. Generally, an author prepares what they are going to say and sends it to the blogger in advance of the scheduled date. A blog tour post can be a giveaway; a guest post, in which the author writes a short piece of their opinion on a given topic, sometimes given by the blogger and sometimes created by the author; an interview, in which the blogger might give the author a set of questions to answer; a character interview, in which the blogger might choose a character from the author's book and give the author those questions directed at that character; or a tens list, in which the author chooses their top ten on a provided topic. Each day of that month, the author will stop at the blog scheduled for said date. They will provide one of the above-mentioned items for the blogger before the date, and the blogger will post it on that day. This provides a variety of publicity for the author as many of the blogs have many followers who will then be able to find out more information about the book. It's as simple as that. Blog tours seem a little scary at first--even participating as a blogger might seem scary at first. But not only does it bring more publicity to the author, it can also bring more followers to your blog. If you get into blogging and participating in blog tours, it'll only be a matter of time before you'll start participating without even thinking about it. Whether you write, act, or play sports, there is "the wait." The time between you submitting your work, auditioning, or trying out and the results being posted, or sent to you. There are lots of tips on the internet for dealing with "the wait," as well as some tips for dealing with the rejection if it comes. What is not mentioned, however, is what you really shouldn't do during this wait.
Here are some tips for dealing with the wait, what not to do during the wait, and dealing with rejection: 1. Don't sit around waiting for a response. It will come when it comes. You don't want to allow your life to focus on this response. Send it off, go to your audition, go to your tryouts, and when they are done, do something to unwind. Go out with your friends, go see a movie, have a drink, visit with your relatives. Do something to get your mind off the matter. Trust me, it helps. After you've sent your manuscript off, you may not even notice the tension you feel or the nervousness, but it's there and it will keep you from sleeping and distract your attention from anything you might attempt. So don't do anything important. Just get your mind off it. 2. Remember that you can't control the response. While nobody ever truly believes they can control what someone says to them, it is an unspoken feeling within. You pray that they will accept your work, that you will make the team, that you will get the part, as if your prayers have any affect. They don't. There is no need to waste time on praying, hoping, wishing that you will get a positive response. If your performance was great, if you put forth your best possible work, and if they like it, they will accept it. 3. It is a subjective business. One coach may feel that someone else can play the part better than you, while another may want you on their team. One director may not like you in the part, because they have envisioned the part one way, while another director may believe you are perfect. One editor may not like the concept for your novel, while another may fall in love with it. So even if a rejection does eventually come, remember that you still have options. 4. Keep moving. You're still waiting. You've given up on writing, acting, or playing sports while you wait. Do not do this. Keep going, keep practicing. If you get a rejection, maybe it's because you need more practice. Make sure that you have that practice. Make sure that next time, you will be better. If nothing else, continuing forward with more auditions, more submissions, more acting, writing, playing sports, will help get your mind off the most important thing that you are waiting for. 5. Find yourself some support. It doesn't have to be a whole group, but even to have one person with whom you can share your feelings, your fears and hopes, and wishes with. One person who can help you discuss it through. I said above that you shouldn't dwell on it, or wait specifically for a response, but there is no getting away from it entirely. You're still going to think about it, so to help you get through this most difficult and long wait, you should discuss it with someone who is going through a similar difficulty, or who has gone through this difficulty in the past. 6. Don't overanalyze. Thinking about whether or not the director, publisher, or coach liked you and your work is going to result in overanalyzing. Then you'll start analyzing every little nuance. What did I say? Was I rude? Maybe I should have spent three more years editing my manuscript. Maybe I should have practiced that monologue more. I totally screwed up that play the coach asked me to do, didn't I? Thinking about all of this is just going to get you more worried, anxious, and nervous. You don't want this. 7. Don't give up. The rejection comes in the mail. You didn't get the part. You're not on the team. I know you guys must have heard this a million times, but having been through it myself, I want to especially emphasize the importance of this. After a particularly painful rejection, you might be tempted to just set your work aside, or never act again, never audition or try out again. For the love of everything that is beautiful about this world, do NOT do this, people. Force yourself to keep writing. Take a couple weeks if you need to, but get right back to it as soon as you can. This will help. I promise. Once you get back to it, you'll remember your passion for it. Trust me. 8. Accept feedback with a critical eye. Okay, so in many of these businesses, you very rarely get feedback with a negative response. But when you do, treasure it. Examine it carefully. Get others to examine it for you. Decide if you think it is a possible problem you can fix. If the main feedback your director can give you is that you didn't look the part, obviously you can't fix that. But if the editor sends an email to you and explains that your characters are not developed well enough, that is something you can fix. But don't just accept this criticism with open arms. Does what the editor tells you fit with your story? Is it part of your style that they want you to change? Did the coach tell you that he will only put you on the team if you play a position that you aren't comfortable with? As mentioned above, everything is subjective. You cannot always rely on the feedback of the rejector, because theirs is only one opinion. 9. Distract yourself by educating yourself further on your chosen business. Perhaps the reason for your rejection is that you don't understand the business fully. Perhaps you did something in your audition or tryouts, or said something in your query, that is out of line in the business. So do some more research. Even if you've researched it a million times, do it again. You never know if you'll find something new. Rewrite your query letter. Come up with what you will say and do at your next audition. Search techniques for moves that you had difficulty with in the tryout, and practice those moves with those techniques. 10. Don't take anything personally. This is probably also one of those things you've heard over and over again, but it's worth reiterating. Negativity, whether it be criticism, reviews, or just rejection, sticks with us longer than positivity. You are in a business where negativity, bad reviews, and media play a large part. If you can't let the rejection slide off your shoulders, what are you going to do when you do make it and when you read a negative review on your performance or work? Rejection is a good time to learn to let the negativity go quickly and easily. None of what the person has says reflects on you personally. They are being critical of what you can do and your ability to do so effectively. But that does not, in any way, focus on you. Okay, so I think it's time for a contest. It's really simple. I want to hear what you would do if you found out you only had one more day left, in honour, of course, of the release of One More Day in only two more months!
So here is the explanation and rules: Contest Dates: The contest will open on Monday, October 7 at 12:00am MDT time. Any submissions received before then will not be considered. The contest will close on Friday, October 11 at 11: 59pm MDT time. Any submissions received after that point will not be considered, either. The winners will be chosen and announced by Wednesday, October 16. What I want: Give me a short, 1-2 sentence description of what you would do after discovering that the nearly apocalyptic event you just witnessed did not, in fact, destroy the world. Tell me what you would do with that one more day that you have left to live. Judging: I will employ the help of two sources to aid me, in a vote, to decide on four winners. Judging will be based on the following categories and a winner will be chosen for each: cutest, funniest, most serious, and most fun. Rules: You may submit more than one entry in more than one category, though only one of your entries can be chosen as a winner. Please submit all entires separately through my contact form and please ensure you have included which category you wish to enter it in. If your entry is chosen, I would like to post it on my site under your name. Please include in your submission whether or not I have permission to do so. Prizes: I am giving out a signed One More Day bookmark to each of the four winners. Unfortunately, it is only signed by me. In order to have all seven signatures, you will have to contact each author separately. It's launch week of the Stone Kingdom, people! I have a guest post from Danielle E. Shipley, herself. I hope you guys are excited! First things first, though. If you haven't read the back of the book blurb yet, here it is: “Love and prince, Both true, wed rose of white in realm of stone; For blood begins, But naught can be put right by blood alone.” One thoughtless act is all it takes to bring the curse threatened on Rosalba’s christening day to pass. Now the princess must combine her desperate determination with the service of benevolent tailor Edgwyn Wyle to find the second half of the key to her kingdom’s restoration. The Stone Kingdom Book Two of The Wilderhark Tales <> ~ <> ~ <> An enchantress’s curse turns a spoiled royal into a beast; A princess’s pricked finger places her under a hundred-year spell; Bales of straw are spun as golden as the singing harp whisked down a giant beanstalk – All within sight of Wilderhark, the forest that’s seen it all. You’ve heard the stories – of young men scaling rope-like braids to assist the tower-bound damsel; of gorgeous gowns appearing just in time for a midnight ball; of frog princes, and swan princes, and princes saved from drowning by maidens of the sea. Tales of magic. Tales of adventure. Most of all, tales of true love. Once upon a time, you knew them as fairytales. Know them now as Wilderhark’s. Now, if you'd like to know what I thought about this wonderfully written book, you can go here. Of course, mine is only one opinion. But if you'd like to hear what other wonderful things have been said about it, I've attached them below for your convenience! “Miss Shipley’s first foray into fairytales was a great success. Her second appears to be easily as good, if not better. And yes, Miss Shipley, you may quote us on that.” – Eric Wilder, GrimmReport.com “The second installment of the Wilderhark Tales, The Stone Kingdom, rocks! (Badum-tsh) This latest creative spin on the classic fairytales twists them together in magical, unexpected ways. As Rosalba journeys to find true love, readers will gallop through wry wit, clever twists, and, of course, dashing love interests. How can a cursed princess, a witty tailor, and an opinionated horse converge to save one cursed kingdom? Find out! I’m not just horsing around when I say this book is ‘well worth Wyle!’” – Kimberly Kay, author of Sleepless Beauty (One More Day) “A highly vivid, carefully formulated story … Shipley draws you in with her brilliant character and landscape descriptions ... She has a style all on her own, and it’s lovely.” – Erika Beebe, author of Stage Fright (One More Day) “Ahh, it’s good to be back in Denebdeor. … Guessing at which fairy tale would show up next was my favorite part – along with everything about Edgwyn, because he is fantastic – and the princess learns several lessons about what real love looks like that make this book not only fun and funny, but relevant and wise.” – Jillian Cottle, jmcottle.com “The story had me captivated from the very first sentence, and I will go as far as to say that this one was better than the first. … Ms. Shipley touches on so many fairy tales that I knew and love, but the way she brings them out is new and fun! This is a must read!” – Emerald Barnes, author of Read Me Dead “Well-rounded characters, ingenious pace and plot, and twists at all the right turns are my favorite. [Shipley] excels in all of these areas, and her descriptions are beautifully vivid. … It makes you wish the Wilderhark Forest was a real place, despite the anarchwitches!” – Kendra Conine, Flamecycle.blogspot.com Now in honour of the launch of Stone Kingdom, I'm hosting Danielle here! Are you guys excited? Because I definitely am!
First, a little about Danielle: Danielle E. Shipley’s first novelettes told the everyday misadventures of wacky kids like herself. …Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to them all, half of her characters were actually closeted elves, dwarves, fairies, or some combination thereof. When it all came to light, Danielle did the sensible thing: Packed up and moved to Fantasy Land, where daily rent is the low, low price of her heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, firstborn child, sanity, and words; lots of them. She’s also been known to spend short bursts of time in the real-life Chicago area with the parents who home schooled her and the two little sisters who keep her humble. When she’s not living the highs and lows of writing young adult novels, she’s probably blogging about it at www.EverOnWord.wordpress.com. Website: www.deshipley.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/Danielle.E.Shipley.Author Twitter handle: @DEShipley I gave Danielle a guest post topic that I, personally, find of some interest as of late. I asked her how she thinks fairy tales have shaped our perceptions of the way we should think and act in modern society. She has a brilliant answer. Does anyone wanna hear it? Okay, well, here it is: The moral. The takeaway. The point. Beyond just keeping young children quiet and still enough that they’d fall asleep and have vivid nightmares about wart-nosed witches and wolves that can swallow you whole, the tradition of fairy tale-telling has served as a tool to teach people character traits well worth the aspiration. By and large, in the fairytale world, fortune will tend to favor the brave, the persistent, the clever, and the kind. The third little pig survived because he/she had the common sense to build a house studier than a haystack. On the other hand, the simple-witted third son may not have had his older brothers’ brains, but unlike them, he knew enough to be courteous to mysterious strangers, and was rewarded with a golden goose. Perhaps Jack, meanwhile, didn’t have much in terms of courtesy – he certainly wasn’t above trespassing and stealing – but he was courageous enough to test his luck with a giant time and again, and he came out a wealthy boy. The examples stretch on past a lifetime of bedtimes. Even a lot of the old tales in which boy meets girl and both fall in love instantaneously would often specify that each could somehow see into the goodness of the other’s heart, so while their romance may have been hasty, at least it was better than superficial! Alas and to the vexation of many, when it comes to the marketing of fairytales, the emphasis will often be on looking good – because you know, it’s hard to sell you anything that will make you wise and selfless, so here, put on a sparkly dress or wave a plastic sword. Can’t mass produce a heart of gold? Advertise hair of gold instead. “Look the part,” the message claims, “and good things will fall into your lap.” While this sort of packaging has led to a lot of perfectly sweet stories getting a bad rap for sorry example-setting, I, for one, do not believe that kind of frivolity to be in keeping with the true spirit of the fairy tale genre. So I’m always glad when I come across a retelling that focuses more on the character of the characters, rather on the fancy trappings of enchantment, royalty, outer beauty, and such. Happily, anyone who bothers to expand the little tales into full-length novels (or, in my case, novellas) usually knows to pack the plot with more than just the fluff. The best fairy tales – the best stories, really – help to nudge us toward becoming the people we want to be, while of course keeping us well entertained with the breathtaking adventures and dreamy romances. Do my own Wilderhark Tales merit a ranking among the best? I leave it to you to give them a read and decide for yourself. |