Hope by Grier Cooper

Hope by Grier Cooper
(Indigo Ballet Series, #2)
Publication date: April 26th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

Indigo is living the life she’s always imagined at the famed New York School of Ballet. Or is she? Although she hopes she’ll be chosen for the company, her ballet teachers aren’t talking and their silence is confusing.
When Indigo is singled out for a coveted solo she feels her dreams are finally within reach, until she finds out she’s dancing with Felipe Gonzalez, the school’s smolderingly hot rising star. In the days that follow, Indigo questions everything she thought was true and finds herself making surprising choices.
After a fateful piece of paper reveals the truth, Indigo must ask herself the hardest question of all: can she take control of her own future to create the life she wants?
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I asked Grier, 'How has being a ballet dancer helped you be an author? And how does it inspire you?'
I was five years old the first day I set foot in a ballet studio; I never imagined that ballet would transform – and save – my life. For one thing, my studio wasn't really a studio, but a large open room in an irregularly shaped church that looked like a stained glass twisty spiral. You should also know that ballet was not my idea; it was my mother's, and I remember hiding in the closet, hoping she'd forget to bring me to class so I could stay home and play kickball with my brothers.
Over time I grew to love ballet. Just like Indigo (the main character of the Indigo Ballet Series), I appreciated the structure and predictability of ballet classes, but my favorite part was leaping across the floor, those few moments of freedom when I could defy gravity and fly.
Ballet teaches you so many things: posture and placement, precision of movement, listening and memory skills, and how to live comfortably in your body. But my most important takeaways were what I like to call the 3 D's of dance: dedication, discipline, and determination. These are the things that help me the most as a writer because so much of writing is self-governed. Without discipline, it would be impossible to write a book in the first place. Without dedication and determination there's no forward momentum.
I enjoy sharing what it's like to be a ballet dancer with readers. While many people are fascinated by the ballet world or yearn to be dancers themselves, not many get to experience that life firsthand. My dance career brought me many places, from New York to Israel, from San Francisco to Ecuador; it's fun to share the magic and misery that ballet life can be.
Today I still dance and perform from time to time. The dance studio is like an old friend and sometimes feels more like home than anywhere else does. I believe we were born to move – why else would our bodies have so many moving parts? There are moments, when the music speaks to my heart and my body responds, where I forget about everything else except that moment, where the boundaries of who I am cease to exist....that's the beauty of dance.
Those moments that make your heart beat quicker? That's inspiration.

Grier began ballet lessons at age five and left home at fourteen to study at the School of American Ballet in New York. She has performed on three out of seven continents with companies such as San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, totaling more than thirty years of experience as a dancer, teacher and performer.
Her work has been praised as “poignant and honest” with “emotional hooks that penetrate deeply.” She writes and blogs about dance in the San Francisco Bay Area and has interviewed and photographed a diverse collection dancers and performers including Clive Owen, Nicole Kidman, Glen Allen Sims and Jessica Sutta. She is the author of Build a Ballerina Body and The Daily Book of Photography.
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3 Great Books from Children's Laureate Chris Riddell

A guest post by Azalea Holly

There is perhaps no greater joy for a writer than to be recognized for her work, and for her work to be recognized as revolutionary, especially when working in a genre like children’s literature. Touching the minds of young children and helping them craft an understanding of the world, writers of children’s literature are skilled enough to create fantastical worlds in terms simple enough for young children to understand, and every two years, organizations and critics from all over the UK come together to elect a Children's Laureate, a writer or illustrator celebrated for their “outstanding achievement in their field.”

This year, the title of Children’s Laureate was awarded to none other than Chris Riddell, an amazing artist who has not only touched the lives of children and young adults with his fantastical books, but also entertained adults through his political cartoons in the Observer. 

As explained by Tootsa in a blog post celebrating his appointment as Children’s Laureate, “Since the 1980s he has delighted both adults and children alike with his distinctive, fantastical line drawings, winning many awards for his work including: 

• The Nestlé Children’s Book Prize (Ottoline and the Yellow Cat and The Emperor of Absurdia) 

• The Kate Greenaway Medal (Pirate Diary: The Journal of Jake Carpenter and Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver”) 

• The Red House Children’s Book Award (Ottoline and the Yellow Cat). 

• The widely acclaimed Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse won the Costa Children’s Book Award in 2013.” 

Chris has made a commitment to “put the joy of creativity, of drawing every day, of having a go and being surprised at what one can achieve with just a pencil and an idea at the heart of [his] term as Laureate,” and as such, he’s dedicated his Laureate Log to posting one piece of art a day. 

If you aren’t familiar with his work, then here are three of his books that you should definitely give a read: 

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat Recipient of the Nestlé Children's Book Prize Gold Award and the Red House Children's Book Award for Younger Readers, as well as shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal and nominated for the Carnegie Medal, Ottoline and the Yellow Cat tells the story of Ottoline Brown, a girl in the care of a creature named Mr. Munroe. She solves mysteries and keeps collections, and has a diploma in disguising from a school called Who R U. In the book, she and Mr. Munroe work to uncover the truth behind the Yellow Cat. 

The Emperor of Absurdia Winner of the Nestlé Children's Book Prize Silver Award and was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal, The Emperor of Absurdia is a beautifully illustrated book that shows a fantastical place where nothing is quite what it seems, through the eyes of a young boy “as he tumbles out of bed into a crazy dreamland of wardrobe monsters, dragons - and amazing adventure.” 

Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse Winner of the Costa Book Awards (Children’s Category), Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse tells the story of Ada Goth, the only child of Lord Goth. Lonely because of her father’s strange beliefs, Ada finds herself forming an unlikely friendship with William and Emily Cabbage, as well as a ghostly rat named Ishmael, as they “unravel a dastardly plot that Maltravers, the mysterious indoor gamekeeper”. Of course, Chris has also worked on dozens of other books as an illustrator, and his works of art continue to inspire children and adults everywhere. For a list of some of his greatest artwork, you can check this list by The Guardian. 

Author Bio

Having grown up on stories like The Phantom Tollbooth, Azalea Holly fell in love with Chris Riddell’s work from the moment she laid her eyes on The Emperor of Absurdia. She’s excited that he’s now been named the Children’s Laureate, and can’t wait to see what he does for children’s literature.

Love Lies Beneath by Ellen Hopkins

Love Lies Beneath By: Ellen Hopkins 

Publisher: Atria Books 

Publication date: July 21, 2015 

Pages: 320

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Collateral comes a gripping novel about a woman caught in a love affair that could be her salvation...or her undoing. Tara is gorgeous, affluent, and forty. She lives in an impeccably restored Russian Hill mansion in San Francisco. Once a widow, twice divorced, she’s a woman with a past she prefers keeping to herself. Enter Cavin Lattimore. He’s handsome, kind, charming, and the surgeon assigned to Tara following a ski accident in Lake Tahoe. In the weeks it takes her to recover, Cavin sweeps her off her feet and their relationship blossoms into something Tara had never imagined possible. But then she begins to notice some strange things: a van parked outside her home at odd times, a break-in, threatening text messages and emails. She also starts to notice cracks in Cavin’s seemingly perfect personality, like the suppressed rage his conniving teenage son brings out in him, and the discovery that Cavin hired a detective to investigate her immediately after they met. Now on crutches and housebound, Tara finds herself dependent on the new man in her life—perhaps too much so. She’s handling rocky relationships with her sister and best friend, who are envious of her glamour and freedom; her prickly brother-in-law, who is intimidated by her wealth and power; and her estranged mother. However perfect Tara’s life appears, things are beginning to get messy. Writing in beautiful prose, Ellen Hopkins unveils a new style while evoking her signature poetic form that readers fell in love with in Collateral and Triangles.

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What is next on your to read list?
This is Where it Ends—it’s an ARC they’re hoping I’ll love.

What one item would you eat for the rest of your life?
I guess I can’t eat wine, so I’ll go for lobster. 

What is the last thing you bought?
Airline tickets to San Francisco. 

Craziest thing you ever ate?
I only took a nibble, but they were insanely hot chicken wings. Like one little bite just about did me in. 

Top 3 things on your bucket list?
Visit Iceland; learn to fly; go to the Superbowl (if the Niners are in it!) 

What makes your novel standout from the crowd?
Twists and turns. You won’t see ‘em coming. 

Most embarrassing moment?
The first time I spoke in front of a large crowd. I was so nervous I forgot everything I wanted to say. I’m completely at ease in that situation now. 

What is your view on self-publishing?
It has its place for niche projects especially. But without an already built platform, most people who go that route won’t realize the success they crave. 

How do you overcome writer's block?
I do something physical. Take my dog for a run or work in the garden. It lets the subconscious kick into gear. 

How do you juggle writing & family life?
It’s the hardest part of what I do. The family gets my attention first thing in the morning, and from dinner on. The rest of day is dedicated to my writing. 

Describe your book in 5 words.
Sexy, surprising, lyrical, mysterious, satisfying 

How do you feel about banned books? Do you have a favorite?
Considering my books often make those lists, it’s something I’m often faced with. What I think is no one person or group has the right to decide for everyone else what they may or may not read. Lots of favorites, but I love Why the Caged Bird Sings. 

Titles: do you write the books first and the title comes next or does the title come to you as you write?
Rarely do I start with a title. Sometimes they come to me. Sometimes they evolve out of discussions with my editors and agent. 

Is there something specific you need as you write? Cup of coffee, pen, candy, certain room, etc.
I can write anywhere. In the a.m., you’ll definitely find coffee on my desk, but other than that, I don’t have writing fetishes. 

 
Do your friends or enemies ever find themselves in your books?
All the time. I usually let my friends know they’re there. As for my enemies, I like to keep ‘em guessing. 

If you were not a writer, what would you like to do?
I’d like to be a pilot. 

Do your characters really talk to you?
Yep. Especially when I’m sleeping, and that is annoying as all get-out.

 
Are you for or against books being made into movies?
Depends on the book, and on the scriptwriter. 

 
Where is your favorite spot to write?
Home, in my office, which is bright and filled with cool mementoes. 

 
What drives you insane about the writing process?
Starting a book. The beginning has to be right, from the start, or I can’t move forward. 

 
About how long does it take to write a book?
I’m currently writing two books a year, along with promotion, etc. Around four months. 

What made you decide to write in this genre?
I like to challenge myself, and this is a departure for me. The story idea came from my real life situation of having a husband and a teen who often tell the same story, only not. 

 
What is your favorite part of the writing/publishing process?
Meeting my readers, whether online or in person.

“After eight highly successful young adult novels-in-verse, I decided to explore more mature subject matter and wrote my first two novels for adults utilizing my signature verse-style formatting. I changed directions with my third, Love Lies Beneath, choosing to write in prose to better connect with an older audience, some of whom might be resistant to the fiction/verse merger. I will continue to write YA, of course. (My twelfth YA novel publishes Fall 2015.) Teen characters are hugely appealing to me. But some topics I want to write about demand adults as main characters. My first adult novel, Triangles, explores midlife directional changes, and my second, Collateral, follows a Marine couple through four deployments, with the inevitable consequences. Please visit the BOOKS page here to learn more. Love Lies Beneath is sexy, chilling noir fiction about a woman who has it all—wealth, beauty, possessions; everything, except love, which she finally discovers at forty, after three failed marriages. While everything is perfect at first, things change when the doctor’s teenage son moves in. It’s then the lies begin to appear. But who, in fact, is the liar? Expect the sequel to Love Lies Beneath in 2016 and more books for mature audiences in the future.”
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Morgan's Mountain by Krista Ames

Title: Morgan’s Mountain, A Montana Series Novella
Author: Krista Ames
Publisher: Roane Publishing
Release Date: July 13, 2015
Keywords: Romance, Western, Contemporary, Series, Novella

On the proverbial run from another failed relationship, Morgan finds herself in the one place she always found solace. With every intention of being alone, she’s surprised when she comes across the one person she never expected.
Luke would go to the ends of the earth to figure out why Morgan ran away five years ago and make things right with her. However, a dangerous trek up the mountains to her family’s cabin might not have been the smartest choice. To say she was happy to see him would be a huge lie. Having to rescue him, mortifying for Luke.
Toss a kidnapper into the mix and their feelings for each other are brought into perspective, revealing parts of themselves they never thought would come to light.
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My Inspiration for Morgan’s Mountain
This is always a hard topic for me.
I honestly can’t ever pinpoint what the inspiration is for any of my stories. Maybe when my muse strikes, I’m not paying enough attention but the stories just come to me when I’m not really thinking about it. I know that doesn’t help answer the question though.
I can’t put a finger on one specific thing or event that gave me the idea to write this story.
I suppose I could say my love(or lust) orf cowboys is a good point of origin for a lot that I write. Maybe it’s my subconscious telling me I need to be more adventurous, so the things I’d like to do I write about?
Hmmm…interesting ☺
It seems that I actually do have a process though.
One I never really planned on but it works so I go with it.
I usually always start a story with the Title.
I get ideas for titles from a song or a tv show or even a road sign. I know silly right?
Well it is what it is and I’ll take the help anyway and anywhere I can ☺

Born and raised in Northern Indiana, Krista now resides in Northern Lower Michigan. She is married to a very supportive man who allows her to follow her true passion of writing and never complains when she is pirated away on her computer for hours. He is excellent at bouncing ideas around with and even helps the occasional writers block. He’s also a terrific “in house” editor. Krista is also a mother of 4 ornery children who keep her plenty busy. With an addition of 2 beautiful chocolate lab sisters and a playful kitty, there is never a dull or spare moment in her household.
Krista has always loved to read and would often sit up for hours into the night not able to put down a book until she was finished. She still reads when she can but her main focus is creating her own stories to share with the world.
She loves to communicate with her readers so please feel free to drop her a line anytime.
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Guest Post: The Mystery of Creativity by Lu Erickson

I'm delighted to have the fabulous Lu Erickson with me today. Lu wrote a super post about creativity that I'd love to share with you...

Many times when people ask me about writing they say, "Oh I could never do that." And yet, they seem intrigued by the idea. I can hear it in their voices, see it in the glint of an eye. I tell them truthfully I believe they can.
I wasn't born a writer. How many times have I heard an author say, "Oh yes, I wrote my first play as soon as I could hold a pen."? No, that wasn't me. I didn't write a word of fiction until I was almost 40, when I penned a children's book for my daughter. On a whim I showed it to a writer friend who encouraged (read "lovingly badgered") me to continue.
I've finished four novels over the years and yet every time I start a new project I'm overcome with self-doubt. I can't write an outline to save myself. When my fingers hit the keys in those first paragraphs, the words come slow and clunky. I can't find my rhythm. I stumble forward bemoaning the loss of any talent I might have possessed. And then, as I persevere and the stack of pages grows, something magical happens. I lose myself in the world I've imagined. The characters become real people with unique personalities. Conflict builds. In my mind, the setting grows rich in color and aroma. I have found my way to that creative river that runs through us all and have dipped my ladle.
I ponder the source of creativity. It seems so fluid, so unpredictable--one day like a conduit running at capacity, the next, tightened down until only a few drips slip through. And yet it seems that the gods of authorship reward a stubborn heart. The very act of putting one's butt in the chair and fingers on a keyboard claims their attention.
So to anyone who has ever been so inclined, I say give it a try. Bring a couple of characters with you to the keyboard. Put them in a parlor of an old Victorian, or in a kayak in the middle of lake, or on top of a mountain in the middle of a snowstorm and see what they have to say, see what they do. They may have a story to tell. And you may be the author they've been looking for.

Lu's first novel, a mystery titled Where the Hell is Myra Atkins? is a story about the healing power of friendship (with a couple of murders thrown in for good measure). To read the first chapter of the book, visit Lu's website: www.luerickson.com

Where the Hell is Myra Atkins
When Myra Atkins, a life-hardened, aging vamp of a detective, goes missing, her secretary, proper English import Esther Humperstone is panic-stricken. She enlists new-hire Henry, an earnest yet slightly off-center twenty-two-year-old, to help find her beloved boss.
What Henry and Esther don't know is that while they're taking a crash course in private detecting, Myra, caught up in a mid-life melt-down, has actually escaped to Maui with smooth-talker Ray Garnetti for a little sun and romance—and a lot of vodka martinis. The stakes are raised when Gordon Winston, a prominent Sacramento businessman, and the last person Myra saw before she disappeared, turns up dead.
In the process of seeking answers to their boss's disappearance, Esther and Henry will unwittingly solve the mystery of who murdered Gordon Winston, take giants steps outside of their respective comfort zones, and discover that life's a richer journey when you're in good company.

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Just a Little Crush by Renita Pizzitola

Good girls stay away from Ryder Briggs . . . or, at least, they try to. In Renita Pizzitola’s emotional novel of heartache and seduction, one college freshman just can’t get enough.
Brinley Dawson doesn’t drink, she studies—and despite the accusations of her alcoholic mother, she’s still a virgin. But if Brinley’s life is so put together, why is she freaking out to be going to college with the gorgeous, green-eyed jerk she kissed on a stupid dare in high school? Ryder Briggs can have any girl he wants . . . and the rumors say that he does. So why, after publicly embarrassing Brinley four years ago, is he suddenly acting like he’s interested?

Ryder never forgot Brinley. In fact, those perfect seven minutes permanently raised the bar for what a kiss could be. The truth is, Ryder doesn’t dare get too close to anyone. He knows how that worked out for his parents. But when his roommate takes a shot at Brinley, Ryder can’t contain his jealousy. Now he must do the hardest thing he’s ever done: forget about sex and convince Brinley his feelings are real.
Brinley isn’t sure whether she believes Ryder, but for the first time, her body isn’t playing by the rules. Then she discovers that she’s an unwilling part of a cruel game, humiliating her all over again—and Ryder might be to blame. Has Brinley’s little crush turned into a huge mistake . . . or has she found the one guy worth trusting with her heart?
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Just a Little Crush Playlist
Some people find it interesting, or even surprising to learn I only write with music playing. Maybe they believe it would be a distraction or a challenge to have one set of words in your ear while another flows from your fingers? But to me, finding the perfect playlist is like finding a soundtrack for your book. The right song can set the mood and evoke emotions, which, in turn, help the words pour out of me. Other times, I find that the constant hum of a familiar track playing softly in the background helps me turn off everything else and I become more fully immersed in my characters’ lives. In the end, the playlist is such an integral part of the process; I can’t imagine working without it.
Each book I write has a playlist unique to it and as I work, my playlist may change a bit. I’ll add more songs or occasionally even delete a few. Once I find the perfect songs, they become a part of that story. The only downside is when I hear them on the radio in my car, and all this emotion slams into me and characters start talking, scenes start taking shape, and I’m stuck in traffic! At least it still serves as some good brainstorming time… But the absolute best part about music is finding THE song that captures something hugely important in my book in a way that nothing else can.
For JUST A LITTLE CRUSH, I was having one of those days where I was stuck in my car and an older song came on. I’ve always loved this song, so I’m not sure why it never occurred to me how perfect it was, but as I listened, it hit me: This is it! This is Ryder’s song! If Ryder were a musician, this is the song he’d write Brinley. After that, I played the crap out of that song while writing their story. :)
In the end, my playlists are usually a few hours long, but I thought I’d share with you a few songs from the JUST A LITTLE CRUSH playlist, including Ryder’s super special song!

After reading JUST A LITTLE CRUSH you should go back and listen to Ryder’s song (which is the last one in the list) and see just how perfect it is! It could practically be an open letter to Brinley :)

Renita Pizzitola is the author of New Adult contemporary romance and Young Adult fantasy. When not writing, she can be found feeding her caramel macchiato addiction and reading just about anything she can get her hands on. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and two children.
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The Witchling Grows Up: Family Pendragon # 1 by Mary Moriarty

The Witchling Grows Up
Family Pendragon # 1
By: Mary Moriarty

Dylan Pendragon is not what she appears to be. She appears to be a twenty something, hippy, new-age follower… When in fact she is a ninety-year-old, witchling from one of the oldest families connected with witchcraft.
She has yet to get any powers so to speak. But she is destined to be the most powerful witch of them all…
And she is a virgin.
Justice is a seven thousand years old Vampire. He is the oldest friend to his former king of their kind, Cormac O’ Heachthanna. There are three things that vampires love. Blood, fighting and sex and not necessarily in that order. Justice lost his wife about six thousand years ago, so he has devoted his life to keeping mankind safe… and he has had no sex in that many years.
The Dark One has one thing on his mind. Capture Dylan Pendragon and take what he thinks is his… her virginity and her power which will blossom like a rose once she is taken. He will do anything to get her and that power or die trying.
In the course of one night under a full moon two become connected and set into motion events that can’t be stopped that will ultimately bring victory for some or one and the rest will be cast into the underworld for eternity and beyond.
Can Justice show Dylan he wants to protect her without touching her? Will he listen to his heart where love that has been dormant for so long, and is waiting to be released?
Will Dylan allow Justice to protect her so she can figure out how to get her powers and be strong enough to fight the Dark One? Or will she fall and be the sacrifice that the Dark One intends her to be.

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My Favorite Witches
I am going to share with you some interesting information on this author.
I won't get into all the names in my genealogy but my Great, Great grandmother was Anna Putnam, descended from the Salem, Mass Putnams who started the whole witch hunting hysteria. From my genealogy work and from historic work that is all documented in the New England Genealogical Society down in Mass., that I have conducted for many of not only my family histories but for historical societies, the whole witch trial started because of two Putnam brothers. I am descended from the youngest who ended up being a favorite of his father. He ended up getting a good portion of the property and his older half brother was upset. There were accusers and then there were the defenders who though not accused of witchcraft themselves were running the risk of being accused. The youngest was one of the defenders.
Fast forward to the early 1980s I was told by a pastor that the reason why I had migraines was because there were witches in my family background... It's funny because everyone in my mother's family do have migraines... I do know migraines are hereditary but not because there are witches in our family tree or anyones family tree. Though some women in my family did or do practice magic and are part of the religion of Wicca.
Now as a small child growing up in the 1960s I loved the show Bewitched. I finally bought for my youngest son the whole set of them because he liked to watch Wizards of Waverly Place. For me watching those old re-runs brings back a nostalgic time of when I was little. My mother who died when I was five brought a lot of magic into my life with her stories of wee people and watching her in the kitchen.
A great little gem that many may not know about is a movie called Bell, Book and Candle with Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. It's based on the Broadway comedy.
Fast forward to present day, the movie Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing and Diane West. I love the movie because it's about a family of witches, which to me is very important. I also love the music with it.
The last movie of witches I love because it brings in some history, even if it's not real but it's one of those fun movies... Hocus Pocus.
Once October comes, I am in high gear to decorate with pumpkins. My youngest son and I go all out. We have a street like the street in my next book "Emma Brewster: Too Hot to Handle" that closes down to all cars and only people are allowed. It's always a magical night.
Author Info

I grew up in New England surrounded by a lot of history and storytelling by my father who was from the Mid-Coast of Maine. What I remember of my mother was her love of fairy tales, the wee people and poetry. So it’s no wonder I would one day write.
When I am not writing, I read. Of course I love Romance but can’t read the same genre that I write so I read mysteries, memoirs and history… I love history, especially Medieval and WWII.
I don’t generally watch TV but I love Downton Abbey.
My favorite authors… Mmmm, well let me see. Jane Austen, the late Elizabeth Peters, LM Montgomery, Loretta Chase, J.R.Ward , Sharon Kay Penman and Pamela Kaufman to name a few that come to mind.
What do I do when I am not writing? I am a mother of seven, four still at home. I have a home filled with pets, four dogs and six cats. I write seven days a week.

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Before He Was Gone by Becky Wicks

Before He Was Gone by Becky Wicks
(Starstruck #2)
Publication date: Summer 2014
Genres: New Adult, Romance

Sometimes, you have to get lost to find yourself…
When her rock star boyfriend breaks things off out of the blue, Alyssa applies to hit reality TV show Deserted and to her shock she gets through. Abandoned on a remote island with a bunch of strangers and none of the luxuries she’s become accustomed to, it’s not long before an undeniable attraction to the mysterious Joshua starts complicating things even further.
Joshua’s different to everyone she’s ever known – a traveller, a man with no plan, a world away from the celebrity life she’s left behind. As a series of challenges test their wits and weaknesses, things start heating up in paradise, but in a game designed to break people down, it soon becomes clear that Joshua is hiding a painful secret – one he won’t risk anyone finding out.
Struggling to know where she belongs, Alyssa will have to choose – a life she once loved that wants her back, or a brand new reality that heartbreakingly may just have its limits.

˃˃˃ “Becky does it again, delivering a searingly hot, emotionally intense and brilliantly written book. I loved it.” – Sarah Alderson (author of Hunting Lila, Fated, The Sound)

***Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and mature situations. Not intended for young adult readers.***

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I asked Becky - How have your travels influenced your writing?
Thanks for having me on the blog! It’s funny you should ask about my travels because I think maybe I was a gypsy in a past life. If I don’t have some kind of travel plan on the horizon I get pretty anxious – like, riddled with FOMO!
Fear Of Missing Out rules my life. It keeps me moving, but then I guess it also keeps me inspired.
In 2011 I got a three-book deal with HarperCollins to write a travel memoir in Dubai, then Bali and then South America, so for three years I travelled and wrote and met some totally awesome, exponentially crazy, inevitably inspiring people. My travels have one hundred percent influenced everything I write! For example, you never know who’s going to be snoring beside you on a bus from Cusco to Lima – one time I had a lady carrying a lamb in a sack next to me for 12 hours. That thing bleated the whole way while she slept and I sat there wishing I hadn’t left my iPod headphones in a locker with a stolen feather party headpiece and some Christmas lights (long story).
Another time in Cambodia I had a stowaway child sleeping on the floor under my feet. Other times in hostels I’ve dealt with Australians pissing on the floor, French people having sex on the bunk below me, old men flicking their braces by my face, weird hippies and absolute hotties starting conversations which lead to dinners, drinks and sometimes amazing friendships!
As a writer I do think it’s important to travel as much as you can, if you can, or at least to get out there and interact with people who are different to you.
There’s no way I’d be able to write about the U.S, or Bali, or Dubai, or Africa (like author Sarah Alderson did in The Extraordinary Life of Lara Craft) if I hadn’t been to those places and literally soaked up those cultures like a sponge. I imagined the island in Before He Was Gone to be one of the Gili Islands, here in Indonesia where I currently live… only with less creature comforts (and you don’t have to kill anything to eat on the Gilis, thank god).
Travelling through writing non-fiction has opened my eyes to all kinds of characters and things I can draw from when I write fiction, so I guess I’ve been pretty lucky in that respect, but there’s so much more left to write about. At this rate I’ll be single forever though, because it’s also pretty hard to have a relationship when you move around so much. But for now I write the hot men into my books and I figure it’s only a matter of time before I scribble one into existence, right?
Right?! ☺

Becky Wicks lives in Bali and scribbles books, and she’s mostly powered by coffee. Her first book in the Starstruck Series, Before He Was Famous recently reached #1 in Amazon’s Coming of Age and New Adult & College categories, and her three travel books, published by HarperCollins are online to make feet nice and itchy. Mostly though, she loves to write love stories. She blogs most days at beckywicks.com and always welcomes distractions on Twitter @bex_wicks. Especially if you have photos of cats.

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Tour-wide giveaway (INTL)
--50$ Amazon gift card
--A character named after the winner in book 3 - Before He Was a Secret
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The Screaming Divas By Suzanne Kamata

Screaming Divas by Suzanne Kamata
Publication Date: May 18th, 2014
Publisher: Merit Press
Pages: 208
Genre: YA Contemporary

At sixteen, Trudy Baxter is tired of her debutante mom, her deadbeat dad, and her standing reservation at the juvenile detention center. Changing her name to Trudy Sin, she cranks up her major chops as a singer and starts a band, gathering around other girls ill at ease in their own lives. Cassie Haywood, would-have-been beauty queen, was scarred in an accident in which her alcoholic mom was killed. But she can still sing and play her guitar, even though she seeks way too much relief from the pain in her body and her heart through drugs, and way too much relief from loneliness through casual sex. Still, it’s Cassie who hears former child prodigy Harumi Yokoyama playing in a punk band at a party, and enlists her, outraging Harumi’s overbearing first-generation Japanese parents. The fourth member is Esther Shealy, who joins as a drummer in order to be close to Cassie–the long-time object of her unrequited love–and Harumi, her estranged childhood friend. Together, they are Screaming Divas, and they’re quickly swept up as a local sensation. Then, just as they are about to achieve their rock-girl dreams, a tragedy strikes.

Excerpt
Trudy got her hands on a guitar. Actually, it was her father’s guitar, the one he’d played in his band. The instrument had a history of smoky bars, fields of wild flowers, park benches, Greyhound buses. It had been all over the place, probably even Dahomey.
She was going to ask to borrow it, but when she dropped by Jack’s apartment, he wasn’t home. Trudy decided to cart the guitar off anyhow. He never played it any more and besides, he might say no if she asked him to loan it to her. He didn’t trust her so much since all the trouble with Adam.
She’d practice and innovate and turn herself into a brilliant performer. And then she’d start a band. It would be the most exciting thing to hit the town since General Sherman. Yeah, these were good thoughts.
By day, she practiced. By night, she hung out at The Cave, playing records or slamming on the dance floor. During breaks, she looked for musicians in the Pink Room.
“Hey, Maddy. I’m starting a band. Wanna join up?”
Her roommate Madeline tossed a lock of black hair out of her eyes. “You must be out of your mind.”
Trudy shrugged. She asked Jeff, the David Bowie lookalike. She even asked Johnny Fad. People laughed, blew smoke in her face. Sometimes they just turned away as if they hadn’t heard her at all.
Why did everyone treat her proposition like some sort of joke? She was as serious as she’d ever been. The more she practiced, the more she knew that her dreams lay in music. She closed her eyes and saw herself on the stage, crooning into a mike while a huge crowd lit and lofted their Bics in tribute.
When people were drinking and dancing, they weren’t in the mood for serious talk. She had to find another way to put her band together.
Trudy made a flyer with scissors and magazines and Elmer’s glue. When she was finally satisfied with her work, she rode her housemate’s rickety bicycle to Kinko’s and made a hundred copies. Then she ran around Five Points with a staple gun and plastered them to every telephone pole in sight. When she was finished, she went back to the apartment, picked up her guitar, and waited for the phone to ring.
“Hey, what’s this?” Madeline barged into her room just after midnight, smelling of booze and smoke. She waved one of Trudy’s flyers in the air between them.
“I’m starting a band,” Trudy said. “I told you already.”
Madeline shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. I wish you hadn’t put our phone number down, though. We’ll get half a million calls from creeps.”
Trudy didn’t answer. Why was Madeline being such a bitch? She looked really cool with her tattooed shoulder and asymmetrical haircut, but sometimes she could be totally square.
“I’ll get my dad to buy us an answering machine,” Trudy said. “That way we can screen calls.”
Madeline nodded, seemingly consoled, and wandered off to her room.
Trudy giggled softly. Jack would never fork out cash for something like that, but the lie had worked.
The first call came at noon the next day.
“Hey, I’m calling about the band,” a gravelly voice said.
“What do you play?”
“Bass, drums, whatever. I’m versatile. Hey, wait. You sound really familiar. What’s your name?”
“Trudy Sin.”
“Hey, I know you. You’re that firestarter.” The line went dead.
Later, Southern Bell called about an overdue phone bill. The manager at Yesterday’s, where Madeline waited tables, called asking Madeline to report to work early. Someone dialed a wrong number.
Where were all the budding musicians, the soulmates in tune with her dreams? Trudy set aside her guitar and put on some music. She threw herself on the bed and let Patti Smith comfort her.
How was she ever going to start a band?
Maybe she could go solo – set up a drum machine and play the guitar herself. She wracked her brains trying to come up with someone who’d gotten famous without back-up. Her mind went blank.
Two nights later, when she came home from a trip to the Quick Mart down the street, Madeline greeted her with, “You got a phone call. Someone wants to join your band.”
“Great. Who?” She pictured a pale, black-haired guy in leather, a guitar strapped across his hard-muscled body.
“I dunno. She said she’d call back.”
She? Well, okay. This could be good. A girl group. Yeah, that’s the ticket. They’d be like the Supremes with instruments. The Gogo’s with attitude. It would be a good gimmick, something to get them started while they developed as a band.

I asked author Suzanne Makata - Where is the book based? And why did you choose to base it there?
Screaming Divas is set in Columbia, South Carolina, which is the last place I lived before moving to Japan to teach English. I wrote the first draft of this book years ago, at a time when I was not so far removed from my youth, and when I was feeling homesick for South Carolina. I like writing about real places, and paying homage to my favorite shops and restaurants and sites. The places that are mentioned in the book, like the Capitol Cafe and Goatfeathers, are real, though the former no longer exists. I also think it’s fun to visit places that I’ve read about in novels. I like the idea of some reader wandering around the grounds of the state capital building and thinking of the divas as they stumble upon details mentioned in the book, like the markers delineating where Union bullets hit the state house. Or maybe someone will think of Trudy when visiting the island where Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Goldbug” (also mentioned in the book).
Many scenes take place in a club called The Cave, which is based upon a real life, now defunct, club called The Beat. There was this kind of punk/new wave subculture in Columbia in the 1980s, and it was centered here.Compared to the scene in New York City, or some other large metropolis, it was very small, and everyone knew everyone else. But it seemed like a special group of highly creative people - aspiring artists, musicians, and poets.
The club was only around for a couple of years. Maybe less. But it was at a very intense time in my life, when I fell in love hard, had my heart broken a couple of times, and dreamed about what I could be. I wanted to honor that time in my life, and also show a little known aspect of the American South.

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Back in the day, Suzanne Kamata spent a lot of time hanging out in a club in Columbia, South Carolina, much like the one in Screaming Divas. (The beat goes on . . .) She later wrote about musicians for The State newspaper, The Japan Times, and other publications. Now, she mostly writes novels. In her free time, she enjoys searching for the perfect fake fur leopard-print coat and listening to the Japanese all-girl band Chatmonchy. Her YA debut, Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible was named the 2013-2014 APALA YA Honor Book and Grand Prize Winner of the Paris Book Festival. For more info, visithttp://www.suzannekamata.com or follow her on Twitter @shikokusue.

The Giveaway
5 signed copies of Screaming Divas of Screaming Divas with five $25 gift cards. Open Internationally. Available when the book releases.

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The Women Behind the Words - guest post by Ian Skillicorn

I'm delighted to be handing over the blog today to Ian Skillicorn from Corazon Books.....

I set up Corazon Books in 2012, with the aim of publishing "great stories with heart". I was especially interested in reissuing popular books that were now out of print, but which merited fresh attention from today's readers. What I didn't know at the time was that I'd soon be publishing work by authors whose lives were every bit as fascinating as their fiction.

I've recently published the first digital editions of bestsellers by the novelists Catherine Gaskin and Diana Raymond. Sadly, the writers are no longer with us, but their characters and stories live on. I am privileged to be introducing a new generation of readers to their work, and in the process I have been learning more about the women behind the words.
Catherine Gaskin was just 17 years old when she became a bestselling novelist. She wrote her first book in the mornings, before she went to school. Catherine didn't tell her friends what she was doing, because she couldn't face the embarrassment if she didn't get a book deal. When the novel was picked up by a publisher she left school to edit the manuscript, and never went back! Catherine went on to sell over 40 million copies of her titles, writing 21 novels over a period of 42 years. She was known as "The Queen of Storytellers" and "The Girl with the Golden Pen."
Born in Ireland, but raised in Australia, Catherine lived all over the world. While she was in London she met her future husband on a blind date. He was a US TV executive working in England, and had asked a friend if they knew anyone who would like to go and watch the film Moby Dick with him. The rest, as they say, is history. From London, the couple moved to Manhattan, and later lived in the Virgin Islands, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

Catherine generously left her literary estate to the Society of Authors in the UK. They have licensed the first ebook edition of her work: the #1 bestseller The Property of a Gentleman. It's the story of Jo Roswell, a young woman who works in a grand auction house in London. She travels to the remote ancestral home of the Earl of Thirlbeck, in England's Lake District. There she becomes involved in the lives of the residents and staff, each with their own secrets and desires. Jo also becomes captivated by the fate of a young Spanish noblewoman who died at Thirlbeck many centuries before. Over time, she discovers the many ways in which the past and present are connected. The Property of a Gentleman is a suspenseful story with generous helpings of intrigue, history and romance.
Diana Raymond lived through both world wars. She lost her father in the Great War when she was only one year old. The experience of growing up fatherless had an impact on her life and her writing. She was an adult before she visited her father's grave, which her husband, Ernest, tracked down to a military cemetery in Belgium. Ernest Raymond was a famous novelist, and Diana said she learned a lot from him about the art of writing. Her cousin, Pamela Frankau, was also a novelist. When Pamela was very ill, and realised she did not have much time, she asked Diana to finish the manuscript of her last novel for her. Diana completed it after Pamela's death, gaining critical acclaim for her contribution to the work.
During the Second World War, Diana worked for the British Government, in the Ministry of Food. She was evacuated to Wales to escape the bombing, but soon returned to London. Diana and Ernest would stand outside their home and watch the air raids taking place over the capital.

Lily's Daughter, Diana's popular novel, is a coming-of-age tale about 17-year-old Jessica Mayne. It is set in London and Kent, in the 1930s. Like Diana, Jessica has lost her father during the war. Her mother is committed to a psychiatric hospital and Jessica finds herself alone. Her isolation and sense of loss lead her to fall hopelessly in love with an unsuitable character. Her cousin Guy is good-looking and charming, but he is also self-obsessed and unreliable. During the story, Jessica learns some hard lessons about life, and herself, as well as discovering more about her parents. All this takes place under the shadow of the approaching Second World War. Lily's Daughter is a bittersweet tale, told with both warmth and wit.
These two talented women left us some wonderfully entertaining stories. I feel very fortunate to be able to invite readers to meet their engaging characters, and to spend some time in their fictional worlds.

Ian Skillicorn
www.greatstorieswithheart.com

The Property of a Gentleman by Catherine Gaskin
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Lily's Daughter by Diana Raymond
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What a fabulous post, Ian! Thank you so much for stopping by and telling us the stories about these remarkable authors. 

Sex, Lies & Corned Beef Pies!

I'm delighted to have a guest with me today. She's the author of the fantastically-titled Sex, Lies & Corned Beef Pies, Georgina Ramsey....

I never intended to write this novel. It had not been stewing away in me, for months, years or decades, or simmering on the surface and fighting to get out. No, it was actually a bit of an accident, dare I say it, but an incredibly happy one at that.
I was quite new to the Indie scene at the time and had only published novellas and novelettes. I wanted to write a novel, but kept chickening out because I felt that my skills weren’t honed enough and my words might not have the staying power to make it over the 50k line (which is kind of the accepted minimum word count for a novel).
Anyway, I stumbled across NaNo quite by accident one day. If you don’t know what this is, it’s a worldwide competition for writers to come together and to produce, individually, a novel in a month, or even less than. Now some authors seem to think this is an absurd idea because words should never be rushed, and I agree, to some extent. But, I wanted to give it a bash; I saw it as a challenge and wanted to use it as a way to stretch myself.
Being a bit of a control freak, once I’d started, I had to finish, and by Joves was I going to make sure I did. I worked my day job, looked after the family, and then in between I spent every waking hour at the keyboard – with lots of coffee (and chocolate!) I had a rough idea what I wanted the story to be about – a young girl who sets up a sex phone line – but I didn’t really know which path it would finally lead down.

Writing every day, in such a disciplined manner, did me the world of good, and I completed the draft of the novel in less than a month, and eventually went well over 50k; bear in mind that it was only a draft at this stage, and it then went through numerous re-writes and edits to get to the finished product.
This novel became my baby and I sketched the cover art too; something I never thought I would do.
So, was NaNo worth it? Yes, it helped me to move forward, and not to get stuck on re-drafts and edits in the early stage of a book. I learnt a lot; I loved the whole experience, and would probably do it again; I am clearly a glutton for punishment!
I released Sex, Lies & Corned Beef Pies! just in time for Valentine’s Day 2014, and so far (touch wood!) the reviews have been good. Please, believe me when I say that I honestly never thought an actual novel was going to be born out of NaNo 2013, but it has been, and when it flashed on the computer screen that I was a competition winner I could have cried. In fact, I think I did! I really do hope that you enjoy reading ‘Pies,’ as it is affectionately known (food and affection go together in my book!), just as much as I enjoyed writing it.
It’s about Mae Ophelia Ball, is a desperate, penniless student, who in a moment of madness is prepared to do anything – well, almost anything – for a bit of extra cash! She puts her moral conscience to one side, when she takes advice from the glamorous Lottie, and sets herself up as a phone sex operator, in order to earn a few extra quid. However, the glamour of a job in the sex industry soon wears off, and one of her callers, an elderly man called Bert, comes to her rescue. She soon learns that money isn’t everything, but has this lesson come a little too late?
The novel is a romantic comedy and is full of colourful descriptions and words, so is probably not for the fainthearted. However, it’s also a romp, and if you’re ready for a good old belly laugh, then I think this one might well be for you.
Happy reading, Georgie x

You can download your copy of ‘Sex, Lies & Corned Beef Pies!’ from Amazon, Kobo or Barnes & Noble.
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You can follow Georgina Ramsey on twitter: @GeorginaBRamsey
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From fact to fantasy

I invited author Jennifer Kloester to write a guest post about why she has been so inspired by classic author Georgette Heyer...

READING GEORGETTE HEYER TO A NOVEL OF MY OWN

I began writing because I love reading. I didn't plan it, it just sort of evolved and it was Georgette Heyer's fault. If you've never read her novels and you love great stories, memorable characters and really fine writing, then you might like to give Heyer's books a try. Titles like The Grand Sophy, Friday's Child, The Talisman Ring, Sylvester and Venetia have kept her books in print for nearly a hundred years. 

It was the quality of Heyer's writing that led me to write my first two books: Georgette Heyer's Regency World (an illustrated companion to the world of Heyer's best-loved novels) and Georgette Heyer (the authorized biography of the famously reclusive bestseller), but I have no doubt that it was the pleasure of her stories that led me to want to write a novel of my own.
I began it soon after finishing the biography. I'd had the story idea years earlier and it had been kind of bubbling away in the back of my brain while I was writing my non-fiction books. Maybe it was the seismic shift from fact to fantasy but I had a lot of fun writing The Cinderella Moment! Partly because this new book was my very own creation – a story about characters that I had made up, who were doing things thought of in my imagination – a very big difference from the fact-based writing of my first two books. It took me a little while to adjust though. I'd spent ten years researching Heyer's life and it had taken me nearly five years to write her biography. I'd immersed myself in her world and worked hard to ensure that I had evidence for everything I said about her. I'd wanted to give the reader a fully-fleshed Georgette Heyer with all of her brilliance, her faults and her foibles – a real person brought to life for her legions of fans. 

Now I was creating characters whose lives and situations came out of my head. I wrote their back stories and discovered the pleasure of making things up! It took me a while to throw off the non-fiction writer's mantle and to realise that when things weren't working I could simply change direction, introduce a new character, alter a relationship, rewrite a scene, make them go dancing or play polo or whatever the story needed. Gone were the constraints of the historical record, primary source material and cold hard facts. Instead, my characters could do things I'd only dreamed of, take risks, go to amazing places and have glorious wonderful romances.
But I also discovered that fiction has its rules, too. While it was wonderfully liberating to be able to create an entire house out of my imagination, there were certain things I couldn't alter. 

My book is set in the present day in Paris and that meant if I wanted my fictional world to be convincing there were certain things I couldn't invent. The location of the Louvre, for example, or the gorgeous restaurant at the Ritz, or the revolving door at the Hotel de Crillon. It was important to me that these things were right, along with the smaller details of fabric and fashion that are so important to my story. Ironically, given my new sense of freedom from historical facts, this meant doing research! Funny how things turn out!

For more information about Jennifer's books, visit http://www.jenniferkloester.com/

PI Sasha Jackson: She’s a Beautiful Mess, but You Should See the Other Guy...

By guest author Jill Edmondson

At the risk of offending everyone from the get-go, I think the pithiest description of my heroine Private Investigator Sasha Jackson came from my agent Angela. When she read my first book, Angela’s comment on Sasha was: “Girls want to BE her, guys want to DO her.” Except Angela used a different work than “do”.
I loved that comment because in so many ways it captures what I was going for when I began writing the Sasha Jackson Mysteries. My mental checklist included a whole bunch of top-drawer adjectives (attributes we all wish to apply to ourselves):
smart
sexy
confident
talented
capable
funny 

Sasha is indeed all of those things. She’s a hot blond, 5’9” and weighs about 125 lbs She has loyal friends, a close family, three guys in love with her, she’s well travelled, and she sings and plays the drums.
But wouldn’t a character who has it all together like that be annoying? And hard to believe?
YES!
So, I balanced things by making her flawed in a few different ways. First of all, she became a Private Eye when her first career choice – her passion – hit a brick wall. The backstory is that Sasha was a singer, doing the bar scene, playing county fairs and the odd corporate gig. But as her thirtieth birthday approached, she realized she was never going to be at the top of the charts, so she finally accepted the fact that music would never be a full time career for her. Failure in the music biz is part of what pushes her to succeed n her new PI gig. Thus, there is a layer of insecurity behind that veneer of confidence.

Secondly, while Sasha is astute, clever and street-smart, having her solve cases too easily would be annoying. It wouldn’t keep readers guessing (and it would have made the books really short!) In each case, Sasha screws up in such a way that she either puts herself in jeopardy, or does something that gets the right result, but the wrong way... and usually causes her a bit of embarrassment. For instance, she splits her jeans when she hops a fence to check out a villain, she gets pooped on by a pigeon when she’s enjoying a drink on a sidewalk cafe, she sets her hair on fire, her pink lace bra becomes a piece of evidence, she ends up in a nearly naked fist-fight, and she drunk dials her new boyfriend at three in the morning. Not only does she drunk dial him, but she says “I love you”... and he hasn’t said it yet! They’ve only been dating for about a month!

So, that’s a bit about Sasha. I have a great time writing her; it’s like getting together with one of the girls. In fact, if she were a real person, I’d be happy to hang out with her and grab a beer somewhere. Just not at a sidewalk cafe.

Misc. Info:
Twitter @JillEdmondson
Website www.jilledmondson.com
Blog www.jilledmondson.blogspot.com
Link to me & my stuff on AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/Jill-Edmondson/e/B006Y0YWUO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1