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Showing posts from March, 2014

Cover Reveal: Bingo Summer

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Today I'm excited to join in on the cover reveal of Bingo Summer by Dawn Malone , a middle grade novel that you won't want to miss. Not only is she a great author and friend, she is a client and it was my distinct pleasure to design this cover for her. Here is a bit about Bingo Summer: On her thirteenth birthday, Summer Haas scratches the lottery ticket her mom tucked into her birthday card and the down-on-their-luck family become instant millionaires. Then the attention gets crazy in their small Illinois town, and the family moves north to ‘disappear’ in the Chicago suburbs. Summer’s new home might as well be on the Moon, it’s so different from where she used to live. Suddenly, Summer is a candidate for student council, trades her t-shirt and jeans for mall-brand clothes, and throws a party for her entire grade even though she didn't invite a single guest. Everyone wants Summer to be someone other than herself, including the super-popular Suri who Summer hopes w...

My Big Announcement: A New Book!

At last, the next book in the Dragon Empire world~ The First Dragonwatcher ~has a release date, this September! It is a stand alone fantasy novel set in the same world as The Dragon Empire, but told from the point of view of a different character than those in Dragon Empire, a human character. Those of you who read The Dragon Empire may remember him, Torin. This one is adult fantasy and will be the first in a series.  To here more about it, and to help me with the cover reveal that is coming soon, I hope you'll drop by my website . 

eBook Pricing Lawsuit: Win or Loss?

Like myself, many of you may have received an email about a credit given to your for eBooks you purchased that were deemed over-priced. A recent lawsuit against Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC, known as Macmillan (“Macmillan”), Penguin Group (USA) Inc. (“Penguin”), Hachette Book Group, Inc. (“Hachette”), HarperCollins Publishers LLC (“HarperCollins”) and Simon & Schuster, Inc. and Simon & Schuster Digital Sales, Inc. (“Simon & Schuster”) claimed the publishers conspired to fix and raise retail prices of E-books. I read this and thought, "Well of course they did. Publishers have always fixed prices of books, why should eBooks be any different?" But the problem wasn't so much the fixing of the price as it was the price itself. You may have noticed eBook prices as high as $13.99 for bestselling authors. For sanity's sake, the paperback of that book cost the same. So of course, I balked at the price, and chose not to buy. As an author I'm a huge supporter o...

Book Review: Full-Blood Half-Breed

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I picked this book out because I love martial arts and the description led me to believe this was going to be an outstanding adult book featuring martial arts. Unfortunately I let those beliefs overlook the strong religious undertones in the remainder of the description of the book. This was far more about corrupt religion than it was about martial arts. That said, it is neither the publisher nor the author's fault that I overlooked this part of the synopsis. So, I will do my review based on the book, not the content. For the writing, world building, and character development, it earns a solid four stars. The world building was thorough and believable with an excellent balance of dialogue, action, and character building. The characters were very well developed, though I didn't like how Paladin came across as the spoiled, naive teenager. That said, I still liked Paladin, I just wasn't expecting such a young adult feel to the novel as it was presented as a violent, adult ...

Book Review: Lockstep

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This book was my attempt to delve back into the world of sci-fi. It's been a long time since I read sci-fi and I really wanted to get back into it. I'm glad I chose this book for that. Lockstep is one of those rare, imaginative books that takes a bold look at the future and proposes what could be. It does so in a unique way that is all its own with fresh ideas that make you sit up and think, and you know how much I love a book that makes me think! There is much more to this novel than just hard sci-fi though, so don't give up on it if that kind of thing deters you. Many faceted characters, fascinating creatures, and almost steampunk-like innovations give this novel great depth. I would recommend it for fans of forward-thinking books and great science fiction, and for fans of Alex Cavanaugh and Frank Herbert. Find it on: B&N / Amazon 

St. Patty's Day YA & NA Author Party

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Being of Irish ancestry, St. Patrick's day is one of my favorite holidays! That's part of why I was so excited about this party/giveaways by these fantastic authors. In celebration of all things lucky, you should check it out! Join your favorite YA and NA authors as we celebrate being Irish for a day and play on Pinterest. There will be over 45 e-book giveaways!  You can join the Facebook party  HERE ! You won't want to miss it! Participating Authors: Lila Felix     A. W. Exley    Melissa Pearl     Jessica Gibson  Cindy M. Hogan    Sarah Ashley Jones    Marie Landry    Rachel Morgan    Jennifer Snyder   Stacey Marie Brown    Jessica Therrien   D.L. Raver   Stacey Wallace Benefiel    Marilyn AlmodĂłvar    Angee Taylor  A.O. Peart   Devyn Dawson    Rick Chiantaretto   Raine Thomas  L.P. Dover ...