Cover Love - Eden Crane Edition

I want to start a new feature on this blog - Cover Love!

I love cover art. I could spend hours in a bookstore, or online, checking out all the amazing covers out there. In particular, I love YA covers. There are so many stunning images out there, and it makes me realize how important covers are. It's the first thing to draw me in. If I'm not intrigued by a cover, I'm not going to read the book description. So it really is vitally important to get it right.

Today I'd like to feature covers by a designer I just discovered - Eden Crane. Her work is amazing and there are plenty of books I'd happily add to my TBR based on her covers alone.

Here are few that really stand out to me...

If you'd like to find out more about Eden Crane, you can find her on:

Facebook - Eden Crane Design
Pinterest - Eden Crane
Website - www.edencranedesign.com

Movie Review - Pitch Perfect

Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school's all-girls singing group. Injecting some much needed energy into their repertoire, The Bellas take on their male rivals in a campus competition.

Director: 

Jason Moore

Writers: 

Kay Cannon (screenplay), Mickey Rapkin (book)

Stars:

 Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Rebel Wilson

(From IMDb.com)

For those of you who know me, you can probably already guess what I thought of this movie. It is about young adults, it involves music and has a romantic element.

Check!
Check!
CHECK!

I LOVED this movie. It was so completely fantastic. The main character was really understated and I loved that about her. The love interest was a really great guy. I fell for him just a little bit... and man - could he sing! The rest of the cast were all exaggerated characters and so funny. The story is filled with great one-liners that my husband and I keep repeating to each other.

My only aversion was two small scenes involving some puke... I'm not great with puke.

As far as the music was concerned - it was amazing. The singing was top quality, with awesome harmonies and great mash-ups. I ended up buying a bunch of songs off iTunes straight after watching it and my poor family has had to endure hours of me singing the same songs!

If you like a feel-good movie with excellent music and lots of really good laughs, then this one is definitely worth checking out.

5 stars from me :D

Discussion Time: Is is okay for an author to write in multiple genres?

I have written about this topic before. If you'd like to read my previous post on Indies Unlimited, you can check it out here.

The post generated quite a bit of discussion among other writers, most of them saying that writing in multiple genres is completely fine.

But I want to know what readers think.

You see, as an author, I don't want to get trapped into only writing one genre. I'm happy playing with YA at the moment. I love it actually, but I have some adult stories up my sleeve that I hope to write one day. Also, within YA, I have a plethora of stories I'd like to write ranging from paranormal/fantasy through to contemporary and some action/thrillers. I can promise my readers that no matter what genre my story falls into, it will always have a strong romantic element running through it, be fast paced and filled with lots of dialogue.

As a reader, I quite like it when authors branch out and try new things, as long as they don't lose their voice too much.

As a reader, do you mind if an author strays into different genres? Or do you prefer knowing that when you reach for a book by a particular author that you will get exactly what you expect?

I'm fascinated by what people think about this and I would love it if you could leave your opinion in the comments section.

A Chat With Book Reviewer, Carole McKenzie

I am so excited to have the lovely, Carole McKenzie visiting today. She is awesome. I met her through my Golden Blood blog tour and we have kept in touch. I always ask her to review my books now and I'm always SO glad I do. Her Life of Fiction Blog is gorgeous and she writes thoughtful, in depth reviews. I have added many books to my TBR list thanks to her :)

Carole, welcome along. Thank you so much for taking them time to answer some of my questions :)

When did you first discover your love for reading? 

Probably the day I learned to read, I started and never stopped! I used to read a lot as a child. My summers growing up were spent reading a book a day even through High School (I know I was/am pretty nerdy). When I began picking finishing a book over going out in college I really understood that this obsession I had was for real and I have no regrets. I’ve always loved to read and always will, I just hope I can instill that love into my students.

What do you look for in a book description? 

Something new. Originality is a big factor for me, so if I read a book description and it is unlike anything I’ve read I get very excited. I also look for a romantic element, the book can be almost any genre and I’ll read it if it has some romance to it!

How do you like to feel when you finish a book? 

Honestly, I enjoy feeling absolutely crushed and emotionally drained; as well as elated. Depends on the book but if I feel that deeply for a story, I love it no matter if the feeling is negative or positive, I just want to feel something.

What do you like most about reviewing books for authors? 

I have loved getting to know so many wonderful and supportive authors through reviewing for them. They’re not only supportive of each other but of bloggers like myself as well. Reviewing books is my passion and to be able to do it for such awesome people has been a dream come true. I get to meet rock stars everyday and it is so freaking cool! I really enjoy knowing that these authors email me asking me for my opinion about something they poured their time and energy into, it really is a lot of fun and I’m so lucky to have had the opportunities that I have. Best community by far!

Do you find it easy to picture characters and settings in your head? How descriptive do you like an author to be? 

I do find it easy to picture characters in my head and sometimes make them look how I want them to as I read completely ignoring how the author describes them (crazy I know); but settings take a little bit more work for me. World building is usually one of my favorite parts of a book if done right, but I need that image to be planted from the authors words. It’s a talent that I deeply respect and love! I think the more descriptive the better, but not everything needs 12 adjectives to describe it. Writing really is an art form.

A REVEIWER'S RECOMMENDATIONS

A traditionally published author you love: hmm. It’s always so hard to pick just one, so I’ll pick a favorite that I’ve had for years (probably my longest running fave); Sarah Dessen! Her books are always touching and just lovely.

And indie author you love: Of course Melissa Pearl! In addition to Melissa’s awesomeness I have to include Liz Reinhardt and so many other wonderful ladies! I love them all!!

One of your favourite YA books: Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Katsa kicks some major booty!

One of your favourite Adult books: I don’t read very many adult books, but I have been reading a lot of New Adult or Mature YA books and one of my favorites is Tammara Webber’s Easy.

A book you've read more than once and the reason why: I have read Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire probably a dozen times. Any time I need to clear my mind, especially when I’m in a reading funk. Travis Maddox is my go to guy and he manages to makes me LOVE reading all over again. I don’t know what it is about that boy but man.

Thank you so much! :)

Great suggestions, Carole. Thanks!

If you'd like to connect with Carole online, you can follow the links below...

Blog

Goodreads

Twitter

Facebook

New Release - The Boys of Summer by CJ Duggan

I have known CJ for a little while now and it has been so cool to watch her progress as she has prepared for the release of The Boys of Summer. I managed to sample a few chapters months ago and was very intrigued by the story, so it was with much excitement that I saw the book come online at the end of last year. (Purchase links listed below).

It is such a pleasure to have this gorgeous author join us today to tell us about how she turned her dream into a reality. Welcome along, CJ :)

Firstly a big thanks to the lovely Melissa for having me as a guest today, it truly is an honour to be here.

Today I wanted to share with you how a dream can become a reality. Writing a post for Melissa’s blog I decided to look back on the past few years from when I decided to ‘Own what I do’ by upping the stakes to write and publish my debut novel. I scrolled through my old blog posts to where it all began. Here is my very first post and the decision I made that would change my life forever.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

February 16^th, 2011.

I am a writer (and yes I have decided to admit the title and claim it with pride) And as writers, so often many of us shy away from the admission and think ourselves not worthy. Like myself, I am what I would call a “Closet Writer” a writer in secrecy in the fear of being judged as strange, or littered with nosey questions. A writer can be many things and do it for many reasons. I know this sounds rather cliché, but I have always, even from a young age, found myself plotting, world building, scheming the majority of the day to the point I fear becoming more and more detached from this world. How then to answer my husbands “Whatch ya thinking about?” question as I day dream in the car, if I was to answer honestly it would no doubt raise an eyebrow and have me committed.

Unless I am a writer, right?

I have now come to a point where I think, what’s stopping me? Why not pursue what makes me happy? What I am truly passionate about. This isn’t just a phase, I have suffered from this brainstorming affliction all of my life to the point where I have so much pent up story lines and characters waiting to burst from my imagination. So where to begin? Let’s remember I am a newbie (Oh how I loathe that word) I have come out of the closet and am embracing my inner writer. Call me mad, but I actually think of the ‘writer’ in me as my alter ego, the thing within me that has the want to express alternative people and places – therefore the creation of my Author name (C.J Duggan) was born. Yep! I have decided I am releasing my inner alter ego on the world, while keeping some mystery. Let’s face it, and here is the clincher – Start small aim big – by doing so I plan to build confidence, technique, experience, time – indeed so much time and energy might be dedicated to keep anonymous or maybe I will want to shout out to the world “Here I am!!… Look at me!! Guess only time will tell?

And time did tell.

Two years on and I am an honest to God Author. Not only is it a dream come true but through a lot of hard work and determination I have created something that not only resinates with me but is also reaching an international audience. Three weeks after its release ‘The Boys of Summer’ broke into the Top 100 Amazon Best Sellers, both in U.S and U.K, it ranked at Number One in Australian iBooks and Number Sixteen in Canadian iBooks. I really wanted to reiterate that nothing great was ever achieved without some form of doubt and insecurity. The road to this point was filled with such moments and I am so thankful for those moments, because it was everything within them that lead me to where I am today.

"Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory."

- Alan Alda

That is such a cool story. Thanks so much for sharing with us, CJ.

C.J Duggan is an Australian author who lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia.
The Boys of Summer is Book One in her Mature Young Adult Romance Series.
For more on C.J and ‘The Summer Series’, visit www.cjdugganbooks.com

Amazon (U.S) Digital  

Amazon (U.S) Paperback

Amazon (U.K) Digital

Amazon (U.K) Paperback

Barnes and Noble

Apple iBooks

Kobo

Book Highlight - The Greystone Series by Taylor Longford

It's been a while since I've picked up a book that I simply could not put down... let alone three books in a row like that!!

Taylor Longford has created an amazing series based on a gargoyle family that I completely fell in love with. The premise is unique, the romance is sweet and the action was enough to have me turning pages well into the night.

You can check out my reviews for each book here:

Valor (Book 1)

Purchase link (currently FREE)

Dare (Book 2)

Purchase link

Reason (Book 3)

Purchase link

It is my total pleasure to have Taylor visit our blog today to share where she got her inspiration for gargoyles from.

Writers draw their ideas from many different sources. Some scour newspapers for material. Others have a muse that dictates the entire contents of a book to them…which is pretty handy. Some ideas visit writers in the form of dreams. Personally, I'm a "what if" writer. Back in elementary school, I discovered I could devote half of my attention to the teacher while I used the other half to daydream. These daydreams usually took the form of "what if things turned out a little differently" or "what if things were not what they seemed". For example: What if my third grade teacher, Mrs. Allen, was actually from another planet. It would certainly explain her short, flame-red hair and wickedly long fingernails.

So, I'm a daydreamer and that's where my gargoyle idea came from. Although I live in America, most of my family is from England and one day I was on tour bus in Oxford (which has a lot of gargoyles). On the tour, I learned that the word "gargoyle" comes from the French word for throat. And the ugly stone carvings that helped to drain rooftops were named thus because of the water that poured from their throats.

So I start thinking… what if there was another race of beings that were known as gargoyles because their throats were marked with ancient runes. And what if these gargoyles weren't ugly at all; they were beautiful. And what if they could turn to stone and had wings so that they were actually confused with the stone gargoyles found in places like Oxford. And what if those stone gargoyles that everyone is so familiar with were actually vicious and brutal harpies—the natural born enemies of the beautiful gargoyles with the runes on their necks.

And what if a pack of young gargoyles was trapped between the walls of an old house in England for eight hundred years, only to be discovered again in the twenty-first century…

And before you know it, I'm writing about Valor, Havoc, Reason, Defiance, Dare and Victor.

I adore the premise and love hearing how you came up with this awesome family. Thanks so much for visiting, Taylor.

If you'd like to connect with this talented author, you can find her online here:
Website: http://tlongford.wordpress.com/
Goodreads Author Page
Amazon Author Page

Writing Goals for 2013

MELISSA'S GOALS
I am SUCH a goals person. I grew up in a family where we were encouraged to always be aiming for something and so at the beginning of each year I always set myself some new goals. It's habitual and I don't think I'll ever be free of it... not that I mind :)

I find goal setting inspiring. I may not reach them all by the end of the year, but at least I'm aiming for something.

Now being the teacher that I am, I always taught my students to write goals that were easy to remember and somewhat achievable. If you want to feel that sense of success, then you need to be realistic.

So, with those two things in mind, here are my goals for 2013....

Write and publish four books... 

Unknown (Elements Trilogy #1 - June)
Unseen (Elements Trilogy #2 - September)
Unleashed (Elements Trilogy #3 - December)

Forbidden Waters (Mica and Lexy Series #2 - release date to be decided)

Launch my new website (currently under construction) - www.melissapearlauthor.com

Read 12 books. I know that doesn't sound like many, but writing takes up most of my free time. I feel like a-book-a-month is attainable for me.

Now I am sure I will set some more minor goals along the way - improving my social media skills, improving my writing skills, learning more about marketing, etc. but as long as I have those three main goals in mind, then I will end 2013 with a big smile on my face.

BRENDA'S GOALS
For the last few years I've made myself a 'bucket list' for the year. It's worked really well and like Melissa I have always had goals for the year (or resolutions as I used to call them).

Write and publish two books...

Forbidden Waters (Mica and Lexy Series #2 - release date to be decided)

Black Rain (stand alone YA fiction, release date to be decided)

Write two short stories and enter them into competitions

Read 10 books 


What are your goals for 2013?