Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Teaser Tuesday - 9/25/12

This week's Teaser Tuesday comes from Neal Shusterman's UnWholly. It's the sequel to Unwind, which was a fantastic social commentary masquerading as fiction. I highly recommend both to anyone who likes dystopia.

Thanks to Connor, Lev, and Risa—and their high-profile revolt at Happy Jack Harvest Camp—people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding society of troublesome teens while simltaneously providing much-needed tissues for transplant might be convenient, but its morality has finally been brought into question. However, unwinding has become big business, and there are powerful political and corporate interests that want to see it not only continue, but also expand to the unwinding of prisoners and the impoverished.

Cam is a product of unwinding; made entirely out of the parts of other unwinds, he is a teen who does not technically exist. A futuristic Frankenstein, Cam struggles with a search for identity and meaning and wonders if a rewound being can have a soul. And when the actions of a sadistic bounty hunter cause Cam’s fate to become inextricably bound with the fates of Connor, Risa, and Lev, he’ll have to question humanity itself.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

The cliffside plantation estate has a rose garden filled with well-pruned hedges and exotic, aromatic flowers. Risa, having been raised in the concrete confines of an inner-city state home, was never much of a garden girl, but once she was allowed access, she began coming out daily, if only to pretend that she isn't a prisoner.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Cover Reveal, Genre Blogfest, and Some News

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First thing's first. Check out the gorgeous cover for Kyra Lennon's new novella, If I Let You Go. Seriously, how much do you love the look on her face? Gives me chills.

Madison Connor is about to lose it. Her job, that is. For three years, she’s taken care of Dominic Hartley’s five year old daughter, Tilly, but her world is flipped on its head when Dominic tells her his latest promotion is taking him to New York. With Tilly having a meltdown over the move, Madison and Dominic get into a fight that changes the entire nature of their relationship, causing Madison to ask herself a big question. Can she let him go?



Kyra Lennon was born on the South coast of England, and to this day, still lives by the sea. Fiction writing has always been her passion, but she also has numerous articles on a variety of topics published on prolific websites.

Kyra’s debut novel, Game On, was released in July 2012 and the second book in the series, Blindsided, is due for release in November 2012.

If I Let You Go is scheduled for release on October 22, 2012. Check out Kyra online here: Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads



Shh, I know I'm, like, two days late for this, but I really wanted to do it anyway. Don't tell anyone.

Favorite genre of...

  • Movie: Romantic Comedy. Yup, I'm a sucker for the chick flicks. I also like those weird, cerebral dramas, like Inception.
  • Music: Country. I swear, I'm a Northerner. I'm just a Northerner who likes country music. But I'll really listen to almost anything (except death metal).
  • Books: Right now, Urban Fantasy. I go through waves. Before this, it was legal and cop mysteries, but I've been on the fantasy kick (both adult and YA) for a few years now.
  • Guilty Pleasure: This is actually pretty hard because I don't really feel guilty about what I watch/listen to/read. I guess the closest would be my love for boy bands. Yes, I admit it, I've been listening to One Direction lately. And you know what? I like them. So there.

And last but definitely, definitely not least, my news. I've started querying agents for Capitoline Hill! I made myself a resolution that I'd celebrate the Jewish New Year by sending my book to at least a few agents, and I did it! Only five so far, but I'm plugging away at the list I've made. This is by far the furthest I've ever gotten towards getting a book published, and I'm really, really excited about it.

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Teaser Tuesday - 9/18/12

I finally did it. I've broken away from the vortex that is Animorphs. I understand now why I read those books when I was nine years old until I was 12. But I'm excited to be branching out again. I read Nyrae Dawn's Measuring Up, and it was amazing. And now I've just started Gina Damico's Croak. I've been looking forward to this one for awhile.

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.

He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

But it no longer mattered. Lex had been blinked out of existence.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Teaser Tuesday - 9/11/12

Okay. Okay, I promise this will be the last week of Animorphs books. Probably. Most likely. Almost definitely.

He is called the Ellimist. A being with the ability to alter space and time. A being with a power that will never be fully understood. He is the reason Elfangor came to Earth. He is the reason the Earth now has a fighting chance. And though his actions never seem quite right or wrong, you can be certain they are never, ever what anyone expects.

This is the beginning and the middle of the story. A story that needs to be told in order to understand what might happen to the future. The future of the Animorphs. The future of humanity. The future of Earth.

He is called the Ellimist. And this is his story...

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

Too late to take it back. And anyway, I didn't want to take it back. Squabbling wasn't going to win the game.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

August Wrap Up

I have to say, this was a really nice break. Taking a few weeks to decompress was a good idea. I think I'm ready to get back into things, but I'm still going to take it slow. Work promises to be crazy from now until Thanksgiving, so probably not piling up unnecessary deadlines is a good idea.

So here's last month's goal breakdown.

  • Have a polished MS for CH, along with a complete query letter and synopsis. I mostly do. My betas have been sending feedback on the latest draft, and I think one more pass through ought to do it.
  • Enter at least one bloghop. Er... oops.
  • Visit K.S. Lewis. I did. And it was awesome! I so wasn't ready to come home.
  • Relax, shake it off, and approach my writing with fresh eyes in September.

September's goals:

  • Write 10,000 words, mostly for Angels. I've been in a very MG mood lately (as evidenced by my reading Animorphs for the past month). And I realized that I've been overestimating how long a MG book is. Based on some of the books I've looked up, Angels is really a third of the way done. So I'm going to try to spend the next two months working on it, so maybe I can have another finished book before NaNo starts in November.
  • Enter at least one bloghop and post at least one blog post (not including Teaser Tuesday). I need to get back to being involved in the blogosphere.
  • Be a better CP. I currently have three MS excerpts to read and critique for three people who have been fabulous at reading my stuff, and I owe them big time. Break time's over.

And that's it for now. How was everyone else's August? I know I've been a little absent from blogs and even Twitter, so I hope you all enjoyed your summer!

Teaser Tuesday - 9/4/12

Good news! I finished the 54 books of the Animorphs series (I know you were all dying of curiosity)! Aside from the last half of the last book, it was exactly as good as I remembered it being, maybe better.

Now I'm on the specials. And then maybe, eventually, I'll actually read something not related to this series. Maybe.

We never should have done it. But we needed a break. You know, some time off from the superhero stuff. A chance to act like normal kids. Well -- as normal as four kids who can morph, a hawk, and an alien can be. Everything should have been cool.

Now Rachel is missing. And there's this...this thing that's after us. But it's not up to me to tell the whole story. Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Ax were there, too. Even Rachel has some info to add. So go ahead and check this out. And remember not to tell anyone what we're about to tell you. It could mean the difference between life and death. Or worse...

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

I watched the dust beast re-form to go after a truck that was careening backward up the street. Careening straight into a parked car.