Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Teaser Tuesday - 10/23/12

Okay, I'm almost positive I've done this one before, but I already explained about my obsession with this series. I'm almost done, and I have no immediate plans to start rereading it (especially since next I get to read Blindsided, bwahahah!), but one can never be 100% sure what will happen...

WARNING: The synopsis may contain some spoilers for the earlier books in the Alpha & Omega series, as well as Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series.

They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.

Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can't afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father's dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.

Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack's help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer's sights...

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:

Since most of the tourists in front of the booth where she'd chosen to grab lunch came all the way to Anna's waist, she was pretty sure she was in no danger, but you couldn't tell it by the focused attention her mate aimed at the children.

If you can't tell that I'm looking at something on you that is precisely on level with the little ones' heads--his voice in her head had a rough purr--then you need your eyes checked.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Letting Go Bloghop

Today's the release day for Kyra Lennon's new novella, If I Let You Go. It's free on Amazon for today only, so quick, go get a copy!

The rules:
"Was there a time when you had to let go of someone or something? How did it make you feel? How did you handle it? Or if that's too personal - which I completely understand - how about writing a piece of flash fiction? The only rules are - obviously - it has to be related to letting go, and please keep it to a maximum of 500 words."

I'm very, very bad at letting things go. Not grudges (believe it or not, I'm actually quite good at letting go of those), not people, but things. Possessions. Stuffed animals from my childhood or school assignments from the 1990s or old computers and computer bits. Stupid stuff that the intellectual part of me knows I'll never use again or never want to use again.

I want to be clear. I'm not a hoarder... but just barely. Sometimes it feels like the only thing that keeps me from being one is a severe lack of free space and claustrophobia (irrational fears win out over irrational attachments any day). I can get rid of things that are obviously garbage, like hastily scribbled notes of no consequence and things that are broken beyond repair (though my definition of "beyond repair" might be looser than some). But if there's even a chance there might be practical value or, heaven forbid, sentimental value, I have a hard time parting with it.

To some extent, I blame Disney for this. You can say what you will about whether they give little girls unrealistic expectations for their future or give people a false sense of what "true love" is, but I think the real problem with Disney movies are that they personify everything. Suddenly, my stupid childhood toys have sentience. How can you just throw something out that has sentience?! Damn you, Disney, for giving me empathy for things that have no feelings for me to share.

I also don't like change. I think the might have something to do with it too.

We all have our issues, I suppose. If this is the worst of mine, I'm probably doing okay... though I should probably keep an eye on it if I ever move into a bigger place.

Congrats on the new book release, Kyra!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Teaser Tuesday - 10/15/12 (and a Cover Reveal!)

It's possible I've already used this book as a Teaser Tuesday. It's not my fault. Every once in awhile I have the overwhelming desire to reread Patricia Briggs' Alpha & Omega series. It's a novella and three books, and once I get to the last book, I sometimes start over. And over. And over. I think I cut myself off at three or four rereads last time. I don't know why, but I'm just addicted to this series (OK OK, it's the main character. I just think she's so cool and very, very well-done). And the second book has the honor of being the first book I ever bought on my Nook. This is from the first book (the sequel to the novella).

Anna never knew werewolves existed until the night she survived a violent attack…and became one herself. After three years at the bottom of the pack, she’d learned to keep her head down and never, ever trust dominant males. But Anna is that rarest kind of werewolf: an Omega. And one of the most powerful werewolves in the country will recognize her value as a pack member—and as his mate.

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:

She was nothing, and she had brought about their Alpha's death: they'd have killed her if they dared.

Just try, she told them without using words.




Also, Kyra Lennon revealed the cover of her new book, Blindsided! Go check it out, and go read Game On so you'll be ready when it comes out November 19. And take a look for my review on December 4!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Teaser Tuesday - 10/9/12


Photo credit: Dan Wells' website

Sorry about missing last week's Teaser Tuesday, guys. I lost track of my days, and before I knew it, it was Wednesday. Which is too bad because I was reading Robison Wells' Feedback, and it was really good. But this week's teaser comes from Dan Wells' Partials, which is also really good (and not at all what I'm expecting it to be).

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

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:

Dr. Morgan seemed oblivious to Kira's shock--or was interpreting it as uneducated bewilderment. Kira struggled to hide her emotions as the doctor kept talking, suddenly terrified at the prospect of this cold, calculating woman in possession of so powerful a secret.

Monday, October 8, 2012

I've Been Tagged!

Emily R. King tagged me (like, two weeks ago) in this, and I've been really excited to do it. So here goes!

  1. What is the working title of your book?
    Capitoline Hill
  2. Where did the idea come from?
    When I got tired of reading crime novels a few years ago, I looked for a series in a new genre, and I stumbled upon Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, which focuses on all different supernatural species. From there, I found myself spinning off to other urban fantasy books, with a particular interest (at the time) in werewolves. Eventually I decided to try my hand at writing one.
  3. What genre does your book fall under?
    Adult urban fantasy
  4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?
    Ironically, this is one of the few books I've written/started where I didn't come up with this. Upon some reflection, I can't think of one to play my MC, Quinn. Maybe Amber Tamblyn, though with her hair chin-length, straighter and lighter.

    Photo credit: Robin Wong, Wikipedia
  5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
    When Quinn brings a stray, possibly man-killing werewolf home to the Mid-Atlantic Pack, she's forced to deal with not only his issues, but her own, as well the safety of the Pack she's sworn to protect.
  6. Will your books be self-published or represented by an agency?
    Agency, I hope!
  7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
    Um... 6 months? Something like that.
  8. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
    Kelley Armstrong, I suppose (see above).
  9. What else about your book would pique the reader's interests?
    Well, werewolves obviously. And... there's a bit of romance, a lot of action and fighting, some warm-fuzzy family moments, and twin brothers that made me giggle almost every time they were on the page.

I know this has been around a lot already, so I'm tagging the first five people who comment and haven't done it yet.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

September Wrap Up

*sigh*

It's been a pretty tough couple of months for me, writing-wise. As much as I'm finally moving forward on Capitoline Hill, I've been totally stalled on everything else. I made a half-hearted effort at Angels this month, but I hit a brick wall a week or so in.

I know what the problem is. I've reached a point in all my existing stories where the characters have to start moving towards the main goal. Which is the point where I realize the story doesn't have a main goal.

My pre-production--for lack of a better word--sucks. I don't outline. I don't even think past the opening chapters half the time. So it's no wonder that I get to the middle of the beginning of the story and crash and burn.

I've been making an effort at improving lately, but it's not going as well as I'd hoped. I wrote down everything I know for CH2, which I want to write during NaNo, and it turns out... there's only ten bullet points, most of which relate to the romantic subplot and not the main plot. So I'm trying not to panic that I'll be winging it during NaNo.

OK. Whining over now. I'm sure looking at my goals for September will make me (not) feel better.

September's goals:

  • Write 10,000 words, mostly for Angels. Well. That didn't happen. I did write words for Angels. A few at least.
  • Enter at least one bloghop and post at least one blog post (not including Teaser Tuesday). I did. I entered the Genre Blogfest (a little late, but better than never), and I posted about Kyra Lennon's novella cover.
  • Be a better CP. I read one of them. Well, that's something.

Also, I started querying agents for CH, which I consider the biggest victory of all. Having accomplished that goal makes me feel better about the ones I missed.

And now, here are my goals for October:

  • Outline CH2. This one is pretty important, seeing how I won't have another opportunity before NaNo.
  • Query 14 more agents for CH. That will bring my total up to 25.
  • Get through my CP pile. For real this time.
  • Carve out a few hours a week that are solely devoted to writing. I think part of the reason I've been having trouble lately is because I'm unfocused, which comes from doing other things when I should be writing. Then I feel guilty about not writing, and a vicious circle begins. A lot of people talk about making writing part of your daily schedule. I need to be better about that.

Do you have any goals for October? Also, who's doing NaNo? Anyone want to set up a writers' group or message board or something to help motivate us?