She-Wulf: Author Interview

Please enjoy this interview with Sheryl Steines, author of the action-packed urban fantasy, She Wulf. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, 5 autographed copies of She Wulf, and 5 copies of its companion, The Day of First Sun.

1. When you start a book do you know how it will end or do you create the ending as you go along?

I have a rough idea of what the book will be about and I have some scene ideas and a rough ending.  When I wrote The Day of First Sun, I knew that a high profile, non-magical person was going to be murdered by magic.  I wrote out a paragraph of things that I wanted to see in the story and began writing.  I didn’t look at the paragraph again until after the book was published and realized that I didn’t keep to my original thoughts at all.  I tend to work without an outline because I feel tied to the story as if I’m trying to make everything fit.  I prefer to let it flow and change.  I like the freedom and the discovery.  Sometimes I’m wildly surprised.

2. Do your book characters ever visit you in your dreams?

Yes and no.  Not as much when I’m sleeping, but I daydream about them all the time.  It’s how I work out characters and storylines.  It’s almost as if a movie is playing in my head and I can change and add to storylines.

3. What are your favorite authors as either an adult or a child?

When I was a kid, I loved Nancy Drew.  I read every one of them, but I didn’t just want to read them, I wished I had wrote them and started to write my own detective stories when I was seven.  As I grew older, I read Judy Blume and Stephen King.  Both made me feel something and from that I wanted to keep writing.  I still read Stephen King and was very inspired by his autobiography On Writing.  It was J.K. Rowling though, that reminded me of what I loved to read and that’s what inspired me to write my own fantasy novel.

4. How do you go about finishing a chapter when you can’t get it right?

I skip it…Just kidding.  No, actually I’m not.  Sometimes, I make a note in all caps reminding me I haven’t finished the chapter and other notes that I might be thinking about for the chapter and start the next one.  Sometimes you just need to move on.  The answer will eventually hit you upside the head when you least expect it.

5. Describe your reaction when you saw and held your first book?

I think I was numb when The Day of First Sun was published.  Almost as if I had only done it to satisfy a selfish desire.  It didn’t seem real.  It was when I held She Wulf in my hands for the first time that I was overcome with emotion.  This book consumed me for so long and I was so amazed by the final product and it seemed more than just a fantasy.

6. What is your biggest achievement to date?

Writing my first book.  I always wanted to and never gave myself the opportunity.  One day I decided it was time.  It changed my life, gave me confidence.  I lost the extra baby weight, changed my wardrobe, straightened my hair and gave my girls a role model, an example of taking control of one’s life and being the best person you can be.

7. What’s your favorite color?

Pink.  I’ve always been a girly girl.  As much as I’d like to be a sporty girl, I’m just not.  It’s all about the pink, purses and shoes.

8. Favorite sound?

I love the sound of rain on the roof.  Not during the sunlight hours, but early in the morning when it’s still dark out.  I snuggle under the covers.  It makes me happy.

9. If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?

An interior decorator.  I love being creative and crafty and picking paint colors and getting lost in a fabric store.  It’s almost as good as getting lost in a bookstore.

10. Worst fear?

I fear the alligators under the bed.  Since I was a kid I can’t sleep without something covering my feet incase they come and get me.  Don’t laugh, Stephen King admitted the same thing in an interview once.

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the She Wulf eBook edition is just 99 cents this week–and so is the price of its companion, The Day of First Sun. What’s more, by purchasing either of these fantastic books at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book.

All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes isRIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment–easy to enter; easy to win!

To win the prizes:

1. Purchase your copy of She Wulf for just 99 cents
2. Purchase your copy of Day of First Sun for just 99 cents
3. Enter the Rafflecopter contest on Novel Publicity
4. Visit today’s featured social media event

About She Wulf:  Annie is sent through an ancient time portal with only a prophecy to guide her; she struggles with a new destiny as she tries to figure out a way to destroy an un-killable demon and return home.  Get it on Amazon.

About The Day of First Sun:  A vampire, a rogue wizard and an army of soulless zombies are par for the course for Annie Pearce and Bobby “Cham” Chamsky of the Wizard’s Guard. But when the non-magical princess, Amelie of Amborix, is murdered by magical means, a deeper plot unfolds. Get it on Amazon.

About the author: Behind the wheel of her ’66 Mustang Convertible, Sheryl is a constant surprise, using her sense of humor and relatable style make her books something everyone can enjoy. Visit Sheryl on her website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.

She-Wulf: Guest Post

Please enjoy this guest post by Sheryl Steines, author of the action-packed urban fantasy, She Wulf. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, 5 autographed copies of She Wulf, and 5 copies of its companion, The Day of First Sun.

If you could go anywhere, meet any person, in any period of time, where would you go, what would you do, who would you meet?  I know this is all hypothetical, but hey, I write in the pretend–in the fantasy.  So suspend your disbelief,  and come play with me for a moment.

Not such an easy question to answer, is it?  One option would be to go and meet someone long dead–perhaps Elvis circa 1959 makes your heart swoon.  Would you take the opportunity to meet a favorite entertainer, or maybe you want your trip to count for something meaningful?  But what if you made a change, saved a life, corrected a wrong, how would your alterations affect the future?  An interesting notion, don’t you think?

As I wrote She Wulf, my time travel adventure, I developed the idea of changing the past and how that might lead to the future you are trying to change.  Maybe our interference might just be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  That’s when The Terminator movie struck me as so relevant and important in how I shaped my ideas of time travel.

For those who don’t know, The Terminator is a science fiction adventure where machines take over the world.  The machines are human like cyborgs, ruled by an artificial intelligence program called Skynet, whose sole mission is to annihilate humanity.  In opposition, the resistance was created by John Connor and they are winning the war.  In an effort to prevent the resistance from being founded, the cyborgs send back one of their own, to murder John’s mother Sarah, before he’s born.  To protect her and ensure he is even conceived, he sends back one of his soldiers (his father), to protect her.  Got all that.  So finally to my point, and I realize this all imaginary and takes place on celluloid but really, had the cyborgs never sent back the terminator, John Connor never would have sent back his father and he wouldn’t have been born.  But what can you expect from a bunch of cyborgs anyway?

For me, in She Wulf, you couldn’t just decide one day to go to the past unless you found yourself there when the past was actually the present.  Huh?  Picture it this way.  It’s 2012 and you want to go to the past, let’s say to the year 1900.  You can’t go unless during the year 1900, you actually showed up.  I know, it’s all theory, but that’s how it happened when Annie Pearce finds herself falling through a time portal, back to eleventh century England.  She understands the concept of time travel, of altering the past and how it can affect the future which makes her reluctant to get involved.  But she realizes that she had already been there, in the year 1075, had already altered time and whatever she touched or changed or created, was meant to be touched, changed or created.

So still think time travel is cool?  I know sometimes we’d like a do-over, the ability to change a decision, to not have to live through pain and despair.  But sometimes, these things make us who we are.  Each experience shapes us, each tear, each laugh, adds to our self.  We gain something.  All those things that I’ve experienced, including the loss of a child, made me who I am.  Without that, could I have writtenShe Wulf?

So time travel–can you see it?  What if it was real and I could look at it from a purely joyful perspective, without those darned consequences hanging over my head.  Maybe an afternoon with Elvis would be fun.

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the She Wulf eBook edition is just 99 cents this week–and so is the price of its companion, The Day of First Sun. What’s more, by purchasing either of these fantastic books at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book.

All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes isRIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment–easy to enter; easy to win!

To win the prizes:

1. Purchase your copy of She Wulf for just 99 cents
2. Purchase your copy of Day of First Sun for just 99 cents
3. Enter the Rafflecopter contest on Novel Publicity
4. Visit today’s featured social media event

About She Wulf:  Annie is sent through an ancient time portal with only a prophecy to guide her; she struggles with a new destiny as she tries to figure out a way to destroy an un-killable demon and return home.  Get it on Amazon.

About The Day of First Sun:  A vampire, a rogue wizard and an army of soulless zombies are par for the course for Annie Pearce and Bobby “Cham” Chamsky of the Wizard’s Guard. But when the non-magical princess, Amelie of Amborix, is murdered by magical means, a deeper plot unfolds. Get it on Amazon.

About the author: Behind the wheel of her ’66 Mustang Convertible, Sheryl is a constant surprise, using her sense of humor and relatable style make her books something everyone can enjoy. Visit Sheryl on her website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.

Fiction Freak: Breathless Reads Week Wrap Up! + Giveaway!

Fiction Freak: Breathless Reads Week Wrap Up! + Giveaway!: So here's the overview of BR Week... Interview with Lili Peloquin Interview with Morgan Rhodes Interview with Jessica Khoury Intervie...

Inbetween Blog Tour and Giveaway!

TARA FULLER INBETWEEN BLOG TOUR

Blurb

Since the car crash that took her father’s life two years ago, Emma’s life has been a freaky—and unending—lesson in caution. Surviving “accidents” has taken priority over being a normal seventeen-year-old, so Emma spends her days taking pictures of life instead of living it. Falling in love with a boy was never part of the plan. Falling for a reaper who makes her chest ache and her head spin? Not an option. 

It’s not easy being dead especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate has put on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him hell about spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn’t let her die before, and he’s not about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves from the evil he accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the only thing he has left...his soul.

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Release date: August 28, 2012

Author Bio (Spotlight)

Tara Fuller writes novels; some about grim reapers and some about witches. All of course are delightfully full of teen angst and kissing. Tara grew up in a one stop light town in Oklahoma where once upon a time she stayed up with a flash light reading RL Stine novels and only dreamed of becoming a writer. She has a slight obsession with music and a shameless addiction for zombie fiction, Mystery Science Theater, and black and white mochas. Tara no longer lives in a one stop light town. Now she lives with her family in a slightly larger town in North Carolina where they have at least three stoplights.

www.tarafuller.com | @Tara25Fuller

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Dominion Blog Tour

I am super excited to get to introduce you to Melody Manful and her terrific new book, Dominion.  

Excerpt:
I should have called the police the moment I woke up, but what was I going to say: “Hello. 911. Help. I think I’m going to die because I had a dream that I died?” Yeah, even in my head I sounded ridiculous.

What happened to me was horrifying. It still is. But you won’t read about it in the newspapers, because it never happened.

“It was only a dream.” That was what everyone kept telling me. Nevertheless, they were wrong. What happened to me wasn’t a dream. I was living it. I died that night. I was murdered in a firestorm.

Yet, where I am, I’m alive.

One single white lie isn’t supposed to bring with it a lifetime of obstacles, right?

Wrong!

I lied. I said ‘Yes,’ when I was supposed to say ‘No’, and that was how I got here.

I committed a crime. Handcuff me. Sentence me to life. Execute me. Trust me, death will be a vacation compared to the punishment I’m serving.

“You’re such a terrible liar, Abigail.” This is what everyone I know says whenever I try to key up a lie. Then again, what does everyone I know, know for sure? Nothing!

I wasn’t crazy. No, honestly, before I found myself in ‘wackoland’ I was a walking ray of sunshine. Everything in my over-idolized life was perfect.

Until he came.

First, I thought. Finally. Someone to chase away the monsters underneath my bed, but as it turned out, he didn’t come to chase them away. He was it.

My guardian angel.

And, checkout the cover!  I think its gorgeous.  I especially love her pink dress with the red hand prints  splattered around.  Do we think those are bloody hand prints?   Love it!  What do you think?

 

Bout of Books Goals

I'm participating in Bout of Books. My goal for the week is 5 books! I've spent about 3 hrs reading today and I'm 1/2 way through Insurgent. I'll try to finish it tomorrow. I go back to school for in-service on Wednesday and my next day off will be Monday. I hope to be able to read at least 2 hrs every day during B.o.B.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Mostly YA Book Obsessed: Book Review and Giveaway: Biting Cold by Chloe Nei...

Mostly YA Book Obsessed: Book Review and Giveaway: Biting Cold by Chloe Nei...: Biting Cold: Chicagoland Vampires #6 By Chloe Neill Release Date: 08/07/12 Paperback/e-book 337 pages Book Description from ...

Alluring Reads: The Hallowed Ones Tour Stop

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Mostly YA Book Obsessed: Book Suggestion and Giveaway!

Mostly YA Book Obsessed: Book Suggestion and Giveaway!: Since the Fifty Shades of Grey craze is still going full swing, I thought I would suggest a book/series to you guys.   Now, I have not ...

The Official Blog of author Jennifer L. Armentrout: Official Onyx Trailer and contest

The Official Blog of author Jennifer L. Armentrout: Official Onyx Trailer and contest: I am so excited to share the Official Onyx Trailer with the world today! The trailer debuted on USA Today. You can view it HERE or ...

New Fun Website

Guys, I just found www.Freemakeupandbeautysamples.com. It's a great site. I usually only share bookish things with you, but this was too good to keep to myself!

Go check it out!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Last Day of The Praise of Motherhood Tour

  As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the Praise of Motherhood eBook edition is just 99 cents this week. What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include $500 in Amazon gift cards and 5 autographed copies of the book. All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win! To win the prizes:

1. Purchase your copy of Praise of Motherhood for just 99 cents
2. Enter the Rafflecopter contest on Novel Publicity
3. Visit today’s featured social media event

About the book: Praise of Motherhood is a son's tribute to the woman who not only gave him life, but helped him live: through various psychotic breakdowns, tumultuous teenage years, and years of feeling out of place in the world. Get it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. About the author: Phil Jourdan fronts the lit-rock band Paris and the Hiltons, runs the fiction press Perfect Edge Books, and occasionally works on a PhD. Visit Phil on his blog, music site, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.


If you haven't entered the Rafflecopter giveaway, do it now - today is the last day!


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The Praise of Motherhood Tour - excerpt

Please enjoy this excerpt from Praise of Motherhood, a touching memoir by Phil Jourdan. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including $500 in Amazon gift cards and 5 autographed copies of the book.  

 It was Veterans Day; the Pope spoke into a microphone so the thousands around him could hear his weary voice. And in the airport lounge my sister and I waited for our flight to take off, trying not to listen to the televised broadcast of the Pope’s solemn speech. I held my sister’s hand and heard her say fuck for the first time. “fuck, do you think she’s going to be okay” and I said “I don’t know” and she said “but why aren’t they telling us what’s going on” “I don’t know” “I don’t want mom to die” “I know” “I’m so scared” “I know” and the Pope went on, speaking of the dead, the men whose lives had been lost in a terrible war, and he praised them, their families, for the courage they’d shown. He spoke of Christ, but not much. Sometimes he closed his eyes and paused. From the airport lounge, sitting in front of the television screens, I had to rely on the cameras for a sense of what being there was like. Safe and comfortable and mourning out of patriotic or humanistic duty, in a spirit of contemplation. The Pope did not know that my mother was dying in a little hospital in Portugal. Neither did the lady who announced, on the intercom at the airport, that out of respect for the men who had lost their lives during the war however many decades ago now, we were all invited to stand for two minutes of silence. Everyone else in the lounge stood up, but my sister and I remained in our seats and hugged each other. As far as I knew, my mother was dying or dead, a small, tanned Portuguese woman with curly dark hair and two dogs, two kids, a lovely loving wonderful lady, all of that sob-story stuff. It turned out that when we were waiting for our flight, she was still alive. She would only die in the evening, after the Pope was done speaking and everyone was having dinner and no longer thinking about the veterans. But nobody had warned me. Nobody had warned anyone. Everybody was on the way to Portugal, my uncle, my grandfather, me and my sister, all of us trying to protect someone. They didn’t tell me what had happened until I arrived in Portugal. I didn’t tell my sister everything I knew, which was next to nothing, because I wanted to think I could protect her. I spoke to my father on the phone and he was in tears: “I will be there when you land,” he said, and I said: “but why, what’s going on” “I’m not sure, I’m not sure, but if I were you… oh, Jesus, if I were you I would brace myself for the worst” And he broke into tears and hung up. They had been separated fifteen years. On the plane my sister and I spoke little. I told her it’d be okay. I told her even if the worst happened, I’d be around for her. You’re my little sister. Tell me about Denver. How are classes going? She gave short, bored answers, and she asked me about my life. I told her I’d been about to take the train to Paris from London with a friend when I found out something was wrong with our mom. “but what’s wrong with her” my sister said “I don’t know” “why don’t they just tell us” “because they’re trying to keep us sane” “how can I be sane when my mom is dying all of a sudden” “I really don’t know” When we arrived in Portugal, and I saw my family standing together waiting for us — my grandparents, my father, my aunt — I knew at once there was no hope.

     As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the Praise of Motherhood eBook edition is just 99 cents this week. What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include $500 in Amazon gift cards and 5 autographed copies of the book. All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win! To win the prizes:

1. Purchase your copy of Praise of Motherhood for just 99 cents
2. Enter the Rafflecopter contest on Novel Publicity
3. Visit today’s featured social media event

About the book: Praise of Motherhood is a son's tribute to the woman who not only gave him life, but helped him live: through various psychotic breakdowns, tumultuous teenage years, and years of feeling out of place in the world. Get it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. About the author: Phil Jourdan fronts the lit-rock band Paris and the Hiltons, runs the fiction press Perfect Edge Books, and occasionally works on a PhD. Visit Phil on his blog, music site, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.

The Praise of Motherhood Tour - Interview

Please enjoy this interview with Phil Jourdan, author of the touching memoir, Praise of Motherhood. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including $500 in Amazon gift cards and 5 autographed copies of the book.  
1. Who was your mother? Hey, perhaps the obvious thing is that she was the single greatest person in my life--a woman who set everything aside to help me when I went through a few rocky years, a lover of animals and nature, a professor of mathematics and computer science who worked because she needed something to do… She was that lady who'd bring clothes out to the homeless people in the streets when it was cold. She spoke Portuguese, French, English, and Russian fluently. She took people into her life and made them stronger, happier. She drove very carefully. She was one person among many to die from something as trivial and terrible as an aneurysm; just one out of all the people who died on November 11th, 2009, for no reason, and without saying goodbye to any of us. And, now, she's the subject of my book.

2. Who are you? I'm a bearded, forever-anxious guy in his mid-twenties living in the UK. I'm working on a PhD in Literature and Religion. I have a band, I run a press, I write articles for various publications, and I pace around a lot when I talk about things that interest me.

3. Why did you write Praise of Motherhood? Because I couldn't bear the idea that my mother's death might be just another sad event in the lives of a few people. I wanted my mother to be remembered somehow — not just by those who knew her, but by those who could end up wishing they had known her. It's not easy losing a parent, and I wanted to write my way out of some dark places. To focus on the good things. To remember with gratitude the way she did everything she could to make her children feel okay.

4. Were you a mama's boy? Of course, I was. She was worth the teasing from my young classmates. I loved her even when I was furiously angry with her.


5. When were you furiously angry? From the age of 14 to 16, I was so psychologically unstable that I had to leave school for a while to stay in a private clinic and "recover" — which means they pumped me full of medication and made me sleep for a few weeks. This happened twice. My mother's support was crucial back then, because I was a mess. I hallucinated, I was paranoid, and I wanted to die. Of course, like any screwed up kid, I took it out on my mom. I'd get so angry that I couldn't breathe. Everything seemed to hurt me--physically and emotionally. Because I trusted my mother so much, I took her for granted, too. I knew she wouldn't abandon me if I broke down or lashed out. She was a saint about my outbursts.

6. Is that what Praise of Motherhood is about? In part. What you'll find in Praise of Motherhood is a series of short chapters on various ways I related to my mother. Let me be clear that it's not a book about mothers in general. It's a memoir about my relationship with my mother, before and after her death. It deals with my weird adolescence, then it moves on to questions about her private life that I'll never be able to answer, and then it turns toward fiction. I imagine a world in which mother didn't die on that day. I try to reconstruct conversations I had with her and my father. Then I end the book because I could go on forever and I think it's best to be brief.

7. What was it like to show the book to your family? It was less terrible than I'd anticipated. My great fear was that someone might object to the way I'd written it. It's not "conventional" — there's a scene in which I imagine my mother breaking into pieces and my sister and I have to tape her back together before she accuses me of having killed her. That scene worried me: what if my sister hated it? I'm happy to say it all went well. My sister found that chapter moving, and my grandparents each expressed their support. My father, who hadn't been married to my mother for over a decade, was equally moved and helped me through the various drafts.

8. Is everything you write in Praise of Motherhood true? If you read it, you'll see that some of it is obviously fiction. I don't think the right distinction here is between fiction and nonfiction; it's between truthfulness and untruthfulness. The book is certainly truthful: if I make things up, as in the chapter where I imagine what my mother's "secret life" as an occasional spy might have been like, it's to show what I think about when I wonder about her as a private person. I paint myself pretty much as I was back then: irritable, self-involved, afraid. I paint my mother just as she was: patient, terrified of losing her child, and often helpless but willing to do anything. The events that I depict in the more "conventional" chapters are true. The dialogue is obviously not going to represent exactly what was said, but the spirit of the past is contained within it.

9. Who is this book for? It's for people who have lost someone they loved and want to know how someone else handled their pain. It's for parents who need a reminder that their children can and will end up appreciating all the sacrifices, all the patience, all the secret suffering. And it's for anyone who is interested in teenage depression, psychosis and anxiety, and wants to read a memoir about how those conditions affect family relationships.

10. What's next? A novel that begins with a mother's funeral… and then goes in a totally new direction. I started it just as I was wrapping up Praise of Motherhood, and I was ready to let go of those memories for a while, but the image of my mother's coffin going into the earth has stayed with me so vividly that I had to begin a work of fiction with it. But beyond that, it's an entirely different thing.
    As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the Praise of Motherhood eBook edition is just 99 cents this week. What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include $500 in Amazon gift cards and 5 autographed copies of the book. All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win! To win the prizes:

1. Purchase your copy of Praise of Motherhood for just 99 cents
2. Enter the Rafflecopter contest on Novel Publicity
3. Visit today’s featured social media event

About the book: Praise of Motherhood is a son's tribute to the woman who not only gave him life, but helped him live: through various psychotic breakdowns, tumultuous teenage years, and years of feeling out of place in the world. Get it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. About the author: Phil Jourdan fronts the lit-rock band Paris and the Hiltons, runs the fiction press Perfect Edge Books, and occasionally works on a PhD. Visit Phil on his blog, music site, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads. a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Praise of Motherhood Tour - Guest Post and Giveaway

Please enjoy this guest post by Phil Jourdan, author of the touching memoir, Praise of Motherhood. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including $500 in Amazon gift cards and 5 autographed copies of the book.  

The Story behind this Real-Life Story by Phil Jourdan

  Back in late 2009, when I began working on Praise of Motherhood, I had envisioned a book very different from what I ended up submitting to my publisher. I'd just lost the woman who'd raised me, and when I wasn't sitting around numb and brooding, I was frantically trying to contain the universe of loss and suffering in a single Word document on my laptop. I wanted to write a book that expressed the impossibility of letting go. We're often told, when someone close to us dies, that we have to move on, that things will get better. I couldn't accept this back then: I didn't think it was possible to let go of my mother, who had been so patient and kind during my weird teenage years. The first two versions were entirely different from each other in form and tone, but they did have a certain delight in chaos in common. I was mourning the only way I knew how: by adopting a hundred different voices, each trying to say something about my mother that the others couldn't say. One chapter was pure dialogue; another was a series of letters; for a while I wrote in breathless page-long paragraphs because it was the only way I could feel "honest" about what I felt. I'd swing from rage to self-pity to sadness to bliss to sheer bafflement. It was only when I decided to turn this book into something that others could actually read without going insane that I figured out how to structure a book like this. I cut a great number chapters because they were "honest" but unhelpful. I tried to make myself a sort of antagonist, so my mother's qualities as a human being could be emphasized. I left things relatively ambiguous instead of offering anything like words of wisdom to my readers. I tried to leave the book as open as the wound that stayed after my mother died. This has irritated some people. They ask why I don't provide a real sense of what my mother was like on a day-to-day basis, or why I focused so much on how she affected my life instead of just writing about her, as a person in her own right. Fair questions — but I never set out to just "write about my mom". I wanted to write about the struggle of losing her, and what made losing her so painful. That's why I ask questions in the book that I never really answer: because I was never able to answer them myself. They are questions that will remain. Praise of Motherhood isn't a book praising all mothers across all ages. It's not meant to praise the idea of "motherhood" itself as some glorious ideal. I wrote this book because I wanted to transmit something of my mother to those who didn't know her; those who, perhaps, need to hear that it's okay to say you love your mommy and you wish she could still be here when you feel like crying.
    As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the Praise of Motherhood eBook edition is just 99 cents this week. What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include $500 in Amazon gift cards and 5 autographed copies of the book. All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win! To win the prizes:

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About the book: Praise of Motherhood is a son's tribute to the woman who not only gave him life, but helped him live: through various psychotic breakdowns, tumultuous teenage years, and years of feeling out of place in the world. Get it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. About the author: Phil Jourdan fronts the lit-rock band Paris and the Hiltons, runs the fiction press Perfect Edge Books, and occasionally works on a PhD. Visit Phil on his blog, music site, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads. a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Giveaway!

Im sharing another giveaway that I'm entering. YA scifi fans! Enter the giveaway for a cool 2012 dystopian/post-apocalyptic prize pack over @ The Midnight Garden: bit.ly/R9velw


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What I Plan to Read This Week (Plan is the operative word)

I'm finding that while I love to make these great plans, they rarely work out the way I expect.  So, don't hold me to this - it's just a plan. :)  All covers and synopsis from Goodreads.

To Finish:  
The Eighth Witch (provided by publisher) 
Four centuries ago witch hunters killed the seven Yardley sisters. 

Now Department 18 must battle…the eighth witch!
 
Four hundred years ago six of the seven Yardley sisters—all witches—were hunted down and killed. The seventh lived long enough to give birth to a daughter. Now, centuries later, that daughter has resurfaced in the town of Ravensbridge, more powerful than her mother or aunts ever were. She has honed her powers, can change shape at will, and has only one ambition—to bring her family back from the dead to seek vengeance against the descendants of all who slaughtered them. Ravensbridge once lived in fear of the seven Yardley sisters, but they have yet to experience the terror of…the Eighth Witch.

Never Seduce a Scot (Netgalley)
  Eveline Armstrong is fiercely loved and protected by her powerful clan, but outsiders consider her “touched.” Beautiful, fey, with a level, intent gaze, she doesn’t speak. No one, not even her family, knows that she cannot hear. Content with her life of seclusion, Eveline has taught herself to read lips and allows the outside world to view her as daft. But when an arranged marriage into a rival clan makes Graeme Montgomery her husband, Eveline accepts her duty—unprepared for the delights to come. Graeme is a rugged warrior with a voice so deep and powerful that his new bride can hear it, and hands and kisses so tender and skilled that he stirs her deepest passions.
 
Graeme is intrigued by the mysterious Eveline, whose silent lips are ripe with temptation and whose bright, intelligent eyes can see into his soul. As intimacy deepens, he learns her secret. But when clan rivalries and dark deeds threaten the wife he has only begun to cherish, the Scottish warrior will move heaven and earth to save the woman who has awakened his heart to the beautiful song of a rare and magical love.
Picked up at the Library TBR:  
Deadly Pursuit by Irene Hannon 
  As a social worker, Alison Taylor has a passion for protecting children and seeing that justice is served on their behalf. But when she starts getting harassing phone calls and bizarre "gifts," it seems she may be the one in need of protection. When her tormentor's attentions take a violent turn, her brother Cole comes to her aid, along with his new partner, an ex-Navy SEAL, Detective Mitch Morgan. As her relentless stalker turns up the heat, Mitch takes a personal interest in the case. Protecting Alison has become more than just a job--because his own happiness now depends on keeping her safe. 
Chock full of nail-biting suspense and heart-melting romance, "Deadly Pursuit" is Irene Hannon's storytelling at its very best. Fans old and new will not want to miss the next story in this series starring siblings fighting for justice.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
  One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

"New York Times" bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian "Divergent" series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain (my husband and I are interested since hearing about Paleo dieting from friends)
  Healthy, delicious, and simple, the Paleo Diet is the diet you were designed to eat. If you want to lose weight-up to 75 pounds in six months-or if you want to attain optimal health, The Paleo Diet will do wonders for you. The world's leading expert on Paleolithic (Stone Age) nutrition, Dr. Loren Cordain demonstrates how, by eating all the lean meats and fish, fresh fruits, and nonstarchy vegetables you want, you can lose weight and prevent and treat heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, Syndrome X, and many other illnesses. Over 100 delicious Paleo recipes provide enough flavor and variety to satisfy anyone, and the six weeks of Paleo meal plans get you started on a healthy and enjoyable new way of eating. Start reading and following The Paleo Diet today and eat your way to weight loss, weight control, increased energy, and lifelong health-while enjoying every delicious bite.

Sugarplum Dead by Carolyn Hart (I'm a fan of her Death on Demand series)
   It's getting to look a lot like Christmas on the sea island of Broward's Rock, South Carolina. At the popular Death on Demand mystery bookstore, owner Annie Darling's energetic Yuletide preparations have to be put on hold thanks to several rather inconvenient distractions including a slew of family woes ... and murder.

Annie's mother-in-law Laurel, not normally the straightest of arrows anyway, has taken to chatting up ghosts in the local graveyard. Across the island in a spacious, spooky mansion, ancient onetime movie star Marguerite Dumaney Ladson has called together all her living kin and their multitude of exes for her gala combination Xmas/birthday bash. Among the honored guests are two that Annie could well do without: her errant father, whom she hasn't seen in twenty five years, and Dr. Emory Swanson, Laurel's guide down "The Golden Path."

Like Laurel, wealthy old Rita Dumaney Ladson has fallen for Swanson's new-age-pseudo-occult gobbledygook. The question is: how are the gathered relatives going to react to the grande dame's announcement that she's leaving her fortune to the charismatic charlatan's Evermore Foundation? Not well, apparently,since a murder follows right on the heels of Rita's shocking revelation. And the finger of suspicion seems to be pointing straight at Annie Darling's recently arrived deadbeat dad.

Annie can feel no loyalty toward the father she's never really known, but she doesn't believe for a minute he's guilty. And when a second murder puts her conflicted emotions into an even more chaotic tailspin, Annie realizes that she will need all the help her easy-going PI. husband Max can offer to solve a related pair of homicides. Because, in this season of giving, fate is giving her more major headaches and a killer is giving her more corpses than even the normally unflappable Annie Darling may be able to handle.

A Little Class on Murder by Carolyn Hart, 
  When mystery bookstore owner Annie Laurance is invited to teach "The Three Great Ladies of the Mystery" class at Chastain Community College, the sometime sleuth discovers that all is not strictly academic in Chastain's hallowed halls of learning. And when a shocking scandal in the school newspaper erupts in a suicide and two violent deaths, Professor Laurance enlists the talents of her new hubby, private eye Max Darling, and dons her thinking cap to probe intrigue and vengeance among Chastain's faculty.

A Dangerous Thing

Max and Annie, with dubious help from three of their own great ladies of the mystery -- Annie's pixilated mother-in-law, a batty local dowager, and a Christie crime fanatic -- learn that just about everyone at the school had means, motive, and access to the murder weapons. From the secretly boozing professor of advertising to the muscle-bound campus cad who barters passing grades for a little extracurricular activity, anyone on the faculty is a possible killer -- waiting to strike again!

Meljean Brook's Demon Forged (since reading Iron Duke, I wanted to read more by Brook)
   Acclaimed author Meljean Brook returns to the darkly sensual world of the Guardians with the tale of a prophecy, a devilish bargain, and a doomed love...

Four centuries ago, Guardians Irena and Alejandro would have succumbed to the need burning between them -- if a demon and a monstrous bargain hadn't shattered the possibility of love. Torn apart by her shame, Irena avoided Alejandro for centuries -- until a vampire's call for help threw her into his arms again.

Alejandro can control fire, but he's never been able to control -- or quench -- the flames between him and Irena. And he knows that Irena, hardened by her hatred for demonkind, will never accept that he now works at a demon's behest. But even as he fights for a second chance, a shocking betrayal and a deadly prophecy shake the foundations of the Guardian universe, and all Hell threatens to break loose..

Through the Veil by Shiloh Walker (my first Walker book)
   Found wandering in a field as a child, Lee Ross was given a name by the state and put in a foster home—without anyone realizing she wasn’t entirely human. All her life, she’s tried to forget the odd dreams that have plagued her, of monsters creeping through the night and a man fighting demons by her side. But the bruises she wakes with are all too real to ignore… Then the man from her dreams appears—in the flesh. His name is Kalen—and he insists that her destiny lies in his world, the world of her dreams. To save their people, he must convince Lee to give up everything she knows, follow her heart, and cross over into the Under Realm—even though once she does, she’ll never be able to return…


Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
  In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Yet none of them relishes killing more than Wrath, the leader of The Black Dagger Brotherhood.
 
The only purebred vampire left on earth, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who murdered his parents centuries ago. But, when one of his most trusted fighters is killed-leaving his half-breed daughter unaware of his existence or her fate-Wrath must usher her into the world of the undead-a world of sensuality beyond her wildest dreams.
Contest Winnings and Other Goodies:  
Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer

  Gigi, Bea, and Neerja are best friends and total overachievers. Even if they aren't the most popular girls in school, they aren't too worried. They know their "real" lives will begin once they get to their Ivy League colleges. There will be ivy, and there will be cute guys in the libraries (hopefully with English accents) But when an unexpected event shows them they're missing out on the full high school experience, it's time to come out of the honors lounge and into the spotlight. They make a pact: They will each take on their greatest challenge--and they will totally "rock" it.

Gigi decides to run for student rep, but she'll have to get over her fear of public speaking--and go head-to-head with gorgeous California Will. Bea used to be one of the best skiers around, until she was derailed. It could be time for her to take the plunge again. And Neerja loves the drama club but has always stayed behind the scenes--until now.

These friends are determined to show the world that smart girls really can get what they want--but that could mean getting way more attention than they ever bargained for. . . 

Midnight Promises by Sheryl Woods
   When Elliott Cruz first courted struggling single mom Karen Ames, it it was a romance worthy of any Sweet Magnolia fantasy. The sexy personal trainer made it his mission to restore Karen's strength--physical and emotional--and to charm her children.Now, a few years into the marriage, colliding dreams threaten to tear a few years into the marriage, colliding dreams threaten to tear them them apart. Elliott's desire to finance the business opportunity of a lifetime with their hard-earned "baby money" stirs Karen's deep-rooted financial insecurities. It's the discovery that their brother-in-law is cheating on Elliott's sister--and thinks it's justified--that puts their irreconcilable differences into perspective. Will their own loving fidelity be a bond so strong they can triumph against all odds?


Highland Surrender by Dawn Halliday
  Determined to put his roguish past behind him, the Earl of Camdonn arranges to marry the proper Lady Elizabeth. But when an accident lands the Earl in the expert hands of a beautiful Highland medicine woman, all well-laid plans are thrown to the wind- and, just as in the old days, his passions run high...

Ceana MacNab has terrible luck with men. Resigning herself to the healing arts, she has steeled her heart against love. Then fate sends Cam her way. Even though he's a well-bred Earl-and Ceana a low-born Highlander-their all-consuming passion may lead the way to lasting bliss.

Okay, that's it for this week's TBR list.  Have you read any of these?  What did you think?  What's on your list for this week?