The Blog Post With Book News!!
First, let me say I’m uber sorry for not keeping up to date with blogging. My disorder flared up and I’ve been really under the weather. Though I have been doing lots of painting! I promise to be better……and you’ll…
Blog Tour: by Carol Riggs The Body Institute and GIVEAWAY! @Artzicarol
I love the concept of The Body Institute–switching bodies for somebody else to lose weight for you. The Coloradan part of me wants to cheer and root, I’ll be the Reducer for other people!! I’ll help them lose weight!!
But let’s face it. I’m extraordinarily lazy. True story–when I’m at home, I wear stretchy pants so I don’t have to deal with buttons after going to the bathroom. And on the rare occasion I actually have jeans on…I don’t see the point in buttoning since I’m not in public and will only have to unbutton, like, an hour later.
Drives husband nuts.
So…reality…I’d definitely be hiring a Reducer.
If you are a fan of Starters by Lissa Price, then you definitely want to pick this book up. Or if you’re a fan of books with body issue themes set in a sci-fi world–then, yeah. Buy buy buy.
If you only want to test your luck, then enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card here! (you have to scroll down a little on the page) I always think of gift cards in terms of book currency–as in, how many novels can I get with this?
Meet Morgan Dey, one of the top teen Reducers at The Body Institute.
Thanks to cutting-edge technology, Morgan can temporarily take over another girl’s body, get her in shape, and then return to her own body—leaving her client slimmer, more toned, and feeling great. Only there are a few catches…
For one, Morgan won’t remember what happens in her “Loaner” body. Once she’s done, she won’t recall walks with her new friend Matt, conversations with the super-cute Reducer she’s been text-flirting with, or the uneasy feeling she has that the director of The Body Institute is hiding something. Still, it’s all worth it in the name of science. Until the glitches start…
Suddenly, residual memories from her Loaner are cropping up in Morgan’s mind. She’s feeling less like herself and more like someone else. And when protests from an anti–Body Institute organization threaten her safety, she’ll have to decide if being a Reducer is worth the cost of her body and soul…
Carol was so kind and gave us the top 10 Reasons why we should be a Reducer at THE BODY INSTITUTE, where weight loss needs are met…
Blog Tour and Amazon Gift Card Giveaway: Hydro by AC Waltower @acwaltower
Hydro is a YA sci-fi and the first in a new series. You can enter into the $25 Amazon gift card giveaway here through Rafflecopter!
The year is 2091. 75 years ago, a nuclear war desolated Earth. The top 2% of the world fled to Hydro, a compound on the Moon. The rest of the population were left trying to survive on a barren Earth.
Seventeen-year-old Blake lives on Earth with his dad and little brother. When Blake’s father is given the grave sentence of terminal cancer, Blake decides to save his dad by sneaking onto Hydro and making a deal with Hydro’s council. In exchange for them saving his dad, he will give them the answer to everyone’s problem; the location of a new habitable planet.
The unexpected and unannounced arrival of Blake leaves many citizens with mixed feelings, none more confusing than those of sixteen-year-old Ziva. The more she learns about Blake and where he comes from, the more she learns that not everything she is being told about the situation on Earth in true, including those told by her beloved grandfather. Why has he been lying to her? And more importantly what is he hiding from her?
Here’s an excerpt for you!
I walk into my quarters. Instantly, my senses go off. Someone is here. I scan the dark
room. There is a figure sitting in a chair in the dark.
Review: The Young Elites by @Marie_Lu (and a NaNo check in!)
Three days in, how is NaNoWriMo going for you all? Have you been keeping up? If not, don’t worry! There are still plenty of days ahead :) I’ve honestly been surprised by what I've gotten done so far. I've already…
Book Blitz and GIVEAWAY: Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner @tianawarner
Not only can you enter a rafflecopter giveaway for a signed copy here, but during this week Ice Massacre is FREE on Amazon. Major cheering over here.
(Instead of giving the official synopsis, I thought I’d give this instead 🙂 )
Give us the tweet-sized version of what Ice Massacre is about.
A teenage girl is sent to battle the hostile mermaids that are driving her people into poverty. A story of love, secrets, and ass-kicking.
What makes Ice Massacre unique?
First, I haven’t seen a lot out there that portrays mermaids for what they really are: flesh-eating sea demons. But I think what also sets it apart is its almost entirely female cast. This island decides to send female warriors to kill the mermaids that plague them, because women don’t fall victim to a mermaid’s supernatural allure. We end up with an all-female war on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Meela, an aboriginal girl who’s never been away from the tiny island she calls home, also has a pretty unique journey of self-discovery. I don’t want to reveal too much. But I think a lot of aspects make this story unconventional.
What’s your favorite thing about the book?
I love Meela’s antagonists. Meela’s a tough chick and she has a lot coming at her from all directions. Writing those opposing forces was so much fun.
What’s next for you as a writer?
The sequel! This is the first in a trilogy, and I’m hard at work on book two: Ice Crypt.
Doesn’t this sound awesome? I love fantastic mermaid books, but I love how it’s not-your-average beauty with a tail. Warner also gave us some creativity-boosting tips:
Have you ever sat up in the middle of the night to write down a sudden stroke of inspiration? Or made a quick voice memo to yourself? Maybe jotted down a plot twist idea while you’re supposed to be working or studying?
For a lot of writers, creativity comes in waves. This is great if those waves are thrashing around like stormy seas, but at some point a writer is bound to hit a flat spot. And not the kind of flat spot that’s great for water skiing. This is the kind that leaves you stuck in the middle of the lake wondering how the heck you’re ever going to get back to shore.
Here are three tips to keep those creativity waves coming:
The Makings of a Book Cover: The Undead: Playing for Keeps Blog Tour by Elsie Elmore
Want a FREE copy? Not only can you enter the Goodreads GIVEAWAY here, enter the RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY here. Or–leave a comment below to win a ereader copy (courtesy of Xpresso Book Tours). I will use a random number generator next Sunday at 11:59 EST to select this winner.
You can also buy the book on Amazon and at Barns and Nobles.
I’m excited to be here on Abby J. Reed’s blog to talk about my new release,
The Undead: Playing for Keeps. I’ve known Abby for two years, but it seems much longer. We started as classmates in an online class, then became CPs. She’s an awesome writer and artist, which makes her blog the perfect places to share the journey to make my cover.
Step 1 : Complete the info sheet
Curiosity Quills, my publisher, has created an awesome information sheet for their authors. The goal is to think about the cover in a visceral way: what colors should be present? What emotions should the image evoke? What feeling should resonate with the reader? Bottom line.. What gut reaction do you want? The immediate answer has “buy me” somewhere buried in there, but that is not the focus. Your cover needs to reflect some element of the story.
I turned to my CP’s and beta readers to poll their thoughts as well. This worksheet was first completed in December, less than a month after I signed the contract with CQ, and then again in March. Looking back, my December ideas were a little vague. But after working with an editor for a few months, my cover ideas became more clear and better represented the story the second time around.
Colors and feelings were two components I needed to address during this process. For colors, I thought of reds and blacks (this probably had a lot to do with the fact that red is my favorite color.) And feelings… I wanted the reader to feel a sense of mystery and maybe a touch of foreboding when they looked at the cover.
Step 2 : Sketch out a few ideas.
The Undead is told through two different POVs (thanks to the editing process). Part of the story comes from Eric, a grim reaper. Since there were so many YA books with pictures of girls on the front, I decided I’d rather focus on Eric than Lyla. I sketched out a few ideas that might represent the story line. Eric’s music was always a key element I wanted to highlight.
Step 3 : Meet the artist
I was introduced to Alexandria Thompson from GothicFate.com in the beginning of April. She was the graphic artist I was assigned by CQ. (Go now, check out her work here and see why I was thrilled with the match-up.)
But a few days before we made contact, a new idea came to me… a male hand holding a set of keys. I can’t deny that the idea felt brilliant. Especially if the tokens on the key chain represented different facets of the story. So when Alexandria and I started exchanging emails, I shared my thoughts.