10 Things that make me smile. #smile #amwriting

In honor of Lifeboat makiing it to #10 on Amazon's best seller list, I thought I'd share a list of ten things that make me smile - in no specific order. 

1. The sparkle in my daughter's eyes when she's happy.

2. Farmers that share their whimsy with passers by.

Lifeboat made it to #10 on Amazon's Best Seller List - thank you! #amreading #Lifeboat

The bible and aliens = Xposure by Phillip T. Hopersberger #amreading #bookreview #aliens

I went searching through Amazon the other day looking for something that would pique my interest. I've been in a bit of a mood lately where really just nothing looks good. I've got literally over 1,000 books on my Kindle but don't want to read any of them at the moment.

I came across Xposure while perusing sci-fi books and using keywords aliens and post-apocalyptic. I read the sample on Amazon and it looked like something that would be right up my alley - a cross between "Ancient Alien" theories and conspiracy theories. It didn't hurt that the author was from Michigan.

Waxing Lyrical - a highly personal blog post #amwriting #naturesbeauty

Some of you have told me you like it when my blog posts are more personal. If you were one of those, well then this post is for you.

There is a darkness inside me. 

Sunset

Not an evilness of spirit. Not a hatred or violence toward my fellow man and woman. It contains no malevolence for anyone but me. It is a dark, morose, sometimes-nearly-hopeless part of me that I am in near constant battle with. There has always been a darkness of spirit within my soul, but it has primarily lain dormant. Seven years ago now several major blows occurred to my emotional well-being within a very short time frame, beating me down to a low point - a frightening point - and I have never fully recovered. I suspect I never will. My husband is the only reason I survived that period at all.

The darkness saw it's chance and grasped a tighter hold on my soul, feeding on my weakness. It is a vile, excrutiating, pus-filled, cancerous emotional tumor, that grows year by year as life adds painful experiences and my emotional resilience continues to erode like rocks in the sea with the constant wear of water and sand. I fear one day it will completely consume me.

Guest post and Amazon GC giveaway from Nate Rocks the City author Karen Pokras Toz! #amwriting #naterocks #giveaway

http://bit.ly/amznNRTC,http://bit.ly/bnNRTCity,

Download with AllDebrid

http://bit.ly/amznNRTC,http://bit.ly/bnNRTCity,

Download with AllDebrid

I have a very special treat for you today my lovelies! Karen Pokras Toz, award winning author of the Nate Rocks books as well as other middle grade fiction and fiction for adults, has stopped by on her tour to talk to us about the differences between writing for adults vs. writing for children and to offer a little giveaway for all you wonderful Nate fans! Hi Karen. So glad you stopped by. Give us the scoop.

Good stuff and bad stuff - Pretty Little Liars books 2 - 12 by Sara Shepard #amreading #PLL

 So I recently reviewed the first book in this series and admitted the Pretty Little Liars TV show is my guilty pleasure. Click here for that review. I still think the covers in this book series are just awful. But I digress.

I decided to read the books because I got impatient with the show. We are in the midst of season four and getting nowhere fast. I'm an impatient person overall, so I thought I could read the books and get my fix, getting ahead of the show.

Oops. Didn't quite work like that. While book one (other than the physical descriptions of the characters) mostly matched up with the TV series, books 2 through 12 certainly don't. Somehow I erroneously had the impression book 12 was the last in the series. It's not. There are 15 and soon to be at least 16 books.


Despite the HUGE differences between the TV series and the books I was quite happy reading along up through book 8. In book 8 we get some resolution. We find out who A really is and really, this series should have ended here.

Meet author Tammy Morea #amwriting #amreading #augustmoon

Abites - today on the blog I'd like to introduce you to a brand new author - one to watch out for! Her name is Tammy Morea and her new book August Moon is coming in May 2014.

Isn't the cover gorgeous?

Welcome Tammy - please tell us about yourself...

So here’s my story….

For as far back as I can remember I have loved to read books, thanks to my Mom an avid reader herself.  During my middle school years, I came to fall in love with creative writing. I started writing poems and short stories, and my favorite project was a book report, since it combined my two favorite things: reading and writing. 

Launching The Beacon Book Trailer #amreading #booktrailer

This week I launched my brand new book trailer for The Beacon on YouTube. Take a look.

Does it make you want to read The Beacon? 

eBook review copies are available on request.

Kathryn Fox keeps me guessing with Malicious Intent #amreading #bookreview

Malicious Intent is the first book featuring heroine Anya Crichton - a forensic pathologist.

I previously reviewed Blood Born - a later book in this series - wherein I complained that we didn't get enough of Anya's back story. Well this book explains why. It is all here, which makes sense since this is the first book. After having read this one, Anya is a much more sympathetic and relatable character than I got from her in the later book. Now that I understand her a bit more it does change my view of her a little bit, for the better.

In this book, she is investigating links between several young women who have committed suicide but have similar unusual fibers found in their lungs. It's a good mystery, and I, who pride myself on figuring out where a story is headed, didn't get there with this one until near the end, so kudos to Kathryn Fox for keeping me guessing.