I Found You by Jane Lark release day blitz (guest post + giveaway)

Today I welcome author Jane Lark who's New Adult Romance I Found You launches today!  Please enjoy her guest post, learn a little more about the book and enter her launch day giveaway.


Researching a modern story by Jane Lark

Research? I hear you query… I am used to writing historical stories - think Pride and Prejudice/ Downton Abbey, only they are a lot more spicy ;) . Those obviously require a lot of research to create a genuine back drop for the stories. For those stories I read memoirs and letters of the period and visit lots of houses to get a feel for how people lived in the 1800s. But why would I need to research a modern story, I know what it’s like to live in 2013?

Because I don’t know what it’s like to live Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass (DUMBO) in New York in 2013, which is the setting for Jason’s and Rachel’s story.
So how did I find out? Well the modern day version of memoirs for a start, I searched for blog posts from people who lived there, or visited there. One talked about how Manhattan Bridge was rarely used by people because of the noise of the subway trains which crossed it, another spoke about the view of Brooklyn Bridge, and another spoke about the only people you really saw were young men jogging. Well then, Jason immediately became a runner. Other people talked about properties there, and I looked up the local mall, places to go out in Manhattan and what Times Square was like… lots :)

Then I discovered the Brooklyn bridge park, another place people said was not a really busy area, and a perfect, beautiful, setting for some of Rachel’s and Jason’s more moving moments.
But other than that, there’s another awesome tool open to an author in the 21st century. Google maps little man. I can put him in a street anywhere and get him to walk along it and see exactly what a street looks like. I had him walk on the Manhattan Bridge, and around the access to it, and then all around the streets in DUMBO, and the Brooklyn Bridge park. Such a clever tool. I used Google maps to research Jason’s home town in Oregon too.

I have a sister-in-law who lives in Klamath Falls in Oregon, but Klamath was far too big, I wanted a small town for the place Jason called home. So I researched the populations of towns in Oregon, and picked on a place to base Jason’s home town on, although I don’t give it a name in the book as I didn’t want to be bound by this exact town. But I did research blog posts about this one town and viewed it all on Google maps, so that the fictional home town I developed for Jason, could be a real place in Oregon.

So, you may think there’s no research to a modern book, but actually if you want to make it real, there is.

I also had to do a lot of research on Rachel, but if I told you all that it would be a huge spoiler for the story ;)…

I Found You by Jane Lark  
Publisher Harper Impulse

Publishing date 5th December 2013

Tomorrow is for regrets. Tonight is for being together.

On a cold winter night, Rachel and Jason’s lives collide on Manhattan Bridge. She’s running from life, he’s running toward it. But compassion urges him to help her.

His offer of a place to stay leads to friendship and trouble. There’s his fiancée back home in Oregon and a family who just don’t trust this girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

But when the connection between them is so electric, so right… everyone else must be wrong. And as the snow begins to settle on the Hudson, there’s nothing but the possibility of what could be – of this, right here, right now. Them.



About the Author

Jane is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional Historical and New Adult Romances.

She began her first novel at sixteen, but a life full of difficulty derailed her as she lives with the restrictions of Ankylosing Spondylitis.

When she finally completed a novel it was because she was determined to be able to say I’m a writer.

Now Jane is thrilled to be giving her characters life in others’ imaginations at last.

Jane is also a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, and uses her knowledge of psychology to bring her characters to life.

‘Basically I’m a sucker for a love story. I love the feeling of falling in love and it’s wonderful to be able to do it time and time again in fiction, plus my understanding of people helps me write the really intense relationships I enjoy creating.’

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter


Giveaway:

It's launch day and the author is running a giveaway of a rucksack.  This giveaway is International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Guest Post: Karen Essex on Dracula in Love with Anne Fortier, author of Juliet

Today I have a wonderful guest post with Anne Fortier, author of Juliet, interviewing Karen Essex, author of Dracula in Love which I reviewed here.  Enjoy the interview.


Anne Fortier: With Dracula in Love you take us back to the very dawn of vampire
literature, namely Bram Stoker’s groundbreaking novel Dracula from 1897. What
inspired you to revisit this old classic and recreate the horrible events of 1890?

Karen Essex: I’d date the dawn of vampire literature to John Polidori’s short story, “The
Vampyre,” written on that fateful weekend in 1816 when Mary Shelley began
Frankenstein. But you’re right, it was Stoker’s Dracula that gave birth to the vampire
novel and spawned hundreds, if not thousands of incarnations and variations.

I have loved all-things-vampire since childhood, when I first saw “Dark Shadows” on
television and fell for Barnabas and Quentin. All my novels are loaded with mythology,
and all my novels present a different side of, or tell a new story about iconic women.
Plus I was raised by very spooky old ladies who conjured spirits and dabbled in the
occult. Given all of those factors, when the idea of writing the Dracula tale from Mina
Harker’s perspective descended on me—and that’s literally how it happened—I found it
irresistible.

I don’t think a literary writer has taken on Dracula since Elizabeth Kostova’s enthralling
book, The Historian. There’s a lot of hastily written vampire fiction out there (I don’t
mean the Twilight series, which for my taste is imaginative, page-turning YA material),
which will never appeal to more demanding readers, self included. I love genre-crossing,
and I love the fusion of high and low art. I wrote something I wanted to experience;
something I would want to read.

AF: In Bram Stoker’s novel, Mina Murray was a secondary character, but you have
made her the heroine. What is it about her that makes your Mina so much more
interesting than Bram Stoker’s Mina?

KE: I revere Bram Stoker, so I am reluctant to say that I have given the reader a “better”
Mina. But from the first time I read Dracula as a teenager, I knew that Mina was not
satisfied with her role as the quintessential Victorian virgin. I wanted to give her more
breadth and dimension and place her firmly in the reality of women’s lives in the 1890s.
Bringing the late Victorian period to life, with all its paradoxes, constraints, and massive
societal shifts was one of the great joys of writing this book.

Another motive for re-imagining Stoker’s novel from the female perspective was the
hyper-misogyny of the original. Today, the book is often read as a cautionary tale against
the unbridling of female sexuality at the end of the 19th century. In Dracula in Love, I
wanted to turn the original story inside out and expose its underbelly or its “subconscious

mind.” I wanted to deconstruct the good girl versus bad girl paradigm that Stoker’s
females, Mina and Lucy Westenra, embodied—a construct I would personally like to
smash to bits before I die. Frankly, I would like to become a vampire so that I could
devote an eternity to eradicating it. Women will never, ever be happy and fulfilled if we
have to live this dichotomy.

As inexplicable as this sounds, from the moment that the idea descended on me, Mina
started revealing her secrets. Believe me, when this kind of provocative material is
whispered in your ear, you naturally want to reveal it to your readers.

AF: One of the fascinating things about Dracula in Love is that the line between monster
and man is blurry. In fact, some of the most monstrous scenes of the book take place at a
mental asylum. Can you tell us a bit about the research you’ve done, and why the asylum
in your book has become such a terrifying place?

KE: Mina says in the prologue that we must fear monsters less and be warier of our own
kind. My literary conceit for the book was that women in the late Victorian era had a lot
more to fear from their own society than from vampires.

In Stoker’s novel, we meet only one inmate at Dr. Seward’s asylum, the insect-
eating Renfield. I wanted to portray these asylums as they were—filled with women
incarcerated for exhibiting what we today would consider normal sexual desires.
Victorian asylums for the insane were convenient dumping grounds for women
whose husbands wanted to be rid of them, or children who wanted to control their
mother’s fortunes. I read many books of psychiatry written in the period, and I also
went into the archives of these asylums where I discovered case after shocking case.
The thinking about women’s bodies and women’s sexuality, and the “treatment” for
female “hysterical” maladies are as shocking as anything I have ever read—much more
horrific than anything I have researched or studied in any other period of history.

AF: What is it about unbridled female sexuality that is so appalling to men?

KE: Appalling and intoxicating, of course, which is a difficult combination to bear. I
think it’s important to separate “men” from “society.” We cannot blame “men” for the
power arrangements that have evolved through history. We must factor in biology,
geography, psychology, warfare, survival, technology, agriculture, and a host of other
elements that have led us to where we are today.

Societies seek to control female sexuality because it’s the easiest way to keep hierarchal
structures intact and to control the culture at large. Nobody wants to give up power,
and let’s face it, on top of that, women are scary creatures! We literally think with our
feelings, which is unfathomable to that other sex that values logic and fact. Sexually,
we mystify men in ways that they are drawn to and are also repulsed by. Men feel quite
vulnerable to women’s sexual power, and as the “stronger” sex, they do not like being
defenseless. Who can blame them? I’m not so fond of it myself.

AF: In your book it takes Mina a while to understand her own psychic powers, and quite
often, the spirit world looks suspiciously like her own subconscious mind. How difficult
was it to enter that grey-zone and describe her erotic encounters with her shape-shifting
lover?

KE: Honestly, nothing is easier and more natural for me. I spend a good amount of time
exploring the spirit world as well as my own subconscious landscape, so I can slip into
that dreamy space at will, although describing it on the page can leave me quite spent,
as it were. I also have no problem writing about sex. Though I am a fairly understated
person, and can also be quite old-fashioned sometimes in my thinking about gender
arrangements, I am not at all mortified to write about erotic sexual encounters of all
kinds. I just reread one such scene in my first novel, Kleopatra, and I thought, wow, how
did I have the nerve to put that in there? I’ve just written a piece for Publisher’s Weekly
about the absence of visceral, transporting descriptions of sex in literary fiction, which
I specifically wanted to challenge in Dracula in Love. I don’t know why we still feel
the need to heap shame and self-loathing upon female characters (and our actual female
persons) for their sexual experimentation, but we do. I think that as writers, as readers,
and as a culture, we need to examine these things.

AF: Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published more than a century ago, and yet readers
never seem to tire of the vampire theme. What is it about the vampire that makes it such a
compelling monster?

KE: The role of the vampire has shifted dramatically in recent years. Vampires used
to reflect our fears but now they reflect our fantasies. My theory is that while every
generation has longed for a fountain of youth, today we have many youth-extending
tools that enable us to reject the very idea of aging. It seems to me that humans today
downright abhor the idea of mortality. We live in a youth-seeking, youth-worshipping
society—on steroids. We have stem cell treatments, hormone therapies, cosmetic surgery
both invasive and noninvasive, and loads of medicines that can keep us alive past our
expiration date. We are very close to being vampires already. I sometimes run into people
who look younger than they looked twenty years ago!

The pop-culture vampires of today are not the monsters who corrupt and destroy but
magical creatures possessing what we lust for—eternal youth and immortality. The
vampires of the Twilight series are glamorous “vegetarians,” only eating wild beasts and
devoting themselves to protecting human life. They are de-fanged, so to speak, and far
from losing their immortal souls, have highly evolved consciences. We are vampirizing
ourselves and at the same time, humanizing the monsters. Fascinating, no?

For more on Dracula in Love check out these links:

• Dracula in Love Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgHRtNHZiQI
• Link to tour schedule:  http://hfvirtualbooktours.blogspot.com/2011/07/virtual-book-tour-dracula-in-love-by.html
• Karen's Website:  http://www.karenessex.com/
• Karen's Blog:  http://www.karenessex.com/blog/
• Karen's Facebook Page:  http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=1060811184

This or That with Author Margie Gelbwasser (Inconvenient)

Today I welcome Margie Gelbwasser and her characters from Inconvenient to My Reading Room. They are here today to answer my This or That questions.  Be sure to check out Inconvenient, it's a wonderful thought-provoking and entertaining read. My review is here.

Pop Tart or Cereal?

Alyssa: Pop Tart? What's that? Unless it's a form of a Russian pancake, my parents don't have it.

Sports Car or Sedan?

Ryan: The honies like the sports car, yo!

Boyfriend or Best friend?

Lana: Best friend, duh. Unless my boyfriend wants to hang out RIGHT NOW. Then, my bff would understand, right? 

Texting or Facebook?

Trish: Facebook was so yesterday.

Math or English?

Alyssa: Numbers, of course!

School or Cross Country?

Alyssa: Cross country, but don't tell my dad.

Dogs or Cats?

Trish: Whatever—as long as it doesn't shed on my Juicy sweats.

Hot popular guy, or hunky shy, slightly geeky guy?

Lana: Who'd want a geeky guy? No offense.

College or year off?

Keith: How about college abroad? I can get out of this place and Alyssa can visit.

Nickelback or Daughtry?

Keith: Is there a difference? I'm going with The Cure.

(Crystal:  Okay it's official - I like Keith even more for picking an older band!)

Lying when needed or complete honesty?

Jake: What's honesty?

Ryan: Lying. Holla!

Trish: Ryan, you're a tool. But, yeah, no one needs to know everything.

Alyssa: Some things shouldn't be talked about in front of everyone.

Keith: I'm with Al.

Lana: Oh please. Who tells the whole truth?

Short hair or Long hair?

Alyssa: Short. Less hassle for running.

Thank you Alyssa, Lana, Trish, Keith, Jake and Ryan for joining us today (and Margie).  I found this post a lot of fun!
 

***I received this book from the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way except receiving the book for free.  I do not receive money for my amazon links since I live in NC (something about some law), so they are up purely for my readers to have a place to check out the book.***

Guest Post: Converstion between Anne Fortier (Juliet) and Karen Essex (Dracula in Love)

Enjoy this conversation between authors Anne Fortier (Juiet) and Karen Essex (Dracula in Love).  My Review of Dracula in Love will be coming later today.


Anne Fortier: With Dracula in Love you take us back to the very dawn of vampire literature, namely Bram Stoker’s groundbreaking novel Dracula from 1897. What inspired you to revisit this old classic and recreate the horrible events of 1890?

Karen Essex: I’d date the dawn of vampire literature to John Polidori’s short story, “The Vampyre,” written on that fateful weekend in 1816 when Mary Shelley began Frankenstein. But you’re right, it was Stoker’s Dracula that gave birth to the vampire novel and spawned hundreds, if not thousands of incarnations and variations.

I have loved all-things-vampire since childhood, when I first saw “Dark Shadows” on television and fell for Barnabas and Quentin. All my novels are loaded with mythology, and all my novels present a different side of, or tell a new story about iconic women.  Plus I was raised by very spooky old ladies who conjured spirits and dabbled in the occult. Given all of those factors, when the idea of writing the Dracula tale from Mina Harker’s perspective descended on me—and that’s literally how it happened—I found it
irresistible.

I don’t think a literary writer has taken on Dracula since Elizabeth Kostova’s enthralling book, The Historian. There’s a lot of hastily written vampire fiction out there (I don’t mean the Twilight series, which for my taste is imaginative, page-turning YA material), which will never appeal to more demanding readers, self included. I love genre-crossing, and I love the fusion of high and low art. I wrote something I wanted to experience; something I would want to read.

AF: In Bram Stoker’s novel, Mina Murray was a secondary character, but you have made her the heroine. What is it about her that makes your Mina so much more interesting than Bram Stoker’s Mina?

KE: I revere Bram Stoker, so I am reluctant to say that I have given the reader a “better” Mina. But from the first time I read Dracula as a teenager, I knew that Mina was not satisfied with her role as the quintessential Victorian virgin. I wanted to give her more breadth and dimension and place her firmly in the reality of women’s lives in the 1890s. Bringing the late Victorian period to life, with all its paradoxes, constraints, and massive societal shifts was one of the great joys of writing this book.

Another motive for re-imagining Stoker’s novel from the female perspective was the hyper-misogyny of the original. Today, the book is often read as a cautionary tale against the unbridling of female sexuality at the end of the 19th century. In Dracula in Love, I wanted to turn the original story inside out and expose its underbelly or its “subconscious mind.” I wanted to deconstruct the good girl versus bad girl paradigm that Stoker’s females, Mina and Lucy Westenra, embodied—a construct I would personally like to smash to bits before I die. Frankly, I would like to become a vampire so that I could devote an eternity to eradicating it. Women will never, ever be happy and fulfilled if we have to live this dichotomy.

As inexplicable as this sounds, from the moment that the idea descended on me, Mina started revealing her secrets. Believe me, when this kind of provocative material is whispered in your ear, you naturally want to reveal it to your readers.

AF: One of the fascinating things about Dracula in Love is that the line between monster and man is blurry. In fact, some of the most monstrous scenes of the book take place at a mental asylum. Can you tell us a bit about the research you’ve done, and why the asylum in your book has become such a terrifying place?

KE: Mina says in the prologue that we must fear monsters less and be warier of our own kind. My literary conceit for the book was that women in the late Victorian era had a lot more to fear from their own society than from vampires.

In Stoker’s novel, we meet only one inmate at Dr. Seward’s asylum, the insect-eating Renfield. I wanted to portray these asylums as they were—filled with women incarcerated for exhibiting what we today would consider normal sexual desires.  Victorian asylums for the insane were convenient dumping grounds for women whose husbands wanted to be rid of them, or children who wanted to control their mother’s fortunes. I read many books of psychiatry written in the period, and I also went into the archives of these asylums where I discovered case after shocking case. The thinking about women’s bodies and women’s sexuality, and the “treatment” for female “hysterical” maladies are as shocking as anything I have ever read—much more horrific than anything I have researched or studied in any other period of history.

AF: What is it about unbridled female sexuality that is so appalling to men?

KE: Appalling and intoxicating, of course, which is a difficult combination to bear. I think it’s important to separate “men” from “society.” We cannot blame “men” for the power arrangements that have evolved through history. We must factor in biology, geography, psychology, warfare, survival, technology, agriculture, and a host of other elements that have led us to where we are today.

Societies seek to control female sexuality because it’s the easiest way to keep hierarchal structures intact and to control the culture at large. Nobody wants to give up power, and let’s face it, on top of that, women are scary creatures! We literally think with our feelings, which is unfathomable to that other sex that values logic and fact. Sexually, we mystify men in ways that they are drawn to and are also repulsed by. Men feel quite vulnerable to women’s sexual power, and as the “stronger” sex, they do not like being defenseless. Who can blame them? I’m not so fond of it myself.

AF: In your book it takes Mina a while to understand her own psychic powers, and quite often, the spirit world looks suspiciously like her own subconscious mind. How difficult was it to enter that grey-zone and describe her erotic encounters with her shape-shifting lover?

KE: Honestly, nothing is easier and more natural for me. I spend a good amount of time exploring the spirit world as well as my own subconscious landscape, so I can slip into that dreamy space at will, although describing it on the page can leave me quite spent, as it were. I also have no problem writing about sex. Though I am a fairly understated person, and can also be quite old-fashioned sometimes in my thinking about gender arrangements, I am not at all mortified to write about erotic sexual encounters of all
kinds. I just reread one such scene in my first novel, Kleopatra, and I thought, wow, how did I have the nerve to put that in there? I’ve just written a piece for Publisher’s Weekly about the absence of visceral, transporting descriptions of sex in literary fiction, which I specifically wanted to challenge in Dracula in Love. I don’t know why we still feel the need to heap shame and self-loathing upon female characters (and our actual female persons) for their sexual experimentation, but we do. I think that as writers, as readers,
and as a culture, we need to examine these things.

AF: Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published more than a century ago, and yet readers never seem to tire of the vampire theme. What is it about the vampire that makes it such a compelling monster?

KE: The role of the vampire has shifted dramatically in recent years. Vampires used to reflect our fears but now they reflect our fantasies. My theory is that while every generation has longed for a fountain of youth, today we have many youth-extending tools that enable us to reject the very idea of aging. It seems to me that humans today downright abhor the idea of mortality. We live in a youth-seeking, youth-worshipping
society—on steroids. We have stem cell treatments, hormone therapies, cosmetic surgery both invasive and noninvasive, and loads of medicines that can keep us alive past our expiration date. We are very close to being vampires already. I sometimes run into people who look younger than they looked twenty years ago!

The pop-culture vampires of today are not the monsters who corrupt and destroy but magical creatures possessing what we lust for—eternal youth and immortality. The vampires of the Twilight series are glamorous “vegetarians,” only eating wild beasts and devoting themselves to protecting human life. They are de-fanged, so to speak, and far from losing their immortal souls, have highly evolved consciences. We are vampirizing ourselves and at the same time, humanizing the monsters. Fascinating, no?

About the Book:
In this wonderfully transporting novel, award-winning author Karen Essex turns a timeless classic inside out, spinning a haunting, erotic, and suspenseful story of eternal love and possession.

From the shadowy banks of the river Thames to the wild and windswept Yorkshire coast, Dracula’s eternal muse, Mina Murray, vividly recounts the intimate details of what really transpired between her and the Count—the joys and terrors of a passionate affair that has linked them through the centuries, and her rebellion against her own frightening preternatural powers.

Mina’s version of this gothic vampire tale is a visceral journey into Victorian England’s dimly lit bedrooms, mist-filled cemeteries, and asylum chambers, revealing the dark secrets and mysteries locked within. Time falls away as she is swept into a mythical journey far beyond mortal comprehension, where she must finally make the decision she has been avoiding for almost a millennium. 

Bram Stoker’s classic novel offered one side of the story, in which Mina had no past and bore no responsibility for the unfolding events. Now, for the first time, the truth of Mina’s personal voyage, and of vampirism itself, is revealed. What this flesh and blood woman has to say is more sensual, more devious, and more enthralling than the Victorians could have expressed or perhaps even have imagined.


Website
Dracula in Love Book Trailer
Twitter
Facebook
Blog

FTC Information: I received this book through Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for an honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.

Cover Interview: Janet Ruth Smith and The Babysitter Murders

 Today I have Janet Ruth Young who is here to answer questions about her book cover for The Babysitter Murders.  So check it out and come back tomorrow and see my review of The Babysitter Murders.

1. What were your first thoughts when you saw the cover the first time?

I liked the role reversal. Normally, the babysitter would be throwing the child in the air.  Here the child seems to be throwing the sitter in the air, which suggests that the child is more stable than the adult. That’s unsettling in a good way.

2. Did you have any say in your cover?

Yes. Originally I thought Dani would have to be shown as a strawberry blonde. But once you’ve read the story and look at the cover again, this image makes more sense. I discussed the hair color with my editor and we decided to leave the image as is.

3. If you could add one thing to the cover what would it be?

A subtitle. Originally the whole title was “The Babysitter Murders: A Tale of Obsession.”  The subtitle fell by the wayside, and although I didn’t much care about losing it, it would have given readers a hint about Dani’s illness and conveyed some of the themes. Dani has her own obsessions, but nearly everyone in the book is obsessed with something. And as the story builds, hundreds—perhaps thousands—of people become obsessed with Dani.

4. What do you think is most eyecatching about your cover?

As I said above, the role reversal. I also liked the color of the type and the fact that the word MURDER is under the ground like a dead body. In terms of catching the book buyer’s eye in bookstores, the type treatment on the spine really jumps out, too.

5. What do want the cover to tell people picking up your book?

“Something is wrong here, and it will take you a while to learn what that is. So suspend your assumptions.”

Thanks Janet Ruth Young for joining us today - make sure and check out this great book!

Guest Post: Character Tweets from Effie at the Wedding by Trac Marchini

Today Tracy Marchini, author of Effie At The Wedding is joining me today for her stop on the Teen Book Scene Tour and you are in for a treat.  This stop is character tweets and it is quite amusing so make sure you read and enjoy, I did and so did the tour coordinator.

Character Tweets:

OpheliaLuvsGeorge: Does anybody eat their whole anniversary cake top? Would it be bad luck
to eat it before a year?

EffiesList: @OpheliaLuvsGeorge Let’s add a moldy cake top to the list of reasons why wedding
cakes are ridiculous

OpheliasMom: @EffiesList Effie, be nice! You shouldn’t eat the cake anyway.

OpheliasMom: @OpheliaLuvsGeorge You have to wait the year, otherwise it’s bad luck!!!!!!!!

EffiesList: @OpheliasMom ::grabs eyes:: Sorry, just got gouged by all the punctuation marks in
your last tweet, Mom.

EffiesList: DM @OpheliaLuvsGeorge This is why mothers should be banned from FB and
Twitter. Could she not have kept

EffiesList: DM @OpheliaLuvsGeorge ….that cake comment to herself?!

OpheliaLuvsGeorge: DM @EffiesList I guess we can hope she gets bored of Twitter? I’ll talk
to her about inappropriate tweets.

EffiesList: DM @OpheliaLuvsGeorge You’re my hero.

OpheliaLuvsGeorge: DM @EffiesList I know. What are you going to do without me? :-P

EffiesList: DM @OpheliaLuvsGeorge Cry myself to sleep every night, obviously. And take
your old room, bc it’s bigger.

OpheliaLuvsGeorge: @MDGeorge I hope you like moldy cake! J

MDGeorge: FM @OpheliaLuvsGeorge I would eat two moldy cakes to be your husband! <3

EffiesList: @MDGeorge @OpheliaLuvsGeorge Gag me with a spoonful of moldy cake.
Seriously guys. Gross. http://bit.ly/n3nZ9C

MDGeorge: DM @OpheliaLuvsGeorge Sorry honey, that was supposed to be a direct mssg.

OpheliasMom: Awww, that’s very sweet @MDGeorge!!!!!

OpheliasMom: @OpheliaLuvsGeorge @MDGeorge This cake would match the dresses! http://
bit.ly/o9NOzg

EffiesList: DM @OpheliaLuvsGeorge It looks like it was attacked by pink Chiclets. http://bit.ly/
Nc8pq

OpheliaLuvsGeorge: @OpheliasMom It’s nice, but I think we’re going in another direction.

MDGeorge: DM @OpheliaLuvsGeorge Doesn’t it remind you of that gum stuff?

OpheliaLuvsGeorge: DM @MDGeorge lol, that’s just what Effie said!

EffiesList: Signing off. @OpheliasMom, try to keep the embarrassment to a minimum, please.

OpheliasMom: @EffiesList It’s not like anybody can SEE what I’m saying.

EffiesList: @OpheliasMom ….it’s Twitter.

OpheliasMom: @EffiesList But I’m only following five people?

EffiesList: @OpheliasMom How many people are following you?

OpheliasMom; @EffiesList I don’t know!!!! How would I know???

EffiesList: DM @OpheliasMom OMG! You have 600 followers… and they go to my school!

EffiesList: DM @OpheliasMom You HAVE to stop tweeting. Right. Now.

OpheliasMom: 600 people?!? I’m so popular!!!!! Hello Twitter peoples!

:::Effie signs off Twitter:::




Author website: www.tracymarchini.com

Effie At The Wedding (contemporary YA short story) is available for the
Kindle (http://www.amazon.com/Effie-At-The-Wedding-ebook/dp/B004UN57W4), the Nook (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/effie-at-the-wedding-tracy-marchini/1030871407) and on
Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/57853)

Guest Post: Jennifer Jabaley

Today I welcome Jennifer Jabaley, author of Crush Control to My  Reading Room.  She's here to talk about how she was inspired to write Crush Control which I will be reviewing later today. 

When people find out that CRUSH CONTROL is about hypnosis, the first thing people ask is, "How did you come up with that idea?" quickly followed by, "Did you know much about hypnosis or did you have to do research?"

This is the true story of how I became inspired to write a story about hypnosis: It was the middle of the night.  I was up with my daughter who was about one at the time.  She was a horrible sleeper and I was quite exhausted.  On this particular night, I was rocking her back and forth and with a touch of delirium, I started to say, "You are getting sleepy.  SLEEEEEEEEPY" in my best hypnotist voice.  Then suddenly it occured to me - that could be a really great topic for a book! I don't think I've heard of any other books about hypnosis - especially not in YA. And what teenager wouldn't be drawn to the idea of being able to control their circumstances?

But I knew very little about hypnosis.  So once I decided this could be a great topic, Idecided to learn as much as I could. I booked a trip to Las Vegas to experience a real stage performance! It was quite entertaining :) There is a party scene in Crush Control that was heavily influenced by the Vegas hypnosis show I saw. I did have to tame down the antics a bit to make it appropriate for a teen book, though.

Much of the hypnosis used in Crush Control is not the stage variety, but rather, closer to a technique called hypnotherapy.  I did a tremendous amount of research on this form of hypnosis. It is used to help people break bad habits like smoking or to aid in weight loss, or combatting fears like a fear of flying.  I was really surprised and impressed with how much science backs the idea of hypnotherapy.  And even though Willow uses her form of hypnotherapy in an immature way, I do believe that hypnotherapy, if used appropriately, is a valuable tool to help people change habits that are hurting or inhibiting them.

I know some people might be skeptical about the idea of hypnosis.  The people on stage could just be faking, right? But after doing research for this book, I do believe that hypnosis is real! And it can be used not only to provide entertainment, but can help people erase bad habits or feelings.

Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog and I really hope you enjoy reading CRUSH CONTROL!!

Guest Post: Author Rebecca Ryals Russell

Today I welcome author Rebecca Ryals Russell to My Reading Room to talk about her new book, Odessa, Book 1 of The Seraphym Wars series which came out March 29, 2011.

Creation of Myrna and her backstory

Ever since the idea for this story began, thirty years ago, I knew the protagonist was a teenaged girl. She always had waist-length black hair, slim but muscular figure, piercing emerald green eyes and non-stop badass attitude. The only things that changed over the years were where she came from and who she was, deep inside.

By the time I finished six to eight (lost count) rewrites and revisions, Myrna’s name and home location had changed about six times. Finally, she landed in Jacksonville, Florida, because I consider that my home and know it intimately. I know the climate, streets, neighborhoods—and they say write what you know. Although Myrna Ashlin Watts grew up in Jacksonville, she doesn’t spend much story-time there because she is immediately whisked away to the planet of the demons, Dracwald, where the story unfolds. However, she leaves a family behind—a family she worries about constantly and feels she must get back to protect.

At the time of the story, Myrna is seventeen-years old and a senior in high school. Two years ago she was walking home from a friend’s house one street over, but it had gotten dark. Despite her father’s warnings, she takes a short-cut through an abandoned property and is attacked by three red-eyed teenaged boys she doesn’t recognize. She is rescued by her younger brother, Quinn, before the boys could do more than terrorize and beat her up a bit. But, just before the story begins, she sees those same boys in a vision and is forced to watch as they do horrifying things to her brother Quinn. The next day, she wakes on Dracwald and is informed of her destiny.

 

Guest Post: Author Laina Turner-Molaski (Stilettos and Scoundrels)

 Today I welcome author, Laina Turner-Molaski whose book , Stilettos and Scoundrels is touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion through March and April and I am currently reading it.  It's great so far and I can't wait to share my review tomorrow, but for now, enjoy a great guest post with Laina.

 

Lazy Days by Laina Turner-Molaski

Do you ever have those days when you just don’t want to get out of bed? I know I do, my friends have and it’s ok, we have all been there. Wouldn’t it be nice to actually be able to do that at least every once in a while? There of course would have to be some sort of rules put in place or some people would take advantage and stay in bed all day every day. But let’s say that twice a year you could just ditch everything and not do anything. If you had kids someone would come and get them ready for school and take them there. Someone would take care of all your work for that day. Get all your housework and laundry done so you didn’t have to work twice as hard to catch up after your time off.

Someone would make sure there were some good snacks and fun DVD’s for you (or a pile of books for me) to enjoy while laying in bed or on the couch so you would have to put forth no effort you didn’t want to. So if this could really happen how long do you think you could lie there before starting to wonder what was going on in the outside world?

Would you feel compelled to call your friends or co-workers and see what was happening? Would you decide to get up and go outside in to the world anyways? Or would you really relax all day without worrying about anything more than pausing the TV in order to go to the bathroom and if you wanted chips and guacamole or twizzlers and diet coke?

It’s fun to think about but could you actually do it?

Laina

Laina Turner-Molaski is a businesswoman, mom, author, Professor, and a major supporter of shopping. She has an undying love for shoes and coffee, which is why she created her main character and alter ego Presley Thurman.

With a lot of letters after her name and a ton of student loan debt, she is always working to pay the bills. While she enjoys her day job, her passion is writing, and she uses a lot of company time writing her fiction or working on her social website for women, Chiczofrenic.com. She is hoping to sell her book before she gets fired from her day job for goofing off.

Laina is currently living in Indiana, with her family, and is always writing something, whether it’s blogs, articles, business journals and books or ideas for her next novel. She is continuously doing what she loves which is writing or drinking coffee.

www.lainaturner.com


Great post Laina - I really wish I could get a day like that especially since we are in the heart of Little League baseball season with our two boys right now!  I think I could just get away and do it, but I know life would start to creep in and I would have to help the boys or find something for the husband.  But it's a nice dream :)

Guest Post & Giveaway: Author Jodi Thomas (Texas Blue)

Today I welcome a favorite author of mine, Jodi Thomas.  I fell in love with her Harmony series last year and jumped at the chance to be a part of her new book, Texas Blue blog tour.  Texas Blue is a historical, but I know Jodi's writing and no matter what the genre I am sure to love it.  I will have a review up later today, but for now, hear what Jodi has to say about Texas Blue.

When I began writing TEXAS BLUE I knew I wanted to write two stories that ran at stampede pace through one novel.  I’ve written 23 Historical Romances and Sagas, but this time I wanted the stories to be equal.  No plot and subplot, just two full stories.  I opened in 1875, with two friends parting ways one stormy night in Austin.  Duncan McMurray, a Texas Ranger, is off to fight at the border and Lewt, a gambler, plans to find a wife while his friend is away.  He thinks he wants a quiet, wealthy lady, unfortunately in Emily McMurray, Duncan’s cousin, he finds far more than he bargained for.

Duncan is all a hero in a western romance should be, he’s wild, loyal and intelligent.  He leaves his law practice to go fight with the Texas Rangers.  Lewt, on the other hand never wants to get involved in fights of any kind.  He plays his life like a game based on luck.  Duncan wants to do what’s right, but his friend, Lewt, only wants to live a normal, quite life.  When the stories collide, Duncan must depend on Lewt’s bravery and trust his life to their friendship.  

 

I began reading western romance when I was a kid.  I think I’ve always loved it and, being from Texas, the world always seemed very real to me.  I live in a small town where you still see guys with spurs on eating lunch out and every Saturday people ride their horses up to Dairy Queen.  I’ve won Romance Writers of America’s RITA three times for historical romance.  Sometimes when I’m working I step so fully back in the past it’s hard to pull out even to answer the phone.

 

I think you will love this first book in the new generation of the Whispering Mountain series.  Ride along with me and I promise I’ll tell you a love story full of adventure, romance and laughter.

Hope I keep you up reading,

Jodi Thomas  

www.jodithomas.com 

About Texas Blue:

Gambling man Lewton Paterson wants to marry into a respectable family. After fleecing a train ticket, Lewt makes his way to Whispering Mountain. But seducing a well-bred woman is hard, and Lewt realizes that to entice a McMurray sister, he'll need to learn a thing or two about ranching-and love.

Texas Blue received a Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly - here's what they had to say:

Bestseller Thomas's fifth Whispering Mountain American historical (after 2009's The Lone Texan) is another winner. When Texas Ranger Duncan McMurray tells gambler Lewton Paterson that he's sending three men from good families to court his three cousins, Lewton, wishing for a respectable life and family, decides to take the place of one of the men. He meets the three ladies, but spends his time with Em, the ranch overseer--who is really one of the ladies and never intends to marry. When news reaches the ranch of Duncan's capture in Mexico, Lewt and Em set out to save him. Tension rides high, mixed with humor and kisses more passionate than most full-on love scenes. Fans will be delighted by this series continuation.

Publishers Weekly Review

Giveaway

Do you want to win your own copy of Texas Blue by Jodi Thomas?  The publisher has sent me one extra copy of this book to giveaway and if you enjoy historical romances (set in the west) you will want to give this one a try.  Just fill out the form below.  Open to US/Canada only.  Open through next Monday 3/28.

If you have trouble seeing the form, you can find it here.

Blog Tour: Chocolate and Vicodin by Jennette Fulda

My review is coming later today, but I want to share with you some of the promotional materials I received with the book.  So read on and read my review later - all materials came from the publicity department at Simon and Schuster.  And let me tell you now - I love this book.

Facts about headaches and chronic pain

• As many as 70 million Americans suffer from chronic pain (Source: New York Times)
• Approximately 28 million Americans battle chronic headaches and migraines (Source: American Headache Society)
• Chronic pain is more widespread than heart disease, cancer and diabetes combined (Source: New York Times)
• Chronic pain costs an estimated $60 billion to $100 billion a year in medical fees, lost working days and working compensation. (Source: American Academy of Pain Medicine)
• The National Institutes of Heath spends only 1% of its funding on reserach focused primarily on pain.
• Many soldiers who experienced mild head trauma or a blast exposure while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan are returning to the United States with headaches. (Source: Neurology magazine, 2007)

Know someone with chronic pain - here are some tips for talking with them and as a chronic pain sufferer I have to say these are excellent tips.


Five tips for talking to a chronic pain sufferer

1. DON'T GIVE THEM UNSOLICITED ADVICE.  If they ask for your opinion, feel free to give it.  Otherwise, you can be certain they've already heard the same advice over and over again.  It's patronizing when someone suggests an obvious treatment.  After three years you think they haven't tried aspirin?  It's presumptuous to assume you know more aobut someone's body and their experiences than they do.
2. REMEMBER THAT MOST CHRONIC PAIN PATIENTS JUST WANT TO FEEL VALIDATED.  We yearn for empathy and for people to recognize our pain is real.  Pain is an invisible illness, so most people don't recognize how debilitating it can be.  If someone isn't moaning in pain or curled up in a ball on the floor, it's easy to forget tat they're in pain.  Chronic pain patients are talented in covering up their symptoms because they want to live normal lives.  Even if they aren't exhibiting symptoms, know they are still in pain.  Instead of suggesting a cure, just listen to them, acknowledge their pain and let them know you care.
3. TRY TO BE SENSITIVE TO THEIR NEEDS, BUT DON'T OVERDO IT.  If you know a friend has lower back pain, offer her a pillow for her chair.  If your friend is having a migraine, offer to dim the lights for him or offer him a place to lie down.  Don't be overly insistent, though, because chronic pain patients don't want to feel babied.  We appreciate help, but we also want to maintain as much independence as we can.
4. NEVER TELL THEM "I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU DO IT," OR "I COULD NEVER DEAL WITH WHAT YOU'RE GOING THROUGH."  Yes, you could, even though you wouldn't want to, which is exactly what chronic pain patients have to do.  When you tell someone you don't know how they do it, you're basically saying "I can't believe you haven't committed suicide yet."  Pain isn't something you've chosen to deal with.  It's not like a bake sale where you can back out at the last minute if you don't have time to bake cupcakes.  The only way not to deal with chronic pain is to die.  Chronic pain sufferers are at an increased risk for depressions and suicide, so don't push them off the edge.  Instead, say something like, "I admire how well you've dealt with your illness" or "If I ever become ill, I hope I deal with it with as much grace and strength as you have."  Both of these statements give the sufferer praise without implying something negative too.
5. DON'T TELL THEM YOU HOPE THEIR PAIN GOES AWAY.  The sentiment is well-intentioned, but hte sad fact is most chronic pain patients never find a cure.  Telling them you hope they'll be cured is like telling an amputee that you hope their leg grows back.  That would be fantastic, but it's probably not going to happen.  Telling me you hope I'm cured only reminds me of the fact that I most likely never will be.  Instead, wish me better health in general or tell me you hope I'll have a low pain day.

Author, blogger, headache sufferer and web designer, Jennette Fulda, who now also lives in the lovely state of NC :)

Guest Post: Jeanne C. Davis (Sheetrock Angel)

 

I would like to welcome today, author Jeanne C. Davis, whose book, Sheetrock Angel is currently touring with Pump Up Your Book Tours.  Today I have a wonderful guest post from Jeanne so read and enjoy. 

SHEETROCK ANGEL

A number of events in my life seemed to coalesce to form the basis for Sheetrock Angel.   The first draft was actually a screenplay which I later used as an outline for the rough draft of the novel.  I sent it around to some agents, one in particular who told me that my protagonist went off into the sunset with the wrong character.  But the reason I wrote the book in the first place was to work through the demise of my own marriage, to let go of the fantasy ideal I had devised for our future.  One of the underlying themes of the book is to use reality as your point of departure, not your idea of how things should be.

The belief in something – anything – is also an important underlying theme.  Without an anchor, a core belief, the human spirit can lose its moorings.  Traditionally beliefs have been in religion or accepted societal mores, but if one isn’t inclined toward the traditions, it can be as simple as believing in love.  Any kind of love will do: friendship, marriage, parent/child.  People need to be grounded by some belief.  It’s as necessary as breathing.

I explore the main character, Audrey’s, fear of her family’s mental illness.  I gave Audrey’s mother schizophrenia while depression ran in my own family.  When I became depressed during my divorce, I feared that it would become the rule rather than the exception.  As I point out in Sheetrock Angel, I see mental health as a continuum rather than discrete diseases which occur or reoccur.  I think anyone can slide along the mental health continuum given chemistry, hormones, or inciting incidents appropriate to syndromes like depression.

Another idea, that is important to me and is evident in the book, is the notion of anonymous kindness.  There are everyday angels all around us.  While we expect kindness from those near and dear to us, we’re always amazed by grace bestowed by strangers.  If we can remember to spread more kindness around ourselves there will be that many more people to be touched and amazed.

Jeanne C. Davis grew up in southern California then travelled the world as a Pan Am purser until she landed a job writing for the television series, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. She wrote, produced and directed the independent feature, The Uniform Motion of Folly. She is currently at work on her second novel which explores her life with Pan Am, and another feature film, Lip Service, along with a documentary about her family's four generations in the carousel business.  Visit www.sheetrockangel.homestead.com or SheetrockAngel on Facebook.  You also can visit Jeanne’s website at www.bricolage-arts.com.

Thank you so much for joining us today Jeanne, please check out her book, Sheetrock Angel and checkout the Pump Up Your Book! website for further tour dates.