Me? A Brand??

While trying to do the A-Z weekly blogging (self-inflicted) challenge, I've noticed something.

I'm off course.

I had intended my blog to be a record of my writing journey - my scribbling sojourn. Lately I've jumped on the book review / reveals bandwagon, straying from my original purpose. Now that I've begun blogging on a regular basis, I'm going to drop the A-Z and just do my weekly Thursday updates.

Book reviews, cover reveals, and blog touring will be posted as scheduled or released.

All that for this: Today's update.

I got my marketing kit yesterday from J. Taylor Publishing, who offered me a contract for Sacrificial Oath in their Make Believe Anthology due to release in December. Well. I read through all 50 pages this morning, and good Lord do I have have a lot to do in the coming months!!



According to them, I am now a brand. Like Coca-cola.



Yup. I find it amusing, too. What a climb this will be - ONWARD to world wide recognition like the best soda on the face of the earth. Uh ... yeah. Right.

Gotta start somewhere, though.

While a daunting task, I'm excited to be involved in my own marketing. Networking, newsletters, tweeting, facebook, enticing friends & family's to help with word of mouth, blog tours ... sigh. That's all I can say. Thank GOD JTP has it all mapped out into a 20 week program. Otherwise it would be way too overwhelming. I'm hoping to get some volunteers!

*hint hint*

Anyhoo ...

Have you been involved in marketing your own name? Any tried & found 'true' methods that worked for you? Suggestions? Advice on what NOT to do?

Book Review: G: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns #1)

YA fantasy novel by Rae Carson 

4.5 Stars

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

By the end of page 1, I was hooked. By the end of the first chapter I was in love with the 16 year old MC, Elisa. An overweight, unremarkable young woman - unlike the heroines of most fantasy novels written today. If it weren't for her age, this novel easily could be classified as adult fantasy, IMO. Elisa is unaware of how wise she really is, and Ms. Carson did a beautiful job of bringing this woman to life.

As for the world building and other characters in this debut novel ... phenominal job. Believable and vivid, I was transported to another land quite unlike our own. At least where I live, anyway.

Love, loss, religion, and magic, this story has it all. The only reason I didn't finish it in one sitting is because I have two little girls vying for my attention. Yeah. Sometimes a quickie read takes two weeks.

Anyhoo ... if you love fantasy as I do, I highly recommend this book. The only reason I didn't give it a full 5 stars is because a book has to MAKE me ignore whining, crying children to earn it. While this is a top notch story, I put it down with ease when needed.

Definitely looking forward to reading more from this awesome author!

Cover Re-Reveal: Darkness & Light

A Holloway Pack Story

by J.A. Belfield

Release Date: July 1, 2011
ebook Re-Release Date: June 1, 2012 (with bonus scene content!)

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Jem Stonehouse, a housewife with a neurotic husband bent on keeping her in line, dreams about werewolves in, what she believes, is a bid to escape boredom.

Sean Holloway is a werewolf, living a charade within the human race, whose mind drifts to a bond he shares with a woman he hasn't met — at least, not in this lifetime.

Apart, the two are safe but live unfulfilled lives.

Together, they'll become prey to rival packs just as they have been for hundreds of years.

When their worlds collide, and not for the first time, instinct takes over. Dreams become reality. Futures are uncertain. To keep history from repeating itself, Sean must teach Jem about his heritage, convince her of her role, and win her love.

Can Jem accept her destiny before it's too late, or is her inner wolf buried too deep to save her future with Sean?



Bonus!The re-release of the Darkness & Light ebook will include three bonus scenes from Sean Holloway's perspective.

Double Bonus!
For the month of June (June 1 - 30, 2012), Darkness & Light will be on sale for just $.99 USD.
Available HERE.

Other Books in this series include:
Instinct (#0)
Eternal (#0.5)
Blue Moon (#2)

Book Review: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

A Fantasy Novel by N. K. Jemisin 

4 Stars

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history.

With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate - and gods and mortals - are bound inseparably together.

What can I say??? This is one engaging, complex, and confusing (if you're not paying attention) debut novel from N. K. Jemisin. She's got a great voice and a great imagination, but honestly I was a bit lost here and there due to all the scene breaks / 'head' hopping. Once I got an inkling of what was going on within the MC, Yeine, it was easier for me to follow.

Now I must say, however, that this could totally be due to the 'mommy brain' I'm fond of blaming things on. It happens when you have 2 toddlers at home with you ALL DAY LONG.

If you're into fantasy & looking for something fresh (& just a tad bit hot), definitely give this a read.