Very impressive giveaway, Rebecca! You are on a roll. Congratulations.

Howdy readers! You made it through the month of May's Summer Teen Reading Party. On this posting you will have the opportunity to read Chapter 3 from Odessa, Book One Seraphym Wars Series. Afterward, comment about the excerpt and be entered in my Grand Giveaway. Continue reading →

Kim – I love that your book is set somewhere so interesting. You must have done a lot of research. It sounds great.Good luck!
Rebecca – Your page is so chock-full of stuff I got lost! lol It was fascinating to see you had 53 visitors from Egypt (and 1 is me). Go you!

In Searching for a Starry Night, Samantha Ann Carlton would rather spend her summer vacation anywhere but a spooky old house in Wisconsin…like Lake Geneva! Somehow Sam knows it's going to take more than a few days to find a missing painting no bigger than her hand. Maybe things won't be so bad, she thinks, since she gets to take a friend's lovable but mischievous Dachshund, Petey, and her best friend Lita. If they're lucky, the three of them can find the miniature replica of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and help Sam's mother get it to the museum where it belongs. It's not going to be easy, Sam realizes, when she discovers her own family has some spooky secrets. Then Petey digs up an ancient curse, and Sam fears her friendship with Lita is doomed... Will they find the miniature masterpiece in time? Will Sam and Lita go home friends -- or enemies? Continue reading →

Fifteen-year-old Lupe Hernandez dismisses the legend about her Mexican grandmother's magical earrings as a silly fairytale, despite recurring nightmares of human sacrifice. But when the earrings thrust her into the parallel world of Ixtumea, she must confront the very thing she shuns the most -- her cultural heritage. Continue reading →

Thank you! Good luck! If you want some help with your blurb, I’d be more than willing to help out.

You can contact me at emerald_barnes (at) yahoo (dot) com

Great post. I’m just getting started on this self-publishing adventure, so these are all questions I’m trying to answer right now. I’m especially struggling with writing a good blurb.

I think my target audience is YAs between 14 to 18 years old who enjoy character driven fantasy stories.

Welcome Emerald Barnes, author of Read Me Dead and Piercing Through the Darkness Knowing Your Audience I’m a YA writer. At least that’s what I thought. What I’ve discovered about my writing is that I write cross-over. Boy was I surprised to learn this! I’m a YA suspense/thriller author. And even though, I write YA fiction, I have found that a lot of adults read my writing, more so than YAs. That’s fine with me. I’ve had some young adults who told me they loved my book, and I’ve had some adults tell me they love my books. My characters tend to be 17 and older, so I think that is who my audience generally is. Then again, younger or older people can relate to my characters as well. Cross-over. And I’m here to tell you, that’s not a bad thing! Hello – a larger audience. Something to be excited about. Continue reading →

Thanks so much Rebecca for having me on your blog today AND for guesting on my blog as well! Love your excerpts.

Swoop Saves the Cookie Lady Now I don’t like humans. Overall, they’re not a good thing for fairies. Overall, they’re dangerous for fairies. Overall, they’re fatal for fairies. Yeah, sure, we fairies live in the attic of a shopping mall that is full of humans, but they don’t know we’re here. If they manage to spot us, they think we’re birds or, ugh, bats. And that includes the Cookie Lady. We sure know the Cookie Lady exists, though. Her store in the mall’s Food Court is our favorite. Or it was. A couple of weeks ago, a sign showed up in her window saying the Cookie Lady would close soon. Us fairies panicked. No more snickerdoodles (my favorite), chocolate toffee squares or even the chocolate peanut butter no bake oatmeal cookies? Unthinkable. So I snuck into the air conditioning vent to spy. And while almost freezing to death, I discovered that the Cookie Lady’s sales had fallen way off. The stupid humans had gotten bored with her selection. Who could get bored with snickerdoodles? Continue reading →

The goddess sounds very intriguing. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for inviting Cailleach to visit. She’s not an easy guest, considering she might want to boil you for dinner.

Kat expects to have a great time on her graduation trip to Stonehenge. However, from the moment she leaves the witches’ arctic island, Galdorheim, she gets in nothing but trouble. Her younger half-brother tries to horn in on her trip, she gets lost in the magical Otherworld realm, is led astray by a supposed friend, then she has to confront a Scottish goddess who’s fallen on hard times. While dodging the goddess’ minions and trying to find her way out of the Otherworld, Kat soon learns she shouldn’t underestimate the old has-been for one second; the crone still has a few tricks that can drain a witch’s magic in a flash. To make matters worse, Kat's brother secretly followed her into the Otherworld. Now he’s in danger too. Kat has to go one on one with the goddess to save herself and her brother. Continue reading →

Rebecca, thank you so much for hosting me for the Summer Teen Reading Party.

Carolyn Samuels is obsessed with the idea of being popular. She is convinced that the only thing keeping her from happiness is her too heavy for fashion body and not being a cheerleader. Hyperventilating when she gets nervous doesn’t help. When she is paired for a math project with the girl who tormented her in middle school, Jennifer Taylor, she is sure it is going to be another year of pain. With Carolyn’s crush on Jennifer’s hunky junior quarterback, Brad her freshman year in high school looks like a rerun of middle school. When Jennifer is the only student who knows why she fell in gym class, Carolyn is blackmailed into doing her math homework in return for Jennifer’s silence. Jennifer takes on Carolyn as a pity project since she can’t be seen with someone who dresses in jeans and sweatshirts. When Jennifer invites Carolyn to spend the night to make her over and teach her to tumble, Carolyn learns Jennifer’s secret and lies to her own friends to cover it up. Will Carolyn become a cheerleader and popular? Does she continue to keep Jennifer’s secret? Or will she be a target of this mean girl again? Continue reading →

These sound like great adventure stories! Thanks for posting about them.

“Yes, Gesach, we have what we’ve been searching for. And as we agreed, you can have the phylactery.” Sir Angelo reached for the prized container. He stopped. “Then again, Gesach, you know my walk, you know my beliefs. You despise my kind more than any other being walking the face of Nanthara. Your evil cannot be allowed to thrive. And if a Temple Sovereign knight ever has the ability to rid the world of such a demon as you, they will do so.” Sir Angelo stepped back next to Dreg, the paladin’s eyes lowered, his teeth clenched. “Enough!” Gesach said, his voice grating through the air like hot coals sizzling in water. “Such debauchery from one whose walk is supposed to be pure shows how tainted your heart truly is. Your righteous blood runs thick with refuse.”nched. “I have that ability.” Gesach arched his head backward in a partial tilt as another cackle left his decayed throat. “Too bad you have come all this way to die and never enjoy the treasure you have sought!” Continue reading →

Thanks for having me on your site today Rebecca! I am having lots of fun with the Summer Teen Reading Party and I am so excited about this month long event! We’ve got lots of great books and authors there – many for $1.99 or less. I hope everyone visits! Make sure to read the rest of this post to find out how you can enter to win a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card! Continue reading →

I recently met someone new via the Internet. It happens all the time, right? Only this time, instead of the raving maniacs or kooks I sometimes deal with (just kidding) the person was an author and really nice lady. I agreed to host her on my blog (below) and read her YA book, Letters from the Ledge. I am so happy I agreed to this. The book is a fascinating exploration of the ways in which our lives interweave with particular people on a daily basis without our even realizing it. Ms. Meyers' ability to draw the reader into the story and make us care for the characters is well done. She endeavors to help the reader understand why some teens 'cut' themselves or consider suicide while coming to grips with their situation. While this is not normally the type of book I would pick up in the store (or online these days) because I enjoy adventurous Fantasy and a rolicing wild ride of questing with dragons and swords, I read this the day it arrived from cover to cover within a few hours. Continue reading →

Howdy readers! You made it through the month of May's Summer Teen Reading Party. On this posting you will have the opportunity to read Chapter 3 from Odessa, Book One Seraphym Wars Series. Afterward, comment about the excerpt and be entered in my Grand Giveaway. Here are the RULES: Comment on EACH of my postings (listed above with links) showing you read the posting. Commenters will acquire ONE point per comment. At the end, fill out the form on my blog, Under the Hat. The prize? This lovely Phoenix medallion and a bag of swag including Odessa notepad, Seraphym Wars pen, Mind the Signs bookmark, coverart Postcards for each book in both series AND an eBook copy of my newest release: Harpies, Book Two Seraphym Wars Series. Continue reading →

The ELEMENTS novels follow the lives of fraternal twin brothers Gage and Talon Thorn. They were born from an ancient prophecy and have the extraordinary elemental abilities of fire and water. A wicked underworld emperor is determined to destroy the ‘Brothers of Prophecy’ and claim the earth realm for his own if the brothers don’t learn how to control their gifts and save humanity from the clutches of evil. The twins must experience tragedy, loss and defeat before they try to push forward and live up to what destiny has asked of them. The challenge has been set forth by dark forces and the world must put their faith in a pair of young brothers. The future is uncertain. To find out more about the ELEMENTS series please visit Kate Fuentes webpage for more details. Continue reading →

Readers, please welcome, as part of our Summer Teen Reading Party, Natalie Wright: author of Emily's House for YA readers. Thank you to Rebecca for having me as a guest on her blog today. The Summer Teen Reading Party is in full swing! How many contests have you entered so far? Have you snagged any fun summer reads for your e-reader? In my novel, Emily’s House, Emily must learn how to focus her magical abilities. One of my goals when writing Emily’s House was to embed a primer for “real magic” into the story. Here is my favorite story of real magic and how I used it to win a trip to Ireland! Continue reading →

Children's Book Week Giveaway Hop May 7-13. Win a beautiful golden Phoenix medallion and LOTS of Seraphym Wars swag. Easy to enter. Continue reading →

As part of the Summer Teen Reading Party, please welcome author Penny Estelle who will tell us about her Middle Grade book, Hike Up Devil’s Mountain.

Hi Everybody.  I would like to thank Rebecca for letting me visit with her today on her blog.  I have brought a few guests along with me and I would like to take this time to introduce them.  Andy Thompson, Danny Crew, and Jason Crew.  These three boys have quite a story to tell about a place called Devil’s Mountain.

So Andy, let me start with you.  How did this whole thing start?

Well, I went to a house that was supposed to be demolished the next day.  I kinda disobeyed my mom and sorta broke into the basement.  I was pretty scared, but I found this really cool box!

Was there anything in it?

Yea.  When I finally got it open there was just this brown looking stick.  I was trying to figure out what it was when Jason and Danny happened along.  Well, Jason, over there, tried to take it from me and there was no way I was letting him have it.

Oh, give it up, Andy.  That stick would have been mine if you hadn’t blind-sided me from the left.

What?  None of this would have happened if you hadn’t acted like a bully, Jason.

Boys, please – people are listening.  Danny, we haven’t heard anything from you.

I have tried to put the whole thing out of my mind.  It was the scariest time I’ve ever had in my whole ten years.

Oh my, Danny, can we have some specifics?

Okay, first there was Jason, my brother, who was turned into…I can’t even say it out loud.  Then there was the flood.

Don’t forget the monster!

Yea, and the dragon!

Wow, boys, that sounds like quite an adventure.  So, Jason, all this started because you were a bully?

No…I wasn’t…if he…well, yea I guess so.  But let me tell you –almost getting killed at least five times, just climbing the mountain was nothing compared to what we found on top of Devil’s Mountain.  My bullying days are over.

Sounds like a thriller boys.  I want to thank you for telling us some of your story, plus a BIG thank you to Rebecca for having all of us!

Blurb from Hike Up Devil’s Mountain

Andy was peering into the biggest tunnel. Danny peeked in from the other side. A dull greenish light barely glowed in the inky blackness. It got brighter and the boys could hear a shuffling sound. The odor was overwhelming. “Something is coming!” Andy whispered in a panic. “Hide!”

Danny scooped up his brother and both boys dove behind the big gold rock, holding their breaths. Andy was afraid he was going to throw up as the shuffling got louder and the odor got stronger. He started to peek around the rock, but Danny grabbed his arm, shaking his head frantically back and forth.

Andy mouthed the words, “We have to see what it is.”

Danny swallowed and nodded okay.

Andy and Danny turned away from each other. Each one slowly peeked around his side of the rock. Emerging from the tunnel was a slimy, brownish-green, wormy-type lizard. It had a li

Nick stared at the mini-CD. It gleamed under the streetlights. Only the dying American pilot could have slipped it into his pocket. . . . After running to the scene of a plane crash in Abu Dhabi, Nick Chevalier stumbles across classified military secrets. A ruthless terrorist will stop at nothing to get them. As Nick investigates the cover-up behind the downed plane, he crosses paths with an agent from a covert espionage agency and makes the leap from high school senior to teen spy. But he realizes too late that he put more than his own life at risk—his mother and sister are also in danger. Does he have what it takes to outwit a terrorist who wants him dead and save the two people he loves? Continue reading →