Chance To Win. . .

June 21, 2013

Hey, blogger friends, listen up! I’ve got a chance for you to receive two free eBooks and to compete for over $800 in prizes, and it’s so easy to participate. Read on for more…

Novel Publicity is currently recruiting for one of their gigantic whirlwind tours. This time, they’re touring two books by David Litwack. The first, Along the Watchtower, is a work of contemporary fiction with a fantasy bent. The second, There Comes a Prophet, is a YA dystopian that follows in the proud tradition of such classics as 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451. Review one, both, or neither. That’s right, you don’t even have to read the books to participate–although that’s definitely an option. Novel Publicity will provide your choice of a pre-formatted excerpt, interview, or guest post to make participation easy.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP!

Tour Dates: July 22 to 26, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, YA Dystopian
Page Counts: 225, 266

The Prizes:

* $100 Best/ most creative entry (2 prizes)
* $100 Random commenter prize
* $50 Rafflecopter (2 prizes)
* $50 Random blogger award
* $50 GoodReads party prize
* $50 Facebook sharing contest
* $100 in the special author contest
* Kindle Fire in the special author contest

CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP!

About Along the Watchtower

A Tragic Warrior Lost in Two Worlds…

The war in Iraq ended for Lieutenant Freddie Williams when an IED explosion left his mind and body shattered. Once he was a skilled gamer and expert in virtual warfare. Now he’s a broken warrior, emerging from a medically induced coma to discover he’s inhabiting two separate realities. The first is his waking world of pain, family trials, and remorse—and slow rehabilitation through the tender care of Becky, his physical therapist. The second is a dark fantasy realm of quests, demons, and magic that Freddie enters when he sleeps.

In his dreams he is Frederick, Prince of Stormwind, who must make sense of his horrific visions in order to save his embattled kingdom from the monstrous Horde. His only solace awaits him in the royal gardens, where the gentle words of the beautiful gardener, Rebecca, calm the storms in his soul. While in the conscious world, the severely wounded vet faces a strangely similar and equally perilous mission—a journey along a dark road haunted by demons of guilt and memory—and letting patient, loving Becky into his damaged and shuttered heart may be his only way back from Hell.

About There Comes a Prophet

But what are we without dreams?

A thousand years ago the Darkness came—a terrible time of violence, fear, and social collapse when technology ran rampant. But the vicars of the Temple of Light brought peace, ushering in an era of blessed simplicity. For ten centuries they have kept the madness at bay with “temple magic” and by eliminating forever the rush of progress that nearly caused the destruction of everything.

A restless dreamer, Nathaniel has always lived in the tiny village of Little Pond, longing for something more but unwilling to challenge the unbending status quo. When his friend Thomas returns from the Temple after his “teaching”—the secret coming-of-age ritual that binds young men and women eternally to the Light—Nathaniel can barely recognize the broken and brooding young man the boy has become. And when the beautiful Orah is summoned as well, Nathaniel knows he must somehow save her. But in the prisons of Temple City he discovers a terrible secret that launches the three of them on a journey to find the forbidden keep, placing their lives in dire jeopardy. For a truth awaits them there that threatens the foundation of the Temple. But if they reveal that truth, the words of the book of light might come to pass:

“If there comes among you a prophet saying ‘Let us return to the darkness,’ you shall stone him, because he has sought to thrust you away from the light.”

One Random Song

June 20, 2013

This week for the writers workshop #3 which is: Pick up your iPod or phone or whatever stores your music and press shuffle…what comes up first? Tell us about that song choice. I have almost 2000 songs on my iPod so I went to a playlist that I listen to the most because it is a true mix of music and scrolled down and just picked on random song and the song that came up was: Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous by Good Charlotte.

This song is super old because I believe I first heard it when I was in high school. There isn’t much to really say about this song other than I still like it and love to listen to it when it gets played on my iPod. The music video makes me laugh and let’s be honest there really isn’t much to the song so I am not sure why it has stuck with me so long but it has and I can’t get enough of songs like this.

What random song do you love?

***As a side note I googled when the song was released and it was in the fall of 2002 so that would have been my senior year of high school.

Barefoot Summer by Denise Hunter

June 19, 2013

Barefoot Summer by Denise Hunter was an amazing book. Once I started the book I fell in love with the characters and the authors writing. I believe this is the first book of hers that I have read and I can’t wait to check out others that she has written. You follow along with Madison as she is learning to sail so that she can win the towns annual regatta in memory of her brother. There are parts of this book that were slow but for the most part the book kept my interest. If you love cute stories about love and overcoming problems you will love this book.

About The Book

Madison’s heart has been closed for years. But one summer can change everything.

In the years since her twin brother’s tragic drowning, Madison has struggled with her ability to trust God–or anyone else, for that matter. It was her brother’s dream to win the annual River Sail Regatta in their small harbor town of Chapel Springs, Indiana. And Madison’s determined to honor his legacy by making his dream her own. Maybe then she can finally find closure.

But learning to sail means learning to swim. And her instructor is Beckett O’Reilly, a man who already has two strikes against him in Madison’s eyes. Being on the water terrifies Madison. But Beckett’s calming presence and unwavering confidence eases her fear. And as much as she’d like to deny it, the chemistry between them is electrifying.

As her feelings for him grow, a fledging faith begins to take root in her soul, as well. With Beckett, Madison feels alive for the first time in years–carefree and confident she can win the regatta, maybe even find love.

But Beckett harbors a secret that will test the limits of their love and the depth of Madison’s faith. Will their love survive summer’s challenge? And will achieving her brother’s dream give Madison the peace she desperately seeks?

About The Author

Denise lives in Indiana with her husband Kevin and their three sons. In 1996, Denise began her first book, a Christian romance novel, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since. Her books often contain a strong romantic element, and her husband Kevin says he provides all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!

Learn more about Denise at http://www.denisehunterbooks.com

Buy The Book

5 Great Blogging Tips

June 18, 2013

Last week for the Writers Workshop one of the prompts was to list 5 of my favorite blogging tips. I always love to read other people’s tips and tricks when it comes to blogging so I figured I would list a few of my own. These are things that I also wish I would have known from the start.

First before I started a blog I wish I would have picked a name and also known what I wanted to blog about. I say this because it is so much easier to have all of this done before hand instead of trying to figure it all out once you have been blogging for a few years like I did.
Don’t get caught up in the numbers. I spent a lot of time worried about the number of followers of my blog or the number of likes that my Facebook Page had. For me this just turned blogging into some sort of popularity contest and made me want to stop blogging. Once I stopped caring and started blogging for me I found the reason I started blogging in the first place. Now I still love when I get comments or emails from people who read my blog but I don’t focus on those things because if I do I get discouraged and blogging becomes a chore instead of something I just love to do.
For me I always have to remind myself just to have fun and be true to who I am. I have been blogging for years and only in the past year have I started to really just blog about things I want to. I have lost readers because of the book reviews but it is something I truly love doing so I am going to continue them.
Know that people who know you in real life can and will find out about your blog so don’t blog about things you don’t want other people who know you to read.
It can take years to build a blog so don’t give up if you aren’t where others are. It takes some people years to build their blogs and then others make it big fast.

Those are a few of the things I wish I would have known before I started blogging.

What do you wish you would have known before you started?

The Snugg iPhone 5 Case Review

June 17, 2013

I was contacted by The Snugg and asked if would like to review on of their cases. I have my iPhone 5 since the beginning of the year and I have become addicted to buying cases for it. So when I was contacted I figured why not I am always open to trying new cases and seeing what they are all about.

They have so many to choose from that it was hard for me to pick. I finally chose to get ultra thin hot pink case because I didn’t have anything this color. It took about 5 or so days to get to me which was great. I hate waiting a long time for something to arrive so quick shipping is a must in my world.

The Snugg iPhone 5 Case Review — This is the case that I received.

I was worried when I got the case that I wouldn’t be able to get it off because of nails. I got it to snap on really quick and I was also able to get it off even with my nails being super long. This is a super cute case and it makes me want more of them. The only draw back to the case is the fact that if you drop it so the screen is pointed down the screen could shatter because it isn’t protected. Other than that they are super fun and super cute.

If you are looking for a cute case just to dress up your phone then I would for sure check these out. Also they aren’t that expensive so that is always a good thing when you buy as many cases as I do.

What cases do you love?

FTC:I received a free case in exchange for my honest review.

Quote Of The Week-Henry Ellis

June 16, 2013