Sandra Cox's Blog, page 261

Friendship

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
Albert Camus  

SBB:Lucid

BLURB:   Being hailed by critics as an intelligent new voice in young adult fiction, Roers' debut novel tells the anything but ordinary, coming of age story of a small town, teen aged, misfit named Travis Hunter.

Disfigured at birth and ostracized at school, Travis dreams of acceptance and secretly yearns for the affection of a beautiful young woman named Corrine. When a mysterious doctor promises to help Travis through something called lucid dreaming, Travis suddenly finds himself ushered into a secret society called "The Lucid", a collection of social outcasts like himself, who have created their own world inside of dreams.

When Travis discovers he is able to bring Corrine into these dreams, he gets more than he ever bargained for and soon finds himself learning the secrets of love and life in a fantastic unconscious world.

An instant classic, Lucid is a timeless story of self-acceptance with a fresh paranormal twist. EXCERPT:  I gave her a funny look and loosened the drawstrings. A dark green stone fell out into my hand. It had little red splotches on it and was hung with three small chains from a silver crescent that looked like the moon. The metal of the crescent looked very old, as if it had been pounded by hand.
“You made me zink of it when you mentioned your dreams earlier.” Kelly said. “I zought you might appreciate it.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a talisman. According to legend, it was originally used by da Lucid as a gateway to da dream world.”
“That’s really cool,” I said, “What’s it got to do with me?”
“Talismans are very magical. Dey have da power to make extraordinary transformations. Why don’t you keep it for a while? See how it works?”
“Oh, come on,” I disagreed. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
Doctor Kelly smiled. “I believe very much in powerful transformations.”Review: "Roers' debut novel heralds the arrival of an intelligent, heartfelt voice in the world of young adult fiction. The rich characters, emotional complexity, and confident prose are matched only by the landscape of dreams that Roers sets them against... a landscape brought vividly to life by the author's seemingly boundless imagination. This is a novel that respects its readers as much as its characters, and that's a beautiful rarity."
~ Mike Flanagan, Filmmaker, Absentia and Oculus
 AUTHOR INFORMATION:Natalie Roers is a veteran writer, voice artist, and on-air personality. A journalist by trade, Lucid is her first work of fiction. She is busy at work on her second novel and hopes to raise money and social awareness for worthy causes with each book she writes. Natalie plans to donate a portion of every sale of this book to her favorite anti-bullying organizations. She lives with her husband Cory, and son Austin, in Columbia, South Carolina.LINKS:Websitesjointhelucid.comhttp://natasha-r.com/writer/FBhttps://www.facebook.com/natalie.roers?fref=tshttps://www.facebook.com/jointhelucid?fref=tsBloghttp://jointhelucid.com/blog/Natalie will award a $10 Amazon or BN.com gift card to one randomly drawn commenter.The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/04/super-book-blast-lucid-by-natalie-roers.html

Tuesday

Hope Sunday was a lovely day for all you moms out there. We went to see Iron Man 3 Saturday. If you haven't seen it and are going to here's a hint: Don't leave before all the credits have rolled.
I got chocolate-covered strawberries from the boy for Mother's Day. I think they were in lieu of the strawberry pie I'd asked him to make, but whatever the reason I enjoyed them.
Sunday we hooked up with the fam. All in all a great weekend.
Though we should  have a brief moment of silence for my house, which didn't get cleaned at all.

What about you? How did you celebrate your day?

Have you seen this video? Now that's the kind of dog you want around when you have little ones.
Enjoy your Tuesday. Hope it's as special as you are.
Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5 

BBT: How Not To Train A Zombie

BLURB:Up and down the hallway, students turned and stared at Chad and Max. Some pointed and laughed, but most just ignored them as if they didn’t exist.
“Sheesh! Can you talk a little louder? I don’t think they heard you in the band hall.” Max’s face turned several shades redder than the lockers lining the wall. This wasn’t exactly the kind of attention he wanted, especially not after yesterday’s Career Fair. How his mom found out about it, was beyond him. He had thrown away the first flyer asking for volunteers to speak to his class about their careers over a month ago, and he made sure to throw away every flyer he had gotten since then.
But somehow she found out.  And yesterday, she showed up in a bright pink flower shirt and her overalls and talked to the class about the joys of being a gardener. Max wanted to die. Gardening wasn’t even her career. It was her hobby! And everyone knew it. And then his mom singled him out when she left. Shaking hands would have been okay, but is that what his mom did?
Oh no!
She hugged him in front of the whole class. Even having Eddy Pratt’s dad talk about being a zombie exterminator couldn’t erase the embarrassment and humiliation Max endured the rest of the day.
AUTHOR Bio and Links: I live in Texas with my husband, son, and two cats who think they run the place. I read, write, play Texas Hold’em poker (I'm actually part of a local league), and occasionally I compete in BBQ competitions with my husband. Our team name is Outcast Cookers. I also teach in a public school.
My likes include: a wide variety of music (see my play list for book 2 on my blog), Star Trek (My son got me a signed picture of Patrick Stewart which sits on my desk.), Star Wars, Grimm (TV series), winter (though we don’t have snow), the holiday season, coffee, hot tea (with cream and sweetener), pizza (no anchovies though), puzzles, Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, and JK Rowling.http://annierachelcole.blogspot.comwww.twitter.com/@AnnieRachelColehttp://pinterest.com/annierachelcole/Buy LinksAmazon (Kindle):  http://www.amazon.com/How-NOT-Train-Zombie-ebook/dp/B00BEB2YEY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1362452994&sr=8-2&keywords=how+not+to+train+a+zombieAmazon Paperback:  http://www.amazon.com/Train-Zombie-Annie-Rachel-Cole/dp/1482348322/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1362452994&sr=8-2Barnes and Noble (Nook):  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-not-to-train-a-zombie-annie-rachel-cole/1114502583?ean=2940016367675KOBO:  http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/How-NOT-to-Train-Zombie-/book-nbRfqNj2ZEevgBkikZAqag/page1.html?s=YYcFvJjQx0CvQ7y1XEUBPg&r=1

The author will award a $25 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
  he tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/03/virtual-blurb-blitz-tour-how-not-to.html
 

Wishing You TheBest of Mothers' Days

 Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there and the women who fill the role but don't have the title. Enjoy your day.

It's The Weekend

SBB: Midnight Special

BLURB:There. He still had it.
The ability to intimidate sweet women. He’d bet he could make babies cry and puppies whimper, too.
“You look grumpy.”
Hunter scowled.
“Really grumpy,” she decided, closing the lid of her laptop, setting it aside and getting to her feet. She glanced at the clock on the wall, then at her watch as if to verify the time. “I’ll bet you’re hungry. We haven’t had anything but coffee in two hours. Want to get breakfast?”
“Look, I can’t do this roommate thing. It was nice enough of you to offer to share, but it’s just not going to work.”
“So you’re leaving?”
“No, you are.”
Her cupid’s bow mouth dropped open and she stared for so long, he wanted to blow on her face to make her blink.
“It’s my berth. I was in it first. Out of the goodness of my heart, I offered to share it with you. So why would I give it up?”
Hunter considered flashing his FBI badge and going the national security route. But he was seriously tired. Tired and sore and empty. He needed a little downtime. He had a week to build a case that would put away the head of one of the biggest criminal organizations on the east coast. He wasn’t going to do that with people bugging him, asking FBI questions and passing him in the hallway muttering “the truth is out there.”AUTHOR Bio and Links: Tawny Weber has been writing sassy, sexy romances since her first Harlequin Blaze hit the shelves in 2007.  A fan of Johnny Depp, cupcakes and color coordination, she spends a lot of her time shopping for cute shoes, scrapbooking and hanging out on Facebook. 
Readers can check out Tawny’s books at her websiteor join her Red Hot Readers Club for goodies like free reads, complete first chapter excerpts, recipes, insider story info and much more.  And for a limited time, she has a few open spots on her Street Team!Social Links:Website – http://tawnyweber.comFacebook – http://www.facebook.com/TawnyWeber.RomanceAuthorTwitter –  https://twitter.com/TawnyWeberPinterest - http://pinterest.com/tawnyweber/ Midnight Special link:   http://tawnyweber.com/books/midnight-special/  Purchase Links:-   All About Romance-   Amazon-   Barnes & Noble-   Books-A-Million-   Harlequin-   Powells-   iTunes
Tawny will be awarding a bookmark goodie package to one commenter at each stop (bookmark, signed cover flat, post it pad, magnet) and a grand prize of a $25 Amazon / BN (or other bookstore of the winner's choice) GC to one randomly drawn commenter during this tour and her other Book Blast on May 14th .
The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/04/super-book-blast-1-midnight-special-by.html

BBT: Kill Shot

BLURB: Former combat medic Kory Wagner survived four war zones. Now she’s home and out of the Army for good and someone is trying to kill her in her own backyard. Just as disturbing is the handsome sheriff who’s on the case. Sheriff Sean Harding doesn’t quite know what to think of the decorated veteran that managed to outsmart an entire search party. What bothers him more is the body of a PI, whom she hired, was found dead in a building she owns. And Kory isn’t being very cooperative with helping him find the answers as to why someone would kill her sister and want her dead. Will he be able to keep her alive along enough to discover the truth?"I'm sorry," he murmured.
"Where's your cell phone?" Hers was in her backpack but she didn't want to waste valuable time digging it out.
"No time. Get out."
"Who did this, Mr. Urlik?"
He grabbed her right hand and squeezed it tightly. "You were right -- no accident."
His hand went limp.
Kory felt something in the palm of her hand, looked down and saw it was a key. She shoved it into her jeans pocket. A whizzing sound buzzed past her, followed by the unmistakable clink of a bullet ricocheting off metal. She instinctively threw herself over his body as another bullet struck metal. Kory felt for a pulse. There was none. She lowered her hand to his chest and felt under both arms and along his waist. I thought all PIs carried guns. Just my luck this one didn't.AUTHOR Bio and Links: Anne Patrick is the author of more than a dozen novels of Romance, Mayhem & Faith, including the award winning and bestselling WOUNDED HEROES SERIES, FIRE AND ASH, and TIES THAT BIND. Her books have garnered four-star reviews from Romantic Times, 'Top Pick' and 'Best Book' honors from Night Owl Reviews and Long and Short of It Reviews, and Five-Heart reviews from The Romance Studio. When she isn't working on her next novel she enjoys spending time with family and friends, and traveling to foreign countries to experience new cultures and adventures. Born and raised in Oklahoma, she now makes her home in Kansas.Contact links:Website: http://www.annepatrickbooks.com Blog: http://www.suspensebyanne.blogspot.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/anne.patrick.98Twitter: https://twitter.com/suspensebyanne Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/author/annepatrickBuy Links:
 Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Wounded-Heroes-Book-One-ebook/dp/B0067DE258B&N:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wounded-heroes-book-one-anne-patrick/1111903857CBD: http://www.christianbook.com/wounded-heroes-book-kill-shot-ebook/anne-patrick/9781612521022/pd/24251EBPublisher: http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com...Anne will be awarding a $50 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/03/virtual-blurb-blitz-tour-kill-shot-by.html

Ever wondered....

If the prize patrol is real?
WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

We had a winner in my hometown. They went to the local florist and the local grocery store, for the champagne, before making the delivery.

Catching Fire

Lookee, lookee. Can't wait.........