Alison Kent's Blog, page 19

YA hardcovers up for grabs, for the price of a review!

I've got two recent hardcover young adult releases (review copies courtesy of the publishers) that I'll give away in exchange for a short review. You read the book, write up a couple of paragraphs, send it to me, and I'll post it! Such a deal, yes?

DARKNESS BECOMES HER by Kelly Keaton, Simon Pulse, February 2011

Ari can't help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can't be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.

Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it's impossible to protect herself when she doesn't know what she's running from or why she is being pursued.

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very…different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.

Ari won't stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

MOONGLASS by Jessi Kirby, Simon & Schuster, May 2011

When Anna was little, she and her mother used to search for sea glass, but since they looked at night, they called it moonglass. Now, ten years after her mother's mysterious death, her father is working as head lifeguard on the same beach where her mother grew up and her parents first met and fell in love.

Reluctant to get close to anyone (including her father) and not pleased about having to start at a new school, Anna begins to spend more time alone, running the length of the beach and wondering about who her mother really was. After meeting a lifeguard named Tyler, she slowly lets her guard down and together they start exploring the abandoned houses that dot the beach.

But when learning more about her mother's past leads to a painful discovery, Anna must reconcile her desire for solitude with ultimately accepting the love of her family and friends.

I'll draw the winners from all comments left here by Saturday, June 4, 2011, 9:00 a.m. CDT. I'll need the review back by the end of June. If that works, then tell me below which book you'd like to read!

My dream writing app …

I take my iPod on my daily walks, though I don't always use it. Sometimes I'm too lost in thought to need music to pass the time, and most of those thoughts are story related. Often that's on purpose. Other times that's just where my head goes as I pound out the steps. Walking is the best way to shake loose bits and pieces of story and characters that are lodged deep in my basement. Only my basement doesn't look like one where the "girls" would hang out. The only person besides me willing to brave my basement is John Constantine. And honestly, that's kinda what my walks feel like these days since we've hit summer full blast. Last night the husband and I walked the dogs late, and it was bearable, but still hot as John Constantine's hell.

So here's my dream writing app: I've got earbuds in and am listening to my favorite Kelly Howell Brain Sync mp3, and my earbuds not only play the beta, gamma, and theta waves, they also pull out the jumble of thoughts in my head and save them in a downloadable file I can access at my computer. I come up with brilliant bits of story while walking, and I often stop to type a note in my Blackberry or iPod, or dictate a note with the BB's voice recorder. But how much easier would it be if stuff would zap from my head to a file, eh?

Someone make that happen, k?

Want to do a little Risqué Business with @HelenKayDimon?

The fifth Walk on the Wild Side Books release for our group's launch month of May is now available! And it's by my good friend HelenKay Dimon! Come check it out!

Kari Reynolds is a human resources specialist on a short-term assignment at Coleman Engineering. It's her job to lead workshops but there's one big problem – the boss, Matt Bradford.

Being near Mr. Tall, Dark and Smoking Hot brings out Kari's naughty side. One look at him makes her forget what's appropriate in the workplace, and she's smart enough to know the heated glances he's shooting her way have nothing to do with business.

Now all she has to do is convince Matt to ignore her job title and try a little office pleasure…

Buy at Amazon

Buy at Smashwords

Available soon at B&N, iBooks, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, ARe

Check out Saskia Walker's MINDING AMY

I am SO behind. I meant to post this last week when my WotWS buddy Saskia Walker's story MINDING AMY released!

Sassy London journalist, Amy Norton, is on the trail of a missing TV celebrity. When her over-protective father hires a bodyguard to accompany her during her investigative work, she's furious. Things only get worse when she realizes the bodyguard is the guy she mistakenly approached on a blind date the night before. She was all over the man and embarrassed herself, big time. The last thing she wants is to have him obstructing her investigation, gorgeous though he is.

Undercover Investigator, Sebastian Armitage, is amused and fascinated by the situation and sets out to charm the pants off the hot-headed Ms Norton. She is one sexy lady, and he wants her. Before long they embark on a red-hot affair, but how is Sebastian going to point out that she's going about investigate work the wrong way, while keeping her sweet?

Pop over to the Walk on the Wild Side Books site to check it out!

Happy 1st Birthday to Charlie Grace

The Grande Dame of Erotica / Erotic Romance

Back in the olden days, before any print book from any country could be found on the Internet and ordered up, I used to get my Black Lace titles from stores in the UK. I found one store in particular that had a huge stock of these sexually explicit titles!

This was also back in the olden days before Kensington Brava and Ellora's Cave introduced hot and steamy romance to the US market … and we all know what happened after that! Anyhow, I actually made quite a tidy sum flipping Black Lace titles on eBay. Yes, it's true. Readers wanted them, and I had found a place to get them.

One of the authors most in demand was Portia Da Costa. Portia now writes for Spice and Samhain. She previously wrote as Dorothy Starr and Delaney Silver, and over the years we have become friends. I was so excited when she agreed to be a part of Walk on the Wild Side Books, and her first short story is available now!

Click over to the WotWS site and check it out!

GLINT – by Portia Da Costa

While enjoying a lazy day at the beach, sexy holidaymakers Suzy and Gavin see a sudden glint of light flash from the headland overlooking their patch of sand, and realize that somebody's watching them through a pair of binoculars! Far from being alarmed, hedonistic Suzy finds the forbidden scrutiny deliciously exciting, and turned on by her own latent exhibitionism, she and Gavin decide to put on a titillating performance… and really give the distant voyeur something to watch!

Psst! I have a new release!

AT HIS MERCY is not officially supposed to be "released" until May 30th as part of the Walk on the Wild Side Books collective, but I had to launch it earlier to get in on some promo with the Backlist Ebooks group. I figured since it was out there, I might as well let you guys know!

That bit of promo may be confusing because this is not a backlist book. It is BRAND NEW! Fresh off the virtual printing presses TODAY! It's a 12,000 word short story, a very steamy erotic romance.

Click over to the book's page and read the excerpt if you'd like. There are buy links to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The book is also downloadable from Smashwords in many formats (including the mobi for Kindle, html, pdf, etc.).

Here's something you can do to help me out, even if you don't buy the book. Visit the Kindle page and type TT anywhere on the page. Doing so will take you to the book's TAGS. Click the tags there to agree with them. What this does is help the book come up in the Kindle search engine for readers looking for this type of story. And if you read it, I'd love for you to post a review – at Amazon, or BN, or Smashwords. I'm hoping to do more of these inexpensive short reads, and getting noticed with tags and reviews will help out a lot! Let me know what you think!

ARCs up for grabs – for the price of a review!

Somewhere, somehow, sometime I got on the blogger reviewer mailing list for a couple of publishers, and I have a stack of books here I just haven't had time to read, much less review. A sad stack, so neglected, so lonely. ;) So I was thinking …

Why don't I offer them up here and anyone who wants to do a review for me to post can have them? You'd have to write up your thoughts say within three weeks? Would that work? Two or three paragraphs – or more if you're so inclined.

If you're interested, comment below with which title you'd like, or if you'd like either, that's fine. Just say so! And if neither of these is your thing, I'll do another review giveaway soon! Comment below by Friday, May 6, 2011, CDT.

The first is a May 17, 2011 hardcover release by Melissa Marr: GRAVEMINDER

Three sips to mind the dead . . .

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the attention her grandmother Maylene bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the small town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn't a funeral that Maylene didn't attend, and at each one Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: She took three sips from a silver flask and spoke the words "Sleep well, and stay where I put you."

Now Maylene is dead, and Bek must go back to the place she left a decade earlier. She soon discovers that Claysville is not just the sleepy town she remembers, and that Maylene had good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in Claysville the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected; beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D. If the dead are not properly cared for, they will come back to satiate themselves with food, drink, and stories from the land of the living. Only the Graveminder, by tradition a Barrow woman, and her Undertaker—in this case Byron Montgomery, with whom Bek shares a complicated past—can set things right once the dead begin to walk.

Although she is still grieving for Maylene, Rebekkah will soon find that she has more than a funeral to attend to in Claysville, and that what awaits her may be far worse: dark secrets, a centuries-old bargain, a romance that still haunts her, and a frightening new responsibility—to stop a monster and put the dead to rest where they belong.

The second is a June 21, 2011 hardcover release by Melissa de la Cruz: WITCHES OF EAST END

From the author of the highly addictive and bestselling Blue Bloods series, with almost 3 million copies sold, comes a new novel, Melissa de la Cruz's first for adults, featuring a family of formidable and beguiling witches.

The three Beauchamp women–Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid–live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. Their beautiful, mist-shrouded town seems almost stuck in time, and all three women lead seemingly quiet, uneventful existences. But they are harboring a mighty secret–they are powerful witches banned from using their magic. Joanna can resurrect people from the dead and heal the most serious of injuries. Ingrid, her bookish daughter, has the ability to predict the future and weave knots that can solve anything from infertility to infidelity. And finally, there's Freya, the wild child, who has a charm or a potion that can cure most any heartache.

For centuries, all three women have been forced to suppress their abilities. But then Freya, who is about to get married to the wealthy and mysterious Bran Gardiner, finds that her increasingly complicated romantic life makes it more difficult than ever to hide her secret. Soon Ingrid and Joanna confront similar dilemmas, and the Beauchamp women realize they can no longer conceal their true selves. They unearth their wands from the attic, dust off their broomsticks, and begin casting spells on the townspeople. It all seems like a bit of good-natured, innocent magic, but then mysterious, violent attacks begin to plague the town. When a young girl disappears over the Fourth of July weekend, they realize it's time to uncover who and what dark forces are working against them.

With a brand-new cast of characters, a fascinating and fresh world to discover, and a few surprise appearances from some of the Blue Blood fan favorites, this is a page-turning, deliciously fun, magical summer read fraught with love affairs, witchcraft, and an unforgettable battle between good and evil.

Who's NOT in the mood for some hot action heroes right about now!!!

Check out Charlene Teglia's MEN OF ACTION!

From the jungles of South America to a big city high-rise, where there's trouble, you'll find…MEN OF ACTION.



Shoot to Thrill

Gabriel Everest had a simple plan; infiltrate, attack, exfiltrate. Unfortunately, he encountered a major complication in Dr. Miranda Gray. Blowing the target would have to wait until he could rescue the hostage, but saving the girl and getting away without alerting the opposition is harder than it sounds when she's determined to take direct action of her own.



Third Time's the Charm

Loving a cop isn't easy. Faced with an emotional distance their physical attraction couldn't bridge, Lynn Taylor walked away. Twice. But Nick Logan isn't ready to let her go. When an elevator mishap leaves them trapped together in the dark, can two lovers find a way to make the third time the charm?

Pop over to Walk on the Wild Side Books for an excerpt and order links!

Tagging Books – a readers poll

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Until I got involved with indie publishing, I'd never even noticed the product tags on Amazon. And I've been shopping at Amazon since the day it opened. Seriously. They own me. Shoes, blue jeans, groceries, electronics, toiletries. There's next to nothing I haven't bought there – and yet I'd never once looked at tags. It seems, however, that tags are a big deal for indie authors. But I'm more curious if they're a big deal for readers. So take the poll and let me know, and comment early and often!