Denise Jaden's Blog, page 8

And the Advanced Copy of ISLA goes to...

Thanks to everyone who entered my cover reveal contest and celebrated my new cover for FOREIGN EXCHANGE with me. If you haven't seen it yet, here it is! I'm thrilled with it.


Sadly, I only have one advance copy of ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER to give away, but I'm excited that the copy goes to...

Clara Song!
Congratulations, Clara. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And thanks again to everyone who entered!

Introducing HEART & SOUL by @leestraussbooks

Introducing 

Heart & Soul




Heart & Soul is the third book in The Minstrel Series 
(This is a connected book series - while each book can stand alone, they are best enjoyed in sequence.)

ROMANCE. SUSPENSE. MUSIC. DANGER. HOT BRITISH GUY

She's heartbroken. He's heartless.
Gabriele Baumann-Smith is deliriously in love with her young husband Lennon. Except, it turns out that Lennon Smith isn't his real name. In fact, he's full of secrets: a cottage on the southern British coast, an old girlfriend and... an identical twin brother.
Callum Jones—not his real name—can't believe his brother's widow came to England. He'd warned Mick—Lennon—that an inheritance could put the girl's life in danger, and he was right.
“Mrs. Smith” is the last thing Callum needs to worry about right now. She's beautiful, sure, takes his breath away at times. But when she looks at him, who does she see?
Gabriele's heart is battered and bruised. Can one brother fix what the other left behind? And will they live long enough to find out?

BUZZ for Heart & Soul "...this took a turn for the spy/thriller genre, which surprised me, but still carried thestrong romantic flavor and wonderful accompanying music, like the first two books. I think this is a great series and would recommend it to contemporary romance fans." Denise Jaden, author of Foreign Exchange
"Another great book by Lee! This one had action, wit and a forbidden love! Love the characters and their interaction with each other! Can't wait to see what she has in store for us next!" Tressa Sager, Amazon reviewer
"I don't want to give away what the danger is, but suffice it to say, it's a real and plausible threat. Gabrielle is a good leading lady. She doesn't back down from anything or anyone in this book, but she's still vulnerable, making her well-rounded and likable." J Harrell, Amazon reviewer
AMAZON | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | itunes | Google Play
Heart & Soul in Print Createspace
The Music from The Minstrel Series Volume 3 Heart & Soul

Amazon
Featuring the author's daughter, Tasia Strauss!
Lee Strauss' thoughts on The Minstrel Series and Heart & Soul:
"My musician husband and I just randomly started talking about the idea of working on a project together - wouldn't it be great if we could collaborate and merge our two artistic worlds? Writing and Music? That was the seed that started the muse talking, and soon afterward The Minstrel Series was born!
For Heart & Soul, I knew I wanted to move the series from Germany to England (next to Ireland and Boston!) and that I needed a small coastal town not far from London. I used Google Earth to examine the British coastline to search for the perfect town and found it in Emsworth. Living in Germany part-time has its advantages and one of them is its proximity to England. My husband and I did a quick five day research trip. (It also came in handy for the next book, a Christmas novella set in London - stay tuned!) 
Because of the musical aspect of this series, I'm always on the prowl for songs and singers. My connection to the singer-songwriter world via my musical husband has been a big advantage. My husband's musical genes have also been down to our kids, so it's exciting to involve my daughter Tasia in the project to be the singing voice of Gabriele."
Click HERE to read the first chapter of Heart & Soul. 
**One of the entry options will ask a question from the above chapter.

About The Minstrel Series:
The Minstrel Series is a collection of contemporary romance novels set in the singer/songwriter world. The books are companion novels, with shared settings and characters, but each is a complete stand-alone story with a HEA (happily ever after) and no cliffhangers!
The books include MP3 links to original music by talented Indie Artists, so you can hear the characters sing!
#1     Sun & Moon#2     Flesh & Bone #3     Heart & Soul #3.5  Peace & Goodwill (Christmas Novella coming Fall 2014)

It also has its own FACEBOOK (link) page and its own BANDCAMP (link) page where you can listen to the original music associated with the books. Albums are also available on AMAZON.

About Lee Strauss:
Lee Strauss is the author of The Minstrel Series (contemporary romance), The Perception Series (young adult dystopian) and young adult historical fiction. She is the married mother of four grown children, three boys and a girl, and divides her time between British Columbia, Canada and Dresden, Germany. When she's not writing or reading she likes to cycle, hike and do yoga. She enjoys traveling (but not jet lag >0), soy lattes, red wine and dark chocolate.





EASY TWEETS:

New Release! HEART & SOUL, bk3 in a connected series by @leestrauss #Romance #Thriller #suspense #music #musicians http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Soul-cont...
Love #Romance and #Suspense? #Music? HEART & SOUL, bk3 in a connected series by @leestraussbooks http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Soul-cont...














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Celebrating the new Cover for FOREIGN EXCHANGE!

I'm so excited to show you my beautiful new cover of FOREIGN EXCHANGE!!!

But unfortunately you won't find it here (yet). Rather than displaying my cover on my own blog, a few of my awesome friends are doing the unveiling around the Internet. AND... I'm giving away an advanced copy of ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER by Stephanie Perkins.

You can enter just by stopping by one of the following blogs and taking a peek at my new cover!

http://amaterasureads.blogspot.ca/http://careann.wordpress.com/www.drgrahambooks.comhttp://kc-dyer.squarespace.com/blog/www.leestraussbooks.comhttp://lstaylor.blogspot.ca/me-on-books.blogspot.caMyheartheartsbooks.blogspot.com http://ronestradabooks.com/rons-blog/www.shana-silver.comhttp://sharigreen.wordpress.com/http://yaloveblog.com/
http://youknowwhattheysayaboutbookpeople.blogspot.ca/
Go enter now! This baby could be yours...

Or...if you don't have time to hop around and really want to enter...

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Thoughts on ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER by Stephanie Perkins @naturallysteph

Thanks to Penguin Canada, I was fortunate enough to read an early copy of ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. I can't tell you how excited I was. I read it in a day.

As with everything Stephanie Perkins writes, ISLA is highly addictive and highly readable and highly romantic. (The author mentioned on Twitter that there was LOTS of kissing, and she wasn't kidding!) It was not difficult to read it in a day (the difficult part was telling Real Life to stop bothering me!)

There was so much to love in this book, from the setting (Paris! New York! Barcelona!), which was described in such fun and interesting detail, to the odd chemistry between a girl who has never been seen and a boy who is too used to being seen. I loved finding out the background of Josh and why he is the way he is, and why he was the way he was in ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS. Isla was a sweet and endearing character with an unexpected side to her, which I loved.

I also have a YA romance set in Europe coming out this fall (FOREIGN EXCHANGE, Evernight Teen, October, 14). Interesting tidbit... during my many revisions of FOREIGN EXCHANGE, I had to whittle down much of the story that took place in Barcelona, and instead expand the part of the story that took place in Italy. I was happily surprised when I read the part of ISLA that took place in Barcelona, because it was as if a part of my book showed up in Stephanie's book. Our characters visited all the same monuments, had many of the same feelings about them. So fun for me to read!

I kept waiting for my favorite characters from ANNA and LOLA to show up, and hoping their appearances would be satisfying. I don't want to give spoilers, but I'll say that these characters were brought back perfectly in a very satisfying way. Stephanie Perkins is a character-wielding-genius!

Stay tuned, because I will be giving away my early copy of ISLA very soon in a very special giveaway. (I'll want to buy my own hardcover when it comes out, but I really want to share this early copy with another Stephanie Perkins fan very soon!)

End of June Check-In #WIPMadness

I know it's not quite the end of June, but I'm going to be away from my computer for the end of this week and beginning of next week. We didn't have an official host for this month, but YAY, we do for next month! Be sure to stop by Kim Baccellia's Blog to check in through July.

June has felt like a scattered month for me. I have gotten some stuff done - an online course mapped out and I've been working hard on my screenplay - but I haven't had a regular writing schedule in a while and I think that's what is leaving me feeling disjointed about the process. Now that school is done, I plan to schedule in some writing time and take off to a coffee shop a few days per week through the next couple of months.

How about you? How did June go and do you have any writing plans for the rest of the summer?

June Check-In #WIPMadness

I cannot believe it's June. JUNE!!! Where did the first half of 2014 go? Seriously.
We didn't have anyone step up to host this month, and I get it. It's a busy time, tying up different commitments with school and so forth. But let this serve as your little reminder not to forget about taking some time for yourself. Whether it's writing or in some other area, don't let this month slip by without finding some time to be creative. Believe me, that will make all other areas of your life go better.
So what's in the plans for this month?
For me, I have a lot of details to tie up for a course I'll be teaching and a book I have releasing this fall (eek!) But none of that is particularly creative. I'm slowly working away at paring down my first screenplay, but that, too, feels more like technical work than creativity. In my spare thinking time, I have been plotting out a new book I'm pretty excited about...so that works. My aim for June is to at least spend a little bit of thinking time on that project every single day this month.
How about you? Where will your creativity bloom this month?

End of May #WIPMadness Check-in - What did you accomplish this month?

Surprise, surprise! I made it back for another May check-in! You know the saying, "A busy person gets more done?" Yes, well, apparently it's true.

I have finished up a big writing project this month, as well as started working on my screenplay again, and now I've just received my edits on FOREIGN EXCHANGE, so I'm busy at work on those. It's the end of the school year, so tying up projects and last-minute field trips and reporting in have also kept me very busy.

I've also been reading some FABULOUS novels this month. I'll be back when I have a little more time to share about those, because I want to do them justice, but if you've read anything amazing lately, I'd love to hear about it.

How about you? Did you get more than you thought you would done this month? Did you start something new? Or did you take some much needed time off?

I think our next official #WIPMadness host is scheduled for July, unless anyone would like to take on June??? Not much is required (as you can see by my May jump-in posts!) Just post a check-in on your blog each Monday and tweet about it so we don't forget. Anyone up for that?

Anyway, I hope your May has been wonderful, whatever you have been up to!

YAYYYYYY!!! Good News!

You know when you have to sit on good news for a really long time and it practically kills you to keep it to yourself? Yeah, that. But it's finally time. Some of you may have seen the Publisher's Marketplace announcement, but if not...here's the news...

My next book will be out THIS OCTOBER from Evernight Teen! I am over the moon about it, and so far Evernight has been a complete joy to work with. Here is the official announcement:

Author of NEVER ENOUGH, Denise Jaden’s FOREIGN EXCHANGE, in which two teens sneak away from their European class trip to rescue their missing friend and fall in love in the process, to Evernight Teen by Michelle Humphrey at the Martha Kaplan Agency.
I'm working on a longer summary, if you want to know more. In fact, I have two versions. Let me know which one hooks you more, or if you have suggestions, I'm all ears!

#1 - Without the courage of her fearless best friend, risk-averse Jamie Monroe wouldn't normally flirt with a hot older guy or traipse across Europe in search of her Italian absentee father. But when her brave best friend suddenly goes missing in Italy and all signs say she wasn’t on the safe foreign exchange program everyone thought, Jamie is forced to break all the rules—seducing information from her best friend’s hotter-than-hot older brother, and then sneaking away from her European class trip with him. Sawyer and Jamie launch onto a globetrotting mission to rescue her best friend from the web of dangerous secrets she’s woven to keep her real purpose for being in Europe hidden. 


#2 – Jamie Monroe has always played it safe. That is, until her live-for-the-moment best friend, Tristan, jets off to Italy on a student exchange program. Left alone with her part-time mother and her disabled brother, Jamie discovers that she is quite capable of taking her own risks, starting with her best friend’s hotter-than-hot older brother, Sawyer. Sawyer and Tristan have been neighbors for years, but as Jamie grows closer to the family she thought she knew, she discovers some pretty big secrets, not only from her, but from each other. As she sinks deeper into their web of pretense, she suspects that her best friend may not be on a safe exchange program at all. Jamie sets off to Europe on a class trip with plans to meet up with Tristan, but when Tristan stops all communication, suddenly no one seems trustworthy, least of all the one person she was starting to trust—Sawyer.  

Still tweaking these, but they should give you an idea of what the book is like. If you haven't read it. Which many of you probably have, because I've had SO MUCH help with this book! That's one reason I'm so thrilled to see it finally getting out into the world. Another reason is because this is the book that carried me through a very hard year after my dad died. It was kind of a bright spot that I always looked forward to working on. For that reason, and others, I think this is probably my favorite book I have written.

And now... I can't wait to share it with you!

If you are a blogger and would like an early review copy, please let me know (You can email me at d(at)denisejaden(dot)com). Or...if you're interested in helping me spread the word about this book and others (and perhaps reading an early copy), I have set up a small Street Team group on Facebook. Let me know if you'd like to join and your Facebook username, and I'll send you an invite.

I'm so very thankful for all of the amazing people who support me and my writing, and now for a new connection with an awesome publisher. It's going to be a good year...

Surprise May Check-In #WIPMadness

Hi all,

I knew I wouldn't have the organizational skills to keep up on hosting WIP Madness through May, but at the same time, it's really hard to set goals and keep up on them in 140 characters or less, isn't it?

So this post will serve as our at least a one-time check-in for May. I can't promise more, but I will try.

What are you up to this month? Have you already set goals? Have you already achieved or made headway toward them?

As for me, I was in limbo waiting for feedback on a couple of projects. In the meantime, I was working on mapping out an online course I plan to teach this summer. Of course I got all the feedback on my manuscripts at once, so not I'm working hard at figuring out how to best implement it all. I hope to get one manuscript polished off by the end of May.

How about you?

(Also, I wanted to add the little WIPMadness badge that some awesome person made up for us - Was that Mary Ann? I'm lacking in organizational skills, remember?--but I can't find it anywhere in my files. Does anyone still have this kicking around?)

Just Out: WILL THE REAL ABI SAUNDERS PLEASE STAND UP by Sara Hantz!

I had a chance to read an early copy of this book and loved it! A quick easy read that takes straight into the world of kickboxing, movie-star style!

  Will The Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up by Sara Hantz is now available!

About the book: Abi Saunders might be a kickboxing champion, but when it comes to being the center of attention, she’d rather take a roundhouse kick to the solar plexus any day. So when her trainer convinces her to audition to be the stunt double for hot teen starlet Tilly Watson, Abi is shocked—and a little freaked out—when she gets the job. Being a stunt double is overwhelming, but once the wig and makeup are on, Abi feels like a different person. Tilly Watson, to be exact. And when Tilly’s gorgeous boyfriend, Jon, mistakes Abi for the real star, Abi's completely smitten. In fact, she’s so in love with her new life, it isn’t long before she doesn’t have time for her old one. But when the cameras are turned off, will she discover running with the Hollywood A-list isn’t quite the glamorous existence she thought it was?

You can buy the book here: Amazon Barnes and Noble Book Depository

What Others Are Saying: "Abi Saunders is a kickass heroine with a story full of action and heart." Melissa Walker author of Ashes to Ashes and Small Town Sinners.
 "Will the Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up delivers the good stuff - kickboxing stunt double, Hollywood A-listers, mistaken identity, romance. This one is a contender!" Linda Gerber, author of the Lights, Camera, Cassidy series.
 "Will the Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up packs a delicious punch of realism and Hollywood magic in one hit." Allison Rushby, author of Being Hartley, the Living Blond Trilogy and Shooting Stars.