Kelly Hashway's Blog, page 39

Friday Feature: Ghost Touch by LA Dragoni

 For fifteen minutes each night a portal opens in Tamara’s barn and a horde of ghosts spills into her yard. She and Dex work together to find a way to help Cal and the thousands of spirits stuck in the void to cross over. When she learns she has the ghost touch—the ability to touch the ghosts as if they were corporeal—and she accidentally helps a little boy cross, she believes it might be possible. But not all the spirits play nice and when they learn they can sip energy from her ghost touch, they become greedy putting her life at risk.

Each time Cal has to pull her from the mass of ghosts, her touch restores him more and more until he is at danger of being stuck on earth—forever, which is very enticing to Tamara the better she knows him. Will she and Dex figure out how to help the spirits cross and if they do, will she be able to let Cal go?
Available in print, ebook, and audiobook from Amazon, Also available on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, and other e-tailers.
Excerpt:
The knot of ghosts hissed and shrieked as they chased her. Seeing they’d already changed direction, she dug her fingers into the grass to pull herself away from them. Her legs were as shaky as a newborn foal and even crawling was too much effort. Ruff stood next to her, barking, but she knew he’d have no effect. He couldn’t even touch the ghouls.Then they were on her. Petting and pulling, stroking and grabbing at her arms, legs, clothes, hair. Their chatter became excited, reminding her of a pack of hyenas. She buried her head under her arms wishing…praying they’d go away. “Get off her!” Was that Cal? Tamara raised her head as much as she could, but was still buried in spirits. She got a glance at a familiar face before the writhing group closed in again. Was that the drowned ghost? She looked less bloated.“Leave her. This will not help. Get away.”Slowly the weight lifted from her until she felt only one pair of hands grasping her upper arms. Gentle and caring, not demanding.“Cal,” she croaked, struggling to raise her head and open her eyes. “Come on, Tamara. You need to get up.”Her eyelids were so heavy. She couldn’t hold them open. Couldn’t make her neck cooperate so she could look at Cal.“Tamara, you need to move him. I can’t touch him.”“Let go of me Cal. You’re making it worse. I think.” Even speaking drained her of energy. It took all she had just to force the words out, but when Cal let go of her, she felt a difference immediately. It was as if her strength no longer leaked out of her extremities. Unfortunately her tank didn’t seem to be refilling very fast. “I…it’s…it’s better. Give me a minute.”“We don’t really have a minute, Tamara.”
Reviews:
LA Dragoni's GHOST TOUCH got me out of my paranormal romance funk in which I felt like I was reading the same book over and over again. The ghost part with the portal opening in Tamara's barn was vividly described and equal parts cool and terrifying, but it was really Tamara's poignant emotional journey that spoke to me.
 -Katie
About the author: LA Dragoni isn’t too particular about who falls in love or where they fall in love. She simply considers it her job to capture the story about their love. Whether it’s paranormal, mythical, or time travel, LA will be there to divine their story for you. She lives in Central Oregon with her husband and children, but haunts ghost towns and cemeteries up and down the west, in search of the next adventure to sift through her storytelling brain. Follow LA on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to her mailing list and learn more about LA and her work at www.ladragoni.com

*Want your YA, NA, or MG book featured on my blog? Contact me here and we'll set it up.

Writer Wednesday: Titling Your Book

Two weeks ago, Mirka Breen asked me how I come up with the titles of my books. The question actually took me by surprise because I'm the first to admit I'm terrible at coming up with titles. My flash drive consists of manuscripts with the following file names:
New IdeaThrillerSuspense
Aren't those just so imaginative and gripping? ;)
Fun fact for you: After I wrote The Monster Within, I had no idea what to call the book. It took me longer to title it than it did to write it. I got the title from a line in the book that mentioned a monster within the MC. So my first tip is to search your manuscript for a phrase that really hits on the tone and plot. Then play around with it to see if you can make that phrase work as a title.
When I wrote my Into the Fire trilogy, I knew my characters would be phoenixes. Using "fire" in my title seemed appropriate, and since my MC was about to be reborn for the first time, I felt Into the Fire suited the book. So there I used the story itself to dictate the title.
For my upcoming suspense, Lies We Tell, I have a main character who is living a lie. She spends every day telling the same lie, so this title was actually pretty obvious to me. 
After Loving You was one of the books that I titled before I started writing because my idea was to write about a couple trying to figure out how to live after losing their first loves. 
I like to jot down possible titles and play around with them to see what sounds the best. Then I go on Amazon and search for books with that title. You don't want a title that's been used so much that your book will be lost in a long list of search results.
I hope that helps a little, Mirka. If anyone else has any tricks for selecting titles, please share them in the comments.
*If you have a question you'd like me to answer from the other side of the editor's desk, feel free to leave it in the comments and I'll schedule it for a future post.

Monday Mishmash 2/13/17

Happy Monday! Monday Mishmash is a weekly meme dedicated to sharing what's on your mind. Feel free to grab the button and post your own Mishmash.
Here's what's on my mind today:After Loving You Has a New Cover!  After careful consideration, I realized the previous cover of After Loving You didn't convey the story well, so I hired Redbird Designs to create this beautiful cover! I couldn't love it more. Sign Up For My Newsletter and Get A FREE Book!  If you like the new cover of After Loving You and want to see it on your Kindle, sign up for my newsletter. New subscribers will get the ebook for FREE! Sign up here. Editing  I bet you could have guessed I'm editing for a client this week. ;)Thank you!  Huge thanks to everyone who shared the cover of Lies We Tell last week. The book is now available for preorder on Nook, Kobo, and iTunes. It will be available for preorder on Amazon closer to the release date.Revisions  I'm finishing up revisions on my YA paranormal Unseen Evil releasing later this year. As always, my editor had some great feedback for me.Valentine's Day  Happy Valentine's Day!That's it for me. What's on your mind today?

Friday Feature: Lies We Tell Cover Reveal

It's cover reveal time! Check out the cover of my adult suspense coming out April 10, 2017!

Madison Kramer thought her past was behind her. With a new name and a career as a best-selling author, what could go wrong?She never expected Trevor Lockhardt to walk into her book signing, offering his services as her publicist, or that she’d end up falling for him. But what she really didn’t expect was a stalker sending her messages, both written and in the form of dead bodies.Madison can’t escape her parents’ murder any longer. But is it their killer coming to finish what he started fifteen years ago? How long can she keep her past a secret before her lies come back to get her?
You can add the book on Goodreads.

*Want your YA, NA, or MG book featured on my blog? Contact me here and we'll set it up.

Writer Wednesday: Building a New Platform

Last Wednesday, the lovely Kai Strand asked me about building a new platform for a genre or age group you are branching out into writing. When I started writing romance as Ashelyn Drake, I did so without telling anyone I was Ashelyn. The reason is that I wanted to make sure Ashelyn could stand on her own two feet. To be honest, Ashelyn blew Kelly out of the water in sales! Romance is like that, though.
I set up accounts on social media for Ashelyn and started following romance authors I loved, interacting when them as often as possible. I also looked at their followers because those people could potentially be Ashelyn's fans. I followed those readers and tried to interact with them, too. I joined Facebook groups for romance authors and readers as well. I also promoted Ashelyn on my Kelly accounts (still not telling anyone I was both authors).
Well, last year I decided it was too much to have two separate platforms, and after seeing so many other authors who use pen names joining their accounts, I made the decision to do the same. This is tricky, though. I have one street team for both names, which means some members are only there for my Ashelyn titles or only there for my Kelly titles. The same goes for my newsletter.
You have to decide if you want to keep your names separate, join them completely, or link them but have separate accounts. Whatever you decide to do, check out what your favorite authors in those genres/age levels are doing and who they're following. Don't be a copycat, but learn from them.
I hope that answers your question, Kai. If anyone else has some helpful advice, please feel free to leave it in the comments.
*If you have a question you'd like me to answer from the other side of the editor's desk, feel free to leave it in the comments and I'll schedule it for a future post.

Monday Mishmash 2/6/17

Happy Monday! Monday Mishmash is a weekly meme dedicated to sharing what's on your mind. Feel free to grab the button and post your own Mishmash.
Here's what's on my mind today:Lies We Tell Cover Reveal  My cover reveal is set for this week! I can't wait to share it with you all. :)Editing  I'm editing for a client this week. It's the first book in her new series, which is always exciting.Ebook Formatting  I haven't officially announced this yet, but I'm now offering ebook formatting, so if you're in need of that, feel free to contact me using the form here.Sad Weekend  On Saturday, my fifteen-year-old cat took a very sudden turn for the worse. My husband rushed her to the vet to find out she had cancer and it couldn't be treated. She was suffering and according to the vet, the only humane thing to do was to put her down. RIP Zoe. We love you.Revising  I'm revising a few key scenes in It Was Always You this week. This book was selected for a really exciting opportunity, which my street team knows about, but I can't share publicly yet. More news on that to come!That's it for me. What's on your mind today?

Friday Feature: The Light from Other Suns

Today, I'm spotlighting two upcoming books from V.E. Lemp. Check out The Light from Other Suns and The Dark of Other Skies!

Artist Karen Foster draws while dreaming. Scientists label her a valuable commodity. Aliens call her their perfect messenger.Seeking money for art supplies, Karen is thrilled when charming researcher Alex Wythe recruits her for a dream study called the Morpheus Project. But the Morpheus Project is not what it seems, and neither are the detailed technical illustrations Karen draws in her sleep.Warned off by government agent Mark Hallam, Karen refuses to leave the project, even after her fellow subjects suffer breakdowns. Like the sun, her love for Alex blinds her. Karen believes their love is forever, until a tragic accident blasts both their lives.Aided by Mark—as well as a UFO investigator, his psychic daughter, and the dark-eyed strangers who haunt her dreams—Karen must fight to uncover the truth.A truth that includes humans trading lives for profits—and a powerful cabal that will kill to keep such secrets from the world.A truth that unveils the ultimate, terrifying, reality – We have never been alone.
From: THE LIGHT FROM OTHER SUNS by V. E. Lemp
This excerpt is from the dream journal that my protagonist keeps as part of her participation in the Morpheus Project. Just a note: although Karen’s dream journal entries are written in first person POV, the rest of the book is written in third person POV.
Dream Journal, April 16th:I walked alone on a wooded path. The forest was eerily quiet, with no sound of insects or animals. In a clearing, a small group of people draped nets from the tree branches. The group was dressed in identical outfits—baggy camouflage camp shirts, khaki pants, and heavy hiking boots. They’d shoved their dark hair up into black baseball caps. Androgynously slender, it was impossible to tell whether the individual members were male or female.I asked what they were doing. One of them informed me they were trapping birds for a scientific study. I glanced at the far edge of the clearing and noticed two members of the group handling captured birds. They carefully extracted each bird from the net and placed it in a wire cage. After a few moments, when the bird had calmed its wild fluttering, it was taken from the cage and a small object was inserted in its neck using what looked like a large hypodermic needle.“Are you harming them?” I asked.“We do not intend to,” said one of the group, “but it sometimes happens.”“Do they die?”“From time to time. It is unfortunate, but the research must be completed.”“If you’re studying them,” I said, “why not just keep them in a cage?”“Because if you study the habits of something trapped in a cage you only learn how they behave while living in a cage. We want to learn much more. We want to understand how they behave in their own world.”“In their own habitat, you mean.”Heads turned, and I felt several pairs of dark eyes fix on me.“Yes, habitat, of course,” said the figure holding the hypodermic.“And why do this?” I asked. “What’s the point?”“What point is there,” said the individual cradling the bird, “to art, Karen Foster?”“This is not art. It’s science.”“Science is our art,” said the one with the needle. “We have no other.”“No art? How can you live?” A strange current of pity flowed through me. There was no life without art. At least no life I could imagine.“We observe,” said the figure holding the bird. “We study. And we appreciate”—his hands opened, releasing the bird into the air—“the art of others.”As the bird spiraled into the clear blue of the sky I woke from the dream.
Preorder here.

Older than our recorded history, and far superior in knowledge and technology, the Oneiroi are too alien to ever step foot on Earth. Yet, aided by powerful human collaborators, they invaded Karen's dreams, stole her art, and shattered her life.Now Karen must prevent them from destroying her planet.The Oneiroi, extraterrestrials who’ve studied Earth for centuries, consider humans their lab rats. But a contingent of this ancient race—seeking to halt all experimentation—has launched a rebellion. Their mission, while just, is poised to ignite a battle that could blast Earth to a cinder.With the planet tossed like a ball between fearsome forces, hope lies with a small band of humans and sympathetic aliens. Pursued by ruthless collaborators happy to sacrifice millions to silence the truth, Karen and her allies discover that only evidence bought with blood can expose those trading Earth’s autonomy for wealth and power.It's time the world knew --We are not alone.Now Karen must prevent them from destroying her planet.The Oneiroi, extraterrestrials who’ve studied Earth for centuries, consider humans their lab rats. But a contingent of this ancient race—seeking to halt all experimentation—has launched a rebellion. Their mission, while just, is poised to ignite a battle that could blast Earth to a cinder.With the planet tossed like a ball between fearsome forces, hope lies with a small band of humans and sympathetic aliens. Pursued by ruthless collaborators happy to sacrifice millions to silence the truth, Karen and her allies discover that only evidence bought with blood can expose those trading Earth’s autonomy for wealth and power.It's time the world knew --We have never been alone.  Preorder here.

V. E. Lemp is a librarian turned author, and a lifelong science fiction and fantasy fan.
She loves speculative fiction in all formats, including books, television, and film. She also admits an unhealthy obsession with television shows that document extraterrestrial encounters and UFO sightings, and enjoys programs that present mind-expanding examinations of scientific discoveries and theories.
She believes the most important question is always: “What if?”
V. E. Lemp, who writes in other genres under the pennames Vicki L. Weavil and Victoria Gilbert, is represented by Frances Black of Literary Counsel, NY, NY.
You can find and follow V. E. Lemp online here:

Website/blog: http://vickilweavil.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VickiLWeavil
Author Page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VickiLempWeavil?ref=hl
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15507408.V_E_Lemp
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/vickilweavil/


*Want your YA, NA, or MG book featured on my blog? Contact me here and we'll set it up.

Writer Wednesday: Making Smarter Choices

No, I'm not talking about things like what you eat or how often you exercise. I'm talking about marketing yourself. 2017 did not start off on the right foot for me. I didn't make the best choices as far as marketing my YA title, Fading Into the Shadows. What I did was follow my marketing efforts for my previous release. My previous release went really well. The problem is that my previous release was an Ashelyn Drake new adult romance. That's quite a difference from a Kelly Hashway young adult paranormal.
You can go ahead and ask, "What were you thinking?" I asked the same thing of myself. You can't market a YA paranormal the same way you market an NA romance. You just can't. I mean, you can try, but you will fail. So from now on, I plan to spend 2017 analyzing the best ways to market for specific age groups and genres. No more being lazy and repeating what I've done in the past with the hope that it will work again. Most of us hate marketing, but we shouldn't make it that much harder by not putting in the time and research to figure out what works best for each book.
How about you? Are you looking closely at how you promote and market yourself?
*If you have a question you'd like me to answer from the other side of the editor's desk, feel free to leave it in the comments and I'll schedule it for a future post.

Monday Mishmash 1/30/17

Happy Monday! Monday Mishmash is a weekly meme dedicated to sharing what's on your mind. Feel free to grab the button and post your own Mishmash.
Here's what's on my mind today:Lies We Tell Cover Reveal  I can't believe the cover reveal for Lies We Tell is next week already! I'm so excited to share it with you all. It's not too late to sign up to help me reveal the cover, so if you're interested, click here.Newsletter Sign-ups  I have decided to keep all my giveaways exclusive to my newsletter and street team. If you aren't subscribed to my newsletter, but would like to get in on these giveaway opportunities as well as get sneak peaks of my books before anyone else, you can sign up here. I only send out newsletters when I have something good to share, so you won't be bombarded with emails from me.Kelly's Coven  My street team or reader group (whichever you prefer to call it) is open to new members. I do reward members of this group more than anyone else. Member always get free e-ARCs of ALL my books, too. So if you'd like to chat with me in my FB group, you can request to join here.Monroe County Book Expo  Sign-ups are open for the Monroe County Book Expo. If you are an author and you live in or near Monroe County, PA, feel free to contact me and I'll send you the registration form so you can be there to sign as well.Editing  Is there a week when I'm not editing? ;)That's it for me. What's on your mind today?

Friday Feature: Burned

Perception is everything to sixteen-year-old Olivia Brown. With her freakishly hot boyfriend, volunteer work at the local animal shelter, successful beauty channel on YouTube, and well-earned spot on X Factor Cheer's elite level five Diamond Girl team, Livvie's the girl every other girl wants to be. At least, that's the illusion she's aiming for. 

But Livvie's seemingly perfect life is anything but. Lying about the bruises her boyfriend gives her, and cowering beneath his raging temper becomes a regular way of life until she unwittingly witnesses her drunken neighbor beating his step-son, the town bad boy, Reid Tate.

For Reid, vulnerability is the enemy. Opening up, and letting people in gives them the power to disappoint. Growing up with a co-dependent mother and an abusive alcoholic father, Reid has endured all the disappointment he can stomach. 

But when his pretty, do-good neighbor witnesses his step-dad beat him to within an inch of his life, and not only call the cops, but keeps quiet at school about what she saw, Reid wonders if maybe, just maybe, he's found someone he can finally trust.
Grab your copy here.
Elisa Dane is a lover of books (YA & Adult romance), chocolate, reality television, and is a proud mother to three All Star cheerleaders. Woot!
She writes Contemporary YA romance. Elisa loves angsty stories that tear your heart out and sweep you away with a touching romance. It's her hope you find exactly that with her work.

Elisa is represented by the fabulous Brittany Booker of the Booker Albert Literary Agency. Her Crushed trilogy is re-releasing at the start of 2017. Crushed (Book #1) is available now! Her Caged series will be re-releasing shortly.

Elisa's husband is a police officer. He worked as a Resource Officer in a high school for eight years and is very passionate about school safety. His work inspired Elisa's Caged trilogy. Bullying is a problem that's not going away. Caged is a fictional telling of what could happen if we all looked the other way when we see someone suffering under the hands of a bully. It's Elisa's hope that readers will take away the knowledge that they aren't alone, and that there is help to be found.
#dontsufferinsilence #youarenotalone

You can connect with Elisa at the following places on the web:
Facebook - Elisa Dane, and Lisa Sanchez Romance Author
Twitter - @ElisaDane, and @LisaSanchez3
Website - elisadane.com, and LisaSanchezRomanceAuthor.com

*Want your YA, NA, or MG book featured on my blog? Contact me here and we'll set it up.