Shyla Colt's Blog, page 11

Color of Love Blog Hop

Welcome to the Color of Love Blog Hop Giveaway hosted by Kiru Taye, Empi Baryeh, and Nana Prah running from November 21st to 25th. In this book fest we are celebrating the vibrant multi colour of multicultural and interracial romance books. If you’re new to this genre of romance, we have a mouth-watering selection of books that the lovely authors have generously donated to give away for FREE.

Our wonderful Grand prizes include:

$50 Amazon giftcard or Paypal cash + 7 ebooks digital pack

$30 Amazon giftcard or Paypal cash + 7 ebooks digital pack

$20 Amazon giftcard or Paypal cash + 7 ebooks digital pack

$10 Amazon giftcard or Paypal cash + 8 ebooks digital pack

I’m so excited to be apart of this hop! I’ll be giving away three books from my back list of your choosing! In order to win all you have to do is answer this question. What’s your favorite Interracial movie?

Here’s what you have to do to win one of the fabulous prizes. Complete all of the rafflecopter entries to be eligible to win the Grand prizes. Good luck!

Rafflecopy

Hop Along for more Prizes

Today Dreams2Media talks Cover Art!

colts I’d like you to welcome a very talented woman and a good friend over today, Rebecca with Dreams2Media! Today she’ answering a few questions about herself, and her job as a cover artist!

1. How did you get into the cover artist business?

a. I sort of fell into it accidentally. I was creating a book trailer for my best friend’s mom and I was using Photoshop to touch up some of the images I was using in it. Another friend needed a cover for her book, so I created one for her. I loved it and dreams2media was born.

2. What inspires your art?

a. The world around me. Sometimes the way the light filters through trees will spark an idea. A song verse will bring an image to my mind and I have to create something to match. I am inspired by fantasy artwork from some of my favorite artists and I strive to create art that will give others the same feelings I get from my favorite artists.

3. What’s your favorite part about cover designs?

a. When my clients tell me that I’ve crawled into their heads and created exactly what they were seeing. I absolutely love hearing when I’ve gotten their vision right.

4. Tell me one thing people don’t know about you.

a. I’m terrified of the ocean…I can’t even watch Shark Week. It’s just too creepy for me.

5. Chocolate or Vanilla?

a. Chocolate, but DARK chocolate. Ghiradelli Intense Dark is my favorite…I love it so.

The cover for Stolen Moments is one of my favorites that I’ve designed. I’m a huge fan of fantasy and dark art, so I wanted to create something that paid homage. I’m constantly growing and learning, and I look forward to my next challenge.

More amazing pieces from Dreams2Media!

You can find Dreams2Media HERE

Eve Langlais with Doe and the Wolf

Today I’m lucky enough to have my fellow author Eve Langlais over to talk about one of her releases.

Doe and the Wolf

Looking for help in recovering a fugitive? The Lone Wolf Agency can help you. We specialize in huffing and puffing criminals back where they belong, behind bars.

What happens when a predator falls for his prey?

Bounty hunting is the perfect job for a maverick wolf; flexible hours, decent pay, the thrill of the chase. But Everett never counted on a doe stopping him in his furry tracks.

Dawn was a prisoner of Mastermind and ended up experimented on, against her wishes. On the run from Furry United Coalition agents, she ends up in the arms—and bed—of a lupine bounty hunter. Instinct tells her to run when she gets a chance because everyone knows not to trust the big, bad wolf, but her heart begs her to stay.

When the result of genetics gone wrong rears its mutated head and threatens both of their lives, will they manage to survive and discover if a wolf deserves a happily ever after?

lais.com/”>http://www.evelanglais.com/

Cover Reveal! A Single Black Rose by Iyanna Jenna

Coming November 17, 2013, from JMS Books LLC.

Blurb

Actor Sean O’Reilly received a bouquet of roses that at first he thought was sent by his boyfriend, Nate Matthews. Alarm bells rang when Nate said that he hadn’t sent them. Sean panicked when he kept receiving flowers over the next days, and what worried him more was that there was always a single black rose in the middle of other colored ones.

Together they tried to find out the meaning of all this. They found no answers. Sean and Nate didn’t realize that a wicked plot against Sean had been set up by an obsessed fan who was helped by a brother who had promised to always take care of him.

Author Links

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Congrats to the Evernight Blog Hop Winner!

Morning y’all! We had such a fantastic turn out for the hop. Thank you for making it such an amazing turn out! The randomly selected winner of the Amazon Gift Card is… Jan D!

Mid-Week Inspiration… Believe to Achieve?

With all these blog hops recently I’ve truly missed out on mid-week inspiration! I’m so glad to be back today. Now we’ve all heard the saying believe to achieve, right? Well I found a neat little exercise I had to try!

Visualize yourself where you want to be/doing what you want to be doing, and put positive energy toward it. Then you make a weekly list of ten things you want to happen in your life. At the start of each day I enjoyed the meditation and filling of myself with goodness. There’s a saying about parents. You have to field your child up with so much that the world can’t tear them down. I find it to be spot on… but wonder why we don’t adopt this to ourselves.

Back on topic, I tried it, and things began to fall into place like magic! And let me tell you, some of those things were very specific ! The thought is you roll over. If there’s something you didn’t receive that first week, you carry it on to the next. I’m loving it! If you’ve never done anything like this I challenge you to try it next week. Get back to me and tell me how it went, but remember you have to truly believe these things will happen for you. That’s the secret, and the hardest part.

Much Love, Shy

Evernight Publishing is 3! Come and Hop with us for prizes.

Celebrate like a ROCK STAR because Evernight Publishing is THREE!

In three short years, Evernight has grown by leaps and bounds thanks to readers like you! Evernight is pulling out all the stops and throwing an extreme BIRTHDAY BASH BLOG HOP in your honor!

That’s right! It’s Evernight’s birthday but YOU get the presents…

Prizes include:

Samsung Galaxy Tab

Kindle Paperwhite

Kobo Touch

$100 Evernight and Amazon Gift Certificates

Mega Evernight Swag Pack

Plus, each author on the hop will offer his/her own special prize!

As an author, I’m thrilled to share my stories with you and Evernight helps make my books shine! Here’s one reason why I love Evernight Publishing, they have an amazing variety of talented writers, and eye catching covers. Every story I’m a kid in a candy store waiting to see the beautiful masterpieces they’ve created.

Because a birthday needs presents, I’m offering up a 50 dollar gift certificate to one of the commenter’s. All you have to do to win is answer this question.

What keeps you coming back to a particular author?

Blurb

Ivy Guerin has always been more focused on science then her sensual appetite. One of the top doctors in the field of genetics she’s worked closely with the Shar from the moment they were revealed. She’s honored to be included on a top secret mission that involves space travel. But the biggest surprise is being Kade D’shar’s mate. In order to defeat the crazed Shar, Tavel she must forfeit everything she thought she wanted and more when they go undercover on a flesh peddling planet.

Thrust into an alien mating period, Kade must balance their burgeoning romance with his mission to defeat a powerful enemy. Their journey is full of ups and downs, forcing him to dig deep inside and reconnects with the savage genes of his alien race. As he redefines what it means to be a D’Shar man, he realizes in order to survive they all must undergo a surrendering.

Evernight

Amazon

Enter to win the Grand Prizes using Rafflecopter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e561a316/

Hop to the next stop here: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=314265

It’s the perfect time to buy the Evernight titles on your TBR list, as well as new gems you find during the event, because Evernight’s entire backlist is on sale at evernightpublishing.com and allromanceebooks.com through October 7th!

Fall Hop, Win a Book Grab Bag!

Welcome to my little section of the Hop!

I’m a romance writer now, but it all started the first time I picked up a romance book in my teens. I love a good romance. The spark between couples, the rocky road they travel to arrive at their happily every after, the personal demons, and the friends and family threatening to pull them apart. *sighs dramatically. There’s nothing like getting lost in a good book, and carrying those characters with you because their storyr resonated so strongly.

Keeping in mind I read every chance I get, picking these books took me awhile.

Entwined With you by Sylvia Day ( If you like heavy hitting romance that tackles tough trauma. This is the perfect one or you. I love a healing hero, and this book has those in spades)

Dark Lover ( Black Dagger Brotherhood Book 1) by J.R. Ward I love it when heroes are rough, tough, and a little be accessible until they accept they’re in love. This fast paces, raw, gritty series will fill your quota swiftly)

Wolf’s Haven by Ambrielle Kirk When a heroine faces adversity, and comes into her own to battle it, I get extreme, feels as they say. This book will have you cheering right alongside with the heroine , and turning the pages to see what happens next.

Those are just a few of my favorite. What are some of the novels you’ve read and loved?

Answer that question to win a book grab bag.

Be sure to leave your email in the comment so I can contact you.

Click below to visit more Fantastic authors participating in the hop!

Mid-Week Inspiration Let’s Just, Get Happy

I remember seeing a preview for a Paul Rudd movie, and the scene has always stuck with me. Four Simple words. “Let’s just get happy.” Every time I hit a slump that pops up in my head. How does one get happy? In the movie, they started their journey by renting a hotel room, getting baked, and letting someone else watch the kids for awhile. My next thought, what happens when you can’t do that? Well… this is my journey. It’s an ongoing trip, by the way.

Step 1. If it doesn’t grow you, serve you, make you happy or improve your life in some way, let it go… for me it meant let them go. It’s painful to face the truth and realize you’re putting/have put in way more than you’ve received. Or that their actions are saying something entirely different than their words. Oh. *shudders. It pained me, cut me to the core as I dug out piece of my heart with a dirty, jagged, spoon. Am I exaggerating? Not to me. I love hard. I hold on too long, and I want to believe in the good of people. But even I know … you got to know when to hold them and to fold them.

It also means giving up things. Because this isn’t exclusive to people. Trying to fit in a mold you don’t. Jumping on the bandwagon you don’t want to ride in. If you ask my mom, she’ll tell you I’ve always walked to the beat of a different drummer. But I found in motherhood and for me personally, my life in the military there’s a lot of folks who think they know how I coulda/should/woulda. F that. I’ve fought too hard, too long, to let my own unique brand of weird be stolen by the norms of a society I don’t always agree with. Be you Absolutely. In the words of Seuss “Those who matter don’t mind and those mind don’t matter.”

I fly my geek flag high, wear Sam and Dean on my chest at least once a week, make Dr. Who references, fangirl whenever I get the chance, and speak my mind… You know what? I’m happier for it. Never the less, at times the hardest thing to do is what’s right for you. If you’re there right now in your life, I feel you, I see you, and you got this.

Step 2. Do something that makes you happy every day. Stay up a little later to finish that extra chapter, watch an episode of your favorite show. Eat a piece of chocolate, have a Soda. * Places hand over mouth. Oh yeah, I’m naught. Dance about the house to your favorite tunes and indulge that guilty pressure. Cause Damn it you deserve it. Life’s hard work. One of my tiny adjustments for happiness that made a enormous difference, more reading time! The more I wrote, the harder it was to curl up on the couch, under the covers and devour the written word. Now that I have that back I am one happy girl, and Music! I’d fallen behind on my music. *hangs head in shame, and holds up her hand. I know. But it’s playing non stop on my house now, and impromptu dance sessions may occur at any given moment. In the words of Pink. “Now my husband can’t call me a freak because someone’s dancing with me.”

Step 3. Stand up for you… even if it’s from yourself.

In this life, we get one body, one soul. Let’s treat it kindly. Does that mean you take up Yoga, cut out all carbs, and sugar? If it floats your boat, yes. We have to love ourselves, inside and out. The ample curve of our hips, slender legs, bit of cellulite, love handles. The way we shift our weight when we get nervous. The wicked way we can draw, or our lack of ability when it comes to singing. All of these things merge to form you. In all the world, no one will every live or has lived that’s identical… that’s something extraordinary to be cherished. There will always be something we wished we were better at, or we want to change. Maybe it’s a goal we can work toward, and maybe it’s something that needs to simply be accepted. Regardless we need to find a way to love whom we are at this time in this moment. This is an easier said than done kinda step.

I’m still on my journey to thinking “I’m awesome.” *Laughs. Cruising to the middle of my thirties with two little ones on under four I’m a beauty with a booty, and I have to work to get the weight off. Slow and steady, because for me, its about a lifestyle change, and I don’t have the time or money for the fast track. I’m twenty pounds lighter. Not where I want to be, but I’m getting there, and every day I look at myself and I see the soul residing in my eyes and I’m pleased with that above all. The pounds are coming off, and the muscles getting tight. Stretch marks? A badge of honor I wear proudly for my girls. My heart’s desire, to not just be happy in my skin, but love it… I think I’ll get there. I challenge you to look at yourself every day, pick out something you love about you, and thwart the negative self talk with a positive action you’ve all ready done or plan to do. Cause honestly, don’t those speak more to who we are than any exterior?

Now I’m in no way saying I’m a guru to enlightenment, just sharing my thoughts, my experiences, and my growth. Because I think if we all do that, the world will be a better place, we’ll feel less alone, and maybe avoid some trappings we didn’t see until they were pointed out. This will be an ongoing thing. I always like to write my posts “in the now”, and this is my current frame of mind and focus. I realized not to long ago I hit a rut, work, kids, chores… bore. *yawns. That’s never been me, so I knew I was time to shake it out. I hope this hit a chord, made you smile, and provided a little boost to hump day.

Mid week- Inspiration : Decide your fine until the end of the week

I have been walking a tight rope and flirting with disaster. You guys know I stay at home with my littles, and I’m married to a Marine, in addition to being a full time writer. I like to be open about my life, so you get a taste of who I am outside of my stories, and when I list all that I am … I often add Marine wife for a number of reasons. One, I want to inspire others to follow their dreams, regardless of the difficulties they may incur. When you commit your life to that of a service members, often things you take for granted as a civilian are drastically altered. Your time is no longer your own, vacation is precious, and often illusive. At times, you won’t be hired because people know “you’ll just leave” in an undetermined amount of time, people view you a certain way, lumping you with their experiences of a military spouse, or preconceived notions. You’ll take on the role of single parent along with an imbalance of responsibilities, depending on your spouse’s job.

There are many people in the armed services who regularly work a 9 to 5 style job, my husband does not have one of those. A twelve hour plus day is normal, and his position places him on call. I can’t tell you how many three (o’clock) you have to come in, emergency you’re needed right now, situations have occurred. That being said… pressure, responsibility, and doing what I have to has become second nature after so many years. What I realized recently is fun, relaxation, and rewards have become my unicorn. I think you can get so caught up in the struggle, battling to do better, we forget to celebrate life. Enjoy those small moments. Indulge yourself with those guilty pleasures. Because otherwise you’ll end up in a dangerous place. *whispers The Burn out zone. Just speaking the words out loud fill me with dread.

I’m standing on the edge of the cliff staring straight down into burnout valley. My husband, who I usually refer to as the Mr., has been away at training. I’ve done four submissions, two edits, and two releases in the span of four weeks and my kids are under four. ( Laughs. That last one speaks for itself). I made myself a promise. I’d pump the breaks a little bit, pursue the interests that make me happy and inspire. Now I’m a geek type, so that’s Star Trek, particularly Spock… *coughs even more specifically, “The Quinto. It’s Cosplaying with my kids, ( Not ashamed to say I was “Dean” the other day laughs) new accessories I’ve made or purchased, a few new articles of clothing. Yours truly has lost about 14lbs and gone down to her pre pregnancy size, hello 12’s. But I’ve been too busy to really embrace that and have a little shopping spree. I’m making plans for travel. I love to do, but it’s difficult and subject to cancellation if the stars don’t align. But I won’t let that stop me from planning any longer.

For me, music is a balm along with reading. I’ve been immersed in a reading cocoon, revisiting old favorites, discovering new bands, and it’s been glorious. Are you putting gas in your fun meter? Have you taken the time to purchase that special item you’ve been eyeballing, and promising yourself? If not I urge you to do it now! There’s no time like the present. In no particular order I’m listing a few tracks from my, you’ve been through hell, and back it’s time to get happy, kick in the pants playlist

Play List

Carry on my Wayward son

Laugh, I nearly Died

All Along the Watchtower

Simple Man

Shake it Out

Until We Bleed

Back in Black