Cherie Colyer's Blog, page 45

Challenging Destiny Book Blitz & Giveaway

Being Chosen is a terrible thing when there's no one you can trust.
Welcome to the CHALLENGING DESTINY Book Blitz!!
I'd like to thank YA Bound Book Tours for putting this event together. They are truly amazing to work with! I'd also like to thank the wonderful book bloggers for participating. Your support means the world to me.
To celebrate Challenging Destiny's worldwide release, I'm giving away a $20 Gift Card, so be sure to page down and enter the giveaway.
CHALLENGING DESTINYPublisher: Wild Rose Press, Black Rose ImprintKindle Release: March 27, 2014Worldwide Release: July 11, 2014
About the book:                                   Logan Ragsdale and his younger sister, Ariana, have been marked, chosen to be unwilling participants in a war between angels and demons.
Logan can sense something's not quite right. Like an unexpected chill on a summer's day, he can feel the unseen closing in. He's had these feelings before and, each time, someone close to him died. He's afraid this time it might just be Ariana.
Logan's fears are soon confirmed when he discovers their new friends aren't human, but rather representatives from Heaven and Hell sent to Earth to ensure he and Ariana accept their roles in an ancient prophecy. Demons want Logan to open the gates of Hell. Ariana has the power to stop them, but if she chooses to side with Heaven to spare the lives of thousands of innocent people, she'll damn her brother for eternity.
Together, they must derail the biblical event if they hope to save themselves and the future of mankind...but what price are they willing to pay to keep the other safe?


Available from:
Amazon * Amazon UK * Barnes & Noble * Kobo Books


GIVEAWAY: $20 Amazon or Barnes & Noble Gift Card (INT)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book reviewers can request a review copy by clicking here.

Book Blitz Organized by:

Second Daughter (The Dharian Affairs #2), by Susan Kaye Quinn

NEW RELEASESecond Daughter (The Dharian Affairs #2)
Assassins, skyships, and royal intrigue...
 
Kindle, Kobo, AllRomance
Second Daughter is the second book in The Dharian Affairs trilogy (Third Daughter, Second Daughter, First Daughter). This steampunk-goes-to-Bollywood (Bollypunk!) romance takes place in an east-Indian-flavored alternate world filled with skyships, assassins, royal romance and intrigue.

Reviews of the first book, Third Daughter:
"The author fuses carriages, steam trains, airships and clockwork with the rich eastern culture that underlies Bollywood storytelling..." - Cherie Reich
"The political intrigue, the steampunk gadgets, and the beautiful costumes kept me in wonderment." - Tony Benson
“Third Daughter is vividly breathtaking. Quinn delivers royal intrigue, exotic locations, and sweeping romance. Not to be missed!” - Pavarti Tyler, author of Shadow on the Wall
ON SALE - 99 cents until 7/21
Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs #1) Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iTunes, AllRomance(also available in print)
The Third Daughter of the Queen wants her birthday to arrive so she'll be free to marry for love, but rumors of a new flying weapon may force her to accept a barbarian prince's proposal for a peace-brokering marriage. Desperate to marry the charming courtesan she loves, Aniri agrees to the prince's proposal as a subterfuge in order to spy on him, find the weapon, and hopefully avoid both war and an arranged marriage to a man she does not love.

NEWBoth books now have a map! Download the map free here
Thank you so much for helping me get this book out in the world!Winpaperback copy of Third Daughter $10 Amazon Gift Card check out the gorgeous formatting of the print book!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stop by PNR Radio: Entertainment that Goes "Bump" in the Night

I'm super excited to be a guest on PNR Radio with host Arial Burnz. I hope you'll take a few minutes to check out the show.
Follow one of the links below to listen to the podcast:
I Love Vampire Novels
iTunes
Stitcher Radio
Check out the Giveaway

About Arial and PNR Radio:
In partnership with ILoveVampireNovels.com, author Arial Burnz is the host of the podcast PNRradio.com, where she features entertainment that goes bump in the night. If you love paranormal and fantasy books, TV shows and movies, you’ll love PNR Radio! Guests include bestselling authors (e.g., Nalini Singh, Kami Garcia, Julie Kagawa) and celebrities (from TV shows like Supernatural and Dracula), and every show has a giveaway.

Happy Book Birthday! The Devil Made Me Do It by Shawna Romkey

Congratulations to fellow Darkly Delicious YA member, Shawna Romkey on her release of The Devil Made Me Do It, book two in her Speak of the Devil series! Shawna is here with us today, plus I have an excerpt for you, but before we get to that, here's a little about the book...



The Devil Made Me Do It, Book two: Speak of the Devil series
By Shawna RomkeyComing July 1 - Go to hell!
The demons strike back!
Lily is working with the angels to stifle the last of the demon outbreaks and to figure out how to stop the Silence of God, so life can get back to boring normality. But all hell breaks loose when she’s stolen from school and brought face to face with the devil himself. Lily has to find her way back home to Luc, crack the prophecy that breaks the curse silencing God, and figure out how she and Luc can ever really be together; but Lucifer has other plans for her that don’t include her ever getting out of Hell in tact.


Book One, Speak of the Devil, is currently on sale for $2.99 for Kindle.
Please let me welcome Shawna.


Cherie: Tell us about your novel, THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT, in your own words. Shawna: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT is Book two in the Speak of the Devil series. Speak of the Devil is the introductory book where we discover the characters, the world and the situation. In TDMMDI we are left in that world, and taken even farther when the main character Lily discovers a prophecy about the Silence of God and is taken to Hell.  It’s darker than the first book and is the transition between the origin book and the resolution book, which will be the third one in the series.  It’s The Empire Strikes Back of the trilogy, hence my tag line: The demons strike back!
Cherie: Where did you get the idea for your novel?Shawna: Three of my friends died in a car crash when I was in high school. The first book in the series starts with a similar event. It’s something that happened nearly thirty years ago but still touches me, so I wanted to write about it to get it out but also have it make some sense. With real life, it’s hard to work through those things, but the paranormal allows me to give it meaning and purpose.
Cherie: It’s nice to have writing as an outlet. What was your most difficult chapter to write?Shawna: My first chapters always suck, and the first chapters are the important ones. So usually I write them, the trudge along and finish the rest. The story matures and grows and twists from where it was at the beginning, so I can then go back and do a complete first chapter rewrite. That happened with both of these books. In the first book it originally started with Lily getting a phone call hearing about her friends dying in an accident. That was too passive. After I finished the book, I went back to chapter one and put Lily in the accident with her friends, and that, as Frost would say, made all the difference. It made for a much more immediate beginning, added action and gave a reason for how she got her abilities.
Cherie: Oh! I like that you put her in the car. That is more immediate. What are you working on now?Shawna: I’m currently working on a new potential series called 13 Moons. The first book is called CROW MOON, which is a YA/NA paranormal about a mixed race character who, after losing her father, finds herself trying to unravel the secrets of her estranged mother’s family. I’m about a third of the way through this and plan on self-publishing it by the end of the year. The blurb looks something like this at this point:After Leni loses her father, she’s sent to live with her eccentric aunt out in the country. She wants to go to college and do what her father has always wanted her to, but the mysteries of her estranged mother’s family lead her to start unraveling the secrets long ago lost and hidden away. Will she be able to find out who she really is while living up to her father’s last wishes, or will the powers of the Crow Moon claim her for itself?
Cherie: Sounds interesting. J Now that we know about your book and you as a writer, I have some fun questions for you. Try to answer in five words or less:
Favorite color?Green
Secret crush? (It can be anyone real or fictional.)Dean Winchester
Do you believe in love at first sight?Most definitely!
Have you ever experienced that head-over-heels, tingly, have-to-get-to-know-someone feeling yourself?Repeatedly.
Who are you drawn to the good guy or the bad guy?Bad boys, bad boys… what ya gonna do?
What’s the first thing you notice about a guy?sense of humor
If you had all the money and time in the world, where would your dream vacation be?Greek islands.
Are you a morning person or an evening person?Ha, evening, definitely
Favorite author?Poe, Shakespear, George RR Martin, Joss Whedon, Steven Moffat. Dark emotions are my thing.
Favorite movie or television show?Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. Love American Horror Story and just getting into Penny Dreadful and really digging it too.
Guilty pleasures that get you through the writing/revising process?Pictures of cool people and places on Pinterest. Sitting alone in my room with my lap top, still in bed with my dogs lying beside me. Chocolate. Wine. Modern alternative rock.
Favorite place to write?In bed. LOL! It’s cozy.
Who is your mentor?My RWA chapter members. They are amazingly talented and prolific. They educate and inspire me regularly.
What book are you the most excited to read?The next in the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin
Are there any types of books you don’t read?I have to have supernatural elements. Thanks, Shawna, for being with us today!



Excerpt:
Why me? I asked this question a lot, when I died, when I lived, when I’d lost my friends, when I’d hooked up with angels, when I was chased by demons, so it seemed trivial to ask it now, but why me? Why couldn’t I have a regular non-angel boyfriend to make out with and not worry about ruining, well, everything for everybody everywhere?Snap out of it, Lily, I told myself. You have an amazing ability and super-hot— too hot— angel boyfriend, a blessed life that someone upstairs seems to think is valuable and worthy of protection. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and girl up.“Right, girl up. I can do this,” I said aloud. My body was under control finally and I felt like I could go back to class as long as we got a new scene to work on. But I’d hurt Luc. I had to talk to him. I had to fix it and make it right. He was suffering with this as much as I was and probably more so since he had to have that pious-angel behavior and all.I stood to go, pushing the vanity chair back as I did so.“Lily!” someone whispered.
“What?” I turned to see if Cassie was there.
“Lily, look!” It was difficult to tell if it was a male or female voice since it was a whisper. The voice was coming from behind me. I looked back around – that’s when I saw the surface of the mirror tremble, as though it were liquid. It rippled from the center. “Lilith!” The whisper came from the mirror. Too late I remembered something Luc and Belle had said about mirrors. The surface splashed out toward me, and though I reflexively turned away and pulled back, the watery mirror grabbed me with its newly formed reflective arms and pulled me inside.


About the author:
Shawna Romkey, teacher by day, writer by night (or day or whenever anyone leaves her alone long enough to get some work done). Bestselling YA / NA paranormal author of Speak of the Devil. The second in the series, The Devil Made Me Do It, will release July 1.
Shawna is from Kansas City, Missouri, but resides in Nova Scotia in a house by the sea with her husband, two sons, and currently two dogs but that’s subject to change depending on the local homeless dog population.
For more info, check out her website at www.shawnaromkey.com.
Connect with Shawna Romkey:Facebook  |  Twitter  | Pinterest  |  Goodreads 

What if no one asks? #IWSG

Hi everyone! 

Welcome to Insecure Writer's Support Group. We are a group writers who share our doubts and encouragements. I'd like to thank Alex Cavanaugh and this month's hosts. Learn more about the group here.





My insecurity this month has to do with a blog post I need to write for Darkly Delicious YA, a group blog I'm a part of.  We have some fun new topics coming up, one of which is Dear Author Dearest. Think along the lines of Ms. Snark's advice column, only the authors of DDYA will take turns answering questions from writer. This is where my insecurity comes in. What if no one ask me a question?

I could really use your help. If you have a writer-ly question you'd like answered, I'd love to hear it. I'll select one or two for my post on July 11th. 

Even if you don't have a question, I'd love to know how you're doing with your insecurities, so leave a message so I can hop over to your blog.


Before I go, I thought I'd share this week's Paranormal TidbitT here. I'm posting these every Tuesday on my Facebook page, so hop over if you'd like to read more. 

Want to know if there are faeries living near you? You’ll need a stone that has a natural hole in it, one hollowed by a river or spring works best. Looking through the center will grant you faerie sight. But beware: faeries can be mischievous, vindictive, and evil. It’s best not to interact with them.
Know another way to see fairies? I'd love to hear it. 

Splash into Summer with a Huge #Giveaway!

Splash into summer with great books from your favorite YA authors!

The authors at Darkly Delicious YA have banded together for a huge giveaway. With lots of fun prizes, there's something for everyone.

One lucky winner will receive a $40 gift card.
Plus there are lots of other amazing prizes to be had.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck! 

Paranormal Tip Tuesday: Plant Lavender for Luck

Since I have a fascination with all things paranormal, I thought it would be fun to post miscellaneous tips about the paranormal and supernatural on Tuesdays. Most my tips will be on Facebook, so be sure to follow me. 
Today’s Paranormal Tip:
Plant lavender for luck.
Photo CreditOkay, to be honest, I can’t find any association to lavender and luck other than from the movie Practical Magic. But lavender does have other great benefits. Rub a little lavender oil on your skin or clothes to attract love, carry a little on you to see ghosts, or wear it to protect against the evil eye. Lavender is also used in wish divination. Place lavender under your pillow just before you go to sleep. If you dream about your wish, it’s said it will come true.


Like my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter 
for more tips on the paranormal and supernatural. 

Feature Friday: Shauna from I Love to Read and Review Books

Hi everyone and welcome to Feature Friday.
I’m doing something a little different with my feature today. Shauna from I Love to Read and Review Books and I are doing a blog swap. I’m interviewing Shauna here, and you can learn 10 Fun Fact about Me by bouncing over to her blog. But before you do that, stick around and get to know Shauna.

I’ve been following I Love to Read and Review Books for some time now. Shauna’s reviews are always helpful and she has a ton of giveaways. Just check out her sidebar to see all the amazing prizes you can win.
Please help me welcome Shauna.
Cherie: How did you get started in blogging about books?Shauna: For me it was a line-upon-line process. I first started with a Facebook group about my family history. Then I learned about blogging so I did a blog about my family history. After that my friend encouraged me to post reviews of the books I was reading on GoodReads. And because I already loved blogging I added a blog for my book reviews.
Cherie: I like how your blogging experience grew into reviewing books. How did you come up with the name of your blog?Shauna: I wanted my name to literally say what I do. SO...I love to read and review books. And I love emoticons so I added the " :)" to the end. And there you have it...I Love to Read and Review Books :)
Cherie: What is your favorite part about blogging?Shauna: The authors I get to meet and correspond with AND my followers. My blog wouldn't be what it is without all of them!
Cherie: So true! What type of books do you enjoy?Shauna: I read and enjoy a wide variety of genres.
Cherie: How many books do you read in a year?Shauna: I really do "love to read" and so I read A LOT. Now that I have my blog I read even more than ever before. Last year I actually kept track and I read 280 books. This year I have already read 113. We will see if I can beat last years total.
Cherie: That’s amazing! Has blogging about books become a 'job' for you or is it still fun?Shauna: I get asked this question a lot. Sometimes I take on more books than I really should in a given month and sometimes life gets a little busy with other things...so my family has to be patient as I try to meet all the "deadlines". But over all I am at a point where I read what I want to read and when I want to read it...so it is still REALLY FUN!
Cherie: That’s awesome. When you love to do something, it should never feel like a job. Do you read the whole book or do you skim parts of it?Shauna: I choose to read every word often including the front and back of the book, the jacket flaps, the acknowledgments, the introduction, etc. I want to be able to stand by the book and not have any surprise words or scenes show up that I didn’t preview. This takes time, but I feel I owe it to the author and my followers.
Cherie: I’m sure that’s one reason your reviews are so helpful to readers. I know I enjoy them. Do you ever give negative reviews?Shauna: I have chosen to only post positive reviews. If I start a book and find that it just isn't for me I will simply not review it on my blog.

Try to answer the following questions in five words or less:
Cherie: If you start a book that isn't grabbing your attention, how far into the book will you read before you put it down?Shauna: A couple of chapters.
Cherie: Secret crush?Shauna: My husband of 32 years started out as a secret crush.
Cherie: If you had all the money and time in the world, where would your dream vacation be?Shauna: Hawaii..I LOVE it there.
Cherie: Are you a morning person or an evening person?Shauna: Morning all the way.
Cherie: Favorite place to read?Shauna: Curled up on the couch.
Cherie: Do you have any hobbies besides reading and family history?Shauna: Crocheting.
Cherie: Favorite color?Shauna: Purple.
Cherie: Do you prefer ebooks, paperbacks or hardcover?Shauna: I am loving ebooks...didn't think I would.
Cherie: Have you written a book yourself or are you planning to in the future?Shauna: I am only a blogger, not a book author.
Cherie: Do you read the comments on your blog?Shauna: Yes and I try to answer them too.
Cherie: What advice would you give to new bloggers?Shauna: Just start posting.

Shauna, thanks for being here with us today!
Connect with Shauna I Love to Read and Review Books BlogTwitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads
Don't forget to bounce over to Shauna's blog to learn 10 Fun Fact about Me.

Blog Tour & Interview: (Once) Again by Theresa Paolo

Welcome to my stop on the (ONCE) AGAIN blog tour. I'm excited to have Theresa Paolo, the author of this exciting new romance, with us today. Theresa was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions. Plus there's a teaser quote and a giveaway. But before all that, let's find out more about (ONCE) Again.

Synopsis: 

Josh will have to reconcile his past…

In order to make Kat his future.

After surviving a real-life nightmare, Josh Wagner is sent home from his dream college on crutches. Bedridden and tormented by flashbacks, he’s just seen his world shattered and his baseball scholarship go up in smoke. Josh’s family hires a health aide to help take care of him, but when he opens the door, the last person he expects to see is his biggest regret…

Katherine Singleton is the only girl Josh has ever loved. Now, even though she’s only taking care of him because it’s her job, Josh is determined to win her back. But Kat had to move on after their breakup two years ago, and despite her feelings for Josh, a lot has happened since he left…

When Kat’s past comes back to haunt her, Josh decides it’s his turn to take care of her. But protecting her—and redeeming himself—will put Josh in the line of fire again. Will he survive this time?
~~~
This sounds like a great summer read, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. 
Now, without further ado, please help me welcome Theresa.
Cherie: Tell us about your novel, (Once) Again, in your own words. Theresa: In short: Regret, mistakes and forgiveness.  Longer version: Josh’s biggest regret, and first and only love, Kat, shows up on his door step and he has a chance to make things right, but a lot has happened in the two years since they’ve last seen each other.  In order for them to have a future they both need to face the demons of their past.
Cherie: What is your writing process like? Theresa:  I’m a total pantser. I wing it. I like to do sprints with my critique partners, where we write straight for thirty minutes then check back in with each other. Without those sprints I don’t think I’d ever finish a book.
Cherie: I've never tried "sprints". I'm going to have to remember that. Where did you get the idea for your novel? Theresa:  (Once) Again is a companion novel to my first novel (Never) Again. (Never) Again came to me after I watched breaking news of a school shooting and I kept wondering what the family of the loved ones were thinking. What happened when they saw the breaking news and the realization that they knew someone in the building set in. While writing (Never) Again Josh’s voice was so strong I just knew I needed to write his story.
Cherie: What was your most difficult chapter to write? Theresa: The most difficult chapter to write was when Josh finally admits to what really happened in the halls the day of the shooting. I cried writing the scene and still get teary eyed when I read it.
Cherie: Can you share with us something about Josh that we don’t learn about them from reading the book? Theresa: Josh is pretty much an open book.  
Now that we know about your book and you as a writer, I have some fun questions for you. Try to answer in five words or less:
Favorite color? Purple
Do you believe in love at first sight? On the fence.
Have you ever experienced that head-over-heels, tingly, have-to-get-to-know-someone feeling yourself? Yes and we’re still together J
Who are you drawn to the good guy or the bad guy? A combination of both ;)
What’s the first thing you notice about a guy? Eyes
If you had all the money and time in the world, where would your dream vacation be? Toss-up between Italy and Scotland.
Are you a morning person or an evening person? Midday person! lol
Favorite authors? Sarah Dessen, Toni Blake, Marie Force, Simone Elkeles, Susan Mallery, J. Lynn and Cassie Mae
Favorite movie or television show? Dawson’s Creek and Vampire Diaries
Guilty pleasures that get you through the writing/revising process? Coffee, tea in the morning, wine and cosmos at night. Also Cheez its.
Favorite place to write? My parents’ backyard. (It helps that my mom starts making me cosmos)
Who is your mentor (or hero)? My mom
What book are you the most excited to read? Jennifer Armetraut’s Stone Cold Touch and J. Lynn’s Stay With Me
Are there any types of books you don’t read? I’ll give anything a shot!

Thank you Theresa for being here today!

I have a little teaser for you, and then don't forget to enter the giveaway.




Pre-order your copy of (ONCE) AGAIN todayAmazon | Barnes and Noble

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour!
Suzi Retzlaff - Post about research Stephanie Judice - Guest post Kelley Lynn - Teaser Julie Reece - Interview Rachel Schieffelbein - Playlist Lucy de Angelis BriandColeen Burright Cassie Mae - Review Melissa Giorgio - Meet Josh & Kat Jessica Salyer - Review Suzanne Van Rooyen - Excerpt


About the author:


Theresa Paolo lives in the same town she grew up in on Long Island, NY with her long time boyfriend and their fish. Her debut novel (NEVER) AGAIN, a NA romance, released in Fall 2013 with Berkley (Penguin). (ONCE) AGAIN will release this summer. She is also the coauthor of the Amazon bestseller KING SIZED BEDS AND HAPPY TRAILS and BEACH SIDE BEDS AND SANDY PATHS, a YA contemporary series, under her pen name Tessa Marie. She has a hard time accepting the fact she’s nearing thirty, and uses her characters to relive the best and worst years of her life. She put her love of writing on hold while she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Dowling College. When she’s not writing, she’s behind a camera, reading, or can be found on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

Connect with TheresaFacebook | Twitter | Goodreads Pinterest

Cover Reveal: FORGED IN FIRE by Juliette Cross

New Orleans at night can be a magical place. High energy. Hot music. Hotter men.



But there’s a reason this city carries a haunted, mystical aura when the streets clear and the mist rises. There’s a reason one shouldn’t stray too far alone…like I did.



Who am I? Genevieve Drake.
I’m not the helpless kind of girl. Never needed a man to come to my rescue. That is, not until my twentieth birthday when some dude nearly chokes me to death in an alley. A hot stranger saves me by splitting the dude in half, ripping a monster from inside, and then The hot guy? Jude Delacroix—Dominus Daemonum, Master of Demons. Now my guardian, whether I like it or not. But I’m seriously beginning to like it.
The dude choking me? One of many demons from the underworld trying to abduct or kill my ass. As the prime target of the demon prince, Dante, who has all kinds of lascivious and sadistic plans for me, I now have no problem accepting Jude’s protection.
Why me? I’m a Vessel, one who is born to serve the light but can be corrupted and used as a weapon for darkness. Until that fateful night, I had no idea this world even existed. Now, I just want to survive it.

COMING JANUARY 2015. SAMHAIN PUBLISHING.
JULIETTE CROSS WEBSITE          FACEBOOK        TWITTER         GOODREADS
For exclusive excerpts and news on releases and reveals, join Juliette’s newsletter here .