Lisa Burstein's Blog, page 3
September 9, 2014
AGAIN Teaser & Chapters 3 & 4
How hot is this?
Again is out in TWO WEEKS!!! I’m so excited that I’m offering the book at a special price!
Pre-Order at the special price of $1.99! Regularly $3.99! Purchase links below:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1rwZUy7
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1o16nMU
I-books: http://bit.ly/1o16YhN
Kobo: http://bit.ly/Z8wDiT
The other great news is we reached 400 Goodreads ADDS! Which means you get to preview Chapter 3 & 4
READ THEM HERE: http://www.wattpad.com/70169623-again-chapters-3-%26-4
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20882839-again
August 19, 2014
Teaser Tuesday- Chapters 1 & 2 of AGAIN
Hello Lovelies,
I suppose this is a bit more than a teaser. AGAIN will be out in a MONTH! September 22nd to be exact. Review copies should be ready next week & well I’m really, really excited! So I thought I would share the first two chapters. Click on the pic below to read them on WATTPAD- ENJOY!
August 5, 2014
COVER REVEAL- AGAIN
ISN’T IT BEAUTIFUL! I’m so proud to share the cover of my debut self-published novel AGAIN, coming September 22nd.
Here’s the blurb:
How far would you go for a second chance?
Eleven years after flunking out of college, Kate has finally hit rock-bottom. Losing her job and boyfriend in one drunken night, she’s determined to fix her life by going back to the moment when she let partying and sex take over and do things right. At twenty-nine, she heads back to freshman year of college, with a catch.
Pretending she’s nineteen with a new roommate and full class schedule is easy. When she meets her shy, sexy and seven-years-younger RA Carter, following her self-imposed sobriety and celibacy rules is proving to be anything but.
A senior enduring years of regret, Carter is more than ready to graduate. He’s anxious to move on from the party his freshman year where he witnessed his frat brothers about to commit a sexual assault. Instead of doing the right thing and stepping in, he looked the other way and left. His guilt has made for a lonely four years.
When he meets the new freshman on his floor, spunky and confident Kate, he wonders if his time as an outcast has finally come to an end.
Kate and Carter’s growing friendship and undeniable attraction make it harder to hide the demons from their respective pasts. But when their secrets are finally revealed, will their chance at starting over together still be there?
There is a funny excerpt from Kate’s POV going around a few blogs, I thought I would share a sweet & sexy one from Cater here- ENJOY!
Carter
I sat up and glanced out the window, the snow had stopped. Triple A would be here soon. I’d be able to drive Kate back to the dorm, back into the life we’d been in before last night—before we could lock everything away.
Her eyes opened slowly, “Good morning,” she said, leaning on her arm.
“I have breakfast in bed,” I replied indicating the box of graham crackers on the floor.
“Leftovers already,” she said with an over-exaggerated frown.
“I could make them into sandwiches or crumbs if you’ve looking for something a little different.”
“How gourmet,” she said checking the window. “Did it stop?”
I nodded.
“Does that mean we have to wake up?” She stretched out lazily like a cat. It was so early, even they were still asleep, the dogs too. The only noise I could hear was our breathing, in and out, in and out in the same rhythm, a song our bodies made together in the half-light.
“No,” I replied.
Luckily, it was a weekend no one would be here till eleven. I kissed her forehead. She smelled like cinnamon from the graham crackers and a little like me from having slept in the crook of my arm all night.
Axe body spray and cinnamon were a lot sexier on a girl than you might think.
“Good,” she said laying back and closing her eyes. Her mouth twitched, “you can keep kissing me though.”
“I can, can I?” I laughed.
“I mean if you’re bored or something.”
“I thought you wanted to go back to sleep.”
“Unless something better wakes me,” she explained.
“Okay, Sleeping Beauty,” I said kissing first her top lip, then the bottom, running my tongue against the inside of her mouth.
She started fake-snoring, loud, her nose a buzz-saw.
I laughed. “Are you claiming my kisses don’t have the power to break a spell?”
“So far,” she said, yawning heavily. “I’m not impressed Carter.”
“That wasn’t how it seemed last night,” I shifted, the bed squeaking below us.
“Last night you plied me with water and graham crackers,” she explained. “I would have done anything you wanted.”
“They do say graham crackers are the new oyster. I mean, I could barely control myself when they came out at snack-time as a kid.”
“It’s surprising starting so young didn’t help with your kissing any,” she smirked.
I tickled her and she yelped, which was good because if her outburst didn’t make me stop touching her around her soft, curved abdomen I wouldn’t be able to control myself from making her yelp from something else.
“Close your eyes again,” I said.
She obliged with a calculating smile.
I tasted her temple my lips landing quieter than a sigh. I explored along her hairline, my kisses a crown of daisies on her forehead. My mouth grazed her earlobe. I kissed the bridge of her nose, and her breathing quickened beneath me. I kissed each cheek, one side of her neck and the other, my kisses more hungry, insistent like I was gasping air.
My lips connected with her pulse as I slid down the length of her neck. I sucked on the base of her throat, the skin there as soft as a peach.
I scanned her face; her lips.
Her tongue darted out and she pouted like a flower waiting for my kiss to sting her, to send her reeling.
I would make her wait.
“Still nothing?” I asked.
“Getting warmer.”
“How warm?” I glided my lips back to the nape of her neck.
“Little higher,” she said.
I teased the area below her right jawline.
“Little higher and to the left,” she instructed.
“That’s pretty specific,” I said, my words echoing against her chin.
“Warmer,” she said.
My cheek smoothed against her left jawline.
“Colder, freezing,” she laughed.
I hovered above her lips, not touching them, not touching her, waiting, flooded in her pull, letting her bathe in mine.
She tipped her head back. My lips grazed hers like a rain just starting, and then thundered against her with the force of a downpour.
“Hot enough?” I whispered, continuing to inhale her one kiss at a time.
“Bull’s-eye,” she sighed.
July 29, 2014
AGAIN COVER REVEAL TIME!!!
Hey Guys!
You know how I’ve been working on a book I’m self publishing in September, well – NEXT WEDNESDAY is the cover reveal!!!!!
Check out the blurb:
How far would you go for a second chance?
Eleven years after flunking out of college, Kate has finally hit rock-bottom. Losing her job and boyfriend in one drunken night, she’s determined to fix her life by going back to the moment when she let partying and sex take over and do things right. At twenty-nine, she heads back to freshman year of college, with a catch.
Pretending she’s nineteen with a new roommate and full class schedule is easy. When she meets her shy, sexy and seven-years-younger RA Carter, following her self-imposed sobriety and celibacy rules is proving to be anything but.
A senior enduring years of regret, Carter is more than ready to graduate. He’s anxious to move on from the party his freshman year where he witnessed his frat brothers about to commit a sexual assault. Instead of doing the right thing and stepping in, he looked the other way and left. His guilt has made for a lonely four years.
When he meets the new freshman on his floor, spunky and confident Kate, he wonders if his time as an outcast has finally come to an end.
Kate and Carter’s growing friendship and undeniable attraction make it harder to hide the demons from their respective pasts. But when their secrets are finally revealed, will their chance at starting over together still be there?
If you haven’t signed up yet, please do here
July 2, 2014
The Possibility of Us is OUT NOW!
Hello everyone, just wanted to let you know my new novella is out NOW for only .99 at ALL RETAILERS
This is the dedication you will find on Page one!
One weekend together could change everything…
When her friend called to tell her about the funeral, Cassie wanted to say no. She had enough to handle with her own hollow existence. But she knew she should pay her respects to her old Wilderness Program counselor…as long as her ex, Ben, wouldn’t be there.
Except Ben is there. Still gorgeous, still angry, and still able to penetrate her defenses with one intense stare. All the reasons they left each other in a flurry of heartache start to fall away over one long, snowy weekend.
But tough Cassie can’t truly open up to Ben when she knows confessing her secrets will leave her raw, defenseless. And the possibility of forever might not be enough to gamble on all the impossibilities of now.
June 27, 2014
THE NEXT FOREVER IS FREE!!!
Hi everyone you have a few more days to get The Next Forever for FREE at all retailers!!!
One night in college can change everything…
Away at college, Amy just wants one night alone without her high school sweetheart, Joe. So when he invites her to go to the library, she heads off on her own instead. How she ended up at a house party with the mysterious bad-boy Trevor is another story…
Joe so isn’t going to the library. He needs space from Amy, too, so he’s decided to rush a fraternity, to get back the swagger he had in high school. But it doesn’t take long for the brothers to invite him to the real rush–where the beer is flowing and one particular girl has set her eyes on Joe.
Over the course of one wild night, both Amy and Joe will have to decide if their futures belong with two new people, or whether the next forever will have their first loves in it.
See all the links here
Once you finish The Next Forever be sure to keep an eye out for My upcoming release, The Possibility of Us, available July 1 for just $.99.
One weekend together could change everything…
When her friend called to tell her about the funeral, Cassie wanted to say no. She had enough to handle with her own hollow existence. But she knew she should pay her respects to her old Wilderness Program counselor…as long as her ex, Ben, wouldn’t be there.
Except Ben is there. Still gorgeous, still angry, and still able to penetrate her defenses with one intense stare. All the reasons they left each other in a flurry of heartache start to fall away over one long, snowy weekend.
But tough Cassie can’t truly open up to Ben when she knows confessing her secrets will leave her raw, defenseless. And the possibility of forever might not be enough to gamble on all the impossibilities of now.
June 13, 2014
EVERYONE Give Your Advice on LIFE to a Grad
Hey Guys,
So I have a niece graduating from college this month and her grandmother is making a scrap book of sayings, knowledge, memories, tips. I need to write something, but I thought it might be fun to open it up to you guys… considering I know so many awesome authors, bloggers and readers!
What would you say to a college graduate about what you’ve learned about life?
Please add your thoughts in the comments!
June 6, 2014
THE POSSIBILITY OF US COVER & BLURB and stuff
One weekend together could change everything…
When her friend called to tell her about the funeral, Cassie wanted to say no. She had enough to handle with her own hollow existence. But she knew she should pay her respects to her old camp counselor…as long as her ex, Ben, wouldn’t be there.
Except Ben is there. Still gorgeous, still angry, and still able to penetrate her defenses with one intense stare. All the reasons they left each other in a flurry of heartache start to fall away over one long, snowy weekend.
But tough Cassie can’t truly open up to Ben when she knows confessing her secrets will leave her raw, defenseless. And the possibility of forever might not be enough to gamble on all the impossibilities of now.
COMING JULY 1st…
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18499688-the-possibility-of-us
What do you guys think??? I thought I might also share the first paragraphs of both POVs- YES it’s from Ben & Cassie’s POV :)
Chapter One
Cassie
“Ben better not be there,” I said, wiping away the
condensation that had built up on the window of Laura’s
black Range Rover. The snowbanks whizzing past us on
the side of the road were so white and flawless from the
storm the night before, it made me shiver. I also could have
been shivering because it was the first time I had been out
of my brother’s apartment in months, other than working
in the kitchen at the Veteran’s Association Medical Center
downtown.
“What am I, your ex-boyfriend’s keeper?” Laura asked.
She seemed more confident than she had been when we met
at Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for Troubled Teens this
past summer—calmer, less afraid—but that could have been
because she was driving a car bigger than a damn elephant
rumbling down the highway like a tank.
Chapter Two
Ben
My brother Drew’s usual crazy rock-star-spiked hair was
matted down in a red winter hat. He had insisted on driving
my car. It was the only way I could get him to agree to come
with me.
Plus, he owed me, even though I tried as much as possible
not to think about that.
“You sure you don’t just want to go to Boston for the
weekend or something instead? I have a box’s worth of
condoms burning a hole in my pocket,” he said, smiling his
Drew smile: a combo of burned-out skater and I could kick
your ass.
I glared at him. My eyes seared, eyes I knew were the
same exact shade of brown as his. I didn’t need to tell him
no. He understood he owed me, too, even though he tried his
hardest not to think about that, either. I’d taken the rap for
his whole car-stealing thing, because I was younger.
The only reason Drew wasn’t in a jail cell right now was
me. The only reason I even ended up at Turning Pines was
him.
May 23, 2014
I’m 38 WHAT THE FUCK?
So I usually post about books here, but I’m turning 38 tomorrow so I thought I might get personal. I thought I might tell you guys how it feels to be almost 40! See I don’t have kids, not that I don’t want them, but we’ve never totally tried to have them in like a real way, and being as old as I am supposed to be tomorrow feels unfathomable.
I should at least have one kid. I kind of figured I would by now.
I had a goal for myself by 35, to be published and I hit it just barely. My first book coming out May 8th, 2012, 3 weeks before I turned 36. I’ve done a lot in these past two years, published 4 more books, written and or started countless others, but with a full-time job and a husband and a house and a life, kids have not be on my radar.
Or they have been, but I’ve put my writing career first.
Does that sound selfish?
It feels a little selfish. It sometimes feels like all I will have are fur-babies and book-babies, not that there is anything wrong with that, but yeah I’m putting my selfish dreams ahead of what might be the best experience I might ever have.
My dreams have been good. I’ve seen my book in libraries and bookstores. I’ve made SO MANY amazing author, reader, blogger, publisher friends. I’ve gone to conferences and been recognized. I’ve had people tell me they love my books. But as a woman there is still that one thing I haven’t done yet. And being this close to 38 I can’t help but wonder if I ever will.
Pretty much every author friend I know has children and jobs and houses and husbands and lives and I have NO IDEA how they do it all. It boggles. I have enough energy to expend trying to write books on a consistent basis and not getting fired from my day job for half-assing it most of the time.
Wow, this post is getting darker than I anticipated. I guess what I’m trying to say is that as writers we make sacrifices. We have to. They are all different, but they are all there. The time you need to spend writing demands sacrifice.
If you are aspiring please remember this, because it’s a rude fucking awakening how much time you need to spend doing not just the writing but everything you need to do to keep yourself in the mix. If you’re already there, I feel you. I BOW TO YOU. If you’ve discovered how to balance it all please share your wisdom.
Here’s to meeting some new dreams by 40. Here’s to having the courage to live any dream at all.
April 29, 2014
SEX IN NA? Is it required?
I think a lot of you will be happy to know I’m working on edits for BEN & CASSIE’s Novella right now . The Possibility of Us
COMING IN JUNE!
PAUSE FOR *SQUEEING*!
For those of you who don’t know Ben & Cassie, their story started in Dear Cassie
Dear Cassie tore my heart out when I wrote it. Cassie had an abortion just before that book began and was dealing with the aftermath of it during the whole of the novel. By the end she had found some closure, some forgiveness and a new relationship with Ben. It ts an upper-YA book with very strong language, sex, and sexual situations, but Ben and Cassie did not have sex in the book.
Cassie was not ready to be in a relationship again, let alone be that intimate with someone. Kissing was as far as they went, even though both of them had been sexually active before.
Fast forward six months after Dear Cassie ends to The Possibility of Us. This novella is New Adult because now they are both 18, out of high school and trying to decide what to do about their lives and each other. Their relationship has gotten more serious and toward the end of the book they have sex for the first time. They are finally ready to really commit to each other and finally ready to trust in their love physically.
Because their relationship has been so delicate, so filled with Cassie’s baggage I wrote the sex scene as closed door; meaning you know they are about to have sex, but I don’t put it on the page. It feels right for them, like they almost deserve to have this as something no one else can share, literally. BUT, then there’s the expectations of writing a New Adult book. My last book Sneaking Candy was FILLED with sex and sexual innuendo. It was a romantic comedy, a very different kind of book, but I still wonder if leaving sex out this time will hurt me when it comes to readers.
Will The Possibility of Us be less well received if I don’t give readers a glimpse into Cassie and Ben’s bedroom?
I’m going to admit something and maybe this admission has gone unspoken by other NA writers, but I feel pressure to live up to a certain heat level.
Perhaps it’s a little how teen girls feel when guys pressure them to have sex before they are ready. He won’t like me anymore if I don’t do what he wants. I am feeling the same way about readers. Will they still like me if I keep Cassie and Ben’s sex-life implied and not explained?
Genres have expectations, there is nothing wrong with that. I guess I’m concerned that one expectation of New Adult has become for the most part explicit sex.
My edits are due Friday and I will be going back and forth on what to do until then I’m sure. For right now, I’m sticking with what feels right for my characters, even if the market is pushing me to believe it is wrong.
