Amy Sparling's Blog, page 11

Summer Unplugged - Journals

As I start on my journey of being a FULL TIME AUTHOR *squee*, I am excited to release a new feature exclusively on Wattpad. I call it Summer Unplugged - Journals and it's an extra look into Jace and Bayleigh's life. It starts just before the 4th book Summer Unleashed, when Bayleigh is close to graduating high school.

It'll be written in letter format, where Bayleigh writes a letter to Jace and then he writes one back to her and so on. I'm hoping to release a new letter at least once a week, but it'll most likely be more frequently!

You can read it here, or by following me on Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/AmySparlingWrites

Blitz Post! Destruction of Sweet Creation

Happy Saturday, everyone! Aren't you excited you're not in school and/or work? I KNOW I AM.

I know I have a ton of readers who love anime books so if you're one of them, I've got the book for you today. This new release is called Destruction of Sweet Creation. Here's the blurb:

In a world of magic and technology, a boy is after revenge, and a girl must break the spell her own mother cast upon her. 

Hiro, an elite member of AURA an organization that specializes in magic in the current era, sees no reason to not give up his life in any situation that comes up. Kanae, a happy, yet childish, girl who only has basic magical skills sees the world almost like a Fairy tale. These two unlikely teens find themselves crashing into each other’s lives as Hiro comes closer to finding the man who took away his family, and Kanae a helpless romantic thought to be a child in everyone’s eyes due to her mother’s curse. 
These two are brought together when a monster attacks Kanae. The once gloomy and empty Hiro starts to see value in his life as Kanae does some serious growing up; however, when Hiro comes closer to getting his hands on the man responsible for his emptiness will he throw everything else away to get him, and does Kanae know what it truly means to have a relationship, a mature one instead of just some fantasy? 






You can find more about this book on Amazon or by checking out the Goodreads page. PS - There's a Goodreads giveaway going on right now! So be sure to enter.

Updates!

I am both excited and sad to announce that the final Summer Unplugged book is now out in the world!

You can find it in paperback and ebook on Amazon. I'd like to extend a HUGE thanks to all my readers who pre-ordered and have already left great reviews on the book. You guys are seriously the most amazing people ever! I am already 3/4 of the way toward my goal of being a full time author thanks to my amazing readers! 
I'm also happy to share the new cover for my book Phantom Summer. I liked the old cover, but this one fits the main character much better! Plus it has a spooky feel to it.
So what do you think? Let me know in the comments! 

The Beginning of Forever - Teaser Post!

The very last book in the Summer Unplugged series comes out in 13 days! PLUS! Unlike the SU novellas, this book is more than twice as long as the novellas. So double YAY!

Because I've had some awesome readers tell me they can't wait until the 15th, I thought I'd share a little teaser from Chapter 1.

So sit back and enjoy!

*NOTE- SPOILER ALERT* DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ BOOKS 1-4

The Beginning of Forever
Chapter 1

There are few things more terrifying than thinking you might be pregnant at the age of eighteen. One of the things that makes that more terrifying list? The two minutes after you pee on a stick and watch it turn pink. My stomach crawled into my throat and I had to blink my eyes several times so I could see. Only my hands were so shaky I couldn’t focus on the stupid pee stick. It was pink. Faintly and then all at once it was very dark. Pink in three places. Of course I knew what three pink lines meant. I had read the package a dozen times before I even opened it and yet, I still had to check it again. I set the stick on the counter, briefly reminding myself to clean off the pee drips later, and grabbed the box to read the instructions again.Yep. It still said the same thing. Three lines - pregnant.Maybe this one is defective.“Babe? The suspense is killing me.” There was a tap on the other side of the bathroom door and then a thud of what sounded like Jace’s forehead resting against it. “Just a second,” I called back. My voice didn’t even sound like me. It felt like me, the real me, was somewhere far away watching the other me, the Bayleigh who is sitting on the toilet, yoga pants around her ankles, and thinking, “Wow, I’m glad I’m not her.”Only I am her. And this is my life now.Oh my God. Oh. My. God.Mom is gonna kill me.Mom. I’m going to be a mom.I try to swallow and I almost choke on my own spit. My vision blurs and I rush to stand and tug up my pants and smooth out my shirt and try to look normal. I wash my hands and toss the box into the trash can. The mirror above the sink shows a girl who is too pale, too scared, too...unprepared.“You alive in there?” He’s trying to sound all light hearted. I know he’s freaking out just as badly as I am, but he won’t show it. He never loses his cool around me.“Yeah,” I call back, staring at the door and trying to picture what he looks like on the other side of it. “I’m alive.”“Everything okay?” Those two words were a secret code. An encrypted message that actually meant so much more than just is everything okay. It meant, am I about to be a father?My reply was just as cryptic.
“Yeah.”

You can pre-order The Beginning of Forever here on Amazon: The Beginning of Forever (Summer Unplugged Book 5)
Already pre-ordered? Make sure you sign up for my mailing list! I'll be doing an EPIC giveaway on January 15th for mailing list subscribers only. Trust me, you won't want to miss it! https://tinyletter.com/AmySparling

Cover Reveal

I am so excited for the release of Summer Alone! Becca's story is a direct response to the fans who have asked me to write what happens with her, and now that book 2 is well under way, I am totally in love with her character. (and with the guy she meets in book 2)

So, since I can't keep anything to myself for very long, I've decided to reveal the cover for book 2, Summer Together, RIGHT NOW!

What do ya think?



Add Summer Together on Goodreads now. Pre-order links will be up soon!

Help me plan Summer Together with Pinterest!

GUYS! I am having SO MUCH FUN writing Becca's series! It's ridiculous... 
As you may have noticed, I used Pinterest with book one, Summer Alone. I added inspirational pictures and pins that reminded me of stuff I wrote about in the book so it can be a guide for readers to check out while reading the book.
Now I want to do the same thing with Summer Together, however, I want your help! Since this book is all about Becca helping Bayleigh plan her perfect wedding with Jace, I want YOU the readers to help me plan it. I've created an inspiration board here: Summer Together on Pinterest and got the ball rolling by pinning some gorgeous wedding photos with the color theme of purple & turquoise. (Also chosen by you the readers on Twitter). I was hoping to make the board open publicly so anyone could add their own pins, but apparently I can't do that?  I have to invite people to the board via email addresses, so here's the deal: Send me your email address and I'll invite you to participate in the Pinterest inspiration board.
You can post anything you'd like to see in the wedding planning or any inspirational photos that you think Bayleigh & Becca would like. I'll choose some of them to include in the story.
AND! If I pick your ideas, I'll include your name in the acknowledgements of the book! 
So if you'd like to be included in the planning of this epic wedding, please send me your pinterest email address and I'll add you to the board! (my email is writeamysparling at gmail.com or you can tweet me @Amy_Sparling)
Happy Pinning!

Kids in Love by Nikki Godwin Book Blitz!

My writer bestie Nikki Godwin just released a new novella, part 1.5 in her Saturn series! If you haven't read American Girl on Saturn yet, you NEED TO! Find out all the info for Kids in Love here:


As one of the original Saturnites, Darby McMillon has been a longtime face of the fandom. From the days when the boys were just a YouTube band trying to gain fans up through their recent lockdown, Darby's channel - Darby's Daily Dose of Drama - was the "go to" spot for all things Spaceships Around Saturn.


Until now, she's been trusted by most and envied by few, but her meet up with SAS girlfriend Chloe Branson shakes Darby's world. She learns quickly that when you're with the band, everything isn't always red carpets and music videos.


And the closer she gets to her SAS crush Tate Kingsley, the closer she comes to losing her Saturnite status forever.

Purchase links: Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble


Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22019162-kids-in-love

GiveawayClick here for a giveaway!
ExcerptTate walks over to the trampoline and climbs up. Then he reaches a hand out to me. I haven’t been on this thing in a long time. I grab his hand anyway and let him pull me up. He falls back onto the bouncy material and eventually comes to a halt, staring up at the clouds. “Sometimes, late at night, I wish I really did have a spaceship to take around Saturn,” he says, his eyes lost somewhere among the stars. “I just want to see firsthand, up close, that there are things much bigger than this, you know? Like bigger than this band and the fame and the fandom.”I lie back next to him and watch as the milky strands whisper across the night, leaving their words across the black backdrop. “Honestly? I kind of like the view from down here,” I say. “Yeah, but I mean…” He pauses. “I don’t know. Sometimes it’s just too much. Don’t you feel like you can’t breathe sometimes? Like everyone has expectations and you can’t meet them all? Or is the fandom totally different on that level?”The fandom is definitely different. We don’t have the pressure on us that we put on the guys of SAS. Sure, people expect daily videos from me – or at least every other day – but I do those for fun anyway. If I fell off the planet tomorrow, a few people would notice, and eventually there would be some other girl who made videos and everyone would follow her. That’s a depressing thought now that it’s in my brain. “Fandoms are different. People come and go,” I tell him. “You guys are the sun. We just orbit around you.”He sighs. “It’s tough being the sun.” Then he turns on his side and faces me. “If you could wish for one thing, on one star, which star would you pick and what would you wish for?”“Right now?” I’m completely caught off guard. I can’t tell him that I wish he’d drop to one knee with a diamond and propose. “Umm…”I look away from him and glance around the stars for a bright one. “That one,” I say, pointing to the twinkling speck in the sky, slightly to the right of my house’s rooftop. “So you go for the bright ones?” Tate asks, craning his neck to see my star. “Well, yeah,” I say. “That way I can always see it.”I suddenly feel like this was the wrong answer or maybe not what he was looking for. It makes me feel snobby, like the way small accounts look at big accounts online. It’s like we’re the bright stars that everyone can see, and everyone else is a peasant star – a measly little light that tries so hard to shine amongst the rest of us and our giant glows. Oh gosh, I should’ve picked a dim star. Can I go back and pick a dim star? I’ll totally be a peasant. “Hmm,” Tate says. He rests back on the trampoline. “I guess that makes sense. I’d pick this one over here. It’s kind of hard to see.”He motions his index finger toward a dim star. I trace the stars around it and wonder if it’s part of a constellation. If this set of stars is meant to be something special, I hope I’m seeing it incorrectly because it looks like a seagull. Tate’s star is at the tip of its beak. “Why that one?” I ask, hoping he doesn’t give me some beautifully poetic answer.

Summer Alone Inspiration board

Pinterest is so freaking addicting! I've channeled my addiction into making an inspiration board for the Summer Alone book. I've added pictures that remind me of Becca's bedroom and my favorite part of her room - her ever changing Quote Board.

I've also added some BMX pictures that remind me of the place she gets a summer job. If you're waiting for October 1st to read the first book, check out the Pinterest Inspiration board!

Follow Amy's board Summer Alone - Inspiration Board on Pinterest.

Swag September - win free stuff!

It's time for Swag September!! 
Swag September is organized by Amber at Paradise of Pages. It will occur through the whole month of September. You don't need to worry how much you read during the month, the only thing you need to do is when you do read, read only the books that you have swag for. If it isn't on a piece of swag you read, don't read it. There will be guest posts, interviews, excerpts, a read-a-thon, and lots and lots of giveaways. Where can you go wrong? For any information or questions you may have as well as updates, visit Amber over at Paradise of Pages. ~From Amber at Paradise of Pages




Today Amber is giving away bookmarks and signed books from yours truly. Check it out here!

Summer Alone Pre-order! WOOHOO!

From the best selling author of Summer Unplugged, comes a new series set in the same world. Becca's senior year of high school is approaching and she's tired of being the dorky best friend. Determined to reinvent herself with help from Bayleigh, she plans to spend the summer breaking out of her shell. When Bayleigh gets grounded and sent away for three months, Becca's plans come crashing down before they've even started. 

Now Becca is alone and can't even talk to Bayleigh on the phone. Not wanting to miss out on the summer before senior year, she takes a job at the local indoor BMX track. The job is fun, her boss is laid back, and the place is packed with hot guys. One of them just might have a crush on her. This may be a summer without her best friend, but it doesn't mean she'll have to spend the summer alone. 

Part 1 will be released Oct 1st, 2014. AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW!