H.R. Willaston's Blog, page 3

Girl with Guitar by Caisey Quinn COVER REVEAL!

Girl with Guitarby Caisey Quinn
After Kylie’s dad dies in a freak accident, he leaves her with nothing other than her crazy stepmother, Darla, and the ability to play guitar. When Darla kicks Kylie out and she loses her job all in the same day, she hops a bus to Nashville determined to make her late father’s dreams come true. Waitressing and saving her pennies to record a demo, her big break comes when she’s asked to join a tour going down the tubes with once platinum album-selling country music superstar Trace Corbin. But touring with Trace is hardly a dream come true since he’s pretty much drinking his career down the drain. If Kylie can’t pull Trace out of his rut, he’ll pull her and her dreams down with him.

And now for the cover...... <drum roll>
Paperback Cover
Ebook Cover



Teaser :-) “Evenin’ y’all,” Kylie drawled into the microphone. “I had a song I was gonna sing and then my friend Tonya, she might be your waitress, she told me it sucked—so I guess I’m just gonna play this here guitar and see where it takes us.” She grinned at the audience and then leaned closer to the mic once more. “Oh, and I go right back to serving after this, so if you don’t clap when I’m finished, I can’t be held responsible for what might happen to your drink between the bar and your table.” Kylie winked and strummed a few cords. “Okay, here we go.”Laughter? Did she hear laughter? She thought she did. I know you wanna tie me down, know you wanna put a ring on it, but I ain’t never been that kinda girl, not for all the money in the world. Kylie launched into her modified version of Trace Corbin’s latest hit, Not That Kinda Man.  It was the famous bachelor’s latest lovin’ and leavin’ single and she was attempting to turn the thing on its ear. He’d written and sang it as a sad break up ballad and Kylie had remixed and reworked it into the single girl’s party anthem. You wanna own me but you don’t know me. Guess what darlin’? When you wake up I’ll be gone. Kylie flashed her sexiest grin and wiggled a little at the crowd. Then she shouted, “Sing it with me girls!” into the mic and picked up the tempo, launching into the chorus. Several waitresses, Tonya included, stopped what they were doing to sing along. Not that Kylie could really see them, but the girls in the crowd joined in too. She sang to the guitar player, whose name she was pretty sure was Andy, and he played right along, smiling and winking at her the whole time. Well I’m not that kinda girl, don’t wanna play these games, not gonna wake up in your bed or take your name. She gave Andy a playful smack on the ass and he blew her a kiss. Shrieking whistles radiated from the audience. The music hummed and pulsed against her and somewhere in Kylie’s mind a little voice said, Holy shit you’re doing it! When the number was over, she practically flew off the stage, painfully aware of the pounding in her chest. Oh well, if I have a heart attack and die right this moment, I’ll die happy. The applause was loud enough to be heard over the ringing in her ears and she wanted it more than oxygen. Clive was leaning on the bar, shaking his head but smiling. Tonya shot her two thumbs up. Kylie let out a little squeal of happiness and sent a silent thank you up to her daddy, feeling certain she was higher than any drug could ever take her. She would let Tonya go home early tonight and do the rooms herself. She had enough energy to clean ten green rooms. When she told Tonya that, the woman hugged her. Hard. “You knocked ‘em dead, girl! That was amazing!”“Yeah, well, I got some really good advice,” Kylie told her, unable to keep the permagrin off her face. The next act stepped out of the shadows and took the stage. Kylie heard a deep male voice with a sexy southern drawl say, “Damn. Just my luck to have to follow that.” The audience was still shrieking and screaming and Kylie knew she’d done well, but seriously?“I apologize for standing y’all up a few weeks ago. Musta got my dates mixed up. Probably time to fire that manager of mine,” the handsome man on stage drawled. Who was this guy? Whoever he was, the women in the audience were going crazy over him. “Well, since that good looking waitress stole my number, guess I’ll have to sing something else. Where is that girl anyways?”Oh God. Oh God, please no. Kylie’s heart sank and her high evaporated instantly. She turned to face the man on stage. Trace freaking Corbin was standing there with a guitar in one hand and the other to his eyes, scanning the crowd for…her.
Caisey Quinn is a wearer of cowgirl boots, writer and avid reader of New Adult romance, lover of wine, and is addicted to chai tea lattes. She’s the brand spanking new author of soon to be released books including Girl with Guitar and Keep Me Still. (Which may or may not include spanking).Caisey lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, daughter, and other assorted animals. Girl with Guitar is her first novel. 
GIVEAWAY!!
An ebook copy of Girl with Guitar

Cover Reveal for Another Author :-)

I've never done cover reveals, book reviews and such on this blog, but I completely support Indie Authors and I'm really excited to get the chance to help out another author.  But like I said - this is the first time I've done this for someone else, so when you see the "COVER REVEAL" post in a few days I don't want there to be any confusion.  The reveal is not for my book.  It's for another author.

My blog is participating in the Cover Reveal for Girl with Guitar by Caisey Quinn.  The cover will be revealed in a few days along with a teaser and giveaway.  So please check it out on May 15th. :-)

Maria's Book Blog Mothers Day Giveaway

Maria at Maria's Book Blog is awesome and she's having a giveaway this weekend!
Please go support this wonderful lady.  (and maybe win a $3.99 ebook of your choice)
Go check it out!
Mother's Day Giveaway

Don't forget to check out her blog too ;-) Maria's Book Blog

And the winners are

The winners of the ebook copy of Future Letters are:
Kristi Foote Fortenberry H.a. White Jay Bual Cindy McCalmont Hutcheson Nicole Kuhn


The winner of the signed first edition of Future Letters and an ebook copy is: Ashley Ryan Snyder




And finally the winner who made me last the most when chosen by rafflecopter is: Scott Williams (who is my husband and was the first entry pulled from the hat to win an ebook copy) His prize: Being the first to read my next book and having characters inspired by him. ;-)



Thank you to everyone who entered .  My first rafflecopter giveaway was fun and I'll be doing another as soon as I can. =D

Pay no attention to that pup behind the curtain...

Then again- pay her lots and lots of attention.  She loves it and I know many people love her!  Yup, I'm talking about Laura-Glue! ("I'm Laura Glue, and Laura Glue is me ... Just calling me 'Laura' is just as bad as calling me 'Glue.'  My name is my name" - The Search for the Red Dragon by James A Owen)
There are three characters in Future Letters that were inspired by someone in my real life.  They know who they inspired, but the only one I've openly spoken about is the inspiration behind Skylar - Lil Gregor's dog.  Laura-Glue is the inspiration behind Skylar.
The rescue group we fostered and then adopted her from is having a fundraiser and my husband suggested I donate a signed copy of Future Letters for the silent auction.  I decided to do one better.  The donated copy is signed by me and Laura-Glue. 

Thank you AnimalCompassion Team for all the hard work you do to help the animals. If you'd like to support the ACT, please check out their website here.

Blog Post about Blog Posts

Maria over at Maria's Book Blog (which is awesome!) has a couple of very cool posts I want to share.
First: To celebrate her facebook page hitting 800 likes (WOO HOO!), she's doing a giveaway!  The giveaway includes ebooks for a bunch of authors, some signed author swag and signed paperback books.  (Future Letters is one of the ebooks to be given away.) To enter her giveaway please click here.
Second: Maria has been doing some Meet the Author posts.  One of her recent ones featured me!  In addition to talking about me, my giveaway (which is still going on) and Future Letters, there's also a peek at the Nine Days synopsis along with a picture of the inspiration behind two of the characters.  To check this post out click  here.
Hope you're all having a great weekend and have a good week.

"Can I have your autograph?"

Why yes, yes you can!Thanks to a reminder from Tawnya over at One More Chapter, I can now autograph ebook copies of Future Letters.  I did my first two this morning (which were also my first two autographs I've done for someone I didn't know).  Authorgraph is a great idea.  Only negative - if you want Laura-Glue (who was the inspiration behind the character Skylar) to pawograph your copy for you that can still only be done on the hardcopy version of the book.It works for all e-readers.  So if you'd like an ebook autograph my author page on Authorgraph is here.  
And while we're on the subject of Laura-Glue's paw print...  Here's a picture of her pawographing the banner for Pink Paw Prints (our Komen Race for the Cure Team).
Have a great day everyone!

All Sorts of Giveaways!

Other GiveawaysThere are some other authors I know that are also currently doing giveaways.  To help them along, I decided to post links to their giveaways as well mine.  So check them out, check mine out if you haven't already and Good Luck!
Here's Mine Again Mary A WasowskiMaria's Book BlogDrowning In You via Reading DelightzNicole Andrews MooreJillian Dodd via Reading DelightzGenevieve DeweyHB Heinzer via kindlehookedBookaholics BlogAestas Book BlogMadeline SheehanBooksDrowning in YouKA Robinson - Copy of Torn orTwistedAudrey Harte Katie Ashley BooksI am a reader not awriter - No Strings Attached Giveaway (with a list of 68 other sites who are part of the giveaway hop)
Ysabel Wilde

A.L.Zaun Author

GOOD LUCK!!

Thanks for the Likes Giveaway!

My author page has over 200 likes.  Future Letters has hit 100.  As promised here's my very first rafflecopter giveaway!  This giveaway will run for two weeks.
The Prizes: One, signed, first edition paperback of Future Letters, and an ebook copy of the current edition.


Five ebook copies of Future Letters.











a Rafflecopter giveawayThanks again for all your likes.

Catching Up

Catching Up.A lot's been going on since I last posted.  So, here's a little update.
I've been hard at work on getting my next book Nine Days out into the world.  It's currently in its first hard copy edit stage and being edited by my husband Scott and me.  My goal is to have the second hard copy edit ready for Monkey Boy Editing by the end of the school year (so, the end of May).  The front cover art is done, the back cover art is being worked on by Big Mike and the synopsis is being tweaked hopefully to perfection.  I'm really excited (and terrified) about this story making its way into the world.
Los Angeles Central LibraryMy wonderful husband took me to the Central Library in Los Angeles, CA back in February.  This is the library that inspired Lilianna Gregor's 18th birthday trip in Future Letters.  The place was incredible!  Just like Lil said - I'm pretty sure I could live there forever and be completely happy.  To check out more pictures from our library visit click here.

Fairy RealmLast week we took a Dylan and Lil type camping trip to Cambria, CA.  We already go there as much as we can, but this was our first camping trip of the year.  During this camping trip I tried to take Dylan Mead's Fairy Realm picture.  For an amateur with no training at all here's what I came up with (pictured on left).  To see more pictures of our Lil and Dylan style camping click here.
Our next adventure will hopefully be to the San Francisco Indie Authors Event in June.  I'm super excited about this.  There will be so many amazing authors there!  Maybe I can get a few books signed. ;-) This will also be our first "pup free trip" since getting Laura-Glue.  She will *not* be pleased about this, but we'll see what happens.
So, for now it's back to work tomorrow after two weeks off (Spring Break and vacation!) with seven weeks until my seniors graduate, lots of reading (current reading list: The Indigo King by James A. Owen, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, Stay by Jennifer Silverwood, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee), editing and writing for Nine Days and some mapping for book one of a new project - Elementals - (my first try at fantasy/paranormal writing).
So, what are you reading?