K.F. Breene's Blog, page 10

The Order of Importance in Self-Publishing

In my exploits into the Indy publishing world so far, both from an ePublisher and doing it myself, this is what I've realized when it comes to getting your book read.

*Please note that this list comes AFTER you have written the best book you possibly can. This is AFTER you have revised, and revised, and read it again to make sure it is your best effort. Content is the most important factor in your continued success.

These are the five most important areas of self-publishing in my experience, in this order.

1. COVER

For the love of god people, get a good cover! Pay the money for it, because this is the stop sign that makes people stop perusing and look a little closer. If your cover sucks, readers won't even pause to have a peek. If you have a budget, make sure this takes precedence.

2. BLURB

You've stopped them with the cover. Now what?

You've got to reel them in, obviously. Make sure this blurb sounds good, reads well, and will entice someone to crack the book and get a sample.

3. EDITING

I made the mistake of self-editing the first time around. Why? Because I'm a moron. I got great reviews on content...that dropped to terrible reviews because the typos and misspellings were way too distracting. You can't have a book full of errors if you want to keep selling. Get it fixed up.

4. WEBSITE

You need a home base. If I were you, I would have this in effect before the first book is published. At the end of that book, direct readers back to your website with a link. If you have another book in the series, the end of the first book will direct them to the next. Getting people to  your website helps them find out about other things you've written.

Websites don't have to be hard to do, and can be free. You can have a blog that acts as a website, if you want, and direct readers to the post you want them to see after they finish your book. Or you can sign up with Host Gator or Go Daddy or someone, and then use their website builder thing. That is really cheap and pretty easy.

Make sure you have a proper domain name. Don't use ImAwesome.BlogSpot.com. Instead, pay the $15/year to get ImAwesome.com. It makes you seem more professional, and looks matter. After the inner beauty, obviously...

5. FACETIME

No, not the calling thingy on your iPhone. This relates to social media. Get a Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and (whatever else is trending right now) page up. I really only use Facebook and Twitter, but do as many as you want. Make sure you are working in your demographic, too. For example, Tumblr is for the younger crowd, so...

You want to talk to people. 'Hang out' with them. Chat. This is for you as much as them. They give you support, which is badly needed when the bad reviews come in (and they always do), and you give them a way to interact. Put in the effort, and NEVER take anyone for granted.

Review: Dirty Little Secrets by Liliana Hart

Dirty Little Secrets by Liliana Hart
 Genre: MysteryReviewer: KFB

FREE! FREE! FREE!  Amazon  |  iTunes  |  Goodreads






    
J.J. Graves has seen a lot of dead bodies in her line of work...

She's not only in the mortuary business, but she's also the coroner for King George County, Virginia. When a grisly murder is discovered in the small town of Bloody Mary, it's up to J.J. and her best friend, Detective Jack Lawson, to bring the victim justice.

The murders are piling up...

When a popular mystery writer shows up on J.J.'s doorstep with plans of writing his new book about the Bloody Mary Serial Killer, J.J. has to decide if he might be going above and beyond the call of duty to create the spine tinglers he's so well known for.

Passions are rising...

J.J and Jack discover each victim had a shocking secret, and the very foundation of J.J.'s life is in danger of crumbling when it turns out she’s harboring secrets of her own—secrets that make her a perfect target in a deadly game. 




First of all, let's preface this by saying I don't generally read free books. And by 'don't generally', I mean 'hardly ever'. I mean 'don't even hunt the free book list'. So many of them are crap. They are often the epitome of what I don't like about Indy books.

Jesus, a little harsh, huh? Yup. I am. I am a critical jackass with absolutely no patience. I don't read to the end if I don't like it--I throw in the towel and move on--usually to the library. Usually to a place where the criteria to publish a book is much harder. A little ridiculous coming from an Indy author, yes, but there it is.

So why this extensive note into my personality flaws as it concerns reading?

Because I just read a free book that could've been published the traditional way. This was the best bargain book I have ever read.

I have noticed Liliana's A Dirty Little Secret in the free bookstore, of course, usually hanging out at about 70 free in iTunes. It's hard not to notice it--the cover is damn fantastic. Money went into that cover, which is a first indication an author knows the importance of a cover and can afford a good one. Spoiler alert- this often means the author cares about the guts of the book, too. Good sign.

Well, okay Sally Sparrow--even though I don't like mystery, I will give one of your favorite authors a try. We'll see how this goes.

A Dirty Little Secret is about a murder in a small down. It is written in the first person with a voice of a snarky girl down on her luck, but also with that tone of those CSI shows. She helps her childhood friend, Jack, solve the murder by investigation and interesting crime stuff.

I was completely entertained by how she went about figuring out the case. I found the factoids fascinating while not going overboard. The snarky wit and friendly banter kept me smiling and turning the pages, loving the balance.

I didn't love how forced the set up of the relationships were between boys and girl, however. With such a rock-star story line, and a refreshing and great crime portion, the love element could've been a lot subtler. I think that would've packed a bigger punch. We didn't need the redundancies and over-explaining regarding her thoughts about Jack, and didn't need the confusing flip-flopping in her reasoning regarding the plunge into the sexual relationship with the other guy. It often bucked me out of the story and sighing at the obvious attempt to get us to feel a certain way. This was the only weak part of the story for me, and luckily, it was only a portion in the beginning, so once past, it turned out okay.

After the set up is done, the relationship elements start to work in the story's favor. Even though the main character can get a little too Doom's Day, I liked and cared about her, and also liked her relationship with her childhood friend. I became invested, which is a sign of a good author, and didn't want to put the book down.

The ending was surprising and fooled me, though that isn't hard to do, of course. I'm an idiot. But I think it will surprise a great many. Unfortunately, the killer didn't really resonate with me--I still have a lot of questions about the possibility of the thing. Instead of a 'oh my god!' moment, I had a 'huh?' moment. Still, it was explained enough that I could slide along merrily, looking for the wrap up.

This book, by this author, is a rough version of a big publishing house book, in my opinion. That might sound like a put-down. It's not. Quite the opposite, in fact. If one of the publishing house editors came through, that person would smooth out all of the issues I had--minimize some of the redundancies, work out some of the awkward places, cut out the formatting issues and typos, and just smooth it all out and gloss it up to a high shine. If that happened, this book could easily come out in hardcover and do quite well.

As a non-critical jackass, you probably won't notice 95% of the issues I did.

Even with its issues, it is still a great book--one of the better Indy books you are going to get. I will continue to read her books, which is something I don't do with a great many authors--even the biggies. I was excited to pick it up and keep reading, always engaged, and always content with how things were progressing.

And you know what, it's FREE! This is a great book, and it is freaking FREE!! It's like going into a bookstore and shoplifting. Tee hee!

Get it. Read it. You'll probably find a great new author to stalk.

4 stars from a critical jackass

I Hate Bubbles!

It has come to my attention that there are very few things I hate more than bubbles.

And I don't mean the type of bubbles Arial creates in Little Mermaid, when she is way below the surface and somehow, despite the lack of air, she still manages to wave her hands and create a string of bubbles. No, not those bubbles.   I hate the stupid "supposed to be a real good time" type of bubbles that kids absolutely lose their shit over. Literally lose their shit over! Poop themselves in glee and don't care. Here's a newsflash-- bubbles are not joyous. You might think they are. You might see the grin on your kid's face, which quickly turns into a full blown smile, and think this cheap little bottle of bubbles was such a great buy. You might even thank your lucky stars that suddenly your kid has undivided attention, hungry gaze focused solely on that bright orange bottle of bubbles. You might chuckle to yourself and think--They love bubbles. I am the best parent in the world right now! But that gaze that you thought was happy? You know, that focused stare? Those chubby fingers reaching for that bottle of amusement paradise? Yeah, that is just the recognition of Satan's magic. That is the focused stare of a hungry predator when he spots a weak little water buffalo baby.  As you unscrew that cap, patting yourself on the back for your mastery of parenting, their beady little eyes are honing in. Their grubby little fingers are twitching. Their happy grin slowly morphs into a manic smile.  You first realize things are going wrong as you pierce that impossible-to-get-off foil covering. The Ft. Knox for freaking bubbles. Why are bubbles so hard to break in to? It's because bubble makers are laughing at parents by increasing the kids' anticipation.  The sparkle in your kid's eyes turns into an evil glint. That manic smile turns into a grimace of need. Those fingers turn into raptor claws. The bubble wand emerges...  Suddenly you have a wild beast on your hands. Your kid wants bubbles, but not just blown by you. No. They want to hold the bottle. They want to dip the wick, dribbling half the contents down their hands and onto the floor. "Oh, careful, don't spill it!" you say.  They hear, "You can't do what you want with the most excellent-est thing in the whole world!" Survival takes over--they must now do whatever is necessary to secure the slippery bottle of delight! With grim determination and an onslaught of crying, your kid wrestles for full control of the bubbles. Evil grin is gone--now there is no hint of a smile whatsoever.    You give in, even though slopping suds are sloshing over the side of the bottle. Good for you--you have patience. Let the kid have some fun--let him/her insert their independence. Except, they don't have the motor skills yet to actually produce the damn bubbles. That was not a good solution.

Spoiler alert: There is no good solution with bubbles!!! They put their mouth right on the wand. Right up on it. They are basically eating the damn suds. You try to make them back up, and they wrestle for control again, frown dipping their eyebrows as they struggle to make those god damned bubbles work. You try to show them, you try to hold the wand away as they blow, you try to keep from losing your temper because they won't do what you freaking need them to do!

It's no use--they don't know how to do it. You need to do it. You know this. If they would just let you blow the damn bubbles, they could freaking play with them and be happy for a damn moment! By this point, the bottle is half empty, the ground is wet and slippery, your kid's face and hands are grossly sticky, your kid is starting to freak out, and you want to punch your husband in the mouth for buying bubbles--even though it was you who bought them... As you struggle for control of your temper, your kid starts to jolt and twitch--the beginning stages of a catastrophic tantrum.  
Yay! We're having so much fun!  *you wish*              
You manage to snatch the bottle away from the baby, and blow a couple bubbles. For that brief moment...for that one second...as the bubble forms...and drifts into the air...a look of wonder and delight crosses your kid's face. It is precious, and happiness is once again restored. It only lasts that one moment, though, because in the next moment, your kid is back at you, wanting to do that. Wanting to create their own little sphere of delight! They attack you, scowl firmly in place, with their desperate need to control and create bubbles. The cycle repeats itself. Your kid spends more time pissed off than happy. No winning. When the rest of the bottle is thankfully spilled all down your kid's front, you don't even care that she doesn't have a change of clothes. You're just happy that this horrible episode of 'fun' came to an end, despite the fact that your kid is screaming bloody murder that the bubbles are all gone.

And then there are parties.

Have you ever been to a party where some god damned idiot buys a couple bottles of bubbles for a horde a kids? No problem, this yuck-up says, they can take turns.

No. They will not want to take turns. They will want to hold that nasty bottle, bubbles oozing down the sides, and blow the bubbles themselves. They want control. They want to play God with bubbles!!

So parents get involved, calming the hysterical crying because the bottle needs to be taken from one kid and given to another. "We're sharing, little Sophie. We need to share." She doesn't like sharing on a normal day--sharing bubbles is sacrilege!! Plus, half the kids can't do it right, so the other half tries to rip the bottle away and show them how.

More screaming.

Yay, bubbles were such a good idea!

Next time, that same yuck-up, convinced he learned from his mistake, buys each kid at the party a bottle of bubbles. Now there is no need to share. Everyone has their own. Problem solved.

Wrong again, bubble-buying-jackass.
 One kid drops theirs, or spill theirs, or hates theirs because the wand won't blow bubbles--so they steal their neighbor's. That neighbor freaks out and tries to steal it back. Mayhem ensues.  The mobs in Rome were nothing compared to the freaking out of a kids party when a bubble war is started. Killing, screaming, biting, kicking--all of the above.

Well, my kid is older, you say--I don't have this problem.

Or maybe you say-- I'll get this bubble gun so all my little angel has to do is pull the trigger. Not any better. The older kid, even though perfectly fine with the necessary motor skills, will want to play with them at random, inopportune times. Bubbles might drift past your face while watching TV, the dripping suds now soaking into your carpet. If you are all outside, your kid will want you to blow some so they can chase, or blow them for you to chase--instead of a means to distract your kid, you are an active participant whether you like it or not.

   Bubble gun? Still no. You'll have to pierce that damn foil, you'll set up the gun, and then you'll have a toddler trying to shoot you in the face. Or mad that it isn't working properly (because they are doing it wrong). Or want to switch out bottles every couple minutes. They will also want to play with this thing at inopportune times, and then scream when they can't.

   No. Bubbles are terrible. I absolutely hate them. The only enjoyment with bubbles is if they are randomly floating by from a machine way up high that no one is actually touching in which to operate.

Teaser for On a Razor's Edge, Darkness #3

A smile flashed across Stefan’s breathtakingly handsome face in the failing evening light. “You are so hell bent on not blasting me, you aren’t working the blade. Try again.”
I bounced from foot to foot like a football player waiting for hike. Stefan stood in front of me, large sword held lightly, waiting for me to strike. I feinted left and dove right, slashing with my very sharp dagger. The blade hacked down toward his forearm, making me squint in fear that I would hit him, until he easily shifted at the last second. The blade swept by toward the ground.
Stefan’s laughter echoed off the trees as he wrapped his big tattooed arms around my middle to keep me from landing on my head.
This was his special tutoring. Getting up before nightfall, sneaking out to the wooded area behind his mansion, hanging out in a bunch of trees, and laughing at me as he tried to teach me to use my dagger. I failed to see the humor.
“That was good,” Stefan commended. “I like the feint. Believable.”
I sighed with the feel of him. His strength. His power. The man was made well. Very well.
“Hmmm, chocolate chip cookies. I would love to eat you right now.” His lips trailed up my neck as tingles worked between my thighs. I melted into his arms as he sucked the hot skin on my neck. “But we need to get you using that dagger, so I’ll wait.”
“We have plenty of time for training,” I breathed.
Ignoring my roaming hands, he propped me up, held me away from him for a moment so my Gumby legs could straighten out, then stepped away with a mouth-watering smile.
I tried to force my frazzled brain back to the situation. “Except, I missed with that feint. Which, don’t get me wrong, is a good thing, since if I’d hit you you’d be missing an arm, but still. I can’t be that good. My comic timing, however, seems to be perfect…”
“Sorry, lovely, I can’t help it. Your face goes through all these expressions. Determination first, pa-zazz with the feint, fear when you think you’ll get me, and finally relief right before you land on your face. It’s comical. You have no poker face.”
“You’ve known how to play poker for, literally, forty-eight hours. How would you know about poker face? And what is a pa-zazz face?”
Stefan laughed again. “I’ve been beating you at poker for, literally, the last twenty-four hours,” he mocked. “I like that we upped the stakes. The sexual benefits make it much more fun.”
Being without much money of my own my whole life, I’d always played poker with friends for tokens. Stefan didn’t really get the point of the card game using peanuts, though, so I switched it to strip poker. That got his attention. Then he got the idea to bet sexual favors.
He got really good shortly thereafter. I found myself in some pretty kinky poses with other…paraphernalia that turned out to be quite a lot of fun—for special occasions.
“Beginnerʼs luck,” I commented sourly. “And that was only one game.”
“Several hands in one game, yes. With lots of breaks for touching. I’m one-for-two. After the end of tonight, I’ll be two-for-three. And pleasured often.”
 “Okay, Texas Hold ‘Em, focus for one second. Why can’t I make you bleed?” I got back in my ready stance: hands out, knees slightly bent, balls of my feet.
 “I’m the best.”
“And modest to boot.”
He shrugged, waiting patiently for me to try and kill him.
I lunged without warning, jabbing for his heart. He stepped right lazily, flicking my dagger away with his sword, the tattoos on his arms glowing gently.
“You aren’t connecting with your magic. That’s the problem.” He focused on my red blade. “You need to use all your power, not just your safety zone.”
“I don’t want to blow you up, Stefan,” I answered seriously, jogging to a stop three paces beyond him. “Red at least is manageable if something goes wrong. If I use black, who knows, you know?”
His smile dwindled. His black eyes regarded me softly. “We have help coming. They’ll know how to train you. They’ll know what to do.”
What he was too kind to say was, “They’ll know why your magic doesn’t work like everyone else’s.” His hope, and mine, was that they could explain why I was different.
All I wanted was to fit in. But Fate continually wanted me the butt of every joke. We were at war, Fate and me. And guess what, Fate was winning. And an asshole.
 “Okay, more power, coming up.” I breathed deeply, opening to the world around me.
Instantly a gush of power flooded my body, raging and flowing, pushing in to fill up every inch. I sent Stefan a panicked look.
Immediately he was there, through the link between us, using his special ability to smooth it all out. Temper it. Balance it.
Elation tingled as the magic swirled and pooled, stretching my skin, making me high. When he was within me, balancing it all out, God I felt good. Masterful. Freaking fantastic!
“Hee yaw, waaka waaka.” I bounced like a boxer and shook out my limbs. “Feeling good. Feeling really good.”
Stefan nodded slowly, his beautiful onyx eyes twinkling. “It gives the feeling of ecstasy if it's balanced right. The blood link—the tie to me—boosts it tenfold, though. It never felt as good to hold max capacity before we developed the blood link.”
His love for me, pulsing through the link, warmed my insides. I smiled like a fool before reality came crashing down. “It seems like it’s getting worse, though. I give a soft tug on the elements and I get a flood, whereas before, I had to actively pull before the avalanche came down.”
All remnants of a smile vanished. “Starting after puberty, we get stronger the more we work with the elements. It’s a steady climb until we reach maximum potential, which happens in everyone at different times. Maybe it’s similar with you.”
“The more I work with the elements, the more open I am to receive them?” I frowned at him. It kind of made sense. “Except I’m already at full power.”
“You’ve had a rough control over your magic for years without knowing it. You’ve had more than enough time to reach max potential, but maybe now, being more open with the elements, it’ll come easier.”
“But why is it such a struggle to contain it all?” I asked sullenly, punctuating the question by stabbing the air.
Stefan minutely shook his head as he studied my mood. “But you do have a lot of power, and with me to balance it out within you, you are learning control. With some better instruction, and your intuition, you’ll be dynamite.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Dyn-o-mite.”
I got a quirked head in response.
“Never mind. There’s no use in us trying to figure this out. Let’s just hope the guy that’s coming has a clue.”
Stefan dropped his sword and stepped forward so fast I got a nervous flutter he was attacking me. Only, I was still too slow to jab him. He flicked away my dagger and laid a palm on my cheek. “He will. We’ll figure this out, you and me. You aren’t in this alone. I’ve pledged my life to you—I’m in this with you, whatever it turns out to be.”
My eyes misted over with the sentiment. His soft lips brushed mine, the kiss slow and ardent. Expressing his love. Speeding up my heart.
I slid my hand down his defined chest and let it rest on his bumpy abs. “I can’t figure out control over my magic, but I can figure out how to poke things, so I guess I’ll get good at that until these mysterious helpers roll through.”
He gave me one last soft kiss before backing up. His lips curled into a smile. “That’s my girl. Learn to kill monsters while you’re waiting for the next great thing.”
“The next big thing. Is here. That’s an ad. I swear, you and Charles are researching my quirks in the wrong ways. My crazy is not a human problem—it’s specific to me.”
“It’s a good place to start. And the next big thing has been here. Or didn’t you remember getting pounded by it when you woke up?”
I rolled my eyes. “No need to get crude—you’re a man, I hear you roar. Now, prepare to die.”
I lunged at him, magic racing through my limbs, buzzing through my midsection. He rolled away from my blade, barely missed. His glowing sword came up as my dagger sped toward his midsection, blocking at the last moment. On the move again.
“As—ˮ He feinted, making me pivot at the last second, falling behind.
“You—ˮ His sword rushed toward me, causing me to take two fast steps left and smash my dagger against his steel. He was already moving again.
“Wish!” The very tip of his blade flicked at my ribcage, opening a little tear in my shirt.
I flinched back, panting. Hands on knees, I caught my breath while huffing out a laugh. “Charles had you watch some of the romantic comedies, huh?”
“A few.”
“Had a good laugh at the men in them, I’d bet.”
“Soft men paired with soft women. That fits.”
I straightened up, confronted by his lighthearted smile. “And I am…?”
“Irresistible. Beautiful. Mine.”
Warm fuzzies permeated my chest. Until he finished with, “Also from a race with terrible romance movies.”
His laughter echoed once again. I figured it was a great time to try and jab him unexpectedly.

Cover Reveal!! Paradox by Kelly Carrero

COVER REVEAL       BOOK & AUTHOR INFO: Paradox by Kelly Carrero
(Unearthly Paradox #1)
Publication date: April 2014
Genres: Romance, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult  Never in a million years would I ever fall for the son of a drug lord. Or so I thought until I moved two doors down from Jett.
Zara thought her life was over when she had to move just days before graduation. The situation went from bad to horrible, when she discovers just how cruel the kids at her new school can be.

When Zara is set up by some bullies and almost raped, she somehow gets free, but she’s haunted by the eyes of the one she believes rescued her.

Later, bad boy Jett is only too willing to step in and help. In fact, Zara can’t seem to get rid of him or his family, who all seem to have a strange obsession with her.

Will letting down her guard be one of the biggest mistakes of her life, or is Zara destined to become a part of his life, an existence that no human could ever understand?      AUTHOR LINKS  
   Website  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads          

Cover Reveal!! The Wild Hunt by Ron C. Nieto

COVER REVEAL      BOOK & AUTHOR INFO: The Wild Hunt by Ron C. Nieto
(Faerie Sworn #1)
Publication date: June 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult   Magic still lingers in the mist-covered corners of the world, wherever the Old Ways are remembered. However, as civilization and reason scoff at the Fair Folk, the paths to power have been forgotten by all but a few.

Lily Boyd was meant to become a faerie doctor, a warden of humans and a keeper of balance, until disbelief and pragmatism led her away from the hidden world and into a mundane life. But truth has a way to be Heard and she will be forced to face it if she wants to save her family.

Armed with nothing but her childhood memories and protected by a debt of gratitude she doesn’t understand, Lily must decide who to trust while she navigates a world that is darker and more twisted than she is prepared for.

And should she make the wrong choice, should she mistake friend and foe… the eternal balance between the Faerie Courts may shatter, and then there will be more than Lily’s life on the line.      AUTHOR BIO 

Ron C. Nieto is a fantasy and romance author who has been writing in her secluded fortress for the longest time. Recently, she had a talk with her cat and decided that she should share her creations, because it was selfish to hoard them all for herself.







If you would like to know more about her, please visit her website.

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Review - Dead Locked, by Amy Saunders

  Deal Locked by Amy Saunders Genre: MysteryReviewer: Sally Sparrow  Amazon  |  iTunes  |  Goodreads   Imogen Bell dishes publicity for a team of explorers, and she just can't resist a good pirate tale.

So when her boss is murdered, Imogen dares to defy her anti-lore boyfriend and joins forces with his nemesis in a hunt to find treasure worth killing for.

If she doesn't want to end up in Davy Jones' Locker, Imogen must trust the clues of a dead man and crack open a centuries-old mystery before her opponent does it first.

Also by Amy Saunders: The Jester's Apprentice

Read more about the author and upcoming releases at www.amysnovels.com   This is the second Amy Saunders book I have read, and I didn’t realize until I finished it that this one was the first book she wrote. It is very good as a first effort, although saying that sounds very patronizing. Especially when coming from someone who doesn’t write. Deadlocked starts with a murder, and then jumps back and forth in time, in reference to the murder. Back two weeks, forward one week, back two days, forward two weeks, etc. Instead of sending us down a clear path to the Whodunit, the author is spinning the tale like one winds a ball of yarn. It is an admirable effort but she does not yet have the writing skills to pull it off. The chapters are headed with the calendar date and the time reference to the murder, but short of the reader plotting the events on a piece of paper to keep them in chronological order it is tough to keep the relationships between incidents straight. The build-up to the reveal is lost in the mess.  It reads like the story was written in a straight path, and then the author chopped it up to make the book more interesting. We see people in one setting at the beginning of the book, then actually meet them two weeks earlier, in the middle of the book. Chopping up the book is one thing, but the author didn’t bridge the gaps created by the chopping to keep the reader in the loop. Rather than being drawn into the drama and energy of the characters’ lives I felt like an outsider.  The protagonist - Imogen - is a member of a marine archaeology team that works on recovering artifacts from sunken ships. There are four other members of the team, but their jobs and relationships to each other are only vaguely described, as are their physical looks. I visualize stories as I read them and this book was very difficult to visualize. Odd details are shared - we know Imogen likes the color pink - yet other, more relevant information is withheld. It seems like Imogen is in a relationship with one of the other team members, but as there is practically no physical contact between the two it is hard to tell.  The murder mystery concept is good, although if the reader is paying attention you can figure it out quite early in the book. The characters are likable and relatable, and I can’t help feeling that their story would’ve been better told in a straight path. It is unfortunate, because if the author had chosen the traditional beginning to end way of storytelling this could have been a great book.  I would recommend this author, but perhaps not this particular book.3 stars    

Cover Reveal!! At Any Turn by Brenna Aubrey

COVER REVEAL     At Any Turn by Brenna Aubrey
(Gaming the System #2)
Publication date: April 15th 2014Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance   So you want to be a hero?

Millionaire CEO Adam Drake overcame a tortured past to take control of his life and build his own gaming empire. The final piece falls into place with his newfound love for brilliant geek girl blogger, Mia Strong. Now Adam is at the top of his game.
Your Princess Is in Another Castle.

Until Mia suddenly breaks things off, leaving Adam in the dark. He senses she needs his help but that she's too stubborn or scared to ask. The more he tries to take control, the further she shies away. This is one problem he can’t solve by writing a check or a few clever lines of code.

He will have to dig deep and put himself at risk…or else risk losing her forever.

This New Adult contemporary romance is intended for readers over the age of 18 due to adult language, sexual content and adult situations.     AUTHOR BIO  Brenna Aubrey is an author of New Adult contemporary romance stories that center on geek culture. Her debut novel, At Any Price, released December, 2013.

She has always sought comfort in good books and the long, involved stories she weaves in her head. Brenna is a city girl with a nature-lover’s heart. She therefore finds herself out in green open spaces any chance she can get. A mommy to two little kids and teacher to many more older kids, she juggles schedules to find time to pursue her love of storycrafting.

She currently resides on the west coast with her husband, two children, two adorable golden retriever pups, two birds and some fish.

Brenna’s short story “The Love Letter” was the Grand Prize winner of the Jane Austen Made Me Do It Short Story Contest. As such, it was included in the anthology of the same name (Ballantine, 2011) Website |  Facebook  |  Twitter |  Pinterest  |  Newsletter     

Darkness, #3- coming April 22nd

Yes, everyone, there will be a third!

   Number 3 in the Darkness series is due out April 22nd. Here is the premise: If Sasha thought life would slow down after being captured, she was dead wrong.

Having an extremely high level of magic, but not knowing how to use it, has become more than a little problematic. Struggling to get her power under control has everyone on their toes, waiting for something to blow up. And then there is the issue of loving Stefan, but not being able to mate him because she hadn't a clue how to lead, which is necessary if she wants to rule by his side.

No, things have not gotten any easier.

With the incoming visit of the Regional and his white mage, the pressure turns way up for both Sasha and Stefan. So many issues are riding on the balance, and one word from the authoritative pair could have Sasha back in her old life, still in danger, and without the resources to carry on.

Sasha has to learn to battle while walking on a razor's edge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Stay tuned. I'll post a teaser March 31st! 

Kindle Fire HDX GIVEAWAY!!

As we thunder toward the release of On a Razor's Edge, the third in the Darkness Series, there will be a giveaway and buzz blog tour.

ATOMR Promotions is hosting the giveaway and you are all invited to participate!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway