Zara Hoffman's Blog: Zara Hoffman's Goodreads Author Blog, page 34

Happy Singles Awareness Day 2015

Happy Valentine's Day to all the happy people in relationships! I salute you and congratulate you on your good fortune. And happy Singles Awareness Day to all the singletons (happy or not) who make up the rest of the world's population. I stand with your ranks today.

Now, unlike most single people, I feel no real animosity towards this over-priced and hyped up holiday. But while I'm apathetic, I believe that people in relationships should be celebrated every day of the year. You don't get to ignore your partner for the other 364 days of the year with the justification that you'll pamper them on February 14. Sorry, it doesn't work that way.

To make this more positive, I'm going to list some of my favorite Romance Novels of all time (in no particular order):
Fire of Stars and Dragons by Melissa A. Petreshock (¢99 sale) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Sweet series by Wendy Higgins ( Sweet Evil , Sweet Peril , Sweet Reckoning , and soon Sweet Temptation ) Losing It series by Cora Carmack ( Losing It , Faking It , Finding It ) The Remnant Chronicles series by Mary E. Pearson ( The Kiss of Deception , The Heart of Betrayal , and more)

There are so many more romances I love, but I'm going to leave it here so I don't completely overwhelm you. With that, I wish you happy reading!

Also, check out my friend Jenna Moreci's "Top 10 Peeves about Fictional Romances" (*Warning: harsh language). You can follow her on twitter, like her facebook page, subscribe to her Youtube channel, and read the first 3 chapters of her debut novel Eve: The Awakening .

Cover Reveal: Sweet Temptation

About the Book Bad boy Kaidan Rowe has never wanted for anything—money, popularity, musical talent…hot girls—but seducing them is part of his duty as a Nephilim, slave to the demon Dukes. As the son of the Duke of Lust, Kaidan has learned his father’s ways, becoming a master of passion, a manipulator of chemistry. Disobeying his father would mean certain death. Thankfully for Kaidan, he’s good at his job. And he enjoys it. 

Until he meets Anna Whitt—sweet, smart, feisty, and inexplicably good—the one girl seemingly immune to his charms. The daughter of a guardian angel and a fallen one, she has a certain power over him, one that makes him wish for more than he could ever deserve. 

Determined to save all the Neph from their dark lives as the influencers of sin, Anna joins forces with Kaidan to overcome the demons’ oppressive ways. In the light of her affections, Kaidan must undergo his toughest test of all, a battle of the heart.

Sensual and swoon worthy, this companion volume to the acclaimed Sweet Evil series from New York Times bestselling author Wendy Higgins, told from the perspective of the irresistibly sexy and mysterious Kaidan Rowe, gives readers revealing insights into his struggle, his intense connection to Anna, and most of all, the true emotions that drive him. Start from the Beginning

I don't think it was done on purpose, but the colors of Anna's dresses always seem to convey the emotions of Kaidan in that story. Red=Lust, Black=Wrath, Pink=Love, Purple=Pride ~ Wendy's Cover Reveal Post

And don't forget to follow the Neph bad boy of Lust on twitter! Follow @KaidanRowe About the Author After earning a bachelor's in Creative Writing from George Mason University and a master's in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford, Wendy taught high school English until becoming a mommy. Writing Young Adult (YA) stories gives her the opportunity to delve into the ambiguities of those pivotal, daunting, and exciting years before adulthood.

She lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with her husband, daughter, and son.

Follow her online:
Website | Facebook | Twitter |Goodreads | Instagram | Tsu

Also check out her other books:  See Me and Flirting With Maybe Giveaway You could win one of these signed bookmarks. Enter below! The cover banner was made by Jennifer Munswami of JM Rising Horse Creations (who did the Caleb and Fawn fan art,  the cover of The Matchmakers , and The Belgrave Legacy tarot artwork. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Important Update 2015

I will not  be releasing Tears of an Angel and Prophecy as two separate books in The Belgrave Legacy, but will be rereleasing them with The Belgrave Daughter in a single book later this year (date TBA).

As to my other works, all WIPs besides The Matchmakers are indefinitely on hold until the first draft is finished.

Thank you for understanding.

Cover Reveal: All Played Out

Title: All Played Out
Series: Rusk University, #3
Author: Cora Carmack
Release Date: May 12, 2015

First person in her family to go to college? CHECK.
Straight A’s? CHECK.
On track to graduate early? CHECK.
Social life? …..yeah, about that….

With just a few weeks until she graduates, Antonella DeLuca’s beginning to worry that maybe she hasn’t had the full college experience. (Okay... Scratch that. She knows she hasn't had the full college experience). 

So Nell does what a smart, dedicated girl like herself does best. She makes a "to do" list of normal college activities.

Item #1? Hook up with a jock.

Rusk University wide receiver Mateo Torres practically wrote the playbook for normal college living. When he’s not on the field, he excels at partying, girls, and more partying. As long as he keeps things light and easy, it's impossible to get hurt... again. But something about the quiet, shy, sexy-as-hell Nell gets under his skin, and when he learns about her list, he makes it his mission to help her complete it.

Torres is the definition of confident (And sexy. And wild), and he opens up a side of Nell that she's never known. But as they begin to check off each crazy, exciting, normal item, Nell finds that her frivolous list leads to something more serious than she bargained for. And while Torres is used to taking risks on the field, he has to decide if he's willing to take the chance when it's more than just a game. 

Together they will have to decide if what they have is just part of the experiment or a chance at something real. Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She's done a multitude of things in her life-- boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

Website  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads
Title: All Lined Up
Series: Rusk University, #1
Author: Cora Carmack

In Texas, two things are cherished above all else—football and gossip. My life has always been ruled by both. 

Dallas Cole loathes football. That's what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers, and put the playing field (and the players) in her past.

But life doesn't always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football star ex wasn’t bad enough, her father, a Texas high school coaching phenom, has decided to make the jump to college ball… as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.

Carson McClain is determined to go from second-string quarterback to the starting line-up. He needs the scholarship and the future that football provides. But when a beautiful redhead literally falls into his life, his focus is more than tested. It's obliterated.

Dallas doesn't know Carson is on the team. Carson doesn't know that Dallas is his new coach's daughter.

And neither of them know how to walk away from the attraction they feel.
Title: All Broke Down
Series: Rusk University, #2
Author: Cora Carmack

New Year, New Projects

click for more entries _So, I've been working with Jennifer Munswami of JM Rising Horse Creations a lot in the past few days. She did fanart of Caleb (see the post below) and now she's done another amazing thing. She's given me the most perfect book cover for my upcoming dystopian romance novel that took over my brain by storm unexpectedly this past Thanksgiving. I'm talking about  The Matchmakers .

I just started writing it, but if you're interested in being a Beta Reader, you can sign up now.

Want to know more before you make the commitment? Read the description below.

Also, I just posted my publishing schedule for the next 6 years (subject to change). You can check it out here. When the Matchmakers arrange your Love, your life changes forever.

You meet when you're eighteen, and must marry by the time one of you is 23.

No one really knows the details of the Relationship, but everyone is living happily with their Love, or eagerly waiting for their own.

Except my older sister, who's convinced that we're being deprived of some essential freedom in the process.

Me? I'm undecided.

I turn eighteen this year, so I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Coming September 10, 2015
©2015 Zara Hoffman Follow Jennifer online

Fanart and The Belgrave Legacy

click to read more entries 2015 has barely begun and something amazing has already happened: Jennifer Munswami of JM Rising Horse Creations has fangirled over Caleb from The Belgrave Legacy, created fanart for him, and added him to her upcoming Book Boyfriend Metal Card Pack. If that's not awesome, I don't know what is.

In addition to this thrilling development, editing for Book 2, Tears of an Angel , has officially begun. Before, it was all me fixing my perceived weaknesses without outside input. Now my editor has started and the beginning of the 2nd installment is already being transformed. I loved it so much that I decided to get a cover from her too. Show her some support by liking her page and/or following her on twitter/tsu:

Glowing Responses to GLOWING EMBERS

click for more entries 2015 has just started. Okay, that was yesterday, but close enough. The point is, barely 24 hours after making a vow to focus on my writing this year, I had a burst of inspiration to continue writing the first book in the Fearful Fairytales series, Glowing Embers.

My new team of beta readers have been REALLY into this story, and that just warms my somewhat insecure author heart. Basically, it's the best thing an author can have—besides actual good reviews and sales. Below are some of the comments by my zealous alphas. Obviously, I can't say what those are necessarily referring to, but if you read what I've posted on Wattpad, you may be able to figure it out. I'm actually taking a break from this to go back and fix the 2nd book in The Belgrave Legacy, Tears of an Angel, now that my editor has started working on it.

OneWord365 2015

Last year, I joined my friend in joining OneWord365, where you choose 1 word to epitomize your new year goals instead of a list of New Year's Resolutions. I liked it a lot because it was simple and convenient. My 2014 word was BRAVE. You can read why I chose that word.

This year, my word is WRITE because I will be doing a lot more of that this year. I'm taking a creative writing class for my English credit this semester, I will continue working on finishing and publishing the 2nd and 3rd books of The Belgrave Legacy  and writing the first few books in the Fearful Fairytales series. I'm currently writing Glowing Embers.

So, that's it! Are you joining the movement? If so, comment what word tribe you're in. click for last year's entries

My Year in Reading

I won't make this very long because I have to start getting ready for a party, but here's the short of it: At the beginning of the year, I had a goal of 80 books. I very quickly moved it to 100 and still surpassed it. I read a lot of good books this year and a lot of romances that had the same plot and were just fun to read when I was taking breaks from doing work. Next year, hopefully I'll read more substantive and just plain more books for my own pleasure. 2014 Reading Challenge Zara has completed her goal of reading 80 books in 2014! hide 83 of 80 (100%) view books

Fiction Imitates Fact

Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing Based on Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, The Imitation Game centers on the life of the British mathematician who created the Bombe, the giant machine that broke Germany's Enigma code (or “The Nazi Code”) in World War II. He is credited as the father of computer science. In the movie, the machine was called “Christopher” to be more sentimental and reminiscent of Turing’s first love. When it broke the code in real life, the name was changed to “Victory.” For those who don’t know what Enigma is, it was the supposedly unbreakable cipher used by the Nazis during World War II to encrypt all of their messages.

The name of the movie is derived from Alan Turing’s post-World War II work, mainly the Turing Test, which tried to answer the question of what makes the human mind uniquely human and how closely can artificial intelligence imitate it? The film focuses on three distinct time periods of the genius’ life: his secondary education at the Sherborne School (1928), his work in Hut 8 at Bletchley Park (1939-45), and when he was arrested for being a homosexual in 1952. Bletchley Park (or the code name “Ultra”) was the home to the British Government Code and Cipher School (GC&CS) where cryptographers worked on breaking the Japanese and German codes during World War II. Hut 8 was where the Nazi Code was finally broken by Turing and his team. The movie opens with a scene from the latest chronological time period, which was mostly vague with one piece of foreshadowing. It was an interesting decision, but one that seems to distance the audience from the main story before it has really begun. The film is well edited, almost seamlessly transferring between these epochs, though the mental transition was still sometimes a bit jarring.

Although Benedict Cumberbatch shares little physical resemblance to his character, he expertly portrays the complicated and fascinating man. Working from oral reports about Turing’s speech patterns, Cumberbatch created his own type of stutter that was both high in pitch like Turing’s, but not so much that it grated on the audience’s ears and patience. One can easily believe that the actor who plays Sherlock Holmes on BBC’s Sherlock is the brilliant, but sometimes unlikeable man responsible for ending World War II at least 2 years earlier than expected. As Sherlock, he indirectly referenced breaking the Enigma code in one episode (Season 2, Episode 1, “A Scandal in Belgravia”) when he mentions the controversial Coventry bombing.

The ensemble consists of strong actors including The Good Wife’s Matthew Goode, Gosford Park’s Charles Dance, and Mark Strong from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy among others. In the midst of all the testosterone on screen, Keira Knightley shines as her character, Joan Clarke, a brilliant woman working in a man’s world.
Enigma Machine displayed in the Discovery Spy: The Secret World of Espionage Exhibit in 2012 Though the movie was generally accurate, some things were changed for the sake of cinematic drama. Joan Clarke’s backstory and entrance to Bletchley were modified, but it was true that she and Turing were briefly engaged. Using shiny red wires for the Bombe was a historically inaccurate set design choice; back then, wires were covered in cloth. It has been revealed this was a conscious decision made based on the aesthetic impact rather than authenticity. The conversation with the police officer that is woven throughout the film was most likely a dramatized and condensed version of written accounts surrounding Turing’s arrest. An important aspect of Turing’s life that is not shown is his actual sentencing and his ultimate suicide (cyanide poisoning, which is tied to the first scene of the film). This occured after a year of taking hormones to chemically castrate himself as court-ordered punishment for being a homosexual. Turing chose this over a two-year imprisonment so he could continue working. The actors and film creators freely talked about Turing’s unfortunate end in many of their video and print interviews.

Like most biopics, The Imitation Game briefly touches on the aftermath of his life with typed summaries before the credits roll. Some of the most striking facts were that Victory saved 14,000,000 lives and that the Allies kept their success in breaking the Nazi Code a secret for 50 years. The film did not explain that the reason for the last fact was because the Russians also used this cipher for their communications during the Cold War.

Despite having made the “single biggest contribution to Allied victory in the war against Nazi Germany” according to Winston Churchill, Alan Turing was not officially pardoned for having been criminalized as a homosexual by the Royal Family until Christmas Eve 2013. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown remarked, “On behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work, I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better.”

The Imitation Game is a beautifully made film that shines light on an important piece of history that has remained unknown to most of the general public until now.