Vanessa Barneveld's Blog, page 13
February 23, 2015
Willy Wonky Bounty Bars
Two of my lovely workmates are celebrating birthdays tomorrow. Seeing as my chocolate bark Christmas present was such a smashing success, I thought I’d make them another��gift from the heart. I found��Not Enough Cinnamon’s easy recipe��for homemade Bounty Bars, those little pods of coconut draped in chocolate. Yum! Three ingredients, an hour of prep time ��� what could go wrong?
Well, here at the Barneveld Chocolate Factory, something went terribly wrong, as usual. The bars��taste great. Very sweet. I deviated slightly from the recipe and used light condensed milk plus a blend of 70% Lindt and creamy milk Lindt chocolate. As for the aesthetics… Yikes. To my eye, they resemble something rather unsavoury.
What do you think?��Too wonky? Have you ever made a gift that didn’t quite turn out as it should have?
February 21, 2015
Author Advice from Annie West
In the acknowledgements of my book, you’ll find a thank-you to author Annie West, a long-time friend, chocolate supplier, and critique partner who’s had a huge effect on my development as a writer. Her advice is invaluable, and here she is at the London Harlequin office giving tips on writing for the Presents line:
“Give [your characters] a hard time, give them big problems to deal with. Get readers engaged so they love your characters too. If you���re not invested in those characters and what���s happening to them, the story is not going to go anywhere.” Annie West
Read more priceless writing advice on Annie’s website����� her��Time to Write��article is one of my favourites! Annie’s latest Presents book,��The Sultan’s Harem Bride, got an��RT 4 1/2-star��rating. An excerpt and buy links are all here.
Now, does anyone have some friendly advice on how to get pets away from keyboards? I’m trying to train mine to at least be productive while they’re on my laptop.
February 18, 2015
Hear Ye, Hear Ye!
So excited to announce that my YA ghost book,��This Is Your Afterlife,��is now available as an audiobook, thanks to Audible and Bloomsbury Publishing! (SHRIEKS LOUDLY)
The narrator, Stephanie Bentley, has done a great job in really bringing Afterlife to…er, life. ��(Thank you, Stephanie!!!) Listen��to��a sample of Stephanie’s work on my book and purchase it if you like on Audible.com.
Fun fact #1: Audible’s production of Janis Ian’s autobiography, SOCIETY’S CHILD,��received a Grammy Award in 2013.
Fun fact #2: I was in Grade 1 when Janis Ian’s Fly Too High was released, but I remember it clearly. The song was everywhere.
February 15, 2015
V-Day Giveaway Winner!
Thanks so much to all who entered my Valentine’s Giveaway��Rafflecopter��prize draw! The winner of a Kindle copy of This Is Your Afterlife plus a $10 Amazon e-card is Zoe M!
And the YA/NA Heartbreakers Tour is over. That was soooo much fun! Huge applause goes to Judith Tewes for organising it and to the bloggers who hosted 14 authors. Thanks to the readers who followed us on the tour. Linda R won a Kindle and a $20 Amazon card ��� congrats!
I’ve still got Dirty Dancing on my mind, so here are a few more gifs for your viewing pleasure (and mine!).
February 13, 2015
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I’m celebrating the day with the 4,786th viewing one of my favourite romantic films ever:��Dirty Dancing. My husband used a Johnny Castle line on me when we were dating, and I subconsciously chose��a wedding dress that looks a lot��like��Baby’s��pink dress in the final scene. (Nope, not tragic at all…)
When DD��came out in 1987, it wasn’t expected to be a hit. The distributors had��apparently planned to release the film to theatres for just one weekend before flinging it straight to video. Fast-forward almost��thirty��years, and DD is a true classic. Funny, warm, full of great dancing, music, Patrick Swayze, and watermelons ��� what’s not to love?
There’s still time to enter two Valentine’s Day promotions that I’m participating in!
A Valentine’s Giveaway
Fall in love with romantic reads by me and my fellow Writers House literary agency authors. For details on how to win print books, e-books, audiobooks, Amazon gift cards from��Jessica Leake,��Margo Kelly,��Amber Hart,��Eliza Gordon,��Lauren Sabel,��Sharon Fisher��and me,��mambo��over to my main website.
The YA/NA Heartbreakers Blog Tour 2015
Our 
tour manager, Judith Tewes, has done a brilliant job in bringing 14 YA/NA authors together with bloggers for the Heartbreakers Blog Tour. By joining us and entering the Rafflecopter giveaway, you could win a Kindle plus a $20 Amazon card. Chelle at the Tales of Yesterday blog hosted me on Friday the 13th. On Valentine’s Day, US time, I’ll be featured on these great blogs:��Little Library Muse, Reading Is My Treasure��and YA Yeah! Yeah!
February 11, 2015
Valentine’s Bonanza
Are you looking for some swoon-worthy��reads this Valentine’s Day? This week my fellow romance authors from Writers House literary agency are banding together for a Valentine’s Giveaway. Visit each of our websites, enter the Rafflecopter giveaways, and you could��win our latest print, e-book and audio book releases as well as Amazon gift cards.
Eliza Gordon,��whose book��Must Love Otters��was an immediate buy for myself and for Historical author Anna Campbell because we do love otters.
Vanessa Barneveld��– that’s me! Click on the graphic below to reach my main site and enter the giveaway.
For those of us who love otters, here’s a mini-tribute to those otterly wonderful creatures:
As I menti
oned yesterday, I’m also on��the Heartbreakers Blog Tour, visiting a great bunch of YA/NA bloggers until Feb 14. Today, you’ll catch me and Denise Jaden hanging out with��Jennzah.dot.net, who asked us a couple of fun questions. Head over Jennzah‘s��blog now and enter our Rafflecopter giveaway at the end of her post.��If you’d like to know more about the Heartbreakers tour, check out yesterday’s post.
February 9, 2015
Heartbreakers Blog Tour – All Aboard!
The 2015 Heartbreakers Blog Tour is on��now. Jump aboard and��you could win a Kindle and a $20 Amazon card!��I’m taking my motion sickness medication and hoping on��the virtual tour bus with 13 Young Adult and New Adult authors.
Each day between now and Valentine’s Day, two authors will get off the bus and visit��our lovely blogger hosts.��My tour buddy, Denise Jaden, and I��have hot dates at these locations:
A Glass of Wine��– February 9
The Reader Bee��– February 10
Jennzah.dot.net��– February 11
Words of Mystery��– February 12
Tales of Yesterday��– February 13
Little Library Muse��– February 14
Reading is My Treasure��&��YA Yeah! Yeah!��– February 14
Participating Authors
Eileen Cook: Remember��(Simon Pulse, 2015)
D.G. Driver:��Passing Notes��(Fire and Ice, 2015)
Laurie J. Edwards: writing as Erin Johnson.��Grace and the Guiltless:��Wanted Series��(Curious Fox, 2014)
Janet Gurtler: The Truth About Us��(Sourcebooks Fire, 2015)
Sara Hantz: Will The Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up��(Entangled Teen, 2014)
Brenda Hiatt:��Starfall��(Dolphin Star Press, 2015)
Denise Jaden:��Foreign Exchange��(Evernight Teen, 2014)
Jen McConnel:��Her Secret Inheritance��(Bloomsbury Spark, 2014)
Judith Tewes:��My Soon to be Sex Life��(Bloomsbury Spark, 2014)
Ashley Poston:��The Sound of Us��(Bloomsbury Spark, 2014)
Dawn Ius:��Anne and Henry��(Simon Pulse, 2015)
Shari Green:��Following Chelsea��(Evernight Teen, 2014)
Vanessa Barneveld:��This is Your Afterlife��(Bloomsbury Spark, 2014)
LS Murphy:��Reaper��(J Taylor Publishing, 2013), Pixelated (Bloomsbury Spark, 2015)
Now, how do you get a chance to win a Kindle and a $20 Amazon gift card and potentially mend a broken heart?��Visit us at our blog tour stops and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway!��Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway ">
Enter our Rafflecopter giveaway!
February 8, 2015
Cover Reveal – Amy Patrick’s Hidden Deep
It’s been a fantastic twelve months��for my talented writer friend, Amy Patrick. She was nominated for her second Golden Heart Award, and soon afterward released four New Adult books in her��“swexy”��CHANNEL 20 SOMETHING series. Now she’s on the verge of releasing a YA fantasy/paranormal series, starting with HIDDEN DEEP. Today, I’m pleased to help unveil the cover of Book 1 in the Hidden Trilogy.
Drum roll, please!
Ta-da! Here it is:
I love that golden sparkle smack bang in in the middle. It hints at some treasure beneath the cover. I wonder what’s hidden under there, hmm?
Hidden Deep
Give in to the Glamour���
Sixteen-year-old Ryann Carroll has just run into the guy who saved her life ten years ago. You might think she’d be happy to see him again. Not exactly. She’s a bit underdressed (as in skinny-dipping) and he’s not supposed to exist.
After her father’s affair, all Ryann wants is to escape the family implosion fallout and find a little peace. She also wouldn’t mind a first date that didn’t suck, but she’s determined not to end up like her mom: vulnerable, betrayed, destroyed. Ryann’s recently moved back to her childhood home in rural Mississippi, the same place where ten years earlier she became lost in the woods overnight and nearly died.
She’s still irresistibly drawn to those woods. There she encounters the boy who kept her from freezing to death that long ago winter night and was nowhere to be seen when rescuers arrived. He’s still mysterious, but now all grown-up and gorgeous, too. And the more she’s with him, the greater the threat he poses to Ryann’s strict policy– never want someone more than he wants you.
Seventeen-year-old Lad knows the law of his people all too well: Don’t get careless and Don’t get caught. It’s allowed his race to live undetected in this world for thousands of years, mentioned only in flawed and fading folklore���
Lad’s never been able to forget about Ryann since that night ten years ago. When he sees her again, his fascination re-ignites and becomes a growing desire that tempts him to break all the rules. He’s not even supposed to talk to a human, much less fall in love with one.
And the timing is atrocious. The Assemblage is coming, the rift between the Light and Dark is widening, and mysterious celebrity fan pods are becoming more and more widespread and influential. Lad may have to trade his own chance at happiness to keep the humans, especially Ryann, blissfully unaware and safe.
Add Hidden Deep to your Goodreads��shelf now.�� Book 1 is due for release on March 23.
About��Amy Patrick
Amy Patrick is a two-time Golden Heart finalist��(2013 and 2014) who writes Contemporary Romance and Young Adult fantasy/paranormal. Her books have won and finaled in many RWA chapter contests, and she is the author of the 20 SOMETHING series. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two sons and actually craves the heat and humidity of Mississippi, where she grew up. She’s been a professional singer and news anchor and currently narrates audio books as well as working as a station host for��a Boston TV station.
Website ���Twitter ��� Facebook ��� Goodreads
January 27, 2015
They’re Herrrrrre!
A guy who lives around the corner from my office hasn’t taken down his yellowing Christmas tree yet. It’s still��January. Valentine’s Day is weeks away. And yet my favourite Easter treat,��Lindt Gold Bunnies, have started multiplying at my local grocery store.
Not that I’m complaining.
I could eat these bunnies all year round. I’ll just try not to gobble too many, too soon, otherwise they might not seem so special by the time Easter eventually rolls around. (That’s the first week of March this year, in case you were wondering.) On the other hand, seeing as they’re fresh from the bunny factory, it couldn’t hurt to have one or two or three now…
I’m pleased to announce I’ll be signing at the inaugural Naughty Sinners Book Bash on May 9th at��Sunshine Coast, Australia. This event promises to bring naughty (and nice!) authors, bloggers and readers together for one day only. Click right here or on the banner below to nab your tickets to the all-day signing and a VIP par-tay.
January 18, 2015
Book Blitz! Bridges Burned by Chris Cannon
Chris Cannon is a fellow member of YARWA (a chapter for YA writers) and today she’s celebrating��a birthday ��� a book birthday, that is!��See below for giveaway details, but first here’s a bit about Bridges Burned, book two in Chris’s Going Down in Flames series, from��Entangled Teen.
Summary from Goodreads:
Don’t just fight the system���burn it.
Since discovering she is a shape-shifting, fire-breathing dragon on her sixteenth birthday (surprise!), Bryn McKenna���s world has been thrown into chaos. Being a ���crossbreed������part Red dragon and part Blue���means Bryn will never fit in. Not with dragon society. Not with the archaic and controlling Directorate. And definitely not when she has striped hair and a not-so-popular affection for rule-breaking���
But sneaking around with her secret boyfriend, Zavien, gets a whole lot harder when he���s betrothed to someone else. Someone who��isn’t��a mixed breed and totally forbidden. And for an added complication, it turns out Bryn���s former archnemesis Jaxon Westgate isn���t��quite��the evil asshat she thought. Now she���s caught between her desire to fit in and a need to set things on fire. Literally.
Because if Bryn can���t adapt to the status quo���well, then maybe it���s time for her to��change��it.
Excerpt
Jaxon���s eyes went to the display of baby clothes in the window. His brow furrowed and then his face colored. ���Dear God, Bryn, how could you be so stupid?���
���What?��� The moron thought she was pregnant? Bryn couldn���t wait to see Jaxon���s expression when he realized the truth. She put her hand on his chest and pushed him back a step. ���While I appreciate your concern for my well-being, I���m not the one shopping for baby clothes.���
She bit her lip to keep from laughing as confusion wrinkled his brow. Then his gaze darted to his mother, and his face paled.���Mother?���
���Are you going to call her stupid?��� Bryn asked.
���Of course not,��� Jaxon snapped. He squared his shoulders. ���Congratulations, Mother. I presume this is a happy occurrence?���
���Yes.��� Lillith reached for his hand. ���How would you feel about a baby brother?���
He looked at his shoes while he spoke. ���I suppose it���s too late to suggest you adopt another kitten, instead?��� His tone was dry, but there was truth in his words.
Lillith laughed. ���Too late, but don���t worry. You���ll always be the firstborn male and your father���s heir.���
���Until the baby plots to overthrow you,��� Bryn muttered.
Want to read more?��Buy the book from these e-tailers:
Amazon���Barnes & Noble���Kobo Books
In case you missed book one, in Chris’s��Going Down in Flames��series (Entangled Teen, June 2014), here’s��a rundown��from the Goodreads site:
If her love life is going down in flames, she might as well spark a revolution.
Finding out on your sixteenth birthday you���re a shape-shifting dragon is tough to swallow. Being hauled off to an elite boarding school is enough to choke on.
Since Bryn is the only crossbreed at the Institute for Excellence, all eyes are on her, but it���s a particular black dragon, Zavien, who catches her attention.
Zavien is tired of the Council���s rules. Segregated clans, being told who to love, and close-minded leaders make freedom of choice almost impossible. The new girl with the striped hair is a breath of fresh air, and with Bryn���s help, they may be able to change the rules.
At the Institute, old grudges, new crushes, and death threats are all part of a normal day for Bryn. She���ll need to learn to control her dragon powers if she wants to make it through her first year at school. But even focusing on staying alive is difficult when you���re falling for someone you can’t have.
Buy Links:
Amazon���Barnes & Noble���Kobo Books
��About Chris Cannon
I love reading��and writing snarky, kick-butt characters who take on the world and win.
My truths: You can never have too many books, shoes, or purses.
Coffee is the Elixir of Life.
There should be a National Nerf Bat Day where you are allowed to whack annoying people upside the head.
Giveaway for US readers!
To celebrate the release of her book, Chris and YA Bound Book Tours are running a Rafflecopter giveaway. Click here for your chance to win a signed copy of Going Down in Flames, a Going Down in Flames T-shirt, and Bridges Burned magnets and postcards. This giveaway is for US entrants only.
Book Blitz organized by YA Bound Book Tours
Rafflecopter giveaway – click the pic to enter.
