Vanessa Barneveld's Blog, page 8

Finally, a new blog post!

Thank you to everyone who entered my Goodreads November giveaway! Ten paperback copies of my novella, LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG, are now on their way to ten lucky winners across the U.S. Congrats, everyone!

Some lovely reviews of the novella have come in recently. It’s always amazing and humbling to hear that people are taking time out to read my work. Soren from Ripley’s Booklist said it had “A nice blend of humor and emotion, with a realistic teen voice.” And Sabina on Goodreads said she “cried a lot,” which, believe, me is a huge compliment! I cried when I wrote this story too because I adore my poor tortured characters. Check out more reviews on my website.

Soooo, December, huh? This year went by in a flash. One of the highlights of 2016 for me was going to the U.S. for the RWA conference in San Diego, where I saw my two critique partners win the highest honours in romance writing — Pintip Dunn nabbed the RITA for Best First Book and Kim MacCarron earned a Golden Heart Award for Best Inspirational Romance manuscript. Golden Heart winner and fellow Aussie Gabrielle Luthy and I trotted off to a cat cafe and got our feline fix. We giggled over buying American laundry “souvenirs” from a supermarket — a magical wrinkle eraser and a Tide spot-stain remover. #ohtheglamour.

Kim and Pintip – winnahs!
Gabrielle Luthy, Golden Heart winner and fellow cat enthusiast
Ghost-hunting with Kim in San Diego

My agent and I were treated to an impromptu dolphin show while we had lunch by the water. Apparently, dolphins are enlisted by the navy for mine detection among other things.

In Nashville, I saw my favourite band of all time, Duran Duran. (Actually, I almost missed them because my plane was delayed first by a janitorial issue and then storm activity.) Nile Rodgers and Chic were the support act. OMG – gobsmackingly good. DD and Nile performed a tribute to David Bowie, blending ‘Planet Earth’ with ‘Space Oddity’.

Spare a thought (or ‘Save a Prayer’) for DD, who’ve just lost a high court battle for the rights to their early works. Read about it here. Heartbreaking stuff. In the meantime, I urge you to listen to and download their later works, like the albums ‘All You Need Is Now’ (I made a tiny reference to it in my novella) and ‘Paper Gods’.

Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon in Nashville.
John Taylor

In more heartbreaking news, my 17-year-old cat, Possum, has been diagnosed with an inoperable tumour. We don’t know how much time we’ve got together, but we’re making the most of it. She’s pretty much glued to my lap, “helping” me write as always!

Brave little Possum (who is actually a cat, I assure you!)

How about you? Was 2016 a good, bad or meh year for you?

Goodreads Giveaway!

Get ready, get set for a Goodreads Giveaway! Ten paperback copies of my novella, LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG, are up for grabs! The giveaway is open to U.S. residents, and runs from November 1 to November, 30.

Click here to enter on Goodreads.com

About LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG…

Molly’s best friend Alex has done a U-turn from Yale-bound student to rebel without a cause. She’s determined to find out why. But is she truly ready to learn Alex’s devastating secret?

To find out more and read an excerpt, click here.

Halloween Book Blog Hop!

Tricks can be fun, but TREATS are way better. And this contest gives you a chance to win a ton of treats in the form of signed books, ebooks, candy, book swag and more from 13 authors!! We know…it’s kind of SPOOK-TACULAR!

So how do you snag the loot? It’s simple, and you don’t even have to dress up and walk in the cold door to door to get the goodies.

Visit each of the THIRTEEN participating author websites. You will find the name of the candy/treat they are giving away, as well as what BOOK they are offering as part of the PRIZE PACK!  Be sure to write down the name of the treat, you’ll need it later.

I’m giving away a Kindle e-copy of my ghost book, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE, plus Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Each author will provide a link to another author website on the hunt. (We are making it nice and easy so you don’t get lost in the dark) =)

Have fun reading all about the books each author is giving away in the prize pack, plus any other tricks and treats the authors may have in store for you.

When you have collected the names of all 13 author “TREATS”, head on over to complete the Trick or Treat Hunt Page Google Forms doc HERE and enter the correct treat next to the corresponding author name.

Trick or Treat Hunt Google Form

You can enter for BONUS chances to win via the Rafflecopter found on each author’s website, by doing things like following them on Twitter or following their Goodreads page, or tweeting about the Hunt!

RAFFLECOPTER LINK

 

So WHAT WILL YOU WIN??

A creepy-awesome black canvas tote bag with a cool skull filled with each of the books noted below as well as bookmarks and other great book swag. You will also win all of the treats that the author’s list on their pages PLUS a bunch of other candy treats all in a black plastic cauldron. You’ll even get the cute little plastic skulls shown in the prize photo.





PARTICIPATING AUTHORS and their AWESOME BOOKS!



Amy McNulty – NOBODY’S GODDESS (advanced paperback)

Kiran Oliver – DAYBREAK RISING (ebook)

Dorothy Dreyer – SCARE ME TO SLEEP (Kindle ebook)
Jodie Andrefski – THE SOCIETY (signed paperback)
Julia Ember – UNICORN TRACKS (paperback)
Julie Reece – THE ARTISANS (signed paperback)
Nina Rossing – FJORD BLUE (signed paperback)
Pat Edsen – BEYOND YOUR TOUCH (signed paperback)
Pintip Dunn – FORGET TOMORROW (signed paperback)
S.A.Larsen – MOTLEY EDUCATION (signed paperback)
Suzanne van Rooyen – OBSCURA BURNING (Releases 11/10 ebook)

Vanessa Barneveld – THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE (Kindle ebook)
Vicki Weavil – FACSIMILE (signed paperback)



The contest runs from Friday October 28th, 2016 through Midnight, October 31st, 2016 (EST)

Winner will be announced November 1st.

Contest is US only. Thank you for your understanding.

To continue the blog hop, click on lovely Jodie Andrefski‘s book cover below. Good luck!

Halloween Book Blog Hop

Do you love books? Love treats? Live in the U.S.?

Jodie Andrefski has gathered a ton of fabulous authors (and me!) for a Halloween blog hop from October 29 to midnight, October 31. You could win a literal bucketful of our books and glorious treats. No tricks!

Stay tuned for details on how to enter in the next few days.

In the meantime, tell me, do you have a costume ready for Halloween? This adorable chocolate labrador I found on Pinterest has the right idea:

 

 

 

Happy Release Day to Abbie Roads!

Race the Darkness by Abbie Roads

Series: Fatal Dreams #1

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Publication Date: October 4, 2016



BUY NOW

Amazon | iBooks | Google Play | B&N | Indigo | BAM | Indie Bound

Cursed with a terrible gift…

Criminal investigator Xander Stone doesn’t have to question you—he can hear your thoughts. Scarred by lightning, burdened with a power that gives him no peace, Xander struggles to maintain his sanity against the voice that haunts him day and night—the voice of a woman begging him to save her.

A gift that threatens to engulf them…

Isleen Walker has long since given up hope of escape from the nightmare of captivity and torture that is draining her life, her mind, and her soul. Except…there is the man in her feverish dreams, the strangely beautiful man who beckons her to freedom and wholeness. And when he comes, if he comes, it will take all their combined fury and faith to overcome a madman bent on fulfilling a deadly prophecy.

 

 

 

EXCERPT

They weren’t going to make it.

Not unless he suddenly sprouted blue tights and a red cape. The hope of escape morphed into despair and resignation and finally reckless pissed-off-ness. No fucking way was he going to die running. He stopped, turned, and faced the truck barreling toward them. The tires ate up the ground at an indecent rate. He clutched Isleen tighter to his chest. For her sake, he wanted it to be a quick death. No more lingering. No more pain.

That thought infuriated him. None of this was right. They shouldn’t be on the verge of death. Again.

The truck kept coming—now twenty-five feet away.

Everything slowed, happening as if through the quicksand of time. A white dandelion floaty meandered on the breeze directly between them and the truck. His heart no longer ran a staccato rhythm. Duh…dum. Pause. Duh…dum. Pause.

His life didn’t flash before his eyes. The future did. Isleen’s future. In an ethereal dream beyond time, her skin was gilded by firelight, her eyes devoid of sadness and fear, her body whole and healthy. She smiled, an expression so full of warmth and tenderness and undiluted joy that it plunked itself down inside his heart and wouldn’t leave.

He ached to create that kind of smile on her face, but their lives were over. It all could’ve gone so differently if he’d only listened to her, believed in her, found her years before now.

The air changed, displaced by the truck only a few feet from them. Heat from the engine blasted his face, smelling of burning oil, gasoline, and a scent reminiscent of popped corn. He locked eyes with the bitch behind the wheel. Her pudgy lips ripped back over her teeth in a snarling scream.

Xander knew anger—his best friends were fury and rage—but the look on the bitch’s face went beyond mere anger all the way to unholy.

The truck imploded.

The sound was supersonic, a resonation that rippled through his skin and muscle to rattle his bones and shake the earth underneath his feet. Metal and glass and fire shot outward, skyward, backward, in a near-perfect arc of destruction. Flaming debris rained around them.

He stood there holding Isleen, watching it happen, not believing the message his eyes sent to his brain.

“What the…?” The last of the truck parts hit the ground. The pieces burned. That’s all that was left—pieces. Nothing touched them, like they resided under an invisible dome of protection.

He glanced down at Isleen for an answer, but she was unconscious, her head lolling so limply on her neck that it looked as if he was carrying a corpse.

 TRAILER




TEASERS

MEET THE AUTHOR
Abbie Roads



Facebook Author Page | Facebook Profile Page | Twitter | Pinterest





Seven Things about Abbie Roads:

1.  She loves Snicker Parfaits. Gotta start with what’s most important, right?

2.  She writes dark emotional books featuring damaged characters, but always gives her hero and heroine a happy ending… after torturing them for three hundred pages.

3.  By day she’s a mental health counselor known for her blunt, honest style of therapy. At night she burns up the keyboard. Well… Burn might be too strong a word. She at least sits with her hands poised over the keyboard, waiting for inspiration to strike. And when it does—the keyboard might get a little warm.

4.  She can’t stand it when people drive slowly in the passing lane. Just saying. That’s major annoying. Right?

5.  She loves taking pictures of things she thinks are pretty.

HUNT THE DAWN

Fatal Dreams Series Book 2

Available on NetGalley

GIVEAWAY

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

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And the winner is…

Thank you so much to everyone to posted my LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG excerpt on their blogs and shared the release on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram — everywhere, really! I’m grateful to you all.

Blog hosts went in the running to win a $20 Amazon e-card. I’m pleased to announce the winner is…

Margo Kelly!

Whoo-hoo! Congrats, Margo!

Many thanks also to everyone who has purchased and downloaded the novella so far! I’m donating 50% of profits to a teen cancer charity, so by buying this edition, you may just save a life. How cool is that?

If you missed the excerpt, click here. And you can pick up a copy of LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG for a tiny US$0.99. This link will take you to all the major e-tailers: https://books2read.com/u/3nev5o

 

 

Release Day Excerpt Blitz!

Release day for my stand-alone YA novella, LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG is here! This quick read is full of heartbreak and hope.  I will donate half the profits from the sale of this edition to CanTeen, a charity that supports young people dealing with cancer. So make sure you pick up a copy for only 99 cents at these e-tailers:

Amazon  | iBooks | B&N | Kobo

Add LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG to your Goodreads shelf

Read on for an excerpt!

Summary

He has six months to live. She has six months to save him…

Molly Corbett can’t stand seeing her childhood pal Alex Gibson destroy himself. He’s gone from straight-A student to rebel without a cause. With so much at stake, some serious interference is called for—or at least Micromanaging Molly thinks so. Alex needs to get back on the path to the Ivy League. But the harder Molly pushes Alex, the harder he pushes back.

Alex has a secret.

Well, two secrets. Number one: He has terminal melanoma. With six months to live, Alex hasn’t got a second to waste. And hanging around hospitals when his friends think he’s cutting school definitely counts as wasted time. Instead, he’s going to drop out, surf, drive fast cars…and finally put secret number two out there. He’s in love with Molly and he’s going to tell her before it’s too late.

Edgy, and yet wonderfully tender, LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG sent me to reader heaven!

~ Tina Ferraro, author of THE ABCs OF KISSING BOYS

LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG Excerpt

Around six the next morning, I find Mom sitting at the island bench in the kitchen. She looks pretty chill for someone who just laid on a breakfast of fruit salad, yogurt, sautèed mushrooms and kale, unbuttered whole-wheat sourdough and two eggs, sunny-side up. A thick, football-field-green smoothie sits in a tall glass by the blender. Great. More kale.

“Hey, Alex!” She smiles over her coffee mug and pats the stool next to her. “Sleep well?”

I shuffle onto the seat and stare at the food. “Have I died and gone to buffet heaven?”

My mother winces at my choice of words, then makes a big effort to put on a happy face like she always does. “I want you to keep your strength up. You don’t have to eat all of it. Just most of it.”

“And you don’t have to go out of your way to make this for me. I mean, thanks. A lot. But I don’t have much of an appetite.”

“Oh, I’m having some, too,” she says in an overly bright voice. With her fork, she scoops up a tiny portion of kale, hardly enough to fill a mouse’s belly.

Since my diagnosis a few months ago, Mom hasn’t been eating much either. This doesn’t stop her from testing all the “cancer-fighting” recipes she finds on Pinterest. Baking is therapy, she says. I call it a waste of food. Fortunately, the family next door is more than happy to take excess lentil loaf off our hands.

Every hour of every day, I wonder what will happen to Mom after I go. She’ll be all alone. Dad moved back to Australia after the divorce. He’s making custom surfboards, connecting with old friends, so I know he’ll be okay. Mom’s literally got no one. Except the perpetually hungry neighbors and her five employees. Yet another reason why I shouldn’t die so young.

It’s crazy. Why does it have to be like this? Maybe the doctors got it wrong. They’re not infallible. They’re not gods. They can’t predict the exact number of months, days, hours, and seconds a person has left on Earth.

Then again, I’ve peeked at my medical records. I know it doesn’t look good for me. With the help of a counselor I’ve gotten to the stage of mostly accepting that I’m headed for a dead end. I’ve even started giving some of my stuff away. The iPad Dad gave me is now Molly’s. Mom won’t have to go through boxes of my middle-school clothes after I’m gone because I’ve already dropped them off at Goodwill. The cobalt-blue board I learned to surf on? I’m giving that to a kid down the street whether he likes it or not.

Noticing I haven’t touched a single morsel, Mom says, “Will you at least have the kale, broccoli and goji berry smoothie? You don’t even have to chew. Close your eyes and drink it.”

Speaking of acceptance… Yeah, Mom’s adamant that five doctors on two continents are wrong and that I’ll make a miraculous recovery. All we need is faith and love and kale.

I would rather eat broken glass mixed with cyanide, but for Mom, I guess I can manage this. Forcing a smile, I sip chunks of raw broccoli that slipped by the blender’s blades. I’ll check over the blender later, make sure it’s working okay.

“After breakfast, I’m taking you to that appointment you missed yesterday,” she says quickly.

Feeling guilty, I look away. She didn’t hammer me for skipping out on seeing this “amazing herbalist-slash-psychic-healer.” Still, I know she was disappointed in me. “What about work? You’ve missed a lot of days because of me.”

“It’s fine. Things are slow anyway.” Her voice is two octaves higher than usual.

She’s lying. The real estate biz in this corner of SoCal is booming. Foreclosures have brought in the flippers—the people who swoop in on bank-owned properties and fix them up for a profit.

“But you need those commissions.” Silently I add, To pay my medical bills.

Another reason to feel guilty. I’m aware of how much my cancer is costing my parents. Flights to a melanoma specialist in Sydney and more hospital follow-ups here don’t come cheap. My folks tell me not to worry about that, but ironically I’m old enough to figure out that dying young is expensive.

And now Molly’s pushing me to apply to Yale.

I can’t blame her. She knows it’s been my dream since forever to go to Yale, get a medical degree, become a pediatrician. But it’d be a waste of time and money for me to even try to follow that dream.

I grimace at the olive oil oozing from the barely touched kale and mushroom thing.

Waste. Sure is the theme of the day. Of my life, even.

Want to read more?

Download the novella now from iBooks, Amazon, B&N and Kobo for just 99c.

 

LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG – out now! from Vanessa Barneveld on Vimeo.

Cover Reveal – Before Tomorrow by Pintip Dunn

I am so excited to share with you the cover reveal for BEFORE TOMORROW by Pintip Dunn, a FORGET TOMORROW novella from Logan’s POV!

Title: Before Tomorrow

Publisher: Entangled TEEN

Release Date: Oct. 31, 2016

In a world where all seventeen-year-olds receive a memory from their future selves, Logan Russell’s vision is exactly as he expects—and exactly not. He sees himself achieving his greatest wish of becoming a gold-star swimmer, but strangely enough, the vision also shows him locking eyes with a girl from his past, Callie Stone, and experiencing an overwhelming sense of love and belonging.

Logan’s not sure what the memory means, but soon enough, he learns that his old friend Callie is in trouble. She’s received an atypical memory, one where she commits a crime in the future. According to the law, she must be imprisoned, even though she’s done nothing wrong. Now, Logan must decide if he’ll give up his future as a gold-star swimmer and rescue the literal girl of his dreams. All he’ll have to do is defy Fate.

Add BEFORE TOMORROW on Goodreads!

But what if you don’t want to wait until Oct. 31?

No problem. Pre-order REMEMBER YESTERDAY, book 2 in the FORGET TOMORROW series, and register your receipt here, and you’ll receive a copy of BEFORE TOMORROW to read before anyone else! Plus, U.S. residents will also get a bookplate and bookmark!

Want to learn more about FORGET TOMORROW and REMEMBER YESTERDAY? Click here.

REMEMBER YESTERDAY buy links:

Amazon  Barnes & Noble  iBooks  Kobo
 
Pintip Dunn is a New York Times bestselling author of YA fiction. She graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She received her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL.

Pintip is represented by literary agent Beth Miller of Writers House. Her debut novel, FORGET TOMORROW, won the RWA RITA® for Best First Book. Her other novels include THE DARKEST LIE and the forthcoming REMEMBER YESTERDAY. She lives with her husband and children in Maryland. You can learn more about Pintip and her books at www.pintipdunn.com.

 

 

Excerpt Blitz Sign-Up!

Book Release News!

My Dangerous Boys YA novella, LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG, will be released in a standalone e-book edition — updated and with bonus material — on September 27th! Add the novella to your Goodreads bookshelf. Pre-order for US$0.99 cents from iBooks, Amazon, B&N and Kobo using this very handy universal book link.

If you’re a YA book blogger and you’d like a copy of LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG in exchange for an honest review, please feel free to send a request via email.

 

Sign Up!

If you have a blog and you’d like to participate in a release day excerpt blitz, please sign up HERE or click on the graphic below, which will take you to a Google Form. Blog hosts will go in the running to win a $20 Amazon e-card. Hope you can join in!

 

 

Trailer Reveal! Race the Darkness by Abbie Roads

Race the Darkness by Abbie Roads

Series: Fatal Dreams #1

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Publication Date: October 4, 2016



PRE-ORDER NOW

Amazon

Cursed with a terrible gift…

Criminal investigator Xander Stone doesn’t have to question you—he can hear your thoughts. Scarred by lightning, burdened with a power that gives him no peace, Xander struggles to maintain his sanity against the voice that haunts him day and night—the voice of a woman begging him to save her.

A gift that threatens to engulf them…

Isleen Walker has long since given up hope of escape from the nightmare of captivity and torture that is draining her life, her mind, and her soul. Except…there is the man in her feverish dreams, the strangely beautiful man who beckons her to freedom and wholeness. And when he comes, if he comes, it will take all their combined fury and faith to overcome a madman bent on fulfilling a deadly prophecy.

 

 

 

Abbie Roads



Facebook Author Page | Facebook Profile Page | Twitter | Pinterest





Seven Things about Abbie Roads:

1.  She loves Snicker Parfaits. Gotta start with what’s most important, right?

2.  She writes dark emotional books featuring damaged characters, but always gives her hero and heroine a happy ending… after torturing them for three hundred pages.

3.  By day she’s a mental health counselor known for her blunt, honest style of therapy. At night she burns up the keyboard. Well… Burn might be too strong a word. She at least sits with her hands poised over the keyboard, waiting for inspiration to strike. And when it does—the keyboard might get a little warm.

4.  She can’t stand it when people drive slowly in the passing lane. Just saying. That’s major annoying. Right?

5.  She loves taking pictures of things she thinks are pretty.

6.  She’s represented by Michelle Grajkowski of 3 Seas Literary.

7.  Her first book RACE THE DARKNESS is available for pre-order.

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