YA SCAVENGER HUNT-TEAM BLUE

Welcome, Hunters!
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, this post is part of the epic YA SCAVENGER HUNT. In this hunt you will meet lots of great authors, you can enter to win lots of great books and other cool stuff, AND you can collect secret words to enter for the HUGE grand prize once you've completed the hunt.

I'm team BLUE.
Check out Team Read and Yellow as well because all 60 authors participating in this hunt are made of Awesome. (Did you catch that? Awesome with a big blue A. I can't make it any more obvious.)

I have the pleasure of hosting author, Sofie Couch.

Sofie "is raising a 'para' normal young adults... and writing in the same genre." A child of the mountains and the swamps, Sofie likes to think of herself, like her characters, as an extremophile - one of those creatures adapted to living in extreme conditions. MOONSHINE, (set in the swamps of Virginia,) the prequel to ANGELS UNAWARES, is the second book in a three book series. When not writing, she enjoys hanging with her homeschooled YAs, tending a micro-flock of chickens, and extreme gardening. (It's kinda like extreme sports, but with yard tools.) She is a graduate of the University of Virginia.


Coincidentally, Sofie has a YA novel called MOONSHINE. I love moonshine! (No, not the illegal alcohol--I've never had it--but the concept of moonshine. I even included the word in the title of my blog!)

A little bit about her book:

Rivanna Rivers wants to find the father who abandoned her and her mother, leaving her saddled with the same name as a local tributary.
Matt Breeden wants to avoid going to jail - hard to do when your family invites scandal, your wife turns up dead, and you've been supporting them all by producing the best moonshine in the county.
Annabelle Freeman just wants to make it through back-to-school night without anyone finding out that she buried her grandfather in the garden. What do all these people have in common? Family, moonshine, and murder.

You can but MOONSHINE on Amazon
You can learn more about Sofie Couch on her website www.SofieCouch.com
As for Sofie's, EXCLUSIVE content for the hunt, you'll have to go here and check it out.

As for me, I'm giving away some moonshine of my own. (No, still not the illegal alcohol kind.) My moonshine is a book full of magic, romance, merfolk, selkies, and sirens.

I'm giving away a signed copy of my debut novel, Tangled Tides. Plus, you'll get a Grow Your Own Mermaid Doll, because if you can't BE a mermaid, you should at least have one of your very own.

Also, I'll include an ebook of my upcoming YA release about a supernatural reincarnated family and star-crossed lovers, Grasping at Eternity. (Open to International folks, as always.)

All you have to do to enter my personal contest is:

1.) BE A FOLLOWER OF MY BLOG
2.) LEAVE A COMMENT with your email addy, so I can contact you.

Ready for the next stop on the hunt? GO HERE

If you're confused as to what the heck this is, or if you need instructions on how to participate, check out the YA SCAVENGER HUNT SITE. Everything you need to know can be found there.

Good luck and Happy Hunting!

FUN WEEKEND READ

Happy Friday!

Need a good read for the weekend? I highly recommend CLOCKWISE by Elle Strauss.
I read this book a couple months ago and I adored it. The main character, Casey, is very likeable. Her time-traveling adventures are exciting, Nate is swoonworthy, and I laughed out loud a few times at the best friend, Lucinda.

Here's a teaser from the opening of the story...

CHAPTER ONE

EVERYONE HAS TO LIVE with something.
For instance, my hair is the unmanageable kind of curly, the color of burnt toast. Imagine waking up every morning looking like the Lion King, or having to spend a disproportionate amount of your allowance on hair products that don’t deliver. Like the ones under my bathroom sink. Row after row of half-empty containers of mousse, gel, and hair tamer standing dejectedly like the third string of a basketball team that rarely gets to play.
The thing is, I would be fine with rag mop hair, truly, if only I didn’t have this other issue: uncontrolled time travel to the nineteenth century. I’ve never met anyone else with the same problem, either, so that also classifies me as some kind of freak.
On the upside—like a blind girl who ultra develops her other senses to compensate for what she can't control—I’ve picked up a few extra skills along the way. One survival reflex I’ve nurtured is how to be quick on my feet. I have good impulses, you could say.
Well, normally, this is an upside.
Until a second ago.

Want to know more? Here's a summary of the story...

Casey Donovan has issues: hair, height and uncontrollable trips to the 19th century! And now this --she’s accidentally taken Nate Mackenzie, the cutest boy in the school, back in time. Awkward.

Protocol pressures her to tell their 1860 hosts that he is her brother and when Casey finds she has a handsome, wealthy (and unwanted) suitor, something changes in Nate. Are those romantic sparks or is it just “brotherly” protectiveness?

When they return to the present, things go back to the way they were before: Casey parked on the bottom of the rung of the social ladder and Nate perched high on the very the top. Except this time her heart is broken. Plus, her best friend is mad, her parents are split up, and her younger brother gets escorted home by the police. The only thing that could make life worse is if, by some strange twist of fate, she took Nate back to the past again.

Which of course, she does.

Right now it's a steal at $2.99 on the Kindle, so go buy it and do a little time traveling this weekend!

WIN BOOKS and CELEBRATE CHANNELER'S CHOICE

I have fantastic friends. It's true. They are talented, and kind, and just all around awesome. Today, I'm celebrating the sweet and mega talented, Heather McCorkle's recent release of Channeler's Choice.

Released (officially) February 27th in hardback and eBook, Channeler's Choice, the sequel to Heather McCorkle's earth-conscious urban fantasy, The Secret Of Spruce Knoll (which was incredible and you should go read it SOON--preferably now, but finish reading this post first). To celebrate she's doing a blog tour from February 27^th through March 15^th along with a giveaway. Here are the prizes:

Winner #1:

An eBook of Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper (Yes, that's me!)

An eBook of Running Wide Open by Lisa Nowak

An eBook of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll (if you don’t have a copy yet)

A paperback of Born Of Fire & Dies Irae (novella combination by Heather McCorkle and Christine Fonseca released through Compass Press)

And of course, Channeler’s Choice swag (bookmarks, postcards, etc.)

Winner #2

An eBook of Beautiful Demons & Inner Demons by Sarra Cannon

An eBook of Bound by C.K. Bryant

An eBook of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll (if you don’t have a copy yet)

A paperback of Born Of Fire & Dies Irae (novella combination by Heather McCorkle and Christine Fonseca released through Compass Press)

And of course, Channeler’s Choice swag (bookmarks, postcards, etc.)

If you don’t have an eReader then you’ll definitely want to stay tuned on Heather’s blog for a HUGE giveaway taking place at the end of the Channeler’s Choice tour.

I KNOW! What an amazing array of books. You KNOW you want to enter, so here's how: Stop by Heather's blog for official details. http://heathermccorkle.blogspot.com

Here is a bit about Channeler's Choice:

With her parents’ murderer’s dead, Eren can finally concentrate on fitting in at Spruce Knoll High, not to mention figuring out what it means to be a channeler. If only it were that easy. It turns out she isn’t normal even among channelers - she may be a legendary warrior meant to protect the earth in a last great battle.

But Mayan prophecies are the least of her worries as she involuntarily starts to gather her own Society, another girl moves in on Aiden, her powers rage out of control, and worst of all, someone is stalking her. To top it all off, Eren discovers she doesn’t have to be a channeler after all - she has a choice.

As an old threat closes in and she risks ending up like her parents, she is forced to decide. Be a normal teenager and leave the legendary warrior stuff to someone else, or embrace a dark destiny?

It can be found here:

AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLE

BOOK DEPOSITORY

A Labor of Love

Last week, I revealed the cover for my upcoming YA release, Grasping at Eternity. The love for the cover and summary has been overwhelming. Big thanks for all the comments and tweets, and uber thanks to all the book bloggers who have emailed to ask about reviewing it! Many have assumed that my publisher Rhemalda is publishing my next book, and a couple people have said how cool it is that they let Alexandra Shostak design the cover for it.

So, I want to clarify, and maybe shock some of you in the process.

I am self-publishing Grasping at Eternity.

NOT because I'm unhappy with Rhemalda. I'm very happy with them. They are still getting first crack at book 2 of The Sea Monster Memoirs. We still have a wonderful relationship, and they are very supportive of my decision to self-publish. (See, some publishers really DO support whichever path their authors choose.)

I didn't submit Grasping at Eternity to Rhemalda because when they offered me a contract for Tangled Tides, I had been querying GAE. Several agents had the full, and so did an editor at one of the big 6 publishing houses. I was playing the long waiting game of publishing.

Then, a few months ago, I became part of the Indelibles. I have learned SO much from these amazing women. Many of them are self-published and very happy with their decision to do so. I watch and hear about them have total control over their projects, and I wonder if I'd love it too. Grasping at Eternity is the first book in a series that I could see writing about forever and ever. (And being that the main characters are perpetually reincarnated souls, it's very possible--at least until the day I die. Ha.)

So, I pulled Grasping at Eternity out of submissions.

I want to experiment.
I want to put one of my eggs in a different basket just to learn how the different baskets work.
I want to challenge myself. (Yes, it IS a A LOT of work. I have learned that too.)
I want to get this story that I love so much out into the world.

Because that's WHY I write. I write because I love it. I love the characters and the worlds I create, and I love sharing them with readers. I am well aware that I may never become financially rich from my book sales, but I am emotionally rich. The emails I receive from fans about how much they love Tangled Tides is better than any paycheck.

My heart aches knowing I have this amazing and loveable group of characters (The Kindrily) who are collecting dust in my hard drive. Their story could be keeping someone up at night, making a reader wonder about soul mates and reincarnation, or questioning how much we really see and understand about this magical universe. And to know readers are missing out on "the hotel scene" or "the kiss" just hurts my soul.

I realize my marketing reach is nowhere near that of a big publisher. I realize a very limited number of people will ever hear about Grasping at Eternity, much less read it. But some will. And some might love my kindrily peeps almost as much as I do. The say the best things come in small packages, but I think what they really mean is the best things come packaged with lots of love. My Kindrily series will be packaged with enough love to fill eternity.


*Want to read the summary or add GAE to Goodreads? Click here.*

COVER REVEAL: GRASPING AT ETERNITY

COVER REVEAL!

Nope, this is not the next book in my merfolk/selkie series. This is a totally different story.

I know I JUST released Tangled Tides back in November, so many of you are saying, “Wow! That was fast!” But no, I’m not a supersonic speed-writer. This story was written years ago, but I love it SO much. Not more than my sea peeps, just differently. (Those of you who have been around for a few years will remember me blogging about the Kindrily A LOT.) These characters are the crew that crashed into my life one night and made me write my first novel. They made me fall in love with writing again, and they helped me figure out that writing stories is my true passion.

Without further ado, I present the cover of Grasping at Eternity (Book 1 of The Kindrily series)...

The cover model is my beautiful (and booklover) friend, Andrea Reynolds. The amazing and talented Alexandra Shostak worked her magic and created this breathtaking cover. Yes, I’m biased about how gorgeous the cover is, but that’s because it’s perfect for the story and I know how much love and hard work went into its creation.

For now, the book has a tentative release date of May.

Here’s the summary:

Leave it to Maryah Woodsen to break the one rule that will screw up eternity: Never erase your memories.

Before entering this life, Maryah did the unthinkable—she erased. Now, at seventeen years old, she’s clueless that her new adoptive family has known her for centuries, that they are perpetually reincarnated souls, and that they have supernatural abilities. Oh, and she's supposed to love (not despise) Nathan, the green-eyed daredevil who saved her life.

Nathan is convinced his family’s plan to spark Maryah's memory is hopeless, but his love for her is undying. After spending (and remembering) so many lifetimes together, being around an empty version of his soulmate is heart shattering. He hates acting like a stalker, but has no choice because the evil outcast who murdered Maryah in their last lifetime is still after her.

While Maryah’s hunter inches closer, she and Nathan make assumptions and hide secrets that rip them further apart. Maryah has to believe in the magic within her, Nathan must have faith in the power of their love, and both need to grasp onto the truth before they lose each other forever—and discover just how lonely eternity can be.

If you’d like to add it on Goodreads (I will love you forever) here’s the link: Goodreads Page for GAE

So, what do you think?