Thursday, May 23, 2013
Gwen Hayes As New Editorial Director of Scandalous
Friday, May 17, 2013
Into the Darkness Peering Giveaway with Guest Amber Gilchrist
My friend, the fabulous Amber Gilchrist, released her first YA this week. Into the Darkness Peering is a paranormal teen romance that I had a chance to read long before the rest of you but don't be upset....you'll get your chance! Please comment on this post (either at blog, Facebook post, or Goodreads post--wherever you are reading this) and I will pick a winner on Saturday May 25th for a free Kindle or Nook version.
Amber sent me a the guest post below...don't forget to comment to be entered for free book.
When her father died, leaving behind nothing but chaos and a secluded Gothic inn, seventeen-year-old Voirey Cruz lost control of her life and her faith in anything. Her search for answers about her father’s mysterious behavior and sudden death thrusts her into a world of evil doppelgangers intent on destroying everything she has left.
If she believed in magic, she’d bring her father back from the dead. If she believed in heroes, they wouldn’t be punk boys with guyliner, tattoos, and a lip piercing. But if she doesn’t start believing in demons, she might not make it to eighteen.
Buy at Amazon
My first YA book, “Into Darkness Peering” hit the shelves on May the 15th. I have been asked one question more than any others. What was your inspiration when writing this book?
There are many interesting and fabulous answers to questions like these when people talk to authors. Mine will not be one of them. I’ve been writing for many years, somewhere along the lines of 25 years, and never once in all that time did I have the urge to write a Young Adult novel. When I was a young adult myself, those sorts of novels weren’t really a genre. You had Judy Blume and that was pretty much it. At any rate, I had no interest.
My best friend of many, many years reads only YA or the old fashioned regencies where dancing the waltz twice is considered risque. I kept refusing. I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to think like a teenager again. I didn’t want to work out of memories. Didn’t want any of that.
Finally, she bugged me so much, for so many years, that I caved. Basically, my inspiration for this book was getting my BFF to shut her pie hole.
I figured that it would never see the light of day. I was writing it for her and no other purpose. Which might have seemed like a lot of work for the whims of a friend, but actually I’ve been writing books for friends for years. In high school I would write books for my friends as Christmas presents, staring them and their crushes in modified character form. So this was just another case of, hey, this one is for you.
I figured I hadn’t seen that many wizards aside from Harry Potter, this was approximately 2006 or 2007, and I would just pull out a wizard and go to town. It didn’t much matter to me what the story was about, since my motivation for writing the book was lame. I decided to go for a hero wizard and a girl who was just a normal human landed in a weird situation.
But as I started debating what I was going to write about, an interesting phenomenon began to happen. These characters were chatty. Much more so than the others I’d been writing since I’d gotten out of my 20s. It was just a constant stream of information. The heroine, Voirey, let it be known that, in fact, SHE was the wizard, not the hero. That wasn’t something I’d expected and I wasn’t sure what to do with that. Then Griffin, the hero, gave me a surprise announcement of his own and it was something I very much did not want to hear. I won’t say what it was because it’s a pivotal surprise in the story, but it wasn’t something I was cool with. I argued, but he was insistent this fact was true.
Now, this may sound like I have a special brand of the crazy, unless of course, you’re another writer in which case it sounds like every third Tuesday, but it really isn’t that nuts. Characters talking to me is how I write every story.
Armed with this new information about Voirey and Griffin, I went to work. And I worked, and worked, and worked, and worked. This book is approximately 75 thousand words, maybe on the downside to eighty. It took me 10 days to write this book. Ten. Days. It was a nightmare of fevered typing that never stopped unless I simply had no choice. I rarely ate, I didn’t shower (don’t judge me), I barely paid any attention to my family at all. The characters never shut up. It was a constant stream of very clear information. I would stumble into bed at two or three in the morning and pull myself out at six and start all over again. It was like being possessed.
It’s not an experience I ever want to have again, but it was definitely unique. These were some people who had a very clear and very defined story to tell and I just happened to be the person lucky enough to come along and be able to tell it.
It was the beginning of my new career since, as opposed to what I thought, writing YA was a total joy and it invigorated my love for writing, which had faded to the every-day drudgery of a 25 year career writing veteran.
I thought this book would go nowhere and I began the process under duress. But these characters became my favorite ever and this series is very close to my heart. I love these people in the Soulguard world. Every one of them. I hope all of you enjoy them too.
Amber
Amber sent me a the guest post below...don't forget to comment to be entered for free book.
When her father died, leaving behind nothing but chaos and a secluded Gothic inn, seventeen-year-old Voirey Cruz lost control of her life and her faith in anything. Her search for answers about her father’s mysterious behavior and sudden death thrusts her into a world of evil doppelgangers intent on destroying everything she has left.
If she believed in magic, she’d bring her father back from the dead. If she believed in heroes, they wouldn’t be punk boys with guyliner, tattoos, and a lip piercing. But if she doesn’t start believing in demons, she might not make it to eighteen.
Buy at Amazon
My first YA book, “Into Darkness Peering” hit the shelves on May the 15th. I have been asked one question more than any others. What was your inspiration when writing this book?
There are many interesting and fabulous answers to questions like these when people talk to authors. Mine will not be one of them. I’ve been writing for many years, somewhere along the lines of 25 years, and never once in all that time did I have the urge to write a Young Adult novel. When I was a young adult myself, those sorts of novels weren’t really a genre. You had Judy Blume and that was pretty much it. At any rate, I had no interest.
My best friend of many, many years reads only YA or the old fashioned regencies where dancing the waltz twice is considered risque. I kept refusing. I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to think like a teenager again. I didn’t want to work out of memories. Didn’t want any of that.
Finally, she bugged me so much, for so many years, that I caved. Basically, my inspiration for this book was getting my BFF to shut her pie hole.
I figured that it would never see the light of day. I was writing it for her and no other purpose. Which might have seemed like a lot of work for the whims of a friend, but actually I’ve been writing books for friends for years. In high school I would write books for my friends as Christmas presents, staring them and their crushes in modified character form. So this was just another case of, hey, this one is for you.
I figured I hadn’t seen that many wizards aside from Harry Potter, this was approximately 2006 or 2007, and I would just pull out a wizard and go to town. It didn’t much matter to me what the story was about, since my motivation for writing the book was lame. I decided to go for a hero wizard and a girl who was just a normal human landed in a weird situation.
But as I started debating what I was going to write about, an interesting phenomenon began to happen. These characters were chatty. Much more so than the others I’d been writing since I’d gotten out of my 20s. It was just a constant stream of information. The heroine, Voirey, let it be known that, in fact, SHE was the wizard, not the hero. That wasn’t something I’d expected and I wasn’t sure what to do with that. Then Griffin, the hero, gave me a surprise announcement of his own and it was something I very much did not want to hear. I won’t say what it was because it’s a pivotal surprise in the story, but it wasn’t something I was cool with. I argued, but he was insistent this fact was true.
Now, this may sound like I have a special brand of the crazy, unless of course, you’re another writer in which case it sounds like every third Tuesday, but it really isn’t that nuts. Characters talking to me is how I write every story.
Armed with this new information about Voirey and Griffin, I went to work. And I worked, and worked, and worked, and worked. This book is approximately 75 thousand words, maybe on the downside to eighty. It took me 10 days to write this book. Ten. Days. It was a nightmare of fevered typing that never stopped unless I simply had no choice. I rarely ate, I didn’t shower (don’t judge me), I barely paid any attention to my family at all. The characters never shut up. It was a constant stream of very clear information. I would stumble into bed at two or three in the morning and pull myself out at six and start all over again. It was like being possessed.
It’s not an experience I ever want to have again, but it was definitely unique. These were some people who had a very clear and very defined story to tell and I just happened to be the person lucky enough to come along and be able to tell it.
It was the beginning of my new career since, as opposed to what I thought, writing YA was a total joy and it invigorated my love for writing, which had faded to the every-day drudgery of a 25 year career writing veteran.
I thought this book would go nowhere and I began the process under duress. But these characters became my favorite ever and this series is very close to my heart. I love these people in the Soulguard world. Every one of them. I hope all of you enjoy them too.
Amber
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Want a review copy of DATE BY MISTAKE? Looking for reviewers
I would love to see more reviews posted about the super fun anthology that came out last month. I'm willing to gift ten review copies to reviewers who will post their honest review online. You don't have to give it a positive review if you don't like it....I just want to get more buzz going.
Date by Mistake is not YA. It's an adult contemporary romance anthology. There are four stories that range in heat level, but all are centered around blind dates of some kind. It's currently offered only in ebook format.
To be considered for a free copy, please email the following information to gwen @ gwenhayes.com
1. Links to where you post reviews (Goodreads, review sites, Amazon, BN, etc)
2. Where you'd like your gift copy to come from: Kobo, Kindle, or Nook site
3. Your favorite kind of cookie. (just kidding)
I will choose ten over the next few days. I'll respond to each query by Friday.
Here's the blurby stuff:
Here's the official blurb:
Mr. Virile and the Girl Next Door by Gwen Hayes
Seduction is the name of the game when two rival dating advice darlings agree to be romantically linked to boost publicity. But all bets are off when they take the battle of the sexes from the web to the bed!
Tycoon Reunion by Candace Havens and Shannon Leigh
Sparks fly when a project brings a heartbreaker back to town and into the path of the woman he left behind. He’s determined to win her over in the boardroom … and the bedroom!
Passionate Persuasion by Rosemary Clement-Moore
A hot playboy who has left a string of hearts in his wake can’t forget the cellist who haunted his fantasies. Now it is his turn to use his power of persuasion to prove he’s the only man to keep her satisfied.
Date on the Run by Jill Monroe
When an reporter mistakes a hard-bodied military man for a crime source, she soon finds it’s just as much fun undressing her new bodyguard as it is uncovering her latest case…
Four stories, four dates. How can these dates by mistake turn into love ever after?
Kindle | Nook | Kobo| iTunes
Date by Mistake is not YA. It's an adult contemporary romance anthology. There are four stories that range in heat level, but all are centered around blind dates of some kind. It's currently offered only in ebook format.
To be considered for a free copy, please email the following information to gwen @ gwenhayes.com
1. Links to where you post reviews (Goodreads, review sites, Amazon, BN, etc)
2. Where you'd like your gift copy to come from: Kobo, Kindle, or Nook site
3. Your favorite kind of cookie. (just kidding)
I will choose ten over the next few days. I'll respond to each query by Friday.
Here's the blurby stuff:
DATE BY MISTAKE
I'm in anthology with some of my favorite people and we had a blast coming up with ideas for the theme of blind dates gone wrong.
My story is Mr. Virile and the Girl Next Door.
My story is Mr. Virile and the Girl Next Door.
Dane Martin is the guy all women want and all men want to be. The original Mr. Virile, he runs a successful blog coaching men how to score and is about to release a book teaching men how to be real men. He's the James Bond of the blogging world, and he is infallible, at least that is what his agent says to her friendly rival who represents Holly Winter.
Holly's agent insists that his client could mop the floor with playboy Dane. Her successful blog on dating and relationship advice for women has also garnered her a great book deal and a huge following, but can she hold her own against the raw magnetism of the Mr.Virile himself when he represents everything she teaches women to stay away from?
And can Dane resist the heart of a woman who offers him everything he never wanted but desperately needs?
Holly's agent insists that his client could mop the floor with playboy Dane. Her successful blog on dating and relationship advice for women has also garnered her a great book deal and a huge following, but can she hold her own against the raw magnetism of the Mr.Virile himself when he represents everything she teaches women to stay away from?
And can Dane resist the heart of a woman who offers him everything he never wanted but desperately needs?
Here's the official blurb:
You never know what you’ll get when …
Mr. Virile and the Girl Next Door by Gwen HayesSeduction is the name of the game when two rival dating advice darlings agree to be romantically linked to boost publicity. But all bets are off when they take the battle of the sexes from the web to the bed!
Tycoon Reunion by Candace Havens and Shannon Leigh
Sparks fly when a project brings a heartbreaker back to town and into the path of the woman he left behind. He’s determined to win her over in the boardroom … and the bedroom!
Passionate Persuasion by Rosemary Clement-Moore
A hot playboy who has left a string of hearts in his wake can’t forget the cellist who haunted his fantasies. Now it is his turn to use his power of persuasion to prove he’s the only man to keep her satisfied.
Date on the Run by Jill Monroe
When an reporter mistakes a hard-bodied military man for a crime source, she soon finds it’s just as much fun undressing her new bodyguard as it is uncovering her latest case…
Four stories, four dates. How can these dates by mistake turn into love ever after?
Kindle | Nook | Kobo| iTunes
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
My self-published ebooks are still on sale for .99 at most retailers.
Here's a mix of my adult romance and YA romance. You can buy them directly from my site using PayPal or Google Wallet...or get them from your favorite ebook store.
OURS IS JUST A LITTLE SORROW
The colony of New Geneva has risen from the ashes of her dying mother planet, Earth, by rebuilding a society based on a time before everything went horribly, horribly wrong...the Victorian Era...
Violet Merriweather first sets eyes on Colonel Winston when he purchases her at auction from Witherspoon Academy, the orphanage where she’d been raised after her rescue from Earth. Dutifully, as she was taught, Violet pushes away her fear of the monstrous, forbidding Thornfield Abbey, and throws herself into her work as governess to the Colonel’s youngest son.
But the Colonel's elder sons have other ideas.
John and Gideon Winston are as different as night and day, and each wants to claim Violet for his own. John immediately charms her with his intelligence and cordial demeanor, while Gideon, the dark rogue, delights in flustering her at every opportunity, awakening a yearning she doesn't understand and most assuredly does not want. She tries to deny her pull to both men, but an uneasy midnight bargain with one forges a new alliance as she’s dazzled by an underground New Geneva she hadn't known existed. And temptations she cannot resist.
$.99Also available from these retailers:
Kindle | Nook | Kobo | Smashwords | Sony | Diesel
Madigan doesn't believe in demons, until the day she fends one off with her Louis Vuitton bag. She doesn't want to be an Expeller, and she really doesn't want to be trained by the most aggravating--and sexy--man she has ever met. When the Expeller instincts, and the unnatural hungers that go with them, threaten to overwhelm her humanity, will her connection to her mentor be enough save both their souls?
Note: This story was originally published by Freya's Bower in 2007. It was my first published story and the first story to take place in Serendipity Falls.
$.99 for zip file with epub, mobi, and pdf formats (all three included)Amazon | Nook | Kobo |
Second Son of a Duke
Which is why it has always been up to Teddy Middleton, the second son, to run the estate and both their lives. But the Duke is full of surprises--the latest one a wedding. For Teddy. To the Duke's best friend's sister, Juliette.
Finding herself in church for her own surprise wedding is unnerving, to be sure. But avoiding scandal seems to be the most prudent thing to do, so Juliette said, "I do." She'll have to make the best of it and hopes Teddy won't be harder to take care of than her previous household had been. She simply has no idea how she can manage two estates on her own.
After a disastrous wedding night, Teddy and Juliette don't have very high hopes for a life of wedded bliss. As they forge ahead with resolute chagrin, it begins to dawn on them both that they are allies in the same war for sanity among their crazy relations. Mutual admiration turns to friendship which turns to...something neither one ever expected.
But the Duke has one more surprise for them both--one that will change everything.Second Son of a Duke is a short story of 14,000 words. It is intended for mature readers due to content.
$.99 for zip file with epub, mobi, and pdf formats (all three included)Amazon | Nook | Kobo | All Romance eBooks
Totally Tubular
When sixteen-year-old Carrington Morris attends an 80s themed dance at her high school, she inadvertently travels back in time to 1986 and quickly latches on to the only person she "knows"--her 16-year-old mother, Heather.
Forced to navigate a world with New Coke, an MTV that plays actual music videos, and a mother who takes her to keggers and tries to set her up with the future mayor, Carri worries that she will screw up her future like she's seen in the movies. While trying to figure out how to get home, she befriends three nerds (who else would understand the time-space continuum?) and one of those nerds, Nate, might have the key to her time travel...and her heart.
When her mother's tragic past catches up with Carri's present, Carri really learns what she's made of and what kind of person she wants to be.
You may buy this product directly from this site by adding to your cart. It is also available for purchase at the retailer of your choice. Your shopping cart is viewable in the sidebar. $.99 for Zip file with epub, mobi, and pdf format (all three included)Also available at these sellers:
Butterface
Lucas O'Leary, Lucky, doesn't even notice Beth's face. He's finding out that underneath her granite hard shell, she's really a sweet girl. He enjoys spending time with her and is beginning to realize he might want to be more than just her friend.
But Lucky has a secret--if he doesn't bring Beth to the "dog dinner" party his roommates are having, he's off the team. The soccer scholarship is paying his college tuition--he HAS to stay on the team. But if Beth ever finds out she's his entry in the contest for ugliest date, he stands to lose even more.
$.99 for Zip file with epub, mobi, and pdf formats (all three included)
That's all she's ever wanted to be. This year, her senior year, not only does she have to share the coveted Senior Editor position with her arch nemesis, Jimmy Foster, she also has to figure out how to keep the school paper alive. With the local paper closing and the school cutting Journalism from the budget, it's a long shot. Working side-by-side with Foster, the guy she likes to call Lucifer,makes it even worse.
The only thing Layney dislikes more than swimming in the high school dating pool is Jimmy Foster think he got the best of her, so she takes his ridiculous newspaper assignment--to go on twelve blind dates--to prove his powers of darkness won't work on her. The trouble is, the more she learns about herself on her journey of bad blind dates, the more she wonders if maybe Foster has known her better than she knows herself all this time.
And maybe she should have trusted him with the secret she's kept for four years—the secret that broke them up to begin with.
So Over You is a young adult short novel of almost 40,000 words
$.99 for Zip file with epub, mobi, and pdf formats (all three included)
Also available at these sellers:
Kindle | Nook | Kobo
Audiobook:(not .99)
Audible |
You may buy this product directly from this site by adding to your cart. It is also available for purchase at the retailer of your choice. Your shopping cart is view-able in the sidebar.
$.99 for Zip file with epub, mobi, and pdf formats (all three included)Kindle | Nook | Kobo
Audiobook:(not .99)
Audible |
Monday, April 1, 2013
SORROW is up for a best cover award!
Voting is here.
Also, it's still on sale!
$.99Also available from these retailers:
Kindle |
Nook |
Kobo |
Smashwords
Monday, March 18, 2013
Giving away Amanda Brice's new book. Comment to win!
My friend Amanda Brice has a new YA mystery out today. I'm giving one ebook copy away on Saturday. The winner will be culled from comments on my blogger post, Facebook post, and Goodreads post. So tell me...what was the first slow song you remember dancing to with a member of the opposite sex?
Here is the blurb:
pas de deux: (NOUN: pl. pas de deux)
1. A dance for two, especially a dance in ballet consisting of an entrée and adagio, a variation for each dancer, and a coda.
2. A close relationship between two people or things, as during an activity.
pas de death (NOUN: yeah ... totally made up)
1. A dance of death.
2. When Dani Spevak stumbles over a dead body and gets into another crazy situation.
Aspiring ballerina Dani Spevak is back home for the summer, recovering from an injury. What was supposed to be a simple day trip into New York City to visit her friends at the Manhattan Ballet Conservatory turns deadly when Dani discovers that the world of professional ballet can be cutthroat — literally.
And here's the book trailer:
1. A dance for two, especially a dance in ballet consisting of an entrée and adagio, a variation for each dancer, and a coda.
2. A close relationship between two people or things, as during an activity.
pas de death (NOUN: yeah ... totally made up)
1. A dance of death.
2. When Dani Spevak stumbles over a dead body and gets into another crazy situation.
Aspiring ballerina Dani Spevak is back home for the summer, recovering from an injury. What was supposed to be a simple day trip into New York City to visit her friends at the Manhattan Ballet Conservatory turns deadly when Dani discovers that the world of professional ballet can be cutthroat — literally.
And here's the book trailer:
And here's where you can buy it now:
Paperback: http://www.amazon.co...tag=amanbric-20
Monday, March 11, 2013
New Release Day: Date by Mistake
My first uber sexy contemporary romance with the Indulgence category line at Entangled Publishing is live!
I'm in anthology with some of my favorite people and we had a blast coming up with ideas for the theme of blind dates gone wrong.
My story is Mr. Virile and the Girl Next Door.
My story is Mr. Virile and the Girl Next Door.
Dane Martin is the guy all women want and all men want to be. The original Mr. Virile, he runs a successful blog coaching men how to score and is about to release a book teaching men how to be real men. He's the James Bond of the blogging world, and he is infallible, at least that is what his agent says to her friendly rival who represents Holly Winter.
Holly's agent insists that his client could mop the floor with playboy Dane. Her successful blog on dating and relationship advice for women has also garnered her a great book deal and a huge following, but can she hold her own against the raw magnetism of the Mr.Virile himself when he represents everything she teaches women to stay away from?
And can Dane resist the heart of a woman who offers him everything he never wanted but desperately needs?
Holly's agent insists that his client could mop the floor with playboy Dane. Her successful blog on dating and relationship advice for women has also garnered her a great book deal and a huge following, but can she hold her own against the raw magnetism of the Mr.Virile himself when he represents everything she teaches women to stay away from?
And can Dane resist the heart of a woman who offers him everything he never wanted but desperately needs?
Here's the official blurb:
You never know what you’ll get when …
Mr. Virile and the Girl Next Door by Gwen Hayes
Seduction is the name of the game when two rival dating advice darlings agree to be romantically linked to boost publicity. But all bets are off when they take the battle of the sexes from the web to the bed!
Tycoon Reunion by Candace Havens and Shannon Leigh
Sparks fly when a project brings a heartbreaker back to town and into the path of the woman he left behind. He’s determined to win her over in the boardroom … and the bedroom!
Passionate Persuasion by Rosemary Clement-Moore
A hot playboy who has left a string of hearts in his wake can’t forget the cellist who haunted his fantasies. Now it is his turn to use his power of persuasion to prove he’s the only man to keep her satisfied.
Date on the Run by Jill Monroe
When an reporter mistakes a hard-bodied military man for a crime source, she soon finds it’s just as much fun undressing her new bodyguard as it is uncovering her latest case…
Four stories, four dates. How can these dates by mistake turn into love ever after?
Amazon Kindle | Barnes&Noble Nook | Kobo
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