Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

To Do List of Books to Write

So many ideas, so little time...


I thought I better make a list of all these stories in my brain in case my memory needs a joggle. These are all of the books that are brain stock-piled, enough to keep me busy for years. Not in any particular order except #1 because that needs to be finished like yesterday.

Highland Illusion, Lance's story. Nearly complete. Cover finished, waiting and ready.

Highland Soldier. Ethan's story. Okay, so the reality is that I want to leave Lance's story and move onto Ethan, because he's a much more fun character to write. Truthfully, Lance and I butt heads. But Ethan is the loveable, black and white thinker, say whatever he thinks, vulnerable, gun-loving dude who gets totally turned around by his love interest. He's even sneaked in a few scenes in Lance's book.

Highland Laird, Dez's story and the final book that will conclude the Highland Sorcery arc, taking the ending back to the very beginning of the Limont Clan and their dealings with the Fae who made them the protectors of the balance of magic. Can't wait to write this one.

Highland Dragons. Going back to WWII before Edeen, the Limont empath was awakened by Roquemore, the half-dragon, half-vampire. This series will follow a squad of half-dragons as they work uncover to thwart the nazis. Very fun. Have the first book plotted and can't wait until I can dive into it.

Recycled, the second book to Extracted. I really feel like Extracted was some of my best writing yet and this YA series needs to continue.

Never After, the second book to Never Ever. Would you believe this book is already half-way written and waiting for me to get back to it? Poor Aden is at a perilous point in the story and just left hanging. Poor guy.

The next book in the Viking Mine world with Sigur taking the lead as he journeys off on his dragonship. I also want to write several more historical romances set in the Medieval era, going off on the same type of story, but in different cultures. For example: Spartan Mine, Gladiator Mine, Saxon Mine, Pharaoh Mine...well, you get my drift. Love researching history and then messing it all up to suit myself.

The Fourth book in the Anointed series. Here's another character I've left in a bad spot. Poor little brother Cael has other dimension goop seeping out of his wound which will work havoc on him, freaking big brother Jake out big time. Gotta get back to these guys before they bring their entire weapons stash to my door in retaliation. Sorry guys, I really am sorry.

Ireland, Y'all. This is a story of my heart that is plotted out entirely in my head about a young Texas widow who brings her epileptic daughter to Ireland for a new beginning and ends up in a small village made up of some of the quirkiest characters rattling around in my head.  Basically the mom will learn to give up some of her control and allow others to help her. It takes a village, that sort of thing.

Then finally after I get all of those written, I have another YA series I'd like to venture into, each book about some sort of supernatural creature that has to decide whether to be completely human or go back to his/her world. But that will be for much much later. Have too many others I'm committed to before that can happen.



All Seeing Eye book review


All Seeing EyeAll Seeing Eye by Rob Thurman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You know how when the author of your favorite series writes a book outside of that series so you don't want to like it cuz you just want to keep reading more of the other series?

That's how I was with this book, which is totally a messed up way of thinking, but hey, I'm a tad messed up. But, of course I was going to read it anyway, because it's written by Rob Effin Thurman.

Yes, her middle name is Effin.

Yes, in my head I'm thinking a different word that begins with F, but I'm trying to be a good example and not say that, and no, it's not THAT word. My F-bombs are interchangeable, depending on my mood. Sometimes it's Frakin when I'm being a geek/nerd who wishes she were at ComicCon. It's Fetchin when I de-age and embrace my inner teen self's upbringing in the west, and sometimes it's Freakin or Frickin when I just want to get the point across without being crass.

So back to Robyn Effin Thurman. She's a freakin genius. I didn't want to like All Seeing Eye, but that lasted all of 5 pages when Jackson Lee's sarcastic nature completely won me over. What a character!

And the ending... RET, once again, takes it in a different unexpected direction, leaving the best reveals for last. Love it. Love all the weird twists and turns of her creative, impossible to second guess brain.

And...and...was that Ariel?


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Making of a Book Cover The Anointed

The more I learn how to Photoshop, the more I want to play around with my covers. It's terribly addictive. This week I updated all three of the covers to my Anointed series, taking them from a horror look to more of a gritty texture with the monster hunting half-human teen brothers.

Here's for the first book in the series The Anointed.
The original photo. This model just has that hard-edged take no prisoners look that big brother Jake embodies. But I wanted the covers to have both brothers so I went scouting around for a stock photo to both fit Cael's more innocent outlook, but also fit the picture. Fortunately the cover model I already liked for Cael also happened to have a photo of him sitting on steps. Perfect!

He needed some darkening up to match the dark tone and saturation of the first picture, and I had to shrink him just right to get his butt planted perfectly on the steps behind Jake.



 A little cropping here, a little cropping there.

Now to go all grainy and texturing. These guys fight demons and operate in a pretty dark gritty world so I wanted the cover to reflect that.



Add the Title and Author (moi) and it's good to go.

                                                   Kindle version                Nook version








New Release: Highland Shapeshifter

For the Kindle       For the Nook        Paperback 

Flung into the 21st Century, Highland shapeshifter Col Limont needs to find the healer Charity Greves in order to get back home and save his family.

However, the healer’s sister, Lenore, is determined to do everything she can to keep Col from dragging her sister back to 13th Century Scotland into his family’s supernatural war. But when monsters and a strange yuppie trio also try to stop him, Lenore has to reconsider her options.

But by helping Col, she’ll lose her sister.



***


Resolved, she edged forward and dragged the heavy tarp off the creature underneath.
And stared.
It was just a man.
He sat against the sewage pipe, arms pulled behind him, either tied or handcuffed. His head hung forward, dark hair obscuring his face. His jeans were ripped and loose, as was his dirty T-shirt, splattered with blood and mud. Cuts and abrasions speckled his arms and she’d guess there were more under his shirt and on his face. Anger at his harsh mistreatment rose up in her.
“You’re into trafficking humans now?”
“Ha!” Starch flung his large hands up. “Hardly human. Shapeshifter. And a powerful one at that. Took three ghouls and a troll to subdue him and that was after they tranqed him.”
“Is he still drugged?” She crouched down beside the guy, squeezing her hands into fists to hide the anger. This wasn’t right. “What’d you give him?”
She touched his arm and he flinched. Her heart went out to him. He looked young and innocent. A year or so younger than her, maybe eighteen or nineteen. Too young to be caught up in whatever mess this was. Her instinct was to soothe, but she couldn’t show any softness here. Grabbing his chin, she lifted his head.
And the world narrowed down to a pair of mossy green eyes.
Energy shot into her, buzzing strangely across her skin in a lightning rapid pulse. An instant familiarity burned through her, as if she knew him, though she was certain she’d never seen him before, but there was something. Staring into his battered face, a connection rippled between them, tangent and swift and then was gone as quickly as it came.
Stranger still, she wanted that connection back. 


Really good Book Price Drop


Just in Time for Christmas 
Dead Running - Dying to Run 
Price Drop &; $20 Gift Card Giveaway (Go to Her Site to enter)




Dead Running

Cassidy Christensen is running.
Running from the mercenaries who killed her parents.
Running from a scheming redhead intent on making her life miserable.
Running from painful memories that sabotage her dreams of happiness.

With two very tempting men competing for her attention, she hopes she'll finally have someone to run to, but can she trust either of them? When secrets from her past threaten her family, Cassidy decides to stop running and fight for her future.

Dying to Run

Cassidy Christensen wants to run.

Captured by the traffickers who killed her mother, her only hope is Dr. Tattoo, a man she loves but nobody trusts. When she finally gets a chance to run, someone else she cares about is taken. Running might be her only chance at survival, but she won’t allow another family member to be killed in her place. 

This must-read sequel to Dead Running will have you laughing, biting your nails, and hoping for more.


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Author Cami Checketts

Cami Checketts is married and the proud mother of four future WWF champions. Sometimes between being a human horse, cleaning up magic potions, and reading Bernstein Bears, she gets the chance to write fiction.

Cami graduated from Utah State University with a degree in Exercise Science. Cami teaches strength training classes at her local rec and shares healthy living tips on her fitness blog: http://fitnessformom.blogspot.com.

Cami and her family live in the beautiful Cache Valley of Northern Utah. During the two months of the year it isn't snowing, she enjoys swimming, biking, running, and water-skiing.


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Upcoming Blog Tour



Evermore by Alyson Noel

A friend of mine advised me to read Evermore because it had some eerily similar things in it to the manuscript I completed. Okay, my mouth was hanging open, unattractively at that, after reading the first couple of pages because Evermore's couple meets in the back of a high school classroom as the heroine takes a seat after being taunted by the popular girls. My couple meets in the back of a high school classroom as the heroine takes a seat after being taunted by the popular girls. Crrr-aaap!

Then I read on and the similarities ended, thank you very much, cuz I was literally dying and thinking I was going to have to rewrite everything. Ugh!

But the two stories have nothing in common so we are all good. Not that Ms. Noel had anything to worry about, it was all me, but you know...

Anyway, Evermore is a fantastic read with surprises. I like that. At first it seemed a lot like Twilight, you know, girl meets incredible looking boy who is mysterious and we think he is a vampire, only the actual writing is far tighter and better. Then just when I thought I had the plot pigeon-holed--BAM--it's not what I thought at all. I totally love being caught by surprise like that. Well done, well done. I can see why this book is so popular.

The Sweetheart Tree

Hi all. I just made a trailer for my new book. It was fun.

Book Report


THE SINGER'S CROWN by Elaine Issack

I admit it. I like fantasy books that follow the basic fantasy pattern, ie: young hero finds his true and mighty destiny and gets the fiesty girl on his way to saving the world. I do enjoy those. That being said, this book broke the patterns, and I immensely enjoyed it, partly due to the differences.

The hero isn't typical-- a castrate no less, nor does he have any designs on retaking his kingdom even when others drag him in to do it. And the rest of the characters follow suit, none of them are typical of the parts they play, a few are people who annoy you, yet you come to love and admire them as their own intervowen stories progress. Even the villian, surprisingly is somewhat likeable and truly loved by many of the other characters.

And to see his brother and sister mourn over the choices he makes and try to save him, even after he has done some horrible things in front of their eyes, is masterful true to life writing.

Definitely a book worth looking in to.

Good Hook

"When Jake Matthews walked out the door for his early morning run, he had no idea he’d be dead in twenty-three minutes. Nor that it would begin the biggest adventure of his life."

I jotted this down this morning. I've been working on a book off and on for a couple of years. You know, it's that book, the one that won't go away, that you have completely plotted out and know it inside and out, yet it is just too big of an idea to throw yourself completely into at this time in your life, so it percolates, always there, but never quite right, even while I'm actually working on it between other projects. The beginning, those first few crucial lines have never been right. I've rewritten them a quintillion times, but today I thought I had something good. I didn't realize how right until my 15 year old daughter came in and saw my scratchy lines, lying on my desk and startled me by saying, "Is this a life after death thing? or does he have an adventure in only 23 minutes?" I had hooked her. She had to know. So much so that instead of running off to do her own thing, she sat down at my computer while I pulled up the first chapter (all that's written so far) and she read it right then and there.

Yeah, I'm smiling.

So what's been your favorite first lines that hooked you?