The Launch of my Newsletter: Sign Up Now

Hey guys,

So, as most of you have noticed, the reach on Facebook has drastically decreased over this past year.   Even though I have a lot of ‘Likes” and “friends”, only a fraction of them (You) see what I post.

Soooooooo, I’ve finally bit the bullet and I’m going to do a newsletter.  I started the process a long time ago, but never actually did it, because let’s face it, when it comes to doing anything other than writing, I don’t usually want to do it.  Lol.

BUT, I mean it this time.  I’m doing a newsletter.  I promise, I won’t flood your inboxes every other day.  I’ll only do one when I have something to announce or something cool to share.  (Because again, when it comes to doing anything other than writing, I’m a bit reticent about it.  Read that as:  Lazy).

Readers who subscribe to my newsletter will hear announcements first, and will be eligible for special giveaways exclusive to the newsletter.    The first edition will go out MONDAY, August 25th, so sign up before then if you want to be in on it from the beginning.

Go to the CONTACT PAGE on my website, scroll down on the right hand side, and you’ll see where you can sign up.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!

The Minaldi Legacy: Cover reveal!

Hey guys,

So, awhile back, I took a poll on what you wanted to see from me next.  Confessions of an Alli Cat and Of Blood and Bone finished up very close to each other.  So, I chose the sequel to Of Blood and Bone to write next because I had ended book one on sort of a cliffhanger.

In January, I’ll be releasing book two in the Minaldi Legacy, Of Darkness and Demons.  BUT, I’m going to do it in a special way.  I’m going to release it in a two-part book, with part one (Of Blood and Bone) included, for those readers who haven’t read it yet.   It will be a special price for a limited time after release– so you’ll get two books for the price of one.  Woohooo!  I’m super excited about it.

But anyway, today I’m here to unveil the cover for The Minaldi Legacy.

I love LOVE the cover.  I think it’s perfect for the book.  It looks like the tunnels that run beneath Luca’s home, Chessarae.

And I’m SUPER EXCITED to release part two of this story.  I LOVE Luca.  LOVE him.

Okay.  I hope you love this cover as much as I do– and I hope you’re just as excited as I am about the conclusion of Luca and Eva’s story.  I can’t wait to share it with you!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

 

Help me decide what to write! (Pretty-please :)

Hey guys!  Happy Monday!

Okay, so I’m sitting here in my office, trying to shuffle around my writing schedule for the year.  I’ve turned book three of the Beautifully Broken series in to my editor and now…. my schedule needs some attention.  I could use YOUR help in deciding what to write this year. I’d like to know what YOU want to read!  🙂

I have a couple of brand new story ideas floating around in my head, so hopefully those will gt written sometime this year. But in addition to those, I’m thinking that Brand (from the Beautifully Broken series) needs his own book.   If I wrote Brand’s story, would you want to read it?

And…. I’m trying to decide which sequel to fit into my schedule first.  Can you tell me which you’d most like to read?

 

Thank you VERY much for your help. I wish I had more hours in the day so that I could write every story in my head, but until that happens, I really am interested in what you would most like to see from me.  🙂

Thank you for voting and have a fabulous Monday!

My Street-Team: Club Underground

Hey guys,

So, an awesome reader, Courtney DeLollis, is setting up a street team for me…called Club Underground.  The name comes from a fictional bar in my Beautifully Broken series.

If you aren’t familiar with the term street-team, it’s just a group of readers/bloggers/fans who get together and help promote an author, by spreading buzz and helping to share news.  It’s a group on Facebook– and inside the group, you can joke around, chat, get information about me and my work ahead of the rest of the world– and you’ll be able to chat with me one-on-one.

If you’re interested in joining Club Underground, just contact Courtney DeLollis at:  courtneydelollis@comcast.net    Or you can friend her on FB and get the skinny.  OR you can look up Club Underground on Facebook and request to join.

It’s going to be a lot of fun– so I hope to see you there!  (Come join the party!!)

 

 

 

It’s Finally Time! Excerpt One from IF YOU LEAVE

You guys.  I woke up this morning and realized that IF YOU LEAVE  (Book 2 in the Beautifully Broken series) releases in less than a month!  OMGOSH!

Do you know what that means?  It’s time to start releasing excerpts.  I’ll be doing one a week up until IF YOU LEAVE releases on August 6th.   For next week’s, you’ll see the excerpt on RT, but I’ll post the link here.  🙂    I’ll also be doing a bunch of fun contests with a bunch of awesome prizes, too… but the details for those will come next week.

26-year old Gabriel Vincent is a badass hero. Or he used to be, anyway. As an ex-Army Ranger, Gabe never thought he needed anyone. But after one horrible night in Afghanistan scars him in a way that he can’t get past, he needs someone who can help him heal…even if he doesn’t realize it.

25-year old Madison Hill doesn’t need anybody…or so she thinks. She grew up watching her parents’ messed-up abusive relationship and she knows there’s no way in hell that she’s ever letting that happen to her.

They don’t know it in the beginning, but Gabriel and Madison will soon develop a weakness: Each other.

But Gabriel’s got a secret, a hidden monster that he’s afraid Maddy could never overcome… And Maddy’s got issues that she’s afraid Gabe will never understand. They quickly realize that they need each other to be whole, but at the same time they know that they’ve got demons to fight.

And the problem with demons is that they never die quietly…

*****

-And now… EXCERPT ONE, from Gabriel’s Point of View:

“To answer your question, I’m here at the club because my little sister thought I should come out and meet someone.  To quote her, I’m ‘getting mean as hell and need a piece of ass.’”

Madison laughs, a low and husky sound.

“Do you?  Need a piece of ass?”

She sounds anxious. And interested.

I hold her gaze.

“More than you can imagine.”

I slide my hands from her back down to her ass, cupping it, squeezing it.

“And I like yours,” I add.  I’m being cocky again, but she seems to like it.

She practically purrs as she leans into me even closer, her nose almost touching mine. Her lips hover so close that I can feel them.

She slides her hands down to my ass, gripping it in her fingers.

“Yours will do.”

The air hangs heavy between us, charged and electric.  Our eyes are locked and we each pause, waiting for the other to make a move.

The anticipation is killing me.

I take a breath.

Then she takes one.

Her lips graze mine and her mouth smells like mint.  And then before I can think another agonizing thought, she covers my mouth with her own.

Finally.

********

I know… it’s short.  I’m a tease.  Lol.   I seriously cannot wait to release Maddy and Gabriel into the world… and now the countdown begins!  Eeepp!   Also, if you’d like to pre-order IF YOU LEAVE, you can find it HERE on Amazon– then it will be waiting for you on your Kindle on release day.    If you have a Nook, you can pre-order it HERE on B&N.

I hope you have a fabulous Friday!

My week in NYC at BEA!

Soooo, I spent the majority of last week in New York City.  And it was my first time there. Wowza!  What a city!

I live very near Chicago, so when I first arrived, I thought it seemed a lot like Chicago.  No big deal, right?   A regular big city.   Um, no.  It wasn’t until I took a helicopter tour on my next to last day there that I saw how big and vast it really is.  This is an aerial picture — and you can’t get the full gist of it.  But still.  Maybe you can get an idea.

I saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time, toooooo.  Eeeeppp.  So exciting.  The helicopter flew right past it.   The statue was closed for repairs, so we couldn’t tour the lovely Lady herself, but I wanted to make sure I got as close to her as possible… which is why my awesome hubby arranged a surprise helicopter tour. I think I’ll be keeping him.

And I saw the Empire State Building, too.

And we flew right over Yankee Stadium:

I didn’t have time to do a bunch of touristy stuff, though.  I was in meetings and at BEA, but I met so many cool people in person.  I have spoken to all of these awesome peeps a million times, but never saw them face-to-face.  But now I have faces to attach to their names and voices, which is cool.  I’m very bummed that I didn’t get a picture of my awesome editor, Amy.  😦    I’ll have to get one next time.

But…. here’s a pic of me and the amazing Jessica Sorensen.  We were at BEA together on Thursday.  And interesting fact– Jessica and I were on the same flight from Chicago to NYC– and we didn’t even know it!  When I found the driver who had come to get me, I saw another driver who was holding up her name.   And then we put the pieces together and realized that we had been on the same flight.  Too funny.

On Friday, I met my AWESOME agent, Catherine Drayton in person.  She’s so adorably tiny.  Like, super tiny.  I’m a gigantic Amazon, but standing next to Catherine, I’m even more so.  She has the most charming Australian accent ever, too.  She thinks she looks jetlagged in this pic, but I think she looks adorable.  And amazingly tiny.

And here’s one of me and my spitfire awesome publicist, K.P. Simmon.  Her red hair totally fits her personality– in a good way.  🙂  She takes such good care of me.

As you might remember, Michelle Leighton and I ran a contest for breakfast and a private book signing with us in NYC.  Here’s a group pic of the winners, Michelle and me.  We ate at Nougatine in NYC– and that green bit that you see in the windows behind us is the only green in NYC.  Central Park.  🙂   From left to right:  Teresa Mary Rose’s awesome mama, Mary, Teresa Mary Rose, (my winner)  Me, Michelle Leighton, Anne Marie (Michelle’s winner), and Anne Marie’s super cool friend, Teresa.  Mimosas and fun were had by all.  🙂

This is me and my gorgeous BFF, Michelle Leighton.

I did manage to cram in a few touristy things.  My husband and I took a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park, I walked down Broadway and into Times Square, and I went shopping on Fifth Avenue.  I also rode the subway across town once, when I went for that helicopter tour.  All in all, NYC was quite an experience.  While I’m glad to be home, I’m definitely looking forward to my next trip to the Big Apple.

I’ll leave you with a pic of Broadway at night.   Have a great Monday, everyone!

 

Info about the sequel to Of Blood and Bone

Hey guys,

Sooooo.  A commonly asked question that I’ve been getting a LOT lately, is “When will the sequel to Of Blood and Bone be out?” I’ve even been getting some…shall we say…. less than polite emails.

I’m really sorry that it has taken so long.  I really am.  Trust me, I want to finish up Luca’s story, too.  I love him.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that he might be my favorite character that I’ve written.

This is the thing, though.  Since I signed The Beautifully Broken series with a big publisher, that pushed The Beautifully Broken series up to the top of my schedule because I’m contractually (legally) bound to produce it by specific dates.  I am working on edits now for If You Leave (book 2) and then I’ll have the third book to write and edit.

I will be working on Luca’s story whenever I can (in between edits and writing book three).  I might even try to write it at the same time as I’m writing book three, as much as I can.   There always comes a time though, in every story, that I can’t do two stories at once.  I get too immersed in one– and there’s no way that I want to compromise either story.

You have my solemn word though- that I will write it as soon as I can.     Luca’s story will wrap up on one more book- and I can tell you right now that it’s gonna get a little dark.  With Luca involved, you had to know that was coming.   In fact, the title itself is Of Darkness and Demons.  

Anyway, I just wanted to give you a status update on that.  And to let you know that it will be coming.  I promise.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

My new leading man… and a couple other announcements!

Happy Saturday!

Okay, I just have a few things to announce.

First, If You Stay should be available globally now.  So, if you live outside of the US, it should now be available to you.   Yay!!

Second, Marlon Teixteira won the poll yesterday.  So, this gorgeousness will be looking at me as Dominic from my storyboard every day:

Thank you to everyone who voted!  I can’t wait to announce more details about Dominic and the rest of book 3 in the Beautifully Broken series.   I’m so excited about it!

And last but not least, I have a new assistant… Avery.  So if you see his name floating around here and there, just know that he’s my assistant and he’s doing things on my behalf.   He’s going to help me do some really cool things on Tumblr, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.  He’s awesome and I’m sure you’ll love him as much as I do.

I hope you’re having a fabulous Saturday!

Help me choose my new Leading Man… (Pretty-please)

Okay, folks…

I’m fickle today and I’m putting together my storyboard for book three of the Beautifully Broken series.  I can’t decide who should be my next book boyfriend.  I mean, my next leading man.  Hehe.

His name is Dominic.  And he’s a dark and tortured bad boy.  (I love me a dark and tortured bad boy!).

Do you think Bruno Santos….

OR

Marlon Teixeira?

Both are yummy, I know.  Decisions, decisions.  Can you help a girl out?  Which do you vote?

My Big News!

I’m really horrible at keeping secrets- and this one has been a big, huge doozy.  I’ve almost imploded a dozen times already- so I’m happy to say that I can finally announce my news now.  Whew!

I’m very excited to announce that my book, IF YOU STAY (and the two books following it in the Beautifully Broken series) have been picked up by Forever, which is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing (Hachette).

–>> –>> insert crazy laughter, swooning, running in circles, then dropping on the floor in exhaustion <– <—-

What does this mean to me?  Well, it means that my series will have the powerhouse backing of Hachette.  The distribution will be wider than I could ever have accomplished otherwise, which means that more people will have the opportunity to see and read my books.  *has heart palpitations from excitement*

What does this mean to you?  Well, that expanded distribution means that when this series comes out in paperback (which will be in summer 2014), you will be able to walk into any bookstore and pluck them off the shelves.  Yay!!  As an author, that’s so exciting to me.  A dream come true, really.  It also means that the e-books in this series will be available on all platforms– Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iTunes, Sony… instead of just Kindle and Nook.

The sequel to If You Stay, titled IF YOU LEAVE, will be coming out this fall in e-book form.  September, I believe.  I’ll announce the exact date when I know it.  Then the paperback will follow at a later date.  And DID I MENTION IT WILL BE AVAILABLE IN YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE??   *squeals and collapses*

So isn’t this exciting!!??   I would run in circles again, but I’m too tired from the first time.  This is all still surreal to me– this entire last month has been a crazy whirlwind of awesome.

Seeing my books in bookstores will be a dream come true.   Seeing my book on the New York Times bestseller list was another dream come true– and YOU made that happen.  I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate each of you.  Seriously- I’m so, so thankful for you.  And I’m so thankful to my agent, Catherine Drayton for taking me under her wing and to Amy Pierpont from Hachette for seeing potential in my books.  *faints*

And I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again- I’m also very thankful to Kelly Simmon, my awesome publicist.  Her capable hands guided the release of IF YOU STAY into something more successful than I would ever have dreamed.  I’m gonna marry her someday, probably.

So anyway.  That’s my news.  I’ve got to get back to writing now- I’ve got a deadline to keep.   I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!