"Edgy, Raw" Award-Winning YA Romance On Sale

The Truth About Letting Go, is on sale for 99 Cents this week/weekend (FREE in Kindle Unlimited). It's been three years since I wrote the story, but I still remember the emotions behind it so well.

I've never lost a parent, but at the time I was going grieving a different sort of loss. My life had taken a turn I never anticipated, and I was reeling with the pain of it, trying to understand why God would do this to me and my little family.

I won't go into details, but I'll just say I poured all that frustration and pain into this book in the form of Ashley trying to understand the sudden death of her father.

Some readers have sent me messages saying I got it exactly right. Some have said they identified with Ashley and the way she felt and acted after losing their own parents. Others said while they didn't react so violently to the loss of a loved one, their siblings or others close to them did.

Those are the most gratifying emails I ever receive.

The Truth About Letting Go is not always an easy read, but it was nominated as a finalist by The Kindle Book Award in 2013. I appreciated that recognition so much.

The story does have a happy ending, and we do find our heroine on the road to recovery by the end. I hope you'll read it and "get it." If you don't, that's okay.

Stay cool~

Here's the scoop:

THE TRUTH ABOUT LETTING GO is…

TOP 5 FINALIST, 2013 "Best Indie Book" awards, The Kindle Book Review

"If you're a fan of Sarah Dessen novels you should pick this one up!"--Harley Bear Book Blog

  

"FIVE STARS: Powerful, beautiful, and real... Rarely have I read a book like this one, that felt so real it could be true." -Steph's Book Reviews

“FIVE STARS: It's strange to see your feelings written on the pages of a book you didn't pen. It should be available for anyone who's experiencing loss/grief of any kind.” –Amazon Review

   

THE TRUTH ABOUT LETTING GO

By Leigh Talbert Moore

Two days ago Ashley Lockett's dad died. Her world fell apart, her mom withdrew, and her older brother "callously" returned to college to resume his normal life. Only life will never return to normal for Ashley--at least that's how it feels.

Rejecting her "queen bee" status, she befriends Jordan, a budding film director, and Charlotte, the daughter of a local shop keeper. They each help her forget the pain for a little while, but can they stop her from going off the rails with the new bad boy in town?

A story of faith, forgiveness, and the power of friendship.

★ Get it Today! (FREE in Kindle Unlimited)

Amazon  US: http://smarturl.it/TLGAA

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BHRY07Y

★ BOOK TRAILER: https://youtu.be/H-rXSZL2X38

On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/leightmoore/books-by-leigh-t-moore/

On Goodreads: http://smarturl.it/OTTgr

  

  

What Do Readers Think and #WIN!

Launching a new book is exciting and terrifying and always FUN!

The last time I went through this was June 30, 2014, with Mosaic, and I pretty much did it by myself. Haha!

This go-round I've teamed up with Inspired Kathy and YA Bound, two great services I've known since I released The Truth About Faking in Sept 2012. Basically, I love these guys!

If you missed it, Behind the Stars rolled out as a serialized novel on November 9. The first episode "Captive" (Ch. 1-5) is FREE on all platforms if you'd like a taste.

"Serialized" means the story is released in small chunks, like they used to do with novels in the old magazine days. Some readers dig the format, others don't. Regardless of which side you're on, ALL the "episodes" are out now, or you can get the complete novel by clicking here (link). 

Please follow the Tour, and you can WIN! What's up for grabs? Signed copies of Behind the Stars, "Captive" (Episode 1), SWAG!, or an Amazon Gift Card!

Here's the tour:

Blog Tour Schedule:

January 5:

New Adult Addiction - Review

Victoria Simcox's Blog - Promo Post

I Read Indie - Review

Mom With A Kindle - Review

January 6:  

The Rest Is Still Unwritten - Excerpt

My Full Bookshelf Reviews - Review
Books Unhinged - Promo Post

January 7:

Book Lovers Life - Promo Post

Feminist Reflections - Review

January 8:

Mischievous Reads - Review

A Flurry of Ponderings - Promo Post

The Book Hoarders - Review

January 9:

The Book Lovers' Lounge - Review

sweet treat reading reviews - Promo Post
Please Another Book - Review

January 12:

Roxy's Reviews - Review

Boundless Daydreamer - Promo Post

January 13:

Lost in Lit - Review

What's Beyond Forks? - Review

January 15:

Buried Under Books - Review
The Phantom Paragrapher - Review

The Perks of being a Book Nerd - Promo Post

January 16:

Confessions of a Y.A. and N.A. Book Addict - Review
Donnie Darko Girl - Review

Undercover Book Reviews - Review
Home Is Where the Wine Is Book Blog - Review

I hope you'll read Behind the Stars, and if you do, please leave a review! I love to hear what you think!

Happy 2015, reader-friends~

Behind the Stars is LIVE!

Happy New Year, reader-friends!

I hope you're having a wonderful time with family and friends. I know I am. My little ladies are home, and we've been going to movies, eating out, wishing the sunshine would reappear in the great Midwest...

In case you missed it ALL the "episodes" in Behind the Stars are now LIVE on Amazon!

The first one ("Captive") is FREE on all platforms. The other five are just 99 cents on Amazon only, and if you're a Kindle Unlimited member, you can borrow them all for FREE!

The complete novel is already out in print, and the eBook is everywhere Wednesday, Dec. 31! You can order it now, and it'll magically appear on your Kindle Tuesday night at midnight.  Or is it Wednesday morning? I never can tell...

Please leave a review and let me know what you think. I had a blast writing this one, and I hope to continue Prentiss's story if readers are interested.

In the meantime, check out these gorgeous fan-made memes for the serial:

Get "Captive" FREE (link)! 

"Learning to Spy" (#2) for 99 cents (link)!

Get "Harvest Moon" (#3) for 99 cents (link)!

Get "Jackson" (#4) for 99 cents (link)!

Get "Into the Woods" (#5) for 99 cents (link)!

Get "If I Fly" (#6) for 99 cents!

YAY! I love these gorgeous teasers. Please feel free to make your own and send them to me at behindthestars21@gmail.com!

Remember, you can buy the complete set/novel today for $3.99, and it will appear on your Kindle midnight Tuesday! Here is the link: http://smarturl.it/BTSAM

Print Copies are out NOW!

Amazon: http://smarturl.it/BTSPBA

CreateSpace: http://smarturl.it/BTSCS 

Thank you so much for reading--I hope you'll leave reviews.

Have a fantastic 2015~ 

Friend News & Fun Stuff (you can #WIN!)

Superfun announcements today!

First off, my good writer-friend Elle/Lee Strauss's book Sun & Moon (link) is LIVE!

It's a really great New Adult/Contemporary love story. I read an early draft of it, and fell in love. It's very clean--no coarse language or sex.

Sun & Moon is about a girl living in Germany, who is a struggling musician. She falls on hard times, is robbed, and is forced to make a tough decision until she meets a really great guy who helps her out. The only problem is he's hiding some issues himself...

Elle is a fantastic storyteller, and I recommend checking this one out!

Here's the scoop and your chance to WIN!

If you’re a fan of the movie Inside Llewyn Davis or ABC television’s Nashville, the Minstrel Series is for you!

The Minstrel Series is a collection of contemporary romance novels set in the singer/songwriter world. The books are companion novels, with shared settings and characters, but each are complete standalone stories with a HEA (happily ever after) and no cliffhangers!

She has a past. He has a secret.

Katja Stoltz is a risk-taking singer-songwriter hoping to make it in the indie music scene in Dresden, Germany. Micah Sturm's a brooding uptown banker on a quest.

Driven to the streets, Katja is picked up by Micah - but he doesn't want what she thinks he does.

There’s an undeniable attraction between them, a gravitational pull they both struggle to resist. Katja knows she mustn’t fall in love with this handsome enigma. There’s something dark lurking beneath the surface. He could be dangerous.

And even if her life isn’t on the line, her heart most definitely is.

 *not erotica - no explicit sex or coarse language

Get your copy today!

 Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes

Here's how you can #WIN!!!

Enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card, MP3s of all four songs featured on Sun & Moon, and a 12-month calendar from Dresden, Germany, featuring many of the settings found in Sun & Moon.

Dresden, Germany

Click here to enter (link)!

* * *

Free Books! Free Books!!!

We're still snowed in where I live and dealing with sub-zero temperatures and two-hour school delays...

But I'm doing my best to get back into my Mosaic notes. It's been a while since I looked at all of these, but I am so excited about the direction of this final installment of the Dragonfly series.

So what's all this about Free Books???

If you purchase the print copy of The Truth About Faking or Dragonfly on Amazon, you can get the Kindle version for FREE! It's true!

So you can get a copy for you (or a friend) and keep a copy... or gift it... or have both versions... or whatever you want!

ALL of my books are in the Kindle Matchbook Program--the others are buy the print version on Amazon, get the Kindle version for only 99 cents!

Here's the link to my Amazon Author page (link), where you can find a list of all my books in their different formats.

Thanks for being so awesome, reader-friends! Stay warm, and have a great week~

New Adult, Schmoo Adult

I almost titled this, "Why Categories are for Dummies." But that seemed a bit contrived...

Two important things you should know about me before reading this post:

#1-I used to be a high school English teacher, and
#2-I used to manage a book store.

Both of those jobs I only held for one year in my 20s, but I learned a lot about books and why we need fancy labels for them that seldom fit properly.

NA? YA? Who knows.

Over the weekend, I had a brief, unplanned mini-chat with writer-friend L.M. Augustine (link), who writes really funny romantic comedies. I'm sure you've heard of Two Roads (link).

(Aside, if you haven't, get it--Two Roads is FAB.)

He asked me if it would be okay to include one of my books in a list of "New Adult Books with Nice Guy Heroes and Little or No Sex." (link)

[**Free Tip, writer friends: If a writer-friend ever approaches you about promoting your books for free, the answer is always YES. And always, always follow up with a big THANK YOU.**]

Back to categories. The question became, "Which book?"

New Adult was such a charged category this time last year. Was it "sexed up YA"? Was it a genre dealing with the college years (which were pretty much unexplored at that time in commercial fiction)?

Get me; I am FAB!

Writer-friend Tammara Webber caused a commotion July 2012 with her self-published blockbuster Easy, which focused on a (gasp!) college romance and made the case for the latter definition.

But what about self-published sensations Hopeless by Colleen Hoover or Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay?

Both of them feature main characters who are seniors in high school, but were classified "New Adult."

Personally, I considered them YA in which the characters are dealing with heavy subjects not usually addressed in YA... But hang on just one minute. Is that true?

In my experience (see way up there ^ ^ ^), the most successful YA books often deal with heavy subjects. Anything John Green? Or the Hunger Games? (Actually, I think THG is now being targeted at middle school kids.)

Last week, I was part of a round-table discussion with my buds at YA Confidential (link) on literary vs. commercial fiction and how do we distinguish?

Someone tossed out the idea that "literary" is more character-driven and "commercial" is more plot-driven.

And then we tried to apply that rule, and we all started arguing about how it doesn't work in reality, and then we drifted to male vs. female writers, and then we got into "gratuitous diversity," and then I started rapping.

It was a productive round-table! (My good buddy Matt MacNish is a member, so yanno. I love those guys.)

What's it all about, Alfie? I don't know.

But L.M. Augustine has compiled a great List of "New Adult books with Nice Guy Heroes and Little to No Sex." (link)

We decided The Truth About Letting Go should be a part of the list. It's pretty sexy, it has characters who are both in high school and college, and it deals with heavy subject matter...

New Adult? Get me & decide.

It also has the truest nice-guy hero I think I've ever written in Jordan.

LM also asked "where have you been?" Well, I'm in the cave working on a Top Sekrit Project, reader-friends. I hope one day to share it with you.

In the meantime, here are some Fun Reminders:

-Dragonfly is only 99 cents now! Get started on this fun series that's either New Adult or mature YA... I don't know. (The series grows up with the characters.)

-I have a SWAG STORE! If you want merch or posters or postcards or iPhone cases featuring the covers of any of my books, Go Here (link).

Have a super week, reader-friends! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Paperbacks make great gifts. (wink wink, nudge nudge)

((Hugs)) to all of you! Enjoy your books, regardless of category~

I've Crossed to the Dark Side

Happy Monday, readers!

School's back in, and I'm back to the lab again, yo'~

On Amazon

But first, let me say a HUGE THANKS and give LONG, SQUISHY Virtual Hugs to everyone who participated in the release tour for Undertow!

I absolutely love this book, and so far it seems readers do, too! I also love hearing from you guys, so keep the emails, Facebook posts, Tweets, etc. coming!

Watercolor Cover Reveal happens August 21, and I am just DYING for you guys to see it. I wish I could show it to you all right now. It's so gorgeous.

Julian fans are going to sah-woon over this one.

Again, HUGE THANKS to the lovely and talented Jolene Perry, who knocks my sox off with her cover design skillz.

Please sign up to participate in the cover reveal (link)!

And you can read more about Watercolor and add it to your TBR list on Goodreads (link).

* * *

I made an Important Discovery over the weekend, friends. You ready? Here goes: I know why artists are crazy.

(I'm including myself in this "artists" category because I think that includes me now. I've got five books out and am simultaneously working on two more... That's right. I said two at the same time.)

Here's how my Important Discovery went down:

A few weeks ago, I got this Big Idea for a new book--something crazy-new. Totally different. Of course, I have NO time for that. Watercolor comes out Oct. 3!

And while you might think Oct. 3 is far, far away, I've got to have eARCs ready for book reviewers at least four weeks before that.

So what do I do? Well, I was just going to make some notes, store it in the Idea File, and finish Watercolor...

Two weeks later, I have a whole new book written.

What I did not do coming off the back-to-back release of Dragonfly AND Undertow (a month apart):
-take a break,
-socialize with friends,
-get out of the house,
-do anything besides stare at a computer screen immersed in an imaginary world...

I did not! I dove right back into another one. And not just any other one, but a dark, ultra-sexy, adult one.

New Book started out as just an experiment, and I confess, I fell in love with these characters and their problems. It's a stand-alone, it's HEA, it's supah-sexy... And for the first time, I'm conceding that I must use a pen name, friends. I must.

And (Note: here's where the *crazy artist* kicks in) I got mad about it.

I want to own my work. I want to go On Record and say, "Yes, this is different. This might surprise or even shock you. See if you can get over that and love this story as much as I do."

Of course, I can't do that. At least not yet.

Readers want a certain thing. Family and friends expect a certain thing. I'm not at that level yet where I'm untouchable. (Does anybody ever get to that level? Really?)

I don't know. I'm still grumpy about it.

Which only goes to prove I've crossed over to the Dark Side. Next thing you know, I'll be wearing strange clothing and using an unpronounceable symbol instead of my name.

I hope you'll all remember me when. 

Have a super week, reader-friends! I'm so excited because in addition to writing this week, I'm beta reading books by FAB author friends, Magan Vernon and Hart Johnson. *squee*!!!

And I'll be back with more fun news next week~ 

Happy Birthday Undertow! And Readers FT #WIN!

(I know, you're all "Wait. Didn't that just...")

So many FAB reader-friends are helping me celebrate today, and I just wish I could hug you all in person!

I can't, so here's a big, virtual ((squeeze)) to everyone who's read my books or plans to--and even more to all you sweeties who've already added Watercolor to your Goodreads TBR shelf.

Amazing.

Back in 2010, when I'd written Dragonfly (#1), there wasn't a market for this kind of book--New Adult, where characters graduate high school, start their careers (or their lives), etc.

On Amazon

Agents liked my concept, and I got loads of compliments.... but no takers.

At that time, self-publishing was not an option, so I sadly put Undertow in the virtual drawer, shed a few tears, believed it would take a miracle for it to see the light of day...

My heart broke.

Undertow is a tough, tragic read, but I love it so much. And I was sure no one would ever read it.

So I can't tell you how much this day means to me.

Every single positive review makes me smile, and I wish I could just squeeze you again!

The Dragonfly series was my first book dream, and now it's coming true.

THANK YOU! 

Today for me is all about dreams coming true, the power of READERS, and just yanno... *sigh* I'm just smiling over here.

Have a SUPER day, reader- and writer-friends~

* * *

And Hey! Don't forget your chance to #WIN!

We've got signed print copies, exclusive Watercolor eARCs, your very own personal journal to fill, and MORE!

And remember, Dragonfly is ON SALE this week for 99 cents! If you haven't read it yet, get it Today!

On Amazon 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

First Undertow Picture Teaser

It's coming...

July 18 is the official release date for Undertow, #2 in the Dragonfly series.

Reader-friends, I confess: I really love this book, even though it focuses on a dark topic--the events that led to the death of Meg Kyser and why they're being kept a secret.

Of course, you have the hopeful start of Anna & Julian's budding relationship for balance, and the bad stuff all happened in the past (revealed Rashomon style, link, through the three journals).

I guess I like it because it's so sadly real and human. Three young people, two highly ambitious, who start out with good intentions (for the most part) and then make mistakes, try to control each other, try to fix their mistakes, make more, mess up a whole bunch of lives... yanno.

I guess in a way, it's similar to the Truth books because there's a message in Undertow. At the same time, it should appeal to Rouge fans, since it's New Adult--meaning the characters are post-high school/college age and it contains more mature content. (Of course, it's not erotica.)

So without further ado, here's the first picture teaser--and let me know what you think:

On Goodreads

I also revised the description. See what you think:

Undertow
by Leigh Talbert Moore

Falling in love will pull you under...

-Bill Kyser has a plan to take the sandy farms of his hometown and turn them into a world-class tourist destination--and become a billionaire in the process. 
-Alexandra "Lexy" LaSalle has a plan to change her life by becoming a world-famous artist. 
-Meg Weaver has a plan to hold onto Bill no matter what she has to do.

Three friends, three dreams.
One fatal decision will change all their lives forever.

In Dragonfly, Bill Kyser gave Anna the three journals that held the story behind the powerful developer's seclusion and the damaged lives of his family members.

Anna hopes to find a way for Julian to know the truth, but as she digs deeper into the tragic events of the past, she realizes silence could be their only option.

Now she's in an alliance with the man she formerly feared. And if Julian finds out what she knows, she could lose the boy she's starting to love for good.

On Amazon

Coming July 18--Add Undertow today on GoodReads!

Get Dragonfly today on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo

It's EASY to join the Release Day Launch for Undertow! Click Here, fill in the form, and you'll be sent all the information for July 18 for your blog or Facebook page.

THANK YOU!!! for your help spreading the word about my new series.

* * *

I'll be back with a new picture-teaser Friday!

Have a great week, reader-friends~