Spring Break, Spring Books, and #WINNING!

It's Spring Break, reader-friends! whoop whoop!!!

I'm still in the Midwest at the moment, but my Southern home-fries are enjoying 70 degree sunshine (my dad told me he had to cut the grass yesterday--!), and we're looking forward to hitting the road, chasing the sun!

Incidentally, I'll be spending the week right smack in the setting of The Dragonfly Series! Yep, OBA FTW! Mosaic is cruising along nicely, and it's looking like a May/June release date...

I'll be posting Mosaic updates as they occur in April~

This week is a writing break for me, but that means it's a time to READ! And I've got TWO fantastic new books to share with you today... and Two ways to WIN!

First up is a New Adult contemporary romance by a great writer-friend of mine Elle/Lee Strauss!

I read Sun and Moon, the first book in this "series," and loved it! You can get it FREE on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. (links below) But it's not a true series, as each book can be read in any order.

Check it out:

Introducing Flesh & Bone, a contemporary romance

(The Minstrel Series #2)

Coming April 3rd!

(Another amazing cover by the very talented Steven Novak of Steven Novak Designs!)

Here's the blurb:

She can’t remember. He can’t forget. Eva Baumann is invisible. Sebastian Weiss is famous. In a perfect world Eva would be fearless and Sebastian would be guiltless.

It’s not a perfect world.

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 is a complete stand-alone story with a HEA (happily ever after) and no cliffhangers! 

FLESH & BONE INCLUDES MORE GREAT ORGINAL MUSIC MP3s!

Haven't read #1 Sun & Moon? Get it FREE!!!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo'

And now for your first chance to WIN!

Click Here! And enter to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card and three MP3s, including Flesh and Bone! (link)

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The second New Release I have for you today is an *adult* romance by the leader of the Romance Writers of America group I'm in here. It's about a HOT Fireman, and it sounds yummy!

Check it out~

Love Over Troubled Waters

by Lanora Mangano

On Amazon

Here's the blurb:

It should have been a normal drive home from work for Maggie Connors.  However, a freak rain storm had other plans for her when the bridge she crossed, in her car, collapsed plunging her into the river below.

Para Rescue man, Jake Madison wasn't looking for a life changing event, but he got just that when he saved Maggie's life.  He couldn't get the red hair beauty out of his mind but was determined to give her back the courage she lost in the traumatic event.

For more information about LaNora's upcoming books, please visit:

www.findinglanora.weebly.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lanora-Mangano/527909407268248

Get your copy of Love Over Troubled Waters on Amazon Today!

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Now for your second chance to #WIN! 

Hop over to my group blog YA Confidential EVERY MONDAY and enter to win a Free Book!

We post "From the Vault" questions and answers, and one lucky commenter wins the book of his or her choice every week!

Any book, every week! 

Check it out (link)~

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Now I'm headed to pack. I hope you all have a fantastic week. Stay warm, read a book, and keep in touch! Love ya~

Fairy Houses & Finishing Up

I don't know about you guys, but this year is flying for me. Spring broke in the Midwest about two weeks ago (to everyone's surprise), and my daughters learned a new activity: building Fairy Houses.

When we moved here last summer, Catherine and several of her friends from our previous home in Baldwin County, Ala., invented this thing called Fairy World. They all meet there at night while they're sleeping and play and have adventures, and when they talk on the phone, they discuss what they did. It's how they pretend to still be together. 

The Mom in me gets very sentimental about that little game. These girls have been friends since they were three years old, and last June, they said good-bye to each other as we moved 850 miles away. It was tough.

And now we're here, the girls are making new friends, and some of those new friends have taught them to make Fairy Houses. They gather assorted objects from the yard--flowers, feathers, rocks, shells, sticks--find a safe nook at the base of a tree or on a ledge, and assemble it all into a "house."

They spend hours doing it, and they're lovely! Now they say that's where they meet for their play-dates. Le sigh.

Some fairies live here.

In other news, if you've been following, you know I spent this month doing the 30K in 30 Days challenge with the lovely and talented Janet Johnson (link) of the Hacky Sack Club.

I'm at 57,200 on my south Mississippi sci-fi, and I'm feeling good about bringing that one home. I know my characters, I know what's about to happen, and I know the end.

Complication: Today marks Day 1 of my daughters' two-week spring break (yes, you read that right). I've been pushing to get my WIP to that point where it's sailing to the end because I'm worried how all this togetherness is going to affect my writing schedule.

How am I handling this? Janet and I are renewing the 30K challenge for April. If you'd like to join, hop on! It's an honor-system challenge. If you miss a day writing 1K, you have to post an embarrassing video (or story) on your blog. Easy peasy! And it works.

As for burying the lede, I'm going out on subs again in April. Wish me luck, kids. I have no idea what to expect.

Others live here.

My plan is not to think about it. I'll be working on JACKSON and hoping I'm a skilled enough writer to accomplish what's in my head for the climax and conclusion.

And one of the weeks, we'll be headed south to visit all those little fairies we left behind.

Good luck to my bleeps doing the A-Z Challenge (link) and those rock stars who've made it to the quarter-finals in the ABNA (link)! Three great bloggy friends are there, and one's my super-awesome critter Tami-Hart Johnson (link).

April is the cruelest month, according to Eliot, but my yard looks about as far from a Waste Land as you can get. I say let's break with tradition this year. The weather's already setting records. Let's get some fairy dust and make it magical. It's working for the girls.

Have a great week, reader- and writer-friends! <3

Nerds on spring break...

Driving in from the coast yesterday, my oldest complained that she wanted to stay all week.

"But then you wouldn't get to see Grammy!" I tried to console her. "And Daddies don't get spring break," Richard said.

Catherine's response: "When I grow up, I'm not going to work. I'm going to sit around all day in my slippers and eat chips."

Of course I had to ask. Doritos.

Living near the beach, we've become very aware of plastic and its effect on the sea life. We reuse and recycle, and I'm one of those nerds who hauls the cloth bags into the grocery.

I'm also the nerd who arranges all my items on the conveyer belt so they fit neatly in the bags and don't make them too heavy for me to carry.

Most checkers don't even make eye contact.

Imagine my surprise when a colorful-haired Asian boy checker looks up and says, "I like the way you organized your items."

I smiled and couldn't think of a thing to say. Is that a thank you moment?

It was definitely a "Nerd Alert" moment. And a potential character interaction was wrinkled in my little writer's brain...

Lots of Book Reviews - That Summer, H.B.S., Geek Charming, etc.

Woo! Next week is spring break in Baldwin County!

Many of you will be here, many of you are hitting Disney. I expect lots of funny pix on Facebook.

So I reported a while back that I've been updating my knowledge of current YA fiction for girls since deciding to hit the market with Debut Novel. And I have to gush, it's been so much fun!

I seriously love this stuff. I grew up addicted to Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Francine Pascal, you name it. Pretty much anything like that I devoured.

Naturally, Debut Novel falls into that category of books. However, I was also a Nancy Drew fan, so I wanted to throw in a little mystery. I think it works. Now I'm trying to convince the gatekeepers...

Since I've been reading so many of these books lately, I felt I should share in case any of you out there are looking for a fun, beach read.

First, That Summer, by Sarah Dessen is amazing. I could not put the book down, and it was not at all what I expected. Loved it. Go out and get it now. Don't be misled by the cover image--not once does any character do a cartwheel on the beach...

Loved, loved, loved the book. That being said, I also read The Truth About Forever by S.D., and loved it, too-! I discussed this one earlier under "eerie conicidences" because it has similar themes to DN. Anyway, S.D. might become a favorite author.

Bloom by Elizabeth Scott was good, but I felt like it was unfinished. There were details I would've liked to know about the characters, and I didn't really feel like the story concluded. More like it just stopped. But it stayed with me, and that's a great thing for any book.

I'm looking at another of Scott's books, Something, Maybe, to read next. It's recommended by S.D., so I'm optimistic.

Robin Palmer has a fun sense of humor and her books are very clean for all you parents reading. Geek Charming turned out to be super-sweet, although I didn't like the ending. Little Miss Red wasn't as tight as G.C., but it was funny and entertaining. Her books are like the literary equivalent of Clueless.

On Monday I finished Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon, and I'm still trying to decide if I'd categorize it as YA. Some situations described are v. adult. I suppose a 16 year-old could handle it, but I'd be selective if I had a sensitive reader.

It took me a week to get to Page 130, and I almost put it down a few times. But at last it took off and soared through to the end. I didn't think it was as scary as it was billed, but the conclusion was satisfying.

Before that I read Forever by Judy Blume. Being a fan of hers, I was surprised I'd never seen this title in my private school library. Richard informed me it's her "sex book."

Hello! He's right. Now how did he know that, and I didn't? Clearly even the boys will read J.B. if there's sex in it. Ha ha.

Yesterday I finished Deb Caletti's Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, and yes, if you're keeping track, that's two days after finishing Promise Not to Tell. My taste in books is showing...

H.B.S. just flew out of the gate. I was on p. 155 after two hours just loving it, but then it sort of got lost on the way to the bathroom. I mean, I get it that D.C. had to figure out a way to resolve the love situation she had created, but I wasn't sure I bought it.

Somebody that emotionally powerful isn't so easily gotten rid of in my opinion, which is what she set up through the mom and the Lillian character. And I kept wanting some verbal show-down. The one we get is a bit unsatisfying.

But it was a fun read. I definitely recommend picking it up. I laughed, I cried. And it's a National Book Award finalist. Bonus!

Also interesting to me was that Caletti was a journalist before becoming a novelist, although I'm not sure how long she worked as a journalist. I also read that her first four books are still unpublished. bluh...

So there you go. And I'd love to hear any recommendations from you guys!