Art Thou, Destined?

Friday, October 28, 2011


When Psyche receives a prophecy gone horribly wrong, she learns that even the most beautiful girl in Greece can have a hideous future. Her fate? Fall in love with the one creature even the gods fear.

As she feels herself slipping closer into the arms of the prophecy, Psyche must choose between the terrifyingly tender touch she feels almost powerless to resist and the one constant she's come to expect out of life: you cannot escape what is destined.


TGIF!!!!

Who's excited for the weekend? Me me me!!! Is anybody dressing up?

I have special treat for you today! My book review of Destined, by Jessie Harrell.

For those of you that follow or read this blog, you know me, I'm Greek Myth fanatic and Greek myth re-telling fanatic. And as far as re-tellings go, Destined, is God-like and fantastic!

Destined is a re-telling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. In the myth, Psyche is a beautiful maiden, who knows that she's beautiful and even claims to be more beautiful than Aphrodite herself. Enraged, Aphrodite persuades Cupid to shoot Psyche with one of his golden arrows, cursing her to fall in love with a creature so vile, so repulsive, and so horrifying, that no mortal would even think about loving it.

But what the Goddess of Love doesn't expect is for Cupid to accidentally prick himself with his own arrow and fall in love with Psyche himself. With every passing second, Cupid falls deeper and deeper in love with the beautiful mortal and he knows he cannot carry out his mission.

Aphrodite is furious that Cupid failed to follow through with her plan.So she places a curse on Psyche, so that all of her gentleman callers will still find her beautiful, but none of them will desire her as a wife.

In this romantic tale of love and jealousy, despite all the drama, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

What I liked more than anything in Harrell's version of the myth is that you actually feel like you're there. In Ancient Greece. The time is very vividly depicted.

And the interactions between Cupid and Psyche are sensationally-swoon worthy! (most of the time)

This book was magnificent! If you love Greek myths and re-tellings as much as I do... DO NOT HESITATE to pick this up! I promise.... you will not be disappointed.

So what are you waiting for? Add it on goodreads!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Cheers!

Take A Walk On The Dark Side...

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Happy Hump Day, Readers!

I don't know about you guys, but I'm super excited for Halloween! My fav holiday! Whoo!

So today I'm posting my last three stops on the A Whisper To A Scream blog tour! YaY!

Some people don't like to walk on the dark side... I do. The dark side is sinister and challenging. I'll forever be a huge fan of dark and creepy books. I guess I can thank R.L Stein and V.C Andrews for that. Their books fueled my hunger for the dark and creepy.

I think I will probably always write dark books. Sometimes I like to throw in a few romances here and there, but for the most part most of my books will be creepy, dark, and horrific.

Here are a few that I'm working on; Sineater. (This is the first YA book I've ever written that's told entirely from a male POV. Trevor is my MC and he's pretty bad-a**.)

The Lady in Red~ This one is fun so far... It's a YA re-telling of the tale of Elizabeth Bathory.

And this one is my favorite..... :) Vlad & Liz a YA re-telling of Dracula... BEFORE he was a vampire...Personally, I think he was driven mad after Elizabeth and that's what led him to drink blood in the first place.

And if you guys didn't get a chance to check out my guest posts & interviews, check them out here!

Interview on Nymphaux with Jill!

Interview on Courtney Reads!

Guest Post on Jessie Harrell's blog!

And tomorrow you can check my out my vlog of the creepiest scene from A Whisper To A Scream on L.M Preston's blog.

One more thing..... If you're an R.L Stein fan, like me....

Cheers!

Happy Halloween!

Finding Your Inner Voice....

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Readers~

I hope everyone is having an awesome Tuesday!

Today's post is about finding your inner voice with your writing.

Voice in writing is key. Let's face it, if a person can't connect to the voice of your MC your book is going to fall flat.

Sometimes, you can find your voice right away. Sometimes it takes years. Me personally, I just found mine. And it took me eight years to find it.

Below I've provided several helpful hints that might help you in finding your inner voice.

1. Test out different tenses - One thing I've learned is that testing out different tenses is a good thing. Some people are better at past tense, some are better at present. This whole time I thought I was a past tense writer and I'm not. I'm much more comfortable with present tense. It flows easier and I'm able to put more emotion into my characters.

2. Test out different POV's - Some writers are better at third person, while others are better at first. Write your characters from all of POV's then decide which one works best for you or which one flows more freely.

3. Know your characters inside and out - Fully flesh out your characters. Know their likes, their dislikes, know their feelings. Most importantly, know how they'd react in a situation... And remember this; even though sometimes we put pieces of ourselves into our characters. WE ARE NOT THEM. You are not your character. And it's important that you know how to separate yourself from the character. Because let's face it, we put our character's through hell and we wouldn't necessarily do what they do.

Hopefully some of this helps!

Cheers! <3

He Loves Me...He Loves You Not

Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Yay!

Today is the release day of my steamy YA/romance novella, He Loves Me...He Loves You Not.

Riley loves Henry. Henry loves Riley, but he's dating Callie.

Riley Davis is mixed up in an emotional love triangle that she wants out of.

But she can't help the way she feels about Henry Garner. She's obsessed. And she's convinced that her on the sly relationship with Henry is going to end badly.

And Henry has a secret. A secret that could make or break one relationship. But which one will it be? His relationship with Callie? Or his romantic entanglement with Riley?(summary from goodreads)

This was one of the most emotional books that I think I've ever written. And as most of you can see from the summary, it's about a love triangle. And it's told from the other woman's perspective. I don't know about everyone else, but I like to pick boundary-pushing subjects to write about. What can I say? I like to challenge myself. After He Loves Me...He Loves You Not I have one more novel releasing in 2011 and it drops December 20,2011. Asphodel is the first in a trilogy called The Underworld Trilogy. Also I have a huge line up for 2012.

First up at the end of Feb will be Remember Me My Love... another YA/Romance but, this one is actually based on a true story.

Hope you guys get a chance to check out He Loves Me...He Loves You Not!

Cheers!

Riley loves Henry. Henry loves Riley.

Monday, October 17, 2011


Hi Everyone!!!!

Sooo tomorrow He Loves Me...He Loves You Not my eBook novella comes out!! YaY! This book was so much fun to write! So today I'm posting chapter one for you to read! Hope you enjoy it... And I hope it makes you swoon :)

Chapter 1

"Love prefers twilight to daylight.”~ Oliver Wendell Holmes ~

Friday night is for lovers. An early morning tryst. A passionate dalliance.

It’s two in the morning, but I can’t sleep. I’m anxious because I know he’ll be here any minute.

I watch the moonlight as the glowing beams seep through my open window and dance along the hardwood floor. A minute passes. Then five. Next ten.

A cool summer breeze whips through my pale blue curtains and the sound of soft footsteps cuts into the silence engulfing my bedroom. He pushes back the curtains and I swear I can see his perfect smile gleaming in the dark.

Henry.

The anxious feeling subsides as the springs in my mattress squeak and Henry crawls into bed with me. His warm fingers slide over my bare hip and I shiver. My time with him is limited so when I get it, I’m happy, so happy that I cry. His touch thrills me, electrifies me, and sends a jolt throughout my body.

“You’re too far away,” he murmurs. His voice reminds me of the man in black. Deep, raspy, sexy.

I let out a restrained laugh. “I’m right next to you.”

“Still not close enough.”

He tugs on my hip bone and I scoot backwards, closer. So close that I feel like at any given moment we might melt together and become one.

He exhales into the curve of my neck and his hot breath trails down my back, igniting my insides. I swallow hard, so consumed with my desire for him that the burning sensation coursing through my veins is overwhelming. I contemplate telling him to hold me forever. To never let me go. But I don’t. That might sound too needy. Too desperate.

He kisses my hair and whispers, “I missed you.”

I reach for his arm pulling it around me tighter. Goosebumps rise all over my body as his fingertips tickle my stomach. My voice quivers, “I missed you, too.”

I find his crystalline blue eyes in the dark and he crooks me a wicked yet beautiful smile. “Kiss me.”

And I do. I kiss him fervently and passionately. My lips flutter overtop of his in a frenzy of seductive bliss and inside I tell myself I’d rather suffocate than sacrifice a moment from kissing him to come up for air.

He rolls over, half on top of me and clutches my bare thigh. I’m delirious. Lost in him. My fingers dig into his back as his lips brush against my collar bone.

Henry. Henry. Henry.

Inside I’m screaming. Don’t stop. Never take your hands off me. I love you.

But those thoughts are unrealistic fantasies.

He’s taken. Some other girl’s property. And just like me, she anticipates a gentle brush from his lips. She anticipates his warm enchanting smile, and his tender loving touch.

And sadly she has something that I don’t…

All of him.
~~~~~~
An hour later, he’s putting his pants on, kissing my forehead and sliding back out my window.

“Stay,” I say, softer than a whisper.

I know he won’t. He never does. And for me to think that he ever will is wishful thinking.

He doesn’t hear me. He’s gone. And I lose it.

I shove my face into my pillow and scream. Cry. Sob. An agonizing, dull pain pumps through my heart and I feel like I’m dying inside.

I’m trembling, tucked into a ball. I’m so weak that it makes me sick.

If I was a strong person, I’d tell him to fuck off and never crawl back through my window ever again.

I’d tell him that what we’re doing isn’t okay. Cheating is morally wrong. But I love him so much it makes my whole body ache when I think I might never see him again.

Now I truly understand what it feels like to be the other woman.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Hope you enjoyed this!

Cheers! <3

Five Top Tips When Querying An Agent

Friday, October 14, 2011
So you've done it! You've completed your masterpiece, fine-tuned it, added a few things here and there, now your finally ready to query and start looking for an agent.

Below, I've posted five helpful tips on what to do when querying.

1. Write a good book. One line I like to use is don't be sloppy. DO NOT just throw a bunch of words together just to get it finished. I know. I know. You're excited and sometimes that makes writers impatient. Slow down... Take a deep breath. Let everything flow. So what if it takes you a little longer. Most of us will still be here.

2. Again be patient. Agents get flooded with queries. Sometimes it may take us a while to respond.

3. Be able to take constructive criticism. Let's face it, nobody gets to be J.K. Rowling over night. And nobody is perfect. There are going to be specific areas of your manuscript that need to be re-written whether your agents suggests you do it or editors do.

4. Be prepared. Don't go into your agent search blindly. Have everything you might need prepared. Query. Manuscript. Partial. Synopsis. If you get that magic hmmmm I'd like to read this, I usually request the partial and synopsis first. That's just me, though, but you never know what we're going to want. Maybe we'll want everything... So it's always good to have everything in order.

5. Never be afraid to ask a million questions. So you're excited. You've written the manuscript, and now you've gotten the call... BUT be careful with that pen. Ask a million questions before you sign that contract. Anytime I'm on a convo with a client I'd like to sign, I ask them do you have any questions? And I answer all of them as thoroughly as possible and they can ask as many as they want. When you sign a contract with an agent, you should never go into without asking questions or getting to know your agent a little better. This is a partnership and both parties need to make certain they are making the right decision.


Hopefully this helps some of you in navigating through literary la la land.

Have a good weekend!

Cheers!

Blow Me Up. Break Me. Shatter Me Into Pieces.

Thursday, October 13, 2011


I have to start this review out by saying this was one of the novels that I had been anticipating the most as far as new releases go. Well...I have a top ten list actually, lol.

Anyway, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is the story of Juliette, a teenage girl whose touch kills.

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. (summary from goodreads)

I don't think there are enough words to describe how much I loved this book. The two things I loved the most; One, Mafi's writing style is brilliant. So poetic and beautiful. And two, Adam, Adam, Adam. Seriously. He's a tatted up bad ass--which I think is awesome. But there's so much more to him and you're honestly surprised by it. You think he's one thing, but he's not... He's the complete opposite.

Shatter Me will leave you breathless, make your heart race, and leave you wanting more. Much..Much.. MORE!

Shatter Me is Tahereh Mafi's debut novel and you HAVE to check it out! It drops 11/15/2011


*ARC was provided by the publisher for a fair and honest review*

Cheers!

A Whisper To A Scream Book Birthday!!!!!!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Hi! Everyone!!!!!

So today I'm super excited to share this vlog post with you, where I'll be reading snippets of A Whisper To A Scream(book 1 in the sociopath diaries) And also a snippet of my YA Romance He Loves Me...He Loves You Not which comes out next Tues.

Hope you guys enjoy!

<3

Sometimes...Love can be deadly...

Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Hi readers!

So.... As most of you know, next Tuesday, A Whisper To A Scream will be released.... YAY! Just in time for my favorite holiday, Halloween. So I have a treat for you.... The first chapter!!!! Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Inside My Head

The urges started when Adam Jacobs was ten years old. He sat on the toilet, observing as his father stood in front of the bathroom mirror, eliminating line after line of thick, white shaving cream. It reminded him of the homemade frosting his mother spread across a batch of freshly baked cupcakes.
His father brought the razor down and cleaned it off in a pool of water that rested in the sink. “You see, son,” he said as he elongated his neck, bringing the razor back to it, “this is what you’ll have to do when you become a man.”
Adam’s eyes followed the razor—the sound of scraping flesh throbbed in his ears. He closed his eyes as the scraping continued. One line. Two. Three. Then….
“Ouch!” his father yelped.
Adam opened his eyes. They widened as droplets of blood oozed down his father’s neck. Adam’s insides swirled at the sight of it. His veins pulsated. He wanted to rub the blood between his fingers.
He shot off the toilet and rushed to his father’s side. The blood called to him. He dipped his fingertip in a crimson drop glistening on the counter, but his father slapped his hand away. That was when Adam’s heart sank. The initial sight of the blood caused him more joy that anything he’d ever experienced.
“Don’t worry.” His father smiled. “It’s just a little nick.”
He couldn’t tell his father that he wasn’t concerned about him. He could never tell his father that he was fascinated by the sight of blood.
After that moment, Adam’s urges escalated to a new level. He’d sit in his bedroom, repeatedly pricking his finger with a safety pin. He’d stare at his finger, watching the luxurious ruby red liquid flow from the tip, only to feel depressed when the clotting factor set in and his finger ceased to bleed.
During school, he did his best to contain his urges. Yet, he wanted to be front and center everytime a classmate fell on the playground. He had rushed toward Marnie Parker as she scraped her knee against the blacktop. “Ahh!” she wailed.
Adam knelt down in front of her, fanning his fingers across the open gash on her knee. “Wow,” he gasped. He scooped up a dollop of blood and rubbed it into his palms.
Marnie winced and slapped his hand. “Adam, what are you doing?” she cried. “That’s gross!”
Adam shook his head. “No. It’s beautiful.”
Tears dripped down Marnie’s cheeks. She slid against the blacktop, backing up into a chain link fence—terrified. “Stop it,” her voice quivered, “or I’m going to tell the teacher.”
Adam’s blood lust was overwhelming. And it wasn’t long after the Marnie Parker incident that his classmates started to notice him lurking, waiting for someone to fall. Or Adam, even pushing down his classmates himself. He then decided to stay away from the kids in his class.
He thought that if he kept to himself, he’d be able to hold his urges back. But staying away from his classmates had the opposite effect.
By age twelve, he began experimenting with animals. Pricking his own finger, waiting for kids to hurt themselves, and his own diluted fantasies were simply not enough anymore. He wanted to see the life flow out of something living, to shiver in delight when he saw the red, sticky substance pour out of veins, like hot magma spouting from a newly-erupted volcano.
His sister’s pet hamster, Eddie, had been his first victim. He strapped Eddie down with rubber bands on top of his biology book and cut into him eagerly with a pocket knife. Ah, Eddie. He didn’t even see it coming.
Adam gasped excitedly as all of the hamster blood ran down the side of his text book. He watched, mesmerized as Eddie squirmed, squeaked, and took his last breath.
After draining the creature, Adam sat back and examined it. He knew what he’d done was awful. But why didn’t he feel awful? Why was he so different? He was certain that nobody who was sane would understand him. And why would they? He enjoyed watching blood pour out of flesh. He was obsessed with killing and death. That was not and never would be normal.
He stared at the dead rodent for a long period of time, waiting for the tears to fall out of his eyes. Normal people cried when they did something terrible, so why couldn’t he?
It was simple. He was devoid of emotion. He was numb—like a living robot—programmed to act like a human, but wasn’t human at all.
From that moment on, he decided to put on an act. He bought books on acting, practiced different facial expressions in front of the mirror, and adapted perfect manners.

He had to pretend like he wasn’t a freak. And if he could do that and do it well, then maybe it would hide the monster lurking somewhere inside of him..
A week later, he had sat in his tree house, binoculars in hand, canvasing the neighborhood for stray cats. Victoria, his kid sister, poked her head through the hatch. “Adam, what are you doing?”
Adam lowered his binoculars as a trusting grin spread across his lips. “Nothing. Just bird watching.” That was an excuse he used often.
“Have you seen Eddie?” Victoria asked, a tear dribbling down her cheek.
Adam set the binoculars down. “No, I haven’t.” He got up and walked over to the hatch. “But I’ll help you look for him.” He placed his hand on her shoulder and patted it lovingly. Of course, he’d help her look—and after they’d been looking for a while he’d fabricate a lie about Eddie running away. Even if Adam didn’t help her, she’d never find the mangy rodent because Adam made sure that after he was through with Eddie, he flushed his body down the toilet.
***

Days passed. Then years. By the time he reached the eleventh grade, he learned to perfect his little act. He exuded charm and charisma. He was also blessed with romance-novel good looks. Parents adored him. Girls flocked to him. And his teachers had nothing but good things to say about him because he was a straight A student. He even joined the football team and became a star athlete. Nobody would believe that the innocent young man he portrayed was capable of anything wicked and evil.
Only Adam knew the truth. And it wasn’t until he was alone, left with his own morbid thoughts, that the real Adam came out of hiding. He’d close his eyes and envision blood flowing like a river. He thought of the story in the bible, where as part of the seven plagues, God turned a whole river in Egypt into blood. He wanted to swim in that river. He wanted to feel the blood splash against his skin. Adam told himself that having these thoughts was the only way he could appear to be normal on the outside.
He fought like a champion gladiator to control his urges and for years, he had kept them at bay. Then, out of nowhere, they resurfaced, hitting him like a slap in the face. He had sat across from his girlfriend Regina Taylor at the movies. He couldn’t look at her face. He found himself staring at her long, slender neck. She had such a beautiful neck.
Then, he closed his eyes and imagined her neck, creased with red, as the blood drizzled down the front. Regina caught him staring. “Adam,” she scolded, “snap out of it and watch the movie.”
“Sorry,” he said. He didn’t feel sorry. He was angry that she caught him and interrupted his fantasy.
He shook off his dazed look and turned toward the projection screen. In those few seconds he had made up his mind. There was no way he could push his urges to the side. Just from sitting next to her in the movies that day, Adam knew that he wanted to—no—knew he had to kill Regina Taylor.
Adam started his plan by just observing her. He was the ultimate strategist, plotting everything thoroughly. He kept himself out of sight, often wearing disguises; clothes he purchased from a local thrift store, wigs, sunglasses and shabby baseball caps.
He’d wait until she left school, and followed her home. Then, he followed her to the mall. He made mental notes and familiarized himself with every aspect of her schedule until he had it memorized.
Regina Taylor’s murder took ninety days to plan. Adam only needed thirty minutes to commit it. He loomed over her body, lying in an open hole in the ground. He watched as the blood flowed out of the gaping slash in her neck and out on to the muddy soil. He had satisfied his blood lust…. for now.
Search parties formed after Regina went missing. Of course, Adam Jacobs was the first person the police questioned, being that he was her boyfriend. They even took him into custody as a suspect. Adam turned on his charm when questioned, flashing his brilliant smile, being polite and cooperative. But that didn’t seem to work the same with the detectives that were working Regina’s case, as well as it did everybody else.
The detectives were fishing since no body was ever recovered. Adam had thought that out before he slaughtered her. Regina Taylor was buried in a rural area just outside the city in a place the detectives would never find because it was outside their jurisdiction. The entire Chicago police force ransacked Adam’s room, trying to find any sign of evidence. They had nothing. And luckily for Adam, his father was one of the most prominent defense attorneys in all of Chicago. Ultimately, Adam was released and no charges were ever drawn up. Adam proclaimed his innocence, even though it was a flat out lie.
As his father escorted him off the premises, a short, round detective lingered in the parking lot. “I know what you are!” he shouted as Adam and his father passed him.Adam looked over his shoulder. “Oh, yeah. And what exactly am I?”
“A monster…..”
Crocodile tears formed in Adam’s eyes. “Shut up!” Adam shouted, on the verge of fake hysterics.
“You leave my son alone!” shouted his father. “You hear me!” The detective glared at Adam, turned around, and walked inside the building.
When Adam arrived home from the police station, he shut himself away in his bedroom. Numerous questions bounced around in his brain. Did he feel sorry for killing Regina? No. Being that he was an emotionless robot, he felt nothing. Did he want to kill again? Yes. Without a doubt. But, did he want to be the monster the detective figured him to be? No.
There were several instances when he tried to suppress his urges. He remembered one time in particular when he locked himself in the closet. Not even that worked. When the urge to see a crimson red river flowing from a human being overwhelmed him, he kicked down the closet door.
He stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom and touched his face. “You’re a monster,” he said aloud. “No one can help you.”
His father interrupted his thoughts when he strolled into Adam’s bedroom. “Son, we need to talk,” he said, plopping down on the bed.
Adam immediately clammed up. The only time his father came around was when his mother called him at work and informed him that either Adam or his sister had done something wrong. He swallowed hard. “What’s up, Dad?”
Perhaps his father had heard about some evidence that would implicate Adam as the murderer of Regina Taylor. His heart began pounding. Perspiration formed under his arms.
His father crossed his legs. “I’ve been given a job offer out of state. Your mother and I have discussed it and we’ve come to the decision that I should take it.”
“Oh yeah.” A wave of relief washed over Adam. “Where at?”
“Burton, Ohio.”
“Do I have a choice in the matter?”
“No.”
“Well, then. Just tell me when I should start packing my things.”
His father patted his arm and walked toward the door. “Thanks for being so understanding, Son.”
“No problem, Dad.”
His father walked out of the bedroom and closed the door. The way Adam saw it, Burton, Ohio would be his new beginning. A new town, a new future. He would be stronger. He told himself that he wouldn’t allow himself to succumb to the temptations that had overcome him in the past.