EPIC FORCE Blog Tour: Guest Post + Giveaway!

How many books have you read that includes wrestling as a backdrop hobby? (If "backdrop hobby" even makes quasi-sense?)

Yeah, I've got zero here, too. But that's what's truly unique about Epic Force by Alexi Raymond: wrestling plays a major part, but it does not define the characters. There is romance that is sensual, so I'd be cautious about that if you're not into that sort of thing. Still, though: if the synopsis that I'm about to present doesn't entice you, maybe the author's guest post on how she manages her time will!

Epic Force
By: Alexi Raymond

Trinity has given up everything to reach her dreams as a professional wrestler in the national spotlight; even though it's breaking her heart to stay away from her trainer, Derek.

Derek knows the road Trinity is walking and wants to be there for her to see her succeed, but he wants so much more than that for them.

After having a wrestler break her heart once, Trinity isn't willing to jump back into another wrestling-relationship. That doesn't stop her heart from pounding at the sight of Derek or her hands from trembling with their touch.

Convinced she has to focus on her dreams, Trinity leaves the safety of home and wrestling federation,(Epic Force Wrestling), and heads out for the chance of a lifetime. The things she sees don't make her more sure of her goals, but they do make her sure of something else - she can't outrun her old wrestling school or the trainer that holds her heart in his hands.

Sometimes true love is an epic force all its own.

-Summary from Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon || Barnes & Noble || Smashwords 

  
For the guest post, I asked Alexi: 

How do you balance your personal life and writing? 

Ahh, the balancing act! Wait! I have a pic for that! *digs through photo album*

HERE! I found it! 

What I’ve found is that life is a balancing act, and just like in gymnastics, the more you train and prepare - the better you’ll be and the more you can handle. When I was 15 and getting excited for my first car my mom said if I didn’t have a job by the time I got my license, I couldn’t drive. I was so afraid that I wouldn’t have a job that I ended up with two after school part timers. And each one had its own benefits, so I couldn’t see quitting either! Sure I missed out on some high school stuff that would have been cool, but I still found a way to fit most of that in, too! Currently, I have a full time day job. I also work freelance for a local television station where I shoot sports videography, edit highlights, run tapes for the news and sometimes write stories for them! I’m also an Independent Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay. I like to stay busy. So here’s the routine.

Morning: Get up 30 min before designated shower time, get in some crunches, pushups and toe raises.

Work. All. Day. Long. 

Evening: Work my Mary Kay business, Write, Read, Spend time with Hubby before he falls asleep.

Go to sleep.

Usually I’ll pick a day and designate it to one of the fun jobs instead of trying to cram it all in, for instance, I have MK Meetings on Monday’s that I try my hardest not to miss (those gals are FUN!). Tuesdays are my early day at work so I can come home and get some serious writing done. 

Each week I look at my schedule and see what’s going to work best for that week! It’s tricky at times, but I have an amazing hubby who cooks for me and a wonderful kitten who sleeps on my lap as I read and write and really what more do you need in life?! I try to do both reading and writing every day, although my reading has been lacking a bit lately. Where I was getting through three books a week I’m down to 1 1/2. But that’s OK.

I think the goal to working towards all of your dreams in life comes down to three steps:

1 - Pick Your Biggest Dream - Don’t think small!! The bigger the better!

2 - Break it down into tiny baby steps - What’s the first step in making that dream a reality?

3 - Get back up on that beam until you have completely owned the first step in realizing your dream!

So, what do you think? Before we go to the giveaway, here's an excerpt from Epic Force to satisfy your curiosity!

From chapter 1 with Trinity and Derek:

"Don't go." His whispers were lost in her hair. He remained so silent, so nervous, and yet his arms snaked around her. Trinity’s heart soaked in the familiar security that came with his embrace. "Please, Trinity, please don't leave me." He squeezed, no longer hugging her. They clung to each other as tears rolled down her face, or maybe they were his, there was no way to tell. 

He had always been there for her; from the first time she walked through the doors of the warehouse into the poster filled walls of Epic Force Wrestling, to the first time one of the boys refused to hit her like a real wrestler and even now, as she stood there breaking his heart. She would never find another man like Derek; but the truth was that regardless of how she felt for him, she couldn’t let herself. Nate had broken her heart. She’d never let another wrestler get that close to her again.

"I'm going to be late." She sniffled and wiped her face with the back of her hand, still wrapped around Derek's neck.

"Be late. Be late forever, just stay."

"Derek."

With a kiss on the cheek, Derek relinquished his hold. The chocolate swirls in his eyes were moist, his lips pursed together. Trinity trailed her hands down his arms and squeezed his huge warm hands. Her palms fit inside of them, tucked neatly away from the harm of the world. She wanted to face the world, regardless of the risk, she felt she needed to. She squeezed one last time, took a longing look into where they both knew she belonged and left him standing alone under the singular light on the pier.

 

Intrigued? Here's some more info on Alexi:

Alexi lives in Indiana with her husband and kittens! You can find her throwing the boys around the ring, shooting sports highlights or curled up on the couch with Castle and her "writing kitten" working on a never ending supply of ideas for all of the books she wants to write!

Find Alexi here: Twitter || Goodreads

And finally...

Enter with the rafflecopter form after the jump to win an e-book of Epic Force and some awesome swag! :D

A Wee Touch of Enchantment

Touch of Death
By: Kelly Hashway
Reported by: Julianna Helms
Source: ARC via tour
Release date: January 15th, 2013 via Spencer Hill Press

Jodi Marshall isn’t sure how she went from normal teenager to walking disaster. One minute she’s in her junior year of high school, spending time with her amazing boyfriend and her best friend. The next she’s being stalked by some guy no one seems to know.

After the stranger, Alex, reveals himself, Jodi learns he’s not a normal teenager and neither is she. With a kiss that kills and a touch that brings the dead back to life, Jodi discovers she’s part of a branch of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus. A branch of necromancers that are descendents of Medusa. A branch of necromancers with poisoned blood writhing in their veins.

Jodi’s deadly to the living and even more deadly to the deceased. She has to leave her old, normal life behind before she hurts the people she loves. As if that isn’t difficult enough, Jodi discovers she’s the chosen one who has to save the rest of her kind from perishing at the hands of Hades. If she can’t figure out how to control her power, history will repeat itself, and her race will become extinct.

-Summary from Goodreads
Pre-order: Mrs. Nelson's || Barnes & Noble || Amazon || Book Depository

Now here we have something interesting.

Zombies + Greek mythology? Sounds like an epic tour de force, yeah? That's what I thought, too. But Touch of Death is about as deceptive as its cover--what at first seems like a gorgeous and dark tale is really about a girl, insta-love, plus predictive plots weaving the way. *cues drumroll*

Fansite + Cover Reveal

So here's the thing:

I started a fansite.

I mean, yeah, I know. I am so bad at keeping up one blog, so how much nectar did I seriously drink to even consider starting a fansite?

Well... I don't know, man. The details are fuzzy. I think I ate some ambrosia after that, 'cause I got knocked out by a two-headed gorgon for my stupidity. (Can you tell I'm FINALLY reading The Mark of Athena?)

Anyway. So I started a fansite because my friends loved the book and I got them to actually do stuff, which is pretty much awesome.

What is this book that I started a fansite for?

INSIGNIA.

By S. J. Kincaid.

Dude. DUDE. THIS BOOK. AMAZING. Like, I CAN'T EVEN amazing. Do you know how much it takes for me to invest in a book THIS much? At least a three-year supply of chocolate! (Psst, read my review of it here, and my interview with Ms. Kincaid here!)

So, as you can see from the title of the post, there is a COVER REVEAL going on today...

hmm....

Yup. On The Pentagonal Spire. It's the fansite name, in case you didn't figure it out yet. (If you don't get it, read the book. Actually, buy the book first. Then read it.) And the cover/title/synopsis reveal is for the sequel to Insignia. So, I mean, yanno. Check it out and stuff. Ms. Kincaid is more awesome than Nutella. Okay... I mean... it's pretty close....

Just kidding. I'd choose Insignia over thee hazelnut spread any day.

Deity Trailer and Apollyon Cover Reveal!

Are YOU a fan of Jennifer L. Armentrout? What's that? Yes, you say? You've gotta see the Deity trailer and Apollyon cover, then!

Deity
By: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Release Date: Already out from Spencer Hill Press!

"History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time."
Alexandria isn't sure she's going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she's a goner... and so is Aiden.
If that's not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.
But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she's caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed... and destroyed.
Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate...
-Summary  from GoodreadsPurchase: Amazon || Barnes & Noble

So mysterious! O.O


Did you read an ARC of Deity and been dying to get your hands on Elixir, the novella told in Aiden’s POV and picks up right after the end of Deity? Well, you don’t have to wait any longer. The free novella is available now. DO NOT read Elixir if you have not read Deity. It will spoil Deity for you and not to mention, you will have no idea what is going on.

Elixir will be available in print. Kindle, and Nook formats on November 27, 2012.

 Click HERE to read Elixir.

And I'm super excited to share the cover for the 4^th book in the Covenant Series, Apollyon, which is due out April 2013! It's so gorgeous!

Crash Blog Tour: Guest Post + Giveaway

Hey everyone! Welcome to the next stop on the blog tour for Nicole Williams's awesome novel, Crash. I asked Nicole to write a guest post on:

What is the most important part of a novel, why, and how do you handle writing it?

Here's how Nicole answered it:

For me, the most important part of the novel is telling a story that is emotional enough it moves readers on an instinctual level. Of course plot, characters, pacing, dialogue, and the writing bones of the novel have to be there, but if the reader can walk away from the end of the novel and never give it another thought, I've failed in my job as a writer. My goal is to make the reader feel something, anything. If it's hate, so be it. If it's love, better yet. I just want the reader to be moved and keep coming back to the book. I want it to become a piece of them that they revisit over time.

I so agree with this! I'm sure you've all read those books that has amazing plots and amazing characters and yet you never really liked it. The emotional connection is an absolute must in this case, I think. The best books are the ones that make you feel, yeah?

Wondering what Crash could be about, after Nicole's great answer? Here's the synopsis:

Crash
By: Nicole Williams

Southpointe High is the last place Lucy wanted to wind up her senior year of school. Right up until she stumbles into Jude Ryder, a guy whose name has become its own verb, and synonymous with trouble. He's got a rap sheet that runs longer than a senior thesis, has had his name sighed, shouted, and cursed by more women than Lucy dares to ask, and lives at the local boys home where disturbed seems to be the status quo for the residents. Lucy had a stable at best, quirky at worst, upbringing. She lives for wearing the satin down on her ballet shoes, has her sights set on Juilliard, and has been careful to keep trouble out of her life. Up until now.

Jude's everything she needs to stay away from if she wants to separate her past from her future. Staying away, she's about to find out, is the only thing she's incapable of.

For Lucy Larson and Jude Ryder, love's about to become the thing that tears them apart.
-Summary from Goodreads
Release date: already released
Purchase: Barnes & Noble || Amazon

Here's a bit about Nicole herself:

Nicole Williams

I'm a wife, a mom, a writer. I started writing because I loved it and I'm still writing because I love it. I write young adult because I still believe in true love, kindred spirits, and happy endings. Here's to staying young at heart *raises champagne glass* . . . care to join me?

Find Nicole Online: Blog || Twitter || Facebook

Nicole was nice enough to offer up a set of Crash and its sequel, Clash, to one lucky winner, international or not! Enter the giveaway after the jump.