The Cover Reveal!

Infraction is a little over a month from release time, and you know what that means. There will be sneak-peek content popping up around here. Look for the first chapter, excerpts, giveaways, and the schedule for the Infraction Blog Tour in the following weeks.

But the first glimpse? The cover!

Get excited. We're almost there!

(Thanks to Renee Barratt for once again making a cover that captures my book.)

Reading Clean Giveaway: Winners Announced

Welcome to my blog for this part of the Reading Clean Giveaway Hop. I was so glad to sign up for a giveaway hop devoted to clean reads. I don't think there's nearly enough options out there.

Since all of my reads are clean reads, you can enter to win one of three prize packs, which includes an ebook of each of my novels. Just fill out the rafflecopter form below the book descriptions. Also be sure to click Read More below the form for all the other great blogs giving away clean reads!

 

The Burn is full of nuclear fallout, roving gangs, anarchy, unreliable plumbing. That's what Terra's father tells her. She has lived her whole life in comfort in a colony at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. She hates it. And she would pay any price to leave. But when Terra finally escapes the colony, she finds out her father is right. She finds a group of survivors that quickly become friends, and every day with them is a race for survival. When she witnesses and commits unspeakable acts, she has to decide where her loyalty lies: with the colony she despises or the Burn, where every day is filled with nightmares.

After her mother dies, Elowyn Challis would do anything to bury the pain, but being shipped off to boarding school isn't what she had in mind. Things could be worse. Wyn finds a place for herself in the academy and living in the capital is just sparkling. But under it all, her mother's death still haunts her. Then Wyn discovers a secret that changes everything she believes: the bedtime stories her mother told her as a child are real, the faerie realm exists, and she is the Binder—the one mortal on earth with the power to seal the gate to Fae. It's a power Wyn's not sure she wants or can even wield. But she must confront her nightmares and her grief, or two worlds will be torn apart.

Neram has been raised alone by her mother, an outcast and unwanted. While Neram struggles with day-to-day life in her own village, the land of Vallorn crumbles around her as all the magic drains from the world. Then Neram finds the last dragon, and she knows her life will never be the same. But when she learns she is half-sister to the dragon, she must choose—save her village or save Vallorn; embrace the dragon inside her or lose what matters most forever.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What's in a Name?

Well, quite a bit actually. Some of the feedback from my beta readers made me ponder the title of The Reaping. One wasn't quite sure how well it matched the story, and so I started thinking about other names and thought about how attached I was to the title I picked (which honestly started as a working title, but stuck). After thinking and brain-storming and discussing, I am pleased to bring you the new title for the sequel to The Burn:

Infraction

It's an intense, loaded word, and with what goes on in this story, there are so many infractions against so many people on so many levels. So there you go. I hope that's a tantalizing teaser for you, and I just think it's a great snippet of good things to come.

Another One Bites the Dust

I've gotten the feedback from my beta readers, so I've been working on my next draft of The Reaping. Can I say I love my beta readers? It's so nice to know I'm not writing in a vacuum. Sometimes it feels that way, and getting outside opinions is an enormous help.

One of the best advice for this book from one of my beta readers is to eliminate most of my adverbs. As I've been reading and rereading my draft, I realized that oh boy do I ever love my adverbs! So I've been cutting and cutting and hacking away. I've left some, but most of them have now seen the bloody end of my vicious red pen.

One of the more choice examples that I've eliminated?

"quietly whispers"

Seriously? Oh, yes, it was in there. Not only is it redundant, but a perfect example of a useless adverb. Does a reader really have to be told that a whisper is quiet? No I trust you, my lovely readers, to know that a whisper isn't a shout. What was I thinking?

But that's why beta readers are essential and wonderful. Getting someone else's eyes looking at my work helps me take a step back and see it more objectively. So here's to more adverb slashing!

An Olympic-sized Addiction

So we've watched the Olympics almost all day today. I had a doctor's appointment this morning, I made some peach jam and granola, hubby played with the girls (they love Saturdays when Dad is home all day long), but in it all, the Olympics was playing.

My oldest girlie saw rhythmic gymnastics for the first time and was enthralled. The last event was with the ribbon-wand-thingie (I'm definitely not an expert when it comes to rhythmic gymnastics. Incidentally, neither is hubby, who called the clubs "spoons."), and my girl had to have her own ribbon wand. So my adorable husband got her princess wand and attached some crepe paper to the end. She twirled and danced and thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world, which she pretty much was.

Then I started thinking about the closing ceremonies tomorrow. Sure, I haven't gotten nearly enough sleep the past two weeks, or nearly enough writing done, or nearly enough housework done. But I'm going to miss it. It's probably a good thing the Olympics (summer and winter) only come around every two years, because I'm such a slacker when they're on. But I'm sure going to miss them.

Especially now that my girls are big enough to really enjoy them with us. It just makes my day when my two-year-old comes running and asks for "Lympics?"