The Words We Thought Were True cover reveal + giveaway

It's HERE! 

It's finally here! 

After MONTHS of sitting on this, I finally get to share! 

The Words We Thought Were True (Cozenage, #2)'s cover is out. Go to IceyBooks (link) for a first look + enter to win an ARC + ebook! 

July's Monthly Breakdown (a sale, cover reveal, review sign-ups, a read-a-thon, + more)

Hey all! Hope you had a lovely fourth! Haven't done a monthly breakdown in a while, but this month is gonna be busy, so we've gotta have one. :) Buckle your seat belts, we've got a lot of ground to cover! Are you ready? Then, away we go...

Monday, July 13th: Reader Interview with Jasmine Pearl.

Friday, July 17th: IF I SPEAK TRUE's ebook goes on sale for 99 cents!

Monday, July 20th: July's TIME TRAVEL #JLBgivesawayanINDIE begins with two of Nicole Zoltack's time travel standalones! (FYI, neither of these are YA, but they are both YA appropriate.) I *had* to throw that Big Ben pic in there for the announcement photo, but don't worry, there will be a better looking one for the actual giveaway (now you see why I hire Hafsah to do the professional stuff hehehe)! INTERNATIONAL ebook giveaway. 

Friday, July 24th: Early Review sign ups will begin (more info coming soon).

Monday, July 27th: THE WORDS WE THOUGHT WERE TRUE (Cozenage, #2)'s cover reveal at IceyBooks! (IAMSOEXCITED)

Tuesday, July 28th: EXCUSE TO READ--a week-long read-a-thon hosted by Cheyanne Young and I--begins. EXCUSE TO READ is your go-to excuse to set stuff aside and catch up on a little reading! :D It'll be a simple read-a-thon: post the books you plan to read (if you like), read books, post updates (if you like), read books, and at the end, we'll have a few fun summary ideas that you can share on your blog, Instagram, whatever! (Simple, see?) If you're interested in participating in/hearing more about the EXCUSE TO READ read-a-thon, fill out this form! :)

AND... OH MY GOOD SWEET MORSELS OF HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE, I THINK... 
I'M ACTUALLY.... DONE! Goodbye, and be blessed, everyone! 

June's #JLBgivesawayanINDIE = FIVE YA #audiobooks

Yep! You read that right! I wanted to give an all-around variety of YA indie ebooks and ended up deciding to add two traditionally-pubbed books to the mix! Woohoo! So there you have it... FIVE audiobooks altogether: dystopian, magical realism, comedy/coming of age, science fiction... an eclectic mix but I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy them! Contest ends Sunday, June 28th at 11:59 p.m. PST, and is INTERNATIONAL (long as you have an Audible or Amazon account!) Check out the blurbs for the books, below, and then enter the Rafflecopter! :D 

Pity Isn't An Option (Cozenage, #1) by Jessica L. Brooks (narrated by Matthew Dunehoo):

Seventeen year-old Jonas' blood disorder has taken away everything that matters. Sixteen year-old Hattie's father is losing his marbles. When Jonas' perfectly healthy twin brother and Hattie's crazy dad are drafted into the President's army, Hattie's dad disappears. Jonas and Hattie embark on a journey to find him, and find something they'd lost long ago in the process.

Add to Goodreads I Find on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks



An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1) by Sabaa Tahir (narrated by Fiona Hardingham & Steve West):

Laia is a slave.

Elias is a soldier.

Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself. 

Add to Goodreads I Find on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks



Somewhere Only We Know by Cheyanne Young (narrated by Francesca Santoro):

Sadie Bradford’s life is one anxiety attack after another. All she wants is to escape life's realities for the summer and hang out with her best friend Aaron. But her grandmother has other plans: Sadie will get a job. Sadie will do volunteer work. Sadie will make new friends - friends without brain injuries that make them forget everything...friends that aren’t Aaron.

While Sadie struggles to survive her anxiety with all these new changes, she finds an escape when she dreams herself into the beautiful world of Isola Fiona. It’s a place that cures memory loss and anxiety. It’s a place where she and Aaron can fall in love. 

But after dragging Aaron along with her to her dream world, things take a turn. Every time they return home, Sadie’s anxiety is a little better but Aaron’s memory is still gone. And Isola Fiona may not be much of a dream after all. As Sadie realizes that Isola Fiona is as real as her anxiety, she rushes to change the course of fate and make things right, but she may be too late...

Add to Goodreads I Find on Amazon | Barnes & Noble 



The Moon Dwellers (The Dwellers Saga, #1) by David Estes (narrated by Julia Whelon & Will Damron):

In a desperate attempt to escape destruction decades earlier, humankind was forced underground, into the depths of the earth, creating a new society called the Tri-Realms. 

After her parents and sister are abducted by the Enforcers, seventeen-year-old Adele, a member of the middle-class moon dwellers, is unjustly sentenced to life in prison for her parents' crimes of treason.

Against all odds, Adele must escape from the Pen and find her family, while being hunted by a deranged, killing machine named Rivet, who works for the President. She is helped by two other inmates, Tawni and Cole, each of whom have dark secrets that are better left undiscovered. Other than her friends, the only thing she has going for her is a wicked roundhouse kick and two fists that have been well-trained for combat by her father.

At the other end of the social spectrum is Tristan, the son of the President and a sun dweller. His mother is gone. He hates his father. Backed by only his servant and best friend, Roc, he leaves his lavish lifestyle in the Sun Realm, seeking to make something good out of his troubled life.

When a war breaks out within the Tri-Realms, Tristan is thrust into the middle of a conflict that seems to mysteriously follow Adele as she seeks to find her family and uncover her parents true past.

In their world, someone must die.

Add to Goodreads I Find on Amazon 



Stupid Fast (Stupid Fast, #1) by Geoff Herbach (narrated by Fred Berman): 

I, Felton Reinstein, am Stupid Fast. Seriously. The upper classmen used to call me Squirrel Nut, because I was little and jumpy. Then, during sophomore year, I got tall and huge and so fast the gym teachers in their tight shorts fell all over themselves. During summer, three things happened all at once. First, the pee-smelling jocks in my grade got me to work out for football, even though I had no intention of playing. Second, on my paper route the most beautiful girl I have ever seen moved in and played piano at 6 a.m. Third, my mom, who never drinks, had some wine, slept in her car, stopped weeding the garden, then took my TV and put it in her room and decided she wouldn’t get out of bed.

Listen, I have not had much success in my life. But suddenly I’m riding around in a jock’s pick-up truck? Suddenly I’m invited to go on walks with beautiful girls? So, it’s understandable that when my little brother stopped playing piano and began to dress like a pirate I didn’t pay much attention. That I didn’t want to deal with my mom coming apart.

Add to Goodreads I Find on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks


Please note that some of these books are definitely upper YA due to language/underage drinking/sexual references.


And now for the RAFFLECOPTER!!!! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cozenage 2 title reveal (squeeeeee)

Here it is: the title of the companion novel to Pity Isn't An Option (Cozenage, #1) is The Words We Thought Were True (Cozenage, #2)! I am so stinking excited about this, and can't wait for it to come out this fall! Woohoo! 

So... what do you think? Feel free to add it to your Goodreads TBR shelf, HERE (cover and blurb to come soon).

Oh by the way, my YASH (YA Scavenger Hunt) bonus content tomorrow will be a letter written after Pity Isn't An Option ends and right before The Words We Thought Were True begins, so make sure to check out Team Pink/Indie! :)

Thanks for sharing in my excitement with me! 

So much writerly news this week, just come on over for coffee.

I'm alive! (Okay, I'm sure you already knew that, but I've refrained from doing the past few Friday writerly news posts because a) it's been crazy around here and b) honestly, I felt like I was bugging people with them!) 

I have lotssss to say, so grab something sweet and a mug, and get comfy! 

*pours you coffee* 

First off, Tiny and I are celebrating!

Please ignore Tiny's wig. We've been dancin' it up to
Meghan Trainor's Dear Future Husband all morning.

WHY are we celebrating, you ask? Well...

Writerly News: If I happened to be doing this post in proper, I'll-get-you-to-read-the-entire-post-first-before-giving-you-the-news social media fashion, I wouldn't share this until the very end of the post. But I know ya'll are busy and, if you're like me, skim because there's so much to read on the interwebs and (so little time to do it), so here it is....

I have a title for Cozenage #2. 




There are six words in the title, (yes, the title comes straight from a line in the book, as usual) and they totally encompass the storyline and I just can't explain how excited I am. *almost spills coffee* 

FYI, those of you who've subscribed to my e-newsletter (the subscribe link is over there to the right on the sidebar), you will find out a few days sooner. (I'll also be doing something different in regard to ARCs for book two via my newsletter: sending out actual advanced readers copies to about 30 people. ARCs won't be coming out for months from now, mind you, I'm just trying to plan ahead--so if you might be interested in reading/reviewing an ARC, I suggest subscribing, too.) The announcement will go up on April 1st, but do know that it is the real deal and I'm not pranking anyone (Tiny tried to talk me into it, but I gave him some peanut butter and told him to shut it). Normally, I'd put it up on Friday the 3rd, but the blog will be taken over for a couple of days. Which brings me to my next announcement... 

YA Scavenger Hunt: I'm happy to report that I'll be participating in the Spring 2015 YA Scavenger Hunt! There are a TON of authors participating (8 teams with 20 authors on each team) which = a TON of books up for grabs! I'm on Team Pink:

Yes, that's Cozenage, #1, Pity Isn't An Option, right there! Seeing it makes me even more excited about book two! 

I'll be sharing the other seven teams with you next week! :)

SCAVENGER DEETS: 2015's Spring YA Scavenger hunt is Thursday, April 2nd through Sunday, April 5th. To learn about how the hunt works, GO HERE. To find out the latest info as stuff is updated, follow YA Scavenger Hunt on Twitter HERE or Facebook HERE.

ICYMI:

In celebration of IceyDesigns settling on a business brand and starting up a blog, Hafsah, the creator of IceyDesigns (and co-blogger at IceyBooks) is throwing a pretty cool giveaway. This lady is mad-talented (she's designed all of my Flora and Cozenage series covers, and my entire blog, as well) and I send everyone looking for design her way, because she rocks! Read about how she created her brand and enter the giveaway to win either a $100 credit toward design or $50 Barnes and Noble gift card, HERE. 

I was going to tell you guys about the lack of a #JLBGivesawayanINDIE for March and what's coming up for April, but I think that's more than enough to read this week, so look for it next Friday. WHEW!

Have a blessed weekend!

This week's writerly news: Writing Inspiration while on vacation

Hey, guys! Last week our family went on our annual summer vacation. I try not to post things about being away from my home while I'm gone, so even though I took a ton of pictures that I wanted so badly to share, I did not. And yes, this might have meant a bit of angst on my part, but guess what? It means more pics right now for you! Yay! (Didn't that work out swell?) 

We went to the beach, more specifically, where pretty much everyone from the valley goes... Pismo. (But if you go to Pismo Beach you basically always also go to Avila Beach, Oceano, Grover Beach, and the nearby San Luis Obispo, because they're so close.) 

As usual, we writers are always a few steps ahead of the game, so while the second Flora book is coming out soon, I'm already over here working on book three and the second Cozenage book (after Pity Isn't An Option). And sure, blogs and Pinterest boards are great to capture ideas and whatnot (oh hey, here are mine, by the way...) I love coming across visual inspiration the natural way. So here you go... a few photos I took recently that will most definitely end up in my books in the not-so-distant future. 

Do I even need to explain this one?

On the beach. Loved the sunset coloring and
how very dark that one low cloud was.

Looking up from inside a
eucalyptus grove.

Another beautiful sunset.

A house even worse than the Pulman residence!

Took this whilst driving down a lonely road.
It has the Cozenage series written all over it.

Through the passenger window. Soooo
someplace Jonas would come across! 

I actually filmed this. It was evening, and these
birds flew by in a continual line for almost FIVE
minutes. They were all heading south, further out
to sea. (To feed, maybe?) It was CRAZY.

Trying to look through the eucalyptus. 

The grove again -- wanted to show the
dense foliage on the grove floor and
also how dark it was inside even in
the early afternoon.

Have a blessed weekend!