Frozen Heart COVER REVEAL

It's TIME! I'm so very excited to present to you the cover of Frozen Heart! 

A decade surviving on her own. Three days with the enemy. Can love conquer all?

Cressenda knows how to survive. With her sled dogs as her only companions, she’s spent the past ten years hiding in the snow covered wilderness from the oppressive regime of the Affinity. When a routine trip to civilization takes a turn for the worst, Cressenda is forced to take refuge with the enemy or lose her life to the frozen countryside.

But Beckett, a Guard of the Affinity, is more than a man in uniform. His desperate need to help Cressenda escape both- the blizzard and the Affinity- makes her feelings for him all the more troubling. Will Beckett be true to his word and set Cressenda free? Will her heart let her leave after all they’ve shared?

As of today, it is also available for pre-order at Inkspell, Amazon, B&N, and AllRomance. The official release is August 7. 

Below is a list of all the bloggers who are hosting my cover reveal and helping spread the word about Frozen Heart. If you would be so kind as to drop by one or two and leave a comment, I would greatly appreciate it. 

http://authorvanessaleigh.blogspot.com/

http://thedaydreamer3.blogspot.com/

http://syikana-librarybookshelf.blogspot.com/

http://kindreddreamheart.blogspot.com/

http://readergirlsblog.com

http://iheartreading.net

http://seeingnight.blogspot.com

http://readingitall.blogspot.com

http://melissaselecticbookshelf.blogspot.com

http://heathercim.wordpress.com

http://sweetsouthernhome.wordpress.com

http://unputdownablebookies.blogspot.com/

http://megantalksbooks.blogspot.com

http://kindlecatchingfire.blogspot.com/

http://cecereadandwrite.blogspot.com/

http://bexbooknook.wordpress.com/

http://mothergamerwriter.com

http://mamaknowsbooks.blogspot.com

http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com

Author Spotlight: Cyndi Tefft

I'm a blogging failure, I know. My most sincere apologies. In my defense, I'm still learning how to juggle my freelance jobs, The Bombshell Mommy, and the publishing of Frozen Heart. Not to mention trying to squeak in work on my new WIP. 


Meanwhile, I'd like to introduce you all to Cyndi Tefft, the author of Between and the newly released sequel Hell Transporter.  Her YA books come with a heavy dose of skillfully written sexual tension. They are not to be missed. Plus, a grim reaper with a Scottish accent, how can you resist? Cyndi recently took time away from working on the last installment of Aiden and Linsey's journey together to chit chat with me about her books and her writing process.  


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Between 
It just figures that the love of Lindsey Water's life isn't alive at all, but the grim reaper, complete with a dimpled smile and Scottish accent.

After transporting souls to heaven for the last 300 years, Aiden MacRae has all but given up on finding the one whose love will redeem him and allow him entry through the pearly gates.

Torn between her growing attraction to Aiden and heaven's siren song, Lindsey must learn the hard way whether love really can transcend all boundaries.


What inspired you to write such a unique version of a grim reaper? And how did you decide on the delicious idea to make him Scottish? 

I wanted to write a good versus evil story, but I felt angels and demons had been done pretty extensively. Having always been fascinated with near death experiences, I thought it would be fun to create a world in between earth and heaven with a guide from one to the other.

Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series made me a Scot fanatic and I had just finished her sixth book when I started writing mine. Her seventh was not yet out at that time and I was hungry for some more Scottish Highlander hunkiness, so I decided to make one of my own!

Did you plan to write a romance novel with a strong religious theme or did it develop as the story evolved? 

Because the story is set in the afterlife, I knew God and heaven would play a strong role in the book, but things definitely evolved as I wrote. I am much more of a pantser than a plotter (I just start writing and see how things develop, rather than outlining ahead of time). 

The faith themes in the book are an integral part of the story, as I would imagine that in death, most everyone would wonder how the God thing comes into play.

You write fantastic sexual tension. What advice do you have for other authors *cough*me*cough* when it comes to writing the tension that comes before the actual sex? 

Thanks! *grin* Writing love scenes is one of my favorite things to do. It’s much easier for me than writing fight scenes! Between was actually an adult book when I finished the first draft. It went through countless revisions and finally ended up a YA novel. There are three *deleted* sex scenes from the book that I’ve made available upon request to readers who want to know the characters a bit more... intimately. hehe

As for writing sexual tension, I believe the key is making the reader want it to happen as much as the main characters do. We all want to fall in love with the characters and when we do, their longings become our own, and the ultimate satisfaction of that longing is all the sweeter.

Every writer comes across pitfalls in the writing process. What is your biggest challenge and how did you learn to overcome it?

When I finished the first draft of the story, which was actually one big HUGE book that I later split into Between and Hell Transporter, I thought it was done. *shakes head* Little did I know that I would spend years revising those books and that they would bear little resemblance to the first draft once they were finished.

My biggest challenge early on was underestimating how much I still had to learn about writing. Now I know much more about the craft, but more than that, I know I still have much to learn. That knowledge, rather than being depressing and defeating my spirit, actually provides me with grace for the present and excitement for the journey ahead.

I am a better writer than I was and not as good a writer as I will be.

Quick three:

Favorite Book: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Jamie Fraser- swoon!)

Favorite Drink: Diet Pepsi (followed closely by espresso)

Favorite Article of Clothing: My Sketchers tennies. I wear them every day!

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Thank you again to Cyndi Tefft for visiting the blog and sharing her insights. For more on Cyndi you can visit her website , her Twitter, and on Goodreads. Her books are available at her site, as well as Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords. 

The Bombshell Mommy

Guess WHAT? Many of you already know this, but here's my official blog announcement.

I AM THE BOMBSHELL MOMMY!

I'm writing as The Bombshell Mommy exclusively for Vitacost. The entire focus is to encourage women to embrace their sexuality and sexual health in the face of the drudgery of every day life as moms, wives, and all around Superwoman duties.

See that click-through badge on the side of this blog? Hop over there any time. I'd love for you to visit. No writing talk, just fun, flirty, and fascinating discussions of why every woman is a Bombshell at heart.

I don't get political here, you know this, but I want you all to understand that in a time where women are being shoved back into the kitchen, being pushed into second class citizenry, being slut-shamed, our bodies continually commodified and treated as community property, it is of dire importance that we embrace our sexuality.

When you own your sexuality, you have the courage to stand up for yourself. You have the courage to tell that guy off when he puts his hands on your body without invitation. You have the strength to report when someone assaults you. You are empowered by knowledge you have of your body and how it works. Your children benefit from the freedom to ask you questions and your ability to answer them with confidence and compassion. You have the deep seeded knowledge that your body and your sexuality is not to be judged or defined by anyone else. It is YOURS and no one is entitled to your body simply because you are a woman.

It's time to stop living the conundrum of the Madonna/Whore syndrome. We CAN be mothers and  sexual beings, simultaneously. We CAN enjoy sex without being "easy", "loose", or "immoral". We CAN be women, with our lovely curves, our beautiful minds, our emotionally overflowing hearts, and our iron clad spines, while still enjoying the desires of the flesh.

Enough of the serious.

It's a crazy fun time over there. Light hearted and sexy, cheeky and sensual. Bombshell's of the world, UNITE!

There's no crying in baseball...or writing.

First, I owe you all an apology. I've been MIA for too long. In my defense, I have had a TON of stuff going on. So many really great things have been happening. Let me fill you in on what's been eating up my time.

I finalized the manuscript of FROZEN HEART and readied myself for the rather intimidating process of querying said manuscript. Querying is no small feat. I know what you're thinking, "Just throw it in an email and send it out!" Ya, not even close. Every house has different requirements. It's paramount that you follow each publisher's requirement perfectly or your submission goes right into the trash folder. The query process takes many hours over many days. And that's just to get it out to the publishers that allow you to have simultaneous submissions at different houses.

I made the typical rookie errors. Misspellings in editor's names. Attaching wrong documents (like the first three chapters instead of a full, or vice versa). And various other ridiculous mistakes. But you know what they say – there's no crying in writing. Or was it baseball? Whatever. You know what I mean.

Instead of letting myself get all mopey (Okay, I was totally mopey, but only for like 5 minutes), I did what any self-preservationist does and kept sending that damn thing! I knew I couldn't give up. Not if I wanted to achieve my goal of being a PUBLISHED author.

And GUESS WHAT? Go on. Guess. I'm waiting.

No, not that. Okay. YOU'RE RIGHT! I TOTALLY GOT A PUBLISHING CONTRACT! I am proud to announce that Frozen Heart will be published by Inkspell Publishing this summer! I am beyond thrilled to be working with a company like Inkspell. They are new to the scene but they are high class straight out of the gate. I look forward to a long and successful relationship with them.  I'll keep you all updated as we get closer to the release date.

And that's not all. There's another big announcement coming mid-March. More fun, more romance, and more writing! I know, I'm telling you, it's been CRAZY around here! I can't wait to take you all on this ride with me. What an adventure this will be!

Author Spotlight: Brien Michaels

Hello my friends! I know I've been MIA. There are TONS of exciting things on the horizon, all of which I will tell you about so very soon. For now, I shall enthrall you with the fantastic writing of the wickedly talented Brien Michaels! His special brand of spine tingling horror mixed with flaming hot erotica will keep you on the edge of your seat. I was lucky enough to grab him for an interview in celebration of his newest release Last Friday Night. Please welcome, Brien Micheals!

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You have carved out a very particular niche for yourself in the erotic romance world. Scorching hot romance woven into the tapestry of unique and spine-tingling scary settings. How did you find your way into this genre? 

Well, I’ve been writing horror since about grade five. So just about everything I churned out between then and about age nineteen had something horrifying happening. But I started dabbling in writing more…er…erotic stories when I was maybe sixteen. Wrote a bunch of fan-fiction that I still sometimes get reviews on. It didn’t dawn on me until the end of 2010 to combine the two genres, and it was totally by accident. I wrote Sparks Fly while I was on this God-awful cruise to the Virgin Islands and never really thought about it as a horror story until people started telling me how much it scared them. I’ve been going ever since.

You’ve jumped into the world of published authors at a relatively young age. Do you feel that this has been an advantage or a hurdle to overcome in your writing career?  

An advantage, most definitely. I’ve wanted to do this since I was a kid. Granted, that was only about a decade ago, but still. I’ve met other authors who’ve told me they wish they knew they wanted this when they were my age. I mean, really think about it. How many twenty-one year olds do you know who can honestly say that they’re living their dream?

Though I will say, I apparently look younger than I am. When I was at Ellora’s Cave’s Romanticon last year, I was asked a great many times if I was old enough to be there/participate in the workshops. And I was asked a great many more times than that whose son I was. Imagine my surprise finding out I was the only male author there.

What is the biggest impetus in your writing? Do you draw more from life experience or the creepy things that haunt the recesses of your mind? 

It’s a little of both, actually. Emotionally, what my characters go through is from real-life experience because writing is my coping mechanism; it’s how I work through all the screwed up crap people my age go through. The horror, on the other hand, comes from the places I’m usually too afraid to think of. Believe me, I’m the biggest chicken you’ll ever meet, so a lot of the scenes in my scarier stories freak me out. Like literally I’ll sit in a dark room so I can be scared enough to write it, but then spend the entire time writing looking around me to make sure nothing is trying to sneak out of the shadows to get me. It’s a mess.

Is there any advice or experience you’d like to share with the other young writers out there who are looking at you and thinking, “Damn, how’d he do it?”  

Just don’t give up. It’s the most cliché thing in the world, I know, but it’s also the truest. As a writer, you’re going to get rejected. It’s almost an inevitability unless you’re like super author, or something. But just keep submitting and keep writing. It only takes one editor to love your book to get you a contract. But that applies to any dream you’re trying to achieve. Keep working at it cuz if it’s that much of a driving force in your mind, then it’s your duty to make it a reality.

Quick Three:

Favorite book: Str8te Boys by Evangeline Anderson

Favorite drink: Not sure I have a favorite drink, but I am partial to a good vodka cranberry.

Favorite article of clothing: Definitely the T-shirt I got from Romanticon last year. It just says, “Got Sex?” Yup. It’s awesome.


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Thank you again to Brien Michaels for sharing his twisted sexy stories with us. For more on Brien, you can visit his website
,  Goodreads , and find him on Twitter . Last Friday Night, as well as the rest of his titles, are available at Amazon , B&N , and All Romance Ebooks .

How Editing and Polishing a Manuscript is like Putting on Make Up

You know how you get out of the shower and your hair is up in your super-sexy plastic shower cap, and yesterday's mascara is streaked down your face, and your skin is all red and splotchy from the hot water, you look in the mirror and think, "my poor husband"? (No, just me? Well go with it, for the sake of metaphor, okay?) Well, that's what it's like when you read through the first draft of your manuscript.

You cringe at the way "just" and "was" are littered across every page. You stab your fork forcefully into the plate of black beans and cous cous (it's all that was in the cupboard because you were locked in the house writing your manuscript) at every terrible simile. You throw your hands in the air and yell things like, "What the Hell is a Finnimbrum and why did I write about it?"

But then, you grab your cold cream and wipe away the remnant mascara. You moisturize and tweeze, and work your magic. Skillfully highlighting your best features and covering the blemishes. You consult fashion magazines to figure out if it's shimmer gloss or matte lipstick this spring and ignore them when they say orange is the new pink (it isn't).

Editing your first draft is just like that. You rewrite entire scenes, move chapters and consult every grammar site you have in your bookmarks. If you're like me, you even take a self editing course BEFORE your write your book, sometimes wondering if it did more harm than good (it didn't).

If you're feeling really brave, or lost, you head to Sephora and ask one of those heavily adorned women that hawk thirty dollar sticks of eyeliner to show you how to perfectly apply blush and recommend a better color palate for your skin tone.

And that's exactly what it's like to give your second draft to your critique partners. They point out when you use the same adjective 15 times and how you forgot to mention the heroine was missing an arm until the last chapter when the hero gives her one glove for Christmas.

But in both scenarios, you aren't throwing in the towel. You don't say "screw it" and put a paper bag on your head, just like you don't print your manuscript, delete it from your hard drive and then set all 300 pages on fire (even if you fantasize about it).

You clean it up, make it the prettiest it can possibly be, and then send it out into the word for everyone to see. And jut like you, not everyone is going to think it's pretty, but there is always one person who will find it to be beautiful. That, my friends, is the only person that matters. And they are worth every tweezed eyebrow and red penned page.

Author Spotlight: Aida Brassington

Hello friends! I'm excited to bring you the first installment of my new feature: "Author Spotlight". I will be interviewing a new author every month, shedding light on the trials and tribulations of the writer's world, as well as the the triumph of success. My guest today recently released her debut novel BETWEEN SEASONS. I'm a huge fan or her work, and I hope you are as excited to get to know her as I am. Without further ado, please welcome, Aida Brassington. 

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I want to start off by thanking you for being the very first guest in my “Author Spotlight” feature. It’s an honor to have you and I’m grateful that you have taken time out of your busy schedule to chat with me. Now, down to the nitty-gritty. 

Thank you for having me! Ooo, your very first! I’m honored.

I recently finished your debut novel Between Seasons. I really loved Patrick. Seeing everything through his eyes, trapped in a world neither here nor there. It’s ethereal without being spooky, kind of like peering through the veil between this life and the spiritual realm. Can you share a little about what inspired his character?

I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the novel!

My house isn’t super old – it was built in the early 1900s. My husband I moved here about ten years ago. Almost immediately my pets started acting a little funky. And it wasn’t all the time. We joked about there being a ghost. Well . . . one day I’m sitting in my living room, and the dog jets over to the bottom of the stairs and sits up, like she’s begging. I look over, and there’s a man standing on the landing. He stared at me for a few seconds, and then he was gone.

And that’s what he does. Every now and then my keys turn up missing, which may or may not be the work of our ghost (but I blame him anyway). It’s pretty benign as far as hauntings go, but how can you not wonder about who else is living in your house with you, right? That’s how the idea for Between Seasons came up.

You’re working on a sequel, correct? What can you tell us about the next phase of Patrick’s story? 

I am. I can’t really say much without giving away the ending of Between Seasons, but North of Frost continues the story of Sara and Patrick. Ginny (an old friend of Patrick’s and a new friend of Sara’s) plays a pretty large part, too. The real issue in the novel is dealing with the consequences of getting your dearest wish, and it also answers questions about the why and how of what happens to Patrick in the first novel.

Tell us a little about yourself. Was writing always your passion or did you stumble into your talent as a pleasant surprise?

I’ve been a writer for as long as I’ve known how to string words into sentences. My mother has little stories I wrote as a kid still saved up. As an adult, I was mostly a short story writer and a poet because that’s all I had time for. You get busy with your life, you know? And I never really seriously considered doing anything with my writing other than writing for me. Over the years I ended up writing more, and then suddenly I was writing novels. Even though Between Seasons is my debut novel, I’ve written just about half a dozen novel-length pieces.

As for talent, well, I’m still not super confident in my abilities (but thank you for saying I do have some!). I think the minute you start thinking your writing is amazing and wonderful, you stop learning and trying to perfect. I’d rather think I suck and continue to improve.

Everyone encounters challenges in their creative process. From time-sucks like the internet to writer’s block, we all face problems that impede our progress. What kind of hurdles do you encounter when you’re writing? How do you overcome them?

One of my strongest personality traits is that I’m singularly focused. If I want to finish something, I do it. I set goals for myself that are arbitrary, but if I don’t meet them I get really down on myself. Some might say that in itself is a challenge to the creative process, but I kind of think it helps. To ensure that I don’t get writers block, I outline like a crazy person before I start writing. Again, some say outlines impede creativity. I don’t know – I guess I fight creative blocks by trying to be organized.

What is the one thing you wish you would have known when you were starting out as a writer? 

I’ll amend my answer to reflect what I wish I would have known when I started getting serious about writing – and that’s the fact that it’s a waste of time to worry about what anyone else is going to think about my writing. I’m a worrier by nature, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time obsessing over what and how I’m writing. I’m not talking about the mechanics (although I’m always a freak about presenting my very best to the world)…I’m more or less talking about being concerned whether people are going to love it. The fact of the matter is that someone out there is going to enjoy what I write. 

Writing is subjective, and that’s an understatement. Whether it’s Between Seasons, The Old Man and The Sea, or Catch-22 (and believe me: I am in no way saying I’m as good as Ernest Hemingway or Joseph Heller), someone is going to love it and get it, and another person is going to hate it and think it’s stupid.

Quick Three:

Favorite book: A Prayer for Owen Meany/John Irving

Favorite drink: Bloody Mary

Favorite article of clothing: mittens

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Thanks again to Aida Brassington for sharing her wisdom and her wonderful book, BETWEEN SEASONS. For more info on Aida, you can find her at her Website  on Goodreads  and on Twitter . 

BETWEEN SEAONS is available in paperback and ebook at Amazon  Barnes & Noble and  Smashwords