Title: STRENGTH
Series: Mark of Nexus - Book 1
Publisher: Sapphire Star Publishing
Category: New Adult (NA)
Genre: Paranormal Romance (PNR)
Release Date: March 07, 2013

 

When college student Rena Collins finds herself nose-to-chest with the campus outcast, her rumor-laced notions are shattered. Handsome, considerate, and seemingly sane, Wallace Blake doesn’t look like he spends his nights alone, screaming and banging on the walls of his dorm room. Hell, he doesn’t look like he spends his nights alone, period.

Too curious for her own good, Rena vows to uncover the truth behind Wallace’s madman reputation—and how two seconds of contact had left her with bruises. Of course, there are a few setbacks along the way: guilt, admiration, feelings of the warm and fuzzy variety…

Not to mention the unwanted attention of Wallace's powerful, supernaturally-gifted family.

They’re a bloodline divided by opposing ideals, two soon-to-be warring factions that live in secret among us. When Rena ends up caught in their crossfire, Wallace has no choice but to save her by using his powers. Now they’re really in trouble. With war on the horizon and Rena’s life in the balance, he needs to put some distance between them. But Rena won’t let go. If fighting is what it takes to prove her own strength and keep Wallace in her life, then that’s what she’ll do—even if it means risking a whole lot more than her heart.

About the Author:

Carrie daydreamed her way through college—until they thrust a marketing degree into her hands, slapped a summa cum laude seal on the corner, and booted her out into a less-than-stellar job market. Instead of panicking at the prospect of unemployment, she used her Midwestern logic to steer into the skid and point her life in the direction she really wanted to go: writing out those daydreams.

 

You know those books you can't put down once you start reading? The one you keep thinking about after you've finished? That's how Strength is for me. Tiny, spunky, college girl Rena and tortured, mysterious, Mr.Tall-Dark-and-Handsome Wallace had me sucked in from the beginning. I love how upfront Rena is and her hilarious one liners. Wallace is a perfect gentleman, sweet, generous, and sexy as heck. One thing that did surprise me about the book was the hunky hero's name. I don't know about you, but when I think of someone named Wallace, I don't think rippling abs. Thanks to Carrie Butler, that has changed. Wallace is now going on my 'sexy name' list! I love how Rena slowly falls for Wallace and doesn't just cling to him from the beginning and how Wallace tries to keep his distance, but still gives in like a normal red-blooded male. Too often love stories in the YA/NA category consist of the girl falling all over the guy and the guy being too stuck up for the girl. That's so not the case here.

 

Overall Reaction: Loooooved it! Carrie Butler definitely knows how to write a story and I'm already anxious for the next book. (Which, according to her blog, she's working on now! *squeal*) This is definitely one to buy for the bookshelf. Have you seen the cover? Yum!

I'm sure everyone in the world of writing has heard of New Adult. Some people, like myself, are all for it, while others roll their eyes and throw tomatoes and lettuce at the thought. If you're wondering what New Adult is exactly, the girls at NA Alley explains it perfectly. You can find the link here. They are my favorite go-to site for anything concerning New Adult. While they do have an awesome blog, I must confess I love following them on Twitter. Each of them are funny, witty, clever, and just downright awesome. Every Thursday they have a Twitter chat (is that even the correct term?) where anyone can join in and chat about the topic of the week.

Back to my original topic, what's so great about New Adult? Well, here's my opinion on it. I love the innocence of a first kiss, the struggles of trying to find out who you are, and growth that takes place in YA books. I also love the steamier side that the Adult section brings out, the freedom of doing what you want, when you want, the confidence they seem to have. New Adult combines those two worlds.

The main characters are on their own, but they don't have experience to yet rely on. They're old enough to fall in love without worrying about what others think, but is it worth it to stay with that one person or catch some other fish in the sea? No longer do they have to sneak out at night, park in back roads to steal a kiss or cop a feel, they can go to their own apartments without looking over their shoulders for Mom or Dad. They have all these new freedoms and liberties thrust upon them. It's exciting, over-whelming, and fun. They also have responsibility thrown at them. You want your own apartment while you're at college? Better find a job. You have a huge test in the morning but the party of the year is tonight. Mom isn't there to take the blame when you call your friends and tell them you can't go.

It's the excitement of being an adult and trying to make your mark on the world. Mistakes are going to be made so lessons can be learned. Hearts will break, love will conquer all, anything can happen. The options are endless! I may also be a bit biased as I am in my mid-twenties, and in that New Adult stage where I'm still making mistakes to learn from. I don't consider myself an adult, but I know I've passed being a young adult (thank goodness!).

If you're looking for some fun New Adult reads, Goodreads has several lists of NA books. You can also join the New Adults Reading Challenge group at Goodreads. Look for me if you do! I also just received an ARC of Strength by Carrie Butler, one of the sisters of NA Alley. Have you seen the cover of it? Sexy, shirtless, rippling abs. Oh, yeah, I'm totally excited to read it! Review to come on that soon. Just out of curiosity, how many of you read book reviews?

Hello all my fellow insecure writers! Who's ready for this new year? New deadlines, new stories, new heartbreaks, new loves. I'm hoping to begin the next step in my writer's journey this year. Querying. The goal is to write The End by Jan 31. Then it's onto editing. I've looked around at a few different agents and publishers and I'm already overwhelmed. So, I'm turning to my fellow writers. What are your favorite sites for looking up different agents? How many agents do you send to at a time? How do you deal with all the waiting?! To end this post on a happy note, I've decided to title my novel Ripple. What do you guys think? A brief synopsis can be found under my WIP's page.

Hope the holidays were fun and safe for everyone! How many of you did Nano? I attempted, but failed. The story I was writing just wasn't speaking to me. I could get stuff out, but it was sooo boring! I did not want to associate writing with something boring and mandatory. On the upside, I had a whole month to sit back from my main novel. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. While I was away from my beloved characters, I was able to do some more plotting and outlining and get over my writer's block. Woo-hoo! I threw myself back in on December 1st and have made some headway. I also let two of my sisters read it. Talk about stress! The only people I have ever let read my writing have been complete strangers. While I am now critique partners with a few of those people and very much trust and appreciate their feedback, having two people I love read my story and offer their input was terrifying. If they said they hated it, I would feel like a total failure, hide out for a week, and stuff myself full of candy and pizza. Luckily, they loved it! They are both asking when they get to read more, which is motivation for me to get writing more.

The New Year is peeking around the corner. Time for resolutions. Weight loss. Check. Exercise more. Check. Be totally awesome. Check. HaHa. Okay, in all seriousness, I hate New Year's resolutions. Tons of people make these empty promises to themselves or others, but as soon as the excitement is gone, aka Jan. 7, the resolutions are gone, too. As much as I hate them, I have already made two resolutions. One is to read 52 books this year and do book reviews on at least half of them. (Little secret on me: I haven't done any book reviews since high school because I have no idea what I'm supposed to say.) My second one is to finish my novel by the end of January. Not to the point where I'm ready to query it, but to the point that I can focus on editing it. Do you have any resolutions this year? What are they?

I have been a naughty and absent blogger. Again. I've warned you all how unorganized I can be! While I was gone, Paula from Pen 2 Paper gifted me with the Liebster Blog Award. Isn't she the sweetest! Go check out her blog. I love how honest and honest and real she is!

 

Here are the rules for winning a Liebster Blog award:

1. Answer the presenter's 11 questions

2. Formulate 11 questions for them to answer

3. Plaster the award on your blog

4. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog
5. Link back to the blogger who awarded you
6. Copy & Paste the award to your blog
7. Nominate 11 blogs that you enjoy to receive the award who have less than 200 followers
8. Inform them of their nomination by leaving a comment on their blog

Pretty simple, right? Let's get started!

1.What monster would you choose to be for a Halloween costume?
I would be a zombie faery!

2.What is the number one played song on your iPod?
It's a tie between Apologize by Luke Bryan and Payphone and One More Night by Maroon 5.

3.What chore do you hate doing?
The dishes. Mainly pots and pans.

4.If you could throw any kind of party (money is no object) what would it be?
A masquerade ball! Complete with fancy dresses, venetian masks, waiters, etc.

5.Which superpower would you pick if they were up for grabs?
Super speed. Then I could get those darn dishes done quick!

6.What is your favorite holiday and why?
Halloween. It's during my favorite season and has so many options. It can be fun, scary, silly, cute, whatever you want!

7.What is one of your favorite quotes?
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you. -Maya Angelou

8.What is your favorite genre, reading and/or writing?
Romance for both!

9.What is your favorite day of the week and why?
Saturday. It's the one day I can get my little family all to myself without work or anything else to interfere.

10.What is your favorite month of the year?
September. It's the beginning of Fall and my birth month.

11.If you could have any talent in the whole world, which one would you choose?
I would love to be able to sing.


Now for eleven other bloggers!

21st Centure Bluestockings
From the Desk of Laura Stephenson
Hopelessly Hopeful
Iain's Inspiration
Into the Cuckoo's Nest
Jennifer Comeaux
Lindsey Frydman
Munchkins and Manuscripts
Muse, Rant, Rave
Read is the New Black
Reading for Refuge


Be sure to check out these amazing bloggers! A few of them are even my critique partners, and let me tell you, they rock! Here are the questions they will be answering:

1. What author inspired you to start writing?
2. If you could bring any one of your fictional boyfriends to life (I know you have one!) who would it be?
3. What's your favorite color and why?
4. What came first, the chicken or the egg?
5. Where would your ideal writing spot be?
6. What is your favorite type of pizza?
7. You're up for karaoke, what song do you sing?
8. Which power ranger would you have been?
9. What is your favorite book==>movie/tv show?
10. What is your favorite paranormal being to read about?
11. What book are you currently reading?

Candy corn, mini princesses, chocolate, pumpkins, tiny super heroes... Yup, it's my favorite time of year! It's Halloween! Dani of Entertaining Interests and Jackie of Bouquet of Books have put together an exciting contest they have dubbed 'Spooktoberfest'. They gave us five (5) words we had to use in a 300 word flash fiction story. Here's my attempt:

 Sexy costume, sky high heels, smoky, mesmerizing eyes. I was ready for the annual Halloween Masquerade Ball that was held every year at the chicest club in the city.  I put on my gold mask that was as light and lacy as cobwebs when I exited the taxi. It was anonymity from here on out.

The music was already bumping when I went in. Ghosts and ghouls were writhing against Arabian princesses. Frankenstein was leading a Playboy bunny to a dark corner. Everyone who was anyone was there, but no one knew who was who. Between the costumes and the masks, you couldn’t be sure who you were standing next to. That was the point of course, to be able to let go of your inhibitions and let your needs and desires out for one night. To be free without the rules and dictations of society to bring you down to reality.

Sporadically placed jack-o-lanterns were brought to life with the glow of a candle. Cauldrons overflowed with fog, making the floor disappear. I steered clear of the Halloween themed drinks. You couldn’t let your senses be dulled in a place as seductive as this. The tempo of the music changed from energizing and blaring to smooth, slow, and mysterious.

Someone took my hand and pulled me onto the dance floor. I looked up into the greenest eyes I had ever seen, surrounded by a solid black mask. His gaze was so intense, I felt as if he had used a razor to cut through and see into my soul. I let him mold himself to me as we swayed to the music. When the song finished, he took off his mask, revealing someone I never would have guessed in a million years.


Well, there's a mysterious Halloween romance for all of you! Have a fun and safe holiday!

I know right where your mind went, but thankfully we're so not going to go there! It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means:

Insecure Writers Support Group

 

This is such a great group. I love getting encouragement from other writers and seeing that other people struggle with the same things I do. Although writing is usually a solitary thing, it's nice to know we're not alone out there. If you are one of my lovely followers, you've probably noticed I've been absent from here for a few weeks. If you're popping over here from somewhere else, welcome and now you know I'm a slacker. Wonderful first impression, isn't it? While I've been gone, here's what has happened:

1. I celebrated my 25th birthday. Yay me, I'm a quarter of a century old. It was lots of fun. Hubby took the day off work, brought me 25 roses with presents from him and the kids. We took the kids out for a family date, then dropped them off with the inlaws so the hubby and I could have a date night. As our date night involved pizza, it was awesome.
2. My oldest had her first picture day at preschool. Not much of a milestone, but it was still exciting for us. She's had her outfit picked out for weeks.
3. The hubby is working on day shift for a couple of weeks, so we can actually have a social life again.
4. We took a leisurely drive up the colorful American Fork canyon. I love fall!

Yeah, September was a fun month for us. That's the main reason I've been MIA around here. The other reason is... I'm not sure what to write about. My novels are coming along, but I'm talking about my blog. Whenever I do something, I research the heck out of it. Sewing, crocheting, being pregnant, planting a garden, you name it. I'll spend hours pouring over different websites to figure out the best way to do things and the different ways you can do them. Since this is my method, I did the same for blogging. Let me tell you, the only thing consistent in the how-to-blog blogs, was to post consistently. Some say write strictly about writing. Others say don't focus too much on the writing aspect. Then another will pop up and say 'whatever, just write about anything'. I like having some sort of idea of what to do. If I don't have a plan, I tend to get overwhelmed then shut down. That's what happened here. When I read a fellow writer's blog, I like to read a little of everything. Their day at the amusement park with the kids, writing advice, their struggles with their novel, book reviews. I could easily go on and on about the crazy things my kids do or why my MC is about ready to get her neck strangled by me. But writing advice? When do you get to that point that you can give writing advice? For now, I'm content just listening to the advice. What insecurities have been bothering you lately?