Books for kids, teens, & those who are young at heart

Category: Writing (Page 27 of 72)

Interview with Kai Strand Author of FINDING THOR

Have you found your Thor? Kai Strand wants to help with that. She’s here to talk about her young adult romantic suspense, FINDING THOR. Be sure to check out the giveaway below.

FindingThor_1-FINALInternational intrigue hits small-town America.

Tragedy has left Cara Cassidy broken and the only thing keeping her from giving in completely is her guilt. Until Nik Rock.

Nik stirs up feelings in degrees she has never experienced, and causes her to do things that most assuredly give him the wrong impression – like kiss him before their first date. Somehow, he breaks down the walls around her emotions until she has no choice but to forgive herself and feel again.

But a mysterious, troubled past follows Nik, and Cara may prove to be his weakest link.

When a royal princess shows up looking for Nik, and an international gang arrives looking for missing jewels, Cara lands in mortal danger. Will she be able to save herself? What will happen to her newly repaired psyche if she loses Nik?

Romance, mystery, and high stakes – just another day in high school.

Hi, Kai! Why should we read your book?

How long can you hold your breath? Finding Thor is non-stop, action, emotion, mystery, and intrigue.

If you could live inside a book, which book would you chose?

I feel like I’m cheating on this because Finding Thor is set in my current hometown, so I’d just stay right where I am now.

Is there a lesson to be learned in Finding Thor?

I don’t set out to teach a lesson when I’m writing a story, but one thing I hope resonates with readers is Cara’s personal struggle. She’s grieving. She has ups and downs. Even when she starts to make progress toward healing, she has setbacks. This is normal. People don’t have these perfect paths to follow. Life is messy. However, when the chips are down, she identifies what’s important to her and she digs deep inside her for the strength to fight for it.

Excerpt:

The veil dropped over Nik’s expression so fast, it told her exactly what she didn’t want to know. Nik had indeed seen her mom. Cara turned away from him again intending to trudge back into the classroom.

“By the crown, will you stop already?” Nik begged.

The exasperation in his tone and the odd choice of words piqued her curiosity. Cocking her head, she asked, “By the crown?”

The frustration melted away and Nik pursed his lips, which almost distracted Cara enough to forget the thread of conversation, but she tore her eyes away and asked, “Is that what they say in Seattle?”

Nik’s eyes lit with appreciation. “Aren’t you clever?”

“Am I?”

He nodded. His appreciative appraisal and half smile wreaked havoc with her supposed cleverness.

“Nik?” she breathed.

“Yes?” He tilted toward her giving her the impression he hung on her every word. His eyes were glued to her lips, which she realized were parted and ever so slightly panting.

She gulped. “Can we perhaps do this after school?”

When he raised his gaze to meet hers she almost liquefied under the heat of it. “Can I trust you?”

“Trust me to do what?” Cara asked. She was losing the ability to think.

“Show up.” He slid closer and she held her breath hoping he would take her in his arms.

“Show up where?” she asked.

A full-blown grin curved across his face and she thrilled with the knowledge she’d put it there. Then she realized she couldn’t remember how.

“Actually, I was going to ask you that,” Nik said. His eyes roved her face.

“Wait. What?” Cara’s voice was so breathy she wasn’t sure if she spoke or gasped.

“Where should we meet? After school.”

She itched to rise up on tiptoe and kiss that stellar grin off his mouth.

A low chuckle rumbled through him. “Why don’t you tell me in gym class?”

She nodded slowly. Was he a drug? Or maybe the male version of a siren. Did they have those?

He tipped further forward and she caught her breath. Then he sighed.

“See you next period.”

Her mouth fell open as he walked away. He hadn’t even touched her and she was burning with need.

At the end of the hall, he glanced over his shoulder and grinned when he saw her still gaping after him. When he walked out of view she let out the breath she’d been holding. It stuttered and shook, but was relieved to escape her burning lungs. How long had she been holding her breath?

By the crown, Nik Rock was dangerous!

Finding Thor is available in print or electronic format from the following:

AmazonBarnes & NobleWhiskey Creek PressAll RomanceBookStrand|

Add Finding Thor to your to-read shelf on Goodreads

Kai StrandAbout the author:

When her children were young and the electricity winked out, Kai Strand gathered her family around the fireplace and they told stories, one sentence at a time. Her boys were rather fond of the ending, “And then everybody died. The end.” Now an award winning children’s author, Kai crafts fiction for kids and teens to provide an escape hatch from their reality. With a selection of novels for young adult and middle grade readers Kai entertains children of all ages, and their adults. Learn more about Kai and her books on her website, www.kaistrand.com.

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IMG_3218Swag alert! Looking for your Thor? Look no further, Kai’s got you covered. Enter to win a custom tote bag for all of those books you like to carry with you, and a Thor baseball cap. Easy entry for those in a hurry, or many other ways to earn more entries for contest junkies. FT swag pack can only be shipped in the United States. If first winner is International, an Amazon gift card will be substituted and another winner will be chosen.

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INTO THE FIRE by Kelly Hashway Blitz Tour

Let’s give a big welcome to Kelly Hashway as she celebrates her newest release, the YA paranormal romance INTO THE FIRE. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
Hi, Kelly! What inspired you to write INTO THE FIRE?
When I was growing up, my mother watched reruns of the original TV series Dark Shadows. There were a few episodes that featured a woman who was a Phoenix. Every so many years she’d die in fire and be reborn from the ashes. For some reason, this stuck with me and I knew I had to write about a cast of characters who were Phoenixes.

 

The target audience for INTO THE FIRE are teens. What books had the most influence on you when you were that age?
I loved paranormal and horror novels. I was constantly reading those, which I’m sure is why I write them today. I can’t really pinpoint any specific titles though. It was the genres themselves that influenced me.
 
If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring two books and one movie, what would you bring?
Only two books? That’s a nightmare! Okay, I’ll go with Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan and Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick. Those are still my top two picks even though they’ve been out for years. As for the movie, I’ll pick Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two. You can’t go wrong with that one because there are so many emotions involved.
 
You write a lot of paranormal stories. What is it about that genre that keeps you coming back?
To me, paranormal is the real world but better. Anything can happen and people tend to have extraordinary abilities. I feel like there’s always something new to discover in this genre.

What is the single best piece of advice you have for aspiring authors?
The best advice is probably the simplest. Read. It’s the best form of research you can do (not to mention the most fun), and by reading you’re supporting the industry you want to work in.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
I’ve always wanted to fly, mostly because I hate driving. 😉 I used to dream about flying when I was very little though, so the obsession started long before I got my driver’s license. I’ve always envied birds because they can walk, run, or fly. It would be really cool to soar above the world and see it from a different perspective.

 

INTO THE FIRE by Kelly Hashway
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
– SYNOPSIS –
In one month’s time, seventeen-year-old Cara Tillman will die and be reborn from her own ashes…
Her life of secrecy has never been easy. She’s watched her younger brother, Jeremy, burn and rise again in a coming-of-age process called rebirth. And just like her brother, when her time comes, she won’t remember anything from her first life other than she’s a Phoenix—a member of a small group of people descended from the mythical Phoenix bird.
The last thing she needs to worry about is falling for the new guy in town—Logan Schmidt.
Cara is drawn to Logan in a way she can’t explain, but she’s not exactly complaining. Everything is perfect…except it’s not. Once she’s reborn, she’ll forget Logan. And to make things worse, a Phoenix Hunter is on the loose, and Cara’s involvement with Logan is bringing out her Phoenix qualities—the very qualities that will draw the Hunter right to her.
Desperate times call for desperate measures…
Afraid of hurting Logan, Cara breaks it off for good. But her attraction to him runs deeper than a typical high school crush. She wants him—needs him. And if he proves willing to stay by her side, their love might destroy them both.
Can Cara hide from the Phoenix Hunters long enough to survive her rebirth? And if so, will it mean a new beginning with Logan—or the beginning of the end?

 

 

– PURCHASE –

 

 

– ABOUT THE AUTHOR –
Kelly Hashway grew up reading R.L. Stein’s Fear Street novels and writing stories of her own, so it was no surprise to her family when she majored in English and later obtained a masters degree in English Secondary Education from East Stroudsburg University. After teaching middle school language arts for seven years, Hashway went back to school and focused specifically on writing. She is now the author of three young adult series, one middle grade series, and several picture books. She also writes contemporary romance under the pen name Ashelyn Drake. When she isn’t writing, Hashway works as a freelance editor for small presses as well as for her own list of clients. In her spare time, she enjoys running, traveling, and volunteering with the PTO. Hashway currently resides in Pennsylvania with her husband, daughter, and two pets.

 

 

═════ GIVEAWAY ═════

 

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How Do You Like to Connect With Authors and Readers?

Doing a little crowdsourcing here on how readers like to connect with authors, and also how authors are connecting to readers. I’m at a point where I’m looking at marketing and such for my published works and coming up with plans for future works, so I wanted to hear from all of you, both readers and authors.

Any and all answers are much appreciated! And I’d love to hear specifics in the comments if you’ve had a particular successful way you’ve connected to an author or reader.

 

February Writing Life Update

February has historically been my least favorite month. It’s a low part of the year for me for some reason that I’ve never been able to adequately pinpoint. I think the weather is part of it. Here in southern New England, the days are short and cold and spring feels a long way off. (Although we did have a nice stretch of warmish weather last week.)

This year I think I’m going to be too busy for the late-winter blahs. In addition to reading a lot, I’m deep in querying mode for one project; looking forward to carving out some writing time for a new project that has yet to move out of the “rumination stage,” as I like to call it; and excited (and nervous!) to have a bunch of school visits booked up for the second half of the month. (Not to mention hanging out with the boys!)

The nerves are because I’m feeling a little rusty as I haven’t done any youth writing workshops since last June, and because some of the upcoming workshops are for students that are a little younger than I’ve worked with before, and because it’s a lot of visits in a short amount of time. But I love working with the students, so I know once I practice a few more times and get going with the first one, I’ll be fine.

It’s the change of mentality I think that’s tripping me up. I spent a good deal of the second half of 2015 in writing and then revision mode (very internal acts), so it’s required a brain shift to move into the more external acts of querying and workshop teaching. Both are important parts of my creative life, but as I get older, I feel like the transition from one to the other has gotten harder.

One of these school visits I’ll remember to have someone take a few pictures of me teaching a writing workshop so I can share it here. What’s in store for all of you this month and the rest of winter?

February #InkRipples: The Magic of Chocolate

#InkRipplesBlogBanner

Every month when it’s time to start thinking about the new #InkRipples topic, I say to myself, “You are not going to write about books,” and then I end up somehow connecting the topic back to books. And February’s topic of chocolate is no exception.

It’s not my fault. See writers are infamous for turning to chocolate in dark times (say when we’re working through a tough revision, or are facing chocolate-183543_1920writer’s block, or are afraid to look at our inboxes because of an influx of rejections). It’s bound to turn up in our writing.

Whenever I think of chocolate in books, I think of J.K. Rowling’s masterful use of it in the Harry Potter series (really, is there anything that woman is not masterful at?!). There is no shortage of pieces written about chocolate in Harry Potter, from the Harry Potter Wiki page to the Pottermore website itself. In short, chocolate is used to used to ward off the depressive effects of Dementors. But it’s also used for fun, with the many magical confections Rowling invents for wizards (care for a Chocolate Frog, anyone?).

Chocolate is actually a pretty magical food, even for us muggles. Dark chocolate in particular acts as a mood booster, is an anti-inflammatory, is full of antioxidants, and is fiber-rich (see “10 Ways Giving In To That Chocolate Craving Can Benefit Your Health”).

I guess what I’m trying to say is please send me all the chocolate!

#InkRipplesblueandgreen#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by me, Mary Waibel, andKai Strand. We pick a topic (February is all about chocolate), drop a ripple in the inkwell (i.e. write about it on our blogs), and see where the conversation goes. Be sure to check out Kai’s and Mary’s posts this month. We’d love to have you join in the conversation on your own blogs. Full details and each month’s topic can be found on my #InkRipples page.

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