Tag: Books (Page 6 of 7)

Sweets Blogfest

March 6, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Authors Kelly Hashway and Beth Fred are hosting the Sweets Blogfest! I decided to join in on the action because who doesn’t love sweets. Participants will be posting about all things sweet: favorite sweet literary couples, favorite sweet romances, favorite sweets (candy), and there’s a giveaway over on Kelly’s blog!

I can think of nothing sweeter than my Sweet Boy (I used to actually call him that and do the signs for it because we use baby sign language with him), a.k.a. The Boy. Being the overprotective mother I am, I don’t like to post a lot of pictures of him on the Interweb. Today I’m making an exception! So here is the sweetest of sweets…

What kind of sweets are you enjoying today?

The Chemistry of Fate by Meradeth Houston Cover Reveal

March 4, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Hot off the presses, here is the cover of THE CHEMISTRY OF FATE by fellow Muse author and past guest poster Meradeth Houston.

“They are everywhere, can be anyone, and are always the last person you’d expect.” When Tom stumbles across his grandfather’s journal, he’s convinced the old man was crazier than he thought. The book contains references to beings called the Sary, immortals who are assigned to save humans on the verge of suicide. They certainly aren’t allowed to fall in love with mortals. Which the journal claims Tom’s grandfather did, resulting in his expulsion from the Sary. As strange as the journal seems, Tom can’t get the stories out of his head; especially when he finds the photo of his grandfather’s wings.

Tom’s only distraction is Ari, the girl he studies with for their chemistry class.

Ari has one goal when she arrives in town: see how much Tom knows about the Sary and neutralize the situation. This isn’t a normal job, but protecting the secrecy of the Sary is vital. If Tom is a threat to exposing the Sary to the public, fate has a way of taking care of the situation, usually ending with the mortal’s death. While Ari spends time with Tom, he becomes more than just an assignment, but how far can a relationship go when she can’t tell him who she really is? When she finds out just how much Tom actually knows about the Sary, Ari is forced to choose between her wings, and her heart.

THE CHEMISTRY OF FATE is a companion to COLORS LIKE MEMORIES and is set before the latter takes place.

www.MeradethHouston.com

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http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17452243-the-chemistry-of-fate

Welcome RATGIRL: Song of the Viper by Gayle C. Krause

February 27, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Today I’d like you to welcome Gayle C. Krause as she talks about the gorgeous-in-a-gritty-way cover of her debut YA novel RATGIRL: Song of the Viper.

YOU CAN JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER

Katie, thank for having me as a guest blogger on the Observation Desk. I’m thrilled to see my debut YA novel in print and e-book. You’ve asked me to talk about the awesome cover art Fiona Jayde created for RATGIRL: Song of the Viper. I don’t know how she captured the essence of the story without reading the whole novel, but she did an excellent job of catching the dark, gritty atmosphere found within the pages of the book.

Let me start with Jax Stone. She’s prominent on the cover, as she should be. Fiona has captured confidence in her amber eyes; the confidence to save her best friend from a fire, to outsmart the diabolical mayor, and to lure the city rats to their death in order to save her little brother, even if it means endangering her own life.

No one messes with Jax Stone once she has her mind set on something. Intelligent, strong-willed and gifted with a hypnotic singing voice, she’s so busy taking care of her makeshift orphan family, it’s not until she meets Colt Conrad, that she discovers she can love someone other than her little brother.

Colt Conrad stands behind her, on the cover and in the story. Global warming has devastated the Earth, and the golden sun Colt wears around his neck is one of the four keys the ECOS, an environmental group, set up generations before to ensure the Earth’s survival. Together, Jax and Colt must find the other three.

The homeless fight to survive, in a dying city, where rats outnumber the citizens, and the deadly daytime sun forces them to live underground. Night is the only time they dare venture to the surface to seek food, or to barter their services. The darkness of the cover portrays the dangerous night and the characters’ treacherous lives perfectly.

The gray and white rat that dots the i in RATGIRL represents the rats in Metro City.

The buildings in the background, against the full moon, the main source of light for the homeless, are the tyrannical mayor’s headquarters. He directs the city’s entire power source to himself, and his corporation. He has no regard for human life, and Jax must outwit him to save her brother.

And lastly, the font Fiona chose is vaguely reminiscent of rattails. 🙂

Hope our discussion of the stimulating cover for RATGIRL: Song of the Viper inspires your audience to read Jax’s story. It’s available through Noble Romance Publishing, Amazon, and other retail outlets as an e-book and will be out in paperback soon.

Thank you again.

Gayle C. Krause

http://www.gayleckrause.com/HOME.html

Priscilla Brown author of Nothing But Love

February 12, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Today Elixir Bound is being featured on Juniper Grove, complete with a giveaway of the book. In the meantime, fellow Muse author Priscilla Brown is visiting all the way from across the world to discuss her humorous contemporary romance Nothing But Love (check out my Goodreads review).

NBLcover Priscilla, what made you want to become a writer?

Encouraged initially by a wonderful English teacher in high school, I’ve always enjoyed language and playing with words.

What inspired you to write Nothing But Love?

A real-life couple’s unusual meeting circumstances stayed in my story bank, and this became the first scene in Nothing But Love. Also, for the main location I wanted to use an isolated weather-beaten setting.

At what moment did you truly begin to feel like an author?

Cheekily, when my first magazine article was published, long before I started to write fiction; this ‘author feeling’ suffered several dents until I received my first acceptance from MuseItUp.

What is your favorite part of the writing process? What is your least favorite part?

I would rather edit, self-edit and work with a publisher’s editor, than produce new text. My least favorite, as I believe applies to many authors, is the dreaded synopsis.

What is the single best piece of advice you have for aspiring authors?

Never bin any writing—characters, scraps of dialog, descriptions—and read through them when you’re stuck. One or more from this story bank may spark a new narrative or fit perfectly in an ms that’s giving you trouble.

What is next for you in your writing career?

Editing my next contracted ms for MuseItUp, and interrogating my story bank for the missing middle of a novel for which I’ve written the beginning and ending.

And here’s the fun part…below are three list of words from the magnetic refrigerator poetry set…please write up a little piece of poetry or prose from these words.

The brain attic was full with this ghost idea, page after page, for book use one day.

Nothing But Love blurb:

Being almost run over by Alistair is Cassandra’s introduction to life in the fun lane. Both fresh out of inappropriate relationships and jobs, each is novelty value for the other. But the exes are pulling tricks to be reinstated. So can Cassie’s passion for crafting silver jewelry and Al’s for woodcraft keep them fed? And is this fizzing too-much-too-soon chemistry suitable for the long haul?

Nothing But Love is available from the MuseItUp Publishing bookstore and Amazon.

About the Author:

Priscilla lives in regional New South Wales, Australia; her district is well-supplied with cafes in which she does much llistening, observing, scribbling and keeping up the caffeine.

The Book Bag: Touching the Surface and Enthralled

January 24, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

I have in my possession the infamous book bag. It’s kind of like the traveling pants of my sisters, my mom, my sister’s wife, and I. The bag has two quotes on it: “When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.” (Erasmus) and “My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.” (Abraham Lincoln).

There aren’t too many rules to the book bag. Add as many books as you want. Read as many books as you want. Keep it for as long as you want (or until you get tired of being harassed by the other bookees). When the bag cycles back to you, take out your old books and add in some new ones. There is a journal that goes along with it for jotting down your thoughts on your own books or others (or none).

Here is what is in the bag for me to choose from (I’ll probably try and read them all (if I haven’t already read them…I’m looking at you Will Grayson, Will Grayson), even though some of them are *gasp* adult books).

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

The challenging part for me is to try and include books my twin-not-twin hasn’t already borrowed. Here are the books I will be adding to the bag. I thought Enthralled would be a good one because it’s an anthology of short stories. The other bookees can read whatever stories tickle their fancy and skip the rest. Touching the Surface is by Kimberly Sabatini, who is an awesome person who wrote an awesome book, so of course I want everyone to read that one.

What books have you read lately that you’d like to share with others? Oh, and one last thing. There is still time to enter to win Annika James’ Wanted. Just leave a comment in the post below.