Food for the Muse

I was talking about hero inspiration with my CP Amanda Ashby the other day, as my editor wanted ideas for the cover conference for my next book *cue much excitement my end!* I've always thought Henri Castelli was a great model for the hero of that book because of his absolutely mesmerizing eyes (OK the rest of him isn't half bad either!!) I've had a bit of a crush on Henri for a few years now (in between my long time crush on Clive Owen!) and totally blame the lovely Cari Quinn for introducing me to his gorgeousness! As it's been a while since I showcased the perfection that is Henri I thought I'd remedy that today, seeing as it's a public holiday here in WA due to the Queen being in Perth!

Food for the Muse

Sophie's Magical Covers!

My good friend and CP, Amanda Ashby, has just unveiled the covers for her upcoming MG series, Sophie's Mixed-Up Magic - and they totally rock!!! The model is exactly how we imagined Sophie looks and the little details on each cover, that tie in with each book, are just super cool.

The first two books, Wishful Thinking and Under a Spell are out in June 2012 and the third book, Out of Sight will be out a few months later.

And here is the unofficial blurb (culled directly from Amanda's blog!!)

The day before sixth grade Sophie Campbell accidentally gets turned into a djinn and then has to learn how to control her powers and hide it all from her mom (who is still super stressed since Sophie's dad walked out on them four years earlier). She also has to stop her new, recently-deceased djinn guide, Malik from ruining her life. Let's just say that chaos ensues!

Sophie's Magical Covers!

Halo - Reloaded

A lot of authors are now self-publishing their out of print backlist titles, and I'm very excited that my friend, Amanda Ashby, has just made her debut romance, You Had Me at Halo, available on Kindle! How cute is that cover? And at $2.99 it's a bargain! Here's the blurb:

 When Holly Evans wakes up dead at the tender age of twenty-two, she's pretty sure things can't get any worse (especially since her boyfriend was about to propose to her with a diamond ring the size of her knuckle). But Holly's wrong and it turns out that she's still got some mortal baggage to unload before she can walk through the pearly gates, which is why she's being sent back to earth to get things sorted out.

Problem is that when she lands in the body of computer geek, Vince Murphy, she discovers that instead of having left the building, Vince is still very much alive (and remarkably unimpressed at the idea of sharing with a dead girl). So now Holly has to sort out her unresolved baggage in the next forty-eight hours while stuck in the body of a guy she barely noticed while she was alive. And if she doesn't? Well, let's just say that she's probably not going to like the alternative.

And here's the cover to Michelle's In a Treacherous Court - I meant to post it up yesterday and completely forgot. Seriously, this head cold has a lot to answer for!!

Halo - Reloaded

Skittles and a Fairy Bad Day

Huge congratulations to my dear friend, Amanda Ashby, as her fabulous YA Fairy Bad Day hits the shelves today!

Here's the blurb to whet your appetite:

First, my rightful designation of dragon slayer is STOLEN right out from under me by Curtis Green. Sure, he’s really cute, but that doesn’t give him an excuse.

 On top of that, I am assigned to slay fairies. I know what you’re thinking—how hard could it be, right? Wrong! These menacing beasts with their tiny hipster clothes and mocking sarcasm love taunting me. And they won’t STOP!

  But the thing that tops my list of stuff to ruin my day? That would be the GIANT KILLER FAIRY that I have to hunt down and slay because I am the only one who can see it. There is someone who can help me. Unfortunately…it’s Curtis. 

And here's the excerpt Enjoy! (and if you're wondering what the Skittles reference is all about, they play a Very Important role in the book!!!)

Skittles and a Fairy Bad Day

Happy Mother's Day & Killing Your Darlings

Happy Mother's Day! I hope you all had a wonderful day with your human and/or fur babies. My lovely children framed the cover of Captive for me and it is completely awesome :-) unfortunately my photo skills are such that I can't enlarge it to show all the details!

I recently heard back from my editor on my current book. She had read the proposal - the first four chapters and synopsis (my chapters are quite short!) and had some excellent insights on the plot based on the synopsis I'd given her. Now, synopsis writing is not my strong point, especially when I haven't even written the book yet. I have enough trouble writing the thing after the book's finished! I don't even look at the synopsis after it's done so the book rarely follows my original ideas. However in this case, although I'd wandered away from the synopsis, the issues my editor pointed out were things I'd intended keeping.

After a mild panic attack (and a late night brainstorming session with the amazing Amanda!) I realized that no only was it all doable, but by doing it would clarify all the sticky bits at the beginning of the book that I'd earmarked as needing to be sorted out. Once again I'm amazed at just how much can be slashed and burned without making the entire plot disintegrate. It's hard to kill your darlings but sometimes it just has to be done!

Happy Mother's Day & Killing Your Darlings

Hot Demons!

I'm thrilled that my fabulous CP, fellow Tiara Girl Amanda Ashby, has sold her next book to Puffin! Here's the scoop from Publishers Marketplace:

Amanda Ashby's DEMONOSITY, in which a sixteen year old girl's life is
turned upside down when she has to protect an ancient alchemist's
relic from two demonknight brothers, one of whom is good and one of
them bad: the problem is she has no idea which is which, to Puffin, in
a nice deal, by Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency (World English).

Hot Demons!

Couple of Contests

I'm holding a contest to win a copy of Captive over at GoodReads for the next couple of weeks - just click on the link or the widget on the right sidebar to enter - it's as easy as that!

My good friend, paranormal YA romance author Amanda Ashby and her very clever husband have just launched her brand new website - and it's fabulous! Amanda is also holding a contest over at GoodReads for an ARC of her upcoming Fairy Bad Day (Amanda thinks up the best titles!) so don't forget to join in the fun because this book r-o-c-k-s.

Couple of Contests

Fairy Bad Day ARCs!

My good friend and CP, Amanda Ashby, recently received a couple of ARCs for her upcoming YA novel, Fairy Bad Day. And OMG but they are sooo adorable!!! Look at that cool kick-ass sword!!

My life seriously couldn’t get any worse.

First, my rightful designation of dragon slayer is STOLEN right out from under me by Curtis Green. Sure, he’s really cute, but that doesn’t give him an excuse.

On top of that, I am assigned to slay fairies. I know what you’re thinking—how hard could it be, right? Wrong! These menacing beasts with their tiny hipster clothes and mocking sarcasm love taunting me. And they won’t STOP!

But the thing that tops my list of stuff to ruin my day? That would be the GIANT KILLER FAIRY that I have to hunt down and slay because I am the only one who can see it. There is someone who can help me. Unfortunately…it’s Curtis.

It’s going to be a fairy bad day.

Fairy Bad Day ARCs!