Just Finished Reading...The Year Of The Great Seventh

The Year Of The Great Seventh by Teresa Orts

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Published July 6th 2013 by Drayton Press

Sophie has always felt out of step—an outsider, even amongst friends in her high school with all the hype about celebrity culture. Her life in L.A. seems to have been already written for her, but when her junior year starts, it all takes a drastic turn. When she crosses paths with the school's heartthrob, Nate Werner, they fall for each other in a way neither can understand. What they don’t know is that by giving in to their desires, they are unlocking an ancient Egyptian prophecy that threatens to return Earth to the dark ages.
To undo the curse, Nate and Sophie embark on an adventure that takes them across the country. But their quest is not only to save the world as they know it. It is also a fight for their very survival. Behind the scenes, there are those that are counting on them to fail.

My thoughts~

3.5 stars 

The Year Of The Great Seventh was an enjoyable read, and I will definitely read more of Teresa Orts writing in the future.

I will start off with saying that Teresa is a talented writer. The images she provided for us were very easy to picture and I feel like I got to know the characters very well. I do think a lot of people will like this story, but I do have to admit, the book was not exactly for me. Let me explain.

This story is outside of my usual reads, as it is set in a modern, contemporary world. But the reason I was drawn to this story is the hint of the Egyptian mythology that was given to us in the summary of the book. The mythology was there, but in my opinion, for the first half of the book we only get little hints of it. The plot finally kicks in when we reach the halfway mark, and once it got started, it was exciting; it just took a while to get there.

Over all, I must have found it enjoyable, because it was hard to put down. Even when I felt like I was not really into the story, I had the desire to keep reading, and I cared enough about the characters that I had to know how it ended.

The Writer's Journey

One of the first things I learned when I began writing, was how to write the Hero's Journey. When I started this endeavor, one thing I never thought about was the Writer's Journey.

I have to admit, I was pretty naive back then. The only thing I knew was that I had a story that I wanted to tell and I was going to tell it. Looking back on that simple idea now, I laugh hysterically. "I'm gonna write a book," I proudly proclaimed to the world.

I will be honest here, I had no idea what I was doing, or how much work I was in for. I enrolled in a few classes at my community college, bought every "how to" book I could find on writing, internet stalked all of my favorite authors to scrounge up any writing tips that they may causally mention, joined a critique, and started my blog.

Like most writers I sacrificed time with friends, family, television, sleep, and even reading. *gasp* I KNOW! READING! In the mean time I found a professional cover designer, editor, proofreader, and formatter. Even though I was self publishing, I wanted to create the best and most professional book in my power.

The journey was full of surprises, some good, some bad, and most of time I was exhausted. But it was all worth it. Through all the hard work and stress I reached my goal and have a real book to hold in my hands with my name on the cover.

I just finished a blog tour, was featured in my local paper, and had a release party in a real book store.  People came and everything! I partnered up with my friend, Carolyn Rose, and together we did readings, passed out prizes, signed books and shoved cake and wine down everyone's throat. It was great!

So where does that leave me now? I'm starting all over again and working on book 2, Transcended. It guess you can say I came full circle. All the hard work is starting all over again, and I love every minute of it!

Release party at Cover To Cover Books

Carolyn Rose reading from, No Substitute For Money

photo by Victoria Lindstrom

Nothing like waiting till the last minute...Hello Bloglovin.

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This is my mandatory Bloglovin sign up post. I'm really going to miss my Google Reader. Like all good things, it came to an end.

But I love and value everyone one my readers, so please follow along with Bloglovin. Or if you know of a better program, leave a comment and let me know what has been working for you.

Kriston

So, Kriston, what's going on now?

My favorite place to escape to after a long writing session.

Life has been pretty good lately. I just finished a two week long blog tour organized by Xpresso Book Tours. It was a great experience and if you are looking to have a book tour yourself, or if you want to be a tour host, I recommend you give them a try.

So Awakened has been available for over a month now and I have been working on book two, Transcended. If everything goes according to schedule, it will be available April 2014.

April you say? Yes, I know, it is a long time away. But life is busy and I'm a slow writer.

Myself, Carolyn Rose and Karen Gilb, will be hosting a release party this Saturday, the 29th, at Cover To Cover Books. If you are in the Portland/Vancouver area, I'd love to have you stop by. We will be reading from our most current works and shoving sugary treats down your throat. In other words, there will be snacks and wine involved!

Vancouver Authors Celebrate New Releases

Mystery writer Carolyn J. Rose (No Substitute for Money), and fantasy writers T.K. Gilb (Between Flame and Shadow), and Kriston Johnson (Awakened) will read from their latest works on Saturday, June 29^th, 3:00-5:30 PM, at Cover to Cover Books, 6300 NE St. James Road, Suite 104B, Vancouver. 360-993-7777, mail@covertocoverbooks.net

Rose is the author of several novels, including Hemlock Lake, Through a Yellow Wood, An Uncertain Refuge, Sea of Regret, A Place of Forgetting, and No Substitute for Murder, a self-published cozy which has reached nearly 30,000 readers. The just-released sequel, No Substitute for Money, is also set in fictional Reckless River, Washington and features substitute teacher and amateur sleuth Barbara Reed.

Gilb is an avid reader, writer, and blogger with a passion for the Northwest. In recent years, she has traveled from British Columbia south to the Oregon Caves and from the Bitterroot Mountains west to the Pacific. Check out her travels on http://www.wildaboutthenw.com/

Between Flame and Shadow is a tale of sorcery, betrayal, honor, and the quest to find and claim an ancient scroll of power and save a queen.

Johnson lives with her husband, teenage son, and miniature Australian Shepherd near a fringe of an old growth forest that she insists is the home of Jason Voorhees. Her husband thinks that’s a ridiculous assumption because everyone knows it’s really Bigfoot. Awakened is the story of seventeen-year-old Jade Rosenberg whose inherited power is kindled by the incantation in an ancient book. Thrust into an enchanted realm, she faces a terrifying choice—assassinate the sworn enemy of her people or sacrifice her soul.

Stacking The Shelves

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It is a place to show off our latest books. Wether it's ebooks, paper books or books on loan from a friend, feel free to share it on your own Stacking The Shelves

Oh look, I did my part in keeping my local Barnes & Noble open by buying more books to add to my ever growing TBR shelf. Why do we do that to ourselves?

I love, love, love, to infinity loved Shadow and Bone. Even though I read it on my Kindle, I wanted the hard copy of Siege and Storm.

I have been wanting to read Throne of Glass since, forever, and when I saw this updated cover today I grabbed it. I was going to read it anyway, but I love the new image.

The Myology book is for research. This is the fun part of drafting book two in The Legends of Elyndia series. At this point, half of the book is still an open canvas.

What new books have you got lately?

Look...I'm Famous!

I made the big time! Well, it's close to the big time. Okay, maybe it's down the road, or even a few county lines over from from big time, but I did make the local paper.

Last Sunday, The Columbian featured myself, Carolyn Rose, Lili Saintcrow, Sheila Simonson, Jane Elder Wolf, Karen Gilb, and the book store owner, Mel Sanders, in a two page spread.

We met at Cover to Cover Books, our local independently owned book store.

It was a real joy meeting with the ladies and listening to the different paths we all took to get to where we are today with our writing. I am thankful to have been a part of it.

And...on June 29th, I, along with Carolyn Rose and Karen Gilb, will be doing a reading and signing event at Cover to Cover Books. Stay tuned for more details.

Cover Reveal...One

It is no secret that I am a cover junkie. So it is my pleasure to be a part of the cover reveal for One, by Mari Arden. Make sure to scroll down for your chance to win an Amazon gift card, a book or mouse pad.

Summary~

Jules Hendricks has had a string of bad "firsts."

 Embarrassing first kiss. Traumatic first date. An obsessive first boyfriend she can't understand.

It's taken her years but she's finally able to leave her small town life behind for a new start as a freshmen at UW- Madison. For Jules this chance to be independent and rebuild her life is an opportunity she won't ever let anyone take from her again. She's determined to make something of herself without a man by her side, in front, behind or anywhere near her.

Reid "Pax" Paxton is the star quarterback for the UW Badgers. His brush with death makes him understand how precious life is, and how important it is to take life by the horns, unafraid. Jules knows he's dangerous for her. Dark hair. Smoldering eyes. Killer smile. That dimple. That body. Those arms. Pax is everything she's trying to run away from, but she can't help coming back for more. Slowly he begins to show a life together can be more than just a dream. It can be their reality. The truth about reality is it's not always sunshine and butterflies.

Sometimes it's a wasteland.

Sometimes secrets can't stay buried.

Sometimes your past will find a way to hunt you down. 

AUTHOR BIO: 

I'm Mari Arden (Mari rhymes with safari). Teacher by day, author by night. When I'm not living my double life I like to hike and try foods from all over the world. Up until recently, I used to be scared of dogs. Even puppies. True story. Now I'm just afraid of anything with more than six legs. I write to soothe my soul and to, hopefully, entertain YOU. 

Adventurous? Come join my double life

An excerpt from One~

ONE

**Warning: the contents of this book are intended for readers 18+ and older due to explicit adult situations.           

            "Do I make you nervous?" His husky drawl drips like chocolate covering a ripe, round strawberry. Does he make me nervous? Does a simmering volcano make an ant nervous?

            I swallow. "Nervous? I'm not nervous," I babble, refusing to look at him. I'm in physical pain. What's that thing I do where I take in air, and then let it out? Oh yeah, breathing. I need to do that.

            Like right now.

            I make a strangled sound and inhale through my nostrils, taking in the smoky air like a ravenous puppy finding milk. Instantly I feel Pax's heat next to me. Soon I'll be immersed in it, wrapped in it.

            Wrapped around him.

            So does that make me nervous? Only a hundred kinds of nervous.

            "Time to begin!" Cade yells, as he jogs back to Pax and I, flashing his pearly whites. He pounds Pax on the back. "Don't drop the ball," he grins.

            "As if I ever do."

            Cade turns to me. I see the second he registers my cleavage is exposed to the world. His eyes appraise me slowly. He gives me an appreciative grin. "Well, hello there."

            "Hi," I reply. "Um, should we start now?" I don't mean to be rude, but I'm a second away from vomiting every cell inside me, and call me crazy, but I'd prefer not to start off my year known as the Vomiter.

            "Yes," Pax glares at Cade. "Let's start." He inserts himself between us, blocking Cade's view of me. His firm, half naked body is next to my face. Pax's musky cologne combined with a sweaty scent unique to him assails my nostrils until my senses are reeling out of control.

            Cade chuckles, looking amused. I want to glare at him. I don't find anything amusing about this. "Ready when you are."

            Pax turns to me, his emerald eyes dark pools in the sunlight. This close I see every glorious inch of him, from the tiny stubbles of black hair covering the lower part of his face to the rippling six pack decorating his stomach like a tattoo. I don't dare look any lower. My pulse skitters. I forget to breathe. Something hard and hot unfurls in my belly. Unable to tear my gaze from him I watch helpless as his mouth drifts closer, until he' so close his breath mingles with mine.

            "Ride me."

Excerpt copyright 2013 Mari Arden

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And Introducing...Ruth Silver

Today on Words Escape Me I am please to have Ruth Silver, the author of Aberrant, stop by and answer a few questions.

1. How long have you been writing.

I started writing when I was in high school. Mostly it was poetry in my spare time. It was my freshman year of college where I really took to writing, spending a lot of my free time drafting stories and writing fan fiction with friends online.

2. If you could have a super hero power, what would it be?

I'm not sure that this would be a super power, per say but I'd love to be able to teleport. I wouldn't need a machine, I could just think of where I'd want to go and travel there without any complications (flight delays, traffic, etc). I have family in another state and I'd love to be able to visit them in an instant and still be able to come home and play with my dog before bed.

3.If Aberrant was ever made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?

Tough question! When I wrote Aberrant, I didn't have specific actors in mind. I had to do a little searching online. Olivia was easier to decide who she would be played by, Elle Fanning. She has the physical traits as well as the acting chops to pull it off. For Joshua, I had a little more difficulty deciding. There were a few actors I could see playing Joshua. However, with Elle being a little younger for the role (and presumably would grow into the role), I'd cast Dylan Sprayberry alongside of her.

Abarrant reached the top 100 in Kindle sales within the first 48 hours of publication. Way to go Ruth!

You can find Abarrant on Amazon, or visit Ruth's blog, Write Away Bliss.

Here is a little about the book~

In the future Dystopian society of Cabal, the government instills equality for all and offers its citizens the perfect system. There is food, shelter and jobs for everyone. The one requirement is to follow the rules without question, including the government's match in marriage and "The Day of the Chosen", a lottery that randomly selects families to conceive children as natural means hasn't existed in generations. Following her eighteenth birthday, Olivia Parker accepts her requirement to marry her childhood best friend, Joshua Warren, and is eager to start her work assignment and new life when it all comes abruptly to an end as she's arrested and thrown in prison. The only crime committed, her existence. Olivia is unlike the rest of the world born not from "The Day of the Chosen." The truth haunts the government and puts her life in grave danger as one simple fact would destroy the perfect system.

With Joshua's help, Olivia breaks free of prison and is forced on the run. Together they set out to find the promised rebel town in search of a new home and new life together. Their situation seems less than promising as they reach the town of Haven. New rules and customs must be adhered to in order to stay. Leaving would mean most certain death in the large expanse of the Gravelands. Time is running out as the government mounts an attack to destroy Olivia and bury her secret with her. Thrown into a world unlike their own, they must quickly adapt to survive.