Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Welcome to the New Year

As the New Year is in our close future... a day or so a way...I have set a goal to post as best I can for the next 31 days. So for day one I am going to rewind and take a minute to introduce myself which is kind of funny because if you follow me you know I am Ava O'Shay...an author. But I am a bit more. I am a mom of two college age boys who most of the time I love a whole ton! My oldest is a junior at Montana State University in Bozeman, WA. He plays for the football team. He's number 42.
 
 
My youngest is also a junior and attends University of Wyoming where I think he is majoring in Rock Climbing.
 
I love all things outdoors and love mountain biking, camping, climbing, hiking, whatever I can find outside.  The only time I am really sitting still is when I am writing and I write because I can't be outside constantly and I am unable to sit and do nothing.  I write New Adult primarily because my life revolves around two new adults.  I also threw in a paranormal YA and an adult romance but my heart is with my New adult characters.
I love to interact with readers and enjoy visiting at signings so feel free to message me anytime!

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Serenity Tea Cakes



  Serenity Tea Cakes
         How far will you go for a cookie....
 
 
 
This is my recipe for Serenity Tea Cakes, melt in your mouth yumminess! I grew up with my grandma making these every Christmas and would hoard them all to myself when that tin of cookies came in the mail. Now a few years ago I discovered I was allergic to nuts and thought my favorite cookie was off limits but even without nuts they are awesome! Enjoy!


Ingredients
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
  2 1/4 flour
   3/4 cup finely chopped nuts
   1/4 teaspoon salt
    Powdered sugar
 
  Directions 1 Heat oven to 400ºF. 2 Mix shortening, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together. 3 Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. 4 Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack. 5 Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.

Monday, December 8, 2014

I am borrowing this

This is one of the best posts I have read on a blog and it encompasses the life of an Indie Author and made me laugh. Click and check it out. https://clrozelle.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/10-things-that-suck-and-rock-about-being-an-indie-author-part-1/

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Lexi Lawton's Christmas Confessions


Title: Christmas Confessions
Author: Lexi Lawton
Genre: Adult Romance
Release Date: November 6, 2013

Buy Link: Amazon

BLURB:

From the moment Brandon James hired Chelsea St. Claire to work in his bar, he's wanted her in ways that cross every line of the employer - employee relationship. Even though he's always kept things professional, when a snow storm strands Chelsea at the bar, forcing her to spend Christmas with him, he can no longer control his desires. 


Despite being sad about missing out on Christmas with her family, Chelsea's not sorry to be spending time in the home -- and bed -- of a man she's wanted for over a year. But when Chelsea finds a note revealing Brandon's true feelings, she must decide if she wants a Christmas fling, or if she has some Christmas confessions of her own.




EXCERPT
Chelsea took a moment to really look at Brandon. He was wearing a pair of gym shorts and nothing else. His dark hair was damp, indicative of having just showered. She twisted on the couch to watch him as he walked toward the kitchen. Holy mother of God! That chest should come with a warning: Caution. Deadly weapon. May cause increased heart rate and a spike in libido. Proceed at your own risk. Ugh. She was so bad to be lusting after her boss like this, at a time like this.
When Brandon turned back toward her, pill bottle and a glass of water in hand, she was still staring at him. His shorts hung low on his hips, showcasing a perfectly formed V that pointed to the one part of him she’d fantasized about way more than she should have. A light dusting of chest hair taunted her. Her gaze travelled up the length of his torso until she met his eyes, which, if she wasn’t mistaken, sparkled a bit. It was almost like he knew what she’d been looking at, knew the thoughts that had accompanied her visual perusal.
“Here.” Brandon handed her the bottle of aspirin and the glass of water. Then he sat beside her.
Chelsea cleared her throat, which suddenly felt dry, and then popped two pills into her mouth, chasing them down with the water. Her hands trembled, but she wasn’t positive if it had to do with her fainting accident or Brandon’s closeness to her. They’d been physically close before, but never when he’d been half naked.
She glanced down at her legs… her bare legs! Oh, God! She wasn’t in her clothes anymore.


About the Author:  Represented by the fabulous Dawn Dowdle of the Blue Ridge Literary Agency, Lexi is a romance author who is actively shopping a series of steamy romantic suspense novels. Currently, she's knee deep in a spicy, contemporary New Adult series. Lexi is a member of The Romance Writers of America. With not much else to occupy her during the days, she spends a lot of time reading, writing, revising, and immersing herself in the world of publishing.

You can connect with Lexi here on her blog, on Twitter and Facebook.


Giveaway:

Lexi will be giving away (1) Stocking full of Goodies that includes chocolate, decorations, and other trinkets (US ONLY) and (1) $5.00 Amazon giftcard


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Next step of the cover

Pictures chosen and plan in place.  Tranquillity is the second book in my Serenity series so I sent my cover artist the cover of Serenity so there could be a common thread.


I wasn't sure I wanted black or white for the second book so the first attempt was in color.  I wanted the title in blue, in contrast to the red on this one.  And this is what he came up with.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

The Making Of A Cover

I am getting ready to release the second book in my Serenity Series and my fourth book so I thought it might be interesting to go through the process of making a cover.  I have a business called Raven Books and Design that employs my very creative son to make swag and my book covers.  he has designed all but one.  For a nineteen year old boy he is quite insightful.  So for the cover of TRANQUILLITY the first thing I needed was Quill, my guy.  I troll sites all the time looking for my characters and I buy the photos before  even have the books finished because they tend to inspire me.  So I found Lance Jones and waited and waited until there was "the" photo...and grabbed it.
Now I am looking at this picture and letting Quill tell me his story and surprisingly he begins to play the cello for a music appreciation class.  So I decided I wanted a cello on the cover.
 
So the trick is how to get the two images together to make an awesome cover!  Taking into account the theme of the Serenity series is Black and White.  Check in later to see stage two. 
 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

In A World of Change

Things are constantly changing in the world of publishing.  Whether it be the genre that is taking off or the introduction of Indie Authors and Self-Publishing...things are always in flux.  The current change is going on in the world of Amazon.  First Amazon calls out Hatchette books for upping the prices of ebooks and asks all the self published authors to write a letter complaining about what they are doing and how we support Amazon.  What is funny is do we really support Amazon?  Because not too long after this email comes out Amazon started Kindle Unlimited.  A program that encourages Kindle user to sign up and use Amazon as a library.  Getting books for free and paying a monthly fee.  It sounds like a great idea but in order to do this the book must only be on Amazon which alienates the people who prefer to read on other devices.  Now the issue seems to be Kindle Unlimited is affecting rankings.  Well rankings are the life blood of any author so the grumble has just begun.  Can't wait for the next change. 

Thursday, August 7, 2014

What I learned from my book signing tour!



This summer I had a great opportunity to join local Pacific Northwest Authors in a six bookstore Young Adult/ New Adult book tour.  Big thanks go out to T.M. Franklin for organizing it.
I learned so many things about being an author and publishing during this tour.  Here is a list of a few;
1. Covers are SUPER important when readers are walking by.  I watched over and over as people passed over my book in favor of another simply by the cover.  Does that mean I know what covers work and what don't?  Not really but I will definitely put a lot more thought into it. ( not that I wasn't already)

2.  You have to be able to sum up your book in 15 seconds and make it sound like it is the best thing since the invention of electricity because that is about how long you have the readers attention.

3.  This one is a little controversial but I don't mean it that way at all.  When asking young people what they read they automatically say paranormal, adventure...
They say that because that is what is easy to say.  It is a rote answer.  They aren't familiar with the tons of genres out there so they go to the fall back ones.  As the new movies come out I think romance and contemporary will work its way back in to favor.

4. And finally!  There is little else that feels as awesome as being handed a pile of book that a book store asks you to sign.  WAS AWESOME! 

Friday, August 1, 2014

COVER REVEAL FOR 1000 STOLEN MOMENTS

Many of you know I also write under the name Connie Michael and today is the cover reveal for my military romance coming out January 2015!
 
Can you choose between fighting for your life and fighting for your heart?
 
When twenty-two year old Emme Sawyer joins a Marine unit heading into Helmand Providence, she focuses on what she does best: keeping her men safe. But, when the unit is hit by an IED, Emme realizes she can’t save everyone. With her humanity on the line, and her faith in question, she seeks comfort from Raven, her commanding officer. Soon, Emme develops feelings that don’t belong in a combat zone, where each step could be your last.
 
Raven keeps his emotions locked up tight, never allowing the men to see him sweat. But when Emme joins his unit, all bets are off; and the feelings he thought he left stateside begin to emerge. Knowing that the deserts of Afghanistan are the last place to start a romance, and the United States military’s view on fraternizing; Raven tries to deny his heart. Emme and Raven learn you can’t always choose where love finds you.
 

Saturday, July 26, 2014

 I am organizing a Thunderclap for the release of SERENITY the first book in my New Adult Contemporary Romance on Aug 13th. I need 100 people to click the link below to help support by posting on facebook, twitter, or tumblr, it's super easy! Bonus is my son is on the cover :) Thanks for you support! http://thndr.it/1t88xRB

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Main Attraction for .99 cents

 
 
 
Jessica Hunter lost her heart and her husband at the same time. He died, and she discovered his infidelities, leaving her a shattered mess. Five years later, Jessica still isn't interested in a relationship. That is until she meets sexy, lead actor Penn Jackson on the set of a popular tween movie- and her life gets turned upside down. Swept away by Penn's carefree attitude, she lets him into her heart-and her bed- even though Penn warns her that being with him will change her life. Penn's warning doesn't mean much to her. But when his publicist begins a campaign to get rid of her, and a trip to the emergency room turns into a tabloid explosion, she doesn't just lose her anonymity, but also her job. Now, Jessica will have to choose between the man she loves and the life she's always known.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Christmas Fantasy by Siren Allen

Christmas Fantasy - Tour Banner  

BOOK INFORMATION TITLE – Christmas Fantasy SERIES – Fantasy Diary Series AUTHOR – Siren Allen GENRE – Paranormal Romance PUBLICATION DATE – 6/13/14 LENTH (Pages/# Words) - 263 pages/ 75,000 words

  Christmas Fantasy - Cover  

BOOK SYNOPSIS One bite was all it took.

It’s that time of year again. Alyssa Blakely is busy writing in her fantasy diary, filling it with all her forbidden, sexual fantasies. The star: her very sexy boss, Devin Jordan. Too bad for her, he’s never given her a second glance.

Or so she thought…

After a steamy kiss under the mistletoe and a night of wild sex, Alyssa has the bite to prove just how wrong she was.

Devin Jordan has found his mate. The only problem: she’s human. He’s not. Can he prove to her that his inner beast can be both naughty and nice? Or will her fear of the unknown and a threat neither of them saw coming keep him from claiming her?

**This is the re-release of Christmas Fantasy! It includes new scenes, new characters and new love connections.**

  Christmas Fantasy - Teaser 3  

BUY & TBR LINKS AMAZON KINDLE USAMAZON KINDLE CAAMAZON KINDLE UK SMASHWORDSGOODREADS

  Christmas Fantasy - Teaser 2  

Erotic Excerpt 1 ~Christmas Fantasy Excerpt~ #TeamDevin

Devin took a deep, calming breath. Alyssa was off limits. Even if she were single and interested in him, he still couldn’t have her. It was too risky. She made him feel things he wasn’t used to. He didn’t know if he could handle touching her without hurting her.

Hurting Alyssa was something he would never do. He would just have to endure her presence. He would take pleasure in the shy smiles she cast his way every now and again. He would enjoy the laughs they shared while working late some evenings. He would maintain the professional relationship they had, even though he yearned for a taste of her.

Devin turned and placed his back against the window. He stared at the door that separated him from the woman he desired. A piece of metal and space was all that separated his body from hers. It would only take a couple of strides for him to reach the door.

One pull on the door knob and he could send it flying across the room. Then he would be face to face with the one woman in this world that made him wish he wasn’t a beast with a conscience. If he had no conscience, he would take her, now, against his desk, against her desk, against the wall, on every damn hard surface in this building.

He would make sure she enjoyed it. He would make sure he pleased her so thoroughly that she wouldn’t even think of leaving him, even when she found out that he was not the man he pretended to be. Devin sighed, but that would never happen. Because though he was a beast, he did indeed have a conscience

That conscience kept her safe from him… for now.

Christmas Fantasy - Teaser 1  

AUTHOR BIO: Siren Allen is a writer and lover of all things erotic and romantic. She resides in southern Mississippi where she writes steamy romances that are guaranteed to make you blush. When she’s not listening to the characters in her head and jotting down their adventures, she’s busy working as a Clinical Laboratory Technician. Her weekends are spent writing and having sleep-over’s for her wonderful nieces and nephews. She loves to travel, preferably with her husband, so he can do all of the driving. She enjoys time with her family, who are just as silly as she is. She doesn’t have any children…yet! Her hobbies are reading, writing and shopping, though she hates trying on clothing. If she wasn’t a writer or a Laboratory Professional, she swears she would be a Secret Agent. But that’s the beauty of being a writer; you can create your own world and be whoever you want to be. In her imaginary world she is Queen and her siblings are her minions.

 

AUTHOR FOLLOW LINKS: AMAZON AUTHOR PAGEWEBSITE / BLOGFACEBOOK TWITTERPINTERESTGOODREADS

   

GIVEAWAY PRIZES 1 – EBook – Christmas Fantasy by Siren Allen 2 – Ebook – Christmas Fantasy by Siren Allen 3 – Ebook – Christmas Confusion by Monica Garry-Allen 4 – Ebook – The Makeover by Monica Garry-Allen 5 – Ebook – Lovers Unchained by Siren Allen 6 – Ebook – Lily’s Naughty Christmas by Siren Allen 7 – Ebook – Yours, For Now by Siren Allen 8 – Ebook – What Goes Around by Anne Bikov

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  Tour Organized By myfamilyheartbutton

Monday, July 14, 2014

Successful Kick off on the YA Summer Book Tour

Rhubarb Festival in Sumner!
T.M. Franklin, Author of the More Trilogy and How To Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love With You....And of course me!  Was a little hot but w stuck it out and met a lot of readers
 
 
 


Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Winter in the Soul by Jennifer Novotney


 
 




Blurb:

In a world divided by power and greed, seventeen-year-old Lilika harbors an intense desire to return to Winter in the Soul, the place her family left to escape the darkness that was manifesting from a coldness of the soul.

 

When she meets Talon, their connection is evident right from the start, and together they travel through the Black Kingdom to recover Lilika’s stolen locket. And in search of an answer to the mystery behind Winter in the Soul.

 

Lilika holds the key to stopping the darkness from spreading. The fate of their world lies in her hands. Will she stop the Black Kingdom before its darkness overtakes them all, or will they succumb to the darkness that is spreading across the land?

 

Release Date: July 15, 2014

 

Author Bio:

Jennifer Novotney was born in Burbank, California and lived in Los Angeles for most of her life until settling in North Eastern Pennsylvania with her husband and daughter. She attended California State University, earning a bachelors degree in journalism, and Northern Arizona University, earning a masters degree in English. After college, she spent several years writing and teaching, including at Pennsylvania State University.




 

Links:



 

Giveaway:

includes 5 autographed posters and 5 keychains


Link:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d3e9353/

 


Monday, June 23, 2014

First Day of Blog Tour!

Stop by Book Hostage http://bookhostage.wordpress.com, A One Click Addict's book blog http://aone-clickaddictsbookblog.com or Coffee and Books & Art to see excerpts, sound tracks, and guest posts for the kick off of the Entrusted Book Tour!

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Whew! And life is calming down

Two graduations and a road trip to Laramie Wyoming and finally I think my life has settled back into the old routine. I am working to get some jewelry made for the start of my blog tour in July and have enlisted my son as my power tool operator. If you are in the Pacific Northwest in July the group I am touring with will be at a variety of venues ready to meet and greet you. I will be posting updates on our locations. Later this afternoon I will be posting another chapter for Entrusted because my BLOG TOUR BLAST starts tomorrow!

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Summer Barnes and Noble Signing Tour!

Slowly things are coming together for a signing tour I am doing this summer with other Northwest Authors.






Monday, May 19, 2014

Little fan fare

My re-release of Entrusted happened with little fan fare…primarily because I didn't realize I had actually hit the put on Amazon button.  But I needed to get the courage to do it and was procrastinating so i guess it was a good accident.  I am starting a blog tour in June and going to do my summer Barnes and Noble book tour but still feel it is floating out there with out an audience.  I want to buy an add in Entertainment Weekly and see if it shoots up my sales and reviews….ha ha  bet that cost a pretty penny!

Monday, May 12, 2014

And now for the beginning of the end

I got my publisher in May of last year after a twitter pitch party.  Of course I was skeptical because any publisher that wants my book must suck....yeah writers self depreciating thoughts....Any how I ended up signing all three of my completed books with this new up and coming publisher.  I was excited to start with a new publisher...help build a brand.  I was excited!  Then my first edits began.  I was very open to edits because again I figured I needed some big help since I was a new author.  My editor was awesome and I think overall my books are better then they started but it is a shocker at how much a publisher will ask of you in order to make a book work for them.  At one point I had to wonder why they even wanted the books. The only problem I had up to this point was my publisher continued to spell my name wrong on everything.
My first book came out in the end of August.  My friends gave me a small release party and many of my friends bought it to read...it was surreal.

Then I went on to Createspace to make the paperback available.

When I began formatting I quickly discovered that all the final edits I'd worked on were not corrected in the published version.  I had an ebook on Amazon that was riddled with mistakes.

I was embarrassed and didn't know what to do.  My friends and family hadn't said a word and bless all m reviewers hearts no one mentioned it in one review.  Although I would have appreciated a head up.

The next two books had similar issues....

Of course I immediately asked my publisher to fix the issue and it did get fixed but I began to see the writing on the wall....Duh Duh Duh!!!!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Entrusted wasn't the first

Although I wrote Entrusted to completion first it was not the first story I plotted out.  Although I am not sure I even knew what plotted out meant at the time.
I had a notebook full of notes following a nurse in Vietnam.  Well it wasn't timely and the characters were older and I wanted a New Adult book so I started to change stuff.  Then the war in Afghanistan started.  I loved, loved doing research for that book and am a die hard military fan now.  1000 Sleepless Nights was the first book of mine to get picked up by a publisher even though it wasn't the first to be thrown out to the wolves.
1000 Sleepless Nights was also the first book that I found a publisher has the right to say "change this or no deal"
The original version of Sleepless Nights did not have the characters getting together.  In fact it was far from it.  I had to make it a happy ending so I carved off what turned out to be half the book and wove a happily ever after.
Now that I have parted ways with said publisher I am changing the book back to a more similar version to the original and will be turning the skimmed off chapters into two more books.  I hope my readers enjoy them.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Today is the day!

It's been a few months and the sting of being published and then not published has kind of lessoned so I think it is time to move forward and tell my story of my progression into the world of ebooks and the crazy world of Indie Publishers.

I am going to start at the beginning.  I have always kept journals, spiral notebooks full of ideas, I have always changed the storyline or characters of a favorite television show or movie to add myself in.  In short I have always had something going on in my head.  Whether it be my lack of having something in my life or just an overactive imagination…who knows!

So I started writing seriously about the time my two boys hit high school and had their own set of friends and didn't really want to hang out.  My first book was what would eventually become Entrusted.  Now my kids are in college so you can see that was about seven years ago.

Entrusted started out very different from what it is today.  It was probably what we now consider a New Adult but at the time was geared towards an older audience. It was based heavily on a time in my life after college that I was struggling and it was…let me just say liberating to put pen to paper.

I had a hard time when I searched out beta readers, you know the people who read for you and give you input.  I have never had success finding a good one and to this day…four books later have to rely heavily on my editor to do what a beta should do.  Anyway my readers came back to me telling me that the character was unlikable, she did unrealistic things…and I was like WHAT!  I did those things and are you saying I am unlikable.   Well maybe I was at that time in my life.

You see I was a victim of date rape.  Although I don't even think it was 'date' because it was a guy I had been seeing for two years.  Anyway it told the story of her struggle to develop a relationship after the rape.

The point of this is that I think it is important to get your feelings about stuff out and not let others tell you how you should react or feel whether that is in life or in the pages of your book.

I found myself changing the story to fit the needs of my betas when I really needed to tell the story that I lived.  Of course it is hidden between the lines but it is there and needs to be.

Entrusted set me free.  I have destroyed relationship after relationship because of issues I let hinder my ability to connect.  Writing them down, even if no one ever saw the book, was the best thing I ever did.

Entrusted will be re-released in the next few weeks with additional chapters in the beginning and the end.  Chapters that needed to be there but were taken out because of bad advise.  I hope you understand that Emma doesn't mean to be unlikable. She simply is holding a story within that she is trying to keep from destroying her.

Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get free samples of books in the works.  Remember Entrusted liberated me so watch out!  *wink*

Thursday, April 24, 2014