Saturday, February 1, 2014

Imagine More: All #Fantasy All Day

Imagine More: All Fantasy, All Day!! Come hang out with some great authors!!

Today on Facebook there is an all afternoon event happening where you can chat with favorite fantasy authors and meet new ones! You can interact with them and ask them questions about their books, how they write, play games and WIN PRIZES!!

And guess what???

I'll be one of them!! Yay :) :) So make sure to stop by and say hello. You find out something about me you didn't know or perhaps a little more about some of my characters!

I'm on for a FULL HOUR at 2pm EST. Right here...



It runs from 12pm EST until 10pm EST so if you can't drop in while I'm on make sure to stop in sometime during the day and chat with some of the other fabulous authors and enter to win some really great books!!


February Fantasy Calendar #FREE

It's 2014 and we're celebrating with an awesome fantasy themed calendar. This calendar is for the background on your computer and you can get this month's image below.

Each month will feature a different book or series, so if you want to challenge yourself, try reading each book or series that is featured before each month is over. The series for February is the Elemental Enmity Series by Christies Rich! She is giving away an Amazon gift card and an ebook set of the Elemental Enmity Series, so be sure to enter for your chance to win some great swag!


Click here to download the full size image. Then set as your background!


Five: Elemental Enmity Book 1


Rayla Tate dreams of escaping her ordinary world for a bright future in the art world. Throw in an overbearing aunt who is keeping major secrets, a disgruntled best friend tagging along to college, and a bunch of fae warriors waiting in the wings to claim her the minute she leaves her sleepy little town, and Rayla's dreams are about to shatter.

She soon discovers she is a coveted Elemental with power she never knew she possessed--a power that could change the world. Everywhere she turns another man tries to woo her. The weird part is she's drawn to each one of them. Who are these strange men, and what dark power do they hold over her? Rayla must quickly learn to fend off these beautiful and seductive pursuers using any means necessary or find herself lost to the fae world forever.



Dark Matter: Elemental Enmity Book 2


Rayla Tate’s dreams for the future shattered when she discovered she was an Elemental capable of manipulating matter. Thrust, once again, into the magical fae realm of Faeresia, she has an important choice to make. But now that she has Heath to contend with, deciding between Zach and Luke is the least of her concerns. Tall, dark and lethal to her will, her attraction to Heath eclipses all she has experienced with any other lord, but he is using compulsion to wear her down. If only she could trust her feelings?

In a desperate attempt to escape Heath, she accepts the help of a little troll and finally gets what she wants; however, her relief is short lived. Things go terribly wrong when a dark force closes in on her, threatening to steal her burgeoning power before she even has a chance to test her abilities. Now, with Rayla as their captive, the Order will stop at nothing to create a male Elemental, and willing or not, Rayla is the key.

Caught up in the age-old battle for dominance between human and fae, only one question matters to her now—will she be able to save those she loves most without losing herself in the process? Or will she be forever haunted by the choices she alone can make?



Genesis: Elemental Enmity Book 3


Having just escaped the nefarious plans of the Order, Rayla Tate thinks all she has to do now is rescue her family and sort through her feelings, but bonding with five men might just be her undoing. Not only does she have to deal with all of them reading her mind, Rayla must choose a bondmate before she will be allowed to venture into the mortal realm to save those she loves most.

She has three weeks to get to know each lord, but her journey turns into far more than a simple choice of the heart. Rayla comes face to face with the underhanded dealings of the fae political system where good is a matter of taste and evil lurks under beautiful shells. Long held judgments crumble when she discovers the heart beneath the men she has come to count on. Rayla must overcome long held fears, discover the truth behind the creatures of the dark realms, and conquer her greatest weakness before she can take her place as the new queen of the fae.

However, her world crumbles when she discovers following her heart’s desire might just mean the destruction of the world. Will Rayla have the courage to choose the man who has risked everything to win her, or will she succumb to the manipulations of the fae council and those who would use her power for evil?

One choice: five men. The stakes have never been higher, but which one will prevail?



Horizon: Elemental Enmity Book 4


Evil has many faces—unfortunately, Rayla Tate has seen them all, or so she thinks. Since she learned she was an Elemental, she has been hunted for her power. But Rayla hasn’t met her greatest foe; she hasn’t seen true evil…yet.

Rayla betrayed her bondmate to be with the man she loves. Now that she has Heath at her side, she is ready to face the fae council and move on with her life. Too bad Zach has other ideas. He’s not about to give Rayla up just because his sister got in the way. He will find Rayla and prove to her that he is the man she is meant to be with, even if he has to face the monsters of the dark realms to do it.

Despite her growing feelings for Heath, with every passing day her body gives in to her bond with Zach. Rayla must leave the dark realms or risk losing control of her mind and ultimately her power. Once back in Lombarda, she discovers a secret about her origins that could shake the foundations of the world, both fae and human. There is more at stake than who she is bound to. The Order and the fae both want control of the same thing, and this time it is not her.

Rayla must unite with unlikely allies to destroy the evil plaguing Faeresia. For if she refuses, she will succumb to a compulsion she never could have anticipated and plunge the world and those she loves into darkness or utter oblivion.


Author Bio:

I live in a small town with my husband, two kids, spastic dog, and two lazy cats. I love delving into fantasy. Whether it is reading a book, watching a great movie, or recently, writing something I absolutely love.

I have been focusing on the paranormal, and my first published novel, Five, is a paranormal romance. It is the first book in the Elemental Enmity Series and is about a girl that discovers her role in an age old battle for world dominance between the fae and humans.

One thing I have discovered about myself through this exciting journey of publishing is that I love to see a world I've created come to life. The experience of writing is much more enjoyable than reading for me and that is saying a lot. LOL.

I hope you enjoy my books as much as I do. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will again. I'd love to hear from you. Reach me on www.christierich.com, Twitter, Facebook, goodreads, and my blog.

P.S. If you enjoy my books the best way you can support me is to leave an honest review, and tell your friends if you think they will enjoy my stories. I appreciate your support and feedback.


Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2014 Fantasy Themed Calendar!! #Giveaway

It's 2014 and we're celebrating with an awesome fantasy themed calendar. This calendar is for the background on your computer and you can get this month's image below. (Just right click and save, then set as your desktop background!)

Each month will feature a different book or series, so if you want to challenge yourself, try reading each book or series that is featured before each month is over. The series to kick off the beginning of the year is the Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter Series by Nikki Jefford. She is also running a giveaway, so be sure to enter for your chance to win some great swag!

Right click and save as an image. Then set as your background!
Here also is a link for a full size image if you can't get it from this blog. Simply download it from the arrow in the corner https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bwf-QCWIaRofR3lOVVBRc25OOVU/edit



Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter

If there is one thing eighteen-year-old Aurora Sky wants, it's to get off the iceberg she calls home. Being kissed before she graduates wouldn't hurt either. Then a near-fatal car wreck changes everything. Government agents step in and save Aurora's life in exchange for her services as a vampire hunter in Alaska. Basically she's a glorified chew toy. All thanks to her rare blood type which sends a vampire into temporary paralysis before she has to finish the job...by hand. Now Aurora's only friends are groupies of the undead and the only boy she can think about may very well be a vampire. And if he's a vampire, will she be forced to kill him?   AURORA SKY: VAMPIRE HUNTER is the first in a YA Mature/New Adult paranormal fantasy series.


Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter #2)

Love Bites. Probation sucks. Thanks to Dante's recklessness, Aurora is now partners with Valerie: the redheaded, backstabbing vixen. Dante is in full flirt mode. Fane's tactics are more ruthless. Something carnal has awakened in Aurora and neither boy is helping tame her cravings. When a member of the unit's team is found dead, Aurora and Valerie are sent after a vampire in Sitka, but Aurora suspects the killer's much closer to home.  


UPCOMING RELEASE!
Stakeout (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter #2.5)

Noel Harper got a second chance at life when the government recruited her as an undercover vampire informant. Since the day they brought her back from the good-as-dead, she has wanted to prove herself worthy.

When a member of her investigative unit is murdered, Noel is paired up with a vampire hunter named Dante to spy on a suspect in Fairbanks. The problem? They're not the only ones on stakeout. Taking down murderous vampires is one thing. Dealing with the past is another. But this time, Noel isn't letting fear win. She's calling in help from the other side and discovers a shocking secret along the way.

(STAKEOUT is an Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter novella told from Noel Harper’s POV. Approximately 54,000 words.)
Expected release: January 14th



New Year’s Resolutions (author's note)

After Aurora Sky nearly dies and is forced to kill vampires for the government in repayment for her life, she comes up with some sketchy New Year’s Resolutions:

kill first vampire
get drunk
kiss a boy
lose virginity  

My own list seems to be on repeat year after year:
 Get in shape
Lose weight
Eat healthier
Read and write more books
Get organized
Budget better

I do like to throw in some fun things here and there, like learning to ride a motorcycle last year. Someday I’d love to learn to sail. I’d also like to pick up where I left off with my French and become fluent. I wish I could travel more. That’s more of a fantasy than a resolution or maybe if I budget better… ;-)

What are your resolutions for 2014?



Author Bio:

Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt. She writes edgy teen fiction, including the Spellbound Trilogy and Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter.

Nikki married Sébastien, the love of her life, while working as a teaching assistant in France. They now reside in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands, 70 miles northeast of Forks, Washington in a town without a single traffic light.

Giveaway:



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, December 21, 2013

#LoveWriteCreate Episode 3: A Banana and Avocado Mashup

In this installment of #LoveWriteCreate on Air, we talk about our epic #NaNo fail, #pitchwars, character bio's, writing exercises, "What's in your notebook?", and the night would not be complete without a banana/avocado mashup silliness (you don't want to miss this ;) hehe.

In each episode, we include a challenge to ourselves, but also to you if you want to join in! This week, our challenge is a writing exercise that we have posted on the LoveWriteCreate blog here at LoveWriteCreate.com (you can also check out previous vids there as well). This exercise is to encourage creativity with your characters. I'm excited to get started on mine!

I know this is kind of long, but it's definitely entertaining. We are just 3 writers in various places in our journeys of writing and publication chatting about it ALL (mostly writing and books, but you get to know us a little bit too--perhaps more than you wanted to know, lol ;)



Friday, December 20, 2013

Cover Reveal! Stakeout by Nikki Jefford

Stakeout by Nikki Jefford
(Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter #2.5)
Publication date: January 14th 2014
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

Synopsis:
Noel Harper got a second chance at life when the government recruited her as an undercover vampire informant. Since the day they brought her back from the good-as-dead, she has wanted to prove herself worthy.

When a member of her investigative unit is murdered, Noel is paired up with a vampire hunter named Dante to spy on a suspect in Fairbanks. The problem? They’re not the only ones on stakeout. Taking down murderous vampires is one thing. Dealing with the past is another. But this time, Noel isn’t letting fear win. She’s calling in help from the other side and learns a shocking secret along the way.

(STAKEOUT is an Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter novella told from Noel Harper’s POV. Approximately 40,000 words.)

Purchase Book 1:

Purchase Book 2:

----

AUTHOR BIO
Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who found paradise in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands (Wash.) where she is once more neighbors with Canada in a town without a single traffic light. She loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt.

When she's not reading, writing, working, or out on a nature walk, she's out riding her Suzuki DRZ400SM.

Author links:
http://www.nikkijefford.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5424286.Nikki_Jefford
https://www.facebook.com/authornikkijefford?ref=ts&fref=ts
https://twitter.com/NikkiJefford





Sunday, December 8, 2013

Falling Into Death

No, this isn't a morbid post on dying literally, but more a personification of Fall--the season--and relating it to life... my life.

Looking outside, (insert I was behind on putting this out so things have progressed a bit since writing this) the leaves have been slowly changing colors from vibrant greens with the full blooms of summer to rich reds, oranges, golds, and warm browns. (Now I realize that you all aren't in 4 seasons so bear with me and try to catch the spirit of what I am trying to express).

I was thinking about Fall lately (how could I not with everything changing the way it is outside right now?!) It is my FAVORITE time of year. The colors, the smells, the emotions created and all tangled up by those things. I love to be snuggled in a sweater with a scarf, my warm fuzzy Uggs, a good book, sipping a cup of hot coffee or cider sitting outside where there's a chill in the air but the sun is still warm on my face.


I started thinking about what it means as a season for all the trees and everything affected by it. Basically, fall is about death. It's about the transition from full, explosive summer life into the cold, dark, barrenness of winter. It is a time of dying. Transition from one state into the next. May sound morbid but it's not. It's necessary. It's beautiful. Death comes to all living things. There is a season for each of us. Yes, physically, but think metaphorically with me.

It comes whether you are ready for it or not. Whether you want it or not. It can be painful, but it doesn't have to be. It's the loss of life... the emptying of the vibrancy that is color. But it must come. Without a little death, and then the saturation of winter, the newness of spring wouldn't come bursting forth with new life. It's part of the cycle: Conception. Incubation. Birth. Growth. Maturing-Blooming. Death. Fertilization. Begin again.

Change.

Change is not easy for most of us. Change is not easy for me. But without it, we would not grow. We would not become--hopefully--the best versions of ourselves. We would stay stagnant. So why am I telling you all this? Well, because I feel like I have been stagnant in some things and am going through changes (again): some in my work and decisions I have made to hopefully keep moving my writing and the business of writing forward. Some personally, as I make choices to become a better ME. Many of these changes are small, as they sometimes are, but they all add up to growth. Old mindsets have to die. Bad habits need to be removed to allow room for better ones.

Sometimes change is offered to you on a lovely silver platter and is your choice. Sometimes it is needed and you have to grab onto it for all you are worth, and sometimes it smacks you like a train coming at full force and knocks you off your feet. Like this poor fellow...


Sometimes we get on the wrong path or veer off from our main focus and change can bring us back to where we want to be.

If only we were given warnings like this sometimes...




Granted not all change that is thrust upon you is good or wanted, but it's those times where our responses to those changes make us or break us (I've experienced all these). But changes can also be incredibly positive too.

You are not given more than you can handle. It may feel like that sometimes, but you are strong. There is grace for change if you look for it.

Change. Growth.

I guess what I want to say--as I continue to learn this myself--change is good. Embrace change, you never know where it may lead you. We are nearing the end of a year. A new one is beginning. Another cycle. Fresh starts. Clean slates. I'm starting to think more about what new changes I want to embrace this next year. Not just "resolutions" but ways of life to become a part of me... to change me. New growth is coming and I want to be ready for it even if that means allowing my leaves to fall into death (not literally of course *phew*)

Thanks for taking your time to read my ramblings.
~Morgan

Friday, December 6, 2013

New Release! The Enlightening by Adrianne James




Mackenzie Duncan found out that pack life wasn’t for her. Now she is running for the second time in the six months   since she was bitten and turned into a Werewolf. But this   time, she isn’t alone. This time, she has Geoff and Liam     with her, two very hot Werewolves vying for her heart.

But her companions aren’t her focus. The only thing she can focus on is getting far from her old pack and their murderous ways. Only, she doesn’t just want to run. She wants to warn every pack she can that their lives are in danger too. No one should be turned against their will like she was and no other pack should have to surrender to the ideas of a centuries old, power hungry woman.

Not only does Mackenzie have to deal with her crazy ex-pack leader sending people out to kill her, she has to keep both men at arm’s length (and that proves to be much more difficult than she thought), but she finds out more about her own life and heritage than she ever thought imaginable.

And suddenly, everything makes sense…

 



Get the first book in the Mackenzie Duncan Series, The Tempering while it is on sale!  

The Mythology department at prestigious Harvard University is tiny—and Mackenzie Duncan has just been selected as one of the lucky few. Her love for myths and legends is strong, but she never thought any of it could be real.

After being attacked by a large wolf while walking home alone, Mackenzie realizes something is not right. She heals quickly, is suddenly super strong, and is experiencing mood swings that can’t possibly be normal. The myths she’s studying aren’t myths at all. Werewolves are real and she’s one of them. Fear of what she is, and who she might hurt sends Mackenzie running from the life she’s worked hard to build–and straight into the arms of a handsome Were named Geoff and into the home of his pack. Living with her new pack takes the edge off her confusion and self-loathing, but the arrival of new pack members changes the dynamic, and tests Geoff and Mackenzie’s growing relationship.

The hardest part of being a werewolf is having no control and no memory of her time as a blood thirsty beast. When a moon cycle passes and she actually remembers bits and pieces of the night, she starts to ask questions, and the more questions she asks, the more she realizes she doesn’t like the answers. Can she set aside her own sense of morals to belong to a pack that is like a family or will she leave everything behind yet again in search of a life she can be proud of?

Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 Growing up, Adrianne couldn’t get her hands on enough books to satisfy her need for the make believe. If she finished a novel and didn’t have a new one ready and waiting for her, she began to create her own tales of magic and wonder. Now, as an adult, books still make up majority of her free time, and now her tales get written down to be shared with the world.


During the day, Adrianne uses her camera to capture life’s stories for clients of all ages and at night, after her two children are tucked in bed; she devotes herself to her written work. Adrianne is living the life she always wanted, surrounded by art and beauty, the written word and a loving family.

As a young adult and new adult author, Adrianne James has plans to bring stories of growing characters, a little romance, and perhaps a little magic and mythology down the line for her readers to enjoy.