Letters to Nowhere by Julie Cross: Blog Tour

 

Author: Julie Cross

Title: Letters To Nowhere

Pages: 360

Publication Date: August 1^st 2013

Publisher: Julie Cross

Genre: Mature Young Adult Contemporary

 

Synopsis

 

Her family may be shattered, but her dreams aren't...

 

From the International Bestselling Author of the Tempest series

 

A Mature YA contemporary set in the tough world of Elite Gymnastics. Grief, love and pursuing dreams are at the forefront of this emotionally powerful coming-of-age story.

 

Seventeen year old Karen Campbell has just lost both her parents in a tragic car accident. Grief stricken and alone, her gymnastics coach opens his home to Karen, providing her a place to live while she continues to train, working toward a spot on the world championship team.

 

Coach Bentley’s only child, seventeen year old Jordan is good-looking and charming enough to scare away a girl like Karen—someone who has spent ten times more hours on balance beams and uneven bars than talking or even thinking about boys. But the two teens share a special connection almost immediately. It turns out Jordan has a tragic past of his own, grief buried for years.

 

As Karen’s gymnastics career soars, her nightmares and visions of the horrible accident grow in strength. She can only avoid facing her grief for so long before it begins to surface and ultimately spin out of control in a very dangerous way. Can discovering love and lust (simultaneously) help with the grieving process or will it only provide a temporary distraction while waiting for reality to hit full force.

Excerpt:

And Jordan could be this whole person lying beside me and pushing my shirt up higher, kissing my stomach and laying his cheek against it. I didn’t even know there were so many body parts that could be kissed and we were still working above the waist.

“Still planning on helping me with my paper?” I asked, in between kisses.

“Damn, I forgot. We should go soon.” He scooted away from me and lay flat on his stomach, pressing his face into the blanket. “Just give me a minute . . . or five.”

I laughed at him before sitting up. At times like this, I was more than grateful to be a girl and not have to hide the fact that I was turned on.

“What’s your technique?” I pulled my sweatshirt over my head and sat cross-legged on the blanket.

“What technique?”

“You know, like Finn on Glee. He always thinks about the mailman hitting his windshield.”  

He laughed into the blanket. “First off, I don’t watch Glee so I have no idea who Finn is, and right now I’m thinking about Mrs. Garrett in her nightgown.”

“Is it working?”

            He turned his head to the side and smiled at me. “It might if you would stop talking.”

            I mimed zipping my lips and sat perfectly still until Jordan finally pulled himself up off the blanket. I folded it neatly and held it to my chest. “So . . . ?” I prompted him.

            “So . . . what?”

            I turned my back to him, heading toward the car. “Was I right? About the size difference?”

            Jordan hooked an arm around my waist and lifted me off the ground. He spun around a few times. “Is it even possible for you to get dizzy anymore? All those giant swings around the bars . . .”

            He set me down and tried to kiss me, but I leaned back and lifted my eyebrows.

            “Fine,” he said with a sigh. “You were right, the left one is smaller.”

            I kissed him before climbing into the passenger seat. “Thanks for being honest,” I said once he had gotten in the car, too.   

            “Now you’re not going to let me see anything, are you?”

            I shrugged. “I’m not sure yet.”

            “Let me know whenever you decide.”

 

 

Author Bio

 

I live in central Illinois with my wonderful husband and three kids currently between the ages of 7 and 12 (the kids not the husband). My writing journey began in May, 2009 with a short story in a notebook.

 

Within a year, I had written seven (some good some God-awful) young adult novels. Not being a college graduate and having spent the previous fifteen years teaching gymnastics and working as a YMCA Program Director for Recreational Gymnastics, professional writing wasn't in my plans. Not even close. But ever since the day I started that short story, I haven't been able to stop. It was love at first sight.

 

After about a year of writing, I had a three book deal with St. Martin's Press, and a film option with Summit Entertainment. Crazy, right? I know. It wasn't until August of 2011 that I quit working full time in order to be at home with my kids more and of course, write more. My young adult time travel debut novel, Tempest, released on January 17, 2012. The rest of my personal story remains unwritten.

Links:

Website:  http://www.juliecrossbooks.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/FansOfJulieCross?fref=ts
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Juliecross1980
Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3429117.Julie_Cross
Goodreads Letters To Nowhere: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18046135-letters-to-nowhere

 

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The madness of Mondays

Okay, so my posts have been very sporadiac and I apologize for that. I'm eight months pregnant and trying to finish edits on THE ONLY EXCEPTION so I can get this puppy out into the world.

I have promised that EARCs of The Only Exception will be out by March 18th. That is still set to stay on track, so be looking out for those. Also, if you haven't signed up for it and are interested, Supagurl is doing my blog tour for the month of April.

Sign up Here

I will also be doing a book blitz for the release with Xpresso Tours (Will post when those sign-ups go up). Both will include awesome prizes including gift cards, book marks, and signed books from some awesome authors.

Where else am I? Well, there are two giveaways going on for my Ebooks with #IndiegirlMarch and #Indielicious. You should check them both out.

Other than that, my posting this month and next month will be spotty. With being this pregnant, having a toddler, and working on a book I don't have much free time. I'll try and post as much as I can and keep you updated but if there is radio silence for awhile. I may have died. You should probably check on me.

So what are you up to? Do you have a mad Monday today?

Dragon Empire Blog Tour

Today we're celebrating the release of Heather McCorkle's fantasy novel, The Dragon Empire! For today's stop Heather is answering the following question:

Is this novel the beginning of a new series? And what can we expect next from you?

Heather: In the traditional sense that most people think of, no. But in a way it is. There are several more novels coming that are set in this world and involve these characters. The next novel will be about Torin, one of the people that Grendar meets in The Dragon Empire and it will be a New Adult fantasy novel.

B&N / Amazon / Goodreads

Here is a bit about it:

On Yacrana dragons are the advanced species. But advanced doesn't always mean civilized...

There's trouble in the Dragon Empire, the kind that could start a war between dragons and the races of people. Hidden factions of dragons believe they should rule the lesser races, not simply stand aside and allow them to develop as they will. Having lived so long in peace, the Emperors turn a blind eye, many oblivious that such attitudes even exist.

Despite being only an architect class, emerald dragon, Grendar is willing to risk banishment and death to stop that which his rulers refuse to see. The hope of peace lies not within the scaled breast of a dragon however, but within the hands of a group of people. But if the hidden factions have their way, these people won’t live to fulfill such a destiny. With a reluctant seer at his side, Grendar must leave his precious Empire for the outside world to save those that will one day save his kind.

While The Dragon Empire is for ages young adult and up, it does contain mild violence and some difficult subject matter. 

Destined Blog Tour

Choosing is a bad idea, because Desi always makes the wrong choice, and sometimes there are no do-overs. Certainly not this time, when all has been lost and Desi can’t even save herself, let alone her friends. For Desi, the hardest thing is letting someone help her, to accept their sacrifice on her\behalf. But that’s exactly what she’ll have to do in order to save the worlds from Helena’s destruction.

The goddess of Helheimer, long imprisoned by Desi’s father, Loki, is free at last, and she’s bent on reclaiming what once was hers. The nine worlds will be drawn into war, over Hell, over Earth, with innocent humans as meaningless collateral.

While Michael and the Gardians of Asgard, along with the golden-armored Valkyrie, lead the battle for freedom, it’s Desi who holds the destiny of all the worlds in her hands. 

Can she set aside her doubts, once and for all, and claim the gifts that are hers to bear? Can she accept the sacrifice that is made for her and Become all that she was created to be?

Her final choice will define not only her future, but the fate of humankind, forever more.

For My Part of the Blog Tour I've asked Ali to compose a playlist for this book. She was happy to oblige!

Okay, so I created a fancy dancy playlist for the first book, Become, but never did it for Destined. Maybe because so many of the songs I liked for it were on the Twilight soundtrack, which is just plain embarrassing. Not because I don’t like Twilight, because I do, but because it made me feel unoriginal, ya know? But Magan insisted I share a playlist, and I don’t want to let her down, so here I go!

For the beginning: Josh Groban’s To Where You Are.

For the first part of the book; the way James feels about Desi: Maroon 5’s She Will be Loved.

For that moment we’ve been waiting for since book one: Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years.

For the underlying theme of the entire series: Imagin Dragons’ Demons.

For the story’s climax: Adam Lambert’s Underneath (this one’s for you Magan!). (Note**Magan and Adam are in a very serious, fake relationship)

For the last scene: Sleeping at Last’s Turning Page.

And to REALLY celebrate, I'm giving Ecopies away of the entire series! Enter now!

 

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Ali Cross is the sensei of the Writer's Dojo where she holds a black belt in awesome. She lives in Utah with her kickin' husband, two sparring sons, one ninja cat, two sumo dogs and four zen turtles.

Coffee Talk with Caitlin from Rise of Rector

 

Alex: Okay, since this is coffee talk, what is your drink of choice?

Caitlin:  Since it’s October that would be a double tall mocha with pumpkin spice! I didn’t used to like coffee but Eren has me totally hooked on those things now.


Alex:  Did you just put your feet on the table? *curls lip in disgust* Is that an Irish thing or just some sort of weird, paranormal thing that I don't know about?

Caitlin:  We’re all about hospitality and making yourself at home, so I just thought, you know… *flips a long blond curl over her shoulder and lifts her chin.*


Alex:  Okay...since you're going to be fiesty, we will move on. With all this end of the world stuff going on, how the heck do you actually find time to do anything in high school?

Caitlin:  Are you kidding, my totally hot Romanian boyfriend goes to my high school. The end of the world can wait so long as I get to see him. *sighs* Besides, I’ve got to spend all the time with him that I can, just in case.

Alex:  Soooo...what you are telling me is that the world really may be an end with this Mayan stuff or did some ancient aliens make that up? NOT that I know anything about ancient aliens.

Caitlin:  Aliens, say what now? Sounds like you and I need to have a longer talk. Seriously though, that’s what the prophecies say. There is a war to end all wars coming and my friends and I are destined to be on the front lines. So they say.

Alex:  Uh I said nothing about aliens, but uh....*Shudder* Okay, now I'm getting the creeps with all this end of the world stuff. Let's try something lighter. You've been with this group of friends for two years now, what is the craziest thing that has happened to you all.

Caitlin:  There was this time at the river when we were all practicing channeling, wait, I can’t tell you that. Fane would kill me. *SPOILER* Okay, in our Junior year during a sparring competition my best friend Eren sucked the power out of all of the channelers in the gym and literally blew the roof odd. It was epic. She rocks.

Alex:  *Mutters* And they say my life is exciting. So do you think it's finally all going to come to an end or is there more to the story?

Caitlin:  End, heck no. I don’t believe fate is set in stone. We can change things if we really want to. The world doesn’t have to end, it can be saved.

Thank you for joining us at coffee talk and everyone out there be sure to get your copy of Rise of Rector!

 

My Paper Heart Blog Tour

Want more Libby and Blaine? Maybe to see my playlist or swoon over some deleted scenes?  Then this blog tour is for you!

And here are the stops!

August 13th:  Sana
August 14th:  Lovey Dovey Books
August 15th:  Ketch's Book Book
August 16th:  Step into Fiction
August 17th:  Froze 8

August 20th:  Crystal's book reviews
August 21st:  Susan Kaye Quinn
August 22nd:  Cindy Hogan
August 23rd:  Shawna LeeAnn
August 24th:  Rahelle Workman

My Paper Heart Blog Tour

The release of My Paper Heart is fastly approaching (August 6th eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!) You can read more about this New Adult title and add it to your GoodReads.

Which means E-ARCs have gone out and it's time to get ready for a blog tour!

This will span from August 13th-August 24th visiting ten blogs. Each participant will receive an EARC copy of My Paper Heart and I'll even throw in Ecopies of How to Date an Alien and How to Break up with an Alien to sweeten the deal.

Just fill out this little formy-dealy below and I should be announcing the participants and getting back to you all by the end of next week!

This form

Fangirl Friday on a Thursday!

Yes, I know it is a ThursdayBUT I am participating in Cindy Hogan's blog tour so I gotta help a lady out and post on a Thursday. If you haven't noticed she has a blurb on her latest book PROTECTED from this awesome young adult author named Magan. Anywhoo.... If you want to check out the post before mine go here or if you want to continue the hop go here.




She has the guy. The terrorists have been taken care of and she has a shot at becoming popular.
Life is great!
Until they find her.
Now she must run and leave behind everything she knows,
including herself

What inspired you to write Protected? 

 Well, I had this vivid dream and thought it would make a killer movie, so I wrote the basics down to give to some huge movie producer...I don't know any of those.. In any case, the main character, Christy, just kept bugging me-talking to me and driving me crazy. Maybe I am crazy, really. I hear voices in my head. :) Anyway, I just had to write this girl's story and it has been a blast. 

What made you decide to go Indie with this book? 

This will tell you a lot about my personality(I'm an eternal optimist) I did it on a whim, thinking it would be fun. I'd won contests and people seemed to love it, so why not? What could possibly go wrong?

 Was there ever a time that you felt like giving up? If so, what did you
do about it? 

I will divert to question #2. Optimists, by nature, never think about giving up. There is always an upside if you just keep chugging along.

 Do you have critique partners, betas? How do you work with them? 

I have an in-person critique group and two online critique groups. My in-person group gets my stuff when it is really raw. After I've made changes, the first online group gets it. After those changes are made, my 2nd online group gets it. As far as Betas go, I have a ton. I have first round beta readers who read the completed book after my 2nd online group gets back to me. If there are problems, I send it out to a second round of Betas after fixing them. I've even used a third round of betas before. I keep using betas until I'm getting no plot complaints.

Who would win in a fight, your book's hero or my alien heartthrob? 

Uh, I'm going to have to defer to your alien heartthrob. Who could ever beat that guy?

Does your book have a soundtrack? What songs are on it? 

If I'm ever stuck, I listen to Avril Lavigne. Most of the time, she saves me, but I also like a lot of country singers. My husband infected me when I moved to Memphis, TN.

 What are you coming out with next? 

I am half-way through the third and final book of the Watched trilogy. It is still unnamed, but it rocks.

 If you could cast the main characters from your novel in a movie, who
would you choose to play them?

I actually cut pictures of people out of magazines and put them up on my wall, but I have no idea who they are...They are probably just models.

Christy- Ashley Benson

MaryBeth- Isla Fisher

Kira-Lindsay Lohan

Eugene- Kevin Mchale

Summer- Blake Lively

Divergent by Veronica Roth. Everafter and Roast and Potatoes.

Words to live by? 

Be unpredictable!



Favorite book, movie, and food? 

The How to Date an Alien blog tour!

Are you getting excited?  How to Date an Alien's release date is soon approaching!  But wait THERE'S MORE. Not only will you get to read about the book on this blog, but you can check out these fine blogs from December 6th through December 16th and add a little bit more alien to your life.

December 6th- Ketch Tavern
December 7th- Diary of a book addict
Decembe  8th- Alise on Life
December 9th- All things books
December 12th- Operation Awesome
December 13th- So Write
December 14th- Pretty in fiction
December 15th-Nicole's YA Book Haven
December 16th- Market My  Words

Then come back here at the end of the tour to see if you have won the Launch Lunch!

Book bloggers wanted!

Do you read science fiction/fantasy?

Are you a sucker for a good YA romance?

Would you like to participate in a blog tour?

If so comment here with your blog name or email authormagan@gmail.com for more info!


And that's all I've got for today.  Stay tuned.

New Blog followers as a birthday gift? YES PLEASE

So, Monday August 1st is my Birthday and to celebrate I thought I would take a little idea from Karen's blog and have a birthday party cook out!




Here's how it works. If you're a follower on my blog, (if not, join now!) you make a comment, say what food you're bringing to the cook out, what you blog about, and invite people to come visit you. Then you go visit at least 3 new blogs, leave a comment and follow if you like it. Hopefully everyone will find a whole lot more than 3 they want to visit and follow. It's a fun way to find new blogs and get new followers. The more you comment & follow, the more commenters and followers you'll get. When I participated in Karen's blog party, my follower count practically doubled in 24 hours. It's a great opportunity to expand for new bloggers. For those of us who have been around awhile and might even be getting a little bored with it, it can provide a new lease on our blogging life.

To prepare for the party, you might want to spiff things up, like focus on your platform, make sure your font is easy to read, that you have an interesting bio and post to attract comments and followers. I plan on doing a bit of remodeling on mine, actually looking forward to an excuse to change a few things. In fact, I already started by changing profile photos.

The Cook out begins Monday and ends Friday with a new recipe and review!

Again, here's how it works:

* Be a follower here

* Mention in your comment  what food you'll bring, what you blog about and any other pertinent info you'd like to share

* Go to at least 3 new blogs of commenters and say hi. Follow if you like it

* I'll check the comments all weekend, visit as many as I can, and follow if I'm not already.

Sound like fun? I think so! Okay, then, see you on Friday!

Oh, and please click the twitter or facebook icon at the end of this post to invite others to the party. The more we have, the more new followers everyone can find. 

Misere: An Autumn Tale One question blog tour

Miserere: An Autumn Tale

(Night Shade Books www.nightshadebooks.com / July 1, 2011)

Exiled exorcist Lucian Negru deserted his lover in Hell in exchange for saving his sister Catarina's soul, but Catarina doesn't want salvation. She wants Lucian to help her fulfill her dark covenant with the Fallen Angels by using his power to open the Hell Gates. Catarina intends to lead the Fallen’s hordes out of Hell and into the parallel dimension of Woerld, Heaven’s frontline of defense between Earth and Hell.


When Lucian refuses to help his sister, she imprisons and cripples him, but Lucian learns that Rachael, the lover he betrayed and abandoned in Hell, is dying from a demonic possession. Determined to rescue Rachael from the demon he unleashed on her soul, Lucian flees his sister, but Catarina's wrath isn’t so easy to escape. In the end, she will force him once more to choose between losing Rachael or opening the Hell Gates so the Fallen's hordes may overrun Earth, their last obstacle before reaching Heaven's Gates.


Read the first four chapters of Miserere FREE here:
Raised in a small town, Teresa Frohock learned to escape to other worlds through the fiction collection of her local library. She eventually moved away from Reidsville and lived in Virginia and South Carolina before returning to North Carolina, where she currently resides with her husband and daughter.


Teresa has long been accused of telling stories, which is a southern colloquialism for lying. Miserere: An Autumn Tale is her debut novel.

Teresa can be found most often at her blog and web site (http://www.teresafrohock.com/). Every now and then, she heads over to Tumblr and sends out Dark Thoughts http://teresafrohock.tumblr.com/, links to movies and reviews that catch her eye. You can also follow Teresa on Twitter (http://twitter.com/TeresaFrohock ) and join her author page on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Teresa-Frohock/134892453223242).




Magan asks: "If you could give a copy of MISERERE: AN AUTUMN TALE to any person or being (dead, alive, fictional character, etc) to have them read and discuss, who would you give it to and why?"


Wow, Magan, I really had to think about this one.

I think it would be Guillermo del Toro. I really believe he would get what I’m doing with my characters and monsters in Miserere.

I love del Toro’s works, especially Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone. He placed so many layers in those movies, so many small touches that most people would miss. In Labyrinth, I loved the way the faun became younger and more vibrant with each ensuing scene, the shapes del Toro hid within other shapes, and the way Ofelia’s personality changed each time she emerged from a tunnel. Likewise, in The Devil’s Backbone, I appreciated the way he had the characters move cautiously around the bomb in the courtyard juxtaposed with the careful way they moved through relationships and situations primed to explode.

He puts such soul into his stories.

I wanted to have monsters, but I didn’t want James Cameron/Peter Jackson flash and glamour. The most prominent of my monsters is the demon that accompanies Catarina, Cerberus. Rather than a fanged demon oozing in pustules, he is a seductive manipulator. He never pushes, but he knows just when to nudge Catarina in the right direction.

However, I keep Cerberus and the other demons in the background; I didn’t want the monsters to overwhelm the story. I wanted a story with a soul and I think del Toro would get that.

The next interview in the blog tour will be at Lost for Words http://www.lostforwords-corrine.blogspot.com/where I will be talking about which character from MISERERE I would most want to have at my back if I was ever in a street brawl.