Goals

As much as I love accomplishing my own personal goals it is just as wonderful to witness someone complete one of theirs. My husband is smart. Like genius level smart. Because of that it was hard for him to pick a major in college. For me it was easy. There were certain things that didn't come easy to me like . . . chemistry and math. I immediately ruled out majors that would require a lot of those types of classes. My hubby didn't have that problem; he understood everything.
I'm not smart. I'm not dumb either but I'm not smart. I had to work hard for every single passing grade I received in college. My hubby didn't. For example (and he hates this example) we made the mistake of taking a class together. I showed up every day, took notes, studied. He missed a lot of class (it was an insanely early class). On the day of the test we sat outside the testing center and went over my notes. I explained things to him and answered his questions. He ended up with a 98%; I achieved a staggering 54%. Yes, off my notes he passed with flying colors and I failed. This might be a good place to insert the fact that I am an awful test taker.
Anyway, I got off topic. My husband ended up not finishing college at that time because he was still undecided what to major in. I struggled through and graduated. Not wanting to give up entirely he enrolled several years later in the independent degree our school offered. When he started the independent study degree we had kids and he was working full time. He had to use his time better, but I think having those extra responsibilities actually helped inspire him to work harder. From the time he started as a freshman until the time he graduated twenty two years had passed. But who cares? What matters is he finished his goal and graduated! I'm so proud of him.

On the Shelves!

Squee!! Yesterday when I walked into my Barnes and Noble I had no idea that my books were on the self in the store! They had copies of both Intrinsical and Indelible. Yay! The poor employee who pointed them out to me was the victim of an overjoyed hug.
My publisher is small and while a lot of small presses have their titles available online with B&N, they aren't always carried in the stores. To make that happen involves many steps. Since Pendrell Publishing is pretty new, it took them a while to build a relationship with the chain and to get their titles approved for national distribution. But Pendrell stuck with it and it happened!
After my ten year old got home from school I asked if she wanted to browse books with me. She said sure, so we drove down. I took her to the right section and asked her what she thought of the covers on the top shelf. She was commenting on them one by one and then she saw mine. She screamed, jumped up and down, and screamed some more. "Your book is in Barnes and Noble!"
It was serious a dream come true.

Eighteen Years

First, let me explain why this picture is in such bad condition. This is my favorite picture from my wedding day and it has been in the same frame for 18 years. At some point it decided to stick itself to the frame. Because of that I wasn't able to take it out and scan it. You are looking at a picture of a picture. I can't believe how young I look (was) in the picture!
Okay, with that said, I can finally move on to the topic of the post! I recently celebrated my eighteenth wedding anniversary! Yay! In five months I will have been married longer than I was single! So weird. Time goes by so fast. My husband really is my best friend and my biggest cheerleader. He encouraged me every time I got rejected, still helps me edit my books before I send them in and doesn't complain when I go to book signings or conferences. I know I am very lucky to have him. I love you, Handsome!

Two Signings

I have two signings this week.  If you are interested in attending, you will find all of the information you need below. The book signing at King's English is at SEVEN not SIX. The flyer has the wrong time.


May 4th 2012

LDStorymakers Conference

Marriott Hotel

101 West 100 North

Provo, UT 84601

(801) 377-4700

5-6:30 Mass book signing in the conference bookstore (there will be a lot of authors at this event)

May 5th (with Angela Corbett and Dan Haring)
The King's English Bookshop
1511 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, Ut. 84105
(801) 484-9100
7:00 pm

I am very excited for both of these events! I hope to see you there. :)

Reminder

This is a just reminder for those who live in the Southern Utah area that I will be signing books in Cedar City this Wednesday. Here is the all the important information.


April 18th 2012, 4-6 p.m.
Mountain West Books
77 N Main St.
Cedar City, UT 84720
(435) 586-3828




Feel free to drop in and say hi.  I hope to see you there!

Winners!

Hi! I have emailed my three giveaway winners. I have yet to hear back from one of the three. Rene'e you won a copy of the Transcendent anthology. If you are reading this Rene'e, then check your spam folder for an email from me. Thank you all for participating!

Witch Song and Eternal Starling Giveaways

I'm super excited to tell you about the two giveaways I'm hosting. I'm offering you chances to win two fantastic books from two incredibly talented authors. These giveaways are running simultaneously from April 4-11th. I have one autographed copy of each up for grabs. On their blogs, they are each giving away a copy of Intrinsical in case you'd like to win that.
The first book offered in my giveaway is Witch song by Amber Argyle:



The world is changing. 

Once, Witch Song controlled everything from the winds to the shifting of the seasons, but not anymore. All the Witches are gone, taken captive by a traitor. 

All but Brusenna. 

Now the traitor is coming for Brusenna, and even her guardian can't protect her. Somehow, Brusenna has to succeed where every other Witch has failed. Find the traitor. Fight her. Defeat her. 

If Brusenna fails, there won't be anything left to save. 

Look for the sequel, Witch Born, coming May 2012. 

My thoughts: Witch song is a wonderful fantasy novel. I thoroughly enjoyed every page. Amber Argyle's writing is superb. She has an original take on Witches that I loved. The spells being cast through song was a fantastic spin on the usual Witch lore.  Her descriptions were vivid and really brought the story to life.  The characters had depth and felt so real. Brusenna had me rooting for her and cheering her on as she struggled on her journey. I also really loved the romance in the novel. I'm always all about the love story in a book. Joshen, our hero, was so loyal and sweet. I loved him and I loved watching their relationship develop. Sigh. I think anyone who enjoys fantasy will love Witch Song.
You can find out more about Amber and her writing by clicking here. 

The other book I'm giving away is Eternal Starling by Angela Corbett:

A love so strong, even eternity can’t separate them.

Evie Starling has lived a relatively uneventful life hanging out with friends, gossiping about boys, and driving her 1966 Mustang. All of that changes when she moves to Gunnison, Colorado, to start college and meets two mysterious men.

For centuries, Alex Night and Emil Stone have yearned for Evie—but they each have their own reasons for wanting to be with her. When both men claim to be her soul mate and tell her about an unbelievable past, Evie learns that she’s not the person she thought she was. Soon, Evie finds herself in the middle of an age-old battle between the Amaranthine Society—the soul protectors, and the Daevos Resistance—the soul destroyers. With a past she doesn’t understand, and a future rife with danger, Evie has to decide who she can trust. But Alex and Emil aren’t the only ones who want Evie, and her soul is about to become the rope in an eternal tug-of-war.


My thoughts:
Eternal Starling was a very romantic book. Swoon. It is the first in the Emblem of Eternity series. It's wonderful to love the first of a series because you know there are more coming. I'm a sucker for soulmate books. I read a lot of them. This one was my favorite by far. Angela Corbett did a wonderful job in creating her own mythology in the soulmate genre.

By the end of the first chapter I was hooked. Evie was a great heroine who used her brains and asked the right questions. And she didn't just follow orders blindly. Alex and Emil were both so unique. I was drawn to both of the guys, but I am rooting for Emil. I seem to be cursed with the unfortunate habit of rooting for the underdog in any love triangle, but I am still Team Emil. Who's with me? I melted at the way he introduced himself to Evie. :) This is Angela Corbett's debut novel and she knocked it out of the park. I love her writing style and the way she paced the book. I am so excited to read the next book in this series and find out who Evie's true soulmate is!
You can find out more about Angela, her books and her writing on her blog by clicking here.


Enter below for your chance to win these two great books!