Review - Rock My World by Sharisse Coulter

Jenna Jax-Anders hit rock bottom in high school. Or so she thought. From rock star heiress to knocked-up has been, she turned it all around, marrying the punk rock baby daddy love of her life. The perfect Hollywood fairytale. Until the day she walked in on him kissing her best friend.

First off let me say I love the cover! I know this will sound awful of me but I am a sucker for a pretty cover and sadly I do judge books by the covers sometimes.

I liked Jenna and hated what she was going thru but a part of me feels she acted a bit high schoolish about how she handled it and even a little neglectful on the part of abandoning her daughter to run off to parts unknown and sulk over her problems when she should have put on her big girl panties and faced them head on to begin with. Best friend or not had I seen her kissing my hubby especially in my own home I would of decked her or at the very least stood my ground and started asking questions not run off not truly understanding what was going on but I understand folks do handle things in different ways....

The biggest thing I feel I am taking away from Rock My World is it's never to late to start over, to find yourself, or even to re-create yourself.

Buy Now @ Amazon, Barnes and Noble & Kobo

Genre – Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Rating – PG13

Connect with Sharisse Coulter on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://leecoulter.com/tour/

Beautiful Series Sale - Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

At Amazon.com for TODAY ONLY (2/16/13) this awesome series is on sale on Kindle for $2.99 per book! I grabbed them up as I have been wanting to read them for a while and thought I would pass on this terrific sale to my readers!

Review - Montana Morning by Sharon Flesch

Nestled in a remote Montana mountain valley, this has always been a peaceful place. Jack, his dad, Will, and Andy have always kept it simple - hard work and a feeling of contentment at the end of the day. They like it that way.

When Jack finds his long lost daughter, his life seems complete until tragedy strikes leaving him to raise an injured grandson he has never met. The men are definately going to need help.

Jack thinks he's found just what the doctor ordered. What he doesn't realize is the 'sweet little lady' is going to turn their lives upside down and inside out. Determined to turn the old ranch house into a home and this bunch of contankerous men into a family, Adrianna Banks, armed with her faith in God and a quiet sense of humor, sets out to just that.

One of the most touching stories I believe I have ever read! Very rare can I say I love all the characters in a story but this is it! In their own ways I enjoyed spending time with one and all and actually kept putting the book down on purpose just so it would last longer as I hated for it to end. I began to almost feel like a part of the family and now that it's over I seriously feel an emptiness inside.

The synopsis doesn't begin to do this story justice and is a bit misleading in my opinion because for one Jack only gets to meet his daughter for a few seconds as she lay in his arms dying and although Addy is a strong woman in her faith the book is not one of those overly religious stories that tries to ram it down your throat. Addy made me giggle all thru-out the book as she whips all these males into shape and forges a family out of the bunch of them on a modern day ranch so remote that they still don't even have telephones or alot of electricity. (they do use cell phones and such) It's hard to imagine living like that cooking on wood stoves and all but I bet I could get used to it! LOL

Guest Post Alex A. Akira

A Day In The Life of Alex Akira by Alex A. Akira
Well, I’m a creature of habit, so at least four days of my week go like this:

I rise at four o’clock in the AM (yes you read that correctly) throw on some workout clothes and either run on my treadmill for thirty minutes or do warm-up calisthenics, followed by some light free weight work. I then go out to the dojo and do some bag work, generally punches. Then I kick the heavy bag around some. If my partner is up (about three days out of seven) we do a little sparring, sometimes he drills me on a new or a particular skill. For those of you who don’t know this, my partner is my Sensei.

By six o’clock I’m in the shower wondering if the stuff I wrote the previous evening is any good. By six-thirty, I’m dressed, grab the bowl of oatmeal that my guy microwaved for me and seat myself before my iMac and check said stuff, out. Generally I’m surprised, it’s not as bad as I thought, but the errors are glaringly obvious.

After I munch down the oatmeal I start to make the changes as my partner tells me information relative (not) to my day… the weather, world disasters, what Obama said… you catch the drift. By now I’ve got my Thesaurus up and I’m probably on Wiki researching some information that I want to use in my story. Shortly after, I’m checking my email, answering it and if possible sending out a Tweet or checking FB.

During this process I am also rigging my iPod to my person. I have to be at my real life job between seven-thirty and eight o’clock. Okay I’m supposed to be in at seven-thirty, but I’m head of the design team, so they don’t really care if I’m late. Generally by seven-fifteen I’m saving whatever changes I made in my writing, shrugging into my scarf, grabbing my supplements and a protein bar to hold me over until I return home. After kissing my partner, I jump in the Jetta, crank up my music and drive the short four miles to the design studio.

Once I enter the studio, I turn on my iPod, make myself a hot drink, (coffee or tea) suck down my supplements and check out what design work I’ve got lined up. I design giftware, accessories, jewelry and other stuff for a long standing firm that sells in the UK and America. It’s not rocket science, so generally I’m on automatic and am working out some feature in the story I am writing. The music coming though the iPod helps me isolate. Although no one is supposed to wear earbuds at the studio, when I was hired I made it a point in my contract … no iPod, no Alex. Plus everyone knows to “leave Alex alone.” They get better designs if they don’t interrupt me.

By two o’clock the protein bar I ate at noon is waning and I’m readying myself to go home. Two thirty is my official quitting time, but if I’m done, I’m done. I get in my Jetta, switch off the earbuds, switch on the cd player and return home.

Once home, I strip, throw on something more comfortable and if I didn’t have a coffee, I make a cup. If not then it’s tea and some kind of snack like banana chips, both of which I take over to my iMac. I’m home alone in one of two ways, either my lover is sleeping because he’s working the night shift or he’s already left and I’ll see him after eleven.

So, this two-thirty and on time, is when I get most of my writing done. After bringing up iTunes or Pandora, I put my other headset on. Then I grab all the little post it notes I’ve scribbled on all day, sort them and add the prevalent information to my outline, timeline or appropriate place. I’ll generally take a quick look at what I worked on in the AM, maybe make some additional changes and then I’m checking my outline to see what passage(s) I think I can work on. I select the appropriate music for which character or scene I’ll be working on and lose myself in the story.

I’ll work until about five thirty, then take a break and fix something to eat. Generally steamed veggies or yogurt and fruit and sometimes soup. While I eat this I check my email, Twitter and maybe send in that book review that is due. Afterwards I’ll wash the dishes and then bundle up, pod up and go out for a walk-about or sometimes jog-about. This clears my head and since I live in a college neighborhood, I reenergize as I walk/run among the students on campus.

By seven or seven-thirty I’m back at my keyboard, either writing or researching. Sometimes I go into Photoshop and work on a cover illustration or a book trailer image. If I’m researching, I’ll put up another window and watch some MMA fights while I research for a couple of hours. If I get inspired, I’ll take a break, try some moves, do sit ups or some type of movement for a half hour, before sitting back down to resume writing/researching/drawing.

At about ten-thirty or eleven, I hit the shower, grab my Kindle and retire to the bedroom, where I’ll read to review whatever books are on my list. I keep my notebook nearby, because I am still fine-tuning my WIP, if anything comes to me, I make a note. I generally fall off between twelve-thirty and one-thirty, depending on if my partner comes home and we make happy.

So that’s pretty much it, a winter day in the life of Alex A. Akira.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – M/M Romance

Rating – R

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Guest Post - Rachel Thompson

10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn’t Know Before by Rachel Thompson
When I first started writing my author blog (about four and a half years ago), I had NO idea the extent of marketing I would have to do once I published my first book.

Now that I’m three books in (all bestsellers), I’ve developed a system that works for me. It’s not brain surgery, it’s not impossible, but it is hard work.

And it all starts with having an author platform.

Lots of people have written about author platforms; but back then, I had no comprehension of what that meant (and while I have a fairly extensive sales and marketing background, publishing was all new to me).
So what is an author platform and how can knowing this help you? I’m drawing on my own experiences, what I’ve read and learned, as well as the business clients who do what I recommend.

Let’s deconstruct.

The primary components of any platform include:

Social Media
Website
Blog
Ads
Digital copy.
I’ll break down each one with an additional tip on how I do things.

Social Media: Everyone knows you have to be on (at the very least), Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. That’s kind of a given. What people don’t tell you is that you need a Facebook page, separate from your personal Facebook account (however you can manage it from there). Why? Facebook personal accounts (where you ‘friend’ people) were not created for selling. Also, they limit you to 5,000 friends, which sounds like a lot, but once you get more well-known? Not so much.

Success: For the best chance at success, be sure to not go into social media thinking, ‘Hey this is awesome! I’m just gonna link to my own books all the time, in every share, message, and tweet!’ Not only will people unfollow/unfriend you, it’s also extremely counterproductive to doing any actual selling. Tip: Use keywords that connect to your subject/genre. Glean articles from the Net and share those. RT/share others. Be generous in supporting people. Add visual formats like YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. And above all else, have a presence on G+. Google owns it. Google is the largest search engine in the world. You do the math.

Website: I had NO idea until I finally convinced myself to switch from blogger to WordPress.org that my SEO/SMO was in the tank. Why does this matter? Paying someone (not a lot) to optimize my site (and then coaching me on how to do it) has made a huge difference in my Google ranking and Alexa.com score. What does that mean? I’m more visible, more exposed (in a good way!), and I’ve made it easier for people to find me.

Optimization: It’s okay if you don’t understand what it means. Hire someone who does. I truly had no clue how important it was to optimize my site or what all was involved. I’m grateful to @SugarBeatBC for her knowledge and patient help.

Blog: A natural extension of any author is your blog. Again, use your keywords to come up with subjects or a theme to your writing, and update your blog at least once per week. Google’s algorithms look at how fresh your content is. If you don’t post often, your ranking goes down. Boo.

Topics: Confused on what to blog about? Find blogs you really like, and see what their focus is. Write about what you know. Share excerpts from your book(s). Have guests (remember, be generous?). Tip: post on the weekend for more comments, during the week for more shares (Source: Dan Zarrella).

Ads: Many authors don’t want to tangle with the beast that is Google AdWords. I didn’t either! I tried to learn many times but looking at cost per keyword makes me think of algebra class and hey, writer here. Math is NOT my forte. So I make my husband do it. Ha! (In fact, he’s become so proficient at doing AdWords, he hung up his shingle at The AdWords Guy, and helps other authors learn, or manages their campaigns for them.)

Keywords: Yes, again. Even if you don’t get how AdWords works, at least you can use their Keyword Tool to run your words through (ie, I use relationships, grief, loss, love, romance, etc.). It’s free and fairly easy to use.

eBook or Digital Copy: Is it really necessary to have an eBook version of your book? In a word: duh. Of course it is! Report vary, but anywhere from 50-70% of all books purchased over the last year were in eBook format; of those, 50% were purchased from Amazon.

(People are still somewhat confused about this. You CAN purchase eBooks from Amazon without a Kindle. All you need to do is download their free apps for smartphone, computer, tablet, or cloud. It’s SO easy! Even Nook readers can read Amazon books (not on their Nook of course. Barnes and Noble isn’t stupid.), but from the free apps.)

Embrace Technology: No matter what your personal opinions are about eBooks, digital content is our future – right now. As baby boomers age, purchases made from home have skyrocketed. Younger people have become used to the instant gratification from gaming and social media, which makes eBooks perfect for your younger demographic.

Okay, that’s it! Almost every single one of these points I learned during the process of publishing or after. I hope they help you to be successful but remember, first and foremost, write a terrific book first!

Check out my books on Amazon: A Walk In The Snark, Mancode: Exposed, and my latest, Broken Pieces. Find me on Twitter at @RachelintheOC or my business @BadRedheadMedia. Look up the same names on G+, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. I’m everywhere!

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – NonFiction

Rating – PG13

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Rachel Thompson on Twitter & Facebook