50+ Followers! Deep Blue Secret Giveaway!

Whooo! hoooo! I reached 50+ followers!! 

It is time for a giveaway! 

This snuck up on me when I wasn't looking! I was gone for about a week when I went over the 50 followers mark. I was at our state's library association conference and then I attended the Festival of the Book in Deadwood, South Dakota. 

Basically it was 5 whole days full of librarians and books! It doesn't get any better than that, folks!!

So, to celebrate my 50+ followers, I am holding my very first giveaway! 

I am giving my copy of a great book that I just read and reviewed, Deep Blue Secret. Read more about it and my thoughts. Christie Anderson wrote an amazing book and I was lucky enough to be a part of her blog tour.

I want to share this book with others!

What a beautiful cover!

Hopefully it will be as much fun on this side of the giveaway as it has been on the entering/winning side. 

Fill out this form to enter. 


I will select a winner on November 1.

A comment is not required but is always welcome! 

WWW Wednesdays October 12

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading

To play along, just answer the following three questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?  

What are you currently reading?  

I am currently reading Outcasts United by Warren St. John. This book was chosen by our University as the Common Read for this year. One of my book groups decided to read it too.

 

I am also reading Our Eyes Met Over Cantaloupe by Anne McAneny. I am participating in the blog tour for this book and will be posting my review on October 20 with an author guest post on October 21. 

 

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Not so crazy about it but we had a great discussion at my book group. 
  

I then devoured Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich. Loved it! My thoughts about the book are here.

I also finished Deep Blue Secret by Christie Anderson for it's virtual blog tour. My thoughts were posted yesterday. Great book! And it's only book one, there will be more! 

What do you think you’ll read next?

Next I am going to be reading Island Girl by Lynda Simmons and Mile 81 by Stephen King.

Happy reading everyone!

Can't wait to see what everyone else is reading.

Blog Tour: Deep Blue Secret by Christie Anderson

Synopsis ~~ California teen, Sadie James, thinks her life couldn't get any better. She has great friends, an energetic mother she adores, and the beach practically in her own backyard. But her carefree life is turned upside down when she's rescued by a mysterious and strangely familiar boy who won't even tell her his name. 

Each time the boy appears, Sadie's unexplainable attraction to him deepens along with her need to unravel his secrets. The boy is there to protect her. But as wonderful and exciting as it might be to have an irresistible boy with crystal green eyes protecting her every move, every minute of the day...why does Sadie need one? 

As Sadie finds answers, she realizes her life isn't as perfect as she thought. Not only is she caught in a world of dangerous secret agents she never knew existed, but it turns out her true identity may be the greatest secret of all.

My thoughts on Deep Blue Secret ~~ 

First of all, I have to say right up front, that this cover is so beautiful! Even if I wasn't reading this book for it's blog tour, it would have caught my eye. I am so shallow sometimes, a beautiful cover always gets me!

And then the book grabbed me! The story starts off pretty intense, with someone trying to escape from the area that he has been condemned to and left to die. He does manage to escape and the story leaves you wondering what he did and why he was there. 

After that, we are taken into the life of a high school girl, Sadie, who is trying to understand why things are changing in her life and why she, herself, is changing. Sadie has a great life, a wonderful, caring mother and good friends. But then things start to happen and a certain someone comes into her life. She is just trying to understand it all.

I immediately liked Sadie very much and admired how mature she was. Things become very tough for her but she just kept on going with her positive outlook.  

The last part of the book is very fast paced and action packed. I found myself reading much later than I should have because I just had to find out how it ended. I love that in a book! 

This is book #1 in The Water Keepers series. I cannot wait for book #2!! The author is currently working on it. 

Hurry up, Ms. Anderson! 

Watch the book trailer on YouTube ~~ It is amazing!

Author's website ~~ Christie Anderson

Purchase from Amazon ~~ eBook is only $.99, paperback $9.99

$.99 - really? It is so worth it! 

You better go get it - seriously!!

Thanks to Tristi Pinkston Blog Tours for a free review copy of Deep Blue Secret. 

Opinions expressed here are totally my own.

The Last Page: Review and Author Post and Giveaway - Oh My!

Today, I have the privilege of having Lacy Camey here for a guest post, in addition to my review of her latest book, The Last Page. Be sure to check out the details of an awesome giveaway - a chance for a $10 Amazon gift card - after Lacy's comments.You also have the opportunity of earning bonus entries to better your chances!


First of all, here is a short little bio about Lacy ~~

Lacy Camey is a fiction writer and 
lives in Houston, Texas with her musician/producer/songwriter husband, Joel, and has a cat who acts like a dog, named Blue. When she isn't writing, or collaborating with her husband, she enjoys being outside, running, working out, reading, cooking, is a huge movie buff and loves watching reality shows on Bravo, especially The Real Housewives franchise. She loves having fun, enjoying the life God has given her and loves to encourage others to follow their bliss. She secretly dreams of going on the Amazing Race with her husband on CBS but is still trying to convince him to audition.

• I asked Lacy to talk about how she gets her story ideas. I have heard some authors say that they 'hear' voices in their heads and that they are just telling the story of those voices. Let's see what Lacy has to say - take it away, Lacy!

Thanks for having me today! My first book idea that I wrote as a teenager originated out of a lifeguard stand. Since I was a lifeguard at a country club in a relatively small city (70k people), sometimes the pool was completely empty and there I would be, sitting. Bored! So, out of my boredom, a story was created. With this particular story, it was more character-driven. I saw this character and what she was going through and I could hear her southern bell-drawl. She would say at the opening of the story, “I, Eliza May, clearly despise William Taylor. Why, eva since I’ve eva known him, he’s been nothin’ but a pure breed nuisance” (think southern, historical romance, haha).

Moving on to The Last Page, my latest release, this book idea originated out of necessity for a script-writing class I took in college. I had to come up with an idea about something and write one half of a screenplay for my final. So I had the premise of the general story idea, but it changed over five years as I grew as a person.

Other story ideas come to me in a dream, at times. I’ve had a few dreams where I wake up and think how it would make a good story, so I file it away.

Other ideas that I have just honestly come to me. I’m always living in the “what if”. What if this happens? What if this girl is living here, and then this happens and she has to…”

I just can’t help it. My imagination is very active, to say the least. Just the other day, I was getting gas for my car, and I watched an altercation happen inside the gas station. In my wild imagination, I thought, “What would I do if he pulled a gun out and started firing inside and I was a witness.” I started thinking about how I would just immediately run as fast as I could and leave my car just as it was. I would call the police and this is what I would say… I’m always imagining crazy scenarios!

The complicated and difficult part is growing that “one liner” idea. You’ve heard of writers probably who wait on inspiration. If I waited, it would be forever. Nothing would ever get written. Getting the ideas to grow is by trial and error and putting pen to paper, fingertips to keypad. Sometimes, it’s a little hard, honestly. Okay, sometimes it’s very hard! But that’s where trusting the story will come and just going over it, over and over.

When I’m stuck in a story line, I try and think about it as much as possible. Out of really thinking about it, at the park, in the shower, cooking, driving, usually small ideas come and out of working with the small idea, the larger idea follows.

I also pray and ask God for creativity and witty ideas. I trust that He’s responsible for those ideas that seem to drop from the sky and appear in my dreams.

I’m looking forward to seeing in my lifetime the device where you attach to your forehead and simply “think” your novels, and your thoughts are transcribed onto the page. Maybe that will happen when I’m 80? That would be crazy!

If you want to know more about me or stay up to date with my books, please visit my website. I’d love to hear from you!

Lacy would love to stay in contact with her readers. Feel free to visit her blog and website at www.lacycameywrites.com or follow her on twitter @lacycamey or Facebook or e-mail her: lacycameywrites (at) gmail (dot) com

For every book written by Lacy Camey, purchased by others, a portion goes to supporting an orphanage in South America. Lacy has plans to build an orphanage very soon with proceeds from her books. You can stay updated on the process at her blog at www.lacycameywrites.com  

And now - the details about the giveaway! Win a $10 Amazon Gift Card! From now until the end of Lacy's blog tour (Oct 10th), if you leave a comment on her blog tour page, you are entered to win: Lacy's CLP Blog Tour Page. That's all you have to do! If you buy the book and email a copy of the receipt to Samantha at CLP, you get a bonus entry!

You can buy The Last Page at these places ~~

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

My thoughts on The Last Page ~~

Let me just say that I loved this book!! And I am so glad that there are 2 more books coming to finish out this series. I can't wait to get caught up again in the lives of Norah, her best friend Cloe and her sister Maycee. Lacy has made her characters so very believable and real that I felt like I was part of this group of women. This is chick lit at it's finest! I can't wait for book #2!!

Thanks to Lacy and Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours for asking me to be a part of The Last Page blog tour! Check out the Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours webpage for more stops on the tour.

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.

Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list.

Short on time to find evidence proving the killer’s identity, Stephanie faces further complications when her family and friends decide that it’s time for her to choose between her longtime off-again-on-again boyfriend, Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert Ranger. Stephanie’s mom is encouraging Stephanie to dump them both and choose a former high school football star who’s just returned to town. Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, is encouraging Stephanie to have a red-hot boudoir “bake-off.” And Grandma Bella, Morelli’s old-world grandmother, is encouraging Stephanie to move to a new state when she puts “the eye” on Stephanie.

With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of hot men, and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior citizen vampire, Stephanie’s life looks like it’s about to go up in smoke. ~~synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts on Smokin' Seventeen ~~

O-M-G - this book might be one of Evanovich's best! I have read all 17 books in the series so far, over the years. I have to admit that I was about 'done' with them around book 10. (Ten Big Ones). I was beginning to feel like, been there, done that. I was almost to the point where I was thinking about not reading any more. But I loved the older ones so much, they are so hilarious, that I thought 'just give her another chance'. So I did and they have just been getting better and better.

I was totally hooked after One for the Money and recommended it to everyone I knew that loved to read. Why, just today, I talked about this series with another person that had not read them yet. I know, how is that possible? 

So -- I am recommending them to you, if you have not read them yet! Be sure to start with the first one - this is a series that is best read in order so that you know where the characters are coming from and how they got to where they are now. I can't read these books without constantly having a smile on my face and bursting out with some laugh-out-louds. There are so many crazy, quirky characters that you can't help but fall in love with!!

Smokin' Seventeen has am amazing 'cliff-hanger' ending - grrrrrrr! I was so mad when the book ended. I couldn't believe it was over. I need to know what Stephanie decided!! And then I found out that Explosive Eighteen comes out November 22. Yea!! I don't have to wait very long to read the next installment.

And then to make this winter even better, the movie One for the Money comes out in January 2012!! I can't wait to see these hilarious characters on the big screen! Can you tell I am excited?

Check here for the One for the Money trailer  

Can't wait!! January!!!! Whoo hooo!!