Saturday, April 27, 2013

Trying on my Photoshop Hat with Some Digital Photomanipulations

So ... in case you don't know this about me, I play around on Photoshop in between writing to give my mind a break. I love it. It's so much fun to take raw materials and put them together in a new and artistic (I hope!) way. I get some stock pictures from DeviantArt as well as stock image websites, and today I even used some of my wedding photos!

Anyway, here is some of the random stuff I've done :-)
You can click on any of them to enlarge them...


Model: faestock

Model: b-e-c-k-y-stock

 

Model: faestock | Background: needanewname





Thursday, April 25, 2013

Meet the Cover of Juliana Haygert's NA Contemporary Romance, BREAKING THE REINS



Available in August 2013

Horses, mansions, tea parties, and lies are twenty-year-old Hannah Taylor’s life. To others, her family and her relationship with Eric is perfect. But she knows the truth. She lives it.

After a fire takes her grandma’s life and kills her horse, Hannah’s immaculate life spirals out of control. Her father disapproves of her decision to run her grandma’s ranch instead of focusing solely on learning the family business; Animal Control brings her Argus, a mistreated horse that she can’t turn away even though she’s not ready for another horse; and her boyfriend, Eric Bennett, a world famous polo player, becomes possessive and authoritarian. Despite her best efforts to disguise it, Hannah grows wary of him.

Then, Leonardo Fernandes struts onto the polo scene. A cocky rookie with a messy life of his own, he’s drawn to Hannah and isn’t afraid of showing it, even when Eric makes it clear she is his and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep it that way. Hannah suffers for Eric’s jealousy. The abuse only gets worse when Leo steals the title of best polo player in the world from Eric.

But the title isn’t enough for Leo. He wants Hannah too, and she can’t deny her attraction to him either. Somehow, she must find a way to break free from abusive Eric before he breaks every bone in her body.

 


AUTHOR BIO 
While Juliana Haygert dreams of being Wonder Woman, Buffy, or a blood elf shadow priest, she settles for the less exciting—but equally gratifying—life of a wife, mother, and author. Thousands of miles away from her former home in Brazil, she now resides in Connecticut and spends her days writing about kick-ass heroines and the heroes who drive them crazy.

Author links:
 
 

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Promoting Writers & Bloggers: Katie McGarry, Melanie Schulz & Marcio Goncalves

Here are some more awesome peeps and books for you to check out :-)

Katie McGarry

I recently read Dare You To. Ohmygoodness WOW! Katie definitely knows how to tell an addictive tale! Here you have two characters from opposite ends of the social spectrum, and yet they have a lot more in common than they think. Ryan is the supposedly perfect guy with the perfect family, and Beth is the girl with the messed up past who wants everyone to just stay the **** away from her. It's a dare that brings them together, and dares are woven into every layer of the story. When they're both given a chance to make different choices, will they be brave enough to change the course their lives are already set on? Will they be brave enough to do it together?

Bottom line: YOU SHOULD READ THIS ONE!


Melanie Schulz

Melanie is a blogger I've only recently begun to follow, but I already know I love the way she writes. How do I know this? Because she's taking part in this year's A to Z Challenge by writing a different flash fiction each day - and it's good stuff!

I looked around her blog a little and discovered she has a book coming out at the beginning of May. Isn't that cover eerily cool? Find out more about The Newstead Project, a YA thriller trilogy.





Marcio Goncalves

Marcio is a fellow South African author who's recently published his first book, The Venetian Violinist. It's a romantic comedy which you can download for FREE until the end of tomorrow (Sunday)! I've got my copy and I'm looking forward to trying it out. Marcio is also a new blogger, and if you'd like to visit his online hang-out and give him some follower-love, you can go here.


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Free Audiobooks this Summer from SYNC > YA Literature into Your Earphones

I discovered yesterday from someone on Triberr that Sync gives away some free audiobooks over summer. How cool is that?! You can see the schedule here (they're given away at different times between May 30th and August 21st).

Here are a few I'll definitely be downloading:

Of Poseidon, by Anna Banks

The False Prince, by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater

Enchanted, by Alethea Kontis



Do you listen to audiobooks? Personally, I've never listened to one.
I'm looking forward to trying it out!



Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Sign Up for THE FAERIE PRINCE Blog Tour and Release Day Blogfest

Hooray! We're just under two months away from the release of THE FAERIE PRINCE, and it's time to plan another blog tour! The book will be released on May 30th, and the blog tour will be held from June 3rd to 9th. If you'd like to take part, you can scroll further down this page and fill in the form.

If you share this image on your blog, it would be great if you could link back to this post (http://www.rachel-morgan.com/2013/04/sign-up-for-the-faerie-prince-blog-tour-and-blogfest.html)

I wanted to do something a little bit different on release day, so instead of just asking you all to do a generic announcement to tell the world that the book is available, I thought in addition to announcing the release of THE FAERIE PRINCE, you could also tell everyone who your favorite faerie tale prince is, and why :-) You can pick any prince/hero from any fairy tale, old or modern (and if you have an objection to posting about your favorite prince, you could tell us who your favorite princess is instead!). You can do this on release day or for three days after that, i.e. from May 30th to June 2nd, whichever day suits you best. If you're keen, scroll down and add your name to the Simply Linked list.

If you share this image on your blog, it would be great if you could link back to this post (http://www.rachel-morgan.com/2013/04/sign-up-for-the-faerie-prince-blog-tour-and-blogfest.html)






Add your link to tell us who your favorite faerie tale prince is on May 30th!
(or between May 30th and June 2nd, if you can't do May 30th!)



***THANK YOU***

And before you go ... here's a little teaser ;-)



Friday, April 5, 2013

Cover Love: The Chaos of Stars, by Kiersten White

Ohmyfreakinggoodness how I love this cover!!! I didn't even know Kiersten White had another book coming out, I just saw this on the side of my Goodreads page while looking up another book, and my creative brain was like ......... LOVE!!!


Oh, and here's the blurb, in case you're interested in what might be underneath that gorgeous cover ... ;-)

Isadora’s family is seriously screwed up.

Of course, as the human daughter of Egyptian gods, that pretty much comes with the territory. She’s also stuck with parents who barely notice her, and a house full of relatives who can’t be bothered to remember her name. After all, they are going to be around forever—and she’s a mere mortal.

Isadora’s sick of living a life where she’s only worthy of a passing glance, and when she has the chance to move to San Diego with her brother, she jumps on it. But Isadora’s quickly finding that a “normal” life comes with plenty of its own epic complications—and that there’s no such thing as a clean break when it comes to family. Much as she wants to leave her past behind, she can’t shake the ominous dreams that foretell destruction for her entire family. When it turns out there may be truth in her nightmares, Isadora has to decide whether she can abandon her divine heritage after all.



Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Cover Reveal for THE FAERIE PRINCE!

Weeheeeeee! It gives me great pleasure to present to you the cover for the second novel in the Creepy Hollow series, THE FAERIE PRINCE!


Guardian trainee Violet Fairdale is just weeks away from one of the most important occasions of her life: graduation. After messing up big time by bringing a human into the fae realm, Vi needs to step up her game and forget about Nate if she hopes to graduate as the top guardian of her year. Everything would be fine if she wasn’t forced to partner with Ryn, her ex-friend, ex-enemy, current ‘sort of friend’. They might be trying to patch up their relationship, but does she really want to spend a week undercover with him for their final assignment? On top of that, the possibly-insane Unseelie Prince is still on the loose, free to ‘collect’ as many specially talented faeries as he can find—and Vi is still at the top of his list. Add in faerie queens, enchanted storms, complicated not-just-friends feelings, and a murder within the Guild itself, and graduation is about to become the least of Vi’s problems.

Add THE FAERIE PRINCE to your to-read list on Goodreads.
If you haven't yet read the first book in the Creepy Hollow series, THE FAERIE GUARDIAN, you can find it at the following places:
Amazon, B&N, Apple iBookstore, Smashwords


Thank you to all the blogs that are helping me reveal this cover today or later this week. You guys ROCK!

Wake Up, Eat, Write, Sleep ; Jinky is Reading ; Author Jacqueline Gardner ; Alex J Cavanaugh ; In Between ; Jen Musing ; Juliana Haygert ; Random Things in Action ; No Thought 2 Small ; Refracted Light ; Cherie Reich - Author ; Cathy Keaton Writes - or Tries To ; Kittie Howard ; Little Book Star ; Some Like It Paranormal ; Write Stuff ; The Character Depot ; Camille Picott ; Buried in Books


Monday, April 1, 2013

Featured: Fairy Tale Fortnight & The A to Z Challenge

Happy April! (And happy A to Z Challenge, for all those participating!)

I hope you all had a blessed Easter this weekend, spent special time with your families, and ate lots and lots of chocolate! (I have a rather large stash to get through still ;-) )

Anyway, this is just a quick post to share three links with you ...
  • Yesterday I was at The Book Rat for an interview and giveaway as part of Fairy Tale Fortnight.
  • Today, also for Fairy Tale Fortnight, you can find an excerpt from my fairy tale-esque book, The Faerie Guardian.
  • And A to Z Challenge co-host Damyanti from Daily w(rite) is featuring indie-published book excerpts every day during the month of April, and she's kicked off the challenge today with an excerpt from my ebook An A to Z of Creepy Hollow Fae.

So PLEEEEEASE go visit The Book Rat and Daily w(rite)! If not to see my posts, then to check out the other cool Fairy Tale posts and the indie authors featured on Damyanti's blog :-)

~  ~  ~

In other news, Juliana Haygert's very first self-published novel, Destiny Gift, is now available on all major online ebook retailers!