Muse... speak to me!

Writers need a muse, and said muses can be a little bitchy at times, keeping you waiting when you are ready for a writing session or showing up in the middle of your sleep. Mine loves to come out when I have music on. One song and you get the story of a lifetime, a love story, a break-up, sorrow, all of the emotions you can think of.

I am not going to lie, books also help my muse’s selfish attitude, but as often as music does, so below is a short soundtrack of some of the songs I listened to constantly while re-writing and revising Feathermore.

The Pretty Reckless – Make me Wanna Die

Within Temptation – Dark Wings

Plumb – Cut

Within Temptation – The Howling

30 seconds to Mars – This is war

Within Temptation – Jillian

The Pretty Reckless – Just Tonight

Now, there are probably a 100 more songs that I replayed once or twice, but nothing like these. Anything by Within Temptation is gold for my ears, so you can usually find it in the background when I write.

At the moment though, I am a little obsessed with “Safe and Sound” by Taylor Swift, It is such a sad lullaby. What song/s do you have on replay? Tell me, I am always looking for new music. I am currently writing the second book on the Feathermore Trilogy, so I am open for new music

Exclusive Cover Reveal: POSSESSED by Kira Saito

It is here! It's really, really here!

The big reveal for Kira Saito's third book in the Arelia LaRue series, "POSSESSED".

How gorgeous is this!? I love the fact that all of her covers (although they have the same background), vary in the pose of the model and are all  themed by colors. I absolutely love it!
But mostly I am dying to read 'Possessed'. Huh? Huh?! Who's with me? I cannot wait to read what kinds of trouble Arelia will get herself into this time.


Read on for a little TEASER!

Chapter 1

Anger is All I Have Left

         “Oh queen. You break what’s left of my heart with your naivety.” Ivan gave me a smirk as he placed his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him.

          My body was limp in his powerful embrace. He brought his lips to my ear. “You really think you’re strong enough to take me on? I’ve been around a long time baby. I’ve seen things that you can’t even begin to imagine.”

         “You sound like such a cliché,” I said, as I dug my nails into him and tried to wiggle out of his arms.

I had no idea if I had successfully sucked out all his powers. At this point, all I wanted to do was get far away from him as possible. Maybe my plan had been a little rash. I should have asked more questions when Gran-Ibo had given me the oil like what the hell do I do right after?

He let out a dry laugh, but didn't say anything. Instead, he placed a finger over my lips and wiped off some of the Black Arts oil. He put his finger into his mouth and tasted the oil.

“I’m the cliché? You’re the one using Black Arts oil and…” He sniffed my neck and gave it a little lick. “Come to me Oil. Amateur moves queen. I expected something more dramatic from you. Perhaps a voodoo doll? Or a creating a zombie to attack me? Yes. In case you didn’t know, we are capable of creating zombies. You should have hit me with anything but the atypical oils. How boring. I guess I over estimated you after all.”

There were a thousand things I probably could have done at that exact second. I could have called on Soussan Pannan or Erzulie. Instead, I relied on good old fashioned defense mechanisms and kicked Ivan hard in the groin. He immediately released me and let out a low moan.

“Never underestimate your opponent jerk,” I said, as I made a mad dash out of the ballroom and upstairs. “And stop calling me queen. It’s pretty damn annoying!”

I remembered that I had passed red brick dust outside our bedroom door. If I made it there, I would be safe until I could figure out my next move. I was supposed to understand Ivan and help him, but he was making it awfully difficult. I knew he wasn’t stupid enough to murder me, but he was a very angry soul. From my experience, people tended to do extremely stupid things when they were angry. I was living proof of that.

I ran halfway up the spiral staircase when I heard Ivan right behind me. His hand gripped my ankle. I fell with a thud which temporarily disorientated me.

“Easy queen.” I felt Ivan’s arms around me as he scooped me up from the ground like a helpless ragdoll.

Before I had a chance to say anything, he placed his hand over my mouth and carried me up the stairs. I revolted wildly against him, but he was totally unfazed by my little antics. He tossed me a stupid grin.

“I’ve been brutally beaten countless times, been forced to work under pretty crappy circumstances, without any health insurance by the way, and survived depressing pangs of starvation. I’m pretty sure I can handle the antics of a scrawny, love struck voodoo queen.”

Obviously, Ivan had no idea who he was up against. Or maybe he did. Faking being all powerful and brave was vastly different from actually believing it. When I had tried to suck out Ivan’s energy, I had felt myself waver. In that moment of doubt, I know I had sealed my miserable fate. And now I had to face the consequences. Crap.

****

HOOKED? Yeah, I thought so.

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BOUND   

 PUNISHED

                                                                                                       

Why I write YA

WHY I WRITE YA

As an avid reader, I will pretty much read any genre that comes my way. I don't discriminate against genres.

When I started reading as a child, I was obsessed with R.L. Stine. My parents had a clothing store at the mall and I would spend hours at the bookstore, sprawled all over the floor reading Goosebumps. Whenever I came across any kind of money at all, it would go toward a book, which at that age felt like such a mature thing to do. As I started growing up, and although I kept reading Stine’s books, my taste became a little bit broader. Now, however, whenever I had money I spent it on clothes or going out with my friends, and that is why I began reading my Mom’s books. She, like I, has to go to sleep with a book in hand. And so there were plenty for me to choose from, however her genre was a little different that mine, she loved romance novels. Think Nora Roberts and Danielle Steele. And so I began daydreaming of handsome and romantic men that would come sweep me off my feet; that's when the romantic in me was born. I went on, for years reading anything my mom purchased. The DaVinci code drove me wild!

But it wasn’t until I was told about Twilight that I became a DIE HARD reader. I was working at the hospital at the time. I had taken a very lunch break and so I was completely alone in our break room. On the table was a paperback of Twilight. The TV wasn’t working and so I picked it up, after all, I had half an hour to kill. OH MY GOD, the half an hour disappeared. I don’t know how it is possible, but time fast forwarded! I had gotten so into the story that by the time I came up for air it had been an hour! I was so busted. Reluctantly I put it down and headed back to work. I couldn’t concentrate, I had Meyer’s story engraved in my mind. 7pm came around and I bolted to my car. I didn’t go home, I told my Mom I would pick up the kids a little bit later and drove like a maniac to the bookstore. By then, the first three were already out, so I bought them all. It might have taken me a week before I had read them all. I was ADDICTED. Since then I have read all four about 10 times each, and every time, it’s like the very first.

It was because of the Twilight saga that I decided to become a writer. I wanted readers to feel the way Meyers had made me feel. To become the character and have a break from our everyday lives. I wanted to create an escape that readers would want to escape to.
And so my genre of choice was easy, Young Adult. It is the genre I like reading most.
How many of you were told by a parent, aunt, grandmother how we would one day miss our teenage years? How we would one day want to turn back time and be in high school again? Everything my Mom has ever said to me and was brushed off as “Yeah, right. Whatever” has come true. And so, what better way to re-live those days than by creating my own?

The Young Adult genre is not just for teenagers, it is for everybody that misses those days and wants to, even if for a few hours a day, go back and reminisce. YA is also for the teenagers dealing with the realistic issues sometimes mingled in the stories, in the case of Feathermore, bullying. I was bullied when I was younger and I completely stand against it. It breaks people and scars them for life in one way or another. For adults, as I said before, YA is a getaway to times already passed.

What is your genre and why?

2 eBook Giveaway

Hi All!

I am giving away 2 eBook copies of Feathermore. If you would like to enter the giveaway, all you have to do is comment below with your name and e-mail address. Winners will be picked on March 31st after 5pm EST.

Xoxo and Good luck!

Imagination: Isn't it a wonderful thing?

Imagination: isn’t it a wonderful thing?

** This is a guest post I wrote for the blog tour and was posted on author Rachel Harris' blog**

Imagination is used by authors to create the stories, the worlds and characters we all fall in love with and those we even hate. Their distinct descriptions, the way they make us (the reader) feel and how easily it is to be transported into a book; it’s just magical.
Imagination in a reader is just as important. It is easy to read a book, but can you really seeit? Can you feel the way the breeze is described as wrapping around the main character, the way her hair whips all over her face? Can you see the dystopian world the author is portraying?
We all have our own way of seeing things, and most of the time; no two people will imagine the same thing about the same exact book. One of the things I love most about books is, of course, the main characters. I am always trying to find the perfect person that fits the part, whether that is someone I know or an actor. It’s is almost like a challenge. Many times I never found an actual face to the character and so I created my own.
I figured it would be fun to show you who I was thinking of when I wrote Feathermore and/ or who I would cast for the movie:

Jade Lovecraft
- Elizabeth Gillies –
Elizabeth plays Jade in Victorious, a Nickelodeon T.V. show. I have kids, that is why I watch these shows. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it! In the show, Jade plays a very angry teenager who likes to play with scissors. In Feathermore she is not like that, BUT her appearance is the same: pale skin, dark hair and ethereal green eyes.

Also, as seen in the cover of Feathermore, Abby Marie Summers would be a great Jade, too:

Avan Thomas
- Avan Jogia –
When I started writing I had in mind Avan Jogia. I know, I am so original in the name picking! Avan (Jogia) also plays in Victorious as, well, Jade’s boyfriend (gasp!) But then I found this photo (below) and it just fit RIGHT IN. I don’t know who he is, but… **wipes drool off her chin** Yeah, exactly!

Claire
- Isabel Lucas –
I actually didn’t have anyone in mind when I wrote it, I had thought of Sophie Monk but she is far from being my Claire. Isabel Lucas seems to fit the bill, she is girlie and gorgeous, anyone would be jealous around her.

Nathaniel (Nate)
- Alex Kristiansso –
Alex is actually someone I follow on Instagram, an iPhone app. He is absolutely gorgeous and can’t help but swoon over him. The moment I saw him, I knew I had found my Nate.

Blake
- Maxwell Zagorski –
Maxwell is an Abercrombie & Fitch model and actor, and totally hot. Blake, although not for much, is older looking than the rest of the gang. He has the same green eyes as Jade.

Now I would LOVE to hear who Feathermore readers believe should be casted if it were to become a movie. I am very curious.