Two and Twenty Dark Tales is Here!

If you haven't heard about the awesome anthology from Month 9 Books, called Two and Twenty Dark Tales, it's time to check it out.  Remember as a kid, that chill you got from things that went bump in the night?  Well, here's the grown up version!

In this anthology, 20 authors explore the dark and hidden meanings behind some of the most beloved Mother Goose nursery rhymes through short story retellings. The dark twists on classic tales range from exploring whether Jack truly fell or if Jill pushed him instead to why Humpty Dumpty, fragile and alone, sat atop so high of a wall. The authors include Nina Berry, Sarwat Chadda, Leigh Fallon, Gretchen McNeil, and Suzanne Young.

Now, I'm particularly partial to this anthology because one of my stories is in it.  My nursery rhyme?  Hey Diddle, Diddle.  If you've ever wondered why that dog was laughing, the cat was playing a fiddle, and a cow jumped over the moon -- well, all shall be explained in "I Come Bearing Souls."  For more clues and to see some of my inspiration images, check out my Pinterest Board.

In the meantime, please consider picking up your copy now.  These spooky tales are perfect to get you in the Halloween spirit - PLUS, proceeds from the first 5,000 will be donated to charity.  So let's make sure those first 5,000 copies FLY off the shelves, okay?

What was your favorite Mother Goose rhyme?  If you could write your own dark retelling, which rhyme would you choose?

Debut YA Book Birthdays

This Tuesday we celebrate these debut YA book birthdays ~ Who's ready??

MYSTIC CITY by Theo Lawrence

For fans of Matched, The Hunger Games, X-Men, and Blade Runner comes a tale of a magical city divided, a political rebellion ignited, and a love that was meant to last forever. Book One of the Mystic City Novels.

Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.  

VELVETEEN by Danial Marks

Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days. 

It’ll be brutal... and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT by Colleen Clayton

How can you talk about something you can’t remember?

Before the ski trip, sixteen-year-old Cassidy “Sid” Murphy was a cheerleader (at the bottom of the pyramid, but still...), a straight-A student, and a member of a solid trio of best friends. When she ends up on a ski lift next to handsome local college boy, Dax Windsor, she’s thrilled; but Dax takes everything from Sid—including a lock of her perfect red curls—and she can’t remember any of it.

Back home and unable to relate to her old friends, Sid drops her college prep classes and takes up residence in the A/V room with only Corey “The Living Stoner” Livingston for company. But as she gets to know Corey (slacker, baker, total dreamboat), Sid finds someone who truly makes her happy. Now, if she can just shake the nightmares and those few extra pounds, everything will be perfect... or so she thinks.

Witty and poignant, Colleen Clayton’s stunning debut is a story about moving on after the unthinkable happens.

TIME BETWEEN US by Tamara Ireland Stone

Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett has the unique ability to travel through time and space, which brings him into Anna’s life, and with him a new world of adventure and possibility.

As their relationship deepens, the two face the reality that time may knock Bennett back to where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate, what consequences they can bear in order to stay together, and whether their love can stand the test of time.

Fresh, exciting, and deeply romantic, Time Between Us is a stunning, spellbinding debut from an extraordinary new voice in YA fiction.

VALKYRIE RISING by Ingrid Paulson

Nothing ever happens in Norway. But at least Ellie knows what to expect when she visits her grandmother: a tranquil fishing village and long, slow summer days. And maybe she’ll finally get out from under the shadow of her way-too-perfect big brother, Graham, while she’s there. 

What Ellie doesn’t anticipate is Graham’s infuriating best friend, Tuck, tagging along for the trip. Nor did she imagine boys going missing amid rumors of impossible kidnappings. Least of all does she expect something powerful and ancient to awaken in her and that strange whispers would urge Ellie to claim her place among mythological warriors. Instead of peace and quiet, there’s suddenly a lot for a girl from L.A. to handle on a summer sojourn in Norway! And when Graham vanishes, it’s up to Ellie—and the ever-sarcastic, if undeniably alluring Tuck—to uncover the truth about all the disappearances and thwart the nefarious plan behind them.

Deadly legends, hidden identities, and tentative romance swirl together in one girl’s unexpectedly-epic coming of age.

Owlet Blog Tour: Excerpt + Play List + Giveaway

Somewhere between falling and flying… there is a girl.

Iris has a secret. She lost her memory eight years ago and never told a living soul. After an asthma attack one night she finds out that her dreams of a strange house on a snowy island may be a memory resurfacing but the more she learns about the past the more she realizes the life she has been living is a lie. As the façade her father has built starts to crumble around her she will have to decide which means more to her; the truth or her life.

Thanks for stopping in to check out OWLET by Emma Michaels (amazing cover, huh?).  If you're looking for an excerpt, look no further:

***

The thought roared loudly in her ears. When her decision was made, Iris felt herself fall forward, letting everything about her life fade away as she began to plummet. Just as the ground came rushing toward her face she felt the wind catch beneath wings she would never have. She leaned into the wind and smiled as the moment between falling and flying consumed her. She was Wendy—with no need for a Peter Pan. She knew the way to her very own Neverland; she called ‘Never-Never.’ She knew how to fly without instruction letting the dreams she held at bay ensnare her soul and push her to new heights.

Only Never-Never was much more aptly named than Peter Pan’s Neverland, because Iris would never get to go there. It simply didn’t exist; it would never be her true Neverland. She wanted the one thing that she could never have, but every night she still trusted the wind to take her there. As she traveled she would feel the chill of the rain turning into snow and freezing her skin through her nightgown. She knew she was close when she passed a towering city and was headed towards the sea.

“The island.
        My island.
                My Never-Never.”

***

Okay, now you ready to hear Emma's playlist for the novel?  Check out these songs via Emma's guest post:

When my first two novels in my other series came out, I was always asked if there was a playlist of the songs that inspired me and sadly, there wasn’t. So while going through and writing Owlet I started writing down the songs I was listening to and compiling a list. 

Here is the Owlet playlist!

Human - Ellie Goulding

(I love the song human by Ellie Goulding because it has such a sense of longing for something a person already has and that is something Iris had a hard time coming to terms with. All she wanted to be was the girl she was when she dreamt but she didn’t even realize, she already was, she just wasn’t letting her out while awake.)

Cut – Plumb

(This song is so bittersweet and fragile while being so raw and having a hidden strength. The longing in her voice when she says ‘I do not want to be afraid’ and ‘I am tired of feeling so numb’ but the line that really played a huge part in writing a scene was ‘I feel alone here and cold here, oh, I don’t want to die’. A hint for those who have read Owlet; the scene involves water ;-)  )

Running up that hill – Placebo

(This song always gets me so I can’t listen to it all that often. This is Falcon’s song. It has his raw nature and the pain of what happened to him but it also has that love and the desperate need he feels almost constantly. He would literally do anything to keep Iris from feeling pain she doesn’t remember feeling, but he does and he knows it broke her.)

Gasoline Rainbows - Amy Kuney

The Wolves (cover) - Ellie Goulding

What the water gave me - Florence and the Machine

Wolf & I - Oh Land

(Oh Land’s music is so unique and interesting. It has that indie feel but with popish/electric beats so you can get the emotions while having the pep. I love using songs like this to type to because I can’t help but type to beats, so fast music helps me get the ideas out as they come instead of slowing myself down for my hands to catch up.)

Let's get lost - Beck and Bat for Lashes

Losing your memory - Ryan Star

(This song is part of what decided for me what happened to Iris. I won’t spoil it since it is revealed fully in book two but this song really hit home when writing the scene where I realized just what happened so long ago. What broke Iris.)

Spell - Marie Digby

Cosmic Love - Florence and the Machine

(I just LOVE Florence and the Machine. The main thing that always gets me is that each of her songs has a great beat and a plot. My ultimate fascination, other than my personal beliefs and discovering how true love works with my fiancé, is plots. I love plots and especially character arcs. Something about it will always keep me glued and each of her songs does that to me. Very inspirational.)

Howl - Florence and the Machine

Stripped - Shiny Toy Guns

(This is Caleb’s song. It is how he thinks. You will find out more about him in book two and finally start to understand his actions. Let’s just say, I believe that there are no true villains, just people and there is something that drove him to be what he is.)

Under the stars - Morning Parade

Little Dreams - Ellie Goulding

A thousand years - Christina Perri

Whole wide world - Mindy Gledhill

Everywhere I go - Lissie

All that you give - Kaskade

Like a star - Corinne Bailey Rae

(This song isn’t my normal style but something about Corinne’s voice stops me in my tracks. I was watching Medium at a friend’s house on the tv (I don’t keep a tv in my house, less distractions) when this came on and reminded me of the first time I heard it. I completely forgot what was going on and just wanted to listen to that song over and over again, so I sat down to write and did. :p )

Distance - Christina Perri

Hawk eyes - The Kicks

Echo - Jason Walker

Breath again - Sara Bareillas

Head of heels - Digital daggers

(I used to listen to the original of this song with my mother when I was younger. We both loved eerie songs and I LOVE the Digital Daggers version! )

The man who can't be moved - The Script

I'll hold my breath - Ellie Goulding

Lights - Ellie Goulding

Set fire to the rain - Adele

Don't love - F T Island

(There was a video once posted on YouTube with this song and it featured a few of my favorite scenes from KDramas and JDramas and I am not someone who cries but I did. Of course my fiancé thought I had gotten an e-mail that someone had died with how I was staring at the screen until I showed him the video. Yeah… he didn’t cry. But he understood. Lol. I ended up writing for hours afterwards just to get all of the emotions out.)

I Hope - F T Island

Set fire to the third bar - Snow Patrol

Bizarre love triangle - Frente!

Headlock - Imogen Heap

Pitterpat - Erin McCarley

Beautiful - Mandalay

The call - Regina Spektor

Feel it in my bones - Tiesto featuring Tegan & Sara

(I LOVE this song. I think it will actually end up on three novel playlists since two of my other projects ended up having this be a cross over song. It inspired me during Owlet and then again when working on two of my stand alone novels I was working on as side projects. Eventually I plan on turning to them again and finishing them up. )

Music is a big inspiration for me. I hope you will check out a few of these artists! 

So here is my question for you:

What is your favorite song? What is a song you always wanted to see on an author’s playlist but no one seems to listen to?

***
And last but not least, here's how to enter Emma's big giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
You can find out all you ever wanted to know about Emma and OWLET below.  And once you're done stalking, er, following her, check out the other stops on the OWLET blog tour to continue reading the fabulous excerpts.

Owlet GoodReads page:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14059271-owlet
Emma Michael's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/emma.michaels.90
Emma Michael's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/emmamichaels
Emma Michael's Website:
http://emmamichaels.com/
Emma Michael's GoodReads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4104941.Emma_Michaels
Tribute Books website:
http://www.tribute-books.com

Tribute Books Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Archbald-PA/Tribute-Books/171628704176

Tribute Books Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/TributeBooks

Happy Debut YA Book Birthday

I ran out of time to feature all of the debut authors celebrating today, so I decided to pick one.  This book has a gorgeous cover and a compelling blurb.  So happy Book Birthday to THROUGH TO YOU by Emily Hainsworth.

Camden Pike has been grief-stricken since his girlfriend, Viv, died. Viv was the last good thing in his life: helping him rebuild his identity after a career-ending football injury, picking up the pieces when his home life shattered, and healing his pain long after the meds wore off. And now, he’d give anything for one more glimpse of her. But when Cam makes a visit to the site of Viv’s deadly car accident, he sees some kind of apparition. And it isn’t Viv.
The apparition’s name is Nina, and she’s not a ghost. She’s a girl from a parallel world, and in this world, Viv is still alive. Cam can’t believe his wildest dreams have come true. All he can focus on is getting his girlfriend back, no matter the cost. But things are different in this other world: Viv and Cam have both made very different choices, things between them have changed in unexpected ways, and Viv isn’t the same girl he remembers. Nina is keeping some dangerous secrets, too, and the window between the worlds is shrinking every day. As Cam comes to terms with who this Viv has become and the part Nina played in his parallel story, he’s forced to choose—stay with Viv or let her go—before the window closes between them once and for all.

Purgatory Reign Cover Reveal + Contest

Thanks for joining me today for the cover reveal of my friend, LM Preston's newest YA novel, Purgatory Reign.  Intrigued? Read the back cover for yourself!

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Romance, Action Adventure
Book Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atvKA9E4bPI&feature=youtu.be
Read a Sample: http://www.freado.com/book/13273/purgatory-reign

Release Dates:
eBook (March 2013)
Print (May 2013)Pre-Order on Amazon. 

Now that you're all fired up, don't forget to enter LM's contest for some great prizes!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway