Juliana Haygert

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Categories: Authors, Covers, Entangled Pub, Young Adult

Cover Love: ALL THE BROKEN PIECES

Another Entangled Publishing cover reveal! Love these!

This time, is for the talented Cindi Madsen and her book ALL THE BROKEN PIECES, a YA Gothic Mystery, which will be released in December 2012.

What if your life wasn’t your own?

Liv comes out of a coma with no memory of her past and two distinct, warring voices inside her head. Nothing, not even her reflection, seems familiar. As she stumbles through her junior year, the voices get louder, insisting she please the popular group while simultaneously despising them. But when Liv starts hanging around with Spencer, whose own mysterious past also has him on the fringe, life feels complete for the first time in, well, as long as she can remember.

Liv knows the details of the car accident that put her in the coma, but as the voices invade her dreams, and her dreams start feeling like memories, she and Spencer seek out answers. Yet the deeper they dig, the less things make sense. Can Liv rebuild the pieces of her broken past, when it means questioning not just who she is, but what she is?

All the Broken Pieces, by Cindi Madsen is available for pre-order on: Amazon | Barnes & Noble Be sure to add it to your TBR pile on Goodreads! 

 

Excerpt:

Olivia reached up, feeling the tender spots on her head. Her fingers brushed across a row of—were those little ridges made of metal?
“Careful. The staples are almost ready to come out, but it’s still going to be sore for a while.”
Staples?!Her stomach rolled. I have staples in my head? She lowered her now-shaking hand. “Can I get a mirror?”
Mom looked at Dad, then back at her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not until you’ve healed a little more.”
Mom patted Olivia’s leg. “You just relax. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The two of them left the room, but when Mom swung the door closed, it didn’t latch. Olivia could hear their voices in the hall.
“I still think we should…” She couldn’t make out the rest of Dad’s muffled words. “…know if I can do this.”
“…late for that,” Mom said. “We’d lose everything, including…” Her voice faded as they got farther away. “…have to move.”
Olivia could tell the conversation was tense, but the words were impossible to decipher now. Holding a hand in front of her face, she turned it back and forth. A plastic tube ran from her arm to a machine next to her bed. She peeked into her nightgown and stared in horror at the long red stripe running down her chest.
Sick.
You’re alive. You shouldn’t be thinking about looks.
Lowering her hand, she scanned the room. I wonder how my face looks. From the way Dad stared at me, plus the fact Mom won’t let me see a mirror, it must be bad.
Brains are more important than looks.
That’s what ugly people say.
Olivia put her hands on her head and squeezed. “Stop it,” she whispered to her arguing thoughts, hysteria bubbling up and squeezing the air from her lungs. What was happening to her? Why didn’t she recognize her parents or know where she was? Who she was? Tears ran warm trails down her cheeks. “Just make it all stop.”

 

Be sure to connect with Cindi at:

 

 

Cheers,

Categories: #ROW80, NTS

#ROW80 and NTS check-in 06/17

Hello friends! HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

You know, in Brazil Father’s Day is in August … I don’t understand why Mother’s Day is the same, but not Father’s Day. Anyway …

We’re almost done with this round! Commence freaking out!

Here are my goals and how I’m doing:

  • Organize my new home and my new schedule. Done.
  • Once my life is normal again (or almost), find a gym and exercise 3 times per week. Twice only. Still haven’t found some class I want to go, and, with JuNoWriMo and FastDraft, I don’t think I’ll find one this month.
  • Participate on Crafting the Sensual Novella Workshop from April 9th to May 6th. Done.
  • Finish revising Re-revise my novel, DESTINY GIFT. Almost done.
  • Start a new novel and get as far as I can with it. See below.
  • In June, participate of the JuNoWriMo. I wrote almost 6000 words on Monday and Tuesday, then I got some comments from my editor back on Tuesday night, and went back to revising DESTINY GIFT. The revisions and edits are more important than writing new stuff right now. And I won’t say why *wink wink*
  • Read 5 books each month (year total = 60). On track.
  • Social network: blog at least once a week (not counting #ROW80 checkins), comment on blogs every other day, and tweet a little everyday. Done.

I’m still behind JuNoWriMo and FastDraft and NTS because I need to focus on my revisions right now. Probably, I’ll send the revised manuscript back to my editor by Tuesday or Wednesday and then I’ll go back to my JuNo novel, but by now I’m sure I won’t be able to catch up. That’s okay. I’ll do the best I can and reach the best word count I can, knowing I worked on what was more important at the time ;)

I’ll explain more about all these revisions and what’s happening later ;)

I hope everyone else is doing much better!

Don’t forget to stop by everyone else’s blogs and support them too!

Cheers,

Categories: On Writing, WIP

On Love Triangles

**WARNING: SPOILERS OF VAMPIRE DIARIES, VAMPIRE ACADEMY AND GEORGINA KINCAID**

I love Vampire Diaries (the TV series, not the books. I didn’t like the books). But I hate seeing Elena divided between Damon and Stefan. And let’s not talk about the fact that they are brothers! Ew!

Come on, how can one be that undecided? I once saw a quote from Johnny Depp, so perfect:

I have to say I agree with him.

Though, between us, I would pick Stefan. Yes, yes, I’m a self proclaimed bad-boy kind of girl, but hey, Stefan had his bad-boy phase too ;)

Anyway, I wouldn’t be in that situation. Oh, noes. If I ever had to choose between two guys, I would have chosen none of them. Erin Presson Ladd had a blog post on Sarah Enni’s blog about this very topic, Love Triangles: when the best choice is none. I couldn’t agree more.

There were several books that I almost gave up reading because the heroine couldn’t make up her mind. Oh, come on!

I asked what people thought of love triangles yesterday on twitter. Among several great answers, Mason T. Matchak gave me the following one:

So true! I can’t take anymore whiny heroines whose main problem is which one of her hot guys she should kiss today … I think it’s okay to have other guys, but don’t make your ENTIRE manuscript about this drama.

I prefer “love triangles” like the ones Richelle Mead writes. Following the thoughts of a post my NA sister LG Kelso wrote, on Vampire Academy Rose has a love situation with two guys, Dimitri and Adrian. Rose is a kickass heroine who knows what she wants and who she loves. She doesn’t need any man, but she—as any normal female, I guess—would like to have a love life and she knows exactly with whom. Though, when destiny puts Dimitri away from her grasp and she can’t bring him back, she tries to move on. That’s when Adrian enters the games. As LG points out on her post, this isn’t a triangle. It’s just different lovers at different points of the heroine’s life.

Same goes for the Georgina Kincaid Series. Georgina can’t be with Seth, the main reason being that they can’t touch—not without taking away years of his life. So she ends up giving a try with Dante, whose soul was already tainted and didn’t deserve to live a long life (judging? me? noooo!). But we know Dante isn’t a match to her. She’s with him to occupy her mind. A distraction. And there’s Roman too (secretly *swoon*). Georgina would love to move on with Roman, but ultimately, he isn’t the one she loves and she doesn’t even let their relationship to take off.

Being undecided between two guys is very, very different than having relationships with two guys in different parts of the story. It’s just like life. When you break up with a boyfriend/girlfriend, you mourn (or not) then move on. It’s a choice: a choice to keep living and be happy, not a choice about who you’ll kiss today. Sometimes, this new relationship doesn’t work either, and once again you move on. And sometimes, that moving on step brings you to your first lover. Or it takes you farther away.

While outlining and then writing DESTINY GIFT, I never intended it to be a love triangle. Never. I always knew with who Nadine would end up. In fact, it wasn’t about who she would end up with at all. In my mind, the second guy wasn’t there to put tension on Nadine’s relationship. He was there to aggravate the other problems, the ones that label this manuscript as paranormal. And I did plan it to be a trilogy since the beginning.

However, I let my mind blank a few days ago and started studying other options for the sequels, to see if I could come up with even better ideas. One of them involved an event that would bring Nadine and her love interest apart. While on the pursue of her “destiny” in the story and solving the paranormal problems, she would get closer to  the other guy. But you see, it would be a lot like Rose, Dimitri and Adrian. It wasn’t that she fell in love with both at the same or couldn’t choose between the guys. It would be my heroine trying to move on with her life. Well, I won’t tell you if she would be like Rose and end up with Dimitri, or would stay on the alternate path, otherwise I would give away part of the trilogy ending ;)

If I end up choosing this new idea for my sequels, I really hope to escape the “love triangle” analogy.

Now I hand the microphone to you:

What’s your opinion and thoughts about love triangles?

Cheers,

 

UPDATE: the lovely Jessa Russo wrote a blog post inspired on this one. You should check it out too, because she speaks the truth! ;)

 

Categories: #ROW80, NTS

#ROW80 and NTS Check-in 06/10

Hello friends!

This week wasn’t that great. I even blogged about Being Productive, though my reasons for not being productive (this week) were out of my control.

Oh, and I finally succumbed to Pinterest. Great way to compose storyboards and get more inspired.

Okay, on with the show. Here are my goals and how I’m doing:

  • Organize my new home and my new schedule. Done.
  • Once my life is normal again (or almost), find a gym and exercise 3 times per week. Twice only. Because of my migraines, I need to change my cardio classes to something else, but don’t know what yet, and because I prefer classes than just going to the gym and lifting weight and running on the treadmill, I have to find a class that I like during a time I can go …
  • Participate on Crafting the Sensual Novella Workshop from April 9th to May 6th. Done.
  • Finish revising Re-revise my novel, DESTINY GIFT. I’m revising it. Did a lot this week, but I’m still waiting on some notes to finish it up.
  • Start a new novel and get as far as I can with it. Well, I wrote only about 3500 this week. But, since I’m on FastDraft and JuNoWriMo, that wasn’t enough =(
  • In June, participate of the JuNoWriMo. On it, but way behind …
  • Read 5 books each month (year total = 60). Done.
  • Social network: blog at least once a week (not counting #ROW80 checkins), comment on blogs every other day, and tweet a little everyday. Done.

My daughter went to the new daycare on Thursday, so up until then, I got nothing done, other then play with my princess =) The new daycare seems good enough, not as big and organized as the other one, but good and clean and caring. My daughter seems to like it. Accordingly to the teachers, she’s always happy and smiling and helping. Yeah, she’s very, very sociable. Too much even.

With daughter on daycare again, hopefully, this next week is going to be better and I’ll be able to catch up with JuNoWriMo and FastDraft.

How about you guys? How are y’all doing?

Don’t forget to check my fellow ROWers here.

Cheers,

Categories: Me, My writing, WIP

On Being Productive

Or trying to be productive.

Alright, I decided, back in mid May, but then I had many guest posts and other events schedules until now, that I’m going to severely cut my “online” hours.

I will shut down twitter during late morning and the afternoons (maybe I’ll only come online from 1 to 4pm for twitter writing sprints with JuNoWriMo during June), I’ll also close the web browser (Facebook, goodreads, blogs, google reader) and not answer to any email during that time.

May was an insanely busy month on my blog, with interviews and blogfests and cover reveals and other news. In 31 days I had 26 posts up—that never happened before and it was too much to keep up. My plan is to reduce the amount of posts. I’m not sure how many per week yet, but I’m thinking about 2 regular features and then some extras if big news need to be reported (and that doesn’t mean my news only. I like to celebrate my friends’ news too!). Not that June won’t be busy with JuNoWriMo and all, but at least I don’t think I’ll be blogging as often as May.

Why these drastic measures?

Many reasons, the main one being that I want to write more.

In May, when I came up with this decision, I talked to a good friend who is a reader, not a writer, and beta-reads my work. We talk a lot about books and market and such and she told me that in 2010, when I didn’t think much about publishing, when I wasn’t as much online as I am now, was the year that I produced the most. I wrote 4 novels that year and started 2, going up to 40k in each. Three of those novels I finished were over 100k words (yeah, I know, major cutting to be done there). Then, in 2011, when I was already in twitter and becoming member of everything I could and befriending any fellow writer on the same path as I was/am, I produced much less. I wrote 2 novels, 2 novellas and 1 novelette. Yes, I started many too, but, if you add the total word count of each year, 2010 is way ahead …

Back in 2010, I also didn’t know much about the craft and wrote what I love, the way I wanted it to be. Sure, in 2011 my writing improved a lot with all the workshops I took and craft books I read, but I also became more worried about what editors and agents want and don’t want, and that influenced what I was writing. I started many things I wasn’t really in the mood to write.

In 2012, all hell broke loose when I find out I was moving back to the US in January. Things only settled down again mid April, when we were already in the US and our new home already livable. Then last week I had a couple of days that were a mess when my daughter’s preschool decided to just close without any notice and because of that I’m way behind on JuNoWriMo and CampNaNo.

I love the writing community and twitter can get pretty distracting with all the contests and pitching talking and the supporting and cheering up thing. Also, I stalk follow lots of agents and editors and most of them tweet about the industry and some other insider things, which is very informative. But that can be distracting, like I mentioned before, and the 15 minutes I plan to spend there, easily become 2 hours …

You see, I’m fortune enough to be able to write full time (or close to full time). To me, writing is my job, and I gotta make the most of it. I need to learn to be more productive. And that starts by shutting of the internet and writing. You know what they say, that you’ll learn how to write and improve writing and, if you’re a self-publisher, the best way to promote yourself is to write a good book, then another good book, then another good book—I’m not a self-publisher, but the principle is the same. And how would I do that? By gluing my butt in my chair, shutting off the internet, not answering the phone unless it’s an emergency (you have no idea how many precious hours I lost because family called to chat during my writing time, and I just can’t be rude or firm enough to tell them I can’t), and just write!

Another thing I need to focus: write what I want to, what excites me, not what editors and agents want … I have so many ideas I love, I need to focus on them. Certainly, writing something that enthusiasm me will make me more productive. When you’re loving a scene, don’t you keep on writing, even if you’re late for something or should be in bed already? I want that feeling again.

As a way to encourage me, I decided to post these “thoughts” here on the blog, so my friends will know if I’m not being as productive as I want to be, and I’ll feel ashamed for it and work harder.

So, if you see me online late mornings or afternoons (other than sprinting times), shoo me off!

Cheers,

Categories: Authors, Blog Tour, Entangled Pub, Young Adult

5 Reasons to Love Daemon

Before diving into the 5 reasons to love Daemon, let me tell you two things:

First, I opened the book—the amazing OBSIDIAN by the equally amazing Jennifer Armentrout from Entangled Publishing, on my kindle and searched for passages to include on this post. I wanted five. On the first half of the book, I ended up with more than 30 passages! I couldn’t decide which ones to include because I wanted to include EVERYTHING!

Second, my plan was to read some passages only. I remembered enough of the book to skim through and end up directly on the passages I was looking for. But, oh no, I ended up rereading the whole thing! Why? Because it’s THAT good! I finished at 2am, even though I knew I had to wake at 6am the next morning!

 

5 Reasons to Love Daemon

 

1. Daemon is HOT and GORGEOUS:

Heavy footsteps came from the other side, and then the door was swinging open and I was staring at a very broad, tan, well-muscled chest. A naked chest. My gaze dropped and my breath sort of … stalled. Jeans hung low on his hip, revealing a think line of dark hair that formed below his navel and disappeared under the band of the jeans.

His stomach was ripped. Perfect. Totally touchable. Not the kind of stomach I expected on a seventeen-year-old-boy, which is how old I suspected he was, but yeah, I wasn’t complaining. I also wasn’t talking. And I was staring.

My gaze finally traveling north again, I noted thick, sooty lashes fanning the tips of high cheeks and hiding the color of his eyes as he looked down at me. I needed to know what color his eyes were.

“Can I help you?” Full kissable lips turned down in annoyance.

His voice was deep and firm. The kind of voice accustomed to people listening and obeying without question. His lashes lifted, revealing eyes so green and brilliant they couldn’t be real. They were an intense emerald color that stood out in vibrant contrast against his tan skin.

2. Daemon is a fun kind of trouble:

His gaze lingered on my face, and warmth blossomed in my belly. “Maybe I’m just curious why she is so enamored. Dee doesn’t take well to strangers. None of us do.”

“I had a dog once that didn’t take well to strangers.”

Daemon stared at me a moment, then laughed. It was a deep, rumbling sound. Nice. Sexy. Oh, God, I looked away. He was the kind of boy that broke hearts and left a long line of them shattered behind him. He was trouble. Maybe the fun kind of trouble, but he was also a jerk.”

3. Daemon is thoughtful, deep:

“I’ve always found that the most beautiful people, truly beautiful inside and out, are the ones who are quietly unaware of their effect.” His eyes searched mine intently, and for a moment we stood there toe to toe. “The ones who throw their beauty around, waste what they have? Their beauty is only passing. It’s a shell hiding nothing but shadoes and emptiness.”

4. Daemon is a gentleman even when he tries not to: 

He helped me into Dee’s backseat mindful of the arm brace, by carrying me again and pacing me into the rear. “I can walk, you know.”

“I know.” He walked around and slid in next to me.

I tried to keep on my side of the car and my head up, but once Daemon settled next to me, my head sort of fell to his chest. He stiffened for a moment and then placed an arm around my shoulder. The warmth of him quickly seeped into my bones. It felt right, at that moment, to be nestled against him.

5. Daemon is provocative in many, many ways:

“So, you guys are like us in other, uh, departments?”

Daemon sat up, arching a brow. “Come again?”

I felt my cheeks flush. “You know, like sex? I mean, you guys are all glowy and stuff. I don’t see how certain stuff would work.”

Daemon’s lips curled into a half smile, and that was the only warning he gave. Moving unbelievably fast, I was on my back and he was above me in a flash. “Are you asking if I’m attracted to human girls?” he asked. Dark, wet waves of hair fell forward. Tiny droplets of water fell off the ends, splashing against my cheek. “Or are you asking if I’m attracted to you?”

Using his hand, he lowered himself slowly. There wasn’t an inch of space between our bodies. Air fled my lungs at the contact of his body against mine. He was male and ripped in all the places I was soft. Being this close to him was startling, causing an array of sensations to zing through me. I shivered. Not from the cold, but from how warm and wonderful he felt. I could feel every breath he took, and when he shifted his hips, my eyes went wide and I gasped.

Oh yeah, certain stuff was definitely working.

 

And that’s only up to 56% of the book! Tell me, what’s there not to love?

 

The first and the current cover.

 

I can’t wait for this one:

Coming August 2012!

 

Don’t forget to check the other today’s post from the 30 days of Daemon blog tour at Book Passion for Life—they have an ONYX teaser ;)

Cheers,

Categories: #ROW80, NTS

#ROW80 and NTS Check-in 06/03

Hello friends!

Here are my goals and my progress:

  • Organize my new home and my new schedule. Done
  • Once my life is normal again (or almost), find a gym and exercise 3 times per week. Only two.
  • Participate on Crafting the Sensual Novella Workshop from April 9th to May 6th. Done.
  • Finish revising Re-revise my novel, DESTINY GIFT. I’m revising it, slow and steady.
  • Start a new novel or novella and get as far as I can with it. Finished the novelette, edited, sent it away. I started a novel on Friday (for JuNoWriMo).
  • In June, participate of the JuNoWriMo. Started Friday and lead my first sprint that afternoon—barely wrote because I was so worried I would miss checking in on others LOL
  • Read 5 books each month (year total = 60). Done.
  • Social network: blog at least once a week (not counting #ROW80 checkins), comment on blogs every other day, and tweet a little everyday. Done.

This week, I had one less day to write because of the holiday. Yes, I’m the opposite of most people. I write during weekdays and not weekends and certainly not holidays. And Friday I had the same migraine from last week. It definitely has something do to with my cardio class. I should go see a doctor … but first I need to find one! That’s one of the things I hate about moving … to search for new doctors and find good ones, whom I like. *sigh*

Also, I critiqued over 120 pages for my CPs, thus taking more time from my writing. I’m not complaining. I love my CPs and want to do for them what they do for me =)

And I had more DMV drama. I lost 3 hours on Wednesday and 4 hours on Thursday running up and down, trying to solve my 3 last names issue. Those 7 hours were taken from my writing time and I just hate that. At least things seem to be going forward and will be soon solved and done.

But the more distressing news came when I went to pick up my daughter at the daycare on Friday. The director was there telling parents that the daycare was closing and that Monday, yes, tomorrow, they won’t be open anymore! Even the teachers didn’t know about it. They were shocked! Can you believe it? Two weeks from my daughter’s Pre-K graduation … At least I work from home (remember, writing is my job), so I can deal having her during the day with me for a few days, but what about those parents who work out of home and have a difficult boss? The school should have given us time, told us sooner … It was so, so unexpected.

Now, I don’t know what will happen. I’ll probably contact the JuNoWriMo ladies and let them know I’ll  have to skip on my leading sprints duty for at least a couple of days, until I find another school for my daughter or think of something else. I’ll fall way behind on my JuNoWriMo writing as well. My revision of Destiny Gift will be delayed too. And, I’ll not be able to go to the gym, because my gym doesn’t have a kids space or whatever …

One thing causing so many impact on my whole routine … honestly, I still can’t believe her school is closed. She loved it there. My daughter is so sociable. I can’t imagine her inside the house with me all day. Even if I spend my whole day playing with her, she’s missing out playing with other kids, interacting, learning, sharing, waiting for her turn … ugh, sorry about the rant. I’m just very upset with the situation.

Let’s see if I’ll be able to get anything done this week. If I don’t, it’s because I was spending quality time with my daughter, which is VERY important! I’ll tell you all about it next Sunday ;)

Now, off to check on the other ROWers. Hopefully, their week was better than mine ;)

Cheers,