Blog Post Round-Up For This Month (So Far)

This is a round-up of the blog posts I have done so far this month. I need more ideas! Let me know any suggestions you may have! Thanks! :) Here they are!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

http://girlwithapenandadream.blogspot.com/2013/04/its-monday-what-are-you-reading.html

Cover Reveal ~ Salvation by Skyla Madi

http://girlwithapenandadream.blogspot.com/2013/04/cover-reveal-salvation-by-skyla-madi.html

Late Promo Post for the Exemus by Folami Morris and Abeni Morris

http://girlwithapenandadream.blogspot.com/2013/04/late-promo-post-for-exemus-by-folami.html

<3 Amanda Leigh 

Late Promo Post for The Exemus by Folami Morris and Abeni Morris

"Playlists

The greatest writers make the art of writing look easy. Their stories come together seamlessly, as though Rumplestiltskin or little fairies were working behind the scenes. You can always expect their characters to be three-dimensional and well developed.  A novel from these individuals is always worth its weight in gold, because without any aid these artists weave a web of magic that speaks to the spirit and elevates the soul.

I however don’t have access to that fairy dust, so in order for our book to come together we had to use mortal magic: music. Music was such an integral part of our writing, because good music has the ability to transport you anywhere, to make the loneliest person feel loved, and to inspire the least creative people.

We used music to help us feel the depression Dephon feels growing up in a dystopian society.  Music helped us to create the love between Hyalee and Singleton. Our favorite songs when we wrote about them was Stand By Me and When a Man Loves a Woman, oldies but goodies that seemed really appropriate when writing about those two.

Below is our playlist for when we wrote the book. And yes there is a lot of Micheal Jackson, he died during that time and we spent a lot of time reminiscing over his career.



             Blame It on the Boogie by Michael Jackson

            Obsessed by Mariah Carey

            Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood

            Halo by Beyonce

            Billy Jean by Michael Jackson

            Dirty Diana by Michael Jackson

            Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson

            The Climb by Miley Cyrus

            The Potential Breakup Song by AJ and Ally

            He Could Be the One by Miley Cyrus

            Stand by Me by Ben E. King

            Run this Town by Rihanna and Jay Z

            Russian Roulettte by Rihanna

            Disturbia by Rihanna

            Do You by Ne-Yo

            When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge

            Supermassive Blackhole by Muse

            Full Moon by the BlackGhosts

            Knock You Down by Keri Hilson

            Sweet Dreams by Beyonce

            Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down

            She Wolf by Shakira

            Waiting on The World to Change by John Mayer

            Stranger in Moscow by Michael Jackson

            Will You Be There by Michael Jackson"

<3 Amanda Leigh

Cover Reveal ~ Salvation by Skyla Madi

Salvation (Guardian Angel #3)

by Skyla Madi 

Release Date: April 2013

From Limitless Publishing

Cover Reveal Organized by: YA Bound

Summary from Goodreads:

In the aftermath of a battle that forced Ruby to flee the safety of the guardian angels, she settles into a small town, hoping to blend in and forget about the ones she loved. It isn’t until Hunter stumbles across her working in a bar and a well-timed email from Ivan Aleksandrov that she realised she could go back to Sage Sanctum—for a few days, at least.

Out for revenge, Lucian will stop at nothing until he has Ruby for himself, but he isn’t the only one that needs her. The council, a group of gods/goddesses have a mysterious hand in Ruby’s return to Sage Sanctum and Mr Aleksandrov is eager to find out what it is.

Destroying Lucian is the least of her worries when Ruby comes face to face with Eli De Luca, the love of her life. It seems her departure has affected him more than she thought it would, but his frustration with her isn’t strong enough to hide the electricity that crackles relentlessly between them.

Determined to end her very real nightmare once and for all, Ruby fights the biggest battle of her life, one that affects not only her, but everyone involved.

Check out books 1 & 2 in Guardian Angel series:

About the Author

Skyla Madi was born in the small town of Port Maquarie, New South Wales in 1993. She spent half her life growing up in Wauchope, a thriving rural town at the heart of the Hastings River Valley before making the leap to the busy city of Brisbane.

Whenever this young Australian writer isn't changing diapers, watching cartoons, cooking for her husband or doing other motherly-wife things she is actively working on her writing and improving her writing skills.

Skyla loves to read just as much as she loves to write and since discovering that YA/paranormal romance/urban fantasy/ are her favourite genres, she has embarked on her own writing journey and is currently working on a YA series titled 'The Guardian Angel series' which is being published by Limitless Publishing.

Website |Twitter|Goodreads|Facebook

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. 

Reading Now:

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Up Next:

Most likely, this:

The Collector by Victoria Scott

What about you guys?

<3 Amanda Leigh

Cover Reveal ~ Precious Things by Stephanie Parent

Precious Things

by Stephanie Parent 

Release Date: May 2013

Cover Deisgned by: Allie Brennan of B Design 

Cover reveal organized by: YA Bound

Summary from Goodreads:

Isabelle Andrews isn’t supposed to be here. She isn’t supposed to be a freshman at Hartford Community College, she isn't supposed to be living at home and working at her dad’s failing bakery, and she definitely isn’t supposed to be taking Intro to Electronic Music Production, a class that will get her nowhere toward her goal of an English Ph.D. by age twenty-five. But when her dad’s latest business fiasco eats up her college fund, Hartford Community College is exactly where Isabelle finds herself—and thanks to her late enrollment, she doesn’t even get to choose her classes. Stuck with Electronic Music and way-too-easy English courses, Isabelle is determined to wallow in all the misery she feels entitled to.

But community college brings some unexpected benefits…like the fact that a certain overworked, over-scheduled Electronic Music professor hands over most of his duties to his teaching assistant. His tall, green-eyed, absolutely gorgeous teaching assistant. When TA Evan Strauss discovers Isabelle’s apathy toward electronic music—and, well, all music—he makes it his mission to convert her. The music Evan composes stirs something inside Isabelle, but she can’t get involved—after all, she’ll be transferring out as soon as possible. 

Still, no matter how tightly Isabelle holds on to her misery, she finds it slipping away in the wake of all Hartford Community offers: new friendships, a surprisingly cool poetry professor, and most of all, Evan. But Evan’s dream of owning his own music studio is as impractical as Isabelle’s dad’s bakery, and when Evan makes a terrible decision, everything Isabelle has gained threatens to unravel. Soon Isabelle discovers that some of the most important lessons take place outside the classroom…and that in life, as in Evan’s favorite Depeche Mode song, the most precious things can be the hardest to hold on to.

About the Author

Stephanie Parent is a graduate of the Master of Professional Writing program at USC and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts as a piano major. She moved to Los Angeles because of Francesca Lia Block's WEETZIE BAT books, which might give you some idea of how much books mean to her. She also loves dogs, books about dogs, and sugary coffee drinks both hot and cold.

 

Follow Stephanie at:
Blog| Twitter|Goodreads  

Special Small Book Haul: One Book: One Month Anniversary Gift!

About a month ago I started dating the most wonderful man in the world! His name is Matt and I love him so much!

Tuesday March 19th was our one month anniversary. A few days before he asked me what I wanted for our anniversary. I told him just to get me a book. :) He said he would pick out the book. :) 

So, this is the book My Matt got me:

 

The picture is a bit blurry. It is The Neverending Story by Michael Ende!! We had talked about it and I mentioned I wanted to read the book but didn't have it yet! And he got it for our one month anniversary!

If you're reading this, thank you again! And I love you sweetie! Mwah! <3

<3 Amanda Leigh

Happy Birthday Johnny Cade!!!!

The Outsders is one of my two favorite books. And Johnny Cade is one of my two favorite characters from this book. Today is Johnny Cade's birthday, A while ago I found a list on The Outsiders' website with most of the character's birthdays. So today I am doing sort of a tribute to him. 

Reasons To Love Johnny Cade:

# 1: He is SOOO sweet!

#2: He cares so much about his friends! 

#3: He saved those children from that burning building!

#4: He's open to poetry (Robert Frost - "Nothing Gold Can Stay") and literature (Margaret Mitchell - Gone With the Wind)!

#5: He will always stay gold!!