Winners and Free Books

So, today marks the year anniversary of my novel Dissected. If you've read my blog before, you may know, since publishing it, I haven't had a lot of time to market it, so I'm starting now, on its anniversary.

I began with a contest for a huge prize pack, and picked the winner yesterday. And the winner is...Samantha Gee!!! Congrats!!

See what she won:

I want to thank everyone who entered and those who spread the word.

Don't forget Dissected is free for your Kindle today on Amazon.

It has an average 5 star rating.

Readers have called it "Gutsy" "Powerful" "Raw" "Edgy" and "Intense" so if you know anyone who would be interested, spread the word.

If you decide to take the opportunity to read it, it would be great if you'd take the time to give it a short review on Amazon. Reviews really do help sell books on Amazon.

Thanks for your support! I <3 you="">

One day left

 Seriously, the prizes are awesome. I'm not kidding. I want to keep them, but I can't
because that would be totally unethical. Right now, your chances of winning are amazing.

Enter. Spread the word. Show me some love.  You won't regret it. *cue guitar riff*





a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oh, and don't forget the Kindle version of Dissected is going to be free this  Wednesday, November 12th. Tell the world.

I'll even add a funny cat video for your viewing pleasure.

 

So, here I am blogging and promoting and giving crap away

It's almost been a year since I published Dissected. Copies have sold. It has great reviews. Honestly though, it has not been stellar. Why you ask? Well, right after I published that book my world pretty much fell apart in many ways. I won't go into all the details of my drama, but I've been busy, I've been dealing with matters that needed dealing.

On top of all the drama, I've also had some health issues that were finally summed up for me last week in as disappointing a way as they could be. Basically, I was told, "This is who you are now, learn to like yourself this way and learn how to live with it."

Yeah, no magic cure.

Don't worry, I'm not dying or anything. I apparently just can't function like ordinary people, therefore any time I have during the day to get stuff done is basically cut in half so I have to choose between activities: cleaning, writing, marketing, working from home, etc. etc. My house is always half messy, my lawn is unmowed, and I've been working on this same manuscript for about forever (trying to finish it during NaNoWriMo).

Now that all that is out of the way, and now that Dissected is almost one and hasn't been nurtured in the way it should have been, it's time to start. And how do we do that?

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Yep, I'm giving some crap away. What you ask? Well,  we have a size L got Cassiopeia? short sleeve black t-shirt, a copy of Dissected with SWAG, a 1 pound bag of wild cherry gummy bears and a jar of glow in the dark stars.

How's that for starters? Click on the Rafflecopter link to go to the giveaway. Winner to be picked November 11th, announced November 12th, right here on my blog.

On top of that, on November 12th I will be offering the Kindle version of Dissected free on Amazon for 2 days.

It would do me a great honor if you'd spread the word (of course, some of your prize entries require it, so there's that).

For a short summary of the book and to read reviews, you can visit the Amazon page.

I'll also be changing the look of this blog. I've already updated my Twitter and I'm working on my website, so this will be next on my list as well as my Facebook. I'm growing up, moving forward, keeping on.


I'll be posting more links to reviews and whatnot up until the giveaway/anniversary date, so come back.

You can find me on Facebook and Twitter, and most anywhere authors hang out on the interwebs.

Thanks to those of you who have supported me along my journey. It's been smooth at times, choppy others, but you have to put things into perspective. I suppose as long as I wake up every morning, I can't complain too terribly much.

Pushed Blog Tour: Remy Looks Like Who? - The Cast of Pushed

I am happy to be participating in the official blog tour for my fellow 2k12er and  all around great gal, Corrine Jackson and her novel Pushed, book two in the Sense Thieves trilogy. There is just over a week left of the tour, so if you want to hop on, you'll find the full tour here.

Today we're going to talk about Pushed character Remy, and who Corrine may have had in mind when developing her physical attributes, but first, let's give you a little taste of Pushed...here's an excerpt from the novel.

Gabe Blackwell never saw me coming.

In the tick of a hummingbird’s wings, I had launched myself at his back, taking him down in a tangle of arms and legs. Our bodies hit the blue mat in the middle of the Blackwells’ gym with a thud that shivered from my teeth to my backbone.

Gabe’s breath hissed out when Asher, leaning against a rack of weights, laughed at his older brother’s defeat at the hands of a gangly girl half his size. I took advantage of Gabe’s distraction to wrap an arm around his neck, putting the whole of my weight into pinning him. My height rivaled his, with me close to six feet and him just over, but he had a good sixty pounds of muscle on me. Unwilling to loosen my hold for even a second, I considered biting him in retribution for the thousand times he’d insulted me. And then I wondered if I might have given away my abnormal speed. I really hoped not.

“What is it you’re always yelling at me?” I pretended to think about it, enjoying my little victory over my boyfriend’s brother. With his sculpted features, Gabe never lacked for company, and he never let anyone forget it. I savored any opportunity I had to take his ego down a notch. “Oh right. I remember now. Never turn your back on the enemy, Protector.”

Gabe cursed and cut my amusement short when his muscles tightened and gathered under me. He might look twenty to my eighteen, but Gabe had lived more than a century, and his experience with our powers surpassed mine. Too late, I tried to strengthen my grip. The thought had scarcely occurred to me when I found my face planted in the mat with his knee bending my spine like a bow.

“I also told you to concentrate instead of getting cocky.” The cheer in Gabe’s proper British voice grated on my nerves. “Now, be a good little mortal, and say it.”

His humiliating version of saying “uncle,” he meant. Ten minutes ago I’d bet him that I could take him down in a fair fight, and he’d agreed with terms of his own if I lost.

“Come on, Healer. Say it. Tell me I’m the greatest Protector who ever lived.”

His knee pressed harder, as he settled in with more of his weight. Grunting, I tested my range of motion and felt an electric storm of agony gathering inside my body. Powerful energy, but not enough to turn the tables. Almost there, you smug jackass.

“All right.” Defeat colored my tone, and my body went limp. “You win. I’ll say it.”

I could picture the smirk on his carved, handsome face, and I used the anger to steel myself against the coming pain. In an explosion of movement, my body jerked backward, forcing his knee to dig in that little bit more I needed. A disk popped in my spine and slid sideways. The tempest exploded out of me, firing my pain into Gabe. Another pop and he collapsed with a thump next to me, his back now screwed up, too. Poetic justice. In the quiet that followed, I pressed my cheek into the cushioned mat and studied my nemesis, curled up in the fetal position next to me.

My voice came out weaker than I intended when I declared, “I am the greatest Protector who ever lived.” 

 

Now, let see what Corrine has to say about Remy...

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 “Remy looks like WHO?” -  The Cast of PUSHED” 

Remy doesn't look like any actress you know because I didn't base her appearance on a star. When I started writing the Sense Thieves series, I didn't use reference photos. That was a mistake because the longer I worked on TOUCHED, the more lost I got in what Remy and Asher were supposed to look like. Finally, I had to give in and find photos to reference. I happened to be flipping through a magazine when I saw this photo:

The model is tall, long-limbed, and she has the wavy hair that borders on curly. I wouldn't exactly describe her as typically beautiful. But there's something so striking about her features. She became the Remy I pictured in my head, except Remy was more blond than brunette. 

Asher was a different story. I had a more difficult time imagining what he looked like until I came across this photo.

 A young Orlando Bloom. He has the chocolate brown hair, high cheekbones, jawline, and lanky build that I pictured for Asher, except Asher had greener eyes. Add some muscle, a couple of years, and broader shoulders to Orlando and you'll have how I pictured Gabe.

These pictures now how you saw the characters? The great thing about knowing how an author pictures their characters is that you can entirely dismiss it. I do this all the time with covers, preferring to imagine characters as I see them in my head. Who did you imagine playing Remy, Asher and Gabe?

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Well, if Asher looks like Orlando Bloom I know I for one will need to get my hands on these books, and here's one way to do it...

Corrine is having an AWESOME giveaway. She's giving away 2 signed copies of her upcoming release, Ignited, and 20 (yes, I said 20) signed copies of Pushed. Enter right here!! *points down*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Don't worry, if you don't win, you can always buy the book (and all her books of course).

Buy the Book: 

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million| German Amazon 

Add to Your Shelf: 

Goodreads 

About Corrine:

Young adult author Corrine Jackson lives in Sand Francisco and has over ten years experience in marketing. She has bachelor and master degrees in English, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. Her novels include If I Lie (Simon Pulse) and the Sense Thieves trilogy (KTeen), comprised of Touched, Pushed, and Ignited (5/27/14). Visit her at CorrineJackson.com or on Twitter @Cory_Jackson.