Guest Post & Giveaway: Holly Lauren {Blog Tour}

Hi guys! I’m excited to welcome Holly Lauren, author of NA fantasy novel - Tempus.. Holly is a fan of YA lit and today she is sharing her 5 favorite YA couple scenes with us. Also, as part of the Tempus blog tour, I am giving away 5 ebook copies of Tempus, so don’t forget to scroll down for a Rafflecopter giveaway below “and may the odds be ever in your favor” (err… sorry! couldn’t resist).

Enjoy!

Tempus
Holly Lauren

Release Date: November 25, 2013

Book Description:
Chapel Ryan isn't crazy. At least, that's what she's been trying to convince herself of for most of her life. But after being hallucination-free for three years, Chapel finds herself facedown on her English classroom’s gritty linoleum floor. When she looks up, everyone around her is suspended in animation. Mouths hang open mid-yawn, feet hover mid-cross, Ms. Freeman’s arm flexes mid-sentence diagram. It's another hallucination. Or, is it?

Chapel prepares to tear herself back to reality when something happens. Something that has never happened before in any of her hallucinations--someone moves. And not just any someone—it’s the new guy with a scar over his lip and a reputation as black as his perfectly styled hair. And all of the sudden Chapel's white-knuckle grip on her life has slipped, and with it, her assurance that what she's experiencing isn't real.

Amazon US | Goodreads

5 YA Couple Scenes I Love by Holly Lauren:
My sister and I are always highlighting scenes and quotes on our Kindles and sharing them with one another. I am going to share 5 of our favorites “couples” scenes below. So, actually, that title should say we love instead of I love. (But if my sister were writing this, she’d probably take all the credit.)

BE WARNED. WE ARE GIRLY AND SILLY AND BASICALLY LAME.

Author Guest Post & Giveaway: Evelyn Ink

Hi guys! Today I welcome Evelyn Ink, author of Ill-fated and Silver Tongue. Evelyn’s books don’t fall just within one genre but encompass the elements of fantasy and steampunk to help create fun and exciting world. So check out her post on writing and inspiration, her books and a giveaway below.

On Writing Steampunk and the Fantasy Genre:
Steampunk has been dissected, categorized, and re-categorized so much that sometimes I’m unsure where my books fit into the genre. The best description I can give is that Ill-fated and Silver-Tongue are alternative-world steampunk. That is to say, like Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, my “steampunk” books are set in an invented world rather than an altered Victorian-era. 

It is world on the edge of an industrial revolution, with some countries much more advanced in their technology than others. As with all ages of enlightenment, what is called black magic in one place, is science in another, and this most evident in Ill-fated where the heroine, Leila, is forced to leave Bainland– a small, safe, but rather primitive country, and travel south. Once in Southland she finds a world where magic meets machine; sky ships, daguerreotypes, and automatons merge with the earth-dolven magic of the South, leaving her to question, “What is sorcery and what is science?”

Within the pages of Silver-Tongue there is less of this transitional, clock-work culture shock, though the main character, Belin, is introduced to the newfangled “auto-chaise” and sky ships play a more prominent role in the story. That said, I would have to label both works as “light” steampunk. The reason being, they are steampunk in setting only. Everything takes a backseat to plot and characters, and unlike many fantasy and steampunk writers, I do not spend a lot of time expounding on the “science” behind the machines. This is a plus for some readers and a let down for others, but I myself enjoy the visual world of gadgets and gears without the overly scientific explanations.

Author Guest Post: Jamie Baywood – Getting Rooted in New Zealand

Hi guys! I’m very happy to welcome Jamie Baywood to the blog today. Jamie is the author of a fun, new travel memoir, Getting Rooted in New Zealand, and she is here to share a bit on her adventures in New Zealand, writing a book, and what lies ahead.

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It was always my dream to live abroad when I was growing up in California. I had bad dating experiences in California and read in a New Zealand tour book that the country’s population at 100,000 fewer men than women.  I wanted to have some me time and an adventure. New Zealand seemed like a good place to do so.

I consider myself an accidental author. I didn’t go to New Zealand with the intentions of writing a book about my experiences there. I had funny experiences that I had trouble believing were true. I wrote the stories down to stay sane. I wrote situations down that were happening around me and shared them with friends. The stories made people laugh so I decided to organize the stories into a book and publish in the hopes to make others laugh too.

Author Guest Post: Lizzie Ashworth – Inspiration Behind the Books

Hi guys! I’m very happy to welcome Lizzie Ashworth to the blog today, author of the new erotic romance novel - Hers to Choose. As Liz and I got talking, she graciously agreed to stop by and share with us a little about her inspiration behind the novel, the social taboos, and the freedom of writing. Thank you Liz!

Inspiration Behind the Books:
I guess you could say that sex inspires my writing. I mean, what is more fundamental than human relationships, and in that, the sexual interaction between people? I’ve never quite understood how society can play along with censorship and other forms of denial about that basic truth. I grew up in a time when stories like Fifty Shades of Grey simply could not see the light of day. Everything “important” happened behind closed doors. Which made me crazy–I wanted to know that stuff.