Rachel Rocks Blog Hop

RACHEL ROCKS!!! And no one deserves this more! What a ride, girl, and I'm glad I've shared the last couple of years with you.

Soooo…my favorite Rachel Van Dyken book. It's hard to choose—okay maybe not that hard to choose (book: The Redemption of Lord Rawlings—cover: Wolf's Pursuit). But I decided that while I might have a favorite, as all of you do, I wanted to share a special story with all of you about a girl who subbed a book. And that book was The Ugly Duckling Debutante.

In the spring of 2011, I received a book to read for acquisitions. Roughly ten pages or so in, I knew Astraea Press had to have the book. I couldn't get my fingers to type fast enough as I emailed Stephanie Taylor and told her to send the contract. I was so insistent that Stephanie laughed at me! I remember staring at the screen refreshing the page, waiting for an email back from Stephanie saying, "Okay, I sent her the contract." Nothing. Can you say panic?

Soo…I go back to reading the story. Finish it. Make a list of things that need attention in editing. Rachel…I found that email. I hope you don't mind, but I want to share a snippet of it with everyone. But if you'd like the whole email, let me know and it's yours! I'm thinking I'll print it out and have you sign it! TRUE STORY! (My Rachel imitation, hehe.) Here it is:

Really liked this story. I would like to see her get a contract. I don't think a lot needs fixed content wise, just fix the punctuation/grammar.

Steph was laughing at me and emailed back basically that she'd sent you the contract so quit bugging her already.

Then, The Ugly Duckling Debutante is released and slowly it starts to explode on the scene. At one point early on, Stephanie ask on Facebook if she could tell everyone the number of books you'd sold on Amazon and you said of course. She posted you were getting dangerously close to selling 400 copies. My thought was, "That's all?" I tell my husband how you've only sold 400 copies and, rightfully so, he didn't understand why I wasn't impressed by that. My answer to him was, "Because that's a drop in the bucket to what this girl's gonna do."

Kay Springsteen has asked me several times how I knew you'd be so popular. And I've told you, Rachel, that I don't know. Well, my answer is slightly different since I met you at The Romantic Times Convention in 2012. Now my answer is, "It's Rachel." Anyone who's been lucky enough to meet Rachel is nodding in agreement right now thinking, "YEP!" and for anyone who hasn't met Rachel yet, well, you need to meet her. And when you do, you'll understand why my answer now is, "It's Rachel." Rachel, you're amazing. I'm so proud of you. Laura Heritage and I might tease you endlessly about being the reason you've gone as far as you have, but you know that's just us showing you love. You did this girl. I was just smart enough to see it in you and, well, now that I've met you and gotten to know you, no one deserves it more. And like I told you a few weeks ago. I don't care how many books you sell, how much money you make. You will always be Rachel to me. My friend, my fellow author, truly one of the most amazing people I've ever met. And I've met MaryJanice Davidson, Jude Deveraux, and Julie Garwood!!!

And…thanks to Rachel and an email between me and my cyber best friend the all-around awesome person and writer Kay Springsteen, Kay and I now have an amazing Regency series that we love. So in celebration of Rachel's contract and the recent release of our Regency Romance Something Like A Lady, I'll be offering two commenters an eBook copy of Something Like A Lady from either Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or another third-party site. And be sure to shout out on twitter with the hashtag #RachelRocks. Lets help this girl go viral in a big way!

Congrats, Rachel! We all love you and are sooooo very happy for you!

Don’t forget to continue the fun by visiting all the blogs on the hop, including Rachel’s blog where you might get some more news! Click HERE to return to the list of participating blogs. Blog hop will run through May 19th and winners will be announced May 20th.

Kim

Spring Fling Blog Hop Winners

WINNERS WINNERS WINNERS!!!

I’m sooo sorry this is late. My Internet was down for most of yesterday. Thank you all sooooo much for stopping by and leaving a comment. The winners using randomizer.org are as follows:

For the ebook copies of Something Like A Lady and A Lot Like A Lady:

Meghan – fishinlovingal @ yahoo (dot) com

Nikki Krutz - qtksjkmommy at gmail dot com

Justin Melter - jmelter at gmail dot com

The winners of 1 ebook copy each of any of the books on the list in the blog are:

Rose Milligan - harnessrose(at)yahoo(dot)com

Anne - acm05atjuno.com

 

Thank you all for participating! If you didn’t win, have no fears. I’ll be part of a very special blog hop starting May 15th for a very dear friend who got every author’s dream – a contract with New York! So, please bookmark my blog and check back on the 15th for some more awesome prizes in honor of Rachel Van Dyken!

Happy Reading

~Kim

Spring Fling Giveaway Hop

Thank you for stopping by my blog!

I’m gonna make this short and sweet so you can stop by all the other blogs on the stop.

How short and sweet you ask? VERY! So short, in fact, that I’m simply going to share my and Kay Springsteen’s new release, Something Like a Lady. Now available at Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble and wherever ebooks are sold. AND! Right now it’s on sale for $.99 as a way of saying thank you to our fans who have patiently waited for Annabella’s story after reading about her in A Lot Like A Lady.

If you’d like to be entered for a chance to win an ebook copy of Something Like A Lady from either Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or another ebook story, just leave a comment below with your email address. I’ll be selecting 3 winners. Each winner will receive an ebook of Something Like A Lady and A Lot Like A Lady. If you’ve already read A Lot Like A Lady, then you can choose from any of these ebooks!

I’ll also be selected 2 additional winners who will receive 1 ebook from any of the above ebooks! So 5 winners altogether. Be sure to check out all the other great blogs on the hop! You can either click HERE to return to the list of blogs on the hop, or scroll down and click on a link from the list.

Happy Reading!

~Kim

1. I Am A Reader, Not A Writer (Int)

2. Eves Fan Garden (US)

3. Phantasmic Reads (INT)

4. Reader Girls (Int)

5. Fiction Freak (US)

6. Chapter by Chapter

7. A Book Obsession. .

8. Book Sake (US)

9. Sapphyrias Book Reviews

10. Live To Read ~Krystal (USA/CAN)

11. The Starry-Eyed Revue (INT)

12. Alluring Reads (INT)

13. Xpresso Reads (INTL)

14. A Dream Within A Dream (US)

15. Book Cover Justice

16. Book Nerds Across America (US and International)

17. BookHounds YA (Int)

18. BookHounds (Int)

19. Layers of Thought (US and Canada)

20. Bibliosaurus Text (US/Can)

21. Kristis Book Nook

22. Supernatural Snark (INT)

23. ODell @ Book Twirps (Int)

24. A Year of Jubilee Reviews (US)

25. StuckInBooks (INT)

26. Practical Frugality

27. Reviews By Karen

28. Lisa Loves Literature (INT)

29. The Quiet Concert (INT)

30. Kim Bowman Author

31. ~Kay Springsteen: The Romance of Your Life (Int)

32. YA Romantics (US)

33. Mary @ SweepingMe (INT)

34. JeanBookNerd (INT)

35. Artist James Vallesteros (INT)

36. LOVE. WITHOUT YOU (INT)

37. Burgandy Ice @ Colorimetry (Int)

38. The Guardian Legacy

39. Official Blog for the Runes Series

40. E. B. Walters Weblog

41. Water/Ice Guardians

42. Walking on Bookshelves INT

43. A Family Friendly Blog (International)

44. Ensconced in YA (INT)

45. Simply Infatuated (US)

46. Bibliophilia, Please (US)

47. Looking for the Panacea (INT)

48. Melissas Eclectic Bookshelf (US)

49. Ramblings From This Chick (US)

50. My Devotional Thoughts (International)

51. Author ML Hamilton

52. Mae@ Bookworms Avenue (INT)

53. Libby Blog - Win a book of your choice!

54. Mythical Books (int)

55. My Love For Films & Novels

56. Romance Meets Life

57. Books Beside My Bed (US)

58. ai love books (INT)

59. My Inner Muse

60. Working for the Mandroid (US)

61. Forbidden Passions Reviews

62. [YA] Between the Lines

63. Simple Wyrdings

64. Mother Daughter Book Reviews (INT)

65. Bibliophile Mystery (INT)

66. Books à la Mode (INT)

67. Mom Does Review (US only)

68. Scribblers Sojourn (INT)

69. Joyousreads (INT)

70. Cuzinlogic (Int)

71. My Sentiments Exactly! (US)

72. Brandis Book Musings (US)

73. Step Into Fiction (INT)

74. Word Spelunking (INT)

75. Genre Reviews (US)

76. Adventures with Organics (US)

77. R. Costelloes Blog

78. Collettas Kitchen Sink

79. Fantasy Book Addict (US Only)

80. Love of Books (Int)

81. Lena Sledges Blog

82. Literary Winner (US)

83. Gustatus Similis Pullus

84. Taylor Dean Books (INT)

85. Gizmos Reviews

86. Books With Bite (US)

87. Read for your future!(INT)

88. Gimme The Scoop Reviews (US)

89. Maureens Musings [US]

90. Stacy Claflin, Author (Int)

91. Sarah Ballance (INT)

92. jennifersmusings

93. Rubys Reads

94. Tifferz Book Review

95. Mariana @ Book Travels (INT)

96. Sarah Elizabeth's Bookshelf (INT)

97. Confessions of a Vi3tBabe

98. Library of a Book Witch (US)

99. Vampandstuff (INT)

100. Sweeping The USA

101. Sinziana @ Cafebiblioart(INT)

102. Far Escape Reviews (INT)

103. Paranormal & Urban Fantasy Reviews

104. Chrystal's RandomThoughts (INT)

105. Fall Into Books

106. Books, Beauty and Bodacious Deals (INTL)

107. Ketch's Book Nook (INT)

108. deal sharing aunt (usa)

109. 3 Partners in shopping(USA)

110. From the Bootheel Cotton Patch

111. Embrace Adventure-US

112. Popcorn Reads (US)

113. Keeping Up With the Rheinlander's

114. Minding Spot (USA)

115. Laurie Here - Contemporary Fiction and MORE - Book Reviews INTL

116. Savings in Seconds (US)

117. Froggarita's Bookcase (USA)

118. I Love to Read and Review Books : ) (Int)

119. The Mod Podge Bookshelf (US)

120. Love. Pray. Read.

121. MICHELLE SHOUTS RANDOM! (US/Can)

122. Mary's Cup of Tea

123. Julie Antonovich Reece (US)

124. The Book Barista (INT)

125. Cherry Mischievous (INT)

126. A Book Lover's Library (US)

127. Insane About Books (Int)

128. Debbie's Book Bag!

129. Ashley Loves Books (US)

130. KindleObsessed (US Only)

131. LAURIE LC LEWIS: A VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL

132. The Muse in the Fog Book Review (INT)

133. By The Book (US)

134. FLY HIGH! (INT)

135. The Reading Cave (US)

136. A Bookish Escape (US/INT)

137. Diane Estrella @ That's What I'm Here For. . . . (Int)

138. JennReneeRead@ JennReneeRead

139. Melissa MacKinnon | Author (INT)

140. Uttley's Take

141. Another World Of Books (Int)

142. Big Books Tiny Voices

143. Lisa ~ Moon Shine Art Spot

144. Aparajita @ Le' Grande Codex [INT]

145. Book Him Danno US

146. Guiltless Reading (INT)

147. Pauline Creeden, Author (US)

148. Melissa Turner Lee (int)

149. Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks

150. Julia Crane Author

151. Rainy Day Ramblings (Int)

152. Books Glorious Books (INT)

153. Spontaneous Literary Awareness (US)

154. Books, Books The Magical Fruit (US)

155. Bookish Outsider (INT)

156. Books and Needlepoint (US)

157. R. J. Writes

158. Book Flame ( INT )

159. Go Flash Go @ Read, Rinse, Repeat (INT)

160. The Edible BookShelf

161. The Reading Vixens (INT)

162. Mina Burrows, books for paranormal & mystic minds (Int)

163. Brooke Blogs (INT)

164. Love is not a triangle (INT)

165. Y. A. Book Addicts

166. My Friends Are Fiction (US)

167. Amethyst Daydreams (US/CAN)

168. Author Bette Lee Crosby

169. Delusions at High Altitude

170. Take Two on Romance… Vivian's blog

171. Rebecca Graf - Author (US)

172. Defiantly Deviant (INT)

173. Margay Leah Justice

174. Books, Bones & Buffy (INT)

175. ~The Social Potato (INT)

176. Bookish Randomness (INT)

177. Promiscuous Diva (INT)

178. Rusty Reads (INT)

179. Book Loving Mommy

180. Chapter Break (Int)

181. The Bookish Diaries

182. Books Like Stars

183. Spirit Filled Kindle (INT)

184. Page Flipperz ya ( int )

185. Go Dutch! Paranormal Romance

186. The Babbling Reader

187. ~Butterfly-o-Meter Books (INT)

Astraea Press MUST READS!!

My son is riding his scooter he got for Christmas all over the house (thank you Grammy and Pap) and I’m trying write. Okay…I was procrastinating  on facebook. Ahem. And I kept running across all these posts about top books in 2012 and I thought, You know, I don’t leave a lot of reviews for my fellow Astraea Press authors because I have a hand in editing a great number of them, and we don’t review at all now because we don’t want to give the wrong impression, but I have some top Astraea Press books that I always tell people to read.

I’m going to add a disclaimer at this point that the books listed were published in 2011 and 2012 and the list is far from complete. I didn’t wanna make this post too long. (Need to get back to writing or my writing partner Kay Springsteen and the Editor in Chief for Astraea Press Stephanie Taylor will be moved to violence!) I randomly picked five books from my looooong list of favorites and you’ll see many of the others in the weeks to come.

So in no particular order, five of my favorites from Astraea Press:

The Toymaker.
When Kay Springsteen sent this to me, I emailed her back after reading two pages to let her know she had me hooked! The detail, the emotion, the STORYTELLING! Phillip and Ivy come to life, along with all the secondary characters. When I read the ending…I actually had tears in my eyes!
Amazon     Barnes and Noble







All We See or Seem
I’m not that crazy about science fiction, but I’m fascinated by conspiracy theories – so I loved this story. Gem is one of those characters who is funny without meaning to be. Her innocence is endearing and Gryff is an alpha male without trying! My only complaint is that Leah Sanders doesn’t have the sequel out yet!
Amazon     Barnes and Noble

Into the Ether
This book needs made into a movie. Period. Kudos to Vanessa Barger for creating such a unique, amazing character in Genevieve, a Touch-Know. Genevieve can talk to inanimate objects (or are they truly inanimate?) and Barger carries this off in such a fashion that I believed it! Vanessa, where is the sequel??? I’ve been waiting for nearly two years!!! This Steampunk YA will keep you reading.
Amazon       Barnes and Noble




In the Spotlight
OMG! I laughed out loud at so many places in this book my side hurt. The slow build of the relationship between Hannah and Josh was refreshing to read. I love how flawed these characters were from the first page. They were believable teenage kids and it made the story better. One of my resolutions for 2013 is to read the follow-up Curtain Call.
Amazon     Barnes and Noble





The Fairy Godmother Files: Cinderella Complex
BLAHAHAHA! When sixteen-year-old Maggie inherits the job of Fairy Godmother from her grandmother, she does a fabulous job of messing it up, and I was all too happy to laugh at her faux pas! Very unique telling of the fairy godmother story!
Amazon     Barnes and Noble




So there you have it! Five of my favorites! And the list is far from complete. Be sure to check back for more of the best books by Astraea Press in the following months. So many to read, so little time!

I know I’m personally chomping at the bit to read Fried Pickles and the Fuzz by Calico Daniels, the next Scandal book by Vivian Roycroft, and Kay Springsteen’s follow-up to The Toymaker! But more importantly! I can’t wait to bring all of you the long-awaited sequel to my and Kay Springsteen’s A Lot Like A Lady, Something Like A Lady! I promise, it will be worth the wait!

HAPPY READING!

~Kim

Country Christmas with Calico Daniels

Merry Christmas!! I’m so happy to have fellow Astraea Press author Calico Daniels here today to share how she celebrates the holiday.

‘Round here we don’t do too much out of the ordinary of the holidays. We get together with family and friends. We eat home cooked food and share some laughs. We watch the kids laugh and giggle about their gifts and smile when we got them just what they wanted Sounds about the same as most folks. This year I’m sure someone will break out the spiked eggnog and the shine, but no one will be surprised.

We do a gag gift party every year at my in-laws house that is good for a few chuckles but it’s really just another excuse just to eat and gossip. We have a get together about once a month where everybody brings a dish and we all sit around jawin’. Keeps the family close.

Gifts ‘round here usually consist of new jeans or shirts for the grownups but every year I get pajamas. I LOVE my PJ’s. I think at last count I had 15 pair of pajama pants. Excessive? Maybe but I wear them all year and enjoy the fire out of ‘em. We’re more about makin’ sure we get things that we know others need rather than knickknacks. Last year we got my mother in law one of those sandwich makers My father in law was tickled pink about that one J I think he got her to make him 2 that very night J She was thrilled ‘cause her old one was stickin’ and made it real hard to get the sandwich out once it was done.

We go all out for the kids though. Hubby goes with me to Wally Word for my Black Friday shopping when I stock up on about 30 movies for the kids plus a few toys. Our kiddos are big time movie watchers can you tell? So this year I told hubs that I was gonna do a movie themed Christmas. Movies, snacks, a fun pillow and blanket for each child and if I can find ‘em maybe a bean bag chair.

Yes, they get toys too Well, the youngest does. Our son is into video games so we got him a few for his little game system.

Like most parents all I want is to make sure that Christmas is a happy and fun time for my kiddos. Not that I want the rest of the year to suck, but Christmas comes just once a year and we try to make sure our little ones get lots of fun and memories from each and every one

Merry Christmas y’all And may you be blessed this year and all the ones to follow.

~Calico Daniels

Thank you so much for stopping by, Calico! Be sure to check out Fried Pickles and the Fuzz coming January 2013 to Astraea Press.

Blurb: Big Creek might be a stereotypical small town but even they have drama.

Heather loves her little café, and her best customer is the county Sherriff. She’s been waiting months for him to ask her out…maybe she won’t have to wait much longer.

Bronson feels at home in Big Creek even though he hasn’t been the Sherriff for long. Small towns have their perks and a pretty café owner who cooks like an angel certainly doesn’t hurt. Now, if he could only get over his nerves and drum up the gumption to ask her out.

Throw in a gossip mill, a redneck festival and an ill timed attempt to help and you end up with some laughs, some ruffled feathers and a town that is…Redneck Fabulous.

Fried Pickles and the Fuzz will be available January 2013 at the Astraea Press Website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever ebooks are sold.