Cover Reveal -- Momentum by Emily Ann Ward

Momentum

What’s a cruel ex-boyfriend compared with a government organization out for your powers?

Aaron and Anna have fallen in love, despite an ex that threatened to tear them apart. When they start zapping evil cheerleaders with their powers over electricity, they’re forced to break off their relationship to avoid attention from the Agency. A part of the Department of Defense that studies Pairs like Aaron and Anna, the Agency is searching for the source of the Pairs’ powers and doesn’t care who gets in the way.

Anna tries to blend in at the camp where she and Aaron start working for the summer, but it’s not easy when touching your not-boyfriend invites lightning storms. Only weeks pass before a dark secret and an attack from the Agency tear apart their temporary place of refuge. If the camp isn’t safe, where is? 

Sign up for Emily’s newsletter to be alerted when Momentum releases August 27th

Add it to your Goodreads shelves

Read the first book, Connection on Amazon or Barnes & Noble (or jump in with Momentum, it’s totally possible to start with book two!)

Emily around the web: Facebook, Twitter, Website/Blog

Emily Ann Ward is the author of Finding Fiona, Le Garde series, and The Protectors series. One of her first stories featured a young girl whose doll came to life. The rest is history. When it comes to fiction, she writes mainly young adult, contemporary, and fantasy. She also writes nonfiction, ranging from stories of her travels to thoughts on the Bible. Aside from writing, she loves traveling and she’s a content editor with Entranced Publishing. Currently, she lives in Oregon with her husband Chris and their cats. Visit her website at http://emilyannward.com

Some Blog Love

It's been nearly six months since my last story came out: Dark Horse, A Lords of Shifters Novella. So, what's up with that? Why the lapse in time? I don't know.

The plan was to have Blood Pyre out by March and then the next book out this summer. That didn't work out so well, obviously.

And why haven't I been keeping up with the blog? I don't know.

A blog a week shouldn't be so bad, I suppose. But that hasn't happened in a very long while.

Life happens. Boys become teenagers in a blink of an eye. Work becomes constant. New interests develop. Trips to Hawaii happen. And everything else gets put on the back burner. Well, it's time to get back to work.

Today is my first day writing again. It's been so long that I think I forgot how. My goal was to hit 5K words today. Saturday is my only writing day, so the more words the better. Far from 5K, I reached 1,500. What happened? I don't know. But don't worry because I'm getting 'er done this time.

I'd like to take a few minutes once in a while to keep you posted on the progress of Blood Pyre and other rad stuff I feel important, like vegan cookies and running events. I appreciate your patience with me and can't wait to finally bring you the books you've been waiting for!

Until then, if you haven't already liked my Facebook page, go there now. There will be ebooks given away when the page hits 200 "Likes" Yay for FREE EBOOKS!  ----> http://Facebook.com/AngelaCarlieBooks

 Here's a picture of my sweet boy and I at the coast this past weekend. It was a beautiful weekend. Look how tall he's getting!

And here is one of the pieces of music I've been listening to while writing Blood Pyre.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

FOUND - by Stacey Wallace Benefiel

 

From Stacey Wallace Benefiel, the author of the Zellie Wells trilogy, comes a New Adult trilogy set in the Society world.

Penny Black hasn’t had it easy. Just about everything you’d expect to happen to a harassed foster-kid turned junkie has happened to Penny. Add in the mysterious power to rewind time, conducting events around her, and it’s a wonder she held up on the streets for so many years. Now, at seventeen, the New Society has found her. Finally, Penny is where she belongs. But that doesn’t stop the visions, or the need to protect the victims shown to her. *The Penny Black trilogy is a companion to the Zellie Wells trilogy and not a continuation of the series. (It's set 18 years in the future with a new cast of characters.) *Due to language and sexuality, FOUND is recommended for older teens. (Most of the characters are out of high school and preparing for college.) Purchase links: Amazon Barnes and Noble Kobo Smashwords Coming soon to the Apple iBook store and in paperback! Haven't read the Zellie Wells trilogy yet? Pick up all three novels together for $6.99 at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, and iTunes. Or get the first novel, Glimpse, for FREE at all ebook retailers.  

Cover Reveal: PROMISING HOPE by Emily Ann Ward

Hi, everyone! I'm so happy to be on Angela's blog today to show off the cover and synopsis for my YA fantasy book, Promising Hope. I could talk for a long time, but let's just get to it, shall we?

The curse is broken, but the war isn't over. Grace is under the spell of a love potion, torn between her obsessive love for the prince and her calling to protect Dar and the shape changers. Though Dar wants nothing more than her freedom, he's being held as a prisoner in the palace and watched at every turn. Miles away, Sierra is the reluctant savior of the shape changers as she tries to keep Evan alive in his lust for blood.

Grace and Dar struggle to make the political alliances needed to bring the shape changers back home while dealing with new doses of the love potion. But the king sides with the Protectors, who are willing to do anything to keep the magic away, even controlling the kingdom. When the man who cursed the shape changers ten years ago reappears at the castle, the Avialies abandon their attempts at peace in order to keep their family's future secure. The consequences of their actions catapult a sequence of events that threatens Grace, Sierra, and the Avialies in ways they could have never prepared for.

In this sequel to Promising Light, the war is just beginning, and no war is without casualties.

Promising Light is the first in the series: Grace, a young noble, must decide whether to help a shape changer family break a curse set on their family by the powerful Protectors. If you haven't read it, here is a chance to win an ebook copy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Maybe you've already read Promising Light. If you watch my blog, I will also have ARCs of Promising Hope up for grabs in a couple weeks! Sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date on that.

Promising Hope on Goodreads
Promising Light on Goodreads
My Website (with samples, info on where to buy, and more)

Introducing the next Lords of Shifters Novel - Dark Horse

Writing. It's one of the most difficult jobs I've ever had. It doesn't come easy to me like it does so many other writers. You know, the awesome authors who can put out several books a year. Difficulty is one reason I love it so much. It's a challenge. Sometimes a downright battle, but it's so worth it. The satisfaction of creating a story that touches a heart or makes someone think or entertains for a short while makes all that hard work seem like no big deal.

That said, I'd like to introduce you to my new work in progress. I'm giving you the title, the lead characters, the blurb, and the cover (created by my favorite cover artist, Robin Ludwig Design). You'll have to wait until late summer / early fall for the book.


Say hello to Amethea and Cerus.

Dark Horse - A Lords of Shifters Novel

by Angela Carlie

Amethea thought she was the last of her kind, a creature from mythical stories, from light, peace, and magic. But, Amethea isn't a myth, and she doesn't hold any peace in her heart. She watched as her family was murdered for the magic of their horns. She'd give anything to avenge their deaths. She just hasn't figured out how yet.


When she meets another, Cerus, everything changes.


Together, they harness more power than Amethea ever dreamed. But is it enough to take down the Lords of Shifters?

 

FALL, 2012

And now, Amethea has a few words before I let you go...

I am Amethea--the last of the unicorns. The only living daughter of Grane and Epona. My family was slaughtered before my eyes for their magic. Xifan saved me and raised me in the dark underworld of Hornbrood where I learned to use some of my magic in ways to inflict harm on those who must suffer for their sins. I made a vow to avenge my family, and I will keep my promise. No matter the cost. Even if it kills me.

Day of Sacrifice Series: Unfavorable, by S.W. Benefiel

Stacey Wallace Benefiel is pleased to announce the publication of Unfavorable, the sixth and final installment in the Day of Sacrifice series, and the Day of Sacrifice Omnibus, all six stories bundled together in one volume.  Unfavorable and the Day of Sacrifice Omnibus:

 

Each member of the rebellion plays their part in Alexander's plan to kill the Gods. The first step: trusting Alexander.

If you're already familiar with the Day of Sacrifice series and have been waiting for the final installment, here are the buy links: Amazon, Smashwords (BN and Apple coming soon.)

If you're new to the series, you can get the first story, Day of Sacrifice, for free at Amazon, BN, Smashwords, Apple OR get all six Day of Sacrifice stories in one volume!

 

Born to die, a group of Sacrifices and their Guardian Angels band together to kill the Gods and free the world.

You can buy the Day of Sacrifice Omnibus at Amazon and Smashwords. (BN and Apple coming soon.)

TRANSFER STUDENT BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY

TRANSFER STUDENT is the latest novel from Laura A. H. Elliott and will release on Amazon and Barnes & Noble March 20th. Here’s a little bit about the novel and an excerpt written from Ashley’s POV about her obsession with Rhoe’s best friend, Yuke. Be sure to read to the end to enter to win the EBOOK GIVEAWAY and this week’s SWAG!

Two Worlds––Two Teens––One Wish

Geek Rhoe and Surfer Ashley would never be friends.


Even if they lived on the same planet.


But, they’ll become so much more.


They’ll transfer.

Earthling Ashley’s world revolves around winning daily popularity contests at Beverly Hills High School and surfing competitions with sweet scholarship prizes that will finally help her break free of her control-freak mother. Ashley never loses. Ashley never wishes on stars. But that changes when her senior class takes a field trip to the Griffith Observatory where Ashley’s conflicting feelings about her predatory best frenemy Tiffany, throws Ashley’s carefully-crafted Queen of B.H.H.S. title under the bus.

Meanwhile on planet Retha, Rhoe misses his dad, loves his mom’s home-cooked Glechy crag with a side of Ory sauce, is desperate to heal his sick brother and wants more than anything to win The Retha New Invention Competition. He and his best friend Yuke have worked for the past two years constructing the teleporting telescope Rhoe started building with his dad before an accident killed him. Rhoe’s never kissed a girl. Rhoe’s hero is the eccentric physicist, Ramay. But that changes when the telescope teleports Rhoe across the universe with an unintended side-effect. Ashley and Rhoe transfer––swap lives––when they make the same wish at the same time.

Popular-surfer-turned-boy-geek alien Ashley must handle life on Retha as Rhoe complete with webbed feet, low-gravity, and an obsession with Yuke, all the while being hunted by Rethan spies and resenting her hairy, flat chest. Boy-geek-turned-popular-surfer Rhoe must fit in at Beverly Hills High School as Ashley, compete in The Laguna Beach Invitational without becoming shark food, dodge boys’ affections, cool his preoccupation with Tiffany and his new body, on his quest to find the healing rocks he believes will save his brother’s life.

If only it were that simple. Some wishes can’t come true. Some have to. How far would you go for someone you love?

EXCERPT:

Yuke catches up to me. We walk side-by-side in silence through the Golden Meadow. The airboard launch, a sort of gigantic upside-down slide, peeks over a row of Truffula Trees.

      “Listen, there are three things you have to remember about soaring. You’ll never soar if your mind is on the ground. Put it up on The Ridge,” Yuke says, pointing to a purple-blue mountain ahead of us. “Rhoe taught me that.”

   The way he says Rhoe I know it’s happened. He knows. He really knows I’m not Rhoe, I’m…Ashley. It’s sunk in. Finally. I stop walking and can hardly breathe. It’s the first time he’s ever seen the real me, and his gaze warms me down to my frog-feet. Yuke spots the question in my eyes.

   “The Ridge of No Return,” he says with a small smile, “It’s the prime place to catch air. But beware The Devil’s Grip. Soar too high and you’ll be caught in The Grip and lost to The Other Side. Forever.”

   He misreads the question in my eyes. Again. I shiver thinking about The Grip and dying in the mythic ice and snow of The Other Side. I stare at my hideous frog-feet, my peds. I don’t care about The Ridge. There’s only one person I care about. One boy I’ll never have. Yuke.

   “What else?” I ask, peering deeper into Yuke’s alien eyes.

   “You’ve got to feel the beat of the wind in your peds. Surrender to the air. And know, deep in your hearts, no one is its master.”

   I hear and don’t hear every word Yuke says. For the first time in my life I can’t speak. I can’t take my eyes off Yuke, now that he knows I’m not Rhoe. He wouldn’t be telling his best friend, an Astral, how to airboard unless he knows I’m Ashley, someone who doesn’t know much about soaring.

   “Your catchers will always stop you if you fall,” Yuke says, filling the silence between us. He raises his arms above his head. Delicate wings expand out from under his arms. Thin pinkish-purple skin stretches over delicate, long bones. No feathers at all. Just smooth, glimmering skin. And it’s crazy. A week ago I wouldn’t even look twice at a guy with a big nose, but now, I’m hot for an alien. With wings. He’s that hot. 

   I have to touch him. It’s beyond wanting to. The way Yuke spreads his wings makes his pecs flare and his biceps seize. He’s beyond gorgeous. The way his sheer wings take to the breeze makes Yuke more unreal than he already is to me. He’s everything I never wanted and everything I can’t live without. It feels like we’re the only souls in the universe. The look in his golden exotic eyes melts my ability to stay away from him.

   “You can’t be real,” I say taking a few steps closer to him, holding my hand out to touch his wing. Waiting for him to let me. To know it’s OK. He flexes and lets his head fall back a little inviting my touch. I lay my alien fingers on his smooth taught skin, and run them over his wing’s thin hollow bones. My eyes fill with tears. His wings flutter in a breeze. He’s beautiful.

   Yuke sticks his chest out and when he drops his arms his catchers vanish back into his biceps. “I can’t let you soar. Not now,” he says, the crowd cheers just beyond the trees.

   Only then do I remember where we are. What we’re here to do. A band begins to play a set of songs. The crowd beyond the row of trees cheers again and again.

   “I have to. I’m doing this for Rhoe,” I say.

   Yuke puts his hand on my shoulder. I shudder.

   “And for me,” I say.

   Yuke’s golden eyes focus only on mine, on the Earthling inside of this alien body.

   “And for you,” I say, feeling the beat of my hearts in my throat. “We’re going to win this damn thing.”

GIVEAWAY:

Here’s how to enter to WIN A TRANSFER STUDENT EBOOK here today! Just follow @Laurawriting and tweet: [leave a comment here with your link-- Winner announced here tomorrow!]

TRANSFER STUDENT by @Laurawriting RELEASE DAY 3/20! Blog Tour & Giveaway! #teenreads #scifi #romance #ya http://wp.me/P1J9jx-bs

THAT’S NOT ALL:

Every week all comments are entered to win some great swag too! THIS WEEK’S SWAG: EXPEDITION TO THE STARS 3-D MODEL, an IN-N-OUT Burger T-SHIRT, signed bookmarks, Griffith Park Observatory postcards, real meteorite fragments, Space Shuttle Commemorative playing cards! Check out the weekly swag here: http://wp.me/P1J9jx-bs

THIS WEEK’S GIVEAWAY OPEN UNTIL MARCH 19! 6PM PST. 1 swag winner will be picked. Open internationally!

Laura loves writing about enchanted road trips, birthday gifts that are out of this world, and alien romance while eating lots of popcorn. She’s the author of Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale inspired by her life-long love of a little-known town, Avenal, CA, and her equal love of enchanted teenage road trips. 13 on Halloween is the first book in the Teen Halloween Series. 14 on Halloween, book 2 in the Teen Halloween series, will be released in the summer of 2012. Her new release, TRANSFER STUDENT will be available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble March 20^th.

To find out where in the world Laura is and more about her upcoming books, visit her blog Laurasmagicday: http://laurasmagicday.wordpress.com/ and friend her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Laura.A.H.Elliott... If Twitter is your thing she's @Laurawriting. Or, drop her a line at elliwrite [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Laura is a plume-carrying member of THE PARANORMAL PLUME SOCIETY, and is also a member of The YA INDIE CARNIVAL & THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST YA AUTHORS as well as a member of the SCBWI.

Sneak Peek - Spider Wars by Angela Carlie

My laptop has died. I hope Fred can bring it back to life again. Until that time comes, I'm using my tiny netbook to work--which is super frustrating because it is so small and slow.

I had planned on participating in #SampleSunday two days ago, but got sidetracked with other things. I'd like to give you a sample now, on Tuesday, instead. If you feel this is totally unacceptable, please come back on Sunday. I'll leave the post up. ;)

The way things are looking, Spider Wars will be out in a few weeks. I'm so excited! I hope you are, too.

When he woke that evening, he didn’t expect to look his fear in the eyes. All four or six of them, depending on which one stood before him at the time. Eight gangly long legs, shifting left and right, protruded from two fuzzy globes connected in the center.

Spiders.

They covered the floor, a moving carpet of legs and eyes and dagger hairs.

A virus of terror rushed through his limbs, solidifying them in place. His body a potential carcass to be devoured by tiny fangs.

Every surface of the room, the walls, the ceiling, and the only exit, moved in waves of spider parts. Big and small, brown spiders, black spiders, green and yellow, traveled up his legs and over his muscular body.

In his century of life, he’d never known terror like this. If these creatures ate his body, he’d walk the earth as a soul forever. He wasn’t ready for that yet.

Hair-like legs scurried over his unshaven cheek. He gathered every ounce of strength he had and broke his limbs free of their paralyzed state. He jerked and gyrated to shake the creepers off, but they stuck to him like maggots to rotting meat. They burrowed under his skin, sucking his body dry of life fluids. Dehydrated and close to mummified, he dropped to all fours and crawled through the masses, crunching tiny lives into smashed bits under his hands and knees as he moved for the exit.

The door swung open. A young woman with fiery hair and a tattered black corset dress cast a shadow into the small room. The carpet of crawlers scurried away toward the back wall. Spiders shot out of his mouth and ears as if he was possessed—they backed out from under his skin, fleeing from the woman.

She drifted into the head of the room, a goddess, a monster.

Two others joined her, their faces unrecognizable in the dark, but their hair glowed from the moonlight behind them. A blond and a dark brunette.

The dark haired woman nudged her long limbs past the redhead. “Children,” she hissed. “The time is near to prove to the humans your place in this world is not under their feet, but to put them where they belong, wrapped in a web and on dinner plates.”

The surface of the walls and ceiling bubbled with movement, down to the floor where he lay helpless, void of hope. His internal tissues had already begun the regeneration process as he rested on the dirt floor, realizing the horror of the woman’s words. His heart burned from new tissue growth out of half eaten muscle, but he held onto the groans of pain. His breath rattled in his chest, his body’s attempt to clear the venom the spiders left behind.

“That’s right, my children. Feed on this wretched immortal. Gain your strength. You’ll need it for the battles to come.” 

The floor snapped alive. This time, he didn’t have time to scream. Even if he wanted to.

TRANSFER STUDENT COVER REVEAL & GIVEAWAY

TWO WORLDS. TWO TEENS. ONE WISH.

TRANSFER STUDENT is a science fiction Freaky-Friday romance/adventure about two normal teenagers struggling to survive high school and deal with their parents… typical rites of passage. The twist? One teen is an alien from the planet Retha. In a galactic teleporting experiment gone wrong, Ashley, a Beverly Hills High surfing fashionista, and Rhoe, the biggest geek on planet Retha, swap lives. Only by surviving life as their biggest nightmare do Ashley & Rhoe discover their dreams. How far would you go for someone you love?

WIN TRANSFER STUDENT BOOKMARKS SIGNED BY AUTHOR LAURA A. H. ELLIOTT!

To enter to win all you need to do is to tweet this & follow Laurasmagicday:

Nothing says #ValentinesDay like an alien #romance! TRANSFER STUDENT Cover Reveal! #TransferStudent #teenreads #kindle http://laurasmagicday.wordpress.com/


The first 100 tweets/followers win!

TRANSFER STUDENT BLOG TOUR: LEAP DAY, 2012 - MARCH 20th

AND STOPS HERE MARCH 18th!

Giveaways include free ebooks of TRANSFER STUDENT, Amazon gift cards and weekly surprise gifts that are out of this world!


TRANSFER STUDENT RELEASE DAY: MARCH 20th

Unfurl by Cidney Swanson -- Blog Tour!

Today, I have the privilege to be a part of the Unfurl Blog Tour. Unfurl is the third book in the Ripple Series. The author, Cidney Swanson, happens to be a super groovy chick. I've heard wonderful things about this series. (I happen to adore every book cover in this series. Don't you?)

Here's Cidney

Love in a Minor Key 

While my main characters are the ones who wake me early in the morning and keep me tossing and turning at night, there are days when I find myself a bit seduced by the charms of a minor character.

Like Sir Walter de Rochefort.

Ah, Sir Walter, you relentless tease. Of all the characters in my Ripple series, he’s the most likely to show up inside my head with a mission to tell me what he’s thinks of something. Anything. The dinner I cooked. The dinner I didn’t cook. The danger in which I’ve placed him in a current chapter. His opinions on American culture. Or American slang. Or American vegetables. Or American _________. (You fill in the blank—he’s got lots of opinions about all things American.)

Whereas my other characters (major and minor) skedaddle the moment I finish writing for the day, Sir Walter refuses. He hangs around unseen and unexpected like the invisible man he is. And then he ambushes me at absolutely ridiculous moments with his Gallic wit and accent (which is remarkably sexy, considering he’s old enough to be my . . . er . . . never mind—too hard to calculate.)

His complete devotion to France and all things French just kills me. He’s so certain that his country has already pronounced the last word in everything from fashion to dining to automobiles. I mean, really? (“Absolument, my dear,” he replies. Absolutely.)

There’s the fact he can cook a mean cassoulet, dispatch an armed villain, and perform surgery all within a few hours. There’s his loyalty to Mickie, Will and Samanthe. There’s his ability to take a trivial experience (a day at an amusement park) and draw out of that lessons for living life with more compassion. Or with a willingness to sacrifice one’s own life for the good of others. Um, gosh, Sir Walter. Maybe I should be grateful you hang around so much. Maybe it will rub off on me.

So, in a few minutes when I step away from my desk for the evening, I’ll be keeping an ear out for my French friend. I’m reheating take-out pizza. I’m sure he’ll have something to say about that.

What minor characters have you fallen for big time?

Sir Walter invites you to enter the giveaway below, of which he approves, and in which he is an important if minor character.

Someday Famous YA Author -- Lisa Nowak

I've talked about this talented author a couple times before. We met a few months ago while on the Rain Boots Required YA Author Tour. She's smart, funny, and writes awesome stories. She was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about her writing and the Full Throttle series.

A Little About Lisa

Lisa is the author of Running Wide Open and Getting Sideways, a retired amateur stock car racer, an accomplished cat whisperer, and a professional smartass. She lives in Milwaukie, Oregon with her husband, four cats, and two giant sequoias.

A Little About Lisa Q and A Style

1. What inspired you to write this series?

Getting to know the racing community. I was really impressed by this particular subculture of American society. They’re the kind of people who will fight fiercely on the track, then turn around and lend a part to a competitor in the pits. They’re willing to take anybody in as one of their own. Sure, they might think you’re a little odd if you don’t fit the mold, but since you love racing, you’re one of them. Not that they don’t have their rivalries and squabbles. But I guess all families are like that, right? In fact, that’s probably the perfect analogy. The racing community is like one big family. They might not like everything you do, but they love you, and they’ll stick up for you.

2. Who got you interested in racing? Tell us a little about your career as a race car driver.

There wasn’t really any one person who got me interested. I started teaching myself how to work on cars after I took the first one I owned (a ’72 Gremlin) to a shop and felt like I got ripped off. I’ve always been pretty independent (go figure, an indie author who’s independent) and a tomboy, so it was only natural for me to want to know how to work on my own car. That led to an interest in cars in general, which led to racing.

I started competing in the Street Stock division at Eugene Speedway in 1987. That was the community I truly fell in love with. I dedicated my first book to them. My most memorable experience there was rolling my car, and it was more fun than scary, though the repairs afterward weren’t exactly a picnic. After four years, I moved to Hickory, North Carolina because I was obsessed with the sport. Back then, if you lived anywhere but the South, only diehard fans cared about it. I spent almost five years there, racing at Hickory Motor Speedway and Tri-county Speedway, but I wasn’t very competitive. I’d say I spent more time learning how to build cars than driving them. It was a valuable experience, though, because I really came to enjoy the metal fabrication process. In 1995, I moved back to Oregon and raced at Portland Speedway in the Limited Sportsman division until they tore up the asphalt and went to dirt in 2000. They closed entirely the year after that.

These days I sponsor a driver at Sunset Speedway. Last year it was a 12-year-old boy, and next season it’ll be his 15-year-old brother, who took the Pure Stock championship in 2011 before he was even old enough to have a drivers’ license. Being a sponsor is so much less stressful than building and driving a car. Stock car racing can be a fairly high-contact sport, even though it’s not intended to be, which results in a lot of maintenance and repairs. It’s like having a second full time job, only one that takes all your money instead of paying you.

3. Gardening and racing. Two occupations at opposite ends of a spectrum, yet you enjoy them both. One is full of excitement and adrenaline, and the other, well, not. Does one cancel out the other to keep you balanced? What aspects of each do you love the most?

“Balance” is a good way of putting it, Angela. In fact Cody (my MC) talks about that very concept in Getting Sideways, only the “yin” to his racing “yang” is karate. I was just getting into gardening when I was driving, and it did seem to be therapeutic. Now, as a landscaper and a writer, I’ve found that the physical aspect of the landscaping balances the mental aspect of writing. It’s been very helpful to me to have two distinctly different ways to spend my time. When I’m getting too much of the one, I can rely on the other to bring me back into balance.

4. What more adventures are in store for Cody? How many books can we expect from this series?

There are five books in the series, but they’re not all written from Cody’s point of view. After the first two, Jess comes into the picture. She’s Cody’s love interest. Only she’s not really that hot on having a boyfriend, especially not Cody. She mistakes him for a player and doesn’t want anything to do with him at first. As the daughter of an alcoholic, and a girl mechanic struggling to be taken seriously, she has some trust issues. Jess narrates Driven and Redline, which will be published in 2012. The last book, which doesn’t have a title yet, is written from a split POV.

5. What is one question that you'd like to answer that hasn't been asked of you yet? And answer the question.

Why did you write a contemporary realistic boy book? Are you flippin’ crazy?

I guess I probably am. I never thought about marketing when I started this series, I just wrote about a subject that was near and dear to my heart. Writing from a boy’s perspective is a lot of fun for me. There seems to be a fifteen-year-old boy living inside my head, and frankly it kinda sucks because he hogs all the pizza.

Thanks, Lisa!

Thanks for hosting me, Angela. :)

Running Wide Open and Getting Sideways are now available! I know you'll want to purchase them now, so here are the links:

Running Wide Open: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

Getting Sideways: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. 

To find more about Lisa, you can check her out on these sites:

Blog: http://lisanowak.wordpress.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Lisa_Nowak
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LisaNowakAuthor
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/LisaNowakNewsletter