I'm Going to UTOPYA Epic Giveaway!

Happy Friday!
In case you didn't already know, I'm SUPER EXCITED because this time next week I'll be in (*insert twangy southern accent*) Nashville, Tennessee!!!!  Woo hoo! I can't believe I'm actually going to UTOPYA let alone Nashville. When I was a little girl I dreamed of going to Nashville and being a country music singer! No joke. I have the embarrassing photo of my ten year old self adorned in my mother's dress, high heels, and over the top makeup singing on my karaoke machine. (I promise to share the embarrassing moments one day when I have time to dig out the pics.)

I never thought one day I'd be a blogger/author OR be headed to Nashville to meet other authors/bloggers/readers OR be so excited to meet my internet friends! Ahhh! I cannot wait. So much hugging, jumping, giggling, squealing, and general excitement to be had! Woohoo!

Last year, I was moping around at home trolling the internet for all the UTOPYA action...I was so happy to hear about this year's event I ordered my tickets the first day they were available. :) I know not everyone can be so lucky so I thought why not have a I'M GOING TO UTOPYA EPIC GIVEAWAY to share the love? And so here we are!

So, what do I have for you, my lovelies? 23 BOOKS! That's right 23 e-books separated into 10 prize packs! All are authored by panelists, UTOPYA award nominees, and/or attendees! Woop! Woop!

First up we've got the Tiffany King Prize Pack! You know I love my gal, Tiff like no other and so does UTOPYA! Her latest paranormal read, Jordyn is nominated for Best Paranormal Book & Best Hero/Shero! *claps*
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Next up is the Mad for M.Leighton Prize Pack! M. is a panelist for Hit the Target:Writing for Multiple Audiences, How to Keep the Sizzle in Paranormal Romance, and Battling Life: YA vs NA Literature! (And yes I will be attending ALL of those sessions because Michelle is my idol!)
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Like Sci-Fi books? Then you'll love this Best Sci-Fi Book Prize Pack! Ella James, Jennifer Armentrout, Heather Self, and Myra McEntire are all up for this UTOPYA award! Talk about stiff competition! You can win Ella James's Here AND Heather Self's The One in this prize pack!!!

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Is Fantasy more your thang? Then enter to win the Best Fantasy Book Prize Pack! K.C. Neal, Quinn Loftis, Raine Thomas, C.J. Redwine, and Chanda Hahn round out the nominees for this category! This prize pack includes Elfin by Quinn Loftis, Alight by K.C. Neal, and Shift by Raine Thomas! Woohoo!
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Now, I couldn't forget to show some love for editors, because they rock! *coughs* Hollie *coughs* Westring *coughs* The Best Edited Book Prize Pack includes three of the four nominees, Avow by Chelsea Fine, Blood Bond by Heather Hildenbrand and The Modified by C.A. Kunz! All three of these books/authors are up for multiple awards! Yay!
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I hope you don't mind but I'm going to play favorites with this next prize pack. These three gals were beta readers for Soul Survivor and I'm going to have the great pleasure to squeeze the awesomeness out of them next week! ;) The Badass Betas Prize Pack includes Michele G. Miller's Never Let You Fall, Paulina Ulrich's Flightless Bird, and Dani Morales's Entrelacen!

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Not only are these next authors creative writers but innovative marketers as well! The Most Innovative Marketing Prize Pack includes Amy Bartol's Incendiary AND Shelly Crane's Independence! So. Much. Fun. I cannot wait to see these gals in the flesh!!!
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Hold on, we aren't done yet! Next up we is a mish mash of fun, the Trailers, Novellas, & Heroes! OH MY! Prize Pack! Laura A. H. Elliott's trailer for Shadow Slayer is nominated for best book trailer! Among other nominations, Jennifer Armentrout's (we live in the same town...yep I'm still reeling from this epicness) Elixir is up for Best Supernatural Novella! AND Addison Moore's boytoy Logan is up for best Hero/Shero! Wonder if he'll be at the awards? ;)
a Rafflecopter giveaway Wait a minute, we still aren't done! There are four awesome ladies up for Breakout Author of the year: Ella James, Georgia Cates, Jessica Sorensen, and MR Polish! So. Awesome. You can snag Georgia Cates's Beauty from Pain and MR Polish's Ageless Sea in the Breakout Author Prize Pack!
a Rafflecopter giveaway *Deep breath* And finally for the picky, opinionated, do-it-yourselfer the Any Way You Want It Prize Pack. *chuckles* That sounded slightly inappropriate. You get your choice of ANY three titles included in the above mentioned prize packs. Pretty cool, huh?
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*wipes brow* That was a lot of work, but it will be totally worth it to make YOU a winner! Just a reminder, if you can't make it to UTOPYA but want to take part in the epicness you can watch it on pay per view! Visit UTOPYA's page for more info!

Live broadcasting by Ustream

Don't forget to Share the Love and if you're going to UTOPYA look me up! ;) I'll have a hug/high five/fist bump waiting for you! :)

There's a party goin on round here! ;)

Happy Monday! Okay, well I know Mondays aren't always the favoritest day of the week so I thought, Hey! Why not have a par-tay? Best idea ever, Michelle. (I talk to myself a lot...no lie.) 

Anyhow, enough chatter let's get this par-tay rocking! Today we are celebrating, my debut release Soul Survivor! *dances* I've been working on this book foooorrreeevvveeeerrr!

So first up, in case you haven't seen it let's take a gander at the full jacket for Soul Survivor courtesy of Sarah Hansen from Okay Creations...

 
Her genius kills me! She left me speechless with this piece of art. :) And in case you can't see it on the image here's the synopsis:

Hailee Mai Hart is just a simple, normal girl. Or so she thought.

When she left her one-horse town for a college education in the big city, she never could've imagined what awaited her.

She's quickly thrown into a world filled with angels, danger, and a curse…her curse. Come to find out, she's not so simple after all. She's actually the last of her kind, and the fate of the world rests on her shoulders. She has one chance to save Earth, and it all comes down to one choice: Light or Darkness. What is right and what is wrong is all a matter of perspective, which leaves her heart dangerously tangled. No matter which path she takes people will die, and that's just not an option.

Will she be able to save everyone, or will she be the Soul Survivor?

Okay, moving this par-tay right along! In case you haven't heard me say this before music truly inspires me and sets the stage for 95% of what I write! I spend a lot of time in my car driving to work, driving to class, etc. so I listen to music a lot! It amazes me how I can hear a song over and over and then suddenly out of the blue BAM! it hits me and in my mind a scene unfolds. One of the songs that truly inspired me the most on this playlist has to be Set Fire to the Rain by Adele. It set up a scene that completely shifted the original plot line for SS. Feast your pretty little ears on the entire playlist for Soul Survivor! 

Now feast your pretty little eyes on some photo quotes (in case you haven't seen them already.)

And here's the links to last week's sneak peeks at Soul Survivor! Eeep!

Rooftop Romance (Scene with Alex & Hailee) 

Bedroom (Scene with Seth & Hailee) 

Areyanna (Scene with Alex & Hailee) 

Rain (Scene with Seth & Hailee) 

Chapter 1

*dances around the room* Now for the BEST part! Prizes! Yay! First prize will be a signed paperback of Soul Survivor & a $10 Amazon/B&N gift card gift card! Runner up will receive and e-book of SS and a $5 Amazon/B&N gift card! Check out the rafflecopter below to enter! Don't worry it just requires a little stalking and sharing the love! ;) Good luck! And thank you sooo sooo sooo much for stopping by the par-tay! We'll be here til Thursday night! Visit often!

Oops! Almost forgot! Important links for Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble are below:

Goodreads

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

And here's the rafflecopter! Good luck!!!

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Soul Survivor Release Day! Ahhh!

Holy crap. Holy crap! HOLY CRAP! It's here! It's finally here! Release day is here! This isn't real life. It can't be. Is it really?

OMG! Let's kick of this release day madness with the final photo quote for the week.

That Alex, he's just too much sweetie pie in one hot package. And because music is such an important part of my writing. Here's the song that accompanies this quote....

Since, it's release day it's only fitting to include the first chapter of Soul Survivor! Enjoy!

Chapter 1 ~ Lost and Found

            I knew the streets would be dark and this was a bad side of town, but something kept pulling me here. I had dreamt about this street for weeks. There was supposed to be something here, something important. I glanced at my watch, almost 7. I really should be heading back to the bus stop, but I don’t want to give up just yet. I still haven’t found what I was looking for. If only I knew what that was. Maybe I can come back tomorrow.

            The last the few rays of sunshine diminished as I turned to find the closest bus stop.

            “Hey, lady! You lost or something?” a gruff voice called from the alley.

            Great. This is exactly why I needed to get out of this place. I ignored the calling.

            Another heckler, “Heeellllo! Honey, this ain’t no place for a girl like you after dark.”

            I kept my body straight and my head focused on the end of the dark street. I could see the well-lit safer part of town a few blocks ahead. I was not about to wait for the bus here.

            “You better get her before someone else does,” another voice calls. He is much closer.

            I wonder what that means. Why didn’t I ever take self-defense class or buy some pepper spray? That’s right—because I suck at anything that involves minor coordination, which means in all likely scenarios I will trip and accidentally Mace myself.

            “Excuse me, miss,” a low soft voice whispered as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

I whipped around expecting the worst—ready to attempt to flee if necessary.

            “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Can I walk you to the bus stop?” In front of me stood the most sincere set of bright blue eyes I had ever seen. Honestly, the last thing I expected to see was this gorgeous blond-haired, blue-eyed angel. No, I was expecting a more rough-and-tumble type, possibly with tattoos, piercings, and an eye patch. His face was as warm as his touch. His tousled dark blond hair framed his freshly shaven face perfectly, making him quite breathtaking. He looked so out of place here in the rough downtown part of Aria.

            “I’m Alex. I think it would be a little safer for you if you let me escort you.” He wanted to make sure I got out of the streets safely. He seemed to mean me no harm and I had this irrational sense of safety with this stranger. He must have mistaken my prolonged silence as apprehension.

            “So? Is that alright all right with you?”

            “Oh, I’m sorry. That's fine. I seemed to have gotten myself a little lost.” My cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

            He placed his hand on the small of my back as we walked. “Little lost? You a tourist or something?”

            “No, actually I live uptown. I’m a student at Aria U.” It’s strange how at ease I was with him—it seemed almost artificial.

            “Then you should know better than to be around here after dark,” he wagged his finger at me.

            “I should. I mean, I do.” A smile spread from ear to ear. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a man this freaking attractive. His stature seemed to add to his illusion of “instant safety.” Alex is definitely one of the few men that I have met who is actually taller than me. Being 5’11” makes that pool slim pickings. Don’t get me wrong, short guys are cool, I just have a hard time getting over my own insecurities. I have this innate insecurity with height.  It’s hard to feel feminine when you are towering over someone. Not that it matters. Back home there weren’t many men to choose from anyway. Small town in the country made for a tiny high school where we all were brothers and sisters. Not a lot of room for romance in a graduating high school class of thirty.

            His voice startled me out of my thoughts. “We’ve just got a few blocks to go.” He paused. “Can I ask you something?” His eyes twinkled under the streetlights.

            “Anything.” Anything? You sound like a love-struck thirteen-year-old girl. Get a grip, Hailee. He’s just a Good Samaritan.

            “Why were you down here, anyway?” His voice soft and warm.

            “I was looking for something.” How am I going to explain what really brought me here without sounding like a whack job?

            “Maybe I can help you then. What were you looking for?” He gazed seriously into my eyes.

            “Not quite sure.” I looked at my feet and then back up into his sapphire eyes. I’m a horrible liar, so I might as well give him the crazy truth. “Have you ever had a feeling or a hunch that you just can’t shake? You can’t explain why you feel that way, but you just know that you have to take a chance on figuring it out?”

            “Maybe.” A smirk pulled at his face.

            “I’ve been pulled to this place for weeks. I was hoping I could find whatever it was before dark, but the sun raced away before I even had a chance to get a good look.” He stopped walking and stared at me for a moment, analyzing my words. Great, he thinks I’m a whacko, not that I should care, but still. I prefer to be that nice, quiet girl who nobody notices, not psycho crazy chick.

            “Are you always so profound?” he teased.

            By now we were just mere steps from the bus stop. “No, I’m actually a pretty simple girl.”

            He smiled and my heart stopped for a second. Alex is definitely the most handsome man I’ve ever conversed with. It has been nice to have some human interaction. I’d been missing that being away here at school. I’m not good at making friends. I always come off needy or weird, so I just stick to what I know—myself and my family that just so happens to be four hours away.

            The bus clamoring down the street reminded me this encounter was about to end.

            “You know, I didn’t get your name, simple girl.”

            “Hailee. My name’s Hailee.” I said my name twice, just to be sure I remembered it. I don’t know why I was feeling like a self-conscious thirteen-year-old version of myself all of a sudden. He just asked for my name.

            “Hailee, the next time you come around make sure the sun is shining.” He looked toward the sky.

            “Next time?” What makes him think I would be back here?

            “You didn’t find what you were looking for, did you?”

            “I don’t know. I guess not.” Or did I? Was I looking for this guy? I think that is just wishful thinking.

            “Well, if you happen to be back around the block, stop by Bill’s Deli. I’ll make you a sandwich.” He just told me where he works. Should I take that as an invitation to visit?

            “Will do. Thank you, Alex.” The bus door screeched open. Time to go.

            “Have a safe trip home, Hailee.” As I boarded the bus, I looked over my shoulder one last time at the amazing stranger on the sidewalk. I don’t know what it was about him, but he was incredibly intriguing. I’m sure his attractiveness and benevolence only added to that allure.

Don't forget you can add Soul Survivor to Goodreads

Links:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble (Coming Soon)

And by the way, you're cordially invited to the Soul Survivor Release Partay starting tomorrow! They'll be music, book fun, and your chance to win a signed paperback of Soul Survivor! See ya there!

Tantalizing Thursday! Soul Surivovor Drops Tomorrow!

Hooooollllyyyy CRAP! It's Thursday which means tomorrow is Friday which means RELEASE DAY IS ALMOST HERE! *runs in circles*

I'm so nervous, excited, happy, anxious, and all sorts of crazy right now! Ahhh! *deep breaths*

I must forewarn you, today's photo quote is my favorite. When I found this picture it was like getting hit by a semi...the emotion, the scene, it just fit Seth and Hailee completely. I'm hoping you'll agree. So without further adieu, today's photo quote of the day....

This guy, he came out of nowhere and completely messed up my original plot line, but I forgave him and hopefully you will to. ;) The song that goes with today's quote is another Breaking Benjamin tune, Anthem for the Angels.

And finally, today's teaser! I had a really difficult time picking the right teaser for today but I settled with this one since the others were too spoilery. Enjoy!



I climbed into bed as a cool wind blew through my window. The thunder rolled in the distance; a storm was brewing. Mom would kill me if I left the widow open all night during a storm so I moved to close it as the rain began to pelt from the sky. That’s when I saw him. Seth was standing in the pouring rain, his head hung low. What is he doing out there? I quickly reached for my umbrella and dashed out into the storm.

“Would you come inside before my mother sees you out here?” I called as I walked out the patio doors.

“I was going to kill you today.” The way the rain dripped from his hair down to his lips while he spoke was distracting even from a distance.

“I know.” Just like in my dream, I knew his intentions and still didn’t have any apprehension about him. I closed the distance stopping to gaze into his deep brown eyes. His white t-shirt clung transparently to his muscular chest.

“I will never understand you,” Seth replied as I stood as close as my umbrella would allow. Maybe he did have more power over me than I realized. All I knew as every time we were alone, all I wanted to do was wrap myself in his arms and feel his soft lips against mine. No, Hailee. You promised Alex. And choosing Seth was not an option.

He focused on my hand now resting on his strong shoulder. “Alex is right about me. That’s why I hate him so much. I will be the death of you.” He pushed my hand from his shoulder.

I dropped my umbrella. “I don’t care.” I touched the stubble on the sides of his cheeks as the rain pelted my bare skin. Again he avoided my gaze.

“I do. We have to stop this.” He grabbed my hands and put them back at my sides. “You have more important things to think about…more important things than me.”

My heart ached at his rejection and the truth of his words. When did I become an irrational person? Why did things have to be like this? Why did I care so much about him? Maybe he did have power over me.

“Will you please come inside?”

He brushed my dripping bangs out of my eyes. “No, but you need to go.”

“I’m not going inside without you.”

“Yes, you are.”

I followed his gaze toward the back door where Alex stood watching. I could see his jaw clench even through the heavy rain.

“Seth, stop being childish. Just come inside with me.” I realized I was talking to myself again. Seth had returned to the Realm, leaving me alone in the rain to deal with my Guardian.