Top Ten Tuesday: Authors We're Thankful For...

Welcome to Lady Reader's Bookstuff's Top Ten Tuesday!!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.

This week we got a freebie!! A Thanksgiving Themed freebie that is...  Amy & I are going to give you 10 Authors (total) that we are thankful for, because let’s face it without them where would we be?!

Authors Tiffany's Thankful for

Ali Cross is a ninja novelist with a black belt in awesome. She lives in Utah with her kickin' husband, two sparring sons, one ninja cat, one sumo dog and four zen turtles.

Ali writes middle grade fiction under the pen name Alex Banks.

  Ali helped give me the courage to blog.  Without her I may very well not be here today...  Plus she is a strong woman that I admire.  No matter how long we go without chatting, I know she is there.

 I'm a dreamer, believer in the unbelievable, and author of The Merworld Water Wars series: FINNED (Wave One), OVERFALLS (Wave Two), and RIFTED (Wave Three), with two more 'waves' to follow. 

Hook (pun totally intended): "Take a fish-phobic girl, divide her by one hot merman, add a splash of his crazy ex-merbitch, and you get one stinky school year."

I'm a handbag-loving gal who LOVES to watch sports--football, baseball, basketball, NASCAR, you name it. I take being a fan very seriously. ;)

One thing I love most is trying to make people smile, even if it means making a fool out of myself (trust me, my inner idiot is bound to make multiple appearances).

I have a completely irrational fear of grasshoppers, worry that piranha may secretly lurk in lakes, and try to find the bright side in everything, even if I annoy myself doing so.

  Sutton Shields is honestly a light in my life.  She has made it a life goal of mine to meet her and own everything she ever writes (probably even her grocery list), because she is so full of smiles and quirks <3

D.T. Dyllin is a bestselling author who writes both paranormal and contemporary romance. Anything with a love story is her kryptonite. Her obsession with affairs-of-the-heart is what first drove her to begin twisting her own tales of scorching romance.

D.T. was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Black & Gold for life, baby!) She now lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with her husband and two spoiled German Shepherds.

This woman is all kinds of awesome!  There is not one book of hers that I could/would put down willingly.  She writes these amazing romance novels that EVERYONE should own!! Plus I've been with her since Hidden Gates was Enemy Through the Gates.  I am thankful for not only Dara but every single one of her books!

Julie Anne Nelson... She is an honest to goodness inspiration and I adore her and her work. Julie has a writing style that is nothing short of beautiful and I clear my schedule before picking her work up :) This woman never gives up, even when things are at their most difficult and her hard work shows.

Authors Amy's Thankful For 

Andrew Smith is the award-winning author of several Young Adult novels, including the critically acclaimed Winger (Starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, and Shelf Awareness—an Amazon “Best of the Year”) and The Marbury Lens (A YALSA BFYA, and Starred reviews and Best of the Year in both Publishers Weekly and Booklist).

He is a native-born Californian who spent most of his formative years traveling the world. His university studies focused on Political Science, Journalism, and Literature. He has published numerous short stories and articles. He lives in Southern California. Find more at http://www.authorandrewsmith.com. 

A.S. King is the author of the highly-acclaimed GLORY O'BRIEN'S HISTORY OF THE FUTURE, REALITY BOY, 2013 LA Times Book Prize winner ASK THE PASSENGERS, 2012 ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adults EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS, and 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor Book PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ. She is also the author of the ALA Best Books for Young Adults THE DUST OF 100 DOGS as well as a collection of award-winning short stories for adults, MONICA NEVER SHUTS UP.

Look for Amy's work in anthologies DEAR BULLY, BREAK THESE RULES, ONE DEATH NINE STORIES, and LOSING IT. (And brace yourself for 2015's novel, I CRAWL THROUGH IT.) Find more at www.as-king.com.

Ann Marie ("Annie") Frohoff grew up in sunny Southern California. As a teen and young adult she spent her time frequenting and living in nearly every beachside city up and down the coast. She settled in Hollywood at 19 working in film and TV. Soon her itch to keep moving took over again, taking her to Hawaii for a time and then back to LA. She’s now settled in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. Her wanderlust and propensity to live life out loud has brought her many life experiences so many of us only dream about. Always the storyteller, it would be of no surprise to those who grew up with Annie, that she made the transition into a book and screenplay author. You could say that she woke up one day and had an epiphany, deciding to go to school for screenwriting. It’s with this inner fire she set out to write her first screenplay. Soon after, such work made it into the hands of an agency creative executive who challenged her to write a novel to support the complex cast of characters she’d created. Thus, after only a couple of years and many hours on the road immersing herself in her subject matter; her edgy modern day "Walk The Line" meets John Hughes Classics, Heavy Influence series is on it's way!

The first installment in her Heavy Influence Series, FIRST KISS(#1) released in 2013, FEVER PITCH(#1.5) 2013 and BROKEN NOTES (#2) in Dec. 2014. ~

The series is a story of young, reckless love between a rising rock star and his younger muse, spanning 10 years of their tumultuous and passionate relationship. An original soundtrack has been written and recorded for this series, of which the lyrics appear in the pages of the books. (Alternative Rock Genre).

Annie has now also delved into the supernatural fantasy world with her writing partners Shaun Barger and songwriter/musician Matthew Reich. Taking inspiration directly from song lyrics and building an entire realm of vastly complex characters and plot lines; weaving history, fantasy and heavy doses of romance together. You will be kept turning the pages of “The Zodiac Wars" and “Precious Metal: The Prince and the Gypsy” book series. Both series of books are currently in development. 

Learn more at https://www.facebook.com/authoramfrohoff/.

Ellen Hopkins is the New York Times bestselling author of Crank, Burned, Impulse, Glass, Identical, Tricks, Fallout, Perfect, Triangles, Tilt, and Collateral.

Ellen lives in Carson City, Nevada, with her husband and son. Hopkin's Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest pages get thousands of hits from teens that claim Hopkins is the "only one who understands me", and she can be visited at 

ellenhopkins.com.

Shaun David Hutchinson is a major geek and all about nerdy shenanigans. Shaun Hutchinson is the author of The Deathday Letter, FML, The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley, the forthcoming book We Are the Ants (Spring 2016), and editor of the anthology, Violent Ends (Fall 2015).

He can be reached at 

shaun@shaundavidhutchinson.com.

He currently lives in South Florida with his partner and dog and watches way too much Doctor Who.

S. Chris Shirley is an award-winning writer/director and former President of the Board of Lambda Literary. His debut novel, PLAYING BY THE BOOK, was the first coming out novel to win a National IPPY Medal in religious fiction. He directed Roger Kuhn’s music video, “What’s Your Name,” which aired nationally in the US and made the annual MTV-Logo Top 10.  He also wrote/directed “Plus,” an award-winning short film that played at film festivals internationally.

Chris graduated from Auburn University where he served as photo editor of The Auburn Plainsman. He later received a graduate degree from Columbia University and studied filmmaking at New York University. He was born and raised in Greenville, Alabama and now resides in Manhattan.

Contact him at chris@schrisshirley.com.

These people are all more than just authors.  They're my friends.   Such good friends that I find myself considering them family, and each one is important to me in their own way.

  Are there any authors that you are thankful for this Thanksgiving?  What types of Bookish things are you thankful for?  Let us know in the comments or link us up because we want to hear.

The Good and the Bad - 1st Annual Chicago YA Book Fest 2015 #CYABookFest

I spent last weekend in Chicago, in the cold and rainy Chicago to attend the First Annual Chicago Young Adult Book Festival. There were five panels and seventeen authors. The themes were very eclectic and the authors were given questions and topics that really made them think about their answers. I can't touch on every topic on the panels but there are a couple that I would like to discuss in depth. If anyone has any questions about things aren't discussed please email me and I will be happy to discuss any part of the event(s). 

External Voices influencing writing:

This topic touched on fan fiction, social media, bloggers, and other writing influences.

Some of the authors thought that fan fiction is basically taking their ideas and writing them but with slightly different situations, characters, etc. Then, there were other authors that said they would be flattered if someone wrote fan fiction based on their novels. 

[Please note that EVERY author had their own opinion and it cannot be assumed that they all felt the same way.]

Social Media pretty much was a 50/50. Some of the authors don't even use it and some use it regularly, not necessarily to promote themselves but for the fun of it.

Now, we're getting to the Blogger topic. This is a touchy topic because many things were said and not specifically explained so one could have taken things one way or another. The problem with that is if it's taken the wrong way - out of context it seems to be negative. Very negative. So, I am going to shed some light on the subject. 

ARC's - Advanced Reading Copies = Free books released to bloggers early for honest reviews. Completely used for the intentions of early promotion and buzz for a new release.

One author was against the ARC program. The author had nothing but bad experiences and felt as if the program was being abused as the free books went out but reviews did not come in. 

Some had no opinion at all, they didn't mind the program and hadn't had these same negative experiences. 

Then there were the authors that were absolutely fine with bloggers receiving ARC's because they knew that the reviews and power that bloggers have in the reading community help them tremendously.

[Please be aware that there were authors that had never had direct contact with bloggers and some that had, good and bad. Not all answers can be assumed for all of the authors.]

Of course the subject came up of the different types of reviews that received these ARC's. The authors said that there were "professional reviewers" and then there were "bloggers". This was not meant to belittle bloggers in any way, this was a fact stating that there is a difference between the two. And there is. Professional reviewers work for companies specifically for reviewing and get paid. Bloggers do not. They instead spend their own time and money. Bottom line is both are opinions of the individual. No review can be "right" or "wrong" they can definitely heavily influence people but again, it's just an opinion. 

[I would like to add here that reviews written by bloggers are NOT meant for authors. They are meant for other bloggers and readers. An author really shouldn't be reading reviews written by bloggers, there is nothing that can be done at that point as the book is already written. Hence, the blogger review is only an opinion, a valid one but still an opinion.]

Glamorous/Not glamorous truths:

This panel was last and in my opinion the best.

Several things were discussed during this hour and it was all about the authors and their lives. 

"What did you do with your advance?" Oh, the answers we got from this!

Terra Elan McVoy - Paid off Student Loans

Andrew Smith - Saved and bought daughter a special sweet 16 gift

Ted Goeglein - Purchased a bootie. For reals.

Christa Desir - Donated to help rape victims.  - ALL 3 Advances!

Carrie Mesrobian - Bought rad boots and paid bills

M. Molly Backes - Bought a car, not so glamorous but one that still keeps her going today.

Another question was 'How do you deal with bad reviews' and again, we have a mix of answers. One author just blows it off, another really takes it personally and questions the ability of her writing. One doesn't necessarily read them, one consults close friends for advice and another does crafty projects to make light of it and feel better. Basically to "own" the review. Obviously none of them particularly like or want negative reviews but they know that it's inevitable. One thing that all of them did agree with is that if someone wrote a negative review and hated the book, they shouldn't send the author the review or tag them on social media. Really that's only hurtful. 

I think that sometimes bloggers forget that authors are just people and that they have feelings too. I also think that the same goes for some authors, they don't take into consideration the feelings of a blogger when it comes to reviews. I think that we all need to come to a common ground and stick together because we're all in it for the same thing. We love the books, and our love of books sell books. It's that simple. 

Bottom line, it was a fun and informative day and I am looking forward to going back next year. 

Chapter by Chapter BookRave Author Highlight: Christina Lee — Between Breaths series

Avery has just met her hot upstairs neighbor. He's irresistible. Tattooed. And a virgin.


Nursing student Avery Michaels wants nothing to do with dating—she's perfectly  happy single. Privy to too many of her mother's bad decisions and even worse taste in boyfriends, all Avery can handle is a string of uncomplicated hookups whenever the mood strikes.


When she meets smoking hot tattoo artist Bennett, she wants him—for just one night. But he won't accept a no-strings-attached arrangement. He lives by a straight-laced code of values based on his own troubled upbringing.

Bennett sees something special in Avery and he wants more from her. Way more. 


As Avery wrestles with her emotions for Bennett, danger and tragedy force them to open up to each other. And Avery must face the terrifying realization that she wants more from him, too.

So she needs to make a choice—let Bennett go or finally let him in.

Goodreads | B&N | Amazon  

A sexy, emotional New Adult romance about a bad boy on the edge and a good girl about to lose control…


The star catcher of the college baseball team isn't supposed to have skeletons in his closet. But Daniel Quinn is hiding a guilty past so dark he refuses to let anyone get close. Except there’s something about gorgeous, studious Ella Abrams that goes beyond the electric attraction between them—something that makes him want to open up.


Ella has suffered enough heartache and guilt to fill one of her psychology textbooks, but she keeps that part of herself hidden behind a bubbly exterior. Until she receives an anonymous call while working the suicide helpline and the voice on the other end touches something inside of her that she can’t ignore.


Soon Ella and Quinn’s physical connection heats up, even as their deep and revealing hotline talks intensify. But by the time Ella realizes that her seductive jock and her sensitive caller are the same guy, it might be too late to save him—or to stop herself from falling too far.

*A companion novel to ALL OF YOU.

 Goodreads |B&N| Amazon 

 

A hot and consuming New Adult romance about a wayward musician and the one girl who keeps him grounded…

At college, Rachel has a reputation for being a sarcastic flirt with a thing for star athletes. No one at school knows that she’d had her heart ripped to shreds by her high school sweetheart, who’d driven them both off the side of the road on a borrowed motorcycle, and then abandoned her. No one knows the real Rachel Mattson—except one person…

Ever since he helped nurse his sister’s feisty best friend back to health, pierced bass player Kai Nakos has been head over heels in love. But the supposed bad boy can’t risk letting Rachel know the truth—especially now that the two of them are back in their hometown for the summer, together for the first time since the months following that fateful night. Never mind that Rachel’s ex is back, groveling for her forgiveness.

Shaken by her ex’s return, Rachel finds herself turning to the one guy she knows she can trust. Kai is willing to hide his feelings for her, just to have Rachel touch him again. 

After all, this is only a temporary fling. Until it becomes something more. But maybe it had been more all along.

Goodreads | B&N| Amazon  

Mother, wife, reader, dreamer.

Christina lives in the Midwest with her husband and son--her two favorite guys. 

She's addicted to lip gloss and salted caramel everything. She believes in true love and kissing, so writing romance novels has become a dream job.

NA Contemporary Romance ALL OF YOU, out now (Penguin/InterMix). BEFORE YOU BREAK in February and WHISPER TO ME in May, 2014. Repped by Sara Megibow.

Also the creator of Tags-n-Stones (dot com) jewelry.

Facebook | Twitter | Website | Jewelry 

Join us September 20th 2014 at 11 AM for one of the biggest author events to hit New Rochelle, NY!

The day will be filled with a book signing, parties, giveaways, and more!
 
Author Jennifer L. Armentrout will be your host for the evening and TrinDee Events your co-host!
 

This event will be held at FunFuzin, an indoor amusement park in New Roc City: http://www.newroccity.com

For a full list of featured authors visit: http://www.cbcevent.com/p/authors.html

 TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE NOW:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/chapter-by-chapter-bookrave-tickets-8923431223

A-Very-Merry-un-Birthday-To-Me! Giveaway: Kindle Fire HDX

A Very Merry-un-birthday-to-me!

This month I am not celebrating my birthday, so I decided that I would not celebrate with all of you during the entire month of February.

A Very Merry-un-birthday-to-me!

 To celebrate my un-Birthday, several bloggers & authors have teamed up to sponsor this stellar giveaway.

The winner will have the option to choose from a Kindle Fire HDX, $200 Amazon Gift Card or $200 PayPal Cash. 

A Very Merry-un-birthday-to-me!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or PayPal Cash. No purchase necessary. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. You must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Amy from Lady Reader's Bookstuff and sponsored by the mentioned authors & bloggers.

VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

A Very Merry-Un-Birthday-To-Me! Giveaway Sign-ups

A Very Merry-un-birthday-to-me!

This month I am not celebrating my birthday, so I decided that I would not celebrate with all of you during the entire month of February.

A very merry-un-birthday-to-me!

To celebrate my un-birthday, several bloggers & authors have teamed up to sponsor this stellar giveaway. The winner will have the option to choose from a Kindle Fire HDX, $200 Amazon Gift Card or $200 Paypal Cash. If there are enough entries, the prize will be upgraded to an iPad Mini. 

The price is $10 for each spot on the Rafflecopter. Where you will promote your social media account(s).Payment is due via PayPal (amydelrosso (at) gmail (dot) com) at the time of sign-up. 

If you would like to participate in my un-birthday celebration giveaway, please fill out the form by January 22nd.         --> SIGN UP HERE!

Grab Code:

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Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or PayPal Cash. No purchase necessary. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. You must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Amy from Lady Reader's Bookstuff and sponsored by the mentioned authors & bloggers.

VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.