Cover Reveal Day!!!!

Let me just tell you... Let me just tell you!!! I LOVE this cover. So simple, yet dark and unique and beautiful. Once again, Brittany nailed it. Have I ever mentioned how incredibly blessed I am to have her? :) Maybe just a few hundred times. lol And as with all my covers, everything on it has meaning. The smoke is a more literal part of the story than it is symbolic; if you read the Epilogue of Captivate Me, you'll see Iris and her sisters use it to communicate. Here's an excerpt from Lilliana's point of view:

I collected the red velvet sack from my purse and lifted a marble from inside – one of Iris’ creations to help us communicate from any distance. Once broken, red smoke curls out, creating a rippling, translucent screen and lets us talk face-to-face in real time. It only lasts around ten minutes, but that’s all I needed to confirm all was well. 

Iris' smoke is, of course, violet like her eyes. Each sister has a signature color.

So without further ado, see the cover below! Iris is set to be published September 1st, 2014.

Updates on Iris - Novella to The Captivated Series

For those of you who've read Book One of the Captivated Series, you're well aware who Iris is. For those of you who haven't, Iris is, well... she's a lot of things. She's beautiful, has a strong presence and unbreakable family ties. She'd do ANYTHING to ensure the ones she loves stay alive. I'll leave it at that. :)

But Iris is so much more than what we see in Captivate Me; the depth of who she is isn't fully explored in those pages. Since it's written in first person from Kat's perspective, we don't get much background on Iris and only a glimpse of her true self. That's why I decided to give her a novella set before the events of Book One. I want people to see who she is and where she came from, and I knew if her back story intrigued me to the point of fleshing one out for a novella, my readers would be interested in getting to know her, as well. At least that's my hope! The novella also explores her relationship with Kai, her love interest, as well as her sisters and others in her life, some of which aren't mentioned in Captivate Me. For instance, there's an elderly butler named Claude she has a love-hate relationship with and banters with him on a daily basis. Here's an excerpt:


I found the bottle of red wine in the living room and took another pull. “Why bother drinking from the bottle at this point?” Claude quipped. “Let’s just get the nurse to hook you up with an IV.”

I set the bottle down with a loud, pointed thud. “Right after he delivers some old man diapers to your room.”


I can't help but laugh every time I read over it. lol

I also want to throw out another bread crumb... I'm feeling generous today! :) Here's the summary. And oh yeah... September 1st is the official release date!!!


***This book is meant to be read after Captivate Me***

Set before the events in Book One of the Captivated Series, Iris explores the depths of family bonds, new bonds, and the lengths a person would go to save the life of a dying sibling. In this novella, get to know Iris and her two sisters more intimately, as well as Gabriel, the first angel-human hybrid who agrees to live under her protection.

Recommended for readers 16 and up due to mature content.


Much Love xoxo
~SJ

Cover Reveal Day for Captivate Me!

First, I want to give two very BIG thank yous to both my cover artist, Brittany Bowman, and to the fantastic lady who coordinated the cover reveal tour for me, Giselle Cormier from Xpresso Book Tours!!! Second, I don't think there's a word to describe how impatient I've been to reveal the cover for the first book of the Captivated series. When Brittany sent it over to me two weeks ago, I wanted to share it immediately! IMMEDIATELY! I literally squealed when I saw it! lol  Like all good covers, it embodies everything about the story - it's dark, lovely and mysterious. I'm so thrilled by her work.

So without further ado, see below for the cover as well as links to all of the book blogs who are sharing my cover today. I'd also like to offer them a very sincere thanks!!!

Much Love xoxo

SJ

The Phantom Paragrapher

Addicted Readers

Simplistic Reviews

Confessions of a Book Addict

Blimey! I Fancy Reading

The Yearning Mermaid

Mythical Books

Diane's Book Blog

A Book Addict's Bookshelves

Whatcha Reading

Jess Time to Read

All Things in the Cloud Sweet

Books and Their Worldly Realm

Anna Lives and Breathes Books

Winter Haven Books

DJ's Book Corner

Pete de Violet

Happy Ever After is so Once Upon a Lifetime

YA Storyteller

Hot off the Shelves

Mostly Reviews

Jeni's Bookshelf

Share My Destiny

Unabridged Bookshelf

Living Between Books

The Cover Contessa

Magick Inside Pages

Rumpled Sheets Blog

Leanne Crabtree

Annaberry Reads

Marked by Books

Morphy's Book Blog

Bookworm Brandee

The Book Addict

Wonderful Monster

Rude Mom

Alyx Rayer Series is Available now on Barnes & Noble and Smashwords!

I'm SO excited to announce that I've made the decision to publish my books on other platforms! They're still on Amazon, but I've also published to Barnes & Noble for Nook readers and Smashwords! I'm particularly excited about publishing to these sites for two reasons:

One- I'm able to price the first book in the series, Marked for Vengeance, for free! Yes, FREE!!! This gives my series broader exposure and the likelihood that the others books will be purchased/ read. That's exciting for any author! Marked for Vengeance is already in the top two-hundred on Barnes & Noble in the Contemporary Fantasy genre! Woo hoo!!!

Two- Smashwords distributes my books to many other platforms like Kobo, Apple, Sony and many more!

For links to visit these sites, go to the My Published Works tab above.

There is one hiccup, though, unfortunately. If life has taught me anything, its that nothing ever goes as planned! I'm currently waiting for Amazon to price match Marked for Vengeance to free. I hate that my my book isn't available at the same price to Kindle readers as to others! To help speed up the process, and if you feel so inclined, you can visit the Amazon page for Marked for Vengeance here, select "Tell us about a lower price" under the "Product Details " section, and provide them with the feedback.

Thanks and Much Love!

~SJ

Writing Update - Title Reveal for my new YA Paranormal Romance Series

Morning, Angels! :) As we near the publishing date for Book Three: Destined for Fire, I wanted to share some news! At the end of the third and final installment, there will be a three-chapter sampling of the first book of my new YA series - The Captivated Series. The title for Book One is Captivate Me and it follows one of the characters you meet for the first time in Destined for Fire. And, as always, here is a little crumb:

“My mom had always told me – when you meet “the one”, you’ll know; they’ll captivate your heart the moment you lay eyes on them. I had always wondered, though, if my mom’s words of wisdom were finite – if they applied to everyone. Maybe those who had found their one great love were the lucky few, and maybe the rest of us would have to settle for less than earth-shattering.”

SO excited!!! The estimated publishing date is still next spring, so check back soon or subscribe to my blog for more updates!

With Love,
~SJ

Summary Reveal for Destined for Fire, Book Three!!!

Two months from tomorrow I'll be publishing the last installment of the Alyx Rayer Chronicles, *tear* and you know how I like to release tidbits along the way. :D Granted, I'm not throwing you much, but it's something! Let me know what you think!


SUMMARY:

"Fire… this was her destiny. She would leave this world in fire and hopefully right all of these terrible wrongs."

In this final installment of the Alyx Rayer Chronicles, follow Alyx and Micah as they travel back to the hell that once was Earth in search of Serpious and his legion, as well as the only thing they have left to care about now - revenge.

May not be suitable for YA.



And because I'll be wrapped up in family stuff tomorrow, I'll go ahead and announce the monthly winner of the Amazon Gift Card a day early! :)

Congratulations, Harper C.! Thank you for signing up for my mailing list!

Love to all!

~SJ

Blog Tour Announcement!!!

I have some exciting news to share today - my first two books will be in a two week blog tour the end of June! I'm totally thrilled!! :) A BIG THANKS to Giselle from Xpresso Book Tours for organizing the entire thing.See the schedule below!

I'll also be reminding everyone during the tour to follow along. I will be interviewed, supplying guest posts, and some of the bloggers will be reviewing the books!

Love to all!

~SJ

June 17th

-The LUV'NV >> Review of Book 1 + Interview

-A_TiffyFit's Reading Corner >> Review of Book 1 & 2

-Mythical Books >> Excerpt

June 18th

-In Love with Books >>  Review of Marked for Vengeance (book1)

-The Babbling Reader  >> Interview

June 19th

-Booky Ramblings of a Neurotic Mom >>  Review of Book 1 & 2

-Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance >> Guest Post

June 20th

-Wintry Words >>  Excerpt

-Red Reader Reviews >> Review of Book 1 & 2

-The Bookmark Blog >> Review of Book 1 & 2

-Read It In Houston >> Review of Marked for Vengeance (book1)

June 21st

-Amy's Book Den >> Guest Post

-Happy Indulgence >> Review of Marked for Vengeance (book1)

-Fae Books >> Excerpt

June 24th
-Vanilla Moon >>  Guest Post

June 25th

-Faerie Tale Books >> Review of Book 1 & 2

-Bookworm Brandee >> Review of Tethered by Fate (book 2)

June 26th

-Michelle's Paranormal Vault of Books >> Review of Book 1 & 2

-Penny For Them... >> Review of Book 1 & 2

June 27th

-All in One Place >> Review of Marked for Vengeance (book1)

-Little Library Muse >> Excerpt

June 28th

-My Familys Heart Book Reviews >> Review of Book 1 & 2

-Darlene's Book Nook >>  Guest Post

New Project - Spring 2014

Happy Monday, Angels! Just wanted to announce my plans for my next series! Now that I'm wrapping up the third and final book of the Alyx Rayer Chronicles, I've been doing a lot of thinking as to what project I'll be working on next. The one I've chosen will be a YA Paranormal Romance series and is actually a spin-off of one of the characters in Book Three. I can't tell you who, of course, or it will give everything away. The only thing I WILL tell you is that the story is based off a character you haven't met yet. :)

As of right now, the project is untitled, but in good time I'll share tidbits with you along the way. All I have for you at the moment is a time frame, and that's Spring of 2014! So excited!!!!

Fun Facts about the Alyx Rayer Series

I LOVE to read extra tidbits that any of my favorite authors decide to throw out about what inspired them, where some of their ideas came from, etc. So I've decided to share a few of my own on the Alyx Rayer Series. You can find them on my "About the Alyx Rayer Series" page above, or simply click here.

Enjoy!

~SJ

Had to Share! Destined for Fire Update!

I have officially typed the words, THE END! And I have to admit that I teared up! I feel such a sense of completeness and finality. I can't WAIT to share with all of you the final conclusion of the Alyx Rayer Chronicles. It will still be weeks before Destined for Fire is fit for public consumption, though. I just had to spread my joy! :-)

And, as always, I can't part without throwing a crumb or two, so I've decided to share the table of contents! Just as it is with my book titles, I'm very choosy on the words I use to represent what each of the chapters hold.

Prologue: Little Hope
Chapter 1: Angel on Fire
Chapter 2: Hanging by a Thread
Chapter 3: Into the Night
Chapter 4: An Unlikely Alliance
Chapter 5: Sinister
Chapter 6: Still Waters
Chapter 7: Blood-stained Teeth
Chapter 8: A Familiar Voice
Chapter 9: Intoxicated
Chapter 10: Prayer for Direction
Chapter 11: Savoring a Moment
Chapter 12: Watching from Above
Chapter 13: Bittersweet
Chapter 14: Destiny of Flames
Chapter 15: Absolute Precision
Chapter 16: Armed with Words
Chapter 17: Reinforcements
Chapter 18: Heavenly Sacrifice
Chapter 19: (Too revealing. You'll have to wait until August! Sorry!)
Epilogue: (Too revealing. You'll have to wait until August! Sorry!)

Love to all! :-)

Publishing Day! A Race to the Finish: A Novella, The Alyx Rayer Chronicles has been Published!

Happy Monday, Angels! I'm pleased to announce that the Novella has officially been published! I am over halfway done with this series now, and the idea of that is exciting yet sobering at the same time. So far, its been an incredible journey, and I can't believe it's almost come to a close. But fear not, after the very last chapter is written, there might be more in store for one of the characters from the series. I'll see where my creativity takes me!

So without further ado, purchase your copy of the Novella at Amazon here!

Add to your Goodreads TBR list here!

As for ten lucky subscribers to my mailing list, they'll receive a free copy via Amazon Gift! The winners are as follows:

Maria S.
Leigh-Ann M.
Gretchen W.
Jackson P.
Fiona J.
Jessica O.
Cassie R.
Kristen P.
Tracy R.
Justin L.

Also as promised, since today is the first of the month, the winner of the monthly $10 Amazon Giftcard drawing is Rochelle D. Congratulations, Rochelle! Thanks for signing up for my mailing list!

And last but not least, I'd also like to announce that in celebration of the Novella's release, the first two books of the series are on sale for .99 cents the first week in April. Purchase Marked for Vengeance here, and Tethered by Fate here.

Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful week! Happy Reading! :-)

Novella Cover Reveal!!!!

I am absolutely thrilled to share with you today the cover for A Race to the Finish: A Novella, The Alyx Rayer Chronicles! Brittany does such an awesome job! Only 9 more days until the release!

Progress Report Time!

One month from today, the Novella will be published for the Alyx Rayer series! Yay! :-) I've been working so hard to edit and get the manuscript where it needs to be, as well as continue on with writing the third and final book (I'm about halfway finished!), not to mention putting in crazy hours at my regular full-time job, that I sincerely think my brain will either fizzle out here soon, or go on strike... I'm pretty sure that can happen! lol I wouldn't have it any other way, though. Despite my exhaustion (I'm literally rubbing the sleepy out of my eyes as I put this post together!), I'm at my happiest when writing.

So, to celebrate the soon-to-be released Novella, I've decided to share an excerpt from about midway through. As you already know, the novella follows the other seven Angels of Protection, and I've dedicated an entire chapter to each one. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but the book is still around 30,000 words - standard novella size. I have to say, though, that the decision of which storyline to share with you today was a tough one. While I love all of their stories equally, there are some I can't WAIT for you to read and want to make you wait until the book is released... that's evil, I know! :-)

So without further ado, I've chosen an excerpt from Willow's chapter. And as you also already know, I like playing the "who would play your character in a movie" game. So as an added bonus, here's who I would cast to play her character:

Dafne Fernandez

She's pretty darn near perfect to what I had imagined, just add blue eyes.

Follow the jump below to read the excerpt.

The Sundial Restaurant

I just received an email from a reader who wanted to know if the restaurant Alyx and Benjamin eat at for their one year anniversary in my first book is a real place, because if so, they'd want to eat there! The Sundial is definitely a real place... I've eaten there many times myself! It's neat to be seated near the window and experience a 360 degree view of the city as it slowly rotates you around. If you ever visit, though, make sure you have enough dough in your wallet! It's not cheap, but well worth it. :-)

Because I'm feeling nostalgic, below are some pictures of the hotel, as well as the spectacular views inside the restaurant. I'll even include a link so you can peruse other pictures and their menu!

SUNDIAL DURING THE DAY



SUNDIAL AT NIGHT

THE HOTEL

WEBSITE

http://sundialrestaurant.com/

Marked for Vengeance is FREE the week of Valentines!

Fall in love with Paranormal Romance and download Book One of the Alyx Rayer Chronicles on Amazon 2/11-2/15.

http://www.amazon.com/Marked-Vengeance-Book-One-ebook/dp/B009P4RXRK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1350047518&sr=1-1&keywords=Marked+for+vengeance

Enjoy! :-)

Girl on Fire

Listening to music as I'm writing my third and final book of the Alyx Rayer Series, Destined for Fire, and Alicia Keys' "Girl on Fire" song came on and I thought to myself, now THAT would be a great soundtrack song for this book!

Like I've mentioned before, music and writing go hand in hand for me, so I've decided to share at least one song that particularly inspired me while writing each book in the series:


Book One: Enchanted by Taylor Swift




Book Two: Turning Pages by Sleeping at Last



Book Three: Girl on Fire

Novella- The Alyx Rayer Series! Publishing Date and Summary Release!

I'm SO very excited to announce that I have a concrete publishing date for "A Race to the Finish", A Novella: The Alyx Rayer Chronicles! It will officially be available for sale on Amazon 4/1/2013. The date is later than originally anticipated, but it gives me and my cover artist more time to fine-tune! (Silver linings, right?) :-)

To celebrate, I've decided to also release the summary:

Alyx wasn't the only Angel of Protection charged with the daunting task of transporting her Marked safely to the gateway when they were summoned on that chaos-filled October day. Get to know the other seven Protectors and their gifted humans more intimately as you follow each of their journeys.

(Authors Note: This book is best tackled after reading Book One and Two of the series.)

May not be suitable for YA.

So simple, yet intriguing, I hope! I love all of my books, but this installment was by far one of my favorites to write! My dearest hope is that my readers love it as much as I.

I've officially published Tethered by Fate!

Check it out here:

http://www.amazon.com/Tethered-Fate-Book-Two-ebook/dp/B00AFXSCZM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354483690&sr=8-1&keywords=tethered+by+fate

Cover Reveal for "Tethered by Fate", Book Two of the Alyx Rayer Chronicles!

As I work on readying my next book for public consumption on Dec 1st, I'm practically brimming with excitement! And to top it off, I just received the cover art for "Tethered by Fate"! Thank you, Brittany, for your wonderful illustrative talents and for making my vision come to life.

As you can see, there's a theme to the covers with the gold symbols. For those of you who aren't aware of what these symbols are, they're Celtic and I use them to represent the different types of Angels. The Triquetra on the first cover represents many things, but in my series it's used as the marking of Protection. The symbol on the second cover is that of a Duir and, as far as the Celtic meaning goes, means "strength, stability, and nobility" and is the marking of the Warrior Angels who are introduced in this second book.

Of course, the feather represents something, as well, (just as the moth did on the first cover) but I don't want to give that away!

Book Summary Reveal for "Tethered by Fate"

I can't believe it's almost time to publish the second book of my Alyx Rayer series! I'm so excited to share this next part of the story with the world. The first book is near and dear to my heart, as it was when I first discovered who the main characters were and fell in love with them indefinately, but this second book was the most exciting to write. No question. Dynamic characters fill the pages, along with steam and grit.

And so, as I await my cover art from the wonderfully talented Brittany Bowman, I've hunkered down to come up with a Book Summary that captures the essence of this story. Its short, sweet, and hopefully intriguing. :-)

I hope I did it justice.

SUMMARY:

"Where fate would take the both of them now, Isaac wasn’t sure, but either way their paths were irrevocably tethered."

Hurled into the midst of a holy war between the sinister fallen Angel of War and their beloved Creator, gifted humans, Angels, and Spirit Guides unite to create a formidable, ethereal army. With the imminent battle only days away, continue to follow the story that captivated your hearts as a Protector Angel named Alyx struggles with her own inner conflicts between right and wrong, love and honor.

Passionate, engaging, and filled with surprising twists and turns - see which path fate will lead our  beloved Angel down next in this second book of the Alyx Rayer Chronicles.

May not be suitable for YA.