Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway

I've decided to start doing random giveaways.  You know, just give away a free ebook every now and again for no apparent reason.  I'm a random kinda girl, so I think it fits. I'm sure you have questions, right?  Things like which book, when is the giveaway and how do I enter.  Well, I can answer those.  Here are the details:

Which book?  It's your choice.  You can choose any of my ebooks on either Amazon or Barnes & Noble. 

When is the giveaway?  Whenever I tweet "Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway."  I might do one a month, one a week or three a week.  Who knows?

And finally how do I enter?  That part is easy.  All you do is tweet me @mleightonbooks "I'd love to read ________" and you fill in the blank with the title of one of my books that you'd like to read.  That's it.  Easy peasy.  At the end of the day, I'll draw from those who tweeted me and the winner will get the ebook of their choice. 

The catch?  Okay, so nothing is really, truly free I guess.  Technically, neither is this.  But it's REALLY cheap!  The thing I would ask in return is that you do something nice for someone.  Doesn't matter what you do or for whom you do it, just as long as you do something kind.  It can be anything from paying someone a compliment, which might turn their whole day around incidentally, to buying someone a cup of coffee to holding the door for the little old lady going into the grocery store.  Doesn't matter.  It need not be expensive or lengthy or elaborate, just kind.  That's the only requirement.  I'll never know if you actually did something nice, but you will.  So will the person you did it for, and that's what matters most.  Sounds simple, right?  Yep, that's 'cause it is:)

Have I mentioned that I adore y'all?  Each and every one of you?  No?  What a shame!!  Because I really, REALLY do!

Hump day, hump day, hump day!  Squeeeee!  Have a good one, y'all!!

YA Indie Carnival- WIP

Today on the Carnival, we are posting the first paragraph of our current work in progress (WIP).  Many of you know I'm currently working on Madly book 3.  Here is the cover: 

It's due out this month.  I was hoping for earlier, but life has been giving me fits without many giggles, so it will likely be the latter part of the month:(  BOO!  But, better late than never, right?  Right! 

So, I know it's a short one, but this is the first paragraph: 

I looked over at Jackson where he swam strongly at my side.  We both knew he could easily leave me behind to reach his destination more quickly, but he didn’t.  Despite the seriousness of our task, he held back to stay with me, to stay by my side.  It’s where he’d promised he would always be.

How's that for a little dollop?  Can a piece of literature be a dollop?  If not, it should be.  I always think of whipped cream when I think of a dollop.  Whipped cream is delicious and so is Jackson.  I think dollop is totally apropos here, don't you?  LOL

Go check out what the others are working on, y'all!  And, as always, TGIF!!

Dani Snell Refracted Light Reviews
Patti Larsen Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, The Hunted Series and the Hayle Coven Novels
Courtney Cole Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Fisher Amelie Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Laura Elliott Author of Winnemucca as well as 13 on Halloween, book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
Amy Jones Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Rachel Coles Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Whistles, Beergarden, Plagues, Bees of St. John, and Mushrooms
T.R. Graves Author of Warriors of the Cross
Cheri Schmidt Author of Fateful, Fractured, and Fair Maiden
Suzy Turner Author of December Moon and Raven
K.C. Blake Author of Vampire Rules
Gwenn Wright Author of Filter
Cidney Swanson Author of Ripple series
Heather Self Blogger, Reviewer and upcoming Indie Author
Heather M. White, Author of The Destiny Saga
Melissa Pearl, Author The Time Spirit Trilogy
Bryna Butler, Author of Midnight Guardian series
Liz Long
Ella James
Maureen Murrish

Madly & the Jackal Cover Reveal

It's almost time!  Are you ready?  Madly book 3 is on its way...

How deep does love run?  Deeper than the ocean?  Deeper than memory?  Deeper than magic?

Following their plan to save Atlas, Madly and Jackson return the spirit of Wolfhardt to his prison beneath the sea.  But even the best laid plans couldn’t account for the surprises they find.  This time, Lore aren’t their only challenges. 

Madly is special in ways no one could have guessed and dark forces seek to control her.  They want her power, but first they must weaken her.  They need her beaten.  Vulnerable.  Near death.  And alone.  But that task isn’t an easy one with Jackson at her side.  The strongest of their kind, the only way to separate Jackson from Madly is to destroy his love for her, to erase it from his mind.  And his heart.  

Is it possible to steal Jackson’s love from Madly?  Or is their love the only truly unbreakable thing?

Coming May 29, 2012

Every Last Kiss book birthday

Hi everyone, Courtney Cole here.

One year ago, my book, Every Last Kiss (Book One in the Bloodstone Saga) was released into the wild. 

I was so terrified that day, so afraid that everyone out there in the Reader-verse was going to hate it, that people would laugh and point at me on the street- saying “What’s the deal with that girl?  She really thinks she’s a writer?”  I might be exaggerating a little.  But I was a little terrified.

But you know what?  It turns out, people kind of liked it.  And so the rest of the Bloodstone Saga was born (Fated, With My Last Breath and My Tattered Bonds).  It’s been an exciting and crazy year, but I’m so, so happy that it has happened.  And I’m so, so thankful to all of the wonderful readers who have read my work.  I’m so grateful for every single one of you.

Which bring me to the next part.  This week, I am celebrating the book birthday of Every Last Kiss.  Today and tomorrow,, Every Last Kiss will be free on Amazon Kindle. You can find it here

 

Also, as a special thank you to the wonderful readers who have followed every step of Cadmus and Harmonia’s adventures, I have written a bonus novella, House of Thebes.  For the first time, you can read how Harmonia and Cadmus met…the first time.   As a thank you to YOU, my awesome and wonderful fans, it will be available for FREE on Amazon Kindle today.   You can find it here

I really hope you enjoy it. 

And lastly, it would not be a birthday bash without prizes, right?   So, over the course of today and tomorrow, you will be entered to win prizes every time you tweet this on Twitter:  To celebrate the book birthday of Every Last Kiss by @courtwritesYA, it will be free on Amazon Kindle today http://ow.ly/asd4b

I’ll be giving away signed copies of Every Last Kiss and House of Thebes, signed bookmarks, Greek Drachmas and a Bloodstone Saga t-shirts. 

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and THANK YOU again, so, so much, for reading my work.  I’m eternally grateful. 

YA Indie Carnival - Friday the 13th

Cue the creepy music!  OMG, I can actually hear it in my head!  I grew up LOVING scary movies and Jason Voorhees was one of my faves!  Freddy Kruger, Michael Myers, Leatherface, that chick from the Ring--GAH!  I love 'em/ hate 'em all!  That love might have had the teensiest influence on the gore found in Caterpillar.  MIGHT HAVE:)  LOL  I really enjoyed mixing romance with the horror in which Cat was living.  Of course, even the awful things she saw were tolerable once Tegan entered the picture.  Whew!  That guy is some kinda HAWT! 

For today's subject, I'm not going post the scariest scene.  I don't want to ruin it for those of you who haven't read it and might like a little fright.  I will, however, post one that had both an interesting creepy character and one that led to something...steamy.  It's my favorite combination.  I won't spoil all the steam, but I'll lead you right up to the end of the scene that precedes it.

(EXCERPT FROM CATERPILLAR)

I drove to my house.  I was still feeling a little jumpy after the cat incident.  Add to that another murder and the strange yet powerful attraction I felt toward Tegan and I was feeling pretty antsy.  And the incongruity of it was extremely disconcerting. 

I waited for him to park behind me.  When he got out, I said, “I guess you want to come in and grill me, huh?”

His voice was a low, scratchy rumble, like velvet.  “Something like that,” he said.  Something about the way he said it made it sound wicked, like he had much, much more in mind. 

I tried to ignore the tingle of sheer pleasure that danced along my nerves.  We walked to the front door together in silence.  On some level, I noticed that the cat was nowhere to be found, but I didn’t give it much thought.  I wondered absently if he had gone back to Aunt Jillian’s.  A crashing sound ripped my focus away from Tegan and back to the inky night.  We both stopped, turning our heads toward the sound. 

Tegan was on high alert.  He was perfectly still, but I could feel his tension, his readiness, like electricity in the air.  It hummed all around him.  He reminded me of a rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike.

A dark figure, possibly the one I’d “seen” stepping onto the front porch earlier, emerged from the bushes.  Even when he stepped into the low light coming from the window, he was still cloaked in deep shadow, like he carried the dark, the blackness, within him.  He didn’t move particularly quickly.  He more lumbered, like someone capable of brute force but also a debilitating clumsiness.

When he came at me, I stumbled backward.  He hoisted something into the air then lunged.  Before I could react, Tegan stepped in front of me, shielding my body with his own.  I saw Tegan catch the man’s weapon between his hands then turn it back on him.  Tegan jammed the object into the man’s chest, the crunch of bones shattering the otherwise silent night. 

Dumbfounded, I watched the man fall to the ground.  Degree by degree, the darkness that surrounded him receded, draining away like he was shedding blackness rather than blood.  It revealed a skull covered in deathly pale skin—and nothing else.  There were no eyes or nose or mouth.  No hair, no face.  The thin skin enveloped his entire misshapen skull then webbed out and connected to his shoulders. 

I watched his body wiggle and contort, the darkness continuing to abate, revealing more pale skin.  A thin membrane connected his arms to his trunk and his legs to one another.  It spread like gauze between his fingers and toes.  As his thrashing slowed, so did his transformation, leaving him a deformed rectangular lump covered in thin, fibrous skin.

He began to make a strange gurgling noise, as if something wet was caught in his throat, and then he exploded into millions of tiny black spiders.  They scattered in every direction, disappearing into the earth in a flurry of clambering legs. 

I jumped up, scrambling away from the spiders.  I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from squealing.  When the spiders were gone, I stood staring at the spot where the body had lain only moments before.  I finally looked over to Tegan.  He was standing with a wooden stake in his hand, his breathing labored.  He looked at me and I could see the sheen of perspiration on his face.

“What just happened?”

“I just destroyed a golem.”

“What about all those spiders?”

“Spiders are carriers of evil.”

“Carriers?’

“Yes.  They can contain it, hold it within themselves.  They’re like empty vessels.  Once they’re filled, they become slaves to the demon who…sort of owns them.  They do their master’s will.”

Something was tickling at the back of my mind, but I was far from thinking clearly.  In fact, I was struggling just to take it all in.  “What’s a golem?”

“It’s a formless, featureless creature that takes the shape its creator specifies and performs whatever duties his creator demands of him.”

My mind was racing almost as fast as my heart.  I’d never heard of a golem, but Tegan had obviously dealt with them before.  “How do you know that?  How did you know that would kill him?”

“A golem isn’t hard to kill.  They have many of the same weaknesses humans do.  A gun would’ve worked just as well, but I just used what he had.”

“Thank you.  You- you saved my life.”

More winded than before, Tegan had to pause before answering. “Not- uh.  Not a problem.”  I could see sweat running down the sides of his face.

“Are you alright?”

“I don’t- don’t think so.  Can we go inside?’

He stumbled up the steps and onto the porch.  I got him inside as quickly as I could, the fist of alarm squeezing my chest in a vice grip.

Tegan went straight to the couch and tried to sit down, but he fell, crumpling into a heap on the floor. 

All right, that was just one of several creepy characters in Caterpillar.  If you'd like to read more, you can do so on Amazon and B&N for only $0.99 or you can purchase my Beginnings anthology, which includes Caterpillar as well as 4 other "book one-s" of my series.

Now, time to go check out the other carnival folk and see what scary stuff they have to offer.

Dani Snell Refracted Light Reviews
Patti Larsen Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, The Hunted Series and the Hayle Coven Novels
Courtney Cole Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Fisher Amelie Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Laura Elliott Author of Winnemucca as well as 13 on Halloween, book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
Amy Jones Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Rachel Coles Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Whistles, Beergarden, Plagues, Bees of St. John, and Mushrooms
T.R. Graves Author of Warriors of the Cross
Cheri Schmidt Author of Fateful, Fractured, and Fair Maiden
Suzy Turner Author of December Moon and Raven
K.C. Blake Author of Vampire Rules
Gwenn Wright Author of Filter
Cidney Swanson Author of Ripple series
Heather Self Blogger, Reviewer and upcoming Indie Author
Heather M. White, Author of The Destiny Saga
Melissa Pearl, Author The Time Spirit Trilogy
Bryna Butler, Author of Midnight Guardian series
Liz Long
Ella James

Signed books and other cool stuff

I know I'm slow, but I FINALLY got some "stuff" up on here that you can purchase.  Most things will come signed (obviously not the wristbands, the pen or the t-shirt).  If you have any questions, just e-mail me and ask. Y'all know how much I love hearing from you.  As I get new swag, I'll add it to the page now that the bones are there.  As always, thank y'all so much for your love and support.  You make me one happy, happy girl:)

Happy Easter and Happy Book Birthday

Happy Easter, y'all!  Don't forget to pick up your copy of my new book today.  But be careful!  It's FRAGILE. 

*grins sheepishly*

Can you believe I just put something that cheesy on my blog, for the whole world to see?  Yeah, me, too:D  LOL

Okay, so I'm not sure if it's bad form to wish oneself a happy book birthday, but I totally just did.  Up there^ ^ ^  Did you see it?  Well, it's done now. No turning back.  So let me just say, you should really hop on over to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and get your copy of Fragile.  Seriously.  You should.  Right now.  And if not today, if it's the print you want, then it should be available on Amazon by the end of the upcoming week.  Unless you want to go get it direct from CreateSpace, in which case, it's ready!  Woot!

As always, I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart.  You can't imagine how much your love and support and awesome messages mean to me.  Really!  I hope you enjoy my first YA Contemporary Romance and that you'll take a minute to go to Amazon or B&N and leave a review.  It helps more than you could imagine!  I love y'all.  Truly.

And finally, for all you lovers of Jackson out there, I'm starting Madly book 3 tomorrow.  I hope to have it finished by month's end and published the first week of May.  I'll give a specific release date once it is written in stone.  Until then... enjoy Fragile:)


Thanks, Easter Bunny!  *bawk bawk*  You gotta watch til the end:)