Cover Reveal: Addicted to You

Today I'm participating in the cover reveal for my friend Colina Brennan's upcoming release. The cover is fantastic and after reading that summary, I really can't wait to get my hands on a copy!

Summary:

When twenty-one-year-old Leah Carter's latest one night stand burglarizes her apartment, her roommate forces her to attend therapy for sex addicts. Leah insists she isn't a sex addict; she just doesn't do relationships. After all, sooner or later, everyone lets you down.

At first, the group sessions are little more than an education on how to be promiscuous. Until she meets the newest addict—blue eyes, killer body, and a smile that tempts relapse.

Psychology student Will McLean is posing as a fellow addict while researching a case study on unusual addictions. But the more he learns about Leah, the more certain he is that his desire to break through her walls and unearth her secrets has nothing to do with his assignment.

As the uncertainties spike alongside the sexual tension, the only thing Leah knows for sure is that falling in love would be disastrous. Too bad love might be one addiction she can't kick.

About the Author:

Colina Brennan is a new adult writer with a love for the fantastical and the romantic. When she isn’t writing, she’s attached at the hip to her kids or chasing her dog or daydreaming about what she wants to write next.

Links:   Twitter   Facebook   Blog   Goodreads

Cover Reveal: Fixed On You + GIVEAWAY

      

Today I'm excited to participate in the cover reveal for Laurelin Page's new book! Check it out and enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card!

                                         

Title: Fixed on You (Fixed, #1)

Author: Laurelin Paige

Genre: Contemporary

Age Group: Adult

Expected release date: July 31, 2013

Cover reveal organized by: AToMR Tours

                                                             

Stalking and restraining orders are a thing of Alayna Pierce’s past. With her MBA newly in hand, she has her future figured out – move up at the nightclub she works at and marry the manager, David. He’s perfect for her because, although he’s attractive, he doesn’t get her all turned inside out and upside down like some other men have. It’s a safe plan, one that assures she’ll remain in control of her obsessive love disorder. But what Alayna didn’t figure on is Hudson Pierce, the new owner of the nightclub. He’s smart, rich, and gorgeous – the kind of guy Alayna knows to stay away from if she wants to keep her past tendencies in check. Except, Hudson’s fixed his sights on her. He wants her in his bed and makes no secret of his plans to seduce her. Avoiding him becomes impossible after he offers a business proposition Alayna can’t turn down and she’s drawn further into his universe, unable to resist his gravitational pull. Soon Alayna’s charmed by Hudson in every way possible and the control over her old behaviors slip. When she learns Hudson has a dark history of his own, she realizes too late that she’s fallen for the worst man she could possibly get involved with. Or maybe their less than ideal pasts give them an opportunity to heal each other and finally find the love their lives have been missing.


About the Author

Laurelin Paige is a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however. When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching Mad Men or the Walking Dead, or dreaming of Adam Levine. She is represented by the wonderful Bob Diforio of D4EO Literary Agency.

Blog | Twitter | Facebook

                                                           


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AGENT NEWS!

Yes, you read that right! I'm beyond thrilled to announce that I'm now represented by the amazing Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media!!!!! Seriously, this has been me for the past week:

So you may want to know how all of this happened. I have to give a huge thanks to the organizers of Writeoncon! I put my query letter for THE EDGE OF FOREVER up at Writeoncon last year, hoping for some feedback. Now I wasn't finished with the manuscript yet, and I noted that in the query letter, but I couldn't miss such a fantastic opportunity to have my query critiqued by so many wonderful writers and possibly ninja agents. Well, I got lucky and received a full request from one of those ninjas, who turned out to be Suzie. I promised to send the manuscript as soon as I finished, thinking it would take another month or so. *cue maniacal laughter* 

Anyway, to make a long story short, I didn't have it completely polished until the end of February this year. I sent my first query letters off at the very end of February/beginning of March, along with the manuscript to Suzie, and settled back because I'd been warned that there would be A LOT of waiting. Like months and months of waiting. Then a few weeks later, I received an email from Suzie. I was terrified to open it because I was sure it was a rejection. But I was stunned to find out that she was loving my book and just wanted the synopsis. Sure. No big deal, right? I sent it off, trying to be all cool and such, but I probably looked more like this:

And then after a little more waiting, I got another email. She loved it and wanted to talk. And after we talked and she officially offered to represent me, I probably looked a little crazy for a while and did a lot of squeeing and stuff like this:

I was really nervous to talk to Suzie, but she was so nice! She made me feel at ease and answered every question I had, and I feel so lucky to be one of her clients now. I look forward to many years of working with her!!! 

The New Adult Craze

So unless you're living under a rock or something, there's this whole new category of books called New Adult that's really popular now. I know of several authors who have self-published New Adult books, and they are doing very well. I've also seen numerous book deals in the past six months on Publisher's Marketplace in which previously self-published NA books have been sold to traditional publishers in some pretty sweet deals.

Now I'm not going to lie - I've thought about writing one of those books, but I've held off. Why? Because right now New Adult is really doing well for contemporary themes and my brain doesn't want to come up with straight contemporary plots. I naturally gravitate to strange and weird ideas, things that aren't found in the real world. Does that mean I'll never write a contemporary book? No...it just means I haven't found the right idea yet. Because I do love reading contemporary stories. In fact some of my favorite recent reads have been contemporary. Easy by Tammara Webber, Picture Perfect by Alessandra Thomas, Losing It by Cora Carmack, and If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch are just a few. Out of those titles, three of them are New Adult.

What I'm really wondering (and hoping) is that New Adult's popularity will expand to encompass other areas such as science fiction, fantasy, and historical. I'm critiquing a FANTASTIC New Adult historical book right now that's set during the prohibition era and I'd love to find more books like that.

So what do you think about New Adult? Have you read any of those books? And if you have, what are some titles you would recommend?

Hello Again!

So. It's been a while since I've posted here. No excuses - I'll just fill you in on what's been going on in Melissaland.

* First, I want to give a huge shout out to my fabulous CP, Christina Ferko. She just signed with Louise Fury of the L. Perkins Agency! *dances* I've worked with Christina for two years and have been lucky enough to read two of her books. She's a wonderful writer and I'm sooooo happy for her! :D

* One of the reasons I've been MIA is that I'm working a day job again! I love it and I'm so lucky to have a job in which I can work from home, but it does take away from my writing time. Anyway, like I said I'm lucky...the hours are flexible so I can work whenever I want. You can't beat that!

* Kids and husband. Enough said. ;)

* And last but not least, I've finished THE EDGE OF FOREVER! *tosses confetti* You can check out the summary under the brand new tab at the top of the page if you like. 

And that's it for now. I'm about to enter the strange world of querying, which honestly scares the crap of me. The thought of agents *possibly* reading my book is both terrifying and thrilling. I certainly hope one of them falls in love with my book baby!

So what's been going on with you lately? Any good news to share?

Cover Reveal: The Summer I Became A Nerd

Today I'm excited to be a part of the cover reveal for The Summer I Became A Nerd by Leah Rae Miller! Doesn't it look fantastic? 

On the outside, seventeen-year-old Madelyne Summers looks like your typical blond cheerleader—perky, popular, and dating the star quarterback. But inside, Maddie spends more time agonizing over what will happen in the next issue of her favorite comic book than planning pep rallies with her squad. That she’s a nerd hiding in a popular girl's body isn't just unknown, it's anti-known. And she needs to keep it that way.

Summer is the only time Maddie lets her real self out to play, but when she slips up and the adorkable guy behind the local comic shop’s counter uncovers her secret, she’s busted. Before she can shake a pom-pom, Maddie’s whisked into Logan’s world of comic conventions, live-action role-playing, and first-person-shooter video games. And she loves it. But the more she denies who she really is, the deeper her lies become…and the more she risks losing Logan forever.

Pre-order Links:  Barnes and Noble | Amazon

Additional Links:  Goodreads | Twitter | Website/Blog

There will also be a Marked-to-Read contest on Goodreads in the weeks leading up to THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD's release on May 7, 2013. Watch Leah’s site, http://leahraemillerblog.blogspot.com, for details on how to submit/enter to win.

Born and raised in northern Louisiana, Leah Rae Miller still lives there on a windy hill with her husband and kids. She loves comic books, lava lamps, fuzzy socks, and Cherry Coke. She spends most of her days reading things she likes and writing things she hopes other people will like.

Let's NaNoReviMo!

So I was feeling a little left out with lots of writers participating in NaNoWriMo. I participated last year and had a BLAST, but this year I'm knee-deep in revisions so no NaNo for me. *cue sad violin* Anyway, as I was procrastinating preparing to revise this morning, I stumbled on a blog post by Peggy Eddleman sharing info about something called NaNoReviMo. What's that? Well, it's a support network for writers stuck in the Revisions Cave (and you know how lonely the Revisions Cave can be), and it's being organized by Jessie Humphries. So of course I clicked over and joined. Because let me tell you, having a group of writers to support you is waaaay better than sitting alone day after day, trying to motivate yourself to revise. So if you're stuck in Revisions Hell, join us! :)

Now without further blabbing by yours truly, here are my goals for the month of November.

1. Identify all of the remaining parts of my WiP that need to be cut (because it's sitting at 96K right now and it needs to go on a serious word diet. ;)

2. Rewrite new scenes or revise what I already have (you know, whatever needs to be done to make the book all SHINY).

3. Find a few more beta readers to read once I'm finished (which WILL be on December 1).

And there you go. So what are your goals for November?