I'm pleased to welcome today's guest fellow Author Morgan Nyberg on a blog tour hosted by The Masquerade Crew. Welcome aboard and I hope the rest of the tour goes great.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Hump Day Hunks- Qualifications of a Hero- Part 4
For my personal qualifications that are a must have in my heroes, I've shared three qualities.
1- A since of humor is a must. If he can laugh at his own mistakes, with a charming smile on his face, you can just about forgive him anything.
2- Is confidence. A man who believes in himself and for what he is fighting for, is a total plus. Even if that means being slightly cocky and arrogant in the process as long as he leaves enough feeling behind to be redeemable in the end.
3- Being courteous doesn't cost a hero anything and shows his heroine she is worth taking care of even if that just means holding a door open for her. Small courtesies show he cares and is thinking of her.
What could be the fourth quality to stand out after those three? It would have to be one of the most important qualities to me. My heroes have to have trust or rather faith in their heroine. In each of my books I write strong heroines, women who can take care of themselves if it comes down to it. If my heroes don't know that in the start of their story, they learn it pretty quickly.
From Old Dreams: Arlene the Freshmen college girl, turns out to be one heck of an archer and helps kill the vampire who killed her in her last life.
From Past Regrets: Her granddaughter Ginger is a military General who has been in the military since she was around eleven, so not only is she fully trained, but has some unusual alien powers to back her up.
From Ancient Enemies: Snow the wiccan with ice witch powers. Her cousin Jade who is half wiccan. half vampire has the speed, strength and healing abilities from her blood viral disease, vampirism. Caroline the doctor with alien healing abilities.
Then the more human girls. From New Beginnings: We have Megumi, a girl who was once a Yankii gang girl, who learned how to fight to survive gang life.
From One Wish: Melanie who is just an average girl who gets jerked through time to the past and lands in the midst of pirates.
From His Kiss: A normal contemporary girl Amber, who has fallen in love with her best friend, but he has faith that she will remain his despite the temptation from another man.
And last, but not least- From Talkers: Shayle is a mechanic turned bodyguard and head of security for a band's tour as a favor to an old friend of her father. Shayle is actually the strongest of all my heroines and is actually hired to protect a rock band from a nasty stalker issue.
In their on way, each heroine has a hero that has faith in her abilities may they be in fighting, being a protector or just faith in their love. For a hero to be truly strong he needs to know he doesn't have to always worry about his girl and knowing she has his back is always a plus too.
What do you think? Should the hero always protect the girl or should they be partners who can lean on each other? Which type of characters do you like best?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
P.S. Don't miss out tomorrow I'll have a special Thoughtful Thursday post on Since Tomorrow By Morgan Nyberg.
1- A since of humor is a must. If he can laugh at his own mistakes, with a charming smile on his face, you can just about forgive him anything.
2- Is confidence. A man who believes in himself and for what he is fighting for, is a total plus. Even if that means being slightly cocky and arrogant in the process as long as he leaves enough feeling behind to be redeemable in the end.
3- Being courteous doesn't cost a hero anything and shows his heroine she is worth taking care of even if that just means holding a door open for her. Small courtesies show he cares and is thinking of her.
What could be the fourth quality to stand out after those three? It would have to be one of the most important qualities to me. My heroes have to have trust or rather faith in their heroine. In each of my books I write strong heroines, women who can take care of themselves if it comes down to it. If my heroes don't know that in the start of their story, they learn it pretty quickly.
From Old Dreams: Arlene the Freshmen college girl, turns out to be one heck of an archer and helps kill the vampire who killed her in her last life.
From Past Regrets: Her granddaughter Ginger is a military General who has been in the military since she was around eleven, so not only is she fully trained, but has some unusual alien powers to back her up.
From Ancient Enemies: Snow the wiccan with ice witch powers. Her cousin Jade who is half wiccan. half vampire has the speed, strength and healing abilities from her blood viral disease, vampirism. Caroline the doctor with alien healing abilities.
Then the more human girls. From New Beginnings: We have Megumi, a girl who was once a Yankii gang girl, who learned how to fight to survive gang life.
From One Wish: Melanie who is just an average girl who gets jerked through time to the past and lands in the midst of pirates.
From His Kiss: A normal contemporary girl Amber, who has fallen in love with her best friend, but he has faith that she will remain his despite the temptation from another man.
And last, but not least- From Talkers: Shayle is a mechanic turned bodyguard and head of security for a band's tour as a favor to an old friend of her father. Shayle is actually the strongest of all my heroines and is actually hired to protect a rock band from a nasty stalker issue.
In their on way, each heroine has a hero that has faith in her abilities may they be in fighting, being a protector or just faith in their love. For a hero to be truly strong he needs to know he doesn't have to always worry about his girl and knowing she has his back is always a plus too.
What do you think? Should the hero always protect the girl or should they be partners who can lean on each other? Which type of characters do you like best?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
P.S. Don't miss out tomorrow I'll have a special Thoughtful Thursday post on Since Tomorrow By Morgan Nyberg.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Music Monday to For a Match Made in Heaven!
I had originally planned to use a different song today, but then I found out Boa had released her new single and had to watch it. It was so sweet and sad that I have to share it. I'm sure by now most of you know not only my son, but also my favorite South Korean band is SHINee. Well, here is an interesting tid bit for you. Boa and SHINee both work for SM Entertainment and SHINee's youngest member, Lee Taemin, has become a regular dance partner for Boa at live events for her song Only One. Personally I think it was a couple made in heaven as they are the two best dancers in the world. But, that is my opinion.
For Boa's new single Disturbance, Taemin is featured as the hero in her video. And I couldn't be more amazed or proud of how great he did playing the part of a heartbroken hero. With his tears and facial expression you can feel his pain deeply. Add that on to Boa's breathtaking voice and sad lyrics and it just pulls on your heart strings.
Disturbance By: Boa
Here are a few clips of some of the different lives they did for the song. Taemin comes in around 1:38 and is only there till about 2:11, but for the tiny part he has in the performance you can see how well matched they are.
120729 - BoA feat.Taemin - Only one (Comeback stage) - Inkigayo
This is a 47 second clip on a different day of just Taemin's part and as you can see he mixes it up a little and wow do they look fabulous together.
120818 Only One - BoA(Taemin Part Cut)_SMTOWN LIVE
Here is another event they did, which is shot from other angles, so that with all three clips you can see the whole dance routine and it is fantastic. You can see why I think these are the two best dancers in the world, the king and queen of dance! :) Not to mention Boa is a fantastic singer. It is really hard to dance like that and be able to breath, but on top of that she sings and her voice stays perfectly steady. Boa is one seriously talented young woman.
BoA(Feat.SHINee Tae-min) - Only One
If you want to learn more about both Boa and SHINee here are links to their main websites.
Their agency- SM Entertainment
SHINee's Official Website
Boa's Official Website
For Boa's new single Disturbance, Taemin is featured as the hero in her video. And I couldn't be more amazed or proud of how great he did playing the part of a heartbroken hero. With his tears and facial expression you can feel his pain deeply. Add that on to Boa's breathtaking voice and sad lyrics and it just pulls on your heart strings.
 |
| Poster for Disturbance |
Disturbance By: Boa
 |
| Lee Taemin of SHINee |
Here are a few clips of some of the different lives they did for the song. Taemin comes in around 1:38 and is only there till about 2:11, but for the tiny part he has in the performance you can see how well matched they are.
120729 - BoA feat.Taemin - Only one (Comeback stage) - Inkigayo
This is a 47 second clip on a different day of just Taemin's part and as you can see he mixes it up a little and wow do they look fabulous together.
120818 Only One - BoA(Taemin Part Cut)_SMTOWN LIVE
Here is another event they did, which is shot from other angles, so that with all three clips you can see the whole dance routine and it is fantastic. You can see why I think these are the two best dancers in the world, the king and queen of dance! :) Not to mention Boa is a fantastic singer. It is really hard to dance like that and be able to breath, but on top of that she sings and her voice stays perfectly steady. Boa is one seriously talented young woman.
BoA(Feat.SHINee Tae-min) - Only One
If you want to learn more about both Boa and SHINee here are links to their main websites.
Their agency- SM Entertainment
 |
| Poster of SHINee from a 2010 concert with all SM talents. |
SHINee's Official Website
 |
| Screen cap from Dance version of Only One MV |
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Hump Day Hunks What qualities make a hero? Part 3
One quality that a hero must have in one form or another for me is Courtesy. A man who is rude, disrespectful or nasty just doesn't cute it in my made up worlds. For me a hero is at his most charming when he takes the time to show manners through caring. If he can care for others, then it is obvious he will care for you.
One of the heroes in my Zogone Sagas and hero of Ancient Enemies is Josh Hardigan. He may act like a bad boy, a ladies man, and slightly full of himself kind of like Sho from last week's post. But, the one thing Josh has in spades is courtesy and a great love for his family. Josh manages to grab the attention of his future wife, not by his soldier's skills or his pure good looks. What grabs her attention and keeps him from being blasted by her wiccan powers is the way he treats his grandmother. As Josh is walking down a hill toward Snow's family home, he takes his grandmother's arm to steady her, so she doesn't fall and hurt herself.
A man who will take the time to care for his women folk, is a man worth taking a second look at. What do you think? Is a hero without some comment courtesy even worth a heroine's time? Or should we stick to the bad boy who loves his mama?
One of the heroes in my Zogone Sagas and hero of Ancient Enemies is Josh Hardigan. He may act like a bad boy, a ladies man, and slightly full of himself kind of like Sho from last week's post. But, the one thing Josh has in spades is courtesy and a great love for his family. Josh manages to grab the attention of his future wife, not by his soldier's skills or his pure good looks. What grabs her attention and keeps him from being blasted by her wiccan powers is the way he treats his grandmother. As Josh is walking down a hill toward Snow's family home, he takes his grandmother's arm to steady her, so she doesn't fall and hurt herself.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Music Monday With a Writer Outta Her Head-
Last Monday was great. My son had a great birthday, which means he got a new video game and a triple chocolate cake. Between the time he left for school and came home I had a hugely productive day. I got the waaaaaaay to sugary cake made (triple chocolate fudge with chocolate chips in the batter, covered in Hershey's chocolate whipped frosting.) Plus, I ended up getting a lot of writing done, finished one chapter and almost half of the next. Monday night I even managed to get my Hump Day Hunks post finished and saved for last Wednesday.
By Tuesday morning, being productive was nothing but a lovely dream. The epidemic like flu that is traveling at light speed all around the world paid me a visit and it is one of those visitors who come, stay and seriously wear out their welcome. After almost a week of living off of fruit cups, because I was unable to keep anything else down and I'm still not up to speed yet.
Now, on Saturday flu or no flu, we had to go grocery shopping. I spent the time in the store leaning on my cart to keep upright. Tired...tired...dizzy... dizzy. By the time we were done and on our way home I felt completely out of my head. It started with my body kind of slumping sideways in my seat.
And I thought, "I'm listing."
Then, "Listing is making a table, a list of different things, but yet at the same time a slow tilting in one direction or another."
From there my mind started buzzing through the integrates of the human language. How many different ways do we have to say one thing? How hard would it be for a person to understand all the different ways to say one thing in another country's language. And on and on my mind wondered. Until finally I came to a conclusion. Without the worries of our normal world, without the normal locks we have on our minds, in sickness our minds are free to go where it wants. Pure genius can come out of pure madness. The most ingenious minds could be out there locked in some hospital somewhere and only that person would know it.
So, I thought today's Music Monday would go in honor of everyone who has picked up this bug, ever been really desperately sick, for anyone who has ever really been out of there head like this. And if you haven't, I hope you never do. Grab some vitamin C and try to avoid this bug if you can. Stay healthy and happy reading!
Outta My Head By: Ashlee Simpson
By Tuesday morning, being productive was nothing but a lovely dream. The epidemic like flu that is traveling at light speed all around the world paid me a visit and it is one of those visitors who come, stay and seriously wear out their welcome. After almost a week of living off of fruit cups, because I was unable to keep anything else down and I'm still not up to speed yet.
Now, on Saturday flu or no flu, we had to go grocery shopping. I spent the time in the store leaning on my cart to keep upright. Tired...tired...dizzy... dizzy. By the time we were done and on our way home I felt completely out of my head. It started with my body kind of slumping sideways in my seat.
And I thought, "I'm listing."
Then, "Listing is making a table, a list of different things, but yet at the same time a slow tilting in one direction or another."
From there my mind started buzzing through the integrates of the human language. How many different ways do we have to say one thing? How hard would it be for a person to understand all the different ways to say one thing in another country's language. And on and on my mind wondered. Until finally I came to a conclusion. Without the worries of our normal world, without the normal locks we have on our minds, in sickness our minds are free to go where it wants. Pure genius can come out of pure madness. The most ingenious minds could be out there locked in some hospital somewhere and only that person would know it.
So, I thought today's Music Monday would go in honor of everyone who has picked up this bug, ever been really desperately sick, for anyone who has ever really been out of there head like this. And if you haven't, I hope you never do. Grab some vitamin C and try to avoid this bug if you can. Stay healthy and happy reading!
Outta My Head By: Ashlee Simpson
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Six Sentence Sunday That Send Chills up the Spine!
When I started writing my YA Sci-fi Romance, I wanted it to be something new an exciting, way beyond anything I've ever tried before. I didn't want to write just another sci-fi with aliens. Nor did I want to make some shotty knock off zombie Apocalypse. For my W.I.P. (work in progress), I decided to have a horrible breed of alien monsters go from planet to planet, killing everything in their paths including planets themselves.
So, after Earth has been invaded by these monsters, my heroine has to go from being a normal no worries, no cares teenage girl to a parent to her younger brother, his protector and even learn to be a warrior to fight and make sure he has a planet left to live on. Fighting aliens is bad enough, but what happens when the DNA from the monster aliens manages to fuse with human dead bodies... the aliens take control and are reanimated. The first time you come across something like that, how would you react?
This is part of the scene I started when my heroine comes across her first zombie. She has a 'Barbara reaction' as I like to call it. My sister is one of the bravest women I know, a horror junky, have in love with Steven King, yet.... When she sees a spider she screams really loud and doesn't stop until its dead. I thought writing the scene with a 'Barbara reaction' would make it horrifying and slightly worth a good grin imagining a zombie getting the shoe like the spider. What do you think?
From YA SFR W.I.P.
One glance down and pure terror seized her, causing an instant girlie reaction. She started to involuntarily scream and couldn't seem to make herself stop. After a few panicked kicks refused to break the zombie’s hold on her leg, she leaned away from it. Grasping a thin metal rod off the ground, which vaguely looked like it had once been part of a cement guard post, she jerked back upright.
Closing her eyes tightly, she slammed the metal rod into the zombie body over and over again, letting out a hysterical scream with each hit. After the zombie‘s grasp finally loosened a bit, she continued the slam, scream, lift of the rod a few more times until she felt safe enough to open her eyes back open.
Using the end of the rod, she pride the zombie’s hand the rest of the way open, then stumbled back sobbing hysterically, away from the black charred body, which now possessed a pool of bone, congealed blood and smashed brains, where it‘s head had previously been.
So, after Earth has been invaded by these monsters, my heroine has to go from being a normal no worries, no cares teenage girl to a parent to her younger brother, his protector and even learn to be a warrior to fight and make sure he has a planet left to live on. Fighting aliens is bad enough, but what happens when the DNA from the monster aliens manages to fuse with human dead bodies... the aliens take control and are reanimated. The first time you come across something like that, how would you react?
This is part of the scene I started when my heroine comes across her first zombie. She has a 'Barbara reaction' as I like to call it. My sister is one of the bravest women I know, a horror junky, have in love with Steven King, yet.... When she sees a spider she screams really loud and doesn't stop until its dead. I thought writing the scene with a 'Barbara reaction' would make it horrifying and slightly worth a good grin imagining a zombie getting the shoe like the spider. What do you think?
From YA SFR W.I.P.
One glance down and pure terror seized her, causing an instant girlie reaction. She started to involuntarily scream and couldn't seem to make herself stop. After a few panicked kicks refused to break the zombie’s hold on her leg, she leaned away from it. Grasping a thin metal rod off the ground, which vaguely looked like it had once been part of a cement guard post, she jerked back upright.
Closing her eyes tightly, she slammed the metal rod into the zombie body over and over again, letting out a hysterical scream with each hit. After the zombie‘s grasp finally loosened a bit, she continued the slam, scream, lift of the rod a few more times until she felt safe enough to open her eyes back open.
Using the end of the rod, she pride the zombie’s hand the rest of the way open, then stumbled back sobbing hysterically, away from the black charred body, which now possessed a pool of bone, congealed blood and smashed brains, where it‘s head had previously been.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Hump Day Hunks- What Are the Qualifications of a Hero? Part 2
Part one was up for debate and I love that. Hearing the different opinions from readers makes my day. The strong silent type vs the charmer who steals your attention with his laughing smile.
A second quality that to me is a must have, is confidence. But this too can be worth a good debate. Which is better in your opinion? A man who goes full speed ahead complete confident in himself and his ability? Or would you rather have one of those heroes who is so overconfident you love to hate him? You know the ones I'm talking about, the guys that know they are studs and who can get whatever or whoever they want. Those are the guys in television shows and movies where you would like to reach through the screen and slap silly, but by the end of the show they have some how managed to win you over.
Usually, I'm the type of girl who goes for the hero whose confidence makes him brave, proud and true to the cause. But, to be fair, I'll admit I do have one favorite hero who is the strong overbearing type who seriously could use a lesson in manners. His name is Sho and he is from the manga turned anime turned live action drama Skip Beat.
-----------------------------
From Wikipedia
Shō Fuwa (不破 尚 Fuwa Shō)
A second quality that to me is a must have, is confidence. But this too can be worth a good debate. Which is better in your opinion? A man who goes full speed ahead complete confident in himself and his ability? Or would you rather have one of those heroes who is so overconfident you love to hate him? You know the ones I'm talking about, the guys that know they are studs and who can get whatever or whoever they want. Those are the guys in television shows and movies where you would like to reach through the screen and slap silly, but by the end of the show they have some how managed to win you over.
Usually, I'm the type of girl who goes for the hero whose confidence makes him brave, proud and true to the cause. But, to be fair, I'll admit I do have one favorite hero who is the strong overbearing type who seriously could use a lesson in manners. His name is Sho and he is from the manga turned anime turned live action drama Skip Beat.
From Wikipedia
Shō Fuwa (不破 尚 Fuwa Shō)
- Voiced by: Nobutoshi Kanna (drama CD), Mamoru Miyano (anime)
- His real name is Shōtarō (松太郎). He keeps it a secret because he finds it very old-fashioned. He is an extremely egotistical, extremely talented music star. Shō had no qualms about asking Kyoko to give up her life in Kyoto to support him in Tokyo, fully cognizant of her misconceptions of the nature of their relationship. After Kyoko's transformation, he is shocked and soon discovers he had more feelings for her than he originally thought. He has disliked seeing Kyoko's tears since childhood, knows her preferences in food, and of her love for fairy tales and things romantic in nature, but stole her first kiss so that she would hate him and obsess over him. Shō holds a great animosity towards Ren because he is hailed as the coolest, number one guy in show biz. Shō declared that he'd steal all of Ren's fans and the title of "The Coolest Male Celebrity" from him. He does not like Ren's closeness to Kyoko and he challenges Ren as he makes it known that he would not willingly give up his place in Kyoko's heart as the one she thinks of the most.
- --------------------------------------------
- Even being the biggest jerk and hurting his most beloved person Kyoko, by throwing her away, I still can't help, but want his character to win in this love triangle. Why? He regrets it. Of course he won't admit his regret, he simply states Kyoko belongs to him. But, a man who is worried about his property doesn't get jealous and enraged at the thought she might like someone else now. You can tell he loves her. He makes excuse to go see her, to pick fights with her, anything to keep her angry with him. If she is angry or hates him, then that means she is thinking of him and still has emotions for him alone. Shotty way to go about it, I agree, but we are still waiting to see what he will do next to win her back, because this is still an ongoing Japanese manga.
- When they started planning to turn Skip Beat into a drama I was thrilled, but then there were a number of delays that lasted a few years. In the end they turned one of my favorite Japanese manga into a Taiwanese drama and get this... the two main heroes were Korean? I didn't know what to make of this. My beloved Shōtarō played by a k-pop singer! Not to mention they changed the charters' names to Taiwanese ones. But, I have to say the young man Lee Dong Hae did a pretty great job making himself slap worthy and still ends up worthy of redeeming. You can watch it with English Subtitles- Here!
- So, which would you chose the perfectly confident hero or the Shōtarō's of the world? Confident or slightly overbearing?
- Dong Hae is a member of Super Junior. See if you can find him in this cute love song!
- Super Junior's Website
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| Dong Hae as Sho |
Monday, January 14, 2013
A Special Birthday Music Monday!
Fourteen years ago today, one of the greatest loves of my life was born, my beloved son T.J. (or excuse me T.J. is a baby name ;), My son Tim was born today, January 14th back in 1999. So, today I'm doing a special Music Monday just for him.
Like me he listens to a huge variety of music from all over the world and he changes his favorite song like most people change their underwear. So, I'll share his favorite song of the moment.
From the Inside By: Linkin Park
If you really want to be adventurous today, you can check out stuff from all of his favorite bands.
-His favorite American band- Linkin Park
-His favorite Korean band- SHINee- And one of his favorite songs from them. Replay By: SHINee
-His favorite German band- Tokio Hotel One of his favorite Tokio Hotel songs- Monsoon By: Tokio Hotel
-His favorite Japanese band- Beat Crusaders. His favorite song of theirs from the Anime Beck- Moon on the Water By: Beat Crusaders
A lot of people loved this song. You can find about a gazillion covers of it on Youtube! Beat Crusaders also does a lot of theme songs for the anime Bleach, which my guys reallllllllllly love.
I hope you take the time to check out some of his favorites and find some great new bands to listen to. I'm proud to say my son has excellent taste in music. It gives us one thing to agree on! Happy Birthday Sweetheart if you can hear me over the blaring of your IPod.
Like me he listens to a huge variety of music from all over the world and he changes his favorite song like most people change their underwear. So, I'll share his favorite song of the moment.
From the Inside By: Linkin Park
If you really want to be adventurous today, you can check out stuff from all of his favorite bands.
-His favorite American band- Linkin Park
-His favorite Korean band- SHINee- And one of his favorite songs from them. Replay By: SHINee
-His favorite German band- Tokio Hotel One of his favorite Tokio Hotel songs- Monsoon By: Tokio Hotel
-His favorite Japanese band- Beat Crusaders. His favorite song of theirs from the Anime Beck- Moon on the Water By: Beat Crusaders
A lot of people loved this song. You can find about a gazillion covers of it on Youtube! Beat Crusaders also does a lot of theme songs for the anime Bleach, which my guys reallllllllllly love.
I hope you take the time to check out some of his favorites and find some great new bands to listen to. I'm proud to say my son has excellent taste in music. It gives us one thing to agree on! Happy Birthday Sweetheart if you can hear me over the blaring of your IPod.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Thoughtful Thursday With Visiting Author Raebeth McGee-
Today I have with me Author Raebeth McGee who is on a whirlwind blog tour for January. Today, January 10th is my day for a stop along her tour.
RaeBeth McGee-Buda:
RaeBeth McGee-Buda was born in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1987, the second daughter of Rachel Yost and Arthur Curtis McGee. RaeBeth grew up loving to read and write poetry, as well as short stories. Her childhood dream was to become a teacher. Rae Beth's dream of writing was created in her eleventh grade literature class where writing became her passion.
RaeBeth married in August 2012 to her husband, Gregory Stephen Buda Jr. and resides in a small Pennsylvania town of Fairchance. RaeBeth is a full time mother of one and is expecting her second.
She graduated from American Intercontinental University with her associates in business administration. She enjoys spending her time writing and feels that connecting with readers is her main goal.
RaeBeth published Silenced under her maiden name but plans to continue writing under her married name with any other works.
Genre: Young Adult/Suspense
Link to Tour on Main Site - http://raebethmcgeeswriting.blogspot.com/
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Silenced-Series-ebook/dp/B00ANRBNDS/ref=la_B00ANXH6PG_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355486287&sr=1-1
Giveaway:
Raebeth is doing a tour wide giveaway that will include the following as a prize... 1 ecopy of Silenced, an author card, & (fake) razor necklace.
Giveaway Link
Blurb:
Amber Brown spent her entire existence
believing Dave was her father. When her mother reveals this is untrue, she goes
through an emotional spiral with depression. It's hard for her to believe her
mother had lied to her all this time.
A move to a new home and town causes Amber to be consumed by her "darkness" and reverts to cutting to free herself from her pain.
When Casey, her new friend enters her life, she introduces Amber to parties, drugs, and Amber's new boyfriend Landon. The secret of cutting begins to take affect on Amber as she tries to hide it from her friends and family. In the mist of everything, Amber has the desire to find out who her biological father is.
Follow Amber through her trials of depression and cutting, along with the discovery of love.
Excerpts :
The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 1.
I grab the razor blade I took from my dad’s
garage. It’s tiny, but sharp. I turn it over in my hands, nicking my palm. The
blood trickles down my wrist and I smile with grim satisfaction. Yes, this will
do the job. I catch one last look in the mirror; the pain makes me want to
explode. I can’t take it anymore. I press it lightly against my wrist, tracing
a blue vein under my skin. The razor is cold, smooth, and comforting. I press
harder, dragging it across my wrist over and over like I’m going to saw it off.
Pain comes rushing out. Free at last.
The intensity is too much and I sink to the
floor, leaning against the bathroom door while trying to catch my breath. I
stay like this for a while, dripping blood onto the tile. Unexpectedly, the
front door slams closed. I jump. I scramble for some toilet paper and press it
to the wound.
“Amber?” my mother yells up the stairs,
“We’re home.”
Yet I can’t move. I'm numb. I can’t even
answer her back to tell her something, anything, to make sure she doesn’t come
up here and see me like this.
“Do you hear me?” she yells again.
I gather up the energy to fight through the
lack of feeling. “I hear you. Sorry. I’ll be down in a minute,” I reply
hastily, hoping deep down inside she can’t hear my shaking voice. I hear her
shoes tapping on the hardwood floors in the kitchen and I know I'm safe for a
short time.
I need to get off the floor, even though the
numbness is still lingers throughout my body. I search deep inside for whatever
strength I have left and push myself up. My arms are shaking but they’re able
to hold me for a brief moment. Standing is a bit harder. I use the bathroom
counter for support as I reach for the medicine cabinet to get the first aid
kit.
I find the gauze and tape on the top shelf.
Then sit back down. Resting on the toilet, I gently wrap my arm where my mom
won’t notice, and tape it down. After the tape, I slide the sports band on.
Another job well done.
--------------------------------
Thanks Raebeth for sharing your book with us. I hope the tour finishes off great for you. Good luck and may your writing career keep going strong.
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