Kingdom Series Collection: Books 1-3 by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars Love Fairy Tales? Well, then the Kingdom Series is for you. Get the first free stories for free with this combo. They are fast reads with plenty of romance. I'm definitely hooked! View all my reviews Her Mad Hatter by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars Marie Hall has created an interesting world in the dimension of Fairy that hosts history's classic storybook characters. The twist is that instead of looking at fairy tales from the perspective of the would be princess, Hall takes on the challenge of finding the bad boys in the stories their soul mates. "Her Mad Hatter" is an intricate romance between Hatter and his modern day Alice. Both have scars that run deep, and neither one is willing to bend to their fears. But time is running out. Will Alice save the Hatter's sanity or will she push him over the edge? View all my reviews Gerard's Beauty by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars In the second Kingdom Novel, Marie Hill takes on a new aspect of the "Beauty and the Beast" story. Specifically, it's about the one main character that was left out. In "Gerard's Beauty" the leading protagonist is a heart broken womanizer. Gerard's heart turned cold when Belle chose the Beast long ago. So, when a pretty red head throws herself at him he doesn't think anything of it. Women are always throwing themselves at him, so why should he care about her name. Too bad, the red head is none other than Cinderella and Prince Charming's daughter. With Gerard on the run, his fairy godmother, Danika knows that the only way to save him from a beheading is to prove to everyone that he can be reformed. Meaning, she must unite him with his soulmate. Only then can his heart and his life be saved. View all my reviews Red and Her Wolf by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars "Red and Her Wolf" is the third story in the Kingdom Series. Marie Hall takes the well known "Little Red Riding Hood" story and turns it on its head in this intriguing new version. The leading bad boy, is no other than the Big Bad Wolf himself, but instead of being just a wolf, he's a shifter. While on a mission to kill the Heartsong, aka Little Red Riding Hood, he realized that she was his Mate. From that point on his life was never the same. "Red" was taken from him and he wants nothing more than to get her back. Overall, a great spin on the classic. View all my reviews Kingdom Series Chronicles: Part 2 - Books 4 & 5 by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars Marie Hall does an amazing job with the next set of books from the Kingdom Series. If you like fairy tales with a modern day twist, steamy romances, and a touch of original plot twists, then you'll love her books! View all my reviews Jinni's Wish by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars Marie Hall's "Jinni's Wish" is the fabulous fourth installment in the Kingdom Series. Jinni is a self deprecating shadow of his former self. Danika, his fairy godmother, arranges a chain of events that brings Paz Lopez into Jinni's world. Can Paz help Jinni find peace or will she let him slip away? Overall, I enjoyed this story and hope you will too! View all my reviews Hook's Pan by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars "Hook's Pan" is the fifth installment in Marie Hall's Kingdom Series. Hook isn't the crusty old man from the cartoon and movie. Quite opposite. And Peter isn't the fun kid that we were all lead to believe. In fact he is exactly what you would expect from a ten year old who has no rules, school, or parents along with about fifty lost boys as playmates. But that's only half the story. Trishelle Page is back. Unknown to most, she is an excellent actress. She wears a mask each and every day to hide the pain of losing her sister. Can they learn to look past their painful pasts and see into each other's souls? Or will they let their pain prevent them from finding happiness? Overall, this was a great ending to the first five books in the Kingdom Series. View all my reviews Danika's Surprise by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars "Danika's Surprise" is a short novella that allows the reader to witness the birth of Hatter and Alice's daughter. What should have been a sweet beginning to a little girl's life turned tragic when the moon kisses her. Ending in a cliffhanger, you will just have to read the next story to find out what will happen. I know I will. View all my reviews Moon's Flower by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars The "Moon's Flower" by Marie Hall is a tragic romantic tale told by Danika to a group of fae children. Romance, suspense, betrayal, and revenge are all woven into it's pages. Overall, its hard to say that I loved it because of the sad elements to it. But it really is a great read. If you loved the first half of the Kingdom Series, then you'll love reading this story too. View all my reviews Huntsman's Prey by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars Marie Hall weaves a tale full of mystery and intrigue in the "Huntsman's Pray". Her characters are both complicated and fascinating. Their struggles make them enduring. The "Huntsman's Pray" links all of the previous stories giving the reader a sense of continuity while setting up for the next installment in the Kingdom novels. Overall, I really enjoyed this story and hope you do too. View all my reviews Rumpel's Prize by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars Marie Hall creates a devilishly delightful version of Rumpelstiltskin in "Rumpel's Prize". Known as the Imp by those who hate him, Rumpelstiltskin is more than just a demon waiting to make deals in order to steal children away from their mothers. He's far from that. Yes, he is a broker of deals, but is only the face he puts on for the people of Kingdom. He is really a prince from the world known as Delirium. Set on fixing a situation not of his making, he seeks out his female clients to participate in three games. That's where Shayera Caron, Gerald and Betty's daughter, comes in. Calling in her father's deal, Rumpel requires Shayera to participate in his games. But what he didn't realize is that he could be at risk of losing more than his heart. Overall, I loved the story. Keep them coming Ms. Hall! View all my reviews Hood's Obsession by Marie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf have been busy during the past twenty years. With three boys and one girl, they've been blessed. But Lilith, their daughter never felt that way. It's hard on an alpha female when your folks are the only ones in shifter territory to be of two separate races. At thirteen she made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin. Years later, Rumpel's butler, Giles finds a nineteen year old Lilith as she is about to experience a nightmare situation. You see, Rumpel has sent Giles to collect on Lilith's debt. He is both her salvation and her curse. The two must learn to trust each other if they are going to survive Rumple's quest. Overall, I enjoyed this story. It was very different than the previous ones. Hope you love it too! View all my reviews As a new author one of the things that drives me crazy is the need for feedback. Yes, I would love to hear nothing but good feedback, but in reality that will never help me to grow as a writer.
So, if you are interested in Beta reading my "works in progress" novels, I would love to hear from you. Currently, I am looking for beta readers for "Hailstorm". The first chapter is up under the novels section. I'm about halfway finished with the first draft, but would like to know in advance that there are people waiting to sink their teeth into that story. If you would like to beta read the second Jocelyn Frost book, please let me know. I've written about a third of that book. As for the the rest of the novels listed on the "works in progress" page, I've written at least one chapter for each of them with the exception to the third Jocelyn Frost book, and the Cora King novella. In the past, I've found my awesome beta readers through the goodreads website. So, if you are looking to beta read finish manuscripts for free, then I suggest you check out their site. There are tons of people looking for feedback and are more than willing to open a dialogue with you about their work. Honeysuckle Homicide by Rose Pressey My rating: 5 of 5 stars Rose Pressey does it again! Raelynn is all taking trash and making it into treasure. Her life is finally starting to come together when her ex husband shows up in the middle of the night. If that wasn't bad enough she finds him at the scene of a murder. With the town of Honeysuckle ready to point their fingers at Raelynn again, she will have to figure out who the murderer is before its too late. Overall, I enjoyed this novel. Raelynn and Kent are perfect together. I hope to read a third one in the series. View all my reviews How (Not) to Kiss a Were Bear by Elizabeth A. Reeves My rating: 5 of 5 stars Elizabeth A. Reeves does a fantastic job wrapping up her Cindy Eller and Goldie Locke serieses with this crossover novel. Reeves rotates the point of view between the two sisters as the war for survival hits home for both of them. Cindy is trying to come to terms with Timothy's actions from the previous novel. During the weeks that follows she finds comfort in making delicious treats in the castle kitchens. Each day, more and more refugees cross the border into Faerie. Her father is unwilling to choose sides in this latest political crisis. Can Cindy get over her self doubts in order to become the princess her people need? Goldie is heart broken, pregnant, and tired. After walking hundreds of miles with her stepmother and sickly brother in tow, they finally reach Faerie. But not everything is as great as they hoped it would be. The fae are leery about all the magical creatures spilling across the border. To make matters worse, the Council of Magic back home is determined to make an example out of someone close to Goldie's heart. Can Goldie keep it together long enough to face a new set of challenges? Overall, I loved both serieses. I'm sad to see the end of their stories, but am excited to see that there will be a spin off series. I can't wait to see what Elizabeth A. Reeves has in store for Goldie's daughter in Deathly Still. View all my reviews I'm guilty. Oh, I'm so guilty. I fell into the newbie trap.
Thinking back to May, I was oh so happy to have finished my first manuscript. I thought, I'll read it over a couple of times and then I'll publish it. Wrong! Luckily, I caught myself before I sunk too far. You see, writing that first manuscript isn't just about the writing. It's the research. Every second that I could spare at work ( during my lunch break ) I was looking up different things. Some of the questions that popped up into my mind were: "Should I copyright my book?" "Should I get an editor?" "How much money do I spend on an editor?" "How do I format my novel?" "Can I make my own cover art?" " Or would a premade cover look better?" "Should I get a beta reader?" "Can a beta reader be trusted with my novel?" You get the idea? Up until that point I only bought about three books on the writing process. My favorite was "Successful Self -Publishing (How We Did It, and How You Can Too)" edited by Shoshanna Evers. (Very nice lady, I emailed her some of my questions and she got back to me right away.) So, I started with what I thought was the most logical route. I'd get an editor. Teri the Editing Fairy popped into my mind because I've seen her name in the acknowledgement section of H.P. Mallory's books. My only problem was that she was booked up until August. August! Oh, man, but it's like May and I want to like publish now! After doing some more research I found that most editors have a waiting list. I was pretty delusional to think that I could publish in say a week or two. Technically, I could have done that, but my manuscript would not be all that it could be. So, I sucked it up, confirmed my August 8th editing date, and did some more research. At this point I decided to look into beta readers. I figured that I might as well see what other people had to say about my manuscript and if there were any issues that needed to be fixed before I sent it out for that final editing. I posted an advertisment on goodreads.com under the author's looking for betas section. When no one jumped at the opportunity to read my novel, I went ahead and looked into other places to find betas. The one promising website I found was editingbyamber.com. Amber Bungo offered a free beta reading along with a sample edit. Her prices were reasonable so I chose to use her services. But wait! Didn't I already book Teri the Editing Fairy to use as my editor? The answer is yes, and I also booked Amber. I used Amber's services to proof read my grammar, spelling, and tense usage. I don't know if you noticed or not, but my tense usage is horrible. Then I decided to use Teri the Editing Fairy's second package. This one looks at sentence flow and word usage. Besides, since Amber's prices were so reasonable I decided that if having one editor was good, having two would be even better. At this point, I still needed to find more beta readers. So, I went back to the goodreads.com beta group and then I asked individual betas offering their services to read my novel. Between May and August I asked about ten to fifteen different ladies to beta read my novel. Five awesome, amazing, fantastic ladies read it and e-mailed me back their reviews. I was extremely grateful to those ladies because I found their feedback to be very helpful. What about the cover art? I did a ton of research on how to make my own cover art and found that it wasn't that much more expensive to just get a premade cover verses paying for the rights to use individual stock photos. After looking through hundreds of premade covers, I finally found one with a brunette that looks pretty similar to Jocelyn Frost. You'd be surprised by hard it is to find what you are looking for when you don't quite know what it is that you want to find. You would also be surpised by how many premade covers use the same models from the stock photos on the 123rf.com and depositphotos.com websites. (Surprisingly many photographers prefer to take pictures of women, so there are very few pictures of hot men on these sites. I think I found about twenty. That's why my pictures of Finely and Hamish are still wearing shirts...) Anyway, the rest of the journey to self publishing was pretty simple. I went through the comments that my betas made and added what they thought my novel needed along with taking out somethings that weren't needed. For example, Marek had about three chapters throughout the novel from his perspective. (Maybe I'll use those chapters in a future novel or novella...) By the time Teri the Editing Fairy got my manuscript, I had rewritten about a third of it along with adding a whole bunch of new material. In about a week, I got it back from her and then I quickly went through all her edits before getting stuck. How the heck do I format this thing? I'm tapped out as far as money is concerned, so hiring someone to format it was not going to happen. Well, luckily Kindle has two manuals available for self publish authors to download for free. They were easy to understand and I was able to make my manuscript look like a book in under two to three hours. Once, it looked all nice and pretty I went to the US government copyright website. The next day I uploaded my novel, and the rest is history! Burning Bright by E.J. Stevens My rating: 5 of 5 stars E.J. Stevens does an awesome job with "Burning Bright", her latest installment in her Ivy Granger series. Ivy is fighting the clock. The summer solstice will be her one and only chance to get to the wisp court. But there are a ton of roadblocks in her way. With Jinx's life in the balance, the Green Lady making an impossible demand, along with a city full of fire imps to contend with, can Ivy survive long enough to claim her throne or does the hand of fate have other plans? View all my reviews Cop a Feel by Robyn Peterman My rating: 5 of 5 stars "Cop a Feel" is the third book in Robyn Peterman's series "Handcuffs and Happily Ever Afters". It follows the story of Candy, Mitch's younger sister who was introduced in the previous novel, "Size Matters." Overall, the story is fun and sexy. It kept me laughing and wanting more. Bravo! Like always, I can't wait to read the next one. :D View all my reviews a Touch of Revenge (Romantic Mystery - book 6): The Everly Gray Adventures by L.J. Charles My rating: 5 of 5 stars Everly Gray Hunt was hit with some major heart break in her last novel. Eight months have past, but she's still feeling the hurt. Out of no where, she receives from a visit from two separate friends on the same day, both wanting to push her toward recovery. Can Everly come to terms with the past while achieving the revenge she wants and deserves or will the stakes be too complicated to endure? Overall, I enjoyed this book. Everly is a bit more cautious in this book, but she still likes to jump in feet first before checking the temperature of the water. Once again, L.j. Charles does a great job. I look forward to reading the next installment of Everly's journey. View all my reviews Shadows of Bourbon Street by Deanna Chase My rating: 5 of 5 stars Deanna Chase does it again. "Shadows of Bourbon Street" brings the reader back into the world of white witch Jade Calhoun. Follow Jade from her walk down the isle, being abducted by an angel, and a whole lot more after that. I recommend reading this series and can't wait to read the next addition. View all my reviews Everyone has something to say. Some people are good at vocalizing their inner most thoughts, other people need to show what they think through their actions. Writers live part of their lives in their minds and use their keyboard (or pen) as a means to express themselves. How do you express yourself?
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AuthorI'm a Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Romance writer who is working on my third manuscript! I live in the Mid-Atlantic. I enjoy writing, reading, and being an aunt. Archives
October 2016
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