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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Forever Breathing Blog Tour

I met Heather Allen as a teacher in South Orlando. I'm so excited for her accomplishment in publishing the Just Breathe Trilogy, which culminates with Forever Breathing. Congratulations, Heather!

Today, I'm posting an excerpt and Heather's playlist for Forever Breathing. Enjoy!





Ever Harding has finally found where she belongs, with Jack in the sea. Just when she thought she could start her new life, a new threat forms on the horizon. She must make her biggest choice yet. Is she willing to risk everything to save the love of her life and all she holds dear?
James discovers yet again that his purpose is greater than anything he could ever imagine. He thought he had it all figured out, but sometimes things can be very deceiving. Is he willing to stand up for all he believes is right?
In the final book of the ‘Just Breath’ trilogy, Ever and James find themselves not against each other but fighting together to preserve the freedoms of others. Will they be able to defend the right to choose when the odds are hugely against them? 



The Teaser:


I turn a corner and find myself greeted by the point of a spear. The shock that I just about swam into this spear quickly turns to anger. I’m about to hit someone or at the very least yell at whoever would allow this when my eyes roam over the small, milky, white hands holding onto the end of the spear. My eyes follow the small arms up to meet clear, scared, green eyes. She is just about the cutest girl I have ever seen. I’m taking her in as she speaks to me in a sweet voice and all I can do is grin.
“Who are you? Why are you here?”
I just stare at her and my upturned mouth goes completely dry. How this is possible under water, I have no idea but I feel as if cotton is filling my cheeks.
She repeats her questions with more anger, “What are you doing in these caves? Who are you?”
I try and clear my throat to find my voice. I must look like such a prick grinning at her like this but it’s all I can do. She is so adorable and holding that spear that is almost too big for her.  I’m entranced and I can’t pull myself out.
As I speak, I push the point of the spear away from my face to avoid any mishaps.
Finally my voice cracks as I introduce myself, “Hi, my name is James.”
“Why are you here?”
I have to be careful with the answer to this one. If she is a Lior, I could be in big trouble. I look her up and down trying to decide which side she might be on. Her fin is an array of blues and greens shimmering with the movement of the water around us. She is wearing a blue bikini top but it’s partially covered by her long dark, almost black, hair. I look back up into her face and notice a straight perfect little nose and small pink lips.
I decide to chance it. She looks like she could be on either side.
“I’m looking for the Erebus that live here…”
She cuts me off breathlessly, “Why do you want to see the Erebus? Did Roman send you?”
And the spear swings back into my face, inches away from my cheek.
I push it away with more resistance this time and smirk at her, “Hey, watch it with that, you could put an eye out.”
She frowns and raises her voice slightly, slowly enunciating each word, “I asked, why. do. you. want. to. see. the. Erebus?”
I want to just laugh at the feistiness of this girl but that will probably get me poked with that spear. I’m truthfully not even sure she could do any damage, she’s so petite.
“I’m not a threat, I can guarantee that. I just want to talk to whoever is in charge. “
She snidely asks, “What makes you think I’m not in charge?”
I can’t help it; a small chuckle escapes my lips. The spear swings back around and sticks a few inches into my arm. I watch, shocked as blood seeps into the water. I know this is nothing to my body because of my healing abilities but she doesn’t. I’m about to go off on her when I watch as the spear falls to the floor and her hand covers her opened mouth. She obviously didn’t mean to hurt me. Her eyes are so worried.  She surprised herself more than me. I decide to have a little fun.  Putting on my best agonized look, I grab my arm as if in pain. I’m enjoying this way too much.
She swims over to me and places her hand on my arm. A jolt shoots straight through my arm causing me to fall back against the wall. The look on her face is sheer disbelief. Whether it be that she unintentionally hurt me with the spear or the obvious electricity that just seared my skin, I don’t know.
I ask, “What was that?”
She shakes her head not seeing me as if lost in thought for a moment.
Finally, she focuses on me and swims slowly toward me again. I’m reluctant to let her get closer. I take my hand off of my arm having forgotten about the spear injury and open my mouth to ask again about the shock.
She glances to my arm and her features darken.
“Were you faking that I hurt you?”
I look surprised and realize it’s all healed up.
I shake my head, “No, I…uh… it was just a tiny flesh wound.”
She comes closer still, examining my arm without touching me. She looks up into my eyes and claims, “But I saw blood, a lot of blood and…”
She reaches out to touch it and I flinch, waiting for the shock again. When her finger grazes me, a jolt shoots up my arm but it feels good and it doesn’t last. It turns into something else. I feel the energy travel to my neck and down my fin. Her finger lingers on my arm and it’s as if we’re frozen for a moment. When she pulls her hand back, I feel as if a part of me was just taken away, the warmth is gone and I suddenly want it back.
Get a grip, James. What the hell is wrong with you? Oh yeah, that’s right, you chose to follow crazy girl down here and now you’re in over your head, way deeper than ever before.
She looks at me suddenly scared and speaks up disturbing my thoughts, “Where is the cut? There should be a cut. I saw the spear go into your arm.”
I shake myself out of the moment and attribute it to stress. I’m just stressed about everything and I’m imagining things.
I answer her with as much authority I can muster, “I need to talk to someone in charge. It’s important.”
She frowns, looks down it seems as if she’s deflated and turns, swimming back around the corner from which she came. I follow her and kick myself silently for that whole fiasco. I can’t let anymore girls affect me. I’m here for a much bigger reason.
 
Heather Allen is the author of Just Breathe, Barely Breathing, and Forever Breathing. Heather lives in sunny Florida with her husband and three children. She has dedicated her life to education for the past fifteen years with a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education and a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership. She finally realized her dream of becoming an author only recently. She savors every moment on this new journey and continues to touch the lives of children now, not only through teaching but also her books.

You can find Heather:
Twitter: @kelconcar
Forever Breathing Buy Link:

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

THIS IS W.A.R. Blog Tour






Welcome to Lisa and Laura Roecker's blog tour for THIS IS W.A.R.! I am a huge fan of LiLa. They are fun and funny, and their books are AMAZING! (Also, click on the banner to go to a special preorder offer!)

Take it away, LiLa!


In a past life, Laura was a 6th grade language arts teacher. Every year, she’d introduce herself to the students and explain that one day, she’d like to write a book. A YA book because that was all she read anyway. Lisa wrote boring business proposals by day and read endless blogs by night. She yearned for a reason to start her own blog. But it wasn’t until we got together that our separate dreams became a reality. Laura needed a partner to do the dirty work (ie tell her what to write) and Lisa needed a reason to start a blog (ie the journey to publishing)! It was perfect. It was fate. It was fun.


While we wrote our first (doomed) manuscript in less than a month, we learned a whole lot about being writing partners and expanded on the process of team-writing when we wrote our second. The first thing we do after we have a solid idea is map out characters and plot out our emotional and physical plot. We write up a page on each character and attach pictures to get a visual. Our plot outlines take weeks to write and usually end up being at least 30,000 words. They are a very dry version of what we want the final book to look like. Once we’ve torn apart the outline and poked as many holes as we can, we’re ready to start writing.

Lisa ALWAYS has to write the first chapter of our books. Laura is never fully on board with starting a new book until she’s blown away by the first chapter. And then we’re off! Laura edits Lisa’s chapter and adds the next chapter. Lisa edits Laura’s and adds the next. The best part about writing as a team is we get to be both writers and readers. The outline is a map, but every chapter we write is unique to us. There’s nothing quite like reading a brand-spanking-new chapter your partner tacked on the night before. We’re hooked!



Wow! Thanks so much for the peek into your process, ladies! 

I can't wait to read This Is W.A.R., how about you?





This is not a story of forgiveness...

The mystery of their best friend's murder drives four girls to destroy the Gregory family. Emily Thorne would be proud.


Everyone at Hawthorne Lake Country Club saw Willa Ames-Rowan climb into a boat with James Gregory, the Club’s heir apparent.

And everyone at Hawthorne Lake Country Club watched him return. Alone.

They all know he killed her. But none of them will say a word. The Gregory family is very, very good at making problems go away.

Enter the W.A.R.—the war to avenge Willa Ames-Rowan. Four girls. Four very different motives for justice and revenge, and only one rule: destroy the Gregory family at any cost.



Lisa and Laura Roecker are sisters-turned-writing partners with a passion for good books, pop culture, and Bravo programming. Not necessarily in that order. A prepubescent obsession with Lois Duncan and their mother's insistence that they read Men Are Just Desserts inspired This is WAR. The sisters live in Cleveland, Ohio, in separate residences. Their husbands wouldn't agree to a duplex. Cyberstalking is always encouraged at lisa-laura.blogspot.com and @landlroecker on Twitter.


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