Just released!

Just released!!

Do you love a great suspense novel 
with a dash of romance?

Then you should try Created!

Here's the teaser-

A spy school.

A choice.

A destiny discovered.

Can you imagine being only 17 and having to choose between a normal, everyday life of a college teen and being put on the fast track to being a spy? That's the choice Christy has to make in this explosive third, and final book in the Watched series. Get ready for a fast-paced thrill ride that you won't be able to put down once you start.

Get yours here, today!

Here's what readers are saying:

"Unique, suspenseful, and hard to predict." -E. Baker, reviewer

"Created is an exciting ride full of surprises at every turn. It was thrilling, and sometimes terrifying to watch    Christy's transformation as she was further introduced into the world of espionage, and decides how far she is willing to go to fulfill her first real assignment."   -Jenny Moore, reviewer

"Clever and action-packed." -Cindy Anderson, reviewer

Don't walk, RUN to pick up this fantastic series!

A few fun facts about Cindy
Any pets? I have a long-haired calico that is so fun to watch.
Most desired destination-Swiss Alps
Favorite type of food- hmm. Probably mexican. I love cheese.
Last books you read-Daughter of Smoke and Bone- Laini Taylor
                                     How to Date an Alien-Magan Vernon
                                     Become-Ali Cross


Want more information? Stalk Cindy in all these places (just click on the place and you'll go there)
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Facebook
Twitter
Blog (sign up for her newsletter to get the latest scoop)
Goodreads

Confusing Emotions

Most of this scene made it into Perilous, but with some major changes. Originally I had the romance between Jaci and Ricky unfolding in the first book. We ended up pushing it back to the second book, but some of these scenes I think could still nicely fit in, giving character insight and development without making it seem like a romance instead of a thriller.

Chapter 24: Lost on the wrong side of the river

Ricky broke off a branch and tossed it into the water below. They both watched it disappear in the current, pop up again, and disappear for good.

“We don’t have any choice but to go back."

 Jaci swallowed hard, tears threatening for the umpteenth time that day. "Okay," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. 

"Come on." Ricky's fingers grazed her sleeve. "Rest here a moment. I’m gonna teach myself to fish.”

He winked at her, and she gave him a weary smile before plopping herself down beside the river. She watched him run back, dodging branches and jumping over rocks. He was different when it was just the two of them. He didn’t act all cocky and full of himself. Well, maybe a little.

And he kept touching her, brushing her arm, pulling on her shirt, yanking her ponytail. If she didn’t know about him and Amanda, she’d actually think he liked her.

She moved to a spot where she could reach the water. She’d rinsed the mud from her face and arms quickly that morning, but now she had time to clean more thoroughly. She glanced down at her muddy sweater and hesitated. Casting a quick look over her shoulder, she yanked it off and swished it in the water. She was so anxious to get it back on that she didn’t even bother rinsing it, just pulled it back over her head.

Her mind flashed back to the crush she’d had on Toby last year. He’d been so mean to her. Nearly every day Callie met her in the bathroom, helping her wash her face after a crying spell. She’d have given anything for him to treat her like Ricky was.

The thought of Callie made her heart ache. She sank into the dirt and dropped her head onto her knees, rocking back and forth.

It's Fixing to Rain

For my senior trip, my parents took me to Washington DC for a week. One thing I had a really crazy knack for was finding a dating buddy everywhere we went. It shouldn't have been a big surprise, then, that the receptionist in our hotel lobby decided to hook me up with the son of a friend of hers.

I was 18 and fresh out of high school in Arkansas, and he was 20-something, in college, and a DC native. Very chique. We met and he gave me his number (I didn't exactly know my hotel number), and we made plans for me to call that evening after my mom and I did some sight-seeing.

DC is amazing and full of lots of things to do. Time passed quickly and my mom said, "Isn't it time to call him?"

I'd almost forgotten, but I hurried to a payphone (that's how we did it back then) and dialed his number. I invited him to join us at the capitol and walk around a bit.

"Well, it looks like rain," he said. "I think it's better if I pick you up and we go somewhere."

I said sure and gave him a location and then went back to my mom.

"What did he say?" she asked.

"He said it's fixing to rain and he'll pick me up," I replied.

"It's fixing to rain?" she echoed. "He did not say that."

"Yes, he did," I said, annoyed that she would question me. "He's going to pick me up because it's fixing to rain."

Laughing, she said, "There's no way he said it's fixing to rain."

"Mother," I said, frustrated now, "if you'll go outside, you'll see what he means. It's all cloudy out there."

Shaking her head, she said, "There's no way on earth he said 'fixing to.'"

And then I got what she meant. And I realized that of course he hadn't said 'fixing to.' That had been my own Arkansas translation. Once I got that, I laughed right along with her.

"Fixing to" last about a month, at the longest, in my college slang before my Californian roommate laughed me out of the dorm after I used it. I made a very very conscious effort to remove the term from my dictionary. Which is rather unfortunate. It would be nice to be able to drop a "fixing to" here or there without feeling like everyone is staring at me.

Welcome to hickville.

Authorgraph

Have you heard of this? I hadn't until recently, so perhaps you haven't either. It's simply awesome. It's a way for you to get authors to autograph your copies of their ebooks!

How neat is that? It's completely free, and it doesn't matter what device you're reading on. And it's one more way to let an author know, you read their book and you want to connect, at least enough to get an autograph.

Here's the site! Not every author is on there, so if you have an author friend, or are an author, tell them/yourself to get added! Here's a link to my authorgraph site.

Have fun finding authors and collecting autographs! It's like one giant cyber book signing!

Unread Books on Your Shelf?

Do you have books on your bookshelf that you haven't read yet?

I'm willing to bet most of us do. If you haven't read them, what are your reasons? Too busy? Too many books? You keep forgetting?

I basically have two sets of unread books, and I've figured out why they're unread.

1) I bought them at a thrift shop. Whether that be a library or garage sale, I have several books purchased for 25 or 50 cents that I haven't read yet. Some I've picked up, maybe even started. But they're not so much my style, and I haven't finished them.

2) I won them. This may seem like an odd reason. Many books that I win, I'm quite excited to read as soon as I get them. But there are a handful of others that have languished on my bookshelves for more than a year. Why? My theory is that a) I didn't pay for them, so I don't feel the same pressure to read them and b) the covers don't appeal to me.

Let's talk about B. It took me weeks of wondering why I'd glance at those books and decide to read something else before I realized the covers were turning me off. Once I figured that out, I knew exactly what it was about the cover that I didn't like. One shows nothing but a plane through a car windshield, and it doesn't strike me as exciting or engaging. It's not crashing, it's just flying. It's a sight we all see many times a day. The other, and this is just me being picky, but for some reason the girl on the cover looks like she has pink eye. Unappealing.

I know this about the books, and yet I still can't get myself excited enough to start reading them. They may be very fantastic books and I need to just do it. But first I have all these other gorgeous books I got from the library... maybe later.

What are your reasons for not reading? Are they similar to mine?

And just for fun, check out this link to the 12 ugliest book covers.

Tagging

So a week ago I blogged about a book I'm working on as part of a bloghop/blogfest sort of thing. Since I was tagged, my job was then to tag five people who would also answer questions about what they're working on.

I want to make it easy on you. I'm only tagging one person. That way, you can be sure to visit each of her blog and find out more about her and her WIP.

The lucky person is: DeAnn Huff!

Pumpkins

My whole family trooped out to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. We started with the hayride, which has definitely gone through some upgrades since I was a kid.

Besides the haunted hay ride and the mule rides and the stinky hay tunnels, we got pumpkins! The children picked wonderful long pumpkins for carving, and I picked a lovely red Cinderella pumpkin. So beautiful!

I love fall for the pumpkins. I love using fresh pumpkins in my cooking. Pumpkin eggnog, pumpkin custard, and pumpkin pie all taste wonderfully sublime when made when fresh pumpkin. And the bright orange color! It's so brilliant and refreshing!

Seriously, these pies are the best.

And with the leftover pumpkin, I've made pumpkin eggnog and pumpkin ice cream. I just can't get enough!


What's your favorite part about autumn?