Frigid Cover Reveal!

I'm participating in Jennifer L. Armentrout's cover reveal of Frigid! So, here it is: 

For twenty-one-year-old Sydney, being in love with Kyler isn't anything new. They'd been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the 'man' in man-whore. He's never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn't want to risk their friendship by declaring her love.

Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she's perfect and she's everything. But the feelings he has for her, he's always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have.

But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor'easter, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.

Frigid will be available in digital formats on July 30^th 2013

Print release of Frigid will be November 5^th 2012

Goodreads

J. Lynn, also known as Jennifer L. Armentrout, is a # 1 New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author. She lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russel Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen.
She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

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Winner!!

The winner of my Writer's Kit and a copy of Sanctum is....

REGINA FORD CASTILLO! 

Congrats, Regina! 

Please e-mail me at Ashley.M.Nixon-1@ou.edu so I can mail your gift. 

Thanks to everyone for participating! If you didn't win my past two giveaways, make sure you come back throughout April. My A-Z Challenge includes a guessing game! See post below for details! 

My A-Z Challenge, Revealed!

Mina Lobo over at Some Dark Romantic and David Macaulay are hosing this bloghop! 

Okay, it's a *little* late in the day, but that's okay. 

I am also not sure how well my idea is going to work, but there's nothing wrong with hitting the ground running, right? It's also ...technically note a theme...but for the sake of theme purposes, we'll say the theme is books. Yeah. Guessing books. 

Here's the low-down:


This is how my A-Z challenge works: Every week, I am going to give away a book (that means 4 books total for the month of April). In order to win the book, you guys have to look at the clues I give you and guess the book. You have some rules, though! 

Rule #1: The first person to post on the giveaway day will win the book. 
Rule #2: If you've guessed what the book is, you CANNOT guess until Sunday. 

The weeks will run like this: 

April 1-6 (letters A-F) are clue days; Sunday the 7th is a giveaway day. 
April 8-13 (letters G-L) are clue days; Sunday the 14th is a giveaway day. 
April 15-20 (letters M-R) are clue days; Sunday the 21st is a giveaway day. 
April 22-30 (letters S-Y) are clue days; Wednesday May 1st is a giveaway day. 



I've never attempted this, but it seemed fun! And I love giving away books! :) 

So, I'll see you all April 1st! 

Top Ten Movie Blogfest

Today is Alex J. Cavanaugh's Top Ten Movie Blogfest! 

Here are my top ten movies! 

So, this changes all the time…and it's kinda based on how much I watched them. LOL. 

10. The Hobbit 

Yeah. Anything related to LOTR is going to be on here. I've seen The Hobbit twice in Theaters and you better believe I'll have it DVD. It's just so long to watch, I'm not sure how much I'll be sitting down to view it again. 

http://www.thehobbitblog.com/category/photos/

9. Mulan 

Uh, this song: 

8. Beauty and the Beast 


If I was a Disney Character, I'd be Belle. 
Maybe not, but we have a lot of things in common, minus the whole loving a beast thing. 

http://disney.go.com/beauty-and-the-beast/characters/

7. Iron Man 1 & 2 

Yeah, I can't separate the awesomeness of Robert Downing Jr. as Tony Stark…aka IRON MAN. 

6. The Avengers 

Saw this on my graduation night. It was epic. 'Nuff said. 

5.Emma 

Technically this isn't a movie…but I watched it like one. This is the BBC version of Jane Austin's Emma, and it is awesome. 

http://www.amazon.com/Emma-2009-Version-Romola-Garai/dp/B002XTBE6K

4.Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl 

Firsts are epic. What can I say? Oddly, I never remember watching this trailer. 

3. The Fellowship of the Ring 

I loved the light-heartedness of Hobbiton, and the Fellowship.

Also, this is beautiful: 

2. Pride and Prejudice 

Yeah, I put this on while I write. So it's been watched a lot. Favorite scene!! Though, she looks like she's going to bite someone. 

1. The Two Towers 

LAST-- The Two Towers. Okay, okay--let me explain. Not only is The Two Towers possibly my favorite book, but it is also my favorite movie. I probably watched this everyday for a month. 

0.13! hahaha. 

Sam's Speech: 

Brave Eowyn!

Winner, Contest, and Interview with Sarah Fine!

This has been a whirlwind week! Lucky, I have more things to giveaway!

First- the Winner of Finnikin of the Rock is........

AMY JARECKI! 

Amy, please e-mail me at Ashley.M.Nixon-1@ou.edu with your address and I'll send your book on your way!

For my next giveaway, it will be a box of things. I got this idea from Rachel Pudelek (who received a 'writer's kit' from her niece). Now, I'd have a picture for you, but my package got lost in the mail. So, I will proceed to tell you about this giveaway:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13482750-sanctum

1. I will be giving away a copy of Sarah Fine's Sanctum. I love this book and I am excited to share it with others.

2. A journal. Remember my journal blog? Well, now I'm going to give one you a lucky person!

3. Pens.

4. Your choice between tea and coffee...and probably hot chocolate!

Okay, how do you win?

Well, enter this rafflecopter thingy (cause during April, you guys are going have to be competitive):


a Rafflecopter giveaway

And now I give you an awesome interview with THE Sarah Fine! 

Hi Sarah! Thank you for joining me! I have to say, I loved your book, Sanctum. I could not put it down! Where did the idea come from? 

I’m so happy that you liked it! I started with the idea for the afterlife (see below for the origin of that), and then I decided to write a story in which one person journeys to that dark place to rescue another. After that, it was a matter of deciding what kind of person would do that and why, and that’s where Lela came from. I’m also intrigued by the idea that death doesn’t necessarily constitute an escape from having to deal with our “issues.”

I remember being struck by the fact that this was a YA book about hell. Where did your idea of hell come from? 

I am fascinated with the concept of hell presented by CS Lewis in his book The Great Divorce, a “grey town” in which citizens can have what they want, but nothing is of very good quality. That was the seed of the idea, and then it sort of took root and grew into the dark city and the entire Shadowlands. My dark city is generated and sustained by despair. Other places in the Shadowlands are generated by … different things.

I work in the mental health field as well, and was very impressed with the issues you explore regarding your characters. In the end, what do you hope your readers take away from your book? 

I’d love it if readers simply enjoyed the characters and the story. Sanctum is meant to be a tale of sacrifice and hope, of finding happiness and love in a place that you’d least expect it, and of the destructive and redemptive power of our own choices.

Were you worried about querying a Young Adult book where the main character (quite literally) goes to hell? 

No. YA literature covers all sorts of dark subjects. My book is probably darker than average, but I certainly didn’t encounter any concerns from agents. I had a good request rate for fulls (about 20%) and ended up with several offers of representation, so I guess I had no evidence it should be something to worry about. I ended up signing with an agent (Kathleen Ortiz) who has a fondness for edgy and dark, which was the perfect fit for me.

The sequel to Sanctum comes out in November of this year. It’s set in a totally different place than the first with an entirely new set of challenges, and Lela and Malachi will have to adjust to that! As for how they adjust to each other … well. I guess you’ll have to read and find out!

What's next for Lela and Malachi?

The sequel to Sanctum comes out in November of this year. It’s set in a totally different place than the first with an entirely new set of challenges, and Lela and Malachi will have to adjust to that! As for how they adjust to each other … well. I guess you’ll have to read and find out!

Thanks again Sarah! 

Okay guys! Get to entering! 

The Men of Cutlass!

Let me introduce to you, the men of CUTLASS:

This is Barren:

Barren's 18, he's angry, and he wants revenge. He and Larkin (over to the left) fight all the time. Can't you just tell by how they stand together?!

This is Cove:

Cove is charming, but deadly. He's elegant, and merciless. He and Sara are best friends, but their relationship goes through hardships.

Here is a sweet couple: 

All art is done by Brittiny Hines. You can find her blog at http://cymone-domnique.tumblr.com 

Check her out! She's awesome. <3 

Also - MY GIVEAWAY IS STILL GOING ON! DON'T FORGET TO ENTER BELOW! 

HAPPY BLOG-O-VERSARY!!!

To me!

Hehe.

Okay, here goes nothing:

http://www.amazon.com/Finnikin-Lumatere-Chronicles-
Melina-Marchetta/dp/076365292X

Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere’s walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp of manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin’s unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems — and the startling truth will test Finnikin’s faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.(Amazon)

a Rafflecopter giveaway



**A little bit about this awesome banner:

It was made by the wonderful Brittiny Hines.
The characters are Sara (the blonde) and Larkin.

I love it! :)

TOMORROW

It's ALMOST HERE!! 

TOMORROW IS MY BLOG-O-VERSARY! 

Remember: Stop by and enter to win a prize and see what changes I make to my blog throughout next week. This is all leading up to one big give-away & awesome interview! 

I leave you with this:

http://media-cache-is0.pinimg.com/originals/7a/ea/5d/
7aea5d2cba185022d000d78a764a9ee8.jpg

Insecure Writer's Support Group!

I debated for a little while on what I should talk about today. It was a tossup between control and patients. I think I can work with the two, so let me try.

First and foremost, writers should have patients. Why? Because we have to wait for a lot of things. We have to wait until we finish a book to query. Before we even query, we have to edit…and edit…and edit. We write the query, the synopsis, perfect everything. Query. And wait.

And I don’t have patience.

Why? Well, I can’t really explain except to say that I probably hate the fact that I don’t have CONTROL over how quickly they respond to me.  

I have accepted that I don’t have CONTROL of what they think of my book. I have realized that just because they reject my book doesn't mean they won’t read my book at some point and love it. It took years for me to understand that.

I keep trying to forget that I have queried. That way, I can stop refreshing my inbox. Stop stalking twitter pages. You know. Everything that makes me a little creepy.

Some days are worse than others. I’m not sure what I can do to ease the impatience. I have tried focusing on my other books. And my school work. All that jazz.

It’s not like I DON’T have enough to do with a full-time job, school, working out  and making sure I write at least a little each day.

You’d think I’d forget, huh?

#PartyTime

Saturday is a celebration on my blog.

Do you know why?!?

Saturday is my BLOG-O-VERSARY!

I have decided that I will have two contests. One this Saturday the 9th and next Saturday on the 16th. Between that time, this place will be going through some changes, too.

So, I hope you'll all stick around and see what I have to give away! I'm so excited! :D

Here's some encouragement for the week: