Guest Posts

I am really excited to welcome Sarah Pekkanen, author of These Girls, to Peeking Between the Pages.  I had the absolute pleasure of reading These Girls (my review) and I loved it!  It’s a great story of friendship and the power of that friendship in the good and the bad.  I can’t wait to read more of Sarah’s books and lucky me my Kindle holds quite a few of them.  In the meantime Sarah joins us today with a fantastic guest post on her workspace so enjoy…

Sarah’s desk which is used mostly for the business side of stuff (reading contracts, etc.)

Every day, I wake up and immediately head for my workspace – a long, wooden desk that faces my sunlit flower garden. My desk is immaculately organized; only my computer and the pages of my work in progress adorn the pristine space. I take a deep breath, poise my fingers over the keyboard, and –

I can’t lie any longer. I used to dream about having a serene, perfect workspace, and I’d envy writers who retreated to a little cottage on the beach to churn our chapters in between napping and watching rose-and-orange tinted sunrises. But the contours of my life would never stretch to fit such a scenario. I have three young boys, and I like being the one to pick them up from school and fix them a snack and take them to baseball practice. So I fit in my writing on the fly. I bring my laptop with me absolutely everywhere – in fact, I feel panicky if I look at the passenger’s side seat of my car and realize it isn’t there. It’s almost like my fifth limb. Wherever I go, I seem to be able to fit in little pockets of writing time. Recently, my son had an orthodontist’s appointment, and the waiting room was a dream: soft chairs, nice music, and one of those coffeemakers with little individual pods. I wanted to break back in after closing time to write some more!

Now that my youngest son is in preschool, I often go to a coffeeshop after dropping him off. I slip on my headphones and blast music while I type. And I get tons of writing done in my car (er, while my husband is driving!) I’ve learned to keep my eyes down on my keyboard and ignore the passing scenery. If I don’t look up, I don’t get carsick. I actually wrote most of my second short story “Love, Accidentally” on the way home from a resort where we celebrated his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary!

Someday I might have that bleached wood desk, and a silent day stretching in front of me in which to write. And I know I’ll miss the times that I squeezed in a page in the preschool pick up line, waiting for a little person to hop into my car and show me his finger-painting masterpieces.

These other two pictures are Sarah writing on the fly – –and loaded down at the door ready to go!  Thank you so much for this fantastic guest post Sarah!  Your little boy is such a darling!

About These Girls (from Sarah’s website)

In her third novel, internationally bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen examines the lives of three women working and living together in New York City and shows that family secrets may shape us all, but it’s the rich, complicated layers of friendship that can save us.Cate, Renee, and Abby have come to New York for very different reasons, and in a bustling city of millions, they are linked together through circumstance and chance.

Cate has just been named the features editor of Gloss, a high-end lifestyle magazine. It’s a professional coup, but her new job comes with more complications than Cate ever anticipated.

Cate’s roommate Renee will do anything to nab the plum job of beauty editor at Gloss. But snide comments about Renee’s weight send her into an emotional tailspin. Soon she is taking black market diet pills—despite the racing heartbeat and trembling hands that signal she’s heading for real danger.

Then there’s Abby, whom they take in as a third roommate. Once a joyful graduate student working as a nanny part time, she abruptly fled a seemingly happy life in the D.C. suburbs. No one knows what shattered Abby—or why she left everything she once loved behind.

Pekkanen’s most compelling, true-to-life novel yet tells the story of three very different women as they navigate the complications of careers and love—and find the lifeline they need in each other.

Buy These Girls at Amazon.com, Indiebound, B&N, and Amazon.ca

About Sarah Pekkanen (from Amazon.com)

Sarah Pekkanen is the internationally-bestselling author of the novels The Opposite of Me and Skipping a Beat and the upcoming These Girls, as well as the linked short stories available for ereaders titled “All Is Bright” and “Love, Accidentally.” Please find her on Facebook and twitter! For more information please visit her website at www.sarahpekkanen.com

BIO: Sarah is the mother of three young boys, which explains why she wrote part of her novel at Chuck E. Cheese. Seriously. Sarah penned her first book, Miscellaneous Tales and Poems, at the age of 10. When publishers failed to jump upon this literary masterpiece (hey, all the poems rhymed!) Sarah followed up by sending them a sternly-worded letter on Raggedy Ann stationery. Sarah still has that letter, and carries it to New York every time she has meetings with her publisher, as a reminder that dreams do come true. At least some dreams – Brad Pitt has yet to show up on her doorstep wearing nothing but a toolbelt and asking if she needs anything fixed. So maybe it’s only G-rated dreams that come true. Other tidbits about Sarah: She was once rejected as a contestant on “Wheel of Fortune.” She wrote an article for People magazine on a parrot psychologist. In college, she worked as a model and as an extra on the set of Hollywood movies.

Sarah’s website
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GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have one copy of These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen to share with my readers.  To enter…

• For 1 entry simply leave me a comment entering the giveaway.
• For 2 entries, follow my blog.  If you already do, thank you, and please let me know so I can pass the extra entry on to you as well.
• For 3 entries, blog or tweet this giveaway and spread the word.
• For 4 entries, follow my blog on Networked Blogs.  You can click here to be taken directly there.  Log in to your Facebook account and click follow.  Thanks!

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) and I will draw for the winner on Saturday, May 5/12.  Good luck!

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Happy Monday everyone!  I’m spotlighting Equity of Evil by Rudy Mazzocchi for you today and it certainly has a lot of great reviews already.  It’s a medical thriller that is based on actual events and it’s definitely on my TBR list.  I used to read a lot of medical thrillers but have gotten away from them in the last few years.  I wouldn’t mind reading a few now and then.  Rudy joins us today to talk about “The Top Ten Reasons I Wrote EQUITY of EVIL”…

Reason #10:

I don’t like or have the time to play golf.

Reason #9:

I use to be an avid reader of thrillers and science fiction during my extensive travel – sometimes reading 2-3 novels a week. After my career started to give me access to very early discoveries of new medical technologies (many that could be 7-10 years away from ever seeing the “light of day”), I soon realized that my real world was more thrilling and scarier than what I was reading.

Reason #8:

Writing business plans and raising money for new start-up companies trained me in the art of “story-telling”. With the inclusion of a couple of “what ifs” and “why nots”, I realized I could soon write interesting stories and scenes.

Reason #7:

I was involved in some of the early technologies described in EQUITY of EVIL and it took a couple of decades before I felt comfortable talking or writing about them.

Reason #6:

I always thought that a combination “business”, “medical thriller” and “suspense” novel might have broad appeal to a larger audience that any one individual genre.

Reason #5:

I discovered that writing was therapeutic and a great way to express myself after spending years of exploring new innovations of other people under confidentiality agreements which prohibited me from saying anything to anyone! It allowed my tongue to wonder a bit….

Reason #4:

After starting the manuscript, it became a challenge to prove to others that I could actually FINISH it!

Reason #3:

After being rejected by so many Literary Agencies and Publishers, it became a challenge to prove to others that I could actually PUBLISH it!

Reason #2:

I have enjoyed every minute of the process, from seeing the words flow across my screen to reading the first review on Amazon.com.

… and the #1 Reason I wrote EQUITY of EVIL:

It just had to be written!

About Equity of Evil

A Venture Capital Fund makes a risky investment to start a challenging new business that appears capable of reaching profitability with modest capital requirements. The real challenge: optimizing one of the most frequently performed surgical procedure in the World — Abortion.

Founding Partner, Roman Citrano, a successful entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, soon struggles with what he believes is his choice to establish the controversial new company. He soon realizes that he and others are but pawns on a massive, ugly chessboard being manipulated to benefit a far larger, illicit market in human organs for transplantation. Unknowingly, prime, hyper-enriched organs are spawned from the aborted fetuses and grown like hydroponic vegetables.

An unfolding world of deceit, rape, human trafficking and assassination becomes deeply personal as Roman’s sole love interest secretly uses one of his new abortion services to terminate her untimely pregnancy. When she disappears, his frantic search becomes a hellish nightmare that grows worse by the hour.

Based on true events, this bold novel involves some of the world’s oldest, most emotional and controversial issues. At the core of each matter is man’s predisposition to control and take ownership of the human spirit for the sake of profit and person gain… such is the dark and brutal new world where life becomes the equity of evil.

Buy Equity of Evil for your Kindle or Nook!

Check out the Book Trailer for Equity of Evil

About Rudy Mazzocchi

Rudy A. Mazzochi is best known as a medical device and biotechnology entrepreneur, inventor, and angel investor, with a history of starting new technology ventures throughout the U.S. and Europe. He’s been privileged to have the opportunity to see the newest innovations in healthcare and work with some of the most brilliant researchers, scientists and physicians in the industry.
Authoring more than 50 patents, he has helped pioneer new companies involved in cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, neurosurgery and even embryonic stem-cell development. Through these efforts, he has become the recipient of many technology and business awards, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Healthcare and the Businessman of the Year Award.
Combining these experiences and opportunities, with thousands of hours of travel and long evenings in hotel rooms, he found the initiative to start writing a collection of medical thrillers based on true events, the first of which is entitled EQUITY of EVIL.

Rudy’s website
Rudy’s blog
Find Rudy on Facebook
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GIVEAWAY DETAILS (eBook only)

I have one eBook copy of Equity of Evil by Rudy Mazzocchi up for giveaway to my readers.  To enter…

• For 1 entry simply leave me a comment entering the giveaway.
• For 2 entries, follow my blog.  If you already do, thank you, and please let me know in your comment so I can pass the extra entry on to you as well.
• For 3 entries, blog or tweet this giveaway to spread the word.

This giveaway is open internationally as it is for an eBook!  I will draw for the winner on Saturday, April 28/12.  Good luck!

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I am really excited to welcome Kim Wright, author of City of Darkness which just released recently, to Peeking Between the Pages today.  I read and reviewed Kim’s first book Love in Mid Air a few years ago and I loved it (my review).  I’ll be reading City of Darkness soon but what I find most fascinating about her new book is how different it is from her first one.  As you can tell from the title Love in Mid Air has to do with love, marriage, etc., while City of Darkness has to do with Jack the Ripper.  Very different – yes – well that’s why I’m so intrigued.  So keep an eye out for my review but in the meantime we have Kim here to talk about this very subject in Switching from Literary Fiction to a Historical Mystery Series…

Two years ago – actually two years ago yesterday, to be precise – my novel Love in Mid Air debuted and it was one of the proudest moments of my life. But in the intervening two years, things have changed. The publishing market has been turned upside down, making literary fiction a tougher sell than ever. (And, let’s face it, it never was exactly easy.) Even more to the point, my sense of myself as a writer has changed.

Literary novelists work a long time on each book, most often in isolation and without much feedback. Coming from the world of journalism, where you’re constantly doing research and interviewing interesting strangers, I had always found the “cabin in the snowy woods” environment of literary writing challenging. I like talking to people. I like going places and doing new things. I like having a reason to put on underwear!

So I had a decision to make. Was I willing to spend the next ten years immersed in a novel that would be hard to sell? Umm….no. Did I want to go back to journalism, which put me squarely in the social arena but hampered my creativity? Umm….not so much that either.

Out of my conundrum came my new career as a historical mystery novelist. It’s a natural. By setting my City of Mystery series, which is based on the first forensics unit established in Scotland Yard, in the Victorian era I was able to explore what I consider to be one of the most fascinating periods of British history. The first book, City of Darkness, deals with the famously unsolved case of Jack the Ripper, a crime spree which marked both the birth of the “modern” serial killer who chose his victims seemingly at random, and the birth of forensics, which turned detection from a game of logical deduction to one of scientific inquiry.

Within minutes of coming up with the initial concept, my mind was off and racing. The first book is set in London in 1888. The second, City of Light, will be set in Paris the next year, on the eve of the Exposition Universal, the famous World’s Fair which saw the debut of Edison’s phonograph, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, and the Eiffel Tower. From there my fledgling forensics team – under the direction of Queen Victoria herself, who in real life took a surprising degree of interest in crime – will travel to St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, and New York. All great, exotic settings with more opportunities for research. Road trip!

As you can probably tell, I’m so excited about all this. I’ve always loved both historical novels and mysteries. (As a kid my two obsessions where Henry the VIII and Encyclopedia Brown, boy detective.) Combining the two gives me the freedom of a novelist and the opportunities for detail and authenticity that can only emerge from research. There’s not a muscle in my writing body that this series won’t stretch.

And I hope it resonates with readers. Just as my Scotland Yard detectives are scrambling to adjust to the new demands of the modern age, I think a lot of contemporary readers also feel themselves at a crossroads. We’re being called on to question the old ways and reinvent ourselves at every turn. I used to write characters who were more like myself in a surface sense- in other words, middle-aged middle-class American women. But I find myself totally identifying with my pudgy, pompous, Victorian-era chief detective Trevor Welles. Distilling my thoughts through his perspective has been the most interesting challenge I’ve had yet as a writer.

Thank you so much for this guest post Kim.  I’m so glad you’ve found a new genre that excites you so much and I’m really looking forward to delving into this series!

About City of Darkness by Kim Wright

City of Darkness takes place in 1888 London, where Jack the Ripper roams the streets with impunity and Scotland Yard seems helpless to stop him. The science of forensics is in its infancy but a few detectives – Trevor Welles among them – recognize that they are dealing with a different sort of killer, a “modern criminal” who chooses his victims at random. If Jack is to be caught, he won’t be caught with Scotland Yard’s normal methods of deduction for there is no logic to this madness. The question is no longer “Why was the victim killed?” but rather “How was the victim killed?” For the first time in the history of detection, science is trumping deductive reasoning.

When a twist of fate puts Trevor in charge of the case, he hastily assembles Scotland Yard’s first forensics team: Davy Mabrey, the first bobby on the scene of the grisliest of the murders, whose working class common sense proves an invaluable asset, Rayley Abrams, a cautious intellectual whose future at the Yard is marginalized due to his Jewish heritage, Tom Bainbridge, a medical student with aristocratic connections and a secret drinking problem, and Emma Kelly, sister of the Ripper’s last victim who has a troubled past and a gift for linguistics. The team finds an unlikely ally in the form of Queen Victoria herself, who takes an unusual level of interest in the Ripper case and secretly funds the unit. But will they stop Jack in time to spare Leanna Bainbridge, the young heiress with whom Trevor has fallen madly and improbably in love?

While City of Darkness takes place in London, its sequel, City of Light, will travel to Paris on the eve of the Exposition Universalle, the ultimate World’s Fair which debuted Edison’s phonograph, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and the Eiffel Tower. The third book, City of Silence, will take place in St. Petersburg where Victoria’s beloved granddaughter Alexandria is on the verge of marrying the young czar Nicolas, much to her grandmother’s dismay. Throughout the series the Scotland Yard forensics team, which serves as a sort of Victorian-era CSI, will circle the world to investigate high-profile cases, most often at the urging of the Queen.

Currently you can buy a copy for your Kindle only.

About Kim Wright

Kim Wright has been writing about travel, food, and wine for more than 25 years and is a two-time recipient of the Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Writing. Love in Mid Air was her first novel.

Kim’s website
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GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have one paperback copy of City of Darkness by Kim Wright up for grabs to my readers.  To enter…

• For 1 entry simply leave me a comment entering the giveaway.
• For 2 entries, follow my blog.  If you already do, please let me know so I can pass the extra entry on to you as well.
• For 3 entries, blog or tweet this giveaway.

This giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) and I will draw for the winner on Saturday, April 28/12.  Good luck!

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I am pleased to welcome Kate Quinn, author of Empress of the Seven Hills, back to Peeking Between the Pages.  Kate has guest blogged here several times and I have reviewed her first book Mistress of Rome and I loved it (my review) and Daughters of Rome is waiting for me.  I am reading Empress of the Seven Hills right now and it is fantastic – exactly what I expect from Kate – be sure to check back for my review on Sunday.  I always love to be taken back in time to Ancient Rome through her wonderful stories.  Today Kate joins us to talk about “A Day In The Life Of A Writer”…

If there’s any TV show I get a kick out of, it’s “Castle” starring Nathan Fillion. He plays a bestselling crime novelist, and frankly, Hollywood’s idea of a writer’s daily schedule cracks me up every time. Nathan Fillion spends all his time running around solving crimes, attending red-carpet premieres of the movies made from his books, and playing poker with James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, and all his other New York Times bestseller buddies. Very rarely is he ever seen writing – just staring pensively at his laptop screen right before the murderer bursts in with a gun.

There’s a reason why Hollywood doesn’t put out realistic movies about writers: our lives aren’t that cinematic. Shots of people typing and muttering at a computer screen wouldn’t hold an audience for eight minutes, much less the eight hours a novelist might actually work over the course of a day. Which is not to say a writer’s life is boring – on the contrary, I find it fascinating. But cinematic it ain’t. Here’s a typical day in my life while I was writing Empress of the Seven Hills, and don’t say I didn’t warn you it’s not “Castle.”

7:36am Lurch out of bed and stumble straight-armed and zombie-like to the kitchen. Mornings chez Quinn are always like Night of the Living Dead. Only instead of “Brains . . . brains . . .” the resounding moan is “Coffee . . . coffee . . .”

8:10am Page through emails, feeling marginally more human. An offer for low-price Viagra, an urgent request from my publisher that we talk titles today, an invitation to send a blurb for somebody’s new book on Empress Theodora, a note from the eighteenth reader to point out that the mention of “vomitorium” in my last book is incorrect. Yeah yeah yeah. More coffee.

9:02am The dog wants to be walked. I explain earnestly to the dog that if I don’t knock out 3,000 words today, there will be nobody to keep him in rawhide chewies, gourmet dog food, and those squeaker toys he can de-squeak within eight minutes of removing the $16.99 price tag. The dog remains unimpressed. Throw on shoes, take dog for walk.

9:31am An email from my publisher waits for me when I get back. My proposed title Sons of Rome sounds too masculine and bloody for my target female readership, and anyway isn’t this “of Rome” thing getting old? I promise to brainstorm; settle down to work instead. 3,000 words, 3,000 words. I am not moving till I have 3,000 words.

9:44am Spend an hour reviewing and polishing what I wrote yesterday. Doesn’t suck too bad. Chapter starts draggy, though. Re-write until smooth.

10:53am My hero arrives at his legion. Did junior officers have their own quarters in Roman legions? Rifle my faithful copy of The Roman Empire: A to Z, plus my well-thumbed Tacitus. No dice. Hop over to post a question on RomanArmyTalk.com. Ben Kane hangs out there a lot; he’s bound to know if junior officers have their own quarters. Keep going, keep going. 2,067 words left.

11:29am My mother calls from work – my beta reader for the book’s first half. “Don’t shoot me,” she says, “but I think it might work better to take it out of 1st person and put it all into 3rd.” “I don’t want to shoot you,” I groan. “I want to shoot myself.” Pour more coffee, muttering obscenities.

11:32am My agent weighs in with a list of possible titles. Ideally for this process, you hit a bottle of champagne and scribble down anything that comes into your head. Is 11:32 in the morning too early to hit the champagne? So far we’ve got: Empress of Rome, Empress of the Seven Hills, Empress, A Stint In The Legions, Uncaring Gods, Fortuna’s Luck, To Conquer The World, The Tiber Foaming, and They Change The Sky. I weigh in with my standard line at this point: I don’t care what the book is called as long as it sells. I suck at titles.

11:39am My hero and I hit a brick wall. How the hell am I supposed to get him through four years of Parthian Wars until Emperor Trajan dies??? Will anyone notice if I move Trajan’s death up a bit? 1,822 words left . . .

11:43am I take a quick minute to email my husband, currently hunting baddies in the same part of the world where my fictional hero is hunting baddies, only with two thousand years between them. Life imitating art, or art imitating life?

11:53am Late for my kickboxing class. I throw on gloves and pound a heavy bag into oblivion, highly therapeutic when working out writing frustrations. That goddamned Emperor Trajan, he couldn’t have died four years sooner and not given me this plotting headache? Inconsiderate bastard.

1:14pm Come back spent and sweaty to another flurry of title emails. My publisher comes out in favor of Empress. My agent likes Empress of Rome. My publisher’s boss likes Empress of the Seven Hills. My husband weighs in from the Gulf of Oman with The Gladiator’s Girl. NICE TO KNOW YOU’RE ALIVE, I email back, BUT YOU AREN’T BEING HELPFUL. He comes back with When I Was A Boy In Parthia. Nice to know the flying bullets haven’t dented his sense of humor.

3:53pm Two and a half hours dragging my hero through the Parthian Wars. If I kind of cram the campaigns together, crunch everything down with some nifty time-passing narrative . . . yeah, might work . . .

4:01pm Another title suggestion from the Gulf of Oman, this one paying homage to my husband’s nerd roots: The Flux Capacitor Conspiracy. YOU’VE BEEN READING STAR TREK AGAIN, HAVEN’T YOU? I email back.

4:10pm Answer from RomanArmyTalk.com: “Not known if junior legionary officers had their own quarters.” In other words, I’m free to make it up. Excellent.

4:37pm Another flurry of title emails. I suggest How I Spent My Summer Vacation. This is not appreciated. Finally we all settle on Empress of the Seven Hills. Fine by me.

5:11pm Oh crap, I need to do a blog post. Haven’t done one in ten days. My New Year’s resolution “Blog weekly!!” didn’t even make it out of January. Blog topics, blog topics – copyediting? Advice to spouses of writers? Screw it, I’m 500 words from 3,000.

5:42pm 2,998 words. I scroll down to the next page and write “Chapter Nineteen” just so I can meet my quota. 3,000 words, seven hours of work (give or take).

6:01pm Stagger to kitchen to pour large glass of Yellowtail Chardonnay and turn on the Red Sox game. Still don’t have a blog post. Maybe I can get to it tomorrow. If I can finish tomorrow’s 3,000 words a little faster . . .

That, in a nutshell, is my day. Nothing like Nathan Fillion’s on “Castle:” I don’t have people running up to me in the street for autographs, I don’t play poker with Philippa Gregory and Diana Gabaldon on Friday nights, I don’t live in a seven-figure penthouse or go to red-carpet premieres. I type a lot, pretty much all day every day. I tear out a lot of hair. I drink a lot of coffee.

Not too cinematic, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Thanks for the fantastic and funny post Kate!  I can certainly relate to the need for coffee and the persistence of a pooch!  As always, thanks for your wonderful books!  I’ve posted both the US cover and the UK cover.  I’m partial to the US cover but I like them both!

UK Cover

About Empress of the Seven Hills by Kate Quinn (from Kate’s website)

From the national bestselling author of Daughters of Rome and Mistress of Rome comes a tale of love, power, and intrigue spanning the wilds of the Empire to the seven hills of Rome.

Powerful, prosperous, and expanding ever farther into the untamed world, the Roman Empire has reached its zenith under the rule of the beloved Emperor Trajan. But neither Trajan nor his reign can last forever . . .

Brash and headstrong, Vix is a celebrated ex-gladiator returned to Rome to make his fortune. The sinuous, elusive Sabina is a senator’s daughter who craves adventure. Sometimes lovers, sometimes enemies, Vix and Sabina are united by their devotion to Trajan. But others are already maneuvering in the shadows. Trajan’s ambitious Empress has her own plans for Sabina. And the aristocratic Hadrian — the Empress’s ruthless protégé and Vix’s mortal enemy — has ambitions he confesses to no one, ambitions rooted in a secret prophecy.

When Trajan falls, the hardened soldier, the enigmatic empress, the adventurous girl, and the scheming politician will all be caught in a deadly whirlwind of desire and death that may seal their fates, and that of the entire Roman Empire . . .

Read the first chapter
Buy Empress of the Seven Hills at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Indiebound, B&N

About Kate Quinn (from Kate’s website)

Kate Quinn is a native of southern California. She attended Boston University, where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. A lifelong history buff, she first got hooked on ancient Rome while watching “I, Claudius” at the age of seven. She wrote her first book during her freshman year in college, retreating from a Boston winter into ancient Rome, and it was later published as “Mistress of Rome.” A prequel followed, titled “Daughters of Rome,” and then a sequel written while her husband was deployed to the Middle East.

“I realized that my Roman legionary hero in `Empress of the Seven Hills’ was fighting in the same part of the world where my US Navy husband was deployed. Life imitating art, or art imitating life? I have no idea!”

Kate is currently working on her fourth novel, set in the Italian Renaissance. She also has succumbed to the blogging bug, and keeps a blog filled with trivia, pet peeves, and interesting facts about historical fiction. She and her husband now live in Maryland with a small black dog named Caesar, and her interests include opera, action movies, cooking, and the Boston Red Sox.

Kate’s website
Kate’s blog
Find Kate on Goodreads

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have one copy of Empress of the Seven Hills by Kate Quinn to share with my readers.  To enter…

• For 1 entry simply leave me a comment entering the giveaway.
• For 2 entries, follow my blog.  If you already do, thank you, and please let me know so I can pass the extra entry on to you as well.
• For 3 entries, blog or tweet this giveaway to spread the word.
• For 4 entries, follow me on NetWorked Blogs.  Click here to be taken directly there.  Log in to your Facebook account and click follow.  Thanks!

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) and I will draw for the winner on Saturday, April 28/12.  Good luck everyone!  And don’t forget to check back for my review this Sunday!

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I’m really pleased to welcome Nicole O’Dell, author of The Embittered Ruby which released on April 1st,  back to Peeking Between the Pages. I’ve reviewed a few of Nicole’s books and had her here several times with guest posts. I really believe in what she does with teen girls and keeping our faith in God at all times. Even better I have to say that Nicole is the perfect guest. This post is done by her in it’s entirety except for the giveaway portion. She gets it all set up and all you have to do is cut and paste. What could be better! Without further delay, sit back, relax, and enjoy Nicole’s post entitled Edgy: Is it really necessary?…

I’ve been told my books are edgy. I suppose that’s true when the view is from the center of a church pew. Sadly, that’s not where the majority of teenagers, even Christian teens, are building their frame of reference. According to the view they have from their seats, the stories I tell are far from the edge. In fact, they’re smack-dab in the center of reality as those teenagers know it.

This is quite true for my Diamond Estates series.

Diamond Estates. Three girls are on a journey to find hope and healing. Each coming to Diamond Estates seeking solace… Each with her own unique set of struggles… And each capturing hearts and challenging the faith of teen girls.

In the three books in this series, a troubled teen is plucked out of the mire of poor choices and the consequences that resulted, and dropped into Diamond Estates, a Christian counseling residence for teen girls, where they seek truth and grace. The road to forgiveness–mainly accepting it for themselves–is a difficult one. But the light of Jesus shines the brightest against the backdrop of their despair.

Which is exactly what I want to teach confused, hurt, and angry teens about their own realities.

But why be edgy just for the sake of being edgy?

Oh, no. I would hope and pray that is never my motivation. Ever. There is no storyline, subplot, vignette, or scene in my books that isn’t there for a reason. And never is that reason pure and simple shock value. In fact, I have taken scenes or description out when I didn’t trust my own motives for putting them there. I am human, after all, and I sure don’t want to get in the way of what God’s doing with the work.

Okay, so what kind of edgy? What are we talking about here?

Well, in the first Diamond Estates book, The Wishing Pearl, Olivia dealt with off-screen sexual abuse by her step-father as she struggled to heal from the death of her dad years before. She turned to the wrong crowd, alcohol, and drugs in search of oblivion.

In this new release, The Embittered Ruby, Carmen Castillo faces the divorce of her parents that forces a relocation from upstate New York to a rougher part of New Jersey. She goes from country club tennis lessons to gang fights. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Carmen becomes a master manipulator. Hey, if her parents can’t or won’t give her the family she needs, she can create it herself. Themes of teenage sexuality, divorce, gang activity, and lying are prevalent.

The Shadowed Onyx, 12/1/12, deals with occult activity and spiritual warfare as Joy Christianson tries to make sense of her best friend’s suicide.

So why are you trying to scare us out of buying this series for my teen?

I’m not trying to do that, really. You know, the things I mentioned above are part of the daily life of any teenager. They see these themes at work in those around them every minute of every day. What they might not see, however, are the consequences of those poor choices or the redemption that can only be found in Jesus. They see the sparkle of sin and the glamour of rebellion, but rarely do they realize what it’s like to hit bottom. . .until they do.

Maybe your daughter or her friends will read about these every-teens and decide not to go that path. Maybe as a result of reading these stories, they’ll decide to start their personal choices at the end of the book and skip all the pain along the way. Or if not your daughter, maybe she’ll read these stories and find inspiration to reach out to someone who needs to see truth against the backdrop of lies.

You see, I believe in facing the hard issues, talking about them before they actually arise, and making a plan to combat the peer pressure before it hits. Don’t be afraid of the issues, be afraid of what happens when you ignore them.

The Diamond Estates series might seem edgy, but it’s on the edge where the miracles happen.

The Wishing Pearl, book 1, available now

The Embittered Ruby, book 2, available now

The Shadowed Onyx, book 3, available 12/1/12

Nicole O’Dell, founder of Choose NOW Ministries and host of Choose NOW Radio: Parent Talk and Teen Talk, is a youth culture expert who writes and speaks to preteens, teenagers, and parents about how to prepare for life’s tough choices. She’s author of YA fiction, including the popular Scenarios for Girls interactive fiction series and the Diamond Estates Series, and non-fiction for teens including Girl Talk, 2/1/12, which she wrote with her two daughters based on their popular advice column. Hot Buttons, O’Dell’s non-fiction series for parents helps pre-empt peer pressure by tackling tough issues. Visit www.nicoleodell.com for more info.

Pick up your own copy of The Wishing Pearl at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca and The Embittered Ruby at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

I have one copy of The Embittered Ruby which released on April 1st  by Nicole O’Dell to share with my readers.  To enter…

• For 1 entry simply leave me a comment entering the giveaway.
• For 2 entries, follow my blog.  If you already do, thank you, and please let me know so I can pass the extra entry on to you as well.
• For 3 entries blog or tweet this giveaway and spread the word!

This giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) and I will draw for the winner on Saturday, April 21/12.  Good luck!

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