ENTHRALLED: Review and A Sweet Giveaway...

Book Love posted a great review of the entire ENTHRALLED anthology last week, check out what she had to say about my story, SKIN CONTACT:

Skin Contact by Kimberly Derting: Told from the mysterious Rafe's, from the Body Finder Series, POV and tells the story of his past, how he came to work for Agent Sara Priest, and how his powers work. This is a heart-breaking story, he has been through rough times and I couldn't help falling in love with him and his inner strength. I don't want to give too much away but it involves a love (different but as strong as Violet and Jay's), I'll leave it at that. This was the first story I read when I got this book and I was not disappointed. I can't wait to learn more about him in the third Body Finder book.

SWEET! I kinda love Rafe too. (Don’t start sending me hate mail…I still love Jay. I’m fickle like that.)

Of course she had stuff to say about the other stories too. Great stuff. And you can read the rest of her review here.

Anyhoo, because I’m crazy stoked about ENTHRALLED, I’ve decided to offer you a chance to read it early too!

But wait! Not only am I giving away this shiny ARC, but if you act now, I’ll also throw in this super awesome, never before available t-shirt signed by all of us from the Smart Chicks San Francisco stop. That’s right, you can have your very own, one-of-a-kind (and I mean that literally!), Hanes black T signed by Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, Alyson Noel, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Melissa de la Cruz, and me!*

*Available in Men’s Large only (Umm…see the one-of-a-kind comment above.)

Seriously, a Smart Chicks book AND a sweet Smart Chicks t-shirt, where else are you gonna get free stuff like that?!?!

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me either how much you want this book (and trust me, you totally want it!)...OR because the theme of the book is paranormal road trips, tell me about your best road trip you’ve ever taken. Either one works. That’s an automatic point!

+5 BONUS points if you mark ENTHRALLED as “to-read” on Goodreads. (If you already have, it counts, just let me know that too!)

AND another +5 BONUS points if you snag that ENTHRALLED countdown widget there in my sidebar and share it somewhere (your blog, Facebook, Tumblr…heck, share on that website you made for your pet hamster!). I don’t care where, just share it!

THE RULES:

Tally your points in your comment, and leave me your email address (otherwise I can’t reach you, can I???).

The giveaway will run until Wednesday, July 13th and is open to EVERYONE (not just you US peeps)!!!

Oh, and don’t forget your sunscreen. (What can I say? I’m a mom, and it’s summertime...this is my mantra.)

EDITED: I don't know what's wrong with the widget! I've tried and tried to reformat it but I can't seem to fix it, so it looks like there's a 6 point max. Sorry, folks!!!

TBF3 UNVEILED!!!!

So I was thinking it was time to let you in on the whole secret title thing, since I’m sorta tired of calling the third Body Finder book the “third Body Finder." Or TBF3. (Those are both super lame titles, by the way.)

My editor, my husband, both my daughters, my son, and my friends and family spent FOREVER trying to come up with the right title for this book because I really wanted it to be meaningful to the story, a little creepy (of course), and also tie in with the other two books. Sounds easy, right? Wrong, it was so hard and I think we tossed around something like a million titles, or at least it felt that way. And then it happened...

We finally found THE ONE (and no, it’s not called The One, but hey, that’s not bad either…wait, never mind!). Anyway, I love, love my new title!! It really does capture the heart of this storyline and makes me...well, squee!

Are you ready???

Wait for it...

...

...

...


THE LAST ECHO


But get this, I have more to share!

Wanna know what it’s about? A little snippet from the cover???

All right, you asked for it:


Violet kept her morbid ability to sense dead bodies a secret from everyone except her family and her childhood-best-friend-turned-boyfriend, Jay Heaton. That is until forensic psychologist Sara Priest discovered Violet’s talent and invited her to use her gift to track down murderers. Now, as she works with an eclectic group of individuals—including mysterious and dangerously attractive Rafe—it’s Violet’s job to help those who have been murdered by bringing their killers to justice. When Violet discovers the body of a college girl killed by “the girlfriend collector” she is determined to solve the case. But now the serial killer is on the lookout for a new “relationship” and Violet may have caught his eye....


But I’ve saved the best for last, check this out…



My favorite part: the color of the flower has so much meaning in this book.


Sooooo.....

What do you guys think?

Packing, Signings, and...Extravangazas!

I leave for New York in just two days, which means…well, it means I have a lot of packing to do. But it also means I’m just days away from my Books of Wonder signing on Thursday, June 30th with the uber-talented Lisa Schroeder, Adele Griffin, and Laurie Faria Stolarz! What the what?!? That’s right, if you haven’t already made plans to come see us, you’d better write it on your calendar now!!!

Not only that, but RWA has other opportunities to stop by and see me even if you’re not attending the conference! There’s a HUGE Literacy Signing on Tuesday night at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. You can meet a gazillion of your favorite authors (literally a gazillion...check out that list!). You can buy our books, get our autographs and pick up some cool swag, or just stare at us like monkeys in a zoo! Whatever it takes to get you there.

And if you’re in Seattle instead of New York, you can catch me at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park on Sunday, July 31st for their Summer Reading Extravaganza with Suzanne Young, Mandy Hubbard, Lisa Schroeder, Eileen Cook, and Cat Patrick! Did I mention it’s an EXTRAVANGAZA?! I know you don’t want to miss that!!!

How Much Do I Love This???

In response to all the Random Acts of Kindness posts yesterday, The Pledge site posted an amazing example of Paying it Forward...and I just couldn't resist sharing it with you guys!

Not only did her story make me cry, but she's also offering prizes of her own. Trust me, you should totally check this out!

Celebrating A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL with Random Acts of Kindness...

In honor of the release of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL (a book I loved!) a bunch of us are celebrating the random acts of kindness that touched our lives...and giving away some super awesome stuff!!!

For some reason, this act is the one that always stands out for me:

My best friend and I were out late one Saturday night, and while driving home we got lost in the warehouse district of Seattle. To top things off, we got a flat tire in the pouring rain—seriously the conditions were monsoon-like! It was nearly three in the morning and there was absolutely no one around. And I mean no one. There was really no reason for anyone (including us!) to be passing through that part of town at that hour.

Now, for those of you who don’t remember, this was back in the day…you know, before cell phones. (Gasp!) So here we were, two young girls who had no idea how to change a tire (honestly, I don’t even think we knew if we had a spare tire), stranded in the dark in the middle of nowhere. We got out and walked for a bit, looking for a payphone, but as far as we could see, there were none so we’d retreated back to the car where it was dry.

We finally decided to just wait it out till morning, knowing our parents would kill us. Knowing anyone could come along and do god-knows-what to us.

And then, from totally out of nowhere, we saw headlights cutting through the downpour and heading right for us (I know, this sounds like something straight out of THE BODY FINDER, right?). A car pulled up slowly, a man rolled down his window, and asked if we need help.

We nervously explained our situation to the stranger, and without hesitation he parked his car, got out, and began changing our tire. And remember, it was coming down in buckets, so he got completely SOAKED in the process! We couldn’t thank him enough, it had been almost too much to ask of a total stranger, and yet he’d offered.

He was like a superhero or a guardian angel or a…Good Samaritan or something.

Whatever he was, the world definitely needs more like him.


And guess what??? There's a contest to go with this Random Acts Celebration!!!

Check out the prizes:

Three lucky winners will get a signed copy of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL, in addition to one of the following (US Only for the signed copies). The remaining prizes from below will go to one winner each. And because every participant has a different story for who has changed their life, definitely be sure you check out every one's post, then be sure to spread the kindness.

*First Chapter Critique from Lisa and Laura Roecker
*Query Letter Critique from Shannon Messenger
*Signed copy of Invincible Summer from Hannah Moskowitz
*First Chapter Critique and a Skype Chat from Keri Mikulski
*Signed copy of Tell Me a Secret with signed art print from Holly Cupala
*Signed copy of Chasing Brooklyn from Lisa Schroeder
*The Pledge Swag Pack including ARC from Kimberly Derting
*First 3 chapter critique from Jessica at Confessions of a Bookaholic
*Hourglass by Myra McEntire from Corrine at Lost for Words
*ARC of Wolfsbane from Jessi at The Elliott Review
*2 Header/Button Packs from Jessica at Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
*First 3 chapters Critique from Cindy at Books Complete Me
*YA Lit Swag Bag from Sara at Novel Novice
*First 15 pages Critique from Kari at a Good Addiction
*Signed ARC of Hereafter (to a different winner) from Kari at a Good Addiction
*Daisy Whitney is also giving away five copies of the book on her facebook page and blog!

(Did you guys see that??? I'm giving away an ARC of THE PLEDGE, along with the very first swag pack!)

Here are the deets:

Earn one extra entry for each of the following:
Take a picture of any author's book in the wild and tweet it to Kari at a Good Addiction (@flamingo1325) and the author
Post a positive Amazon review for a book you loved
Donate a book to a library or classroom
Tweet a good deed you plan to do this week, using the #ANeedSoBeautiful hashtag


Earn 10 extra entries for each of the following:
Take a picture of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL in the wild and tweet it to Kari and Suzanne Young
Post an Amazon review for A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL
Donate a copy of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL to a library or classroom


To enter, just fill out THIS form! Note: This is the same form no matter what blog you enter from, so please only enter once, and please wait until you have all your links, etc to enter.

Contest starts today, and ends June 28.

*Don't forget you MUST use the contest form to enter...comments left on this blog are much appreciated but won't be tallied!

**I would love to hear about random acts of kindness that affected your life!!!

What's Up???

I posted some of our vacation photos on Facebook, but thought I’d share a couple of my favorites here too. One of my favorite things (besides having giraffes and zebras right outside our hotel room balcony!) was the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. (I’m sorry, did I just out myself as a Potter disciple?!?)


It. Was. Incredible! Like walking onto the set of one of the movies.

Maybe even better because there were rides. And food.

Okay, the rides I could’ve done without. Or at least The Forbidden Journey. It’s one of those virtual reality rides, where they strap you in and the screen plays this amazing special effects “journey” while the ride moves. Let’s just say I may have gotten a little motion sick on it.

Fine. A LOT motion sick.

Oh, and don’t ask me anything about the ride because my eyes were shut the entire time. Not because I was scared, I just didn’t want to puke on anyone. YAY.

One of the nights my husband surprised my daughter (and me) with reservations at the Medieval Times Dinner, which I totally thought would be cheesy. But Abby loved it so much it was hard not to fall under its charms. Her knight even bestowed his favor upon her (you know, gave her the little sash from the tip of his lance). She was positively glowing with her new knightly crush! Way cooler than I expected!

(I'm totally thinking I need a throne now.)

Also, this past weekend, we added a new kitten to the family line-up.

*cue the awwws*



I know. Adorable, isn’t she? So you totally understand why there was no way I could say no when we were at my nephew’s birthday party and they had kittens and my daughter asked if we could take her home, right???

The conversation went something like this:

Abby: “Please, mommy! She’ll be the last pet I ever get.”

Me: “Absolutely not.”

Abby: “Just look at her little face.”

Me (looking for a very long time, and then under my breath): “Fine.”

Abby: “Pleeeeaasseee…I…. Wait. What? Did you just say yes?”

My husband was pretty cool about it, especially considering we just showed up with her. No phone calls…no warning at all. I figured I was either getting a new cat or a lease on an apartment (for him, not me, since I need the space for all our cats!).

And now we have an adorable little kitten!

But my big news is that I went to the university this week and picked up our oldest daughter’s cap and gown for commencement. I can’t believe my baby is graduating college next week! When did she stop being this...???



I may be feeling a tad nostalgic.

What's up with you???

BEHOLD...

The Italian cover for THE BODY FINDER...



Molto bella!!!