This week's writerly news: OTH cover reveal info -- and a new favorite show

Happy weekend! How's summer treating everyone? I'm so excited to announce that Open Thy Heart's (Flora, book 2) cover will be revealed on July 14th! Woohoo! To celebrate, I ordered Flora bookmarks, which should be in soon. (If you'd like some, let me know and I'll send some out.) I can't wait to share the new cover with all of you! 

And since I really *can't* wait, here's a teeny bit of the photo to tide (pun not intended, but well, that worked out well, didn't it?) you over until Hafsah shares it at IceyBooks:

Tiniest clue ever

Giveaways

The only one going on is June's #JLBgivesawayaDVD of Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, which, suprisingly, doesn't seem to be that popular. (I CANNOT UNDERSTAND THIS.) It ends very soon, so if you're interested in entering, go HERE. Recently, I held a vote on my Facebook page and it's been decided that next month's is She's the Man, so of course I'm excited.

Can we say spider scene? 

It's been pretty busy around here, what with construction going on up and down our street (the city has been replacing underground piping, so for days during the daytime we were without water--boy was that fun), my 8th grader's grad party last weekend (Yay! So glad that's finally done), and other things. Then, yesterday, we decided (okay, my now freshman decided, and I had to help or she would have gone crazy and never gotten done) to repaint one of our bathrooms. We happened to have an entire can of paint never used from when we re-did the kitchen last year and I purchased too green of a color (it was supposed to be blue), so that's what we used. (Free paint = justifiable new shower curtain purchase. Hoorah!) 

It's quite cheery. Perhaps it will encourage
the girls to get up earlier when school
starts up again? Yeah right.

I haven't really watched TV (totally normal for me, as Arrow was all I really watched), but last night my oldest (a junior now, GOODNESS) showed me a new show called The Pool Master on Animal Planet and I am SO HOOKED. (I mean, if you like Treehouse Masters, you're going to LOVE this one. I'm not sure the guys are as enjoyable to watch, but who cares, the end result was beautiful.) In fact, don't take my word for it. You must watch the commercial of the first one, HERE. (SEE!)

The Pool Master himself.

  

Recently, snack-wise, for kid #3's party we (ahem--I) decided we should make caramel apples, and learned that, yes, homemade ones are JUST AS TASTY as the ones from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. You seriously just buy the caramel bits, melt them in a pot, dip the apples, and add your favorite stuff for them to roll in (my favorite is Butterfinger). And they last in the fridge for a few days at least!

And... well... that's pretty much all that's been going on here. How have you been doing?

Have a blessed weekend, everybody!

Oh and P.S.... next week's Reader Interview will be The Geeky Chiquitas! Can't wait for them to be here!

Waiting on Wednesday -- The Third Twin

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine.  

  This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is The Third Twin. 

The Third Twin

by C. J. Omololu
Publication date: 2015

From Goodreads:

Identical twins. Identical DNA. Identical suspects. It's Pretty Little Liars meets Revenge in this edge-of-your-seat thriller with a shocking twist.

When they were little, Lexi and her identical twin, Ava, made up a third sister, Alicia. If something broke? Alicia did it. Cookies got eaten? Alicia's guilty. Alicia was always to blame for everything. The game is all grown up now that the girls are seniors. They use Alicia as their cover to go out with boys who are hot but not exactly dating material. Boys they'd never, ever be with in real life.

Now one of the guys Alicia went out with has turned up dead, and Lexi wants to stop the game for good. As coincidences start piling up, Ava insists that if they follow the rules for being Alicia, everything will be fine. But when another boy is killed, the DNA evidence and surveillance photos point to only one suspect: Alicia. The girl who doesn't exist. As she runs from the cops, Lexi has to find the truth before another boy is murdered. Because either Ava is a killer…or Alicia is real.

This week's writerly news, my new favorite song, + more

Our poolside friend on Wednesday.

Summer vacation is upon us. For me, that means triple-digit heat (the other day it was 109), my daughters (now officially a freshman, sophomore, and junior in high school) and I using the pool a lot, tons of photo-taking, pool-side reading, more food preparation since everyone's home all day (thank God for fruit in season right now) recovering from 8th grade graduation festivities (while preparing for my youngest' own party next week), and a whole lot of other stuff. 

So... I don't have a lot to share. In fact, my brain is on duh mode, writing-wise, which I'm finding to be very frustrating. I actually thought about whether I should share this or not, but decided that all writers know about times when you seriously want to do anything BUT write, and readers deserve to know it's not all butterflies and happy songs when you write all year long. Honestly, I think my brain just needs a break. Which stinks, because I have things I want to get done, but when you're not feeling it, you're not feeling it.

I've even been missing my fun twitter chats, because it's TOO BUSY ROUND THESE PARTS. (One positive sidenote: I am getting quite tan from the many outdoor festivities. Hoorah!)

Anyway. The lack of posts =  proof of summer life. (I hadn't missed a Waiting on Wednesday for a long time either until this week, so that was weird.) Of course the #JLBgivesawayaDVD of Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken is going, and for those of you waiting on bookmarks, hopefully by the end of next week Hafsah will have had a chance to work on stuff, so I can order them. :)

Since I don't have anything exciting to share from the writerly aspect, here are a few noteworthy things that have recently grabbed my attention:

OVERJOYED by Bastille (acapella) is my new favorite song (I need to be able to buy the version of this NOW). I guarantee you will listen to this one over and over. 

Magic Mountain's Colossus Roller Coaster Closing in August (When I hear the word, Colossus, I always think, whiplash. Curious to see what they replace it with.)

Escape-Artist Horse, "Houdini"  This guy is the cutest.

#30daysofbookstagrams (If you're not following me and would like to, click the Instagram icon at the top right corner of my blog.) Here's June's list (feel free to join in at any time!):

This upcoming Sunday is Father's Day, so for anyone looking for ideas, here are a few ideas I've found to come in handy (remember, you can always change word gifts to Dad or Love or Father, et cetera).

Also, tomorrow night (Saturday), at 9 EST, my #nerdherd pals Mandie and Tabitha and I are watching The Proposal together on Twitter. So... if you want to go see a movie with some pals but don't want to change out of your PJs, feel free to join the convo at #nerdherdmovienight :D I'll bring the chocolate!

And, that's about it. Have a blessed weekend, everybody! 

June's #JLBgivesawayaDVD: Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

I'm pretty excited about this month's DVD--it's a Disney movie that came out when I was thirteen and I love love love it. Now, before you get all, ew that means this'll look all old and icky, then, let me just point out that 

 a) it takes place in the 1920's, so yeah it's going to look old, but not in the way you'd expect 

 and 

 b) it is based on a TRUE story. 

Copyright Walt Disney Pictures

(For those of you who HAVE seen it... let's all just come out right now and admit to crushing on Michael Schoeffling/Al Carver above and just get it over with...)

The official cover, synopsis, and trailer:

Synopsis: A runaway orphan, young Sonora (Gabrielle Anwar) persists at a menial job mucking stables in Doc Carver's traveling stunt show. Her great wish is to become a death-defying "diving girl," but Doc (Cliff Robertson) refuses her pleas. Undaunted, Sonora's gutsy resolve finally convinces him to give her a break. On the brink of stardom, however, a cruel twist of fate threatens to destroy her dream. With the help of a loving friend (Michael Schoeffling), Sonora must prove that if you want something badly enough, anything is possible!

***If you have NOT heard of Sonora Webster or this movie before and are entering the giveaway, I advise you NOT to search for any info, because SPOILERS! There's one key element that makes being a diving girl (see trailer) even more spectacular, but believe me, finding out what it is ahead of time will ruin it!

And now, the Rafflecopter! Yay! 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway