Getting to Know Jonas, Hattie and Wanless (final post)

“Please don’t tell me—” I lift my head. “Are you finking out on me now, Jonas?” I shouldn’t be treating him like this, I know, but I’m so… mad. It’s my Dad. How can I just sit back and watch him disappear like so many other people have? ~Hattie Akerman

This week marks the last installment of Getting to Know Jonas, Hattie and Wanless--a weekly thing I've done throughout the month of May where I've shared one chapter from Pity Isn't An Option a week). Click HERE to check out the final chapter on Goodreads!

The reason I decided to share the first five chapters is because I wanted people to get a feel of the book and Hattie and Jonas' story. I wanted readers to know where the characters were coming from, to understand what they were going through. PIAO is dystopian, but not necessarily in the way so many YA books are right now. It's a story of loss and hopelessness and finding a way through those to continue, and sometimes a blurb just doesn't get that point across properly.

Come June, Jonas and Hattie will be featured on a few different blogs, and I can't wait to share those posts with you! I've had a lot of fun doing them and *SO* appreciate the writerly world and bloggers who daily go out of their way for indie authors such as myself.

Also, I'm currently looking for a few (serious) readers to review PIAO, and am in a group on Goodreads where you can sign up, if you're interested. Reviews greatly benefit the writer, as you know, because they help get the word out there. So if you're interested and willing to review, let me know and I can direct you to the right thread. (There are many other authors in that group looking for reviews as well!) Keep in mind a review can be one or two paragraphs, or more than that. The point is to explain how you felt about the book in your own words. :)

Have a blessed weekend,
Jessica

There's still time to enter Local Author Wednesday giveaways!

With everything going on and the middle kid graduating 8th grade and no kitchen *still* (and #BEA--I swear I'm not glued to the internet about this... okay, maybe I am... oh and speaking of, there's an #antiBEAReadathon going on! You can check it out HERE! FYI I am failing miserably at it, though not for lack of trying!) and all the other stuffs going on, this week's Local Author Wednesday is going to get pushed to next week. But that's great, because it gives Michael and I a chance to figure out some way cool local history to share. He's been posting quite the interesting photos on his page lately, so I can only imagine what we're going to learn next week.

As for the past three Local Author Wednesdays, the giveaway dates are coming to a close and I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to enter a few more times. For those of you who've never used Rafflecopter (*ahem* my local pals), it's a simple "enter-this-little-tidbit-of-info-and-then-you're-entered" kind of thing. I have made sure to always have a free entry for those who aren't on Twitter and whatnot (that's okay, we still love you) so hey, might as well try for that freebie! I mean, they are BOOKS? Need I say more? :D

So here's a breakdown and direct links to enter to win as many days as you want before the dates are over...

1) 1 copy of Sharon Lathan's The Passions of Dr. Darcy (historical romance--Jane Austen style) HERE

2) Set of James Garcia Jr.'s Dance on Fire and Flashpoint ebooks (paranormal) HERE

3) 1 signed, hardcover copy of Kasie West's Pivot Point (YA dystopian) HERE

Feel free to spread the readerly love and share this info!

Have a blessed Wednesday,

Jessica

Getting to Know Jonas, Hattie, and Wanless (Take Four)

**Photo courtesy of DP Photography

I'm a little late this week, but better late than never! 

Click HERE to read Chapter Four of Pity Isn't An Option (Jonas' point of view!)

The only way you can write the truth

MAN this spoke to me this morning.

"The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it."
~Margaret Atwood

HIJACKED! and Getting to Know Jonas, Hattie, and Wanless (Take Three)

**Photo courtesy of DP Photography

So my friend, Lisa, at A Life Bound By Books is on a little trip. (Okay, it's a big trip. She's over in Liverpool right now. Liverpool. Yeah, she's doing just fine, yay for her and all that jazz.) Anyway. Somehow--I do not know how this happened--her website was HIJACKED by someone at Wanless Wanderer (Wanless' local paper) Radio!!! Pretty sneaky, don'tcha think? I mean, really! (If Kendrick or his guys find out... stuff's going to hit the fan.) You can check the radio announcement out HERE (but please do not tell President Kendrick, okay? Many families' lives are at stake)!

Oh and Chapter 3 of Pity Isn't An Option is up at Goodreads. Click HERE to read Hattie's point of view (though it would probably be best to read the radio announcement first)!

Have a blessed weekend, everyone!

Local Author Wednesday: Kasie West, PIVOT POINT author

Throughout the month of May I will be highlighting a local author once a week. This highlight will include information on the author's most recent book/s, a giveaway (in which the authors are being so gracious as to donate), and something cool about at least one of their books to give you a feel of their writing. I'm hoping this feature will bring awareness to new local and international readers. Plus, I like giveaways!!! (To check out this month's guests, click on my original announcement, here, or click the Local Author Wednesday tag at the bottom of this post.)

This week, I'd like to introduce to you fellow young adult author, Kasie West. Kasie is donating one signed, hardcover copy of her debut, Pivot Point (this contest is for US residents only).

Pivot Point's blurb:

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

In Pity Isn't An Option, Jonas, the male main character, writes a few meaningful words on a particular item and ends up giving it to someone, and we've carried out this theme for Local Author Wednesdays. I asked Kasie what words would describe Pivot Point best, and what item her main character, Addie, would put those words on, and here is what she came up with:

Pretty cool, right? (Are you curious about the storyline yet?) And now, for the giveaway! Feel free to come back every day to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Kasie:

I write YA. I eat Junior Mints. Sometimes I go crazy and do both at the same time. My debut novel, PIVOT POINT (HarperTeen) came out February 12, 2013, and will be followed by its sequel in 2014. I also have a contemporary, The Distance Between Us, coming out July 2, 2013 with HarperTeen. My agent is the talented and funny Michelle Wolfson.

Find Kasie on
her website (link) Twitter (link) and Goodreads (link)

Purchase Pivot Point at Amazon (link) or Barnes and Noble (link)

Do you Libboo? And a hint about this week's Local Author Wednesday

Fun news: Pity Isn't An Option is on Libboo! (link) I'm doing the normal giveaway thing at this point--free ebooks to the top 3 "buzzers", but I am already thinking about cool ways to reward readers who get the word out there about Wanless and Jonas and Hattie. So yeah. If you're on there, I'd love to connect. If you know how to work it, here's a big cookie--please tell me your favorite things about it. :) You can read a little bit more about how it works, HERE.

Also. GUESS WHAT? Tomorrow is our next Local Author Wednesday, and I am pleased to announce it will be Kasie West, who also writes YA! (YAY!) The book I'll be featuring is her debut, Pivot Point...

but I saw today that she actually has a giveaway going on over at Goodreads for her upcoming book, The Distance Between Us, and thought I'd share it with you guys so you can enter it and add it to your TBR list, too! Check it out HERE and I'll see you back tomorrow with Kasie and Addie, her MC!