Title: "Love Notes": Four Musical Romance Novels
Release date: February 2nd 2015
Purchases: Amazon
SYNOPSIS VIA GOODREADS:
Pieces of Me by Kira Adams
For sixteen year old Peyton Lane, life has never been easy. She's not popular, overweight, and oh yeah, her sister is embarrassed of her. But over the course of a tumultuous year, everything changes for Peyton. Suddenly all eyes are on her and it's not because she's fat. From a pair of handsome twins to a couple of dangerously sexy rockers, Peyton will have to find out who she can trust with her heart. From the ups and downs to the twists and turns -- this is Peyton's story of finding one's voice and growing into your own.
This is a coming of age romance that involves realistic situations and raw emotions. This is Pieces of Me.
***
The Right Song by Shane Morgan
Pain never truly goes away, until you find something deeper and meaningful that cures the heart and fills it with love.
That is what Aurora desperately wants to believe. That somehow her music can save her, or even touch the unreachable heart of the guy she has liked for years.
Rora yearns for his attention and wants to experience this so-called love that could possibly end her long suffering and inspire her to chase after her dreams.
In deeply understanding the feelings of others and herself, will Aurora give up on ever finding true happiness, or will an intriguing soul teach her about the greatest song ever written?
***
Revenge of a Band Geek Gone Bad by Naomi Rabinowitz
Shy, overweight Melinda Rhodes' sophomore year of high school isn't going so well. Her own mother mocks her weight. Her pants split in the middle of school, earning her the nickname, "Moolinda." She then loses first chair flute in band to Kathy Meadows, her pretty and popular nemesis.
Her luck changes when she catches the eye of Josh Kowalski, a rebellious trumpet prodigy and class clown. Josh has also been hurt by Kathy and asks Melinda to help take Kathy down. Mel figures that she has nothing to lose ... and Josh is adorable with gorgeous blue eyes and a winning smile. She agrees to team up with him and looks forward to finally getting back at her rival.
At first, the pair's pranks are silly, and as they work together, Mel comes out of her shell. Even better, she finds herself falling for Josh and it appears as if he might feel the same way about her.
However, their schemes become more and more dangerous and Mel is surprised to discover her dark side. Just how far will she go to get what she wants -- and is Josh really worth the risk?
***
Straight from the Heart by Breigh Forstner
This is a story about a girl discovering and experiencing life for the first time.
Bryn Schaefler grew up rich. Her parents expected the best out of her, picked her boyfriend for her, and groomed her to be the next trophy wife fresh out of High School. But when they discover she wants to pursue music instead of following in her mothers footsteps, they wanted to hear nothing about it.
That was when Bryn left for good.
By chance, she auditioned for main stream rock band Everlasting. Never in a million years did she think she would make it.
Cale Pelton knew it was his fault for the band scrambling around to find a new guitarist. Once he saw Bryn audition, he knew he had to have her. Not just in the band, but in his mind, body and soul.
This is the first book in the Straight from the Heart series. Follow Cale and Bryn as she goes on her first tour, and discovers there's so much more to her than she ever realized.
Excerpt:
“Are you actually serious…you want us to play in a
rock band?” Brooklyn asked the night I made the suggestion.
“Yeah, why not? We love this—why are we standing by on
the sidelines when we can be the ones on stage?”
Madison cocked her head towards me, he red curls
cascading down her shoulder. “She does have a point.”
“What would we even call ourselves?” Brooklyn posed
another question, obviously warming up to the idea.
“How about a Change in Time? We’ve definitely been
going through some changes these past few months…I think it seems oddly
fitting.” And so it was, we decided to hold auditions for the rest of our key
players.
I was so excited to be able to finally sing my lyrics
out loud, with music in the background. Everyone had made such a big deal at
the Karaokethon that it instilled
confidence in me I never had before. It was a strange feeling getting a
standing ovation and knowing my two biggest haters were somewhere in the crowd.
I felt like Jax’s eyes were boring into me, judging me. For once in my life
though, I was concentrating on what made me happy.
In the band, Madison took on the role of
violinist/back-up vocalist, Brooklyn signed on as the drummer, and we found an
amazing guitarist, with tons of potential and performance background, Noah
Leaderman, who conveniently also sang harmonies. Harper Michaels joined in as
the keyboardist, and Josiah Jensen rounded up the band as the kickass bassist.
We were actually surprisingly good. We devoted endless hours to writing,
practicing, and rehearsing and it was definitely paying off in the right way.
The rapport that we were able to build within the band
in such a short amount of time playing together was refreshing. I woke up
breathing music, I went to bed breathing it. I never realized just how much it
ran through my blood. Music fueled me.
Ten Things
I’ve Learned Since I Started Writing: Kira Adams
1.
Beta readers are invaluable. One of the first things I
did when I decided I wanted to write more seriously was join the site, Goodreads. There are hundreds of
people on there who are interested in beta reading, and they all do it out of
the kindness of their heart—asking for no monetary compensation. Each and every
one of my books went through multiple rounds of beta readers who helped me
address problems with the plot, flow, characterization, and even sometimes,
spelling and grammar. I honestly believe if it were not for Goodreads and the beta readers help, I
wouldn’t be the author I am today.
2.
Where is the rush? I hastily made the decision
to publish my first book after being fed up with my life in general—I would not recommend this. I missed minor
formatting errors and settled for the story as it was even though I had inner
doubts about it. Although thousands of readers were happy with the version that
was published, I have already edited it once and will probably revise and
update the published copies once more if I decide to delve back into the story.
I also missed the opportunity to promote at all. Even though I have found book
bloggers (and thank God for them), it is still very hard work. I would
recommend taking your time to publish your novel.
This is the format I would
follow if you are interested in self-publishing: Write the story, edit the
story, have the story beta read, put the story away for a little bit of time to
breathe while you begin something new, edit the story again, have it beta read
one more time, edit it for the final time, format it for e-books and
paperbacks, promote, promote, promote, publish.
3.
Join online writing
communities such as Wattpad,
Figment,
Authonomy,
Scribophile,
etc. Joining
a site like Wattpad has been life-changing for
me. It is a website that merges readers and aspiring writers with published
authors and even agents sometimes. You are able to post your stories chapter by
chapter and others have the opportunity to read, comment, and vote on your
works as well as follow your profile and add your books to their libraries.
There are also forums you can join that give advice on the ins and outs of the
industry. A majority of the website is the younger generation, tweens and
teens, however Wattpad is filled with aspiring
writers and published authors of all backgrounds.
I joined the site in
September 2013, and since then I have over 700 followers, over 9000 votes, and
upwards of 50,000 reads on some of my stories. Even though I have not and will
not ever receive any monetary compensation from having my stories on Wattpad, I will be a lifer. I cannot
tell you how much of a community it is and how supportive my followers have
been for me as well as advice I’ve been given on improving my novels; I cannot
say enough great things about Wattpad. I think I should be their
mascot!
4.
Your friends and family will
come around. Don’t
be offended if your friends and family don’t read your stories right away or
even bother to buy them when they are released. Things to keep in mind,
everyone has their own life and are busy living it—they will support you when
they see the hard work. Also, factor in what genre you are writing in because
not everyone will be interested in Young Adult or New Adult Romances.
5.
If you have the opportunity
to have a critiquing partner who will swap a few chapters at a time, TAKE IT. While beta readers can be
helpful to no end, a critiquing partner can and will become passionate about
your work; they will push you to write new chapters and even though they won’t
go easy on you just because you’ve built a rapport, they will support you to no
end.
6.
Go with the flow. As much as I love outlines
and have used them plenty of times in the past, I have always been a firm
believer in writing what you feel is right in the moment. My stories with the
biggest recognition have not been planned out, I believe that’s what kept the
intensity building from start to finish. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying
there is anything wrong with outlines, I am just saying if your gut is telling
you to write something, don’t feel confined to your outline.
7.
The ups and downs of
Print-on-Demand.
When I published my first two novels, I chose the website Createspace to help with the paperback
copies I would be needing. I love how
self-sufficient their website makes you feel and how quickly they can approve
everything for publishing (within 24-48 hours).
Cons: The royalties are about 30%
your book price, which in the grand scheme of things isn’t much.
8.
You do not have to pay a fortune for a cover that could compete in the
traditional publishing world, trust me. One of the best decisions I ever made
was asking a peer on Wattpad to make my covers professionally for me; little
did I know, she actually wanted to be a cover designer! I approached her and we
worked out a 6-book deal for a VERY affordable price. She not only works with
me to make sure I am satisfied in full, but she has a ridiculously fast
turnaround. Sometimes it’s as quick as 24-hours. Her name is Emmy Logan and she
is the creator of Cover
Me Designs,
do yourself a favor and check out some of her creations—you won’t regret it.
9.
Find Book Bloggers who review
self-published titles. Reach
out but be respectful, some of them may agree to review your book even though
it doesn’t interest them. Be content and satisfied with each one that that
takes the time. They are essentially who is going to help create buzz and build
an audience for upcoming titles.
10. KEEP
WRITING. Staying
relevant and accessible is the name of the game in the self-publishing world.
If too much time comes between your releases people forget who you are and what
they enjoyed about your story so much in the first place. I recommend releasing
a book every few months if possible.
CONNECT WITH THE AUTHORS:
Kira Adams ~ kristakakes.blogspot.com
Shane Morgan ~ www.shanemorganwrites.com
Naomi Rabinowitz ~ naomirabinowitzauthor.
Breigh Forstner ~ facebook.com/
Thanks for participating :)
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