Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop – Over 100 Blogs Participating

Posted by on Jan 16, 2015 in Current Giveaways, Uncategorized | 0 comments

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Welcome to the Dreaming of Books Blog Hop! I’m excited to be a part of this hop, as there are over one hundred blogs and authors participating, and I can’t wait to visit each of them.

A quick introduction of myself is that I write passionate, fantasy romance without the guilt. Although there is violence and heated kissing in my writing, I will never describe hands traveling to forbidden places. My books are also void of cursing, and I try to keep it PG-13.

As of now, I have two novels in my Alissia Roswell Series, with the third coming out this spring. For my giveaway, you can choose between a paperback of Unexpected Metamorphosis or Unexpected Entrapment. I’ll also include a signed bookmark in the raffle. Unexpected Metamorphosis is the first in the series, and the eBook version is currently free at all the major online bookstores.

Want to connect via Google+, Facebook, or Twitter? I hope you enjoy the rest of the blog hop, and thanks for stopping by. Good luck with all the giveaways!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Great Opportunity for YA/MG Readers! Don’t Miss Out!

Posted by on Jan 9, 2015 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Sharon Skretting, a fellow Clean Indie Reads author, shared a link with me, and I must admit that what she and the other authors are doing is quite impressive. They have grouped together as authors of young adult and middle grade books and have started something called The Ultimate Reading Quest. The website is very easy to maneuver to find exactly what you’re looking for, and this group of authors are about writing creative and adventurous stories for teens and tweens without profanity or sexual content. As a parent, you don’t have to worry about the content coming from this group of authors.

They’re also giving away a $25 Amazon gift card as part of the promotion. If you have young readers or read young adult for yourself, I highly recommend you check out this Ultimate Reading Quest. I think you’ll truly love it, and that’s why I’m sharing it on my site. I’m impressed!

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I’m Back! Did You Miss Me?

Posted by on Jan 6, 2015 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

Wow! The month of December was a crazy one. Luckily, I finished the first draft of Unexpected Peril before my guests arrived for Thanksgiving. I then began editing it once everyone left but soon had to put it aside for Christmas shopping, parties, the children being home from school, and a lot of travel. My children went back to school today, and although I just returned from a relaxing island vacation with my husband, I already feel burned out from putting away Christmas decorations, unpacking, and doing a crazy amount of laundry. I still haven’t had a chance to stock up on groceries and am feeling quite overwhelmed.

As for my getaway with my husband, we went to St. Lucia, and the wifi was very spotty where we were staying. Although I took my laptop thinking I would get some work done, I was forced to step away from the Internet, and I highly recommend others doing that on occasion.

We live in a society of laptops, smart phones, and tablets, and we’re always plugged in and connected. With no wifi, I was forced to put all of my electronics aside (except for my Kindle). After a while, I noticed my meals were much more relaxing–without the feeling of needing to check my email or other social media. I gave my husband one hundred percent of my attention, and I savored my chamomile tea each evening after dinner. It reminded me of life before the Internet, and it was amazingly wonderful.

Then I came home to a pile of mail and emails that need my attention. I even had trouble sleeping the other night because I had not had a chance to get to my emails, and many of them were important. Sure enough, I awoke to a few emails stating they had not heard from me, and it was imperative that I answer them as soon as possible. I’ve spent my entire morning answering emails and still need to get everything added to my calendar. Once again, I am chained to the Internet.

I did get some reading in while on vacation and will soon be adding more reviews. I made the mistake of not downloading many books onto my Kindle Paperwhite before I left, and I can honestly say that iPads are horrible for trying to read poolside. Luckily, I got a decent wifi connection one afternoon, and I quickly downloaded more books onto my Paperwhite before the connection went out again. The Kindle Paperwhite is the best for reading while in the sun.

I’m a bit frustrated that I had to start four books before finding a decent one to read and will soon be venting my thoughts on another post. I just don’t quite understand how young adult books can be filled with severe language (I’m talking the worst words on the list) and some rated R sexual situations–yet the authors consider them clean enough for a teen rating.

This is a big thing for me since I’m surrounded by erotica in the romance industry, and I have higher standards for young adult books. My daughters–and even I–should not have to read explicit things when that is not what we’re looking for. I’m beginning to think books should have a rating on them, because teen reads no longer means a PG-13 rating. My daughters’ Kindles are filled with young adult books, and I’m highly bothered that when I went to read some of them, I found they are not appropriate reads–not even for me. Although I don’t like giving low ratings to authors, I am a bit outraged that these authors labeled their books as young adult, and it’s a bit hard for me to hold my tongue on this issue.

Anyways, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the beautiful island of St. Lucia. Enjoy!

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I did take a few marketing pics while on the beach 🙂
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We rode all over the island in the back of a safari jeep, and the driver stopped at this house for us to try the local fruit. The farmer that lived there had a small table at the side of his house and was cutting a variety of fresh fruit for us try. One of them was delicious, and I hope to find it in the U.S. somewhere. I forgot the name of it but remember what it looks like.

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St. Lucia is known for exporting bananas and is filled with banana fields. The blue bags are to protect the bananas from certain pests.

 photo IMG_1054_zpsc7a338d0.jpgWe stopped at a sulfur spring for a mud bath. Because I’m allergic to sulfa, we didn’t know if I could enter the bath. Once I got home, I Googled it and realized it would have been safe. However, I’m not all that sure I missed much. It stunk a little and was dirty! This picture shows my belief of “Strive to be different!” just a bit 🙂

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This is where they get the fresh mud for the bath.

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The water was SO cold. I didn’t get too wet.

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Important – Please Read. Changes to Facebook Policies.

Posted by on Dec 31, 2014 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Due to the coming changes of Facebook policies, you will no longer be able to see my cover reveals or release dates through Facebook. As of 2015, anything they consider promotional posts will not show up in your newsfeed. Many authors and small businesses are leaving Facebook because of these changes, and I have begun to rely less on this site also.

If you are active on Google+, all of my blog posts go there. I now use my Instagram more and am active with Pinterest. Twitter is great for meeting new people, but not so much for keeping up with them.

If you truly want to be notified of important information regarding book releases, cover reveals, and sneak peeks, then you should sign up for my newsletter. Although I try to send one out every month, I have yet to reach that goal and usually send one out every two months. However, that changes around the time of a book release.

You can also go to my Amazon author page and click on the favorite button below my picture to be notified when I have a new release.

 

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The Indie and Small Press Author Blog Hop is Here!

Posted by on Dec 5, 2014 in Uncategorized | 6 comments

Blog Hop 5

Welcome to the Indie and Small Press Author Blog Hop, hosted by Author Harry Patz and The Book Binder’s Daughter. These hops are always fun for me, as I enjoy checking out new authors and blogs, and there’s usually some great prizes involved.

If you’re new to my site, I am Tianna Holley, an author of passionate, fantasy romance without the guilt. My Alissia Roswell Series has a feisty heroine stuck in an alternate reality, and the books are filled with many surprises and twists. I love to keep my readers guessing and on a roller coaster ride, so I throw a lot at her.

Unexpected Metamorphosis, the first book in the series, is now free at most online bookstores. The raffle below is for Unexpected Entrapment, the second book in the series. Unexpected Peril is to be released Spring of 2015. You can get a visual glimpse of the stories by looking at the Pinterest boards for Unexpected Metamorphosis and Unexpected Entrapment.

The website menu at the top of this page is filled with lots of information for readers and authors, so I hope you’ll scroll through it. Once finished, be sure to click on one of the names listed below to hop over to a new site to meet some others!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

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Clean Indie Reads Sale, FB Party, and New Website!

Posted by on Dec 4, 2014 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

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Clean Indie Reads is a large group of authors that are dedicated to writing books free of sex, with mild language and violence. Although the group is less than two years old, it’s grown so much within the past year that the site had to be moved from a small blog to its very own website. New authors are joining daily, and we are all about supporting clean reads in a world where erotica is the main seller.

Right now, many of the authors have put their books free or on sale, and you should definitely check it out. Although my Unexpected Metamorphosis is free at the moment, you won’t find it listed on the sale page, as I was focused on finishing my first draft last month and got too distracted to add my information. However, there are a variety of books there.

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They’re also having their first Facebook party, with many authors hosting and giving away prizes. The party began on Tuesday, and it ends today. It runs from 12:00 to 10:00 p.m. so if you’re online, you may want to pop in and see who’s hosting at the moment.

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I have a presence on Clean Indie Reads, and you can read my interview and take a look at my author information there. I highly recommend you check out some of the other authors on the site if you’re into cleaner reads. The writers in this community is a great group of people–professionally and as friends. They are highly supportive, and there are some amazing reads over there.

If you’re an author, you can join by going to the private Facebook group. As a reader, you can follow the new Facebook page dedicated to readers. I hope to see you over there, as it’s a great way to support clean authors.

In a market where erotica rules, it sometimes gets discouraging as a clean writer–especially a clean romance writer. It really does mean a lot when a reader thanks an author for keeping their writing clean. It’s not all that easy to write passionate, fantasy romance–notice the word passionate. Each time I type out a romantic or death scene, I struggle to keep it real and passionate, yet clean. It’s truly a balancing act, as clean fantasy romance does not mean sweet fantasy romance. I could easily cross certain lines when typing out those scenes, but I struggle to write them without taking my readers’ minds to dark places.

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