Thursday, April 25, 2013

The Selkie Sorceress


New Release: The Selkie Sorceress (Seal Island Trilogy, Book Three)

Author: Sophie Moss

Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy Romance

Release Date: April 25, 2013

Book Designers: Blue Harvest Creative

Book Description:

American detective Sam Holt has a knack for finding people who shouldn’t be found. When his last case almost killed an innocent woman, he swore off detective work forever. But when this same woman asks him for one last investigation—to find her husband’s long lost mother—Sam cannot refuse. Clairvoyant Irish artist Glenna McClure will do anything to stop Sam, even if it means teaming up with a powerful sorceress who she knows she cannot trust. But when the petals of a mysterious night-blooming rose begin to turn black, Glenna realizes that an even darker force is at work. To protect the people she loves, Glenna will have to face a terrible curse that has haunted her all her life before the final petal fades to ash.


 The Seal Island Trilogy is now available in paperback!




To celebrate the release of The Selkie Sorceress and the Seal Island Trilogy in paperback, Sophie is offering a giveaway! In addition to reducing the Kindle prices of The Selkie Spell and The Selkie Enchantress to $.99 each from April 25-28, she is giving away a $25 Gift Card to Amazon and THREE signed paperbacks!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, April 22, 2013

A funny thing happened on the way to nursing school...

I discovered writing (or maybe it discovered me?) and everything in my world changed. Almost overnight. When I clicked "publish" on Amazon on April 22, 2011 with my first novel, Accountable to None, it was on a whim--a testing the waters kind of thing. After all, I had worked for two years to obtain my Associates in Science (Phi Theta Kappa baby!) so I could then enroll in R.N. school. The elective course requirements were filled by taking Creative Writing I and II. But thanks to an incredible instructor who prodded me to continue in writing, I opted to take the plunge and upload my work to see if she was right--that I had the ability to create an intense thriller.

Thank you, Melody Berning. You changed my life.

The last two years have been a whirlwind, filled with extreme highs and bottom-of-the-barrel lows. The excitement of hitting #1 in suspense in December 2011 (the first month that Amazon started the KDP program) left me speechless, which is quite the difficult task I assure you! Tens of thousands of books sales later, I was punch-drunk giddy. Unfortunately, soaring on that incredible high didn't last too long because several negative reviews popped up on Amazon and Goodreads. Of course, the lambasting I received was my own fault. I knew nothing, nada, zip, zilch about the art of publishing a book and made ALL of the rookie mistakes, which included:
  • I didn't have my work professionally edited
  • I designed my own cover
  • I formatted the ebook myself
(For those of you that fainted from abject horror--I'm sorry).

Once I picked my broken bones up off the floor and extracted several sharp knives from my back, I set out to rectify my mistakes. After a short bout with a small press, I went back to my Indie roots with much more knowledge. I hired an English teacher to edit my books and a professional design team to reformat not only the interior for the print and ebook versions but also the covers. Yes, I'm talking about the amazing folks over at Blue Harvest Creative. Sales soared and critical reviews are rare. (Thank goodness because they ARE painful). Then, in December of 2012, Accountable to None hit #1 OVERALL in free books and stayed in the Top 100 PAID for over a week. Apparently, December is my lucky month!

Thankfully, most of the people that read the unedited earlier version of Accountable to None looked past the minor editing issues that plagued it in the beginning and dug deep into the core of the story. Then the sequel, Zero Balance came along and I was blessed with rave reviews and thousands of downloads. I remember the day that Jon Bloch of The Kindle Book Review posted his review and I literally jumped up and down in the driveway (hubby and I were in the midst of a wicked game of Bag-O--I lost) because Mr. Bloch obviously enjoyed it. My favorite quote from his review:

"If a black widow spider could write a book, this might be the result."

It was Mr. Bloch's review that finally made me realize that I was an author. Then, NY Times bestselling author, Janelle Taylor, read not one but all three of the trilogy and she loved them. And reviewed them on Amazon. It took me three days to recuperate from that! To know that such a talented and successful writer such as Ms. Taylor liked my work was (and still is) something I will always treasure.

Other reviews started pouring in from around the world for all three novels and I still get teary-eyed when I read them. A slight detour from my original route to nursing school turned into a HUGE career path for me. After a guest appearance on ArtistFirst Radio, I was offered to host my own weekly radio show, which airs every Sunday night at 8 pm EST. I have had the honor of interviewing several NY Times bestselling authors as well as numerous, highly successful Indie authors from around the world. How cool is that? VERY COOL.

The most amazing thing that has happened was that an agent approached me about submitting my works to production companies. I was skeptical at first, but then proven wrong: a producer requested a copy of Accountable to None. Then, a few weeks later, he requested a copy of Zero Balance, followed less than two weeks by Adjusting Journal Entries. He loved the story and we are working closely together to make it come together for television.

(This is the part where I fainted. I still have the knot on my skull).

All because I took a leap of faith and clicked "publish" two years ago today.

This is why I picked today to release my new thriller, "Number Seventy-Five." Never, ever in a million years did I think I would be able to say that THREE NY Times bestselling authors' quotes will grace the back cover:

"Ashley Fontainne proves with 'Number Seventy-Five' that she's a talent to watch."
--Raymond Benson, author of the Black Stiletto series

"With an attention to detail, and a slowly building sense of dread and horror, Ashley Fontainne's 'Number Seventy-Five' will have you racing through her story of online connection, and just how bad things can go on a date. This is a tale that, with its Hitchcockian twists dealing with greed and murder, I dare you to stop reading."
--Matt Costello, author of Vacation and Home

"I absolutely love this woman's style and plots. Have to read anything and everything she writes. Awesome talent! Oh, the twists and turns she takes us on. Thanks, Ashley Fontainne, for creating such memorable works!"
--Janelle Taylor, NY Times bestselling author



Life: it sure can lead you down some interesting roads! Enjoy the ride--I know I am--just not as a nurse.


Buy links:
Amazon - Paperback:
Amazon - eBook

Coming soon to Kobo and Sony



Friday, April 12, 2013

Interview With Madison Vasser - #BeNotorious Blog Tour Day Four



Interview With Madison Vasser - #BeNotorious Blog Tour Day Four

Welcome to Day Four of the #BeNotorious Blog Tour! We are revving up to the release of the highly anticipated sequel of Katie Jennings’ family drama When Empires Fall, aptly named Rise of the Notorious!

Follow along on this notorious blog tour from April 2nd till release day on April 23rd, and be sure to enter the giveaway for a chance to win some AMAZING prizes!

Today’s stop is an exclusive interview with the beautiful and cunning Madison of the Vasser Hotel family. She may be in charge of the family now, but she knows it comes with a heavy price. Enjoy!

* * *


Interviewer:  Welcome, Ms. Vasser. It is a sincere honor to have you here today. May I just say that I’m a little bit intimidated. Your reputation precedes you.

Madison:  Don’t be. And you can call me Madison. No need to be so formal.

Interview:  Great…*clears throat* First off, Madison, how does it feel to be in the limelight?

Madison:  Normal. It’s something I’ve dealt with all my life. Though lately it has been intensified.

Interviewer:  Because of the scandal?

Madison:  Because of unfortunate events.

Interviewer:  Right…were you close to your grandfather, Cyrus?

Madison:  He was my anchor, and I his floating vessel. He was the single most important person in my life.

Interviewer:  Are you troubled by what he did? Did it surprise you?

Madison:  Very little troubles or surprises me. He taught me to live my life one step ahead. He had his 
reasons for doing what he did, and now he has entrusted me to pick up the pieces.

Interviewer:  Are your brothers upset that he chose you as his replacement as head of the company? Has it hurt your relationship with them?

Madison:  Grant and Linc understand. Even if they didn’t, it wouldn’t matter. I’m doing what needs to be done, and nothing and no one can stand in my way.

Interviewer:  What is your plan? How are you going to rise above the scandal?

Madison:  My grandfather left me very specific instructions on what to do. I intend to follow them.

Interviewer:  Do any of them involve killing someone? *laughs* Okay, bad joke.

Madison:  You’d be surprised what I’m willing to do to achieve my goals. And if someone hurts my family, they’ll have to answer to me.

Interviewer:  Wow, okay. What about your father? He hurt your family with this scandal. Now he’s dead. What do you have to say about that?

Madison:  My father’s death is a tragedy.

Interviewer:  Anything else?

Madison:  He was a drunk and a drug addict. He died the way he lived. What more can be said?

Interviewer:  Was it suicide?

Madison:  I’ll let the police determine that.

Interviewer:  Tell me about Wyatt Bailey. Word is he’s a gambling man. You’ve known him for many years, haven’t you?

Madison:  We met in Las Vegas at the Vasser Hotel and Casino eight years ago. Up until recently I hadn’t seen him in almost as many years.

Interviewer:  What is his role in all of this? Aside from being your lover.

Madison:  Ex-lover. Wyatt knew my father and came to the city to help him. As with most things Wyatt cares about, it ended in ruin.

Interviewer:  Are you saying you don’t love him anymore? Can myself and all the hopeful men in New York breathe a sigh of relief that you’re not taken?

Madison:  I’ve spent more years hating Wyatt Bailey than I did loving him.

Interviewer:  I’ll take that as a yes to that breath of relief, then. Okay, what about the rest of your family…your uncle, your mother, your cousins. How do they feel about the steps you’re taking to save your company?

Madison:  Uncle Marshall was understandably upset at having been passed over by my grandfather, but he has faith in me. I can only hope his ego doesn’t cloud his judgment. And my mother…well, she’s just as she has always been. Opportunistic.

Interviewer:  And your cousins?

Madison:  They will fall in line. They don’t have a choice.

Interviewer:  You have a younger sister, Kennedy. How is she handling everything that has happened to your family?

Madison:  I doubt Kennedy has paid much attention. If it involves me, she prefers to keep her distance.

Interviewer:  You two don’t get along?

Madison:  She hates me.

Interviewer:  Oh. Well, thanks for being so honest.

Madison:  My pleasure.

Interviewer:  One last question…you’ve been compared to the legendary heroine Dagny Taggart of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. What do you make of that?

Madison:  I appreciate the comparison, but it’s not in my nature to compare myself to anyone.

Interviewer:  Well, you’ve certainly made an impression on all of America. I can’t wait to see what you do next.

Madison:  Neither can I.
* * *
Rise of the Notorious
By International Bestselling Author
Katie Jennings
Coming April 23, 2013

Click HERE to Enter the Giveaway!


* * *
Meet Katie Jennings…





International bestselling Author Katie Jennings is the author of six full length novels, including the popular fantasy series The Dryad Quartet as well as the bestselling family drama series The Vasser Legacy.

She lives in sunny Southern California with her husband and cat, who both think she’s the biggest nerd ever. She’s a firm believer in happy endings and loves nothing more than a great romance novel.

You can find out more about Katie on her official website, www.katieajennings.com.

Upcoming release of Operation S&D

I am so excited to announce the upcoming release of Operation S&D . This book starts where Operation DFC ended and is quite the thrill ...