Archive for the ‘Contests’ Category

Welcome to The Trolls Band Together Sing Along DVD Giveaway!
2 Winners!

This giveaway is part of our SMGN 2024 Valentine’s Day Gift Guide – Stop by to see all the giveaways and great products!

HOSTS ARE:
PINK NINJA BLOG & DELICIOUSLY SAVVY

My co-hosts for this giveaway are

My co-hosts for this giveaway are Golden Goose Giveaways, Gifts for all seasons, Home Jobs by Mom, Marksvilleandme, The Stuff of Success, & Versatileer

Below is a list of all the bloggers involved in the gift guide.

A Rain of Thought, Deliciously Savvy, Freebies Deals & Steals, Giveaway Gator, Golden Goose Giveaways, Home Jobs by Mom, Honey Can Do It, MarksvilleandMe, My Silly Little Gang, Pink Ninja Blog, Sweeps Madness, The Stuff of Success, This Frugal Grandmom, This Frugal Family, Versatileer

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This Giveaway’s Sponsors Are:

2 Lucky Winners Will Win A Copy Of Trolls Band Together Sing Along Edition on DVD! TRV $40!

With TROLLS BAND TOGETHER you can get ready for an all-star family reunion like no other in the latest chapter of DreamWorks Animation’s blockbuster musical franchise, now with a Sing-Along edition! As Poppy (Anna Kendrick) grows closer to her now boyfriend Branch (Justin Timberlake), she discovers his secret past as a member of her favorite boyband, BroZone, with his four estranged brothers. When Branch’s bro Floyd is kidnapped for his musical talents by a pair of nefarious popstars, Branch and Poppy embark on an action-packed journey to reunite the other brothers and rescue Floyd. Along the way Poppy uncovers a family secret of her own, a long-lost sister named Viva (Camila Cabello). TROLLS BAND TOGETHER features the franchise’s signature psychedelic joy-bomb of new and classic pop hits that will have you singing and dancing along over and over again!

TROLLS BAND TOGETHER is directed by Walt Dohrn (Trolls franchise, Shrek franchise), co-directed by Tim Heitz (Trolls, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World) and produced by Gina Shay (Trolls franchise, Shrek franchise) and stars returning voice talent and Academy Award® nominees Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) and Justin Timberlake (The Social Network), alongside Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominee Zooey Deschanel (“New Girl”), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (How to Train Your Dragon Franchise), Icona Pop duo Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt, Emmy® winner Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”), Grammy® winner Anderson .Paak, six-time SAG Award® nominee Kunal Nayyar (“The Big Bang Theory”), and Ron Funches (“Harley Quinn”).

The dazzling new talent lending their voices to the franchise include Grammy® nominee Camila Cabello (Cinderella), Eric André (Sing 2), Emmy Award® winner Amy Schumer (Trainwreck), Grammy® winner and Tony® nominee Andrew Rannells (The Book of Mormon), Golden Globe® nominee Troye Sivan (“The Idol”), Grammy® winners Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) and Kid Cudi (Don’t Look Up), SAG Award® nominee Zosia Mamet (“The Flight Attendant”), and 12-time Emmy® winner RuPaul Charles (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”).

EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURES on 4K UHD, BLU-RAYTM, DVD AND DIGITAL:

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*SING-ALONG VERSION

*IT TAKES THREE – In this original short, Poppy, Viva, and Tiny Diamond get sucked into the Hustle-verse, only to discover that it is devoid of hustle. The trio decides to sing their way out hopefully generating enough harmony to re-ignite the Hustle-verse and escape.

*DELETED SCENES – With intro by Head of Story Colin Jack

*WALL CLIMB – BROKEN TOOTH

*BRIDGET GRISTLE HONEYMOON

*CRIMP AND TINY ROMANCE

*FUN IN THE RECORDING BOOTH

*HI, HI, HI – Join *NSYNC in the studio as they reunite for the first time in 20 years to record an all-new song for TROLLS BAND TOGETHER.

*BUILDING THE BAND – The band is coming back together for another volume of Trolls based fun! Meet the new characters and the cast members behind them and catch up with your returning favorites!
*#BROPPY
*BROZONE
*VIVA
*VELVET AND VENEER
*BRIDGET AND KING GRISTLE
*TINY DIAMOND
*TOGETHER AGAIN – Learn the backstory behind *NSYNC’s involvement in TROLLS BAND TOGETHER and how their Troll personas came to life.
*ANIMATING TROLLS – In this BTS piece, filmmakers and crew dive deep into their animation process to show how the unique locations and textures of the film were created.
*HOW TO DRAW – Step into the BroZone green room with story artist Wendy Sullivan and learn how to draw your own BroZone album cover featuring John Dory, Spruce, Clay, Floyd, and of course, Baby Branch! Plus, we’ll learn how to draw Viva!
*BABY BRANCH
*JOHN DORY
*SPRUCE
*CLAY
*FLOYD
*VIVA

*HOW TO: HUG TIME BRACELETS – Poppy and Viva LOVE their Hug Time Bracelets and now you can make your own! Follow the simple steps and let your artistic side shine with two different bracelet options that you can make for all your friends and family.

*FEATURE COMMENTARY – with Producer Gina Shay, Co-Director Tim Heitz, Head of Story Colin Jack, Production Designer Ruben Perez Reynoso and Visual Effects Supervisor Marc J. Scott

For more information on TROLLS BAND TOGETHER, please visit:

Press Advisory: https://www.uphe.com/press-release/trolls-band-together-press-release
UPHE Website: https://www.uphe.com/movies/trolls-band-together
UPHE Trailer: https://uni.pictures/TrollsBandTogether_HomeEntTrailer
Facebook: @trolls
Instagram: @trolls
TikTok: @trolls
X: @trolls

ABOUT UNIVERSAL PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT:
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE – www.uphe.com) is a unit of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (UFEG). UFEG produces, acquires, markets and distributes filmed entertainment worldwide in various media formats for theatrical, home entertainment, television and other distribution platforms, as well as consumer products, interactive gaming and live entertainment. The global division includes Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Brand Development, Fandango, DreamWorks Animation Film and Television. UFEG is part of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

Read My Review!
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Giveaway

Click Below To Enter & Good Luck!

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This giveaway/sweepstakes is in no way endorsed, affiliated, or associated with Facebook, Twitter or any other Social Media Networking Site. This Giveaway is valid to continental United States residents only, Entrants must be 18+ years of age to enter. This giveaway event will end at 11:59 PM (EST) 02/16/2024. The winner will have 48 hours to email their information back to mcushing7 at hotmail dot com or a new winner will be drawn, you may want to put this email address as safe as it could go to spam. The giveaway is not valid where prohibited! By entering you are authorizing us to collect the information on the form below, this information is used only to contact the winner! No purchase necessary, Void were prohibited by law, and the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Winners are chosen randomly by the Giveaway Tools program. The sponsors are each responsible for shipping of the above prizes. No blog associated with this contest are responsible for prize fulfillment. If you would like to be a sponsor in a giveaway like this please email Melissa Cushing at mcushing7 (at)hotmail (dot) com. If you take an entry you must stay following for the entire contest or you will be disqualified.

If you are a blogger interested in our gift guides sign up here or more information is HERE.

Get blogger opps just like this by signing up to receive blogger emails HERE.

Sponsors interested in joining our gift guides can see the information HERE.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE.

 

It’s time to get started on my reading challenges for 2018. I’m doing some repeats and starting some new ones. Here a few and I’ll be adding more.

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I’ve been meaning to try the Cloak And Dagger Challenge and this is the year!

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I read a lot of books in this genre group so I’m going big and shooting for Special Agent!

Levels:

5-15 books – Amateur sleuth

16-25 books – Detective

26-35 books – Inspector

36 – 55 – Special agent

56+ books – Sherlock Holmes

For complete rules and to sign up GO HERE.

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I’m going to do the 2018 Craving For Cozies Challenge.

I did this last year. I chose Level: Famished and completed my goal with 14 books.

Going to go with Famished again this year.

 

The challenge runs from January 1, 2018, and ends December 31, 2018

 Choose the level of which you would like to participate:

Levels

  • Peckish – 1 – 10 Cozy Mysteries
  • Famished – 11 – 30 Cozy Mysteries
  • Yearning – 31 – 50 Cozy Mysteries
  • Starving  – 51 – 75 Cozy Mysteries
  • Ravenous – 76 – 100 Cozy Mysteries
  • Voracious – 101 – 125 Cozy Mysteries 
  • Completely Satiated – 126 – 150 Cozy Mysteries
  • Overindulged – 151 – 200 Cozy Mysteries
  • Pigged Out – 201 or more Cozy Mysteries

 

  For complete Rules and to Sign Up go HERE.

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I’ve done the Alphabet Soup Challenge for several years and going to do it again. 2017 was the first time I didn’t complete the challenge.

I lacked titles starting with Q, V and Y. Maybe I’ll have better luck this year.

The Alphabet Soup Challenge means that by December 31, 2018
your bowls must be filled by one book for each letter of the Alphabet.

Each Letter Counts As 1 Spoonful

For more details and to Sign Up Go HERE.

This challenge will run from January 1st, 2018 until December 31st, 2018. You can join any time.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

great escape tour banner large good as gouda640

Hi ya’ll. I have so much to share with you today!

I have my review of As Gouda As Dead.

There’s a delicious recipe for you to try.

Plus two giveaways. And ones a scavenger hunt!

Come on in and join the fun!

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As Gouda as Dead
(CHEESE SHOP MYSTERY)

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22668765

Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley (February 3, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0425273319 / E-Book ASIN: B00LMGK43E

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goodreads-badge-add-plus

 My Review

I sure do enjoy cozy mysteries and I’m thrilled each time I discover a new series and author.

I’ll be following this one.

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and a week of special events is planned in the town of Providence, Ohio.

Charlotte Bessette, owner of Fromagerie Bessette, is especially excited because she’s finally marrying the man of her dreams, Jordan Pace, this coming weekend. That is until she finds a dead body dumped in the large vat full of milk at her fiances cheese farm.

Charlotte and Jordan decide to postpone their wedding until the case is resolved, once it’s proven to be a murder.

I was worried about them. No matter that he assured her they will get married in the spring. No matter that he professed his ongoing love in the tender love notes he leaves for her to discover. Something, a feeling I got, had me wondering if the wedding would occur. I know I’m suspicious by nature. If it were my fiance, he’d probably throw his hands up in frustration.

When Charlotte stumbles upon another dead body, Chief of Police Umburto Urso relents and listens to her theories, her conclusions. It’s a race to find the killer before more people are killed.

The author’s descriptions of Providence made me feel right at home. I live in a small single tax colony founded by artists. The downtown area is filled with small shops, bakeries, coffee houses, and restaurants. And just like in this book, the owners all know each other, all use each others wares, and all chip in when something needs doing. It’s a tight knit community and you’d never meet a more loyal, friendly bunch.

I’d recommend you have some napkins handy while reading this one. The food described in these pages is delicious. I swear I could smell and taste it and my mouth was watering. There are some wonderful recipes included at the end, so be sure to check them out.

4 Stars

 

Synopsis


Someone is cheesed off . . .

Providence, Ohio, is celebrating Valentine’s Day with weeklong events, including lovers’ baskets with heart-shaped cheeses at Fromagerie Bessette. Charlotte Bessette is celebrating by finally walking down the aisle with the man of her dreams, handsome artisanal cheese farmer, Jordan Pace. But when a beloved bar owner is discovered murdered on Jordan’s farm, he believes they should reschedule their wedding given the grim turn of events.

Charlotte is heartsick over the postponement. This killer crossed the wrong woman. No one, but no one, is ruining her wedding plans!

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Recipe

Potato Bacon Parmesan Soup

The protagonist of my Cookbook Nook mysteries would probably blanch at the number of ingredients in this recipe, but Charlotte Bessette, the cheese shop owner in the Cheese Shop mysteries would have no problem with it. She loves to cook. She knows some recipes take more steps. She loves to add cheese to just about everything. The Parmesan cheese in this recipe adds just the right about of yum! This is perfect for a cold winter night. Even better if you’re snuggling up with a good book! Anybody planning to read AS GOUDA AS DEAD?

PS: You’ll notice there is no flour in this recipe. The potatoes do all the work of thickening the soup, so this is gluten-free!

 

POTATO BACON PUREE SOUP

[serves 6)

Lori_Potato_Baconsoup

 

Ingredients:

2 pounds large Yukon Gold potatoes (about 4)

6 strips bacon

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup half-and-half

2 cups milk (I used 2%, but you can use regular, too)

¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon of salt (for boiling water)

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon white pepper

Extra Parmesan for garnish

Directions:

 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 tablespoon salt. While water is heating, cut the potatoes into quarters. Add cut potatoes to boiling water and bring to a boil. Cook for 20-25 minutes until tender. [A fork should slide easily in and out.] Drain well. Return the potatoes to the pot and cover, heat off.

Meanwhile, chop onions and saute in butter on low for about 10 minutes.

Also cook the bacon to crispy, let cool on paper towels. Break into pieces. Tip: I use scissors to get the bigger pieces chopped. Set aside. (Reserve 2 pieces for the garnish)

In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the half-and-half and cheese until it simmers. Add the bacon.

With a handheld mixer, beat the hot potatoes in the pot until they are broken up. [You can also use a masher.] Slowly add the cream, salt, pepper, then beat until smooth.   [Note, right at this moment, you have fabulous mashed potatoes. You can skip the next step–adding milk—and serve as a side dish.]

Now, proceeding to make the soup. Add the 2 cups of milk. If the potato soup needs to be reheated, cover and cook gently over low heat until warm. [A few minutes.] Pour into 6 serving bowls and sprinkle with extra Parmesan cheese & bacon. Serve hot.

 

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Say Cheese!

As part of her Great Escapes Book Tour
Avery Aames is including an
I Love A Mystery Secret Code Game!

Here’s how it works:
1 – Collect the Secret Code Word at each of Avery Aames Escape Blog Tour stops.
Check out Avery’s delicious recipe on Each Blog Stop
to collect the Secret Word for that stop.

2 – At the end of Avery’s blog tour, put the words together and
form the Secret Code Sentence.

Then CLICK HERE to be taken to the tour page  and insert the Secret Code Sentence in the form with your name, email address and mailing address.

3. One Lucky Winner will receive a Fabulous Prize Package including an autographed copy as As Gouda As Dead, an I love A Mystery Tote and fun swag!

4. 10 Runner’s Up will receive a
Cheese Shop/Cookbook Nook kitchen jar opener and recipe cards.

All winners will be randomly selected from all entries submitted.

Winners will be contacted via email and the prize will be sent to the address you provided on the form.

Have fun and get searching!

Avery

I LOVE A MYSTERY SECRET CODE GAME:
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The 3rd of the 7 words in Avery’s I Love A Mystery Secret Code Contest is
Great
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I LOVE A MYSTERY
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Other stops on the tour are listed at the bottom of the post.

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Daryl Wood Gerber 0218 100dpi

 

About This Author

As AVERY AAMES, she pens the Agatha Award-winning, nationally bestselling Cheese Shop Mystery series featuring a cheese shop owner amateur sleuth, set in the fictional town of Providence, Ohio. 

As DARYL WOOD GERBER writes the nationally bestselling Cookbook Nook Mystery series featuring a cookbook store owner who is an avid reader and admitted foodie, set on the coast of California. 

Daryl’s short stories have been nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, and other awards. Fun tidbit: as an actress, Daryl has appeared in “Murder, She Wrote” and more.

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Author Links

Visit Daryl or Avery atwww.darylwoodgerber.com.

“They” blog on www.mysteryloverskitchen.com as well as www.killercharacters.com

 

http://www.darylwoodgerber.com

http://www.averyaames.com

http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com

http://killercharacters.com

Facebook: Daryl ~   Avery

Twitter: @AveryAames @DarylWoodGerber

Goodreads: 

Daryl Wood Gerber

Avery Aames

Purchase Links 
Amazon ~ B&N~ Book Depository

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Tour Participants

January 26 – Brooke Blogs – Review, Recipe, Giveaway

January 27 – Booklady’s Booknotes – Review, Recipe, Giveaway

January 28 – fuonlyknew – Review, Recipe, Giveaway

January 29 – Michele Lynn Seigfried’s Blog – Review, Recipe, Giveaway

January 30 – Melina’s Book Blog – Review, Recipe, Giveaway

January 31 – Griperang’s Bookmarks – Review, Recipe, Giveaway

February 1 – Traveling With T – Review, Recipe, Giveaway

 

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giveaway photo: Giveaway Banner for 42nd giveaway.png

I have one print copy of As Gouda As Dead to give away.

Entry is easy. Just leave your email address so I can contact you if you win and answer this question:

“Do you ever try the recipes provided in the cozy mysteries you read?”

Giveaway ends February 4th.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

horseshoe photo: Horseshoe horseshoe.jpg

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This is my own version of a weekly bookhaul post where  I’ll be telling you about all of the books I got this week, whether print or e-book plus all things new on fuonlyknew.

I got a few books this week, some free, some for review, and some I purchased just for my reading pleasure.

I also post reviews on another blog aknifeandaquill . It’s all about horror. If someone doesn’t die, we don’t do it here!

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Here’s some I picked up to review on both blogs. Double exposure for the author:)

18002812  13499139

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Here are some I picked up to review on fuonlyknew.

16096391 

and this one

Got some good ones!

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Got some freebies for ya!

16166824  18460276 

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and some more freebies.

18516963 

Just click on the covers to get yours. Make sure they are still free. Were at time of posting.

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Books for Review.

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Trying to slow down for the holidays. I have too many review books. But I had to have this!

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Books I won.

I didn’t win anything this week. But, several of my giveaways are ending this week and some lucky winners will be getting awesome prizes! Go HERE to enter the giveaways before they end!

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Reviewed this week. Busy writing more!

You can read my review on my Monday Minis post HERE.

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As the World Dies: Untold Tales Volume 1  As The World Dies Untold Tales Volume 2  As The World Dies Untold Tales Volume 3

You can read my reviews and enter the giveaway HERE!

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harvesters trailer mock up 4

You can read my review and enter the giveaway HERE!

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Scheduled reviews for next week.

Mondays Minis Review

Not sure yet which story I’m reviewing but you can catch it on my Monday Minis Post.

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Bad Juju

Catch my Review, my comments about voodoo dolls and enter the giveaway on Wednesday, October 30th.

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Several more reviews and awesome giveaways coming this next week. Be sure to stop by!

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Other posts this week. Just click on the links to see the posts.

4th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop!

Trailer Reveal ~ Few Are Angels by Inger Iversen

Release Day Giveaway ~ Dead Plains, The Zombie West Series: Book Three by Angela Scott

New Release ~ Ninet Eight by Shannon Mayer and Crawl Between The Sheets Scavenger Hunt ~ Huge Prizes!

Monday Minis #16 ~ Rag Doll ~ A short horror story ~  Free today! I know I’m a day late!

Only 99 cents for Nine Killer Thrillers ~ A Killer Deal and a Giveaway!

Teaser Tuesdays #44 ~ Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

My Reviews and Two Giveaways ~ As The World Dies, Untold Tales by Rhiannon Frater ~ Lots of Zombieness

WWW Wednesday #22 ~ A millionaire, a mermaid, and a medium

My Blog Is….Going To The Dogs ~ Collared #4 in the series! Giveaway Blast

From The Sydney Rye Series ~ Strings of Glass ~ Giveaway Blast

The Power To See by Jennifer Anne Davis ~ Release Day Sale

Praise for A Light in Dark Places ~ Spotlight and Giveaway

I have the Cover Reveal for Beneath Manhattan Skies by Emma Meade

Giveaway and My Review ~ The Harvesters ~ Can They Survive?

The Friday 56 #4 ~ It’s Horror. No, It’s Humor. No, It’s Eat, Brains, Love!

Blood in the Past by Jordanna East ~ Free Today!

Just Released! Controlling The Dead by Annie Walls ~ Special Two Day Sale and Giveaway!

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Go here to find all of my giveaways. Enter one or enter all of them!!

Go here for a list of free e-books.

Busy, busy, busy. So many delicious reads! Some I’ve read and will be posting my reviews soon.

So what did you get this week? See something you like? Do you have any of these? Leave a comment and let me know.

This month’s giveaway

The best authors in New Fiction at BestSellingReads.com are celebrating the arrival of Spring with a March promotion:

BestSelling Reads Kindle Fire Giveaway

Prize for winning reader entry: Kindle Fire 7”, LCD Display, Wi-Fi, 8GB

2nd & 3rd place winners: $25 Amazon gift card

Enter at Best Selling Reads

or this Rafflecopter.

Winners will be chosen March 26th by Rafflecopter. No purchase necessary but always welcome.

Good Luck Everyone!

****For all of my giveaways go here****

Raining Money

It’s Raining Money Event

Hosted by: Mom Powered Media

Prize: $1,000 Cash {paypal or visa}

Event dates: 4/1 – 5/1

Free Blogger Event: Sign Up HERE

The Holiday Book Sale new

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The Post-Christmas Holiday Book Sale, hosted by the Indie Book Festival, will kick off on December 28 and run through December 31. All books will be .99!! The Indie Book Festival will be posting the participating books to their Facebook page as well.
The Indie Book Festival website is the premier online website for seasonal e-book sales events! From Halloween to Valentine’s Day – we’ll celebrate it by bringing you bestselling books by today’s hottest Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal and Young Adult indie authors.

Indie Book Festival | Facebook | Twitter

You can also enter to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card now!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Are you still here?

What are you waiting for?

Go get some great books!

Enter to win a fantastic prize!

Have fun and Good Luck!

This just in! My giveaway for Don’t Tell by Mercy Amare is drawing to an end. For another chance to win go here to check out the awesome giveaway at Mercy’s blog.

She’s giving away 5 e-book copies of Don’t Tell and a $25.00 Amazon or Barnes&Noble Gift Card(winners choice)! Her giveaway ends December 31st.

Don't Tell

I could be surrounded by a million people, but I would still feel alone. I smile on the outside, but inside I feel like I’m slowly dying. I cry out for help, but nobody sees me, at least not the real me. They see a façade, a mask that I put on to hide the pain.

I pretend that I’m normal, but really, what is normal? Maybe what I’m feeling is normal. The hurt, the disappointment, the loneliness… it could be all just be a part of life. Maybe I will never know what normal is.

I put on long sleeves and makeup to hide the bruises, but they only mask the outside. What happens when I can’t carry my burden alone any longer? What would happen if I told somebody the truth?

Don’t Tell is a YA Contemporary Romance about love, forgivness and hope.

You can read my review of this wonderful debut novel here.

Wishing You The Best This Holiday Season!

These prices are available on Amazon only.

For a listing of books offered and to enter to win, click here!!

There’s something “Brewin” on fuonlyknew!

As promised, I have Brewin here today to answer some questions and tell us all about himself! He’s brewed up some good stuff, along with a fantastic giveaway, so lets get started!

Hi Brewin. I loved The Dark Horde and want to say thanks for doing this interview and for “brewin” up this awesome giveaway! Let’s have some fun shall we?

Thank you Laura for having me! I’ve been looking forward to this!

How did you get started in writing?

Well… How long have you got? Haha. Let’s just say that I consider myself fortunate (and unusual as far as I can tell) in that I knew from a very early age, about seven, that I wanted to be a writer. And basically over the years, I’ve spent a hell of a lot of my life in my room “shut-off from the outside world” you could say, creating stories and games. After now doing this for over thirty years, you could say I’ve accumulated quite a lot of material! And only some of it am I now beginning to share with the “outside world” J

But to tie-in with the next question, I first started to “write for the purposes of publication” when I was sixteen (1991) and I first began to write the manuscript for The Dark Horde with a well-known Australian author, Margaret Clark, as my mentor. With her support, I submitted the manuscript (then about 300 pages of what was to be about a 1000 page manuscript) to Penguin books in 1992 and got a three page letter back from them to say how great it was. That was in my final year of high school, after which I started uni, wrote a bit more of The Dark Horde the following year (up to about 700 pages), and then began writing Evermore: An Introduction instead: which I finished at about 700 pages but didn’t publish until another five or so years after that… It was about 2003 before I returned to The Dark Horde and rewrote it largely from scratch: packing into 300 pages what was once a story told over about 1000 pages. Which funnily enough is the opposite of what my mentor had been urging me to do when I was originally writing it. She had always wanted me to slow things down you see and spend more time filling out the story with descriptions of settings and characters, but after having done that and not feeling the “fast and furious fear” I wanted, I would go back to my original instincts when I revisited the story years later J -And as an aside, I also consciously did something at the very end partially because she said “whatever you do, don’t do this, cos that’s just too harsh a thing to do to that character”, which only encouraged me to decide that was exactly what I was going to at the end haha, because it would be another great shock that the reader wouldn’t expect. And so I did. ;)

How did you come up with the idea for The Dark Horde?

The Dark Horde at the time I first began to create the story was actually “modern day” haha. It was 1989 when I was up at the Geelong Grammar campus called Timbertop, which is a year-nine mixed gender campus set up in the high country near Mansfield. It’s basically the same school as described in The Dark Horde (likewise Howqua Hills being based on Mansfield), and being isolated, quite an ideal setting for horror.

The germ of the idea, if I can pin-point it to an event, was when I wrote a “werewolf” kinda short story for English class. My teacher was so impressed with the way in which I’d structured the building tension / horror in the story that it was then used as a writing exercise for the entire year level. The exercise was that the story was cut into about fifteen different parts, and students had to figure out the right order the parts went in, based on the events and the elements of building tension. I guess that experience reinforced in my mind that I was onto something that was worthy and would be appreciated. I began writing this story, called “Canine Prowler” that basically had a werewolf among the students at Timbertop that were being slowly killed in various shocking ways… I only got to about 40 pages of that though…

Then at the start of 1991 (my second-last year of high school), I wrote another story called “The Visitor” about a bunch of farmers whose game of scrabble is rudely interrupted. My English teacher at the time loved it, and Margaret Clark wanted me to turn it into a novel… So I did. I took that chapter as the start and incorporated some of the earlier ideas for my “Canine Prowler” story to begin writing what was known even then, as The Dark Horde.

What was the hardest part about writing your book and do you have a favorite scene?

As far as the writing itself goes, in hind-sight I was probably say letting it go, and finally deciding not to re-write it, re-edit it, add to it etc. I rewrote it three or four times, and edited it maybe twice that number, before then having others in turn edit it. Ultimately there comes a point, when you have to just accept your work for what it is; something that will never be perfect or universally liked; and move onto the next thing. So considering this took me some twenty years to do, I think it’s fair to say I struggled with this haha. But having said that, it’s publicity / promotion that is by far the hardest aspect of writing overall though, and it’s an area I certainly need to improve in!

My “favourite” (to use UK / Aus spelling as I do) scene, if I had to pick one, is simply the chapter that’s come up most when readers have commented to me on their most memorable parts of the book, for the way it builds the horror up to an unexpected and graphic shock that is hard to forget. That’s the chapter where Bruce wakes up on the couch at Aaron’s place with a hangover. I also submitted this same chapter (link: http://kimkoning.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/coffinhop-the-winners-are/ ) for a horror short story competition (after checking it was eligible) and was told just today that it won first prize! J

I loved that scene! I’m not surprised it won 1st prize. Well done.

* A week later * Oh gee… Sorry it’s taken me so long to finish this! But actually I can add to the above now, with something even better: The Dark Horde has just won an Honorable Mention in the 20th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Awards (Genre Fiction category), and with something like 3,000 entries, that’s pretty significant hey? -I’ve now won or been a finalist in 3 out of 4 writing competitions I’ve entered this year (the one I missed being the annual Windhammer gamebook competition)… Which tells me I really should start entering more of them haha. Oh and get better at telling people what I’m doing / have done J

Will we be reading more about the horde?

Haha yes. And not just reading but listening too! One of my current projects is a “musical” album you see, i.e. a story with narration and sung lyrics set to music. That musical album has the working title “The Calling” and it’s basically the back-story to The Dark Horde: it ends where The Dark Horde starts. I’ve had this in mind for a long time now: the album being something that I’ve worked on with numerous musicians and with numerous versions for the last er, thirteen years or so. And the idea is that the album reveals things not revealed in the first book, and together in turn they set up the second book, set in the far past, and the third book to be set in the near future. It’s also because of the album that I decided not to include the full prologue in the published version of The Dark Horde, as that’s a story to be told in more detail on the album. Anyway here’s a sample of some of the sung lyrics from the start of the album:

TO KNOW THE FUTURE

IS TO KNOW THE HORROR TO COME

TO KNOW WHAT STALKS US

CALLING FROM THE DARKNESS INSIDE

i’ve seen the naked truth

been burned by the flame

sealed is our fate

only hell awaits!

now my world’s a dark void, where no hope exists

And despite my efforts, only the dark persists

The Dark Horde will soon win, that I clearly see

and then these words shall be all,all that’s left of me

Take my hand, render me blind

Hide from me the fear that grips my mind

I want to live, I want to be

No longer want to know nor see

(REPEAT ONCE)

I wish to erase from my mind, all THAT I know

delude myself and forever, dwell in truth’s shadow

But I know it’s useless, for our souls they’ve already won

So let these words be a warning: WARNING of what’s to come!

…The type of music for the album I guess you could say is “heavy metal”, and probably something in the flavour of the book trailer (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZl2uZNvj5c) for which the music is done by Liam Wagener: the same friend I’ve got doing the album with other established Australian musicians. But the idea of it is not to have it as something that only metalheads can appreciate, more so that the drums , guitars and keyboards will give it that “horror” kinda edge. It’s important too that the narration and lyrics can be easily understood, so that the listener can play the whole album through and follow the story the whole time.

I like the idea of listening to your story with music and songs. That’s a new one for me. Lovin the lyrics and so happy to hear there’s more Dark Horde coming.

Do you listen to music when writing and if so, do you have any favorites?

That I do. And funnily enough, it’s “heavy metal” haha. But since that’s actually a very broad label (like “classical music” say is), I tend to write to something that is more background and conducive to the writing process: melodic music with indistinct vocals works well for this purpose (as occurs in “melodic death metal” say), but also “power metal” tunes work well for writing fantasy or sci-fi and darker “progressive metal” or “ambient instrumentally orientated” tunes work well for horror. I do like “classic heavy metal”, “thrash metal” and “hard rock” a lot too, but these are less conducive to writing as I’ve found (particularly if there’s “anthemic” choruses that can be distracting).

Would you tell us about other books you’ve written?

Happy to! Evermore: An Introduction (link: http://www.thebrewin.com/works/evermore-an-introduction) I first self-published in 2001 (in Melbourne only), again in 2003 (across Australia) and again this year (in North America and Europe). You could say it’s an “experimental” novel with elements of fantasy, philosophy, biography and even “interactive fiction” in that the reader comes to control the story. It’s a book that I went out of my way to make it such that you couldn’t actually sum up what it was and you may not be surprised to know that it was hard to market, but also that when it was initially published, the Australian National Library weren’t sure how to categorise it either and put it into (what was then) it’s own category. I personally distributed a handful of copies of the 2001 edition (about 30) around stores in Melbourne, but this was surprisingly enough to get a following, and even have a magazine start-up for which the two editors told me Evermore was their inspiration. So I self-published it through Brolga in 2003 with Australia-wide distribution through Pan Macmillan. The book ended up on bookshelves and in libraries in everything from “General Fiction” to “Fantasy” to “Sci-Fi” to “Philosophy” to “New Age Fiction” to “Australiana” and even, erroneously, “Young Adult Fiction” (poor kids!) and I sold enough (close to 2000 copies) to break even thereabouts. Being the sort of book it was though, some  thought it was one of the most amazing books they’d ever read (including well-known Australian authors like Margaret Clark and Anita Bell), whilst others hated it. It, like everything I tend to do, wasn’t like anything others had read really: and it certainly “pushed boundaries”, cos that’s what I’m driven to do J

I’ve also released a third “book” this year called Infinite Universe (link: http://www.thebrewin.com/works/infinite-universe). -It’s actually a science-fiction digital “gamebook”, where it’s a story you buy through the Apple App Store to read on your iPhone or iPad (other platforms, including Android, PC and Mac are to come soon I understand). It’s a story where you’re the main character, and like a “choose-your-own-adventure” story, you’re the one making the choices about what the main character does. There’s dice too: you have a character sheet with stats, skills and items (like in a role-playing game a la Dungeons and Dragons) and at certain points in the story you have to roll dice: either to make a stat or skill check, to fight something, or simply as a random roll. It’s digital because you can shake the device to roll the virtual dice, the program tracks all the necessary rules and items and injuries you collect, plus there’s illustrations, music, achievements, and unlockables like star-maps and encyclopaedias. I didn’t do any of these components (just the design and writing, and some of the editing and playtesting), but a whole bunch of awesome people were involved and it’s published by Tin Man Games as part of their Gamebook Adventures series: four other titles of which I edited, re-balanced and re-wrote parts of. Again it pushed a lot of boundaries. Infinite Universe was also like everything I seem to do: not really like anything others had seen before, completely different from anything else I’d done, and again saw a wide divergence in opinion. -For some it was their favourite in the Gamebook Adventures series and they raved about it, whilst others; particularly in the American market as it happens; thought it was the worst in the series. (Which largely I put down to it not being what they were expecting: it’s sci-fi with a lot of “Australian” humour, and the elements of sarcasm and self-depreciation don’t seem to translate so well when blended with sci-fi comedy, unlike how it seems to work with horror). -Regardless, I don’t think too many thought it was like anything else they’d read ;)

I’ve written another book, er “gamebook” this year as well, which was for the annual Windhammer gamebook competition I mentioned earlier. It’s called Trial of the Battle God, and you can download a pdf copy for free here. (link: http://www.arborell.com/trialofthebattlegod.pdf) –Again it pushed the boundaries, in this case what you could do in a gamebook. It’s basically a fantasy deathmatch between multiple champions in a dungeon (a la something like Hunger Games though I’ve not actually read or seen it). The things in particular that make Trial of the Battle God quite different though are that it features at least seven other opponents that are moving around the dungeon just as you are; acquiring items and injuries and fighting each other; plus it can be played with between one and six human players. I’ve written a lot more about the design of this here. (link: http://www.thebrewin.com/blog/entry/deconstruction-of-trial-of-the-battle-god) –I plan to expand on this sometime “soon-ish” (probably as some kind of “gamebook / board-game hybrid”).

Are you working on something now?

Suffice to say, I’m never not working on something haha. I’m working on at least three projects (depending on how you count) with Tin Man Games for their Gamebook Adventures for instance, plus there’s The Dark Horde album, and then there’s a least another three projects of mine (two of which are games) in various stages of development. (And then, heaven forbid, there’s the demands of the “day job”!) -Some of these projects are due to be completed in the near future, but I don’t want to suggest a specific time or say too much about them just yet ;)

Tell us something quirky about yourself!

Haha where to start? I think I was about eight when the thought occurred to me: “I’m really not like anybody else am I?” -A thought which was almost immediately followed by the thought “And gee, I really don’t want to be either. Being ‘normal and fitting in’ would be so boring!”

Throughout my life ever since, I’ve never really tried to fit in (and consequently never really have): I’ve mostly lived inside the worlds of my own imagination. I don’t think of this as a negative thing (I wasn’t retreating from or traumatized by anything), it’s more just that imagination was much more interesting to me than what “others were doing”. -I could go on, but how much “quirk” do you really want to know? Haha. Besides that Evermore: An Introduction goes into detail about the freak I am, so you could always read that to find out… In a nutshell, there’s very little about me really that isn’t quirky haha.

Is there anything else you’d care to say?

Hmmm… Thanks for listening to my dribble? ;)

Five Fun Shorts!

1) Scariest movie you’ve watched?

The Amytiville Horror (the original 1979 one). It’s actually the only movie I can think of that really actually “scared the sh*t out of me”. I used to go out of my way to challenge myself, to try to find something that really “got me”. I watched The Exorcist and Alien alone at home late at night with all the lights out when I was about 13 for instance, and I got a good buzz out of that, but The Amytiville Horror (which I watched when I was 9 I think?) was the one that got me most. Why? Cos I believed that it was based on what had actually happened, and was able to watch the movie as if it was “real”. The Devil doesn’t scare me cos I don’t believe in him, but ghosts and spirits can scare the sh*t out of me cos I believe they’re real (and have numerous experiences of my own, but that’s a tangent!)

2) Scariest book you’ve read?

Hmmm. Tough one. It takes something special to really “get me” in a book, but I know I’m kinda desensitized. (I’m glad though how many people have reported that The Dark Horde really scared them cos I self-critique myself at times and sometimes think “is that even scary what I just wrote?”) -Anyway, the book that comes to mind for me at the moment, isn’t actually a horror really at all: it was a Young Adult Fiction book by Gillian Rubinstein called Space Demons that I read when I was um, 12 I think. It’s basically about a computer game that these kids play, that starts to take over their own reality and allow these evil Space Demons into our world. With my imagination, these Space Demons began to overtake my reality, and I began to imagine seeing them everywhere, taunting and playing with me. Space Demons catalysed many of my own ideas for The Dark Horde.

3) Three things you can’t live without?

Being able to create (stories, games, etc) is definitely the most fundamental thing for me: it’s what I exist for. Second to that is probably playing games: whether that be alone or with friends. Third is probably music: particularly “metal”.

4) What is your worse fear?

In terms of “something I want to avoid” I’d say it’s not achieving my life’s goals. In terms of “something that causes terror/anxiety” it probably is the occult / spirit world, which is also what fascinates me about it.

5) If you could be a real supernatural being, what would you be?

I have always liked werewolves haha. The sense of freedom, of power, of unrestrained passion, and even closeness with the natural world. But also their sense of community, of allegiance to one another… But I wasn’t just going to write another werewolf story now was I? ;)

Bonus Question!

Tell Santa what you want for Christmas?

I reckon more time would be just about be the most useful thing to me right now haha. And he seems to be pretty good at manipulating that! So perhaps if he could just show me how he does some of his tricks to get more things done in the time available, I’ll let him off having to give me anything for the rest of this lifetime J

Good answer! I could use some of that myself.

Thanks for answering my questions Brewin. It’s been fun!

It certainly has been fun! Thank you so much Laura for the opportunity!

To purchase The Dark Horde click on image in my sidebar.

For my review  go here .

And now for the giveaway.

I have Three signed copies of The Dark Horde to giveaway thanks to Brewin!

To enter, please leave your email address and answer this question, “What was the title of the first horror book or movie that really scared you?”

Not required, but I’d love it if you followed my blog.

Contest ends December 14th.

Happy Holidays from me to you!!