2014-12-31

While my friends all over the world are getting ready for the New Year (is it already 2015 somewhere? Australian friends, what's happening in Futureland?), I'd like to share two thoughts by Paulo Coelho. 


I hope these thoughts will help us remember the gifts we got in 2014.
"God, bless our week.
May we be able to remember the good moments of 2014
and forgive and forget our wounds."

"God, bless our week.
May we leave behind every thing that made us sad in 2014".

Paulo Coelho on Facebook | Paulo Coelho on Twitter
All the best!

- Raum


2014-12-30

My Reading Lounge has just turned 4!


Thank you for your support! So far there have been more than 400 posts, and more than 100,000 visitors!

My Reading Lounge was created to share and discuss recs about Twilight fanfics. Over the years, the fandom has significantly slowed down, but the community around this (little) blog is still full of ideas.

In the last few months, I've tried to give more space to other stories -- original novels you can find under Pick a Book -- and to the Writing Lab, where many authors have accepted to share their writing tips and experiences.

I'd like to get your suggestions for the upcoming posts. Your ideas are the best birthday gift!

One of the most precious features of this blog is that its contributors come from all over the world. I'd like to share more posts about places to visit and books related to those places (because reading and writing are still this blog's main purpose). Stay tuned!



All the best,

- Raum 


2014-12-24

Are you still looking for a great Christmas Gift? 


Consider Christmas Stories by Paulo Coelho! Ten Tales for you and for your special friends.



The Brazilian author Paulo Coelho was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist. In 1986, he did the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage. In the following year, he published The Alchemist. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time. Other titles include Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept (1994), the collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo entitle Maktub (1994), the compilation of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika decides to die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), the compilation of traditional tales in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005), The Witch of Portobello (2006) and Winner Stands Alone. During the months of March, April, May and June 2006, Paulo Coelho traveled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella in 1986. He also held surprise book signings - announced one day in advance - in some cities along the way, to have a chance to meet his readers. In ninety days of pilgrimage the author traveled around the globe and took the famous Transiberrian train that took him to Vladivostok. During this experience Paulo Coelho launched his blog Walking the Path - The Pilgrimage in order to share with his readers his impressions. Since this first blog Paulo Coelho has expanded his presence in the internet with his daily blogs in Wordpress, Myspace & Facebook. He is equally present in media sharing sites such as Youtube and Flickr, offering on a regular basis not only texts but also videos and pictures to his readers. From this intensive interest and use of the Internet sprang his bold new project: The Experimental Witch where he invites his readers to adapt to the screen his book The Witch of Portobello. Indeed Paulo Coelho is a firm believer of Internet as a new media and is the first Best-selling author to actively support online free distribution of his work​.


Merry Xmas!


2014-12-19

Check Out This Hot and Sexy Book Trailer!
RUE Toulouse
by Debby Grahl

Coming January 15, 2015! Available for PreOrder from  TWCS and Amazon
 The next novel by Debby Grahl
Release Date: January 15 , 2014


Summary: It’s Mardi Gras time in New Orleans. Attending a masquerade ball, wealthy fashion designer Caterine Doucette, dressed as a shimmering ice princess, has her cool façade shattered when she encounters Bayou-born ex-cop Remi Michaud, disguised as the darkly handsome pirate Jean Lafitte. Their true identities hidden, the princess and the pirate come together in an explosion of passion and desire. But when fantasy turns to cold reality, Caterine panics and disappears into the night, unaware this man will soon be sent to rescue her from a killer and will capture her heart. Orphaned at a young age, Caterine grew up in the home of her beloved grandmother, Miss Dauphine Doucette. Despised by her Doucette relatives for the devotion she received from her grandmère, Caterine suffered years of envy and disdain. The young Caterine learned quickly how easily the love she had to give could be thrown back in her face. After Miss Dauphine turns over ownership of the century-old fashion house, Ma Chérie, to Caterine, an attempt is made on her life, for there are those in the Doucette family who will stop at nothing to possess what they feel is their rightful inheritance. Not knowing whom to trust, Caterine goes into hiding. Miss Dauphine, convinced someone in her own family is behind the attack, hires Remi, now working for a private security company, to track her down and unmask her would-be assassin. Learning that the affluent Caterine Doucette is the beautiful princess he held in his arms at the ball, Remi is torn between his growing desire for her and painful memories of another rich socialite’s betrayal. Caterine finds herself falling in love with Remi, but old embedded pain leaves her afraid to open her heart. Down in the Big Easy, Caterine and Remi must learn to trust one another if they are to survive in a world of family greed and ruthless revenge.

Goodreads * Add to Want To Read List



Debby_002
Debby Grahl lives on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, with her husband, David, and their cat, Tigger. When she’s not writing, she enjoys biking, walking on the beach, and having a glass of wine at sunset. Her favorite places to visit are the Cotswolds of England, Captiva Island in Florida, New Orleans, New York City, and her home state of Michigan. She is a history buff who also enjoys reading murder mysteries, time travel, and of course, romance. Visually impaired since childhood by Retinitis pigmentosa (RP), she uses screen-reading software to research and write her books. Debby belongs to Romance Writers of America, Florida Romance Writers, Hearts Across History, and Lowcountry Romance Writers. Her first novel, The Silver Crescent, was released January 2014.

Happy Reading!

2014-12-15

In the latest novel from #1 best-selling author Paulo Coelho, a woman attempts to overcome midlife ennui by rediscovering herself in a passionate relationship with a man who had been a friend in her youth.



A woman in her thirties begins to question the routine and predictability of her days. In everybody's eyes, she has a perfect life: happy marriage, children, and a career. Yet what she feels is an enormous apathy. All that changes when she encounters a successful politician who had, years earlier, been her high school boyfriend. As she rediscovers the passion missing from her life, she will face a life-altering choice.



Buy Links



Happy Reading!

2014-12-12

K. B. Hoyle is the author of Breeder. In this post she discusses her experience writing her seventh novel.

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Writing Breeder was a unique experience for me for a number of reasons. 

It’s my seventh completed novel, so it’s not as though I didn’t know what I was doing, but I had this crazy shift to make in my thinking in order to knock out this novel. My deadline for getting Breeder turned in to my publisher was very close to the deadline for the sixth and final fantasy novel in my Gateway Chronicles series. I finished the first draft of that book, The Bone Whistle, and turned it in the first week of January, then I gave myself about a week and a half to rest and get my brain back before starting work on Breeder, which was due something like the second week in March. 
Would I be as successful in my dystopian writing?
I hadn’t written anything other than fantasy for the six years since I started my professional writing career, and I’d never even dreamed I would write a book in first person present tense until the idea for The Breeder Cycle came to me. I had to shift from the mixed modern teen/quasi-medieval third person limited perspective to a futuristic dystopian first present perspective so quickly it felt like turning on a dime. Granted, I didn’t do it completely cold, as most of my notes were complete for Breeder long before I started writing it, and I’d taken care to take all my notes in the appropriate voice and perspective, but I still had these cold-sweat moments of wondering if I could really do what I was setting out to do. 

I was just reaching a point of burnout.

My fantasy writing has resonated so well with readers of all stripes; would I be as successful in my dystopian writing? Because of some of these doubts and adjustments, I started off writing Breeder slower than my usual pace and entered February with not nearly as much done as I needed to have done. I was behind, and I hate being behind, but aside from the week and a half break I’d taken after The Bone Whistle, I’d been writing between 10,000-20,000 words a week since October, and I think I was just reaching a point of burnout. When my substantive edits on The Bone Whistle came back with a turnover deadline that was almost on top of my deadline for the first draft of Breeder, I nearly had a come apart. I was also in my first trimester of pregnancy with my fourth child at the time and feeling rotten and so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes open. 

I finally admitted needing something to give and asked my publishing house for an extension on the manuscript for Breeder, which they graciously approved, and I put it aside so I could finish up the first round of edits on The Bone Whistle. I never take long breaks from a manuscript while I’m writing it; it’s usually counterproductive for me to do so because it breaks my stride. But I was so overwhelmed with my schedule and life that I had no choice. I knocked out my end of The Bone Whistle edits with little difficulty, then took a legitimate break to take a long-anticipated, bed and breakfast-hopping 10th anniversary trip to Ireland, Wales, and England with my husband. Home from the trip with a renewed determination to complete Breeder, I returned to the manuscript after about a three-week hiatus from it and finished it up ahead of my extended deadline

Sometimes the creative process is better aided by rest.

The break must have really done me good, because when I got back the manuscript evaluation on it, it was the most positively any of my books have ever been received by my editing team. I’m a chronic over-worker, and the crazy schedule was my fault, not my publisher’s fault, as I asked for certain release dates on my books, but the whole experience was a reminder to me that sometimes the creative process is better aided by rest.

Thank you, K.B. Hoyle!


Breeder has just been released!

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Official Summary: Everything about Seventeen’s life is perfect, from her genetics, to her home in Sanctuary, to her status as a Breeder in the Unified World Order. But all that changes when she meets a rogue Enforcer named Pax, who infiltrates Sanctuary and targets her for extraction from the Controlled Repopulation Program. Pax seems to know a little too much about her, and he plants dangerous doubts in her mind that accuse Sanctuary of hiding a dark secret, and that cause Seventeen to question everything she’s ever known.
When Seventeen’s life is threatened, she has little choice but to run away from Sanctuary with Pax. But for Breeders, contact with men is forbidden by law, and even the simple act of taking Pax’s hand is treason.
Mired in confusion, Seventeen travels with Pax to the outside world and takes the name Pria, the identity of her childhood. But she is far from certain she’s made the right decision when they discover an entire community of people who should no longer exist.
Seventeen, now Pria, is thrust into a position as a key player in a dangerous bid to bring down the Unified World Order. Meanwhile, Pax’s attachment to her and her growing attraction to him contribute to the ever-growing mysteries in her life.
Pria’s journey from a sheltered, naïve Breeder to a rebel agent requires not only external transformation but self-discovery. As her world crumbles, Pria must decide who she is and what she really believes.
But the truth comes at a cost, and uncovering it will require a greater treason than she could ever have imagined.


Breeder-Hi-Res-Cover
Release Date: December 11, 2014
Genre: Fiction: Dystopian
ISBN e-book:   978-1-61213-292-1
Available from: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and TWCS PH


kb_hoyle

K.B. Hoyle is a bestselling author, a public speaker, a creative writing instructor, and a classical history teacher who uses her knowledge of the ancient and medieval worlds to pen speculative and fantasy tales for people of all ages. She has been married since the age of twenty to the love of her life, with whom she has four wonderful children. Find out more about her at www.kbhoyle.com.



Praise for Breeder
"Breeder was anything but a let down. The characters were extremely well written, making me able to empathize with Pria and Pax and the situation they find themselves in. 
I kept turning the pages because I just had to find out what happened to these people and, to my shock, finished the book in a day!"  
- Angela  Goodreads Review
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2014-12-10

Brooke Williams is the author of Wrong Place, Right Time.

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MyReadingLounge: Can you give us some writing tips and talk us through some of your writing experiences?

Brooke Williams:

I could probably sit and write about writing all day long! I won’t, though, promise!

I remember writing in grade school. I would cut out pictures from magazines and paste them onto blank sheets of paper and write new stories around them. Then I would sell the creations to my parents. I should have known then that I was meant to be a writer.

But parents are easy targets. Writing in the real world is much more of a challenge. I wrote my first novel, Someone Always Loved You a good decade ago. I approached agents with it. I got rejected. A lot. The worst/best rejection I got was an agent who returned my self-addressed stamped envelope to me with “no” written on the outside. The inside was empty. No form letter or anything! How rude! Ha.

Honestly, after so many rejections, I gave up on writing and tried to enjoy my career in radio. I wrote short commercial scripts and told myself it was enough. But about a year after my first daughter was born, I started working from home on a freelance basis. I wrote and still write articles for clients all over the world. I love it! But even that isn’t enough. Fiction is my true love and I had to dabble there as well.

I don’t write a story unless the plot or characters bother me…a lot! When I get an idea, I let it fester until I can no longer sleep at night unless I write it down. And once I start, I feverishly work on the story until it’s complete. Since I’m a mom of two young girls, the time I have to write is very limited. We’re talking like an hour a day is all. But even at that, I can generally churn out a story in around a month or so. Thankfully because it’s hard to concentrate on much else until it’s out!

I don’t outline. I try not to think about things too much unless I’m sitting typing. Sometimes I’ll run into an issue and the best thing I can do is walk away. The answer comes to me at a random time and then I just have to hold onto it until I can write again!

My biggest tip for writers who aspire to be published is to never give up. I readily admit that I did give up and I regret that. Had I kept at it a decade ago, who knows where I’d be today! There are so many publishing options out there that it seems like there’s something for everyone. Publishing is still a tough business and finding the right publisher can be like finding a needle in a haystack. But if you aren’t digging through that haystack on a regular basis, you’ll NEVER find that needle, right?!

If nothing else, write because you love it. Write for you. Write because you can’t NOT write! Doctors tell you to work out because it’s good for your body. On the days when I’m able to write, my mind feels better. Writing is the work out my mind needs to keep itself on track for the rest of the day!

Wrong Place, Right Time is a story that stems from one simple line that I couldn’t get out of my head… “Stop the wedding!”  The whole story fell out from that line on. It was my first stab at a true romance story and I thoroughly enjoyed writing it. I hope you walk away from the story with a smile on your face and laughter in your heart. I know that’s what happened to me when I typed “The End!”

-x-x-x-x-x-

Thank you, Brooke!

Wrong Place, Right Time
Release Date: December 9 , 2014
Published by: The Writers Coffee Shop
Genre: Fiction: Romance/General
ISBN e-book: 978-1-61213-289-1
Available from: AmazonKoboBarnes and Noble, and TWCS PH
   Wrong Place, Right Time
by Brooke Williams
Wrong-Place-Right-TimePaperback-eBook
A Novella

Wrong-Place-Right-Time-Hi-Res-Cover

Release Date: December 9 , 2014
Published by: The Writers Coffee Shop
Genre: Fiction: Romance/General
ISBN e-book: 978-1-61213-289-1
Available from: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and TWCS PH


Summary: Wrong Place, Right Time is a humorous, light romance about TV traffic reporter, Kate Covington.  After admitting she is in love with her best friend, Brian, Kate barges into a Las Vegas wedding chapel to stop him from getting married.  When the bride storms out, Kate sees that she interrupted the wrong wedding.  The groom, Chad Leida, who needs to marry before turning 30 in order to inherit his family fortune, has an intriguing offer for Kate.  Marry him and spend a year as his wife for a million dollars. 
Kate, who is greatly in debt and believes her friend has already married, considers the offer.
Once Kate makes her spontaneous decision, her life is on the fast track and the real adventure begins.  Caught between two men, she begins to realize that though she turned up in the Wrong Place, she might have arrived just at the Right Time.



              



Brooke Williams is an award-winning author and freelance writer. She has written hundreds of articles as well as several novels, including Someone Always Loved You and Beyond the Bars. Brooke has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Morningside College, with a double major in Mass Communications and Religious Studies. She has twelve years of experience in radio broadcasting, both behind the scenes and on-air. She was also a television traffic reporter for a brief time. Brooke and her husband Sean married in 2002 and have two daughters, Kaelyn and Sadie.   

Praise for Wrong Place, Right Time
"Really really fantastic book! I had a very hard time putting my kindle down when my work breaks were over. Loved everything...the plot, the characters, the romance. Definitely recommend. This won't be the only Brooke Williams book I read." - Carrie Goodreads Review
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2014-12-07

Lucky Numbers will be available on Valentine's day.


Synopsis: Lucy Eaton had a job she loved as a Teaching Assistant at a Special Needs School and a boyfriend who struggled with commitment issues. Life was good, not great, but good, until one day Lady Luck paid Lucy a visit and a life that most people could only dream of opened up to her. With the creases of every day life ironed out, she could sit back and live the dream.

But what if that dream doesn't turn out to be what you thought you wanted? 
Want and need are two very different things. The head wants, but the heart needs, and as generous and fortuitous as life can be, it can also be incredibly cruel. No one gets to live a creaseless life. That is something Lucy will soon discover.

Release Date: 14th Feb 2015.







Meet the Author!


Born in the heart of England to two devoted parents he enjoyed a happy, loving childhood. Not long after completing his further education, G.G. Carver set off on a worldwide adventure visiting various places around the globe, but it was New Zealand that stole his heart. It was here that he discovered his creative side with amateur dramatics, and he made several brief appearances in national soap operas. 
After 5 years he returned to England and discovered his passion for writing. He wrote several unpublished children's books, but had a vision for a book that would take him on an exciting journey.
He also lives with his close companion Carver Jnr his cuddly pup that features in many of his humorous Facebook updates. He enjoys keeping fit, long walks in the fresh air and spending time with close family and friends.



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