New Giveaway!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Center of the Universe

by Belle Malory

Giveaway ends August 25, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Center of the Universe now available on Amazon and B&N!

YEP! I couldn't wait any longer. I released Center of the Universe a few days early. You guys are the best readers in the entire world so I wanted you to have it as soon as possible :) I hope you enjoy the continuation of Kennedy and Phoenix's story as much as I loved telling it.

Click HERE to buy from Amazon

Click HERE to buy from B&N

                                                    

Hey Friends!

I promised you a giveaway once we reached 50 "to reads" on Goodreads. Guess what? That goal was met!

Thank you guys for being such amazing readers. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to share my stories with all of you :)

As promised, I've created a giveaway. This one is for an ARC of COTU. You will receive it at least one day before it's on sale. You can enter here up to 5 times:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


More Good News!

If COTU reaches 150 "to reads", I will giveaway 2 hard copies through Goodreads. 

Even Better News!

It looks like I'll be able to release COTU a few days early. Watch out for the release on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

xoxo,
Belle

Quote of the Day:
"When you learn, teach. When you get, give." -Maya Angelou

Giveaway

Hey friends!

Because I'm super excited about releasing the next book in the Twelfth Keeper series, I've decided to hold a giveaway. I couldn't decide how many copies I should give out though so I decided to have some fun with it :) I'll give away more copies based on the number of "to-reads" COTU generates. Sooooo....

• If 50 people mark it as "to-read" I'll give out one copy.  
• If 150 people mark it as "to-read" I'll give out two copies.
• If 300 people mark it as "to-read" I'll give out three copies. 

 Easy, right?

I could go on and on with this because your excitement equals my excitement :) I may do more of this kind of stuff in the future.

Add Center of the Universe from the link below:

 

Cover Reveal for Center of the Universe!

End of the world?

Possibly.

Taking a vacation wasn’t what Kennedy Mitchell had in mind after aliens threatened to attack Earth. Although she’s happy spending time with her family, she begins to question DOE’s motives for sending her home when she should be training. Something’s up and she knows it.

Searching for answers, she turns to Phoenix, the one person she can trust…or so she thought. It seems even he has secrets, and the more she discovers, the more she wonders if anything they had together was real.

The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. One keeper goes missing. Another is determined to destroy her. As if that isn't enough to deal with, everyday humans get closer to annihilation. This time Kennedy has no one to rely on but herself.

Hey, no one said keeping the world safe was easy.

Coming June 29

Cover by Regina Wamba of www.maeidesign.com

Center of the Universe Teaser #2

Hey friends! This will be the last excerpt I upload before the release. Sorry for any errors. This hasn't seen an editor yet. Hope you enjoy :)

Center of the Universe

Book two in The Twelfth Keeper Series 

“Are you still up for fighting?”

That got her attention right away. Once her surprise wore off, she said, “I’ve changed my mind about that.”

“Come on,” he cajoled her. “I can play by the rules.”

Fighting was interacting. He should have seen that yesterday, but he’d been too worried about hurting her. Today his head was clear. He decided he would let her beat the shit out him if it made her feel better.

Well, she could try anyway.

A frown puckered her lips as she debated. “No, you’ll just let me win.”

Not an acceptable answer. One way or another, he had to convince her to fight. “I promise you won’t even come close.”

“You sound mighty confident,” she said, narrowing her eyes on him. “How do I know you’ll put up a fair fight?”

“Guess you’ll just have to trust me.”

She glanced towards the sparring floor, then back at him, traces of doubt shadowing her eyes.

“How can you refuse the chance to knock me down? Unless you don’t think you can…”

He was laying the cockiness on pretty thick, but it did exactly what he intended it to do. Her eyes flashed, letting him know he finally goaded her into it. “Fine, but this better not be some game you’re playing.”

He held his hands up. “No games. I’m only giving you a chance to do me some serious damage. I doubt you can, but we’ll see.”

“Let’s make this interesting,” Phoenix said, getting into position. “For every time you manage to hit me, I’ll give you a hundred globals. If you knock me down, I’ll give you two hundred.”

“Seriously?” She arched a brow. “You’re on, buddy.”

The buzzer went off and she dove for him. Phoenix not only blocked her attempt, but also got hold of her arms, swung her around, and stopped her from moving by securing an arm around her ribcage.

That was almost too easy.

He leaned across her shoulder to say, “Told you I wouldn’t let you win.”

The top of his arm brushed the underside of her breasts. Kennedy’s breath hitched and he felt her body stiffen at the touch.

This kind of contact normally went unnoticed. The twelve of them trained so much on this floor, it wasn’t uncommon for one of them to end up accidentally groping body parts while trying to keep their opponent at bay. Most people’s only concern was trying to keep from getting knocked down.

The fact that such a small touch was bothering her thrilled Phoenix. He decided to have some fun with it.

He gave her an out by moving his feet back. Oblivious to what he was doing, she used that opportunity to kick him in the shin. He faked the need to recoil, allowing her the ability escape his hold. To his surprise, she was back in position quickly, ready to attack.

He tilted his head to the side, impressed. “You’re getting better.”

When she moved toward him, he ducked the other way. She swung her leg around to kick him, but he saw it coming and grabbed her by the ankle. She landed on the mat on her butt, groaning.

When she tried to get up, Phoenix pushed her down by straddling her with own body and pinning her arms to the floor behind her head. “What an interesting position,” he said, grinning down at her. 

writing-in-third-person blues

To preface, I just wanna say I love reading both 1st and 3rd point of views equally, if it's done well. As I reader, I don't discriminate. This post, however, is dedicated to all my fellow authors/ writers/ storytellers who may have had trouble writing in 3rd person.

Showing more than one POV was extremely important to me when I decided to write my Keeper series—and I don't regret it one bit. It wouldn't be the same if it were written solely within Kennedy's head, at least I think so ;) The problem is that writing in 3rd is extremely unnatural for me, sometimes leading to screaming, raging temper tantrums where I feel like pulling my hair out!!!

Venting officially over.

Let's get to what this is really about: Methods that HELP 

I've discovered a few tricks that work for me, and I'd like to talk about them because a.) I love to list things and b.) These few simple tricks have helped shape my stories, making me a better writer because of it. Now what works for one won't for everyone, but my hope is that by sharing my experience, other aspiring writers won't have to go through the same frustrating challenges I faced (because I'm awesome that way). 

1.  Envision The Emotions Attached to Your Scene. 

• Before you ever write a single word, decide whose head you're in. Make it fun, like you're holding a contest and you're characters are the contestants. Choose your winner based on who gives off the loudest, rawest emotions. Their prize: They control the scene. 

2. Choose Your Words Carefully. 

• Even within the inner monologue, people don't sound alike. Sentences, dialogue and phrases should all be structured differently based on the character. Keep a journal or side document of the styles you use for each character. 

3. Write Your Scene

• And then write it again. Unless you feel like you nailed it with little angel wings all aflutter inside your heart, write it again. This time, from someone else’s perspective. Then compare the two POVs. Which one shows the information you want to show? Which character do you relate to better?—>This is a big one. Readers will lose interest if they can’t relate in some way. One way I know a scene was done well is if I find myself holding my breath. If you’re feeling the emotions right along with the character, chances are, you’re readers will too.

*Mini-tip*

Sometimes writing in first person 

and then rewriting in third helps 

with getting inside your character's head.

For those of you that write, I hope this helps! 

Quote of the day: “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”–Vince Lombardi