Cover Reveal: Midnight by Alexandra Lanc!

I'm pleased to be able to share with you guys the cover for Alexandra Lanc's brand new novel, Midnight!

Midnight

Life has always seemed impossible for IxBryn Rowan, and it's about to get even more complicated.

IxBryn is a Knight Blood, an immortal human rendered by science to bring about harmony between the two races of Earth, the humans and the vampires -- at least, that was the plan. A terrible tragedy occurred, and IxBryn is now the only surviving Knight, hunted for the potency of her blood, which will render any Immortal nearly unstoppable for a time.

With nowhere left to turn, IxBryn makes her way to Variance, the most prestigious and important City on Earth, to stay with her cousin Bristol, the only person alive who truly understands her, and in turn stumbles upon a secret war breeding within the shadows -- a struggle in which she soon becomes the prize.

With danger at every turn, IxBryn may have to learn to rely on those who appear untrustworthy -- even the labeled sociopath Zarrod Kingsbury, an Ancient vampire, and one of the Elite, who has interests of his own.

The first novella in the Knight Blood series, Midnight introduces readers to a parallel Earth, where vampires roam free, fate is never concrete, and where home can be found in the strangest of places.

Midnight ~ Book One of the Knight Blood Novellas

Available March 29th 2013

The book sounds awesome so please make sure you check it out and add it to you 'To Read' list on Goodreads!

About The Author:

Alexandra is a New Adult and Young Adult author who loves writing Fantasy, Science-Fiction, and traditional Horror stories (though she’s known to dabble in Contemporary and Poetry, too). She started writing at a young age, and is inspired by fellow writers (hats off to Eoin Colfer, Ridley Pearson, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, and Jeanne DuPrau), her writing friends, and her dreams.
She is currently working on many series and stand-alones, most notably the Snowflake Triplet, her YA Fantasy/Christmas series, the Phantasmagoria Duet, her NA Fantasy series, and of course the new NA novella series the Fleur Passages, later to be sewn into one book, where readers have a say in what happens next through voting!
Alexandra is also an artist (her art is featured on her book covers), and a screenwriter, a Whovian, superhero fan, and all-around geek who loves old videogames. Alexandra lives in Florida, USA, with her family and calico cat, Sanura.

Twitter: @AuthorLanc
Google+: Alexandra Lanc
My Blog: Words of the Worlds
Goodreads: Alexandra Lanc

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In My Mailbox #2

Hey There!

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren in which bloggers share their books which they have recently received.

Here are the books that I have recieved, bought or borrowed recently:

The Selection by Kiera Cass (Won)
City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (Bought)
Tempest by Julie Cross (Bought)
Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Bought)

eBooks:
Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry (ARC provided by NetGalley)
Shadows of Past Memories by Alexandra Lanc (Review Copy Provided by Author)

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Indie Author Month: Indie Picks

Hello There!

As part of my Indie Author Month, I thought i'd add in one of my Indie Picks.

Lyrics of The Heart by the self-published Alexandra Lanc!

Kristi’s life falls apart the day that she wakes up to find that her father has been in a tragic accident. And with the doctors uncertain of her father’s future, Kristi struggles to pick up the pieces and answer the ultimate question: how do you continue to live when the one you love most may never wake up again?

In this short novella, author Alexandra Lanc fuses the art of the short story and the poem to bring together a heart-breaking tale of the events that change our lives, and the unexpected miracles that can forever alter them.

Alexandra Lanc is one awesome Indie Author who has self-published several fabulous stories. Be sure to check out her website!

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The Lyrical Foxfire Tour - Alexandra Lanc Guest Post!

Hello everyone!

I am pleased to present a guest post from the fabulous Alexandra Lanc on her Lyrical Foxfire Tour. I'd just like to say a big thanks to Alexandra for including me in her tour!

The Picture, the Words, and the Solace

For me, writing is like breathing -- in fact, it always has been like breathing, ever since I was a kid and picked up my first pencil, my first crayon, my first pen.

When I was little, I loved making up stories, and if I look back, most of the young memories I have are of TV shows or movies -- stories that I picked up on -- and I’ve always loved to read. When I was in kindergarten, I used to draw a lot of pictures, and that continued through my school grades, though as time went on, I added words with those pictures.

I remember that the first real “story” I ever wrote was about Yoshi (from Super Mario Bros.) and his friends. Most of the story was in pictures, but I wrote some short “verses” as well, and then I bought a plastic school “binder” and put the pages in it. I liked the “book” so much that I wrote more, going on to various other video game and TV characters (which included, but were not limited to: Kirby, Sailor Moon, and the TMNT).

When I was in middle school, I wrote my first novel. It was mainly about a girl who had superpowers, and how she discovered the uses of those powers, and dealt with everyday life at school (as well as an evil villain who was trying to take over the world, who just so happened to be her long-lost father). Middle school was hard for me, and my friends and I were bullied quite extensively. Looking back, I think that is part of what pushed me into writing novels in the first place -- I had words, and they had to be said, and though I couldn’t do anything about my situation in real life, I could do something about it in the book.

I finished the novel when I was thirteen, and I went onto write many more things through middle and high-school -- mostly crazy comedies, dark drabbles, and fanfiction. I loved writing, but I could never actually finish anything, and I had new ideas all of the time, so I started new books constantly, and then left the old ones, pushing them aside.

I was home-schooled, so instead of attending normal classes, I dual enrolled and went to college for most of high school. I also took theater and chorus classes at a local high school for extras credit, so I spent most of my time at school, and didn’t have as much time for writing. During that time, I really missed it, but it wasn’t until I reached the summer of my sixteenth year that I really got back into writing.

It went like this: tragedy struck again, and I had to have an outlet, a place to say things, to get out what was bothering me. The tragedy was my brother’s motorcycle accident, and the outlet was a story that you are probably familiar with. It’s called “Shadows of Past Memories”.

Of course, it wasn’t called that at the time, and it was nothing like it is now (and well over 700 pages), but that is when I started writing it. The change in my life -- my brother’s accident, him coming to live with us, and the growing up that I had to do -- fueled my writing again, and led me to writing Shadows of Past Memories. And the things that I went through trying to sort my life out, and trying to become someone that others could depend on, were my inspiration for the book, as well as the things that I liked to read, and the authors who I looked up to (most notably Mr. Eoin Colfer, whose book Artemis Fowl made me want to write for others).

Now, I write because I love it, and I can look back on everything that I’ve been through in my writing and truly marvel at it. Because though things were hard then, I love my job now, and I have more than enough things to write about -- experiences I’ve been through, and things that I’ve learned from them. Writing will continue to be my life, but now I hope that I can write not only for entertainment, but to say something and to help someone -- because I know that books were my solace when I was going through rough times, and I want my writings to be a solace to someone else.

Thank you to the Queen of Teen Fiction, Katie, for having me, and I hope you all enjoyed the post!

Thanks again Alexandra!

Read more about The Foxfire Chronicles here.

And be sure to read Lyrics of the Heart, due out January 20th!

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Author Interview: Alexandra Lanc

Hey guys! I'm delighted to present an interview with the author of the fabulous Clara Claus, Alexandra Lanc!

How did you come up with the idea for Clara Claus?

I was watching Christmas movies one year and realized that hardly any of them featured Jack Frost, who had always been a favorite winter “character” of mine, so I got to thinking, and I decided that I would like to write something about him. I’d planned on doing a Christmas novel eventually, but I had never actually gotten a solid idea for it -- though when the thought about Jack struck me, the story formed quickly, and the pieces simply fell into place.

Why did you decide to write a story about Christmas?

Christmas is my favorite Holiday, but before writing Clara Claus, I had never actually found a Christmas novel that interested me, so I wanted to write something new -- something that was about Christmas, but that was different and fun to read. I tried to write something fantastical -- something that I would like to read. I also wrote Clara Claus so I could communicate what I thought about the Holidays, why Christmas means so much to me.

Jack is a fabulous character! Did you have to research Jack Frost before writing Clara Claus?

I did do some research on Jack before I started writing, but honestly...I didn’t find much. This was disheartening at first, because I was wanting to start working on the story, but I didn’t want to start without doing some good research. After a while of searching with no ends that inspired me, I finally broke down and started writing, and the product was my finished story, Clara Claus.

What other projects are you working on at the moment?

I usually work on a few projects at one time. At the moment I’m working on a short novella, slated for release in January, as well as my fantasy novel “The Ending”, due out in April. Other than that, I’m continuing work on my Foxfire Chronicles series, as well as a surprise related to Clara Claus.

What other authors do you look to for inspiration?

Many authors inspire me, but I have two main authors who I look to for inspiration. The first is my all-time favorite author, Eoin Colfer, whose books always manage to surprise me. The second is Ridley Pearson, who I actually met at a signing, and who gave me some excellent writing advice, which I always remember when I feel discouraged.

Thanks for your time Alexandra!

Read more about Alexandra and her work on her website:

http://www.alexandralanc.com/

And be sure to follow her on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/#!/AuthorLanc

Read my review of Clara Claus here.

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Review: Clara Claus by Alexandra Lanc

Product Details:
Pages: 199 Kindle Edition
Released: 7th October 2011

Goodreads Summary:
"The world was given the greatest gift, and that's what started Christmas."

Jack Frost has done it again! He's tried to destroy Christmas, and now he's going to loose his job--for good. And the only thing that can save him is something he doesn't want...to fall in love with a human before sunrise on Christmas morn.

As Christmas draws nearer and Jack's time ticks by, Santa's granddaughter Clara arrives in the North Pole. Playing the role of "tour guide", Jack feels drawn to the snow obsessed girl, who sees things as no one else does. But when faced with the chance to leave the past behind, will the prince of winter choose to look towards the future? Will Jack's new plan to destroy Christmas prove fatal for the North Pole and its holiday, or can Clara finally melt his icy heart?

My Review:
I’ve got to say, this novel really surprised me! I’d never really come across a YA book about Christmas before and didn’t really know what I was going to make of it – but I totally fell in love with it!

After trying to destroy Christmas once again, the Winter Council have decided that Jack has to fall in love with a human before Christmas morning if he wants to continue being Jack Frost.

Clara goes to the North Pole to spend Christmas with her grandfather, only to discover that he is Santa Claus! And who has he assigned to show her around the place? None other than the cold-hearted Jack Frost.

With only a week until Christmas, Jack decides to try and use Clara in his latest attempt to destroy the holiday in which he hates before he is kicked out of Council. But the more Jack gets to know Clara, the less he can deceive her. Will her really be able to use her in order to ruin Christmas if it means breaking Clara’s heart?

I adored Jack Frost! He is seriously a brilliant character! This story is very much about his life changing before his very eyes and him learning to accept and deal with the events of his past. He may not be very nice at times, but you can’t help but love him! And Clara is just a big sweetheart!

I found the story completely unique and quite a breath of fresh air! It's beautifuly written and is totally different to anything I’ve read before. I’m sure this is a book that I will now read every Christmas!

This is a really heart-warming story about love and hope that is the perfect read for the holidays. If you only read one book this Christmas, make sure it’s this one!

Royal Rating:

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