Since we just had the one giveaway from Clash of the Titles this week, I decided to add another. Leave a comment below for your chance to win a free download (your choice) of one of my books.
Eden Morgan makes a list of six goals to accomplish in order to have the best summer ever. Getting a boyfriend, which is perhaps the most important goal, becomes complicated when she and her best friend, Lexi, fall for the same guy. Since Lexi is popular, gorgeous, and always gets her guy, Eden thinks she doesn't have a chance.
Channing Johnson is everything Eden's ever dreamed of and she can't believe he just moved in next door. When he starts showing interest in her, she's overjoyed...until she sees him out on a date with Lexi. He says Lexi talked him into it to repay her for tutoring him. Lexi says they're in love.
Eden doesn't know who to believe and is forced to choose between her best friend and the guy of her dreams. Nothing is as it seems and no matter who she chooses, someone will get hurt.
Mindy McLaurin, thinks it's the end of the world when she's incarcerated on trumped-up embezzlement charges. While in jail, she investigates the death of an inmate who allegedly died of an overdose. Mindy suspects foul play when her cellmate dies and she learns that both women had ingested the same drug. Mindy trusts no one, including Drew Stone, the handsome counselor she can’t stop thinking about. She faces many challenges, including constant interrogation by the Major and emotional abuse from the other inmates. Upon release, someone is stalking her and framing her for the murder. Can she prove to Counselor Stone that she’s innocent of all charges before she loses him forever?
Daphne Dean is proud to be serving her country stateside during WWII as a reporter and an Office of Strategic Services operative. When the photograph she takes of the crowd at a murder scene places her on the mob's hit list, she's forced into hiding in a vacant mental asylum in the middle of nowhere with terrifying secrets of its own.
Daphne believed herself to still be in love with her ex-fiancée, Kenneth, until she spends several days locked away in the asylum with Vito, the mob boss' son. Can she put the terrifying events that occurred there behind her and allow herself to pursue a relationship with Vito? Or, will she return to Kenneth who has turned his back on his country by becoming a draft dodger and a black market racketeer? One thing's for sure, it won't matter if she can't escape the mental institution alive.
To register to win a free download, please leave as comment as to which book you think you'd like best and why. Thanks so much for faithfully following the blog.
Thank you so much to all the faithful readers of my blog. I appreciate you so much.
Queen of Hearts
Daphne Dean is proud to be serving her country stateside during WWII as a reporter and an Office of Strategic Services operative. When the photograph she takes of the crowd at a murder scene places her on the mob's hit list, she's forced into hiding in a vacant mental asylum in the middle of nowhere with terrifying secrets of its own.
Daphne believed herself to still be in love with her ex-fiancée, Kenneth, until she spends several days locked away in the asylum with Vito, the mob boss' son. Can she put the terrifying events that occurred there behind her and allow herself to pursue a relationship with Vito? Or, will she return to Kenneth who has turned his back on his country by becoming a draft dodger and a black market racketeer? One thing's for sure, it won't matter if she can't escape the mental institution alive.
Killing Time
Mindy McLaurin, thinks it's the end of the world when she's incarcerated on trumped-up embezzlement charges. While in jail, she investigates the death of an inmate who allegedly died of an overdose. Mindy suspects foul play when her cellmate dies and she learns that both women had ingested the same drug. Mindy trusts no one, including Drew Stone, the handsome counselor she can’t stop thinking about. She faces many challenges, including constant interrogation by the Major and emotional abuse from the other inmates. Upon release, someone is stalking her and framing her for the murder. Can she prove to Counselor Stone that she’s innocent of all charges before she loses him forever?
I read only ebooks. I have 30 ebooks in my BlackBerry right now and can read whatever I want when on the go. If you don't read e, check out our post below on how to download the free Kindle ebook reader to your computer or netbook. It'll change the way you read forever!
The following is the link to a listing of free bestselling books on Kindle this week. If you don't have a Kindle, follow the steps below to add the app to your PC, which will allow you to read any Kindle book on your computer. It's free and it's easy! http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/ref=pd_dp_ts_kinc_1
When the Amazon page opens, the list to the left is the top 100 ebooks, the list to the right is the top free 100 ebooks. While you're browsing, please check out my new release by clicking on the link below.
Follow these steps to download the Kindle app:
1) Go to my Amazon page http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Time-ebook/dp/B003XYE8K8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1287437471&sr=1-3
2) Scroll down. You'll see "Kindle for PC" to the right
3) Click to download the Kindle app
4) Go back to my page above and you can download my book to read the first few chapters for free by clicking on SEND SAMPLE NOW. This will let you know it's working. When it downloads, you'll see the number "1" in the Archive at the top left.
5) Click on Archive to move the book over to your library.
6) Enjoy!
7) If you want to look at the bestsellers, click on "Kindle Books" on the toolbar at the top of the page. Click on "Kindle Bestsellers" to the left or follow the link above.
8) If you like the free viewing of "Killing Tiime," I'd appreciate your supporting my work by buying the book. Thanks so much and enjoy the Kindle books!
Killing Time
Mindy McLaurin, thinks it's the end of the world when she's incarcerated on trumped-up embezzlement charges. While in jail, she investigates the death of an inmate who allegedly died of an overdose. Mindy suspects foul play when her cellmate dies and she learns that both women had ingested the same drug. Mindy trusts no one, including Drew Stone, the handsome counselor she can’t stop thinking about. She faces many challenges, including constant interrogation by the Major and emotional abuse from the other inmates. Upon release, someone is stalking her and framing her for the murder. Can she prove to Counselor Stone that she’s innocent of all charges before she loses him forever? http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Time-ebook/dp/B003XYE8K8/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1285640575&sr=1-7
Queen of Hearts
Daphne Dean is proud to be serving her country stateside during WWII as a reporter and an Office of Strategic Services operative. When the photograph she takes of the crowd at a murder scene places her on the mob's hit list, she's forced into hiding in a vacant mental asylum in the middle of nowhere with terrifying secrets of its own.
Daphne believed herself to still be in love with her ex-fiancée, Kenneth, until she spends several days locked away in the asylum with Vito, the mob boss' son. Can she put the terrifying events that occurred there behind her and allow herself to pursue a relationship with Vito? Or, will she return to Kenneth who has turned his back on his country by becoming a draft dodger and a black market racketeer? One thing's for sure, it won't matter if she can't escape the mental institution alive. http://www.amazon.com/Queen-of-Hearts-ebook/dp/B003EV5T3K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1270176182&sr=1-2
Mindy McLaurin, thinks it's the end of the world when she's incarcerated on trumped-up embezzlement charges. While in jail, she investigates the death of an inmate who allegedly died of an overdose. Mindy suspects foul play when her cellmate dies and she learns that both women had ingested the same drug. Mindy trusts no one, including Drew Stone, the handsome counselor she can’t stop thinking about. She faces many challenges, including constant interrogation by the Major and emotional abuse from the other inmates. Upon release, someone is stalking her and framing her for the murder. Can she prove to Counselor Stone that she’s innocent of all charges before she loses him forever?
How to read a Kindle book without a Kindle You can read ebooks without a Kindle or ereader right on your PC. The Kindle software is free. It'll change the way you read forever. Follow the link below and download the Kindle app to your computer. You can then download athe first couple of chapters of Queen of Heartsfor free. Plus, there are dozens of free books on Amazon too, some by best selling authors. It's fun and it's easy and in many cases, you can sample a book before you buy. Check it out!
For more information about Queen of Hearts, click on a link below. At Amazon, you can download the first couple of chapters for free. At Desert Breeze, you can read the excerpt.
Sorry guys! For some reason, the Youtube video bar displayed my videos and then switched over to videos I'd never seen before. Here are the book trailers I promised.
Register to win Queen of Hearts... Hey, guys! Your moderator here. It's been a while since I've given away a copy of my book. Of course, it'll be in eformat. To register to win, place your e-mail address in the box to the right (subscribe to my blog via e-mail) if you've not done so and leave me a commment with your e-mail address. (To learn more about the book, click on the cover image to the left...)
If you don't know how to read an ebook, follow the instructions below on how to get the Kindle for your computer. Scroll to the bottom and click on the link to see 100 free ebooks that you can download after you've installed the Kindle app on your pc.
Follow these steps to download the Kindle app: 1) Go to my Amazon page http://www.amazon.com/Queen-of-Hearts-ebook/dp/B003EV5T3K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1270176182&sr=1-2 2) Scroll down. You'll see "Kindle for PC" to the right 3) Click to download the Kindle app 4) Go back to my page above and you can download my book to read the first few chapters for free. This will let you know it's working. When it downloads, you'll see the number "1" in the Archive at the top left. 5) Click on Archive to move the book over to your library. 6) Enjoy! 7) If you like the free viewing of "Queen of Hearts," I'd appreciate your supporting my work by buying the book. Thanks so much and enjoy the Kindle books!
Queen of Hearts Review by Shawna Williams. Register in the post below this one for the end of month giveaway.
What a great read! K. Dawn Byrd has crafted a story that blends romance, suspence,and history into an entertaining experience called, Queen of Hearts. The story begins with ambitious reporter, Daphne Dean, deciding to add a little more adventure to her life by joining the O.S.S. during WWII. She's suddenly thrust into a situation she's ill-prepared for, and isn't sure who to trust. There's her ex-boyfriend, Kenneth, who still holds her heart. By all reason she should trust him since she's known him her whole life, but war has brought out a different side to him that makes Daphne leery. Then there's the new guy, mysterious Vito, with shady family connections and secrets he's unwilling to divulge, yet something about him engenders trust. Should Daphne give it?
As the situation escalates, Daphne finds herself in hiding in an abandoned mental hospital. Both men insist they want to protect her, but is that really the case?
Is it terrible that I really want to find this institution to explore? Seriously, K. Dawn's description was so vivid and intriguing that this fictional setting is now listed in my top ten places I "must see" before I die. (Not sure how that's going to work out.) The whole story was great, but the last part was a major page turner, that kept me guessing until the very end. And I loved the growth of the characters shown in the book's conclusion. Most satisfying indeed. K. Dawn Byrd is a masterful suspense writer, and I look forward to her next title, Killing Time, in August, 2010.
I'm so excited...I just had to share with you guys. Michelle Sutton has posted a review for Queen of Hearts on goodreads. She compared it to Shutter Island. Here's what she had to say.
Queen of Hearts is a blend of so many things that it really held my interest. It had elements of Dick Tracy, Psycho, The Godfather, and more recently, Shutter Island. If you enjoy suspenseful stories set during WWII (stateside) that have moments where you'll feel like you're as scared as the heroine is, then you'll love this story. I personally prefer romantic elements in romantic suspense, and this story had a lot of that, too. It was tasty enough to keep me reading. I was seriously torn and unsure for quite a while about who the bad guy was. At different times I liked them both. The author did a fabulous job of making you want her to run from both of them on occasion since each man told her the other guy was dangerous. It wasn't super-obvious who the real enemy was, and I loved that. It had me guessing for most of the story and I was terrified along with her. Those elements in this novel that reminded me of Shutter Island were eerie, but so well done that I couldn't stop reading. It is obvious that the author understands mental institutions and their histories. That made the setting even more authentic to me. Did I mention the mob involvement and dead bodies? Oy, this story had it all. It was a great read and highly entertaining, but also contained a faith element that was impossible to miss. I highly recommend this story. It's a terrific debut.
Don't forget to register to win the Queen of Hearts Prize Package. Check it out on a earlier blog post.
I'm really looking foward to the release of my new book,Queen of Hearts, from Desert Breeze Publishing on April 1. Click on the image to the left to read an excerpt.
Daphne Dean is proud to be serving her country stateside during WWII as a reporter and an Office of Strategic Services operative. When the photograph she takes of the crowd at a murder scene places her on the mob's hit list, she's forced into hiding in a vacant mental asylum in the middle of nowhere with terrifying secrets of its own.
Daphne believed herself to still be in love with her ex-fiancée, Kenneth, until she spends several days locked away in the asylum with Vito, the mob boss' son. Can she put the terrifying events that occurred there behind her and allow herself to pursue a relationship with Vito? Or, will she return to Kenneth who has turned his back on his country by becoming a draft dodger and a black market racketeer? One thing's for sure, it won't matter if she can't escape the mental institution alive.
Question: In Queen of Hearts, our heroine, Daphne Dean, took a book to bed with her to take her mind off the fact that she was in hiding in an abandoned mental institution. She chose a comedy. What do you like to read and why?
Welcome to my blog! I'm always happy to share information that I believe will help others. If you're a writer, check out my page of websites with info that's helpful to writers.
I was kicking around the idea of designing a website for my book that's coming out in April now that my cover is up. You can read more about it at http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-70/Queen-of-Hearts/Detail.bok. Then, I discovered that pages can be added to a blog. I've added a few pages already. You can see them by clicking on the links under my title bar. If you're interested in adding pages to yours, here's how:
1) Go to "Customize" 2) Click on "Posting" 3) Click on "Edit pages" 4) Click on "New Page"
I've had several people ask me to share my journey to publication and offer a little advice. Here goes... The little guy above is a white faced squirrel who was persistent. He lives on a golf course in Myrtle Beach and if you leave your cart unattended while making a shot, you'll find that whatever you were snacking on has disappeared. His perseverance paid off.
The first book I finished writing was a young adult novel. That was approximately three years ago. Eventually, I shelved it and decided I wasn't getting anywhere because I didn't have a good grasp of the craft. At that point, I bought every book I could find on writing. Most of them came from eBay because I can find even the out of print books there.
I studied everything I could find on writing for over two years. I knew I wanted to write Christian fiction, but wasn't sure where to start. I was lucky enough to find ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers.) The membership fee was the best money I've ever spent. I was amazed that some of the big names in the Christian market were nice enough to take the time to answer questions. I can't recommend ACFW enough if you're interested in writing Christian Fiction. You can learn more about them at http://www.acfw.com/.
I finished my first adult novel, Killing Time, and began entering it in contests. I used the feedback to make my story stronger. I must have rewritten that novel a dozen times. It finaled in the 2009 Duel on the Delta. It was written in first person and when I found out that the contest judge was a Harlequin editor, I had a short amount of time to change it from first person into third (Harlequin doesn't buy first person for their Steeple Hill line). I had no clue how to write a deep third person and expected third place, which is how the saga ended.
I continued to rework KillingTime. I was told by an agent that it might be a hard sell because the first 3 or 4 chapters are set in a jail. That novel has found a home at Desert Breeze Publishing and will be out in August of 2010. It wasn't submitted to any other publishing house and I'm content with my decision to publish in ebook format. The people at Desert Breeze are among the nicest people in the business and their books consistently receive high reviews and they allow authors to write what's on their heart.
The best advice I can give you is...NEVER GIVE UP! You'll never reach the goal of publication if you give up. Also, write something every day. If you write 1,000 words a day, you'll have a novel in two months. Take another month or two to edit and it will be ready to submit. And, STUDY, STUDY, and STUDY SOME MORE! I take writing very seriously and still buy and study writing books. I learn something new from every one I read.
And one more piece of advice...take advantage of NaNoWriMo (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) if at all possible. It will change the way you write forever. I wrote a WWII romantic suspense, Queen of Hearts, during NaNoWriMo. If all goes as planned, it will release in April of 2010 with Desert Breeze Publishing.
If I'd given up, I wouldn't have found a home for these two books. SO, NEVER GIVE UP AND KEEP ON KEEPING ON!
