Close Up Magic: My Dream Come True & Contest!

Please welcome Michelle Garren Flye to talk about her dream magic book!

First of all, thank you to Zoe Dawson for having me on her blog! It’s so great to be here, meeting new people and talking about my new book.

I’ve dreamed about writing a good story about magic for years and this summer, that dream comes true. Close Up Magic will be available for reader consumption on June 1.
 

I don’t know why it took me so long to write a good story about magic. I’ve been trying most of my life. I wrote about things like unicorns and fairies when I was a child. I expanded to ghosts and vampires later on. None of that stuff was what I really wanted it to be…although I think I did come close with a werewolf short story once.

What’s different this time? What makes Close Up Magic what I consider good when everything else fell short?

I think it’s because I let go of the fantastic and wrote about the magic I know. Love. I just made the hero, Andre, a magician.

Last October, I got the opportunity to see David Copperfield’s show in Las Vegas. Another of my dreams come true since I’ve admired him since I was a kid. I probably watched every one of his television specials, and I think I fell in love with him when I was about eight years old. Of course, the age difference was a problem, so it never really worked out.

The funny thing was, I didn’t know I was going to see David Copperfield when I went to Vegas, and I already had Close Up Magic pretty much outlined in preparation for National Novel Writing Month in November. So I can’t really say he was the inspiration for the novel, but I can say his show inspired me. It pretty much lit a much-needed fire under me so I was champing at the bit to WRITE when November 1 rolled around.

And my story was born.

Along the way, I learned a lot of really cool stuff about magic. Like the origin of the old pulling the rabbit out of the hat trick was in the 1700s when a woman in England claimed to have given birth to a litter of white rabbits. Of course, she achieved a lot of notoriety for this (much as our own reality stars become famous), but was eventually charged with fraud and admitted to it. A local magician, however, capitalized on her story, advertising that he would perform the “Birth of a Rabbit”. And he did just that, borrowing a top hat from an audience member and producing a live rabbit from it.

I’ve been posting a lot of the tidbits I’ve learned on a Facebook page for Close Up Magic ( https://www.facebook.com/CloseUpMagicFlye), and the great thing about it is, if you like that page, you’re automatically entered to win a Kindle Paperwhite I’ll be giving away on my blog (http://michellegflye.com).  Also, I’ll enter anyone who comments on this page in the contest, but please leave me a way to contact you! If you want even more ways to enter to win, check out the rules here: http://michellegflye.com/2013/04/13/having-fun-with-magic-wanna-join-me-contest/ .

So tell me, do you believe in magic or is it all tricks? And even if it is a trick, do you care? Isn’t it worth it if the magician can make you believe in something beyond reality for a while?

Book Spotlight: Broken Faith by Brandy Nacole

This was it.  The moment Heaven and Hell would clash.  But which unearthly being would win?  The Fallen Angel or the Hell Hounds?

Overtaken by fear, I close my eyes.

Kayson is a Fallen Angel who has spent decades running from the Hell Hounds while searching for something that no one else believes can be so, not even God.  Kayson is determined to find a Blood Child.  But when a hound finds Kayson first, he is sure his end has come.

Falon, Alpha of the Hell Hounds, destroyer of the blood children, and devoted believer in his master’s plan, is bound and determined to drag Kayson back to Hell with him.

Sabrina is a Vampire, a half-breed created from one of Lucifer’s original blood children.  After years of hiding, Sabrina’s fate changes when she finds Kayson barely alive. Against her instincts, Sabrina saves him.  Now she and Kayson are both marked by the Hell Hounds.

Emma is an ordinary human, whose only problem is making ends meet, and getting over the hurt caused by her untrustworthy brother.  Her everyday problems become supernatural ones when she finds Kayson and Sabrina hiding in her parent’s backyard shed.

Kayson, Sabrina and Emma are unlikely allies, thrown together by chance to fight against the most powerful creatures of the underworld in order to follow their world-changing quest.  But will the broken faith of one break the faith of all?

Broken Faith will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBookstore on April 2nd.

For a limited time, Broken Faith will be on sale for 0.99 

Here are some reviews that are already in

"Loved it! I loved the story back ground about the angels and the fallen. How the blood children came to be was AWESOME!!! The story flowed, gave you the perfect amount of back ground info. It just sucked me right in!"  -Carrie, ARC reader

"OMG! Brandy Nacole never seems to disappoint~! This was AMAZING!!! In this new Spiritual, Supernatural twist, has took me on a ride like NO other and BLOWN ME AWAY! Just like all the other books Brandy has written! This one Truly ROCKED!"

-Alicia, ARC reader

"This story a epic battle of faith and good will, that will keep you on the edge of your seat.  Make this your book to read this year it's a must read!!!"  -Jacquelyn, ARC reader

Where you can find Brandy:

Facebook 

Blog 

Goodreads (There's a handy button for you to use!)

 

Sounds good, Brandy.  I'm getting my copy!

Cover Reveal Squee!: Live For You

Live for You (Boys of the South #1) by Marquita Valentine-NA Contemporary Romance

Scheduled to release: May 2013

 
My friend and fellow Heart of the Carolina chapter mate has a upcoming New Adult release!  Wow!  That cover is very, very squeeworthy!  I know!  I can hear you all squeeing away from here!  And, she made this one herself.  Very impressive.

Here's the blurb:

On the surface, twenty-two year old Cole Morgan is exactly what any girl would be proud to take home to meet her parents: He’s charming, intensely handsome and goal-oriented...Only he has some secrets of his own, which include provoking bar fights and a former drug-addict of a mother slowly wasting away in a medical facility.

At barely twenty, Violet Lynn is Country Music's hottest star, until one night of partying gets out of control. Violet ends up in jail and on TMZ. Suddenly, she’s the girl least likely to be invited anywhere. Sick of the drama and keeping secrets, she runs away from the prying eyes of the paparazzi to her grandmother’s home in Forrestville, North Carolina.

A chance meeting knocks Cole off his feet, but he doesn’t recognize Violet for who she is. In fact no one does and Violet plans to keep it that way.

Circumstances, however annoying, keep throwing Violet and Cole together. Unable to stop themselves they give into the inevitable.

But when Nashville is ready to forgive and forget, Violet is forced to choose between Cole and claiming her spot as the new and improved Princess of Country Music.

Will Violet and Cole have the courage to live for their dreams...Or their hearts?

Here's a handy dandy button to add it to your Goodreads shelf.

 

You can check out Marquita on her website for all her juicy information and go here to The Autumn Review for an exclusive excerpt.

Gotta do it one more time, squee!

 

Cover Reveal Squee!: The Trouble With Goodbye

This cover was designed by the absolutely AMAZING Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations.

Please take a moment and add The Trouble With Goodbye to your Goodreads Shelf!!!!

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Hopeful Release Date: May 2013

Description:

One night can change everything…

Two years ago, Leigh Anne Davis shocked everyone in tiny Fairhope, Georgia when she broke up with her wealthy boyfriend to attend an Ivy League university a thousand miles away. At school, she finds a happiness and independence she’s never known.

Until one terrifying night takes it all away from her.

With no place else to go, Leigh Anne heads home to reclaim her old life. A life she worked so hard to escape. On the outside, she seems like the same girl everyone has always known. But deep inside, she’s hiding a terrible secret.

That’s when she meets Knox Warner, a troubled newcomer to Fairhope. His eyes have the same haunted look she sees every day in the mirror, and when she’s near him, the rest of the world fades away. But being with Knox would mean disappointing everyone all over again. If she wants to save what’s left of her old life, she has no choice but to say goodbye to him forever.

Only, the trouble with goodbye is that sometimes it’s about courage and sometimes it’s about fear. And sometimes you’re too broken to know the difference until it’s too late.

What do you think? Do you love it? Please leave me a comment and you can visit Sarra's website to see her post.

Oh, and guess what? This book will also be coming out in paperback. Here is the full wrap cover.