Guess what???
It's release day for After the Storm by Marie Landry!
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For most people, starting senior year at a new high school would be a nightmare, but for Ella O’Dell it’s the new beginning she desperately needs. Two months after her mother’s death, she’s ready to leave behind the rebellious, unhappy person she became when she found out her mom was dying.
When Ella meets River Maracle and Sadie Fitzgerald, she begins to learn it’s okay to be herself, even if that means being different. River and Sadie aren’t ashamed of their misfit status—River grew up on a reservation, and his mother is the school counselor; Sadie stands out with her funky homemade clothes, and is a master at ignoring the whispered rumors that have plagued her since the beginning of high school.
Ella finds a kindred spirit in Sadie, and something more in River. After almost a year of pretending to be someone she’s not, she finally embraces life and allows herself to have fun without constant guilt. But despite her budding happiness, something is off with her new life. She doesn’t want to dwell on the past, but Angel Island is a small place, and she soon realizes her demons are harder to outrun than she thought…
After the Storm is a standalone companion novel to Waiting for the Storm
Add it on Goodreads
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Marie has always been a daydreamer; since early childhood she's had a passion for words and a desire to create imaginary worlds, so it only seemed natural for her to become a writer. She resides in Ontario, Canada, and most days you can find her writing, reading, blogging about writing and reading, listening to U2, watching copious amounts of TV on DVD, or having grand adventures with her nephews and niece. She's a hopeless romantic, an unapologetic eavesdropper (occupational hazard), an equally unapologetic squeeing fangirl, and a lover of swoonworthy book and TV characters. For more on Marie and her books please visit http://sweetmarie-83.blogspot.ca. She also loves to chat with fellow book lovers, so feel free to tweet her @SweetMarie any time!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SweetMarie83
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While you don't need to read Waiting for the Storm before reading After the Storm BUT I still highly suggest that you pick up a copy of it just because it's a GREAT story and you should read it too. ^_^
After the death of her mother, the last thing seventeen-year-old Charlotte O'Dell wants to do is spend the summer on Angel Island with her family. Her younger sister hates her, and her dad is in his own little world. It's a recipe for a disastrous summer on the island, until Ezra Rhodes walks into her life.
The boy next door makes Charlotte forget her almost paralyzing fear of really living her life. Stunted from taking care of her mother in her last months, Charlotte is drowning. With Ezra, she feels something again, and as he repairs her family's summer home, she dares to think he might actually be fixing her, too. Ezra challenges Charlotte to leave her comfort zone, and as their friendship slowly blossoms into more, Charlotte begins to come alive again.
But Ezra has secrets...secrets he isn't sharing with Charlotte. Despite her new-found happiness in Ezra's arms, Charlotte can't help but feel there's a storm on the horizon. And she isn't sure if she and Ezra can weather it unscathed.
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Guest Post!
First, I’d like to thank Jessica for having me here at Thoughts at One in the Morning. Jess is one of my closest friends, and she’s been one of my biggest supporters from the very beginning, so it’s always a pleasure and an honour to be at her blog.
When most people ask me to do a guest post for them, they tell me to write about whatever I want, but Jessica wanted me to talk about something specific today. My second novel, The Game Changer, is women’s fiction/chick lit, and the rest of my books are either young adult, upper YA, or NA. Jessica wanted to know if I’d be writing any more books like The Game Changer.
The answer: Yes.
Before I wrote my debut novel, Blue Sky Days, if anyone had asked me what age-range I thought I’d write for, I would have said adults. I didn’t read much YA back then, so it never occurred to me that I could write for teens, young adults, or adults who enjoy reading about teens. This may sound ridiculous to non-writers, but I don’t choose my characters’ ages - the characters pop into my mind, and their story forms from there.
When I got the idea for The Game Changer, it wouldn’t have worked if Melody were a teenager. She was someone who had been on her own for a while, in a long-term relationship, and had a successful career, so I needed her to be in her late twenties. I had a blast writing Melody’s book; at the time I wrote it, she and I were the same age, and even though our lives weren’t all that similar, I found her easy to connect to.
As for future stories, as I said, I do plan to write books other than YA and NA. I love romance, and while The Game Changer has an element of romance, I don’t consider it a romance novel; there’s a heavy emphasis on friendship, and personal growth and change. The ideas I have for ‘adult’ books (three in total so far), are all romance rather than women’s fiction. When I turned 30 at the end of last year, I got an idea about a character turning 30 and the different ways she might react. I had a new idea the other night that would fit into that story, and I think it would be fun and light (which would be a change from the emotional books I’ve written so far). Now I just need more hours in the day (and less distractions and procrastination tendencies) to write those, plus all the other ideas floating around in my mind!
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Thank you so much for answering my burning question... I am SUPER EXCITED for this romance! WOOT!!
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Giveaway!
Marie was so kind as to provide some pretty awesome Angel Island Swag (click the link for a picture of it!!) for you lovely people, so you better enter if you want to win some. It's totally awesome!! ^_^
Official Rules:
1. You must be a follower.
2. You must be over 15 years old.
3. This is open to international followers.
4. This contest runs from April 8th through 14th.
5. Winner will be selected at 12:01 a.m. on April 14th via Rafflecopter random selection.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you, my love! Your support and friendship (I just typed 'fiendship' - that too! lol) means the world to me. I will try to bump up the romance JUST FOR YOU. ;-) <3 <3 <3
ReplyDeleteMuahaha! Excellent... I'm always more than happy to support you because I WUV YOU. <3
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