kelly said

Woohoo! It’s TIDAL WHISPERS tchotchke giveaway time!

Want a bookmark? Cool! I’d like to give you one!

You just have to be willing to go on a little treasure hunt, hehe!

I was once kissed by a killer, and their name is the answer I need from you, it’s only one click away, and right HERE marks the spot (it’s a safe link to my author bio on J.Taylor Publishing’s site).

Now, to win your bookmark…

Leave me a comment in this post saying something like, “I know the answer so slap my palm with one of those babies,” or “I’m a smarty pants so send me a mermaid in the mail,” or “I believe I may have the correct response, may I pretty please with a lump of sugar have a bookmark?” hehe!

Please do NOT reveal the answer in your comment on this post!

Because…

I will email you back (to make sure you’re not some sort of clever robot, bebot or sp@mbot) and ask you for your answer and for an address to mail your bookmark.

One bookmark per person/comment please.

But wait! Guess what, chicken butt! There’s more!

Everyone who has the correct answer to my question will be entered into my GRAND PRIZE DRAWING!

My GRAND PRIZE includes one signed (by Jocelyn Adams, Claire Gillian, Julie Reece and yours truly), printed book cover for TIDAL WHISPERS, along with 10 bookmarks (so you can share the wealth ) AND a handknit-not-by-me neck warmer, specially designed for this giveaway. (I have a love for scarves which I will discuss some other time, hehe )

TIDAL WHISPERS bookmarks, front and back (1 per person/comment, 10 as part of the GRAND PRIZE package)

GRAND PRIZE package, TIDAL WHISPERS signed bookcover

part of GRAND PRIZE PACKAGE handknit-not-by-me TIDAL WHISPERS themed neckwarmer (actual color may vary)

So, to recap, the way to win a bookmark and be entered into my GRAND PRIZE drawing…

1. Click HERE and find the name of the killer I’ve kissed.
2. Comment below that you believe you have the correct answer.
3. Please DO NOT put the answer in your comment, because…
4. I will email you asking for your answer and an address to mail your bookmark. If your reply has the correct response to my question, you will be entered into my Grand Prize Drawing.

Giveaway is open to anyone who’d like to participate and will end on MARCH 31, 2012, with the GRAND PRIZE winner selected by random.org’s random number generator and announced on April 2nd in my B for Bookmark Giveaway Winner blog post.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? email me at: comments at kellysaid dot com

Thanks for playing along, you guys are great! Can’t wait to see what you think of these bookmarks — once you get your wiggly little fingers on ‘em, hehe!

7 Comments | In: J.Taylor Publishing, PEARL OF PAU'MAA, Publication Credits, TIDAL WHISPERS | tags: giveaway, J.Taylor Publishing, PEARL OF PAU'MAA, tchotchkes, TIDAL WHISPERS. | #

So, Hubs and I went to see The Hunger Games.

Having read the book, I knew what to expect. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, here’s a brief synopsis…

Katniss Everdeen is a girl who lives in a bleak future, where the Capitol controls everything and rules strictly. As punishment to the outlying districts for their uprisings of the past, The Capitol demands each district submit one boy and one girl as Tributes to participate in The Hunger Games, a pageant displaying the strength and survival skill of each Tribute in a battle to the death — a battle that’s broadcast throughout all of Panem. Just like Thunderdome (Mad Max), the difference being 24 teen (or pre-teen) Tributes enter the arena, only one leaves. The winner is celebrated and returns home with goodies for their district.

If you read the book, it’s told in the first person, present tense. Now, to me, that should be a big ol’ clue about who lives in the end, hehe! However, I’m trying not to spoil anything here, so I’ll keep it general.

What I thought was cool about the movie was that it stayed pretty true to the book. There were some scenes brought to life on screen that, due to the POV in the book, would’ve been impossible to relay. So for me, it was really eye-opening to see private scenes with President Snow and Seneca chatting about gamesmanship and the reasoning behind the Hunger Games in the first place.

I thought Jennifer Lawrence showed a lot of heart as Katniss and she looked great as The Girl On Fire.

Josh Hutcherson as Peeta rocked. The director did a good job of shooting him from a lower angle to make him look a bit more doughy (he’s a baker’s boy afterall ), and then as training commenced the angles got higher and Peeta got buffer.

Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, wow, couldn’t cast that character better!

I don’t know that I pictured Seneca from the book looking as hot as Wes Bentley, but it worked for me! That beard!

The Capitol scenes were great, showing the plasticity of all the wealthy citizens was exactly how I envisioned everything in the book.

I still bawled at the same spots in the movie as I did in the novel – once during the Reaping and once during the scene with Rue, where Katniss does the three fingered salute. Yup, that one got me good.

I was totally anxious to see how they were going to handle the violence of the cornucopia scene. WOW! So intense! But tastefully done.

Even with all my excitement I did find parts I thought could’ve been explored or shown in greater depth.

While I really enjoyed Woody Harrelson, I expected Hamish to be a bit more gruff, to have more of that depressed air about him. I mean, the impression I got from the book was that he was so totally down in the dumps about training kids to go off to their deaths that he drank to numb the pain. I don’t know that that emotion was as obvious in the movie.

I expected to see more suspicion from Katniss during her training when she was around Peeta and Hamish. For those who read the book, well, you know why she was on high alert, she’s playing a game to the death and doesn’t want to be a player who gets played.

The scene with Peeta using his special skills to hide, well, my first thought was “Awww, I bet the actor sat in that make-up chair for like six hours to paint all that camouflage for only like 15 seconds of screen time.”

I also expected to see more of Katniss’s irritation at Peeta while they were creeping through the woods. He’s not a trained hunter or survivalist so he kinda bumbles about, which was a trait that made her cringe in the book.

Also, there’s a bit of shaky-cam going on in the beginning, while Katniss is on the hunt and during the Reaping. The Hubs groaned and I knew this was going to ruin his movie going experience if it kept up much longer. I know why they did it and thankfully it was brief so I tolerated it.

Overall though, I totally enjoyed it and was very happy I went to see it in the theater. The giveaway for a good movie, well, to me at least? No one in the theater was texting. And at the end, there were whoops and claps and lines like “That was the best movie ever!”

So, did you get a chance to see The Hunger Games yet? What did you think? Have you read the book and if so, how did you think it compared to the movie?

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Wheee! See that? Just beyond the horizon? That twinkle of excitement? It’s getting closer, hehe! We’re only *days* away from my TIDAL WHISPERS giveaway!

omgosh, you guys! I’m so excited because I’ve been finalizing my plans to giveaway some of these TIDAL WHISPERS goodies! I have *a lot* of umm… thingies, hehe! to place in your hot lil hands as well as a GRAND PRIZE thingie that, well, you’ll just have to see when I reveal it in my Official Announcement coming up soon! SQUEE! I can hardly wait!

So, thanks for checking in on my friendly wheee!minder! I’ll be catching up with y’all real quick now!

1 Comment | In: PEARL OF PAU'MAA, TIDAL WHISPERS, Uncategorized | tags: J.Taylor Publishing, PEARL OF PAU'MAA, TIDAL WHISPERS. | #

Woohoo! I’m so excited because I’m one of the luckie duckies who gets to share in the worldwide cover reveal for SHADOWBORN, second book in author Jocelyn Adam’s Lila Gray series!

SHADOWBORN, is an Urban Fantasy Romance

Here’s what you’ll see on the back of the book…

Why me?

That’s the question Lila Gray asks every time yet another bad guy tries to destroy the earth, and she learns she’s the only one who can stop it. Once again, something’s on the prowl, leaving hundreds of comatose, souless victims in its wake.

Couldn’t the deadliest assassins of the Otherworld go after someone else instead of the brand new Queen of the Seelie? One who still hasn’t adapted to her new role.

Lila would ask Liam Kane, King of the Unseelie, for advice, but something’s off with him, too. He’s holding back. In some way. About some thing. In fact, he refuses to tell her what’s going on.

The truth holds Lila back from the greatness of her role—the people she was born to lead—the man who she desperately loves—and the solution to the latest war raging around her.

To find the answers, she’ll need to fight through her own darkness and embark on a journey through her psyche.

If she doesn’t succeed, the Shadowborn will claim not only her world, but her soul.

SHADOWBORN, by Jocelyn Adams, will be released on OCTOBER 01, 2012 by J.Taylor Publishing. Click HERE to add it to your to-read shelf.

Previous Books in this series include:
The Glass Man (Lila Gray #1)

Thanks for sharing in the excitement! What do you think of that cover? Have you read the first book in this series?

1 Comment | In: J.Taylor Publishing, Uncategorized | tags: J.Taylor Publishing, Jocelyn Adams. | #

It’s Friday! And while I know TIDAL WHISPERS isn’t available for you to read just yet, I’m just too excited and unable to wait another day! I’m ready to spill my thoughts, hehe!

Personally, I love reading anthologies. Sure, full-sized books are bliss, but sometimes our (my mood leans towards a quick fix. That’s where an anthology chock full of short stories comes in way handy. The stories inside are usually about the same length as a couple of chapters in a typical novel which means I can escape for a few minutes and leave totally fulfilled, not wondering what’s going to happen next.

My favorite kind of anthologies are tight and diverse ones, where each story is based on a specific theme, like sci-fi or horror, fantasy like tales about vampires or water elementals, perhaps something romantic with a happily ever after or happily for now ending — but an anthology where each author adds their distinct twist of awesomeness to that theme.

I’m happy to say that TIDAL WHISPERS is one of those anthologies!

HEART’S DESIRE by Julie Reece is a dreamy story about Tessa and her enduring crush, Cam. It opens on a dramatic moment in Tessa’s life. I mourned with her while she sought solace from heartache at a favored summer vacation spot, but once Cam stepped back into her life, she temporarily found joy, laughter, and love, a whole new world where dreams could come true. But would she have the courage to express and claim what her heart truly desires? The end had me holding my breath.

THE SWEETEST SONG by Claire Gillian drops us in the deep end of the action with sexy siren, Circe, between a rock and a hard place as she faces Poseidon’s wrath. She’s not meeting her ship-sinking quota and now a horrendous fate awaits — unless she can sing the right song to lure Capt. Otis to his doom.  But Otis has his own secret strength, a mystery that lures Circe to shore to investigate. What she finds surprises her, explains why he’s been so crafty in avoiding her and changes her world forever. The sweetest song ended on a high note for me.

PEARL OF PAU’MAA by me is third in the line up. I figure I’ll have a natural lean towards clicking “like” since this one is my story and all, hehe! So I’ll just let you see what authors J.A. Belfield and Aimee Laine respectively thought in their reviews here and here.

THE UNDERGARDEN by Jocelyn Adams begins with an innocent encounter between Nixie and Wyatt. One bound to land, the other to sea, the division doesn’t keep them from growing up, getting to know each other further and together, learning about love and loss. While I had tears in my eyes during certain parts… the end, well, that left me grinning for the future.

I give this anthology 5 stars for exceeding my expectations on creative storytelling.

TIDAL WHISPERS by J.Taylor Publishing will be available this JUNE 2012!

Also! The countdown continues for my TIDAL WHISPERS promotional giveaway…

And as a special reminder, Monday, March 19th will be a *revealing* day for fellow author Jocelyn Adams, and I one of the lucky-duckies who gets to share something supersekrit with all of you!

You’re all totally amazing, thanks for stopping by!

No Comments | In: BOOK REVIEW, J.Taylor Publishing, PEARL OF PAU'MAA, READING, TIDAL WHISPERS | tags: J.Taylor Publishing, PEARL OF PAU'MAA, TIDAL WHISPERS. | #