I am so happy to be a part of the Indie Summer Blog Event! There is a FABULOUS giveaway for a Kindle Fire as well as books, gift cards and MORE! (Enter to win in the rafflecopter below)
I also have the chance to introduce you to fabulous indie author T.M. Franklin! Please enjoy her guest post as well as an excerpt from her book, More!
Trying to come up with a favorite summer memory is more difficult than it sounds. At first, I thought about when I was a kid—trips to summer camp, picking blueberries with my mom and sister, running through the sprinklers. Then I thought about college, when I spent my summers working in California, and man, Sacramento is HOT (yes, all capitals) in July. I thought about after I’d had kids of my own—going to Disneyland, camping, water slides, dirt biking…too many awesome memories to count.
So instead of the favorite summer memory, I thought I’d share a favorite summer memory – one that always makes me smile and feel a little bit proud.
We used to camp out in the sand dunes of the Potholes Reservoir near Moses Lake, WA. We’d spend long weekends in the water, swimming and jet skiing. (The stand up kind. Sit downs are for wimps! And yes, that’s me in the picture above. J) One night, we were all around our camp fire talking. It was a warm night and the moon was full and bright, and I got the urge to hit the water. So I got up, stretched, said, “I’m going for a ski,” grabbed my life jacket (safety first!) and took off on my jet ski.
It was so much fun. The water was warm, and the moon cast enough light so I could see. After a few minutes, my husband and a couple of the guys we were camping with followed suit and we raced round and round a huge sand dune at top speed.
I can’t remember who won. It doesn’t matter anyway. We all had a blast, and the best part is, the guys in our group still bring it up sometimes. And they’ve got a little bit of respect in their voice that it was the mom in the group who challenged them to get on their skis in the middle of the night!
Don’t you love it when you do something outside of your comfort zone? Sure, it’s kind of scary, but it’s exhilarating too. College student Ava Michaels is definitely challenged to face some fears in my novel MORE. She learns about an ancient race of people with superhuman abilities, and they actually see her as a potential threat. How Ava deals with that, and figures out how she fits into the strange new world she discovers is definitely a challenge.
Check it out if you have a chance – and let me know your favorite summer memory in the comments!
“What is it?” she whispered, her voice catching in her throat.
Caleb turned to her, eyes wide and alarmed. “They’re coming.”
“What do we do?” Ava asked, panic setting in, not even bothering to ask how Caleb knew they were near. Because she realized she knew it as well.
“We need to go—now,” he replied abruptly, striding through the room and throwing their extra clothes and toothbrushes in a small duffle bag. “There’s a safe house in Mead. If we can get there, they won’t be able to track us.” He cracked the door, peering out and then slamming it shut suddenly. “Too late,” he muttered, grabbing her hand and dragging her into the bathroom. Ava’s heart raced, adrenaline surging through her body as Caleb shoved the window above the shower, tossing the bag through the small opening then turning to her and lacing his fingers together.
“I’ll give you a boost,” he said urgently. “When you hit the ground, run. Don’t go to the car, just run, you understand?”
“But—”
“We don’t have time,” Caleb said through gritted teeth. “They’ll be breaking down the door any second. Just run, Ava. I’ll be right behind you.”
Ava stepped into his hands, pulling herself through the window and out into the cold morning air. She landed on the ground with a grunt, rolled to her feet, and began to run. She heard Caleb hit the ground a moment later, his pounding footsteps closing in quickly. He grabbed her hand, pulling her to the right.
“This way,” he said, looking over his shoulder. She heard a shout and turned back to see Tiernan under the open window, pointing their direction. Caleb cursed under his breath, yanking her behind the motel office. “Wrap your arms around me,” he ordered.
Ava didn’t think. She just did what he asked.
“This is going to feel a little weird,” he said. “Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Don’t move, whatever you do.”
Ava inhaled deeply, clenched her eyes shut . . . and the world fell away from her feet.
-MORE, Chapter 8
About MORE
Ava Michaels used to think she was special.
As a child, she fantasized about having magical powers . . . making things happen. But Ava grew up and eventually accepted the fact that her childish dreams were just that, and maybe a normal life wasn’t so bad after all.
Now a young college student, Ava meets Caleb Foster, a brilliant and mysterious man who’s supposed to help her pass physics, but in reality has another mission in mind. What he shows Ava challenges her view of the world, shaking it to its very core.
Because Caleb isn’t quite what he seems. In fact, he’s not entirely human, and he’s not the only one.
Together, the duo faces a threat from an ancient race bound to protect humans, but only after protecting their own secrets—secrets they fear Ava may expose. Fighting to survive, Ava soon learns she’s not actually normal . . . she’s not even just special.
She’s a little bit more.
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About T.M. Franklin
T.M. Franklin started out her career writing non-fiction in a television newsroom. Graduating with a B.A. in Communications specializing in broadcast journalism and production, she worked for nine years as a major market television news producer, and garnered two regional Emmy Awards, before she resigned to be a full-time mom and part-time freelance writer. After writing and unsuccessfully querying a novel that she now admits, “is not that great,” she decided to follow the advice of one of the agents who turned her down—write some more and get better at it. Her first published novel, MORE, was born during National Novel Writing month, a challenge to write a novel in thirty days.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Mike, is mom to two boys, Justin and Ryan, and has an enormous black dog named Rocky who’s always lying nearby while she’s writing. Whether he’s soothed by the clicking of the computer keys or just waiting for someone to rub his belly is up for debate.
In addition to MORE, Franklin penned the Amazon best-selling short story, Window, as well as another short story, A Piece of Cake, which appears in the Romantic Interludes anthology. The sequel to MORE, The Guardians, will be released November 7, 2013.
Connect with T.M. Franklin
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Heather is a devoted mother of three gorgeous boys. She balances spending as much time with them as possible with writing, updating her Into the Night Reviews book blog and her day job. Her love of animals sees her home in Canton, GA bursting with numerous dogs and ferrets.
Nazarea Andrews is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. She loves chocolate and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, and overgrown dog.
Diane Alberts has always been a dreamer with a vivid imagination, but it wasn’t until 2011 that she put her pen where her brain was, and became a published author. Since receiving her first contract offer, she has yet to stop writing. Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, a schnauzer mutt, a cat, and a Senegal parrot. In the rare moments when she’s not writing, she can usually be found hunched over one knitting project or another.
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