Friday, March 29, 2013

#CoverReveal From Author Jo Cattell

Hello everyone and welcome back. I'm thrilled to be hosting one of the authors I've recently met through connections on Facebook. My alter egos Tammy Dennings Maggy, Lia Michaels and myself are part of a group of authors who share photos, snippets of our WIP, jokes, blow off steam about all sorts of things. It's a way for us to bond and support each other in all of our endeavors. This is the first time I get to participate and use my blog to help. One of the authors is having a media blitz doing a cover reveal for her next novel. Of course I volunteered right away. I just love supporting other authors and celebrating their new releases...or in this case their next soon to be released novel.

How about we just jump on in there and reveal this beautiful cover...Ready?  Go!


Doesn't that cover just speak to you and draw you into their story? It's young love at it's finest if you ask me. Her's the blurb of In Another Life to pull you in just a little bit more.

Sixteen year old, Annie Kane was dumped by her last boyfriend. It took a long time
for her to agree with her friends and find somebody new.

When Jim Osborn, the class clown shows up with his best friend, Annie realizes that
there’s is something different about his friend, but she can’t figure out what. 

Nate Cruz wasn’t like anyone she’d ever known. He’s funny and down to earth, but he also suffers with low self esteem from being in and out of the hospital.

After Jim tries to force himself on her at a party, Anne finally sees him as he really is
and decides to end it. 

She and Nate become best friends. Then, a kiss changes it all. With Nate, she sees what love really means. She learns how wonderful life can be. And how at anytime, things can change without warning.

If she’d stayed in her safe, little world, Annie would have missed her chance at love.
But because of an irresistible attraction for a boy, she just couldn’t forget? She finds
out what she’s really made of and what’s it’s like— living in another life.

Didn't I tell you? I can't wait for this one to come out. We don't have long to wait either. It's to come out in April. That's right. next month you will be able to find it on Amazon along with her two other books. Make sure you check her Amazon page often so you don't miss out.


About the Author

"Characters are not created by writers. They preexist and need to be found"

I'm an author, mother, friend. My dreams inspire me, my children drive me. I'm a
free spirit, a dreamer, a lover of life, and a loyal friend.  I live In New Jersey with my husband Eric, and two daughters Amber and Jade.

My first novel, When Angels Fall was inspired by a dream and also the loss of my
niece, came out in November 2012 and was the first in my “Fallen Angel Series.”
The second book After Angels Fall was release New Years Day of 2013. In Another Life was inspired by a relationship I was in as a teenager. We only have one chance to have a first love. Mine was someone who taught me how important life is and never to take anyone for granted. To see a person for who they
really are on the inside and not just for what shows on the outside.
For more information stop by my blog, http://jcattell.blogspot.com/ and look for my books at Amazon.com


Thursday, March 28, 2013

My Guilty Pleasure: #RHOBH or Bravo's Trainwrecks

Well, there is no denying it. I have an addiction, well many addictions but this one in particular is a bit disturbing. I'm not sure there's a rehab or twelve step program for this affliction, but they say the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Hello. My name is Stephanie and I'm addicted to The Real Housewives of any city.

There. I said it. I'm not proud of it, but it's out there and now I have to deal with it. Right?

Seriously, I have watched all the episodes of every season of Bravo's Real Housewives except DC. I watched a few of the episodes of that one and I just couldn't keep up with it. For some reason, those women on that particular season felt like they were following a script. Yeah, I know. It's "reality" television so some parts of it have to be staged, but I don't get that same feeling with the ladies from Orange County, New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, Miami, or Beverly Hills. I felt a little of it with Vanderpump Rules, but not for the same reasons I did for the DC shows.

Do I think the women over react to many things in each episode? Yep. Do I think that Bravo tosses in a nemesis or two to make the viewers absolutely bonkers? Check! Do I think the lot of them are a bunch of backstabbing bitches? You better believe it!  Do I still love them all? Hell yes!

Why do I adore these trainwrecks? They give me an escape. These beautiful women and their crazy mixed up families help me to forget all about my troubles for a few hours each week. I don't feel like my problems are so bad once I see how they crash through each situation. I get to share in all of their ups and downs without having to continue to live with it day in and day out. Once that show is over and I've talked about it for a bit with my friends who are also fans, we can let it all go. I can yell at the television and wish to shake the hell out of one or two of them per episode. I can get out my own pent up anger at things that are going wrong in my life at the moment simply by projecting it all onto them.

Yeah, I know that sounds more than a bit odd, but you watch a few episodes of Vanderpump Rules and then tell me you didn't want to toss Stassi out on her ear for acting like a spoiled brat throughout the season. Go ahead and deny you wanted to just grab that hunky bartender Peter and steal off to Vegas...uh...hmmm. How many of you didn't want to tell the lot of them to mind their own business when it came to the love lives of their friends?

You're still trying to run off with Peter, aren't you?  LOL Don't blame you one bit.  Here you thought I would say it was the self-centered Jax that grabbed my attention. Nope. Give me the manager of SUR over all of them. He stays a bit in the background and is the Master of the "double shake" while mixing up those fancy schmancy drinks Lisa loves to have at her private parties.  Thank you, my darlin' Peter. I'll have another!

This last week was the season finale of the RH of Beverly Hills. I have to say I'm a bit ticked off that this bunch let more outsiders come into the group to stir up problems. I expected it from Kim D on the New Jersey season, but seriously...Faye Resnick? The woman whose only claim to fame is trying to make a buck off the death of her "best friend" Nicole Simpson? THIS is the woman some are letting be their mouth piece (yeah, Kyle this means you) and try to give lessons on being a lady. Puhleeeeze.

Adrienne...oh where do I start with that one. We've learned from the DC crew you can't continue to put on airs and accuse others of selling stories to the tabloids to cover up the fact YOU are the one doing it. Eventually all those lies will catch up to you and having Faye be your wingman when going after Brandi because she wouldn't play your mean girl games and go after Lisa is just petty.

But it did make for a great season! Watching women in their 40's act like teenage Mean Girls really was entertaining, but I was ticked off that Lisa didn't boot Faye out on her ass when she crashed her party and then accused her of using someone else to do her dirty work. And the topper was the interview with Adrienne after she crashed the Vanderpump engagement party. Not only did Adrienne show up unannounced, she didn't feel the need to search out the hosts of the party. Instead she held court in another room and expected Lisa to come over to her and find out how she was doing. LMAO. Seriously? Then "A" tells her lemmings that she doesn't feel right being there to take away from Lisa's day. Nooooooo. You would never do that, now would you, Ms. Maloof? (Remember Mauricio's party? Who caused the scene there?) If you want to find out more about this media hound, check out her employer...err...favorite tabloid to sell stories to...ummmm...well, check out Radar Online.  (hehehehe)

One thing I don't like about these shows is there is usually one or two couples who don't make it out unscathed. Orange County saw the break up of Jo and Slade, Tamara and Simon, Slade and Laurie, Tamara and Vicki, Vicki and Don, Gina and the whole show...hmmmm more to come on that season I'm sure. Sometimes the couples do get married, only to end up in divorce later like with Bethany Frankel. Those you thought were the best of friends turn into worst enemies and vise versa. It's a roller coaster ride I'm enjoying immensely. The ideas for characters loosely based on these women and their partners swamp my brain daily.  Truth is, I'm not sure I could ever come up with a character more convoluted than the Real Housewives at Bravo Network.

But I do know someone who has...hehehe. Stay tuned. My alter ego Tammy Dennings Maggy is currently working on book three of her Now and Forever series. The "heroine" is Julia Santos, a grade A bitch that would give all of the women of every one of these shows a run for their money. Kim D from Jersey would be brought to tears by "our" Julia. Teresa wouldn't dare toss a table at Julia without finding herself flat on her ass under it. Julia would flirt with and sleep with all the husbands and boyfriends on these shows only to then discard each and every one of them like yesterdays news. She would be the one all of the Real Housewives would hate and secretly want to be when they grew up.

Watch out Bravo Housewives. Once Tammy releases Julia on the world, none of us will be the same! ;)

Until next time
~Steph

Thursday, March 21, 2013

#inspiration #amwriting #RealLife Once Again Creates an Idea for Another Book

Like many authors, I use real life experiences in my writing. Sometimes bits and pieces of people in my life work their way into the composites of my characters. Okay, more often than not this happens, but can I help it that I've met more than my fair share of impressionable people? The impressions aren't always good ones, but they do make for some great villains in my stories. Hey, there has to be a bad guy or two in order for the story to go forward otherwise you just got a big book of Hello Kitty happy times and that's just BORING! :)

Ideas for story lines can come from just about anywhere including something on the local news. The latest one for me is from my own life and my "evil day job" as a veterinarian. The situation isn't a unique one. I know many others who have had to deal with "office politics" and end up hating their jobs because of it. I've dealt with this sort of thing a lot over the last 20 years, but more so in the last decade. No longer does it mean a damn if you have seniority over the young whippersnappers that came after you—the ones you trained in the job hoping they would become partners and allies in creating a fabulous work environment. What is does mean is that you make less base pay then the "newbies" but are still expected to do all the work and take up the slack for the coworkers who can't keep up with the pace, even five years later.

So after a decade of switching schedules to help out the same coworkers, covering them when they called off sick repeatedly, coming off lunch breaks early because the same coworkers are "overwhelmed" and need help, covering holidays so the others could be with their families, it's time that this old broad take a step or two back. The pace is actually killing my health. I have multiple injuries sustained over the years, constant back and knee pain and now a rotator cuff injury. I suffer from debilitating migraines as well. I don't plan on getting sick, nor do I know when I will wake up one morning unable to walk. It happens and more often when I have to do more than my share for months at a time. Years of conditioning to keep going until the job is done, has left my spirit and my body very broken.

Why stick around in an environment like that? Well, this was my dream profession (besides being a published author of course!). I wanted to be a veterinarian since I was six years old. When you put all that you have into achieving your career goals, you tend to not want to give it up without a fight. There were still more good days than bad and I enjoyed my patients and their owners up until the last few years. Not only has the economy taken it's toll on everyone, it's made it very difficult for my clients to take care of their pets the way they want to and harder and harder for me to accept I can't save everything that walks through the doors. Above all else, I can't keep seeing 2/3 of what walks in the doors while a few of my coworkers sit back and let me do it.

Why should I have to ask people I've worked with for five or more years to get up off their butts and exert a little effort instead of perusing the Internet? Why should I juggle three patients at once and still be willing to say yes to one more because another doctor doesn't want "to start on another case that may be too long to handle this close" to her lunch break? Why should I see the next client who had been waiting over an hour because the rest of the doctors were mysteriously unavailable or "too busy" with Goddess knows what to put the client first? I have no problem seeing more patients than the rest of them, but when it's EXPECTED of me to do it every single shift, it tends to wear me down. When I do ask for help or say I'm overwhelmed, I am made to feel like I'm imposing on them.

Here's where the ideas for a nemesis or two for the books I'm working on now. My heroines tend to be just like me. They work their fingers to the bone to make their dreams come true. If that means long hours and little time off, that's what they do. Of course, they too work with a choice few who do as little as possible to get by and then reap all the rewards in the end. Two of my heroines will be faced with career and life changes because of gut-wrenching betrayals in their lives. I can write about these betrayals with ease since I've been dealt a few horrific ones over the last few days.

Yesterday I found out that some coworkers who I thought were my friends, have been bad-mouthing me and telling my bosses that they don't feel I have their backs.

Huh.

I haven't felt they have had my back for the last five years, but I still kept going with it and kept silent. Since I'm considered "a core" member of the work place, I'm held to a higher standard than the rest of them. I can't get sick because then it would mean the others actually have to do the job they're being paid MORE THAN me to do. I don't have the right to request a different schedule now that my life has changed with marrying a man in the military. I don't have the right to request they honor their promises to me that I would be able to have the schedule I want once we have more doctors.  We now have TOO MANY veterinarians on staff and that's a whole other can of worms I don't want to go into here.

My characters and I have all kept quiet and taken one for the team for far too long. No more. The shit is going to hit the fan and lucky for my current coworkers, it's only going to be played out in my books for now. My ultimate "revenge" is the day I walk out that door forever. That is when all of them will realize they will actually have to work for their paychecks. At this point the retirement date is Summer 2014, but that could change at any moment.  Just like with my characters, we won't know what happens until we turn the page...


Saturday, March 9, 2013

I'm hosting at Sassy Vixen Publishing!

Hello everyone! I've been away for a bit helping out my alter egos with their projects as well as my own. My alter ego Tammy Dennings Maggy aka The Vixen, turned over Sassy Vixen Blog hosting duties to  me for the last two of our guests. It was so exciting! Both authors wrote about vampires and both stories couldn't be more different from each other. Just when you think you know everything there is to know about vampires and vampire lore, another author comes along and puts a fresh twist on things and I'm taken in once again.


My first interview was with Victoria Embers. She's writing a series of short novellas that make up her My Vampire Lover series. We decided that an Oh My! Monday feature with her interview was the best way to showcase Victoria's work and still give her a chance to share a steamy adult excerpt. While I'm keeping Through Stephanie's Eyes at no more than a PG rating, Sassy Vixen allows the very explicit material. So please be forewarned that if you click on the following link, you will be taken to an Adults ONLY site and it does contain material that some people will find objectionable.  With that being said here is the LINK to Victoria's spot on Sassy Vixen.



My second interview is yet to go live. It's scheduled to go up on Monday March 11th with Tyler Robbins. This author visits Sassy Vixen just two days after her Saturday Spotlight interview with another of my alter egos, Lia Michaels. For those of you who've never visited Lia's blog The House of Taboo, well, let's just say it's a party over there 24/7. The guests are hot and the excerpts even hotter. As with Sassy Vixen, The House of Taboo is an adults only site.  For Tyler's spot on Sassy Vixen she shared an ADULT excerpt from her M/M/M erotic romance Immortal Thirst. Click on this LINK to learn more on March 11th.


I hope you enjoy my interview and blog hosting over at Sassy Vixen! I've opened up my blog for guests now too. So if you're an author and would like a spot here, please check out the Guest Author Guidelines Tab at the top of the blog. There you will find the three features I have available. My blog is the only one of my alter egos that will continue to offer the Thursday Thirteen feature.

As always, take care and keep on reading!
~Steph