The Blurb:
What happens when your ancestor, who happens to be a pedophile, a rapist and a cold-blooded killer, tries to kill you? Even stuffs his daughter into a box and throws them into the sea?

Luckily for Ariadne Phillips, Triton, god of the sea, travels across the ocean to protect her. Reluctantly you might add.
Sent by his father to watch a silly mortal, Taz plans to ship her off to No Man’s Land, so he can go back home to max and relax.

When blues eyes meet hazel, it’s a done deal. Taz wants to keep the only mortal who can make him laugh and cry at the same time, while Ari gets a dream trip to Greece, to be a model and finally use her self-defense training to kick some butt.
Happily ever after can’t be reached without Taz discovering his mortal flaw. Gods can and do die. Ari can’t join the immortal ranks without fighting the crockety Fates for her soul.

My Thoughts:

Triton-AM is the first book in the Aegean Chronicles by Yelle Hughes. Be sure to check out her guest blog from Monday. A very important note for the young adults who read my work is that this book has adult content.

Thank you so much Marissa Tejada, for inviting me to participate in this Q&A!

1) What am I working on?
I’m polishing the final draft of Venus and Adonis and then taking a break from goddesses until my daughter’s preschool is back in session. In the meantime, I’m working on a shorter ya paranormal horror story called Blood and Other Matter.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
My Daughters of Zeus series features the actual Greek gods in modern times, not their descendants, not reincarnations of them, not similar supernaturals thrust into the same story.

Blood and Other Matter is features the scarier side of the paranormal, where instead of just being hot and misunderstood, the monsters are bad guys. It’s very early in the writing process though.

4) How does your writing process work?

Ah, speaking of that. Well, I just discovered Scrivener, so I’m plotting away on their cork board and taking my first draft through writer’s group 5,000 words at a time. Right now I’m staying just ahead of the deadline date for writer’s group so it’s slow going. I’ve got a very rough outline and about ten chapters written. Those ten chapters will hopefully become thirty, and then get written and rewritten as I go through draft after draft of revision. I tend to go through three to four major revision drafts before I get it in the hands of a publisher and go through their editing process.

Thank you again, Marissa, for the invite!
Want to participate in the Q&A? Simply answer the four questions above on your blog and leave a link in the comments. Oh, and don’t forget to link back to me.

Happy Blogging.

Today I’m hopping along with Julie’s Book Review in the Is It Summer Yet Blog Hop. Follow the link above to hop along for more prizes.

How do I know it’s summer? Well, school’s out, there’s the heat, and all my favorite shows are on hiatus. But the big reason I know it’s summer is vacation. Right now, I’m visiting California, and it is amazing. I’ve climbed (little) rocks in Yosemite, hiked among the redwoods in Sequoia National Park, and whale watched in Monterrey. How about you? Share your most memorable summer vacation in the comments below for a chance to win your choice of either Persephone the audiobook or Persephone the ebook. Synopsis and cover below:

The “talk” was bad enough,but how many teens get told that they’re a goddess? When her mom tells her, Persephone is sure her mother has lost her mind. It isn’t until Boreas, the god of winter, tries to abduct her that she realizes her mother was telling the truth. Hades rescues her, and in order to safely bring Persephone to the Underworld he marks her as his bride. But Boreas will stop at nothing to get Persephone.

Despite her growing feelings for Hades, Persephone wants to return to the living realm. Persephone must find a way to defeat Boreas and reclaim her life.

Alexia Maccon, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears–leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. So even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

She might even find time to track down her wayward husband–if she feels like it.

My review:

It’s pretty rare that I enjoy the second book in a series exactly as much as the first. Exactly. Not one iota more or less. Like the first book in the series, this starts slow, but once it picks up is a lot of fun to read. There’s humor, fantastic world building, and interesting conundrums. I don’t have much to say that I didn’t in the first review, except WOW the ending, I actually did not see coming. Unlike the end of book one, I rushed to pick up the next book this time. Check out this series. It’s just fun.

Julie!

Thanks for participating everyone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In honor of Children’s Book Week, I am pleased to be participating in the Kid Lit Giveaway Hop. Young Adult and Children’s literature has a special place in my heart. I devoured books as a child, starting with Sweet Valley Kids, The Boxcar Children, Bunnicula, and  other favorites like Ella Enchanted. As I grew older I found books by L.J Smith, R.L Stine, and Christopher Pike to pass the time. When I close my eyes, those are the favorites I see lining the shelves of the very small middle grade and young adult reader section of the bookstore.

Wow how times have changed. The children’s literature, YA, and middle grade genres have exploded in my lifetime, and I’m so thrilled that my daughter is going to benefit from shelf after shelf of awesome adventures like How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, and so many more. And I’m pleased to have added to the genre with my Daughters of Zeus series.

Persephone is definitely on the older end of children’s lit (firmly planted in YA), but it never would have come to be were it on for the books I read when I was younger. Reading was a massive part of my identity, my absolute favorite hobby, and almost all my friends and I ever talked about. I owe those books and those writers a debt for inspiring me and entertaining me.

So in honor of Children’s Book Week, I am giving away either an e-copy or an audiobook of Persephone (described below). Winner’s choice. All you have to earn a chance to win is to respond in the comments below with the name of your favorite children’s book and explain why it was your favorite. Winner will be chosen at random on the 19th.

There are worse things than death, worse people too.
The “talk” was bad enough, but how many teens get told that they’re a goddess? When her mom tells her, Persephone is sure her mother has lost her mind. It isn’t until Boreas, the god of winter, tries to abduct her that she realizes her mother was telling the truth. Hades rescues her, and in order to safely bring Persephone to the Underworld he marks her as his bride. But Boreas will stop at nothing to get Persephone. Despite her growing feelings for Hades, Persephone wants to return to the living realm. Persephone must find a way to defeat Boreas and reclaim her life.
Want a chance to win even more books? Follow the links below:

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Click here to view the complete list of participating bloggers and authors…

Are you a children’s book or teen literature blogger, an author, a publisher, or a publicist looking to share copies of a fabulous book? Mother Daughter Book Reviews and Youth Literature Reviews are joining forces to provide you with the opportunity to take part in the Children’s Book Week Giveaway Hop 2014, featuring links to giveaways for fabulous children/teen’s books, gift cards, cash, or other prizes. What better way to celebrate Children’s Book Week?

 

 

So today I woke up and my throat felt fine. I’ve been eating normally and everything. I’ve been super lucky with this whole recovery period I know. And I don’t know if it’s because I did everything “right” or if my recovery was just luck. But if it wasn’t, I hope my experience helps someone else have just as smooth of a recovery.

Now I’m back to work, and hopefully I’ll have news on Venus and Adonis soon. Revisions are going really well and I’m excited about my new project as well, Blood and Other Matter. All my audio books are out now, so expect contests and such in the weeks to come. I might start doing Freebie Fridays.

Lots of exciting stuff to come. Keep reading 😀

Was way too busy to write yesterday, and not much has changed. For the most part my throat feels sore, like a sore throat, but if I try to chew anything, talk to much, or like clean the whole house, I can feel it. I’ve gone back and forth the last two days between not taking my pain meds at all, and the maximum dosage. It just really depends on how easy I’m taking it.

Eating is harder than it was before so I guess my throat is in a new stage of recovery. My ears have hurt every now and then, but at the first sign of ache I microwave my little heat pack and by the time it cools down, I’m fine.

I’ve been super lucky. Friday I was able to drive my daughter to school, visit a friend, deal with some friend drama, and host my daughters first spend the night. Today I’m packing to go to California tomorrow. I’m able to do it all, but I’m looking forward to just resting on Monday. Monday will mark one week from my surgery. I know I’ve been super lucky.

So, I’m back to regular writing unless something crazy comes up. My only other is advice is seriously, don’t chew, it’s not worth it. Mushy, mushy foods. It’s not that the food is hard or soft (though I haven’t tried hard foods) it’s that kind of sideways chewing motion that rips into your throat a bit. I knew it was a mistake as soon as I took a bite and I’m still paying for it. But otherwise I’m doing great.

Yesterday ended up being an a good day for my tonsils and a bad day for television. After I finished my blog post I watched about ten minutes of Glee, before deciding the episode looked stupid, so I switched to New Girl. Ten minutes of Nick and Jess whining about being hungover, I switched to Supernatural, which was also a really weird episode, but at least I could sit through it. I don’t know if it’s the pain meds, or if I’ve just lost my patience for people being randomly mad at each other in my favorite shows. I finished the Fault is in Our Stars, but either the ending had been overly spoiled for me, or I simply lack compassion on pain meds, because I wasn’t too sad. Super good book, enjoyed the read. Just not a tear jerker, which all things considered is a good thing. Crying would hurt right now.

My day improved vastly when my friend gave me broccoli cheese soup, board games, and jello. Shannon, you are the best person in the world, and I love you. The soup was SO good.

And if you can’t tell by my description of day three so far, pain was minimal. Like a bad sore throat. Even at night.

Today was a slightly different story. On day four post-op, I was given instructions to rinse with salt water three times a day. (Preferably three different times then when I rinse with the bio-med stuff) and to open my mouth as wide as I can and stick out my tongue as far as I can three times a day. So I woke up for my seven AM dose of pain killers, and was feeling so good I decided to only take 2 teaspoons of the 2-4 teaspoon dose. I’ve been taking three. Last second I chickened out and did 2 and ½. It’s weird because my throat didn’t hurt, but it felt fragile. Like the pain is lurking beneath the surface and if I cough wrong or talk to much it’s going to come on stronger than I’ve ever experienced it.

So I lounged around for a bit telling myself to get up but getting distracted by facebook and tumblr. Just after 9 I finally got up, brushed my teeth, did the salt water thing, and then I opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue as far as I could.

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Am I glad I gave the pain meds time to kick in! That was an hour ago and my mouth still hurts. So, my suggestion for dealing with that is give the pain meds about half an hour, open as wide as you can, then immediately put on a fresh ice pack and drink a very cold drink. It helped….a bit. Remember, this is still an hour later. Be careful, because the stretching doesn’t hurt all that much while you’re doing it. It hurts when you close your mouth again.

I’d also schedule all these mouth swishy things because doing them all at once probably undermines the benefits of keeping your throat moist and not getting too stiff. So I’ve been alternating the salt water and the biomed, both help with the stinging of the pain killers so I pair them with doses of the medicine. Also, drink at least a bottle of something, water (I still can’t drink plain water, my mouth tastes awful), gatorade, juice (nothing too acidic), whatever, between doses. That’s one bottle every four hours. Doesn’t sound like much but I’ve been sleeping a lot so it hasn’t been easy to work it in, but I can tell the difference when I’ve had enough to drink and when I haven’t. It might not feel like it when you’re taking a sip of water after a long stretch, but a dry throat really does feel much, much,much much worse than swallowing cold juice.

All in all, still not suffering too bad. Tonsillitis hurt worse than this does so far (but again, that’s after pain meds, who knows how I really feel. My doctor didn’t give me anything for pain when my tonsils were swollen so much they were actually touching, so my perspective on severe throat pain is still pretty fresh.). I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop because I keep hearing how much worse it’s going to get at some point within the next few days as the scabs start to heal and fall off.

Two things I forgot to say yesterday, don’t drink/eat anything with red dye, it’s supposed to make it hard for the doctor to identify infection if they need to, and sleep with your head elevated. It makes a difference, because last night out of habit at some point I slouched down and turned over and I felt it when I woke up.

So when I left off yesterday, I was feeling great. Too great. I called my doctors office to set up an appointment, I paid bills (over the phone), I chatted with my husband, and overdid it. When I started feeling it, I decided to take a nap, but couldn’t sleep because my husband was watching TV in the other room too loudly and wasn’t getting my text messages asking him to turn it down.

So I did a truly stupid thing, I shouted for him to turn it down. To be fair, I was half-asleep and on pain meds, but ouch. That hurt. And he didn’t hear me. Then the fact that I got hurt made me mad so I went out there and physically turned it down, pointing to my phone like a madwoman. Also I was irrationally mad at him for cooking chicken-fajita stuff because it smelled SO good and I hadn’t eaten since Sunday night. AND he forgot to grab me a milk shake when he picked my daughter up from school. Not my best moment. He apologized (for the TV) and asked why I didn’t just say something, and like an idiot, I started arguing, out loud, that I had. He apologized and said he didn’t get the text, and went out and got my milkshake like the nice guy he is, but the damage to my throat was done.

Ugh, stupid, stupid me. I drank my milkshake and napped until 7, and when I woke up my throat hurt. I don’t know if it’s because of the yelling (probably) or just because of where I am in the recovery bit (swelling should start becoming an issue on day three) but I was not doing that great anymore.

But happy news, I was allowed to have drinks that were not water or gatorade. I ate some mashed potatoes (SO GOOD!) and drank copious amounts of cran-grape juice with crushed ice.

I also started using this bio-med rinse stuff on day 2 and was allowed to brush my teeth :D. So my throat kept bouncing back and forth from bruised and battered to pleasantly refreshed. I’ve noticed I get really cranky for about twenty minutes between doses of medicine as one dose wears off and the other dose kicks in, but I get really happy about an hour in.

The bio-med rinse is weird, but actually super nice. You just rinse with it for 30 seconds 3 times a day. I do it right after I take the pain killers and it cuts down on the stinging. It also makes your mouth feel less dry? It’s amazing stuff.

Last night the medicine started to hurt really bad. It always stung, but last night it got really, really bad. I eventually figured out the cran-grape was a bit too acidic and switched back to gatorade to chase the medicine down with and that helped. I’ve gone from 4 tsp’s to 3 tsp’s (instructions say 2-4) , and I’m betting that’s why I’m up thirty minutes before the four hour window ready to get my next dose.

I was in a ton of pain this morning around 6:30 AM and it was weird because it was because I swallowed the pain meds and it stung so bad. Also my ears were hurting a bit. But nothing hurt until I swallowed the pain meds, which are supposed to help. I was pretty pathetic for about twenty minutes until the pain killers really kicked in and then I was out until my next dose at 11:00, washed it down with gatorade and felt fine. It still stung, but not as agonizingly. I was allowed to take a shower today (the paperwork said not to until day 3) so it feels great to be clean and the moist shower air helped my throat a lot too. I also started a new medicine today, some kind of steroid to help with swelling and infection risk. It’s a pill, so I was a little worried taking it, but I didn’t have any problem.

I’m able to eat soft foods now but it’s kind of exhausting. My mouth hurts after a few bites so it’s really just a couple of bites of this here, wait a few hours, a couple of bites of that there. Pain wise I’ve been doing fine since about 7:00 AM. I’m more sore than yesterday but I really think that’s my own fault so I’m not talking today, drinking lots of gatorade, replacing the ice backs constantly, and hanging around the humidifier and getting a lot of sleep. Seems to be helping. So hopefully I’ll get back to where I was tomorrow.

My suggestion, don’t talk. You’ll feel like you can talk. Don’t do it. Just text. Also, cranberry grape juice, while delicious, should be drunk sparingly because it is pretty strong. Tomorrow ear pain is really common, but I’m ready. I ordered a hot/cold pack that can wrap around the ears from amazon and it should arrive today or early tomorrow.

Wish me luck…