Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Defenseless Release Day Blitze


Defenseless (Diamond Girls #3)
by Elisa Dane 
Release Date: 01/27/15
Swoon Romance

Summary from Goodreads:
High school senior, Claire Reilly’s world revolves around All-Star cheerleading. The Diamond Girls, are gearing up for a major competition, which, if they win will allow them to compete at Worlds for the first time. But the unimaginable happens, and both Claire and her team are rocked by a devastating loss. Determined to get to Worlds any way she can, Claire finds help from the last person she imagined would give it—up and coming UFC fighter and notorious bad boy, Ryker Vaughn.

Fouled out of the octagon by a dirty opponent and a vicious kick to the head, Ryker loses control when he learns he may never fight again. Angry over the loss of his mother, an unsupportive family, and the world in general, he gives up, gives in, and unleashes his rage—destroying part of his cousin’s cheer gym in the process. Things go from bad to worse when Ryker is given an ultimatum: help the Diamond Girls compete for a bid to Worlds, or go to jail.

Overwhelmed with anger, sadness, and grief, the unlikely pair learn that what you see is not always what you get, and that the most difficult losses sometimes open the door to a frightening, yet amazing new future.

Excerpt

I tore my eyes from the mess in front of me and zeroed in on the crap weasel standing in front of Coach Shea's office. If Tayla had seen him, she wouldn't have questioned who was behind the destruction. The perpetrator stood a measly yard and a half from us, and wore a bored expression.

Ryker Vaughn, Tayla's black-sheep cousin and all-around douche nozzle extraordinaire, was as noxious and irritating as he was handsome. Looking as though he were plucked straight out of one of those big-budget Clash of the Titans movies, he was chiseled like Hercules and rocked a massive Narcissus complex. Gorgeous, with stormy gray eyes and cropped, dark hair, dude thought he was the shizzle, and refused to give the meager masses the time of day. As deadly as he was handsome, there wasn't a person in Indigo Falls, or the surrounding counties, who wouldn't recognize his name: Ryker the Striker.

A humanized weapon of the martial arts variety, Ryker had spent a large portion of his eighteen years studying and perfecting Brazilian Jui-Juitsu and Muay Thai. The captain of the wrestling team at Douglas High before he graduated last year, he won two state championships and held the record for most wins and takedowns in a single season.

Unfortunately for him, neither his name, his good looks, or his martial arts skills saved him from the set of security cameras stationed around the building's perimeter. Why was he here talking to Coach Shea? Why wasn't his butt sitting in a jail cell somewhere?

I let my eyes wander from Ryker to the wreckage in front of me and frowned. The guy was more than capable of this type of demolition. What I couldn't understand was the why of it? He wasn't the world's friendliest guy, but I'd never known him to be outright destructive and criminal.

Though, if I were being honest, I didn't really know him. I'd only crossed paths with him at a few of Tayla's family gatherings. He'd kept to his scowling self, barely uttering a word to anyone the entire time. Unsociable bastard.  


Buy Links:
Amazon

Companion books in this series:
(each book is a separate story and do not have to be read in order)
 photo ExFactor-FinalWEB_zps56c5f109.jpg  photo Unbreakablev2-FinalWEB_zps4463314e.jpg

Links for Ex-Factor:

Links for Unbreakable:
GoodreadsAmazonBarnes & Noble

About the Author
I'm a lover of books (YA & Adult romance), chocolate, reality television, and am a proud mother to three All Star cheerleaders. Woot!
I write Contemporary YA romance with cheerleaders. Yep. I write what I know, and it's my hope that my stories will not only take you on a romantic journey that will warm your heart, but that you'll find a new respect and interest in the sport of Cheerleading you may not have had before.

Author Links:
   

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Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Practice makes perfect...






I have to admit that I've been very lazy since the Christmas break... my body feels like it's on holidays (or wants to be on holidays). This is something I really need to get out of or I'm not going to achieve anything before university goes back at the end of February. One thing I've tried not to be too lazy about is my photography, especially since I'm determined to complete a 365 project this year (that's taking a photo every single day... so far I've taken 14 YAY!!!).

During my photo project I've really discovered that it takes a lot of patience and practice to learn a new technique. I suppose it takes a lot of practice to master any skill (writing included with that), and boy it's been fun, and a bit scary, trying to learn this new technique. I've become really interested with underwater photography and really want to take some shots, but I'm learning that it's not as easy as some people make it look. For one, in murky water you can't even see what you're taking a picture of or if the picture's even turned out properly until you get home, and two, trying to focus on the subject when I can't even see the model is really hard... but I'm having fun learning, but I think I might try taking my experiments to a pool with clear water where it's more likely to turn out properly.

 I guess I'll just have to keep practicing and hope I'll end up getting these shots perfect.

Is there anything that you've struggled to master? Do you believe practice will make anything better?

Monday, January 5, 2015

2015 - A brand new year...



It's  a brand new year, which means new resolutions and new plans/goals that I'll hopefully be able to keep. And boy do I have lots of plans that I am aiming to meet this year, including releasing the sequel to Shadow Embraced andstart working on a dark time travel story, as well as a multiverse/parallel universe story with my brother.

First off, what can a new years be without resolutions. This year my resolutions (which I'm planning on keeping), are:
  • Complete writing my WIP horrors (and I have quite a few sitting around)
  • Attend a convention
  • Keep up regular postings of my blog
  • Commenting and participating on social media regularly
  • Complete a 365 photo project

That's not a lot to achieve this year (right?)... And as with the last point, I have decided to take up the challenge of taking a photo every single day of the year... last time I took this challenge I made it to day 6 before I ran out of momentum, but this year I'm determined to get the challenge done and create a lot more images like the one above (which was taken New Years day at sunrise).

I hope all of your Christmas's and New Years were happy and lots of brilliant adventures lie ahead.
 
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