Ladies Night

I'll be signing copies of my book, Identity at Ladies Night! The event takes place at Deseret Book Store in Glendale. 5820 W. Greenway Rd. Ste. 112, Phoenix, AZ 85306, on Oct. 1 from 5PM until 7PM. If you live on the west side of Phoenix, I'd love to see you there!

September's gone-HELLO October

Wow, September is almost GONE! Where did it go? Let's see, book launch, editing, birthday parties, family, and not necessarily in that order. 


Here are some highlights of the month:

My precious daughter turned 19.
Can you believe it? I remember when I prayed so hard for a girl after having so many boys. She is such a blessing to me.

Agatha and her Grandma Navarro

And my adorable Philippino grandbaby turned one year old.

 She is so beautiful.

Daddy Andrew, Agatha and Mommy Rose

While those events were something to shout about, (I'm not going to lie),the funnest part  of September was my book launch for Identity!

Me, Sarah, Lori

Sarah posed as the main character. It's rather uncanny that she looks an awful lot like the girl with amnesia, huh?

Theresa Sneed and me

Theresa Sneed and I signed 73 books between the two of us. I won't tell you who signed more, because it's not about the competition, right? **wink, wink

 Theresa and I signing books. 

This line goes almost to the back of the store!

Look at the crowd! It was steady like this for two hours! Wow, I mean wow!
So where did the month go? It was gobbled up in lots of fun things.
What does October have in store?
I have a couple of book signings set up. And a writing challenge.
My dear friend Tristi Pinkston has organized a writing challenge for October. If  you're interested you can go to her blog and get the details. My writing goal for October is to finish editing my Book of Mormon novel, Soulfire. Click here if you'd like a sneak preview about the book. Hopefully will be released by early 2012.

Painting by Walter Rane

So what's your October goal?

Blog HOP with LOTS of Prizes!

Welcome to the September Blog Hop! Celebrate the beginning of fall with me and my blogger friends by hopping around, visiting our sites, and entering our contests! There are no limits - you can enter the contest on every blog. With over 40 blogs participating, that's over 40 prizes you could win. Just click on the links below to move on to the next blog.


On my blog, you can win …

A tube of "Identity" red lipstick and a bottle of matching nail polish.


Would you like to win this prize? You just need to do two things.


1. Become a follower of this blog.


2. Leave me a comment in the trail and tell me why you'd like to win this prize.


That's it! You are now entered. The contest ends on Saturday night, September 24th, at midnight MST, and the winner will be contacted shortly thereafter. Please either leave your e-mail address in the comment trail or make sure it's visible through your profile so I can contact you to tell you that you're the lucky winner.


Now go visit my other friends ...





September Blog Hop Participants

1. Tristi Pinkston, LDS Author 2. Joyce DiPastena 3. I Am A Reader, Not A Writer 4. Mandi Slack 5. Michael D. Young 6. Six Mixed Reviews 7. Pam Williams 8. Laurie Lewis 9. Kristy Tate 10. Marilyn Yarbrough 11. Stacy Coles 12. Kristie Ballard 13. Lynn Parsons 14. Pushing Past the Pounds 15. Sheila Staley 16. cindy Hogan

17. Jamie Thompson 18. Jaclyn Weist 19. Cathy Witbeck 20. Secret Sisters Mysteries 21. Tamera Westhoff 22. Tina Scott 23. Lynnea Mortensen 24. Danyelle Ferguson aka Queen of the Clan 25. Jeanette A. Fratto 26. Bonnie Harris 27. Melissa Lemon 28. Mary Ann Dennis 29. Stephanie Black 30. Jane Still 31. Janice 32. Laura Bastian

33. Tamara Bordon 34. Betsy Love 35. Maria Hoagland 36. Amber Robertson 37. Debbie Davis 38. 39. Christy Monson 40. Carolyn Frank 41. Rebecca Birkin 42. Melissa Cunningham 43. Emily L. Moir 44. Ronda Hinrichsen 45. Lisa Asanuma 46. Joan Sowards 47. Jordan McCollum 48. Diane Stringam Tolley

Learn more about September Blog Hop here.
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Boy meets World--Other-World

What do you get when a 14 year old boy, whose only goal in life is to make the basketball team, is chased into the woods by two giant wolves? You get a fantasy story about a boy who encounters a realm with as many diverse characters as Harry Potter. Andrea Pearson does an amazing job of setting up the rules for her urban/epic fantasy, The Key of Kilenya. She creates a strong character in Jacob Clark. 


Picture this: It's the day before tryouts, and Jacob is certain he will make the team. After being chased into the woods he discovers that he is no longer on earth, but has entered a new world full of creatures who want something from Jacob. The Lorkon want his magic, the Makalos are a race of people who want Jacob to get the key. 


Jacob and his new friend, Akeno journey through many lands and exciting adventures. I could hardly wait to see what would happen next. Pearson does a great job of creating believable characters and gripping suspense. 


Pearson left the story wide open for a series. There were many questions left unanswered. I can hardly wait to read the next book. Nice work Andrea! I highly recommend this book to teens and anyone who enjoys reading young adult fantasy. I can hardly wait to read the next book!


To purchase your copy click here.

Book Reviews

I'm reading books faster than I can review them. I guess that's a good thing in some ways. Recently I read The Sapphire Flute by Karen Hoover. Karen tells the story of two young women caught up in defending their home planet against the dark magi who would like to see the world destroyed. The point of view switches between two young women who struggle to find their place in the world. At first I had a hard time figuring out which was which and how they tied together. Ember is a white magi, (one hasn't been seen on the Rasann in 3000 years). Kayla is the keeper of the sapphire flute, destined to heal their world. I found that as I was reading the points of view of the two girls I couldn't wait to get to the end of each chapter to find out what the other one was up to. Hoover tells an engaging story of self discovery and healing. For a beginning author, she did a wonderful job of 
creating believable characters. My frustration with the book was that it ended with a huge cliff-hanger. I guess I'll just have to read the next book to learn more about their quests.Nice job, Karen! 
You can download The Sapphire Flute on your Kindle or ebook reader. There are also several soft cover copies available as well.

Karen Hoover

The next book I finished was Hang 'Em High by Tristi Pinkston. Ida Mae Babbitt is at it again with her novice detective skills. This time Sister Babbitt, ex-Relief Society President is sluething out a horse murderer on her son's dude ranch, where no one is above suspicion, even her son. When Keith's prize horse is found dead outside his stall and near a bucket of poisoned grain accusations start flying. Leave it to Ida Mae to get to the bottom of the mystery. Once again, Tristi tells a hilarious tale of intrigue mingled with lots of rompin' good fun. Not only will you laugh at Ida Mae's antics, you will feel deeply touched as mother and son are reunited after years of estrangement. If you haven't read her other books in this series you can purchase them all here.

Tristi Pinkston

What do you do when you get sidetracked?

Some of you already know that I'm a pretty random person. Ask any of my family and they'll tell you just how distracted I am. My favorite joke is: How many kids with ADD does it take to change a light bulb? Want to see my new bike! That pretty much is me. So, with that being said, I've been very distracted this week.


First we went to Greer for Labor Day. That was nice! I actually got some editing done on Saturday. But here it is Wednesday already, and I haven't even opened my document. 


I've given lots of advice on getting motivated, but how do you stay motivated? For me, it's a matter of actually sitting at the computer--making that commitment that no matter what, I am going to put in an hour of writing or editing or whatever it is that I "should" be doing. 


Today, it's blogging before writing. I've neglected both of my blogs for almost a month. I am so far behind on reviews.


So, come back tomorrow and I'll have a couple of reviews to post. 


Happy writing! (or editing as the case may be).