Book Trailer Sunday -- Rylee Adamson4/26/2015 This is like the best of the best with a big budget to span. It's awesome. Take a look and appreciate the art of the book trailer: The Rylee Adamson Novels
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Is YA Growing Up?4/20/2015  When I was in middle school the most risky, scintillating book we read covertly in the hallways and during study halls was Go Ask Alice. This book about a teenage girl who spirals into drug addiction was about much deeper issues, obviously. But I can remember reading alongside my friends passages filled with cursing and sex. It was horrifying and yet at the same time, exciting to read such gritty, dark stuff. A cursory look at Amazon shows me it's still a bestseller. But I wonder if teens have the same reaction me and my peers had back in the day, or do they possibly read it now for it's true content? Because I've noticed a shift in YA that's more mature and sexual in nature.
Back in my day when I was reading the likes of RL Stine, Christopher Pike, Richie Tankersley Cusick, and LJ Smith, the teens in those books stayed pretty clean. There were no sex scenes, nor were they ever really implied. Pike bordered a little bit more on the risky side of sex, but it was still fairly chaste. Flash forward and as a woman in my thirties, I've read a number of YA books that have sex. Take the House of Night series by Kristin and PC Cast, which even goes so far as to portray oral sex in scenes. I recently read the Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter, and while there's no sex scenes, sex is definitely happening and is heavily implied. When I wrote Fractured Dream, the first in my epic fantasy series, I did not write directly for any age group. My intention was to just write a high fantasy adventure novel, much like the ones I'd read growing up found in the Fantasy/Sci-fi section of the book store. So when I put one sex scene in it, I assumed it would be marketed for more adult audiences even though I'd increasingly been reading YA books with sex in them. Once it was out in the market, however, Fractured Dream began to get slotted into the YA category by readers and bloggers. And while there have been a couple of readers I've noticed who thought perhaps the sexual content was more adult than it should be in the YA genre, sex seems to be a more accepted element in YA books overall. And yet, had I been writing with a strictly teen audience in mind, I would have left that scene out, truthfully. Even despite knowing that I read all sorts of graphic sex scenes as a young reader from books outside the YA genre. When I started writing The Reaper's Daughter I always had a YA audience in mind for it and like the books of my day, it's more Christopher Pike-ish in the sex department. I do think the change going on in YA of today, however, is an attempt to be realistic. Teens do have sex. They deal in all sorts of situations and to portray them all as virgins or never really addressing sex between young characters is not based in reality. This shift in YA makes writing it a bit more exciting, because there can be a more gritty factor, and that's what I like to do best, write fantasy and paranormal around relationships based in a real context. WHAT DO YOU THINK? IS YA GROWING UP?  I am somewhat in love with book trailers, especially my own. (Targeted link now ... ) BUT ... I also very much enjoy perusing other authors' book trailers. They're such a nice little marketing supplement, and when I've played my own at events I've drawn a few eyes to my table. At any rate, my sister is in the business of making book trailers and here's her latest, created for author Elena Kincaid, author of the upcoming novel, Unshattered (Silver Cliff #1). Synopsis below, followed by awesome book trailer. SYNOPSIS: After Anna James loses nearly everyone she loves and is betrayed by those she trusted, she sets out in search of a place that would bring her peace. She knew she had found it when she arrived in a sleepy little town called Silver Cliff and she vows to never trust anyone with her heart again, especially a man she fears would not only break her heart, he’d incinerate it. Nathan Kent has dealt with his own heartache and demons from getting off the path he was meant to be on. He decides to return to his home town to rebuild his life and the last thing he needs is to fall in love with a snarky girl who keeps her past under lock and key. He realizes quickly, though, that she is girl worth risking it all for and vows to make her his. Their pull was undeniable, like fireworks on top of flaming bonfires. But Anna can’t help wonder if she and Nathan are strong enough to survive a past that keeps resurfacing or if fate will keep shattering the world around her. I am thus dubbing this Book Trailer Sunday, wherein which I will share book trailers I love whether anyone is listening or not. If anyone's out there, feel free to link me in the comments below to your book trailers or ones you love and I'll begin sharing them on Sundays here and also at, Cellar Door Lit Rants & Reviews.
Peace, Love, and Happy Almost Monday!  Even though I review books occasionally at Cellar Door Lit Rants & Reviews, I never really read many books reviews until last year when I released my first book. The reason I began at all was because I became obsessed with the reviews of my own book. It was through my sudden interest in reading reviews on Goodreads, blogs, and Amazon, that I found out that love triangles were on their way out and that "insta-love" as it's termed, is regarded with disdain.
Now it shouldn't surprise anyone that I love to read. Any writer should be passionate about books. I grew up devouring fantasy, science-fiction, and YA. Within these magical world, whether fantasy or literature, one of my favorite parts was the timeless romances and soul connections. So you can imagine my surprise when I found out that true love and instant connections had become passe. Perhaps they'd never been popular to begin with, although I find that hard to believe judging by the number of books that were grounded in this concept of the ultimate love story. Perhaps it's because readers are grounded more firmly in reality nowadays, although I find that also hard to believe. If you're anything like me, getting away into a world of myth and magic is an escape from reality, and epic love is often a part of that. People snub their noses at Twilight by saying it's not good writing. Perhaps it's not complex or involved writing, but it's the kind of approachable writing that allowed millions to fall in love with, wait for it, a love story. I get it, I'm married, so I know how real relationships work and it's not all fluff and flowers and starry soul connections. But instant connections are how people often get together in the first place. If my husband and I hadn't been instantly attracted to each other the night we met, he wouldn't have stayed when his friend left the bar we were at, I never would have asked him for his number even though I'd never asked a guy for his number in my life, and he wouldn't have called me the next day. Ultimately, our own love story never would have been written. Love triangles have never bothered me as a reader, but I understand why other people may be sick of them. But despite really despising this term, I am defending "insta-love." Because it's not unrealistic, especially when you're writing about teenagers, who experience a passionate range of emotion. I write fantasy to imagine worlds where anything can happen, realistic or not. But connecting with someone on a physical or emotional level doesn't seem like fiction to me. That's the non-fiction woven into the magic that makes stories worth reading. So what's the story? Why are there so many readers who dislike insta-love? I'd love to hear comments below!  Inside the Lines reads like a classic romance novel with an erotic, contemporary twist. Lux is an independent, strong woman, who also happens to be a professional dominatrix. While her life is filled with lust, there's been little in the way of romantic love as of late. But that all changes on the job during one particular tryst. What I really liked about this novel was that although it's got plenty of erotica—which with a dominatrix as the main character that's not surprising—it never swallows the story. I'm actually not a huge erotica fan, but I do love a good romance. If sex starts to dominate a novel too much I get bored. But this had just the right amount for the readers who love it and for those who just want a little. It also seemed to me the author has an obvious working knowledge of BDSM practices, so the culture in the book came across as authentic. While at times I found Lux's character a bit infuriating, this was a pleasant and unique romance. The ending made me smile and I'm interested to see what else Bishop has in store for these characters. Inside the Lines is available on Amazon for $3.99 in Kindle and $9.99 in paperback. SYNOPSIS What happens in love might destroy you... Or remake you altogether. I make a living offering men and women their ultimate fantasies…as submissives of the mysterious Mistress Hathaway. I've never surrendered to anyone. That's not the way it works. Or rather, not the way I operate. But when the gorgeous Fin MacKenzie shows up in my life, he throws everything out of balance. Now I'm not sure who I am anymore, and I'm questioning everything. What woman can turn away from a gorgeous Scotsman, especially when he sets her body on fire and her heart ablaze? I have to stop it…us. I can't keep going like this. It will ruin everything I've worked so hard to build. Who am I if I surrender to him? Worse yet, who am I if I don't? THE GIRL BEHIND THE BOOK When you do something effortlessly and people commend you continuously, you have found your gift. That's what I tell people all the time. And it's true. I get story. I always have. I started writing when I was eight on a Smith Corona (the electronic kind -- I'm not THAT old). I wrote stories in every spiral notebook I had. Eventually, I graduated to a Mac (yes, I'm one of THOSE people). I imagined new worlds, emotional conflicts, and HEAs while I waited at stoplights or wandered the grocery store. But here's the thing: I didn't just dream it up and write it down -- I critiqued what I read. I knew when ideas were good, and when they stunk. I ran writing groups, judged creative contests, and eventually got two graduate degrees in writing. That's right: I love it that much. So here I am, years later, writing kickass heroines and devastating good guys, along with some mystery and vampires thrown in (I promise: THEY'RE COMING). And what's really cool? I do what I love. Wanna write a success story for your life: I promise you, that's it. Do what you love. And hopefully, you can make a living at it too. That's the golden ticket, Charlie. And chocolate doesn't hurt, either... CONNECT WITH ALLY GOOGLE+ TUMBLR WEBSITE  Ally Bishop AuthorK.M. Randall writes fantasy and paranormal for both a general and young adult audience. Her debut novel, an epic fantasy called Fractured Dream, launched in June 2014, and her second book, The Reaper's Daughter, launched May 2015. Randall also published Fairytale Lost, a prequel to Fractured Dream, as an exclusive on Wattpad. She blogs about dreams, female heroines, and activism and its relevancy to the literary and fictional world. And when in the season, sometimes she just likes to talk about Halloween. She is currently hard at work on the second book in the Dreamer Saga series, Shattered World.  
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