Elise Manion's Blog

New book, Unwanted: Finding Where You're Loved will be available July 28th everywhere books are sold. If you'd like to give this story an early review, please head to my website where a link for ARCs is provided.
www.elisemanion.com

Book Blurb:
Where do you go when your home isn’t safe?

Sophie Miller can’t live in her Colorado Springs house anymore — not after what happened. She has to get away from her meth-addicted mother. Away from the danger. Away from the drug trafficker who wants her.

Finally, her father sends for her in Applewood, Oregon where she falls in love with the sleepy town — and its persona non grata, Jeremy Rutledge. Spawned by the town conman, her father warns her to stay away from the boy with the kindest eyes she’s ever seen.

As their relationship blossoms, so does the trouble. After one out of control kegger, and their secret relationship is discovered, Sophie’s sent back to the hell of living with her mother and the monster lurking in the shadows.

Will Sophie ever be safe? Will Jeremy stay by her side once he learns the truth? Will she ever find where she’s loved?

I’m not going to lie, my expectations were high when I purchased this book. Being a fan of Ms. Rowling’s work I expected to be drawn in like I was the first time I read Harry Potter. My bad. Ms. Rowling’s brilliance comes from knowing how to write different styles. For Potter fans, getting used to a new voice, a new method, can be difficult.

A Cuckoo’s Calling begins with a murder to get our attention then plummets into the world of Cormoran Strike, who’s recent breakup with his lifelong flame has him crashing down into debt and disillusionment of all things female. I struggled to like Cormoran but was intrigued by his temporary assistant, Robin. I admit the only reason I kept reading through the first and second parts of the book is because I knew it couldn’t get any worse. I was correct.

As I read on I let go of wanting the next Harry Potter experience and let myself be plunged into a dark, cynical world of fame, paparazzi, drug abuse and murder mystery. Once I let go of WHO I was reading I ended up enjoying WHAT I was reading. The end of the book does not disappoint (and I was annoyed with myself for not seeing who the killer was, it was quite obvious) and I immediately purchased the next book in the CB Strike series.

Well done, Mr. Galbraith. I look forward to reading The Silkworm.

Two weeks ago I was reading an online forum for authors and the subject of piracy came up. Some authors were troubled to find their books being offered on freebie sites that have no association with them or their publishers. Copyright infringement isn't a new thing and pirating music and books have been going on since the world went digital. In a blog posted a few years back, Chuck Wendig related the phenomenon to the old-days when children of the 70s and 80s created mixed tapes to be shared with friends and family. If you can get past the crude language, the post is actually pretty funny and puts things into perspective for us lowly writers.

One such site is called graycity dot net. Honestly I was completely flattered to be a part of the "pirated" club but I want my readers to understand when you risk a deal, you might get what you pay for, i.e. an incomplete manuscript or your email being spammed like porn sites into a yahoo account.

The second type of site, however, is something much more nefarious. When I reported kisslibrary dot net to my publishers, they were VERY CONCERNED. It seems this site copies information from legitimate online booksellers, posts the book covers with marked down prices and waits. Once you find your "deal" and make a purchase, what actually downloads into your device is not a copy of my books but malware, spyware, and/or viruses. There have been reports of computers, e-readers and other mobile devices hacked (best case scenario) or damaged beyond repair.

Remember, if you are looking for a deal please stick to legitimate booksellers such as Amazon (goodreads), Barnes and Noble, iBooks/iTunes, Kobo etc, or if you are outside the US, Waterstones (who just purchased Barnes and Noble).

Remember, if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. 

Take care out there and happy reading!

~Elise

A new website is an odd thing to give to yourself for Christmas but, honestly, I really didn't have a choice. Some things are just born out of necessity. Ever since the news came that my current website would be shut down in 2019 I'd been panicking like crazy. I'm not tech savvy and the thought of starting over was giving me hives. I didn't want to be caught at the last minute with nothing. So the search began and I think I found one that will be easy to use. Thus, a website for Christmas. At least it's not something that I have to plug into an outlet and clean my house with, like say... a vacuum cleaner!
I hope you, Dear Reader, had a very merry Christmas and that you got everything you wanted - even if your presents were born out of necessity like mine!
Cheers to a very happy 2019 and, as always, HAPPY READING!
~ELISE
www dot elisemanion dot com

"You've been scared of love and what it did to you
You don't have to run, I know what you've been through
Just a simple touch and it can set you free
We don't have to rush when you're alone with me" - I Feel It Comin, The Weeknd

My Muse is active! Hip hip hurray and she's been inspired by the lyrics above. I'm currently writing Josh's Challenge, the third installment of click to read more

First, I want to say Congratulations to the winners of the St. Patrick's Day give-away. It was an honor to have so many enter to win and I am grateful for the interest in The King Brothers trilogy.

Second, two days after the give-away, my father passed away. I'm struggling to be excited about anything these days. Grief is a strange emotion that has no rhyme or reason to it. One minute I think I'm okay and the next I can barely see through an intersection on my home because of the tears. To read more about what happened to my dad, please click here.

And, finally, I want to wish everyone a very happy Easter this weekend. Spring is here and I hope it brings you joy and love.

Happy Reading,
Elise

I love the Luck o’ the Irish!

Enter now until March 17th (Hey! That’s St. Patrick’s Day!) for a chance to win one of two signed copies of Jason’s Princess and Jarod’s Heart!

Hold on a minute… That’s TWO giveaways in one month!

Click here for your chance to enter and WIN one of two signed copies of Jason’s Princess, the first in the King Brothers Trilogy…

and…

Click here for your chance to enter and WIN one of two signed copies of Jarod’s Heart: A King Brothers Novel, the second book in the trilogy.

Why am I doing this? Because I can. Good luck to everyone!

~Elise

Paul McCartney asked this question: Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs. What’s wrong with that?

I say there’s nothing wrong with that, Paul. I am a junkie for all things silly and romantic. I’ve got a sweet tooth for the sweet stuff. Give me a good laugh, a good cry, maybe even a steamy love scene and I’m happy, just as long as it all works out in the end. I think we all want a little happily ever after in our lives. I see nothing wrong with that.

View more on BHCAuthor Spotlight

I cannot believe it's been since October when I last checked in with Goodreads! A lot has happened for me in that span and I thought I should get you all caught up on the happenings in Timbisha, Nevada, plus a snippet of something new on the horizon.

Jason's Princess is getting a makeover. (Yesssss) While I love my original cover hottie, it didn't feel right to NOT update the cover when I've updated the story. As most of you know, JP was my very first foray into storytelling, (well, at least, to the general public) and I made ALL the classic mistakes, the biggest one being that I didn't hire an editor. Heck, I didn't even have a free editor. I just let it fly, all on my own. I even sent copies of it to my family.

But, the King Brothers are such a cool trio, they deserved more. So, I hired a professional for Jarod's story, and a cool graphics design team. (Love, love LOVE my Blue Harvest Creative people. They are seriously THE BEST option for independent authors.)

Once Jarod's Heart had been completed, I wanted Jason and Julie's story to look and feel just as good, so I reworked it, A LOT. Now they flow together like peas and carrots, Jenny. The cover release is coming soon and the rerelease will be sometime in the middle of June.

After I wrote Chloe's Frost for A Winter's Romance anthology, I was kind of burned out and had to take a breather. My muse was sleeping and couldn't be roused for Josh's story. That's right, I had a classic case of writer's block. I hate that. Even though I'd already plotted an outline, the words just weren't hitting the pages like I wanted. But never fear, I've been working on something completely different to counteract the block and it's worked. I can't give you details as of yet, but let's just say there was a paranormal bloodsucker in my head fighting Josh for a way out first. You'll meet her this fall, and then a full-length novel will come out in 2017. (wink wink)

I'm now happy to report that Josh's story is finally hitting the rough screens of my Scrivener program and will hopefully be out by late 2016 or early 2017. It depends on how the word-flow comes out and how busy my team is. For now, fear not, for my muse is fully rested and is spinning her yarns at a fast pace.

TTFN!
~Elise

Today through Halloween, I'll be doing a countdown deal on Kindle for Jarod's Heart.

#KindleCountdown begins today! Get your copy of Jarod's Heart for $1.99 today only! Price goes up tomorrow, but sale runs through Halloween! #SpookyDeal #JarodsHeart #IndieBooksBeSeen #BHCAuthor

http://www.amazon.com/Jarods-Heart-Br...