.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Uses For Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt (ARC)

Uses For Boys
Erica Lorraine Scheidt
Pub. Date: January 15, 2013

Anna remembers a time before boys, when she was little and everything made sense. When she and her mom were a family, just the two of them against the world. But now her mom is gone most of the time, chasing the next marriage, bringing home the next stepfather. Anna is left on her own—until she discovers that she can make boys her family. From Desmond to Joey, Todd to Sam, Anna learns that if you give boys what they want, you can get what you need. But the price is high—the other kids make fun of her; the girls call her a slut. Anna's new friend, Toy, seems to have found a way around the loneliness, but Toy has her own secrets that even Anna can't know.

Then comes Sam. When Anna actually meets a boy who is more than just useful, whose family eats dinner together, laughs, and tells stories, the truth about love becomes clear. And she finally learns how it feels to have something to lose—and something to offer. Real, shocking, uplifting, and stunningly lyrical, Uses for Boys is a story of breaking down and growing up.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

***There are spoilers in this review, but as I would never recommend ANYONE reading this novel, it probably won't matter. Also, I'm a little mad right now, but I'm trying to draw back on the anger and inappropriate wordage and just be critical of substance.***

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

UPDATE: Dark Horse Indie and Timelines

Hey DreamCatchers!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...So I know it's been kinda slow around here at the Crazy Dream Blog since Falling Away went live on Valentine's Day. For the past three weeks, I've been pounding away at the laptop trying to get a novel out of my head and onto paper (okay, onto a blindingly bright screen). I was trying to get my head back into my Immortal Archives series to get Catacombs going again, but I wasn't feeling all that motivated. Then my gal pal JA Redmerski and I were talking about how her publishing company wanted her to write a follow-up to her awesome new book The Edge of Never. We'd both gone from writing supernatural and fantasy books to writing romance, and hey, turned out we both loved it, and totally amazed at how easily they came to us. So I'm sitting there bitching about how I'm lacking the inspiration right now to make Catacombs as awesome as I want it to be, and she basically said, "Screw it. Write another romance. Realistic fiction is hot right now. I bet you could have something on the market by summer." I did my, "Oh, God no, not another book. I've already pushed Dust and Falling Away ahead of Catacombs and readers are starting to ask WTF? I can't push it back again."
 
So I go off to soak in the tub for a good long while, and by the time I come out, I have a realistic fiction novel flowing through my head that I'm so freakin' excited about that I just can't help myself. I buried myself behind the computer and had 5K (5,000 words) written before I crashed in bed. Thanks, Jessica (insert sarcasm). Actually, I probably should thank her 'cause this has gotten me out of that writing funk and the words are just flowing out of me. Now it's three weeks later and I already have 50K ready to go and I seriously believe I can have the first draft of Nearly Broken ready by April 1st (no joke here!). HA! I actually completed it on April 1st! Am I good or what?
 
So here's my new timeline: Nearly Broken will definitely be ready for a summer release. I'm keeping that time block so my critique writers have all the time they need to filet it if necessary (hopefully not) and get in lots of editing. I'm also planning to throw it on NetGalley for reviews and I want to make sure readers have plenty of time to get to it as well. So...summer release. I'll announce an actual date once I see what my critique buddies say. I believe it's my best romance to date, but I won't lie. Nearly Broken is for mature audiences only, as there are some pretty dark and disturbing situations that not everyone will feel comfortable reading. So take heed if you like your love stories to be nothing but sunshine and lollypops - this ain't that kind of love story.
 
Catacombs I'm still hoping to get out by late summer. I'm going to tackle it as soon as my draft of Nearly Broken is ready to share. I think I'll have my romance bone sated enough to finally get my focus going. And there will be some romance in Catacombs as Emily and Gaius are finally able to get to know each other, so YAY! It just bums me out that I've made these clean urban fantasy novels in respect to sex, so it won't be nearly as descriptive as my romance novels.
 
And finally Stardust. This is the follow-up to Dust, the first novel in the Of Dust and Darkness trilogy. I've been getting asked about this one the most. I still plan to release before the end of the year, but it'll most likely be a December release. With two books needing publishing first, it's on the back burner. But don't worry, that story's been marinating in my head, and when I sit down to really focus on it, it's gonna come out fast and easy. I do have a cover ready to go, but don't plan to do a reveal until later this year. So no, you're not going to find this on GoodReads yet either. The story could always change as I'm writing it, so I don't want to throw out a synopsis for it too early.
 
And lastly, if you've tried checking out what's going on over at Dark Horse Indie lately, you've probably noticed it's not there. That's a blog I share with fellow Indie writers JA Redmerski, Rebecca A Rogers and Constance Sharper. We sorta pulled the reins (yeah, pun intended) on that for now. We've all been extremely busy as of late and we don't see our schedules clearing up any time soon, so since no one can truly focus on that blog, it's currently off the web. So sorry guys. You can still check out their personal blogs using the buttons on the left side of my page.
 
Alright, I've spent enough time writing this post. Time to get back to writing my novel! Cheers!

Oh, and by the way, I'm the author of the month over at Books Complete Me. They'll be spotlighting my novels every Sunday and each of my published novels are up for grabs internationally. Head over if you want a chance to win!
 
See all my books on GoodReads.