Cover Reveal: Coming January 5th from @limitlessbooks – #ChangingScenes by @parthalan

✦ ✦ #CoverReveal ✦ ✦

CHANGING SCENES by Jennifer Allis Provost

Series: Changes Series #2

Genre: #ContemporaryRomance

Release Date: January 5, 2016

Publisher: Limitless Publishing

✦ SYNOPSIS ✦

“Image isn’t everything

…or is it?”

For Astrid Janvier, image is everything…

Astrid is a world-renowned model, as famous for her strut as her startling green eyes. She’s modeled for the biggest names in the fashion world, and is regularly invited to parties in New York, London, and Paris. Thanks to a designer label addiction, she’s also broke, and takes a job as a cocktail waitress just to make rent. When her best friend Britt asks her to be her maid of honor at her upcoming wedding, their first task is to decide the menu.

Donnie Coehlo is a young, up-and-coming chef with a dinner menu to plan…

Donato—Donnie for short—is the head chef at Thirty-Nine and Twelve, a seafood bistro on the Connecticut shore. It’s a great accomplishment given his youthful age, but Donnie doesn’t brag. He just wants to find the right girl, settle down, and have a bunch of kids. When Astrid arrives at his restaurant, Donnie hopes she is the one. But would a high-priced model like Astrid be interested in a regular guy like him?

As Astrid’s life crumbles around her, and Donnie makes a terrible choice, Astrid learns the two of them are irrevocably tied together.

Will their connection be enough for Astrid to leave her high-fashion life behind, and accept what Donnie has to offer? Or will she chase her dreams as a model, leaving Donnie as part of her past?

✦ Cover Designer ✦

 Robin Harper of Wicked by Design

https://www.facebook.com/WickedByDesignRobinHarper

✦ About the author ✦

Jennifer Allis Provost is a native New Englander who lives in a sprawling colonial along with her beautiful and precocious twins, a dog that thinks she’s a kangaroo, a parrot, a junkyard cat, and a wonderful husband who never forgets to buy ice cream. As a child, she read anything and everything she could get her hands on, including a set of encyclopedias, but fantasy was always her favorite. She spends her days drinking vast amounts of coffee, arguing with her computer, and avoiding any and all domestic behavior.

LIMITLESS PUBLISHING: http://www.limitlesspublishing.net/authors/jennifer-allis-provost/

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2975887.Jennifer_Allis_Provost

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/jennallis

WEBSITE: http://authorjenniferallisprovost.com/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/parthalan

Available now: Changing Teams #NewRelease #TeamLimitless #Romance @limitlessbooks

Changing Teams (Changes #1) is available everywhere today! Check it out on Amazon, or wherever books are sold. 

“What if you met the man of your dreams…

                   And found out he was living a lie?”

Britt Sullivan, part time model and full time aspiring artist, is sick of living alone in the city…

Taking lame jobs just to make ends meet is leading Britt nowhere, and she knows something has to change. She needs some excitement, and when she meets blue-eyed Midwesterner Sam MacKellar at a photo shoot, she realizes he’s perfect for her in every way—well, except for the fact he’s gay.

A devastating childhood trauma turned Sam’s whole life into a lie…

Sam came to New York City to escape an existence that had become unbearable, and when his job as a photographer’s assistant leads him to Britt, he realizes he’s finally met someone who sees him as he really is. But plagued by nightmares and trapped by his own deception, he doesn’t know how she can truly be part of his life.

Friendship leads to a passionate encounter and hidden dangers…

Britt comforts Sam though his nightmares, and they begin to explore their mutual attraction, but the tables are turned when Britt faces unwelcome attention from a manipulative art instructor and Sam must come to her defense.

Sam is terrified to reveal the source of his nightmares, sure the truth would shatter his complicated relationship with Britt, but when she suffers an unspeakable trauma of her own, only Sam can help her pick up the pieces.

When Britt learns the magnitude of Sam’s lies, will his reasons and the depth of their feelings be enough to allow her to forgive him? Does she have a future with Sam, or does his deception also include the reality of changing teams?

Watch for the second installment, Changing Scenes, which will be out January 5!

Changing Scenes Back Cover Blurb #ChangingTeams #TeamLimitless @parthalan @limitlessbooks

Today we have a special treat - the back cover blurb for Changing Scenes, book 2 of Changes! It will be available everywhere January 5 from Limitless Publishing.

“Image isn’t everything

                                            …or is it?”

For Astrid Janvier, image is everything…

Astrid is a world-renowned model, as famous for her strut as her startling green eyes. She’s modeled for the biggest names in the fashion world, and is regularly invited to parties in New York, London, and Paris. Thanks to a designer label addiction, she’s also broke, and takes a job as a cocktail waitress just to make rent. When her best friend Britt asks her to be her maid of honor at her upcoming wedding, their first task is to decide the menu.

Donnie Coehlo is a young, up-and-coming chef with a dinner menu to plan…

Donato—Donnie for short—is the head chef at Thirty-Nine and Twelve, a seafood bistro on the Connecticut shore. It’s a great accomplishment given his youthful age, but Donnie doesn’t brag. He just wants to find the right girl, settle down, and have a bunch of kids. When Astrid arrives at his restaurant, Donnie hopes she is the one. But would a high-priced model like Astrid be interested in a regular guy like him?

As Astrid’s life crumbles around her, and Donnie makes a terrible choice, Astrid learns the two of them are irrevocably tied together.

Will their connection be enough for Astrid to leave her high-fashion life behind,

and accept what Donnie has to offer? Or will she chase her dreams as a model, leaving Donnie as part of her past?

And remember, Changing Teams will be available everywhere November 10!

Preorder it here.

Pr

Halloween Happenings: Preorders, Blog Hops, And An Interview! #Halloween #AmWriting #ChangingTeams

Happy Halloween! 

I've spent the last few days splattering fake blood on a lab coat and tweaking my daughter's Rainbow Dash costume. If you have any costume pics, share them in the comments below.

Changing Teams, the first in an all-new contemporary romance series, is now up for preorder! Just click here.

In other news, the Broad Universe Full Moon blog tour is in full swing! Check out this page for details, and the chance to win a $75 gift card and a crap ton of books.

Halloween may be almost over, but good horror stories are a year round treat. Check out this interview on Masslive.com where I mention two of my favorite horror stories.

That's all for now! I hope you get lots of treats, and a few tricks to keep you on your toes ;)

A mad king. An escaped slave. One warrior to save the realm…

Heir to the Sun, book one of the Chronicles of Parthalan. Find it here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara had always been careful.
She never spoke of magic, never associated with those suspected of handling magic, never thought of magic, and never, ever, let anyone see her mark. After all, the last thing she wanted was to end up missing, like her father and brother.

Then, a silver elf pushed his way into Sara’s dream, and her life became anything but ordinary.

COPPER GIRL – Book One of the Copper Legacy

Cover Reveal - Changing Teams (Changes #1) @Limitlessbooks @parthalan #ChangingTeams #CoverLove #TeamLimitless

"What if you met the man of your dreams...

                                                     And found out he was living a lie?"

Without further ado, here it is! 

Britt Sullivan, part time model and full time aspiring artist, is sick of living alone in the city…

Taking lame jobs just to make ends meet is leading Britt nowhere, and she knows something has to change. She needs some excitement, and when she meets blue-eyed Midwesterner Sam MacKellar at a photo shoot, she realizes he’s perfect for her in every way—well, except for the fact he’s gay.

A devastating childhood trauma turned Sam’s whole life into a lie…

Sam came to New York City to escape an existence that had become unbearable, and when his job as a photographer’s assistant leads him to Britt, he realizes he’s finally met someone who sees him as he really is. But plagued by nightmares and trapped by his own deception, he doesn’t know how she can truly be part of his life.

Friendship leads to a passionate encounter and hidden dangers…

Britt comforts Sam though his nightmares, and they begin to explore their mutual attraction, but the tables are turned when Britt faces unwelcome attention from a manipulative art instructor and Sam must come to her defense.

Sam is terrified to reveal the source of his nightmares, sure the truth would shatter his complicated relationship with Britt, but when she suffers an unspeakable trauma of her own, only Sam can help her pick up the pieces.

When Britt learns the magnitude of Sam’s lies, will his reasons and the depth of their feelings be enough to allow her to forgive him? Does she have a future with Sam, or does his deception also include the reality of changing teams?

Here's the full wrap:

Changing Teams will be available everywhere November 10 from Limitless Publishing.

Care And Feeding Of A Writer: Writer Wellness

(Author's note: this is an ongoing series on how to combat everyday obstacles and other setbacks to the creative process. If there's a specific topic you'd like me to discuss, let me know in the comments.)

We're all guilty of taking less that ideal care of ourselves from time to time, or even falling into bad habits that last for weeks or months; we stay up too late, eat too much junk, and engage in a host of other bad behaviors. Yes, we're only human, and yes, bad habits can be overcome, but us creative types need to be especially cognizant of our well-being. It's hard to be creative when you're feeling "off", and that can lead to substandard work, missed deadlines, and all sorts of complications.

I was going to post my writing schedule for the rest of 2015, but I didn't want to scare anyone. Basically, I have four ongoing series and a crap ton of short stories in the pipeline, and that's enough to drive anyone to drink. In addition to my crazy schedule, I'm also taking care of my family, managing my home, working a day job, and I'll be starting grad school next month. Basically, I can't afford to bring anything less than my A game, or the domino effect from missed deadlines could be catastrophic. 

A few months ago my day job transitioned to a virtual office, which means that I now work from home. I saw this as not only a great way to save on gas, but also the ideal time to make changes to my routine.

I started small, and upgraded what I eat. At the office cafeteria I would typically get a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich for breakfast; now, I have oatmeal and a glass of vegetable juice (yes, I like vegetable juice). Since I now have time to go to the farmer's market, I always have plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables on hand for snacks and salads. Over the past few months my junk food habit has become almost nonexistent. 

Once my eating habits improved, I took stock of how much time I spend sitting. Pretty much everything I do, from my day job to writing to school, is accomplished by me sitting in front of a computer. This is unhealthy for a number of reasons, but the fix is pretty easy: step away from the computer. I make a habit of getting up once an hour and moving around; sometimes I go outside with the kids, or I might do something as mundane as put in a load of laundry. Those short bursts of activity really do add up, and keep the blood--and creativity--pumping.

The third change I made involves sleep. Some of my friends joke that I don't sleep, which is close to the truth. My natural rhythm is to sleep from midnight to around six am, and I feel fully rested after six hours--usually. There are times I need more, such as after a multi-day event or if I'm coming down with something, but the problem was that I wasn't letting myself get the extra rest when I needed it. That, coupled with the fact that I love getting up early and writing while the house is quiet meant that I was driving myself to near-exhaustion, and ending up losing days while I recovered.

So how did i conquer that obstacle? No, I didn't start going to bed earlier. What I did do was schedule breaks in my day, two half hour chunks where I give myself permission to do nothing. No computer or phone is allowed during this time, but other than that I do whatever I want. I might nap, or read, or make Play-Doh. These short breaks recharge me almost as much as a full night's sleep, which is a pretty good return on investment :)

Based on my rigorous unscientific research, here are my three rules for writer wellness:

1. Eat some vegetables every day.
2. Move around often.
3. Rest when you need it.

What are your wellness habits? Tell me in the comments!

A mad king. An escaped slave. One warrior to save the realm…

Heir to the Sun – available everywhere June 1, 2015. Add it to your Goodreads shelf here.

Like it on Facebook here.

Full Pi-Con Schedule, Including A Writing Workshop And A Reading

Hey all! If you're going to be in the Windsor, CT area from July 31 - August 2, swing by Pi-Con! It's a great convention that celebrates many forms of geekery, from science to filk to cosplay. Their slogan is "the friendliest little convention in New England", and they live up to it. Learn more about the awesomeness that is Pi-Con here.

I've got my full schedule listed below. Hope to see you there!

FRI 10:40 am Everything But the Writing

Jennifer Allis Provost, Trisha J. Wooldridge
There are lots of great workshops to help your craft, but what about actually selling your writing and making money? Let’s take a look at what else you need to know to be a professionally published author from queries to organizations, contracts and rights* to filing taxes**. * and **–Neither Trish nor Jenn are lawyers or tax advisors; we’re just giving you basic info.

FRI 1:00 pm World Building

Jennifer Bresnick (M), Dee Carter, Jennifer Allis Provost, Kristi Petersen Schoonover
The panelists will explore the many aspects of building believable worlds for your stories and novels. How does the writer do this?

FRI 4:00 pm Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

Susan Hanniford Crowley, Bianca D’Arc, Gordon Linzner (M), Jennifer Allis Provost
The panelists will look specifically at how to write successful science fiction and fantasy. What traits are specific to this genre? What are the challenges?

SAT 11:00 am The Books You Read Under the Covers

We all have “guilty pleasures”–books that we love and follow and re-read but feel just a little shy about confessing to. Time to ‘fess up! What books feed something in your soul, in defiance of others’ opinions of them? And why do those books just do it for you? (60 mins)
Susan de Guardiola, Lisa Evans (M), Jennifer Allis Provost

SAT 2:00 pm The Inklings

Imagine if your book club included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. That was the Inklings, who met in or near Oxford in England in the 1930s and 1940s. Just how influential were they? And how many of us would visit them if we found a time machine? (60 mins)
Nicholas Checker (M), Heather Dawn, Lisa Evans, Jennifer Allis Provost

SAT 5:00 pm SF/F/H TV of the 90s

As cable came into its own, many shows were developed and broadcast by smaller networks, like the WB, or produced by studios and sold for syndication. The 1990s saw a strong trend toward paranormal shows, with vampires and witches all over the dial. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Forever Knight, Charmed, a prime-time revival of Dark Shadows, Kindred: the Embraced, Angel, Xena, Hercules, Highlander (both of them), Early Edition, ST: Deep Space Nine, ST: Voyager…let’s share the our thoughts on the best, the worst, and the unfairly unnoticed. (60 mins)
Michael McAfee, Jennifer Pelland (M), Jennifer Allis Provost, Dr. James Prego

SAT 8:00 pm Romance and Specfic--What's the Overlap?

Romance is the most consistently successful fiction genre, partly because it’s so broad and includes so many subcategories. “Paranormal romance” and romantic fantasy include many spec-fic elements, and SF romance exists, too. How far does romance overlap with spec-fic, and is there a gray area for books that aren’t quite either, but are a little of both? (60 mins)
D.L. Carter, Susan Hanniford Crowley (M), Lisa Evans, Jennifer Allis Provost

SUN 10:00 am What the NA is That?

“New Adult” is the most recent sub-category of fiction. Is it just YA with some sex thrown in, or is it really aimed at a unique audience and their concerns? (60 mins)
Nicholas Checker (M), Vikki Ciaffone, Kate Kaynak, Jennifer Allis Provost

SUN 11:00 am It Drives Me Nuts When Writers Do This!

Killing off characters, using bad language, gratuitous sex and violence, not enough sex and violence, writing in the present tense, getting all meta?what are your literary pet peeves? Come and vent! (60 mins)
Grant Carrington, D.L. Carter, Jennifer Allis Provost, Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert (M)

SUN 12:00 pm Reading

I'll be reading my favorite passage from Heir to the Sun

A mad king. An escaped slave. One warrior to save the realm...

Heir to the Sun – available everywhere June 1, 2015. Add it to your Goodreads shelf here.

Like it on Facebook here.

Summer sale!

Hey all!

As most of you are aware, I’m a freelance publicist and editor as well as a writer. Since summer is such a great time to send your work off to be wrangled by someone else (leaving you with time to enjoy the sun), I’m running a sale on my editing rates. Just contact me via this form and mention “summer sale”.

What will these shiny new rates be, you ask? Here are the sales priced critiques rates:

Query letter and first three chapters: $50  $25

Full manuscript critique, 60k – 100k words: $150  $100

Full manuscript critique, more than 100k words: $200  $150

I know, wicked cheap.

In other news, Heir to the Sun is now free for Kindle Unlimited, and Prime members can borrow it for free! What a great way to dive into a new series. Remember, if you read it please leave a review. they’re like crack for writers.

Take care, and enjoy the sun!

A mad king an escaped slave. One warrior to save the realm...

Heir to the Sun – available everywhere June 1, 2015. Add it to your GoodReads shelf here.

Like it on Facebook here.

Enter To Win A Personalized Print Edition of HEIR TO THE SUN!

Hey all!

Both the print and ebook editions of HEIR TO THE SUN are live! But, who wants to pay for books, right? Not me!

Here are a few ways you can win a personalized print edition. The giveaway on Goodreads runs until July 1. If you're not a fan of Goodreads, sign up for my newsletter and you'll be automatically entered. Or, you can just follow the Rafflecopter link below.

Hey, why not enter all three ways? I won't tell.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A mad king an escaped slave. One warrior to save the realm...

Heir to the Sun – available everywhere June 1, 2015. Add it to your GoodReads shelf (and enter to win a signed print edition) here.

Like it on Facebook here.

Care And Feeding Of A Writer, Volume One: Recharging The Batteries

 (Author's note: this is the first in a series of posts on how to combat everyday obstacles and other setbacks to the creative process. If there's a specific topic you'd like me to discuss, let me know in the comments.)

We've all been there, probably more often than we'd like to admit. Whether we attribute it to writer's block, stress from the day job, or our printer being out of ink, sometimes we just can get the words out of our brains and into our WIP. A closely related condition is when a scene forms perfectly in your head, but when you write it, it comes out something like this:

"She woke up, then went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. A bolt of lightning illuminated the darkened room, revealing the dark smudges beneath her eyes, all that was left of her nightmare."

Or, if it's not horribly cliched purple prose, it's this:

"Hero: Me John. You want date John?"

Yeah. The only thing that crap's good for is the delete key.

So what's a writer to do when they want to write, but can't? In my experience, the best thing to do is recharge your creative batteries.

Many things take a toll on our creativity, whether it's a day job, financial stress, or just plain being tired. Why, this past winter it was 20 below in my neck of the woods, and let me tell you there is no way I was creating anything except a cozy spot in the blankets. The snow melted eventually, and while sunlight is an excellent way to recharge, there's one specific type of event I'd like to discuss today: the writer's conference.

These conferences vary greatly, and so will your experiences. It's important that you choose conferences that are germane to your subject; for instance, if you write Amish romances you probably don't want to attend something focusing on splatterpunk. That doesn't mean you can't have cross-genre appeal, but be aware of what the conference will be focusing on and who your fellow writers are.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending Anthocon in Portsmouth, NH. Check out their website, and their Facebook page. Here's their mission statement from the website: In its fourth year, AnthoCon is three days of panels, workshops, readings, and demonstrations related to imaginative fiction and art. Let me tell you, it's a lot more than that.

Anthocon is a wonderfully diverse and inclusive event, and they welcome all writers of speculative fiction. There is a large concentration of horror writers, but paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and even middle grade fantasy is well represented. The attendees run the gamut from multi-published, award-winning authors to those just starting out. It's three days of talking, and commiserating, and just being with other writers. Remember the bee girl?

At Anthocon, I feel like the bee girl :)

I brought my laptop with me, but I was so busy having fun I didn't write a single word. Since I came back home, I've written over ten thousand. The moral of the story is that nothing gets the creative juices flowing like being around creativity. 

I leave you with the one picture I took during Anthocon, the Bloody Mary I had on Sunday morning. Boy, did I need it!

Doesn't this look tasty?

How do you recharge your creative batteries? Tell us in the comments!

Heir to the Sun – available wherever books are sold. Add it to your GoodReads shelf here.

Like it on Facebook here.

HEIR TO THE SUN - Live Today!

It's here! It's finally here! The ebook re-release of HEIR TO THE SUN is today! It's available wherever ebooks are sold, from Amazon to iTunes to your local library; assuming, of course, your library has ebooks. If you're a die-hard print lover fear not, for the print edition will release June 15.

Back cover blurb:

A mad king. An escaped slave. One warrior to save the realm... 

When Asherah, stripped of both her memory and her dignity, learns that King Sahlgren is responsible for her torment it nearly breaks her. Instead, she leads her fellow slaves to freedom. More prisons are scattered across Parthalan, and Asherah vows to burn them all. 


Caol'nir, a warrior descended from the gods, is sworn to serve and defend the king. Then a priestess is murdered, and Caol'nir learns that Sahlgren is to blame. Determined to stop the king, sacred oath or no, Caol'nir joins Asherah's rebellion. 


What Caol'nir doesn't know is that Sahlgren has promised the demon lord a woman of rare and singular beauty, a woman whose abilities are rumored to rival the sun god’s themselves…a woman Caol’nir knows all too well.

~~~

Within the next few weeks look for teasers from the second Chronicle of Parthalan, THE VIRGIN QUEEN.

Heir to the Sun – available everywhere June 1, 2015. Add it to your GoodReads shelf (and enter to win a signed print edition) here.

Like it on Facebook here.