Author Jen Naumann: blog tour

Agh, where does time go? While I'm sorry I've been so neglectful of this blog, I promise you it's because I've been insanely busy with writing and other projects! Regardless, it was time to break the silence with some pretty big news. People who know me will probably agree I'm pretty modest for the most part, but this is one of those times in which I want to shout my news from the rooftop: I'm an award winning author!

Last week, the day after approving the gorgeous new cover for Mind Static, I received an email from the president of Indie BRAG informing me that the same book received a B.R.A.G. Medallion! Honestly, I wasn't sure what it was at first, either, until I went to their website and found this explanation:

BRAGMedallion.com is owned and operated by indieBRAG, LLC, a privately held organization that has brought together a large group of readers, both individuals and members of book clubs, located throughout the United States and in ten other countries around the globe. The word "indie" refers to self or independently published books, while B.R.A.G. is an acronym for Book Readers Appreciation Group.

All ebooks brought to the attention of indieBRAG, LLC are subjected to a rigorous selection process. This entails an initial screening to ensure that the author's work meets certain minimum standards of quality and content. If it passes this preliminary assessment, it is then read by members drawn from our global reader group. They judge the merits of the book based on a comprehensive list of criteria, including;

Plot

Writing Style

Characters

Copy editing

Dialogue

One final factor our readers use to judge a book is whether or not they would recommend it to their best friend.

On average, 50% of the books submitted to us fail to pass the initial screen and another 40% are subsequently rejected by our readers. Thus, only 10% of the books we consider are awarded our B.R.A.G. Medallion and are presented on our website. Conversely, we do not make public the titles of any books that were not selected to receive a Medallion, or the names of their authors.

Needless to say, I was touched and honored that my work fit this criteria and made it into the final 10%! I'm probably just as excited to reveal the gorgeous new cover for Mind Static, created by the amazing Najla Qambers (see teaser, left). In the past I've been proud to say I designed my own covers and took all the pictures of models used, however, the market is highly competitive, and I really don't have as much time or as many resources as I would like. Accordingly, I've hired this extremely talented designer to take over the duties. She's the genius behind the beautiful Paranormal Keepers cover. Bloggers, sign up for the reveal and keep an eye out for the upcoming blitz of through Xpressobooktours.

If you haven't yet heard the news, I'm writing contemporary new adult romance under the pen name Jennifer Ann, and will be releasing my debut novel Adam's List on June 13th! I'm really excited about this project as it was just as much fun to write as the paranormal genre. If you're a blogger interested in the reveal (the giveaway includes a Victoria's Secret gift card, New York necklace, and signed paperback copy of Adam's List), be sure to sign up HERE. **Please note anything written under this pen name contains adult content, and therefore is intended for readers 18+ only.** Get all the latest on my new adult romance projects through my other website, Facebook, or Twitter.

You may remember how I recently gushed over the steamy Addicted to You new adult series by twin sisters Becca and Krista Richtie. Now I'm crazy excited to participate in their Get Addicted Tour, and bring you all sorts of goodies from the fabulous duo! Check out the five secrets about the Addicted series, then enter the giveaway at the bottom to win an Amazon gift card, and two books from the Addicted to You series!

Title: Addicted for Now

Author: Krista & Becca Ritchie

Series: Addicted #2

Pub Date: November 30^th, 2013

Amazon: Link not available until Nov. 30^th.

Add Addicted to Now to Your Goodreads Shelf!

He's addicted to booze. She's addicted to sex...staying sober is only half the battle.
No. More. Sex.

Those are the three words Lily Calloway fears the most. But Loren Hale is determined to be with Lily without enabling her dangerous compulsions. With their new living situation—sleeping in the same bed, for real, together—Lily has new battles. Like not jumping Lo’s bones every night. Not being consumed by sex and his body.

Loren plans to stay sober, to right all of his wrongs. So when someone threatens to expose Lily’s secret to her family and the public, he promises that he’ll do anything to protect her. But with old enemies surfacing, Lo has more at stake than his sobriety.

They will torment Lily until Lo breaks.

And his worst fear isn’t relapsing. He hears the end. He sees it. The one thing that could change everything. Just three words.

No. More. Us.

5 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets about the Addicted Series

We may have mentioned some of these before on Twitter. (Truthfully, late-night writing time leads me to loopy deliriousness and I take to social media too quickly with secrets – not spoilers!) Krista may hate me in the morning (or maybe I’m just projecting). But I make it up to her with chocolate. Chocolate is the answer to everything :D

5) The novels are more detailed (sex-wise) with each consecutive book because Lily becomes more comfortable talking about sex. And in Addicted for Now, we see Lo’s POV, and he’s never been as ashamed as Lily when describing the act. I’m not sure anyone will pick up on that, but we were always conscious of it.

4) From the beginning of Addicted to You, Lily is 20, and by the end of the series with Addicted After All, Lily is 23, almost 24. So the series spans nearly 4 years.

3) We never meant for Addicted for Now to be so long. We constantly consider deleting subplots and scenes, but in the end, we’re keeping everything that we intended to give. Most especially because Lily and Lo’s story will have a break while the spin-offs go on, and we wanted to give our readers as much as possible without adding any filler.

2) Addicted to You (Addicted #1) may feel repetitious in a couple places. We’ve wanted to come out and explain this aspect for a while, so I guess that makes this a secret. But when we were editing the first book, we both knew there was a part that seemed to repeat. Krista even said, “I feel like I just read this.” And after a long, long conversation, we decided to keep it. We knew that addiction was a cycle, and we wanted to accurately depict that sense of “whoa, this is happening again?”

1) Okay, this is the hardest secret for me to write (even though in my haste, I know I shouted this one out on Twitter). If you have NOT read Ricochet (Addicted #1.5) or Addicted for Now (Addicted #2), divert your eyes. Spoilers ahead! …

… There’s a very controversial convo that happens in Ricochet on the boat. Daisy is talking about sex (naturally, the series is a discourse about sex)—and Ryke offers her some advice. Here’s the secret: I was given the same advice at 17 by a guy I just met. Daisy was 16 in the book. This stuff happens. And while it’s awkward, I look back on the moment and think about his views on sex. He hated the idea of a guy not giving the girl any lead-up, anything in return. Getting in and getting out made him cringe. He wanted sex to be about her high, her experience.

And Ryke, as a character, is very, very empathetic towards women. He was raised by a single mother. He’s self-assured and doesn’t care what people think of him. All he wants is to make sure that you’re okay. And if you’re okay, he’s fine. He’ll move on. But Daisy isn’t emotionally fine yet. She’s tricked everyone but him.

So that’s the number one secret. It’s hard to justify something that I went through. And the Ryke and Daisy friendship has quickly become one of the most taboo aspects of the series. She’s a high fashion model. She has been an adult since she was 14 and sucked into that world, and I can’t wait to share her story in Hothouse Flower. Our plan isn’t to convince you to like these two. If you don’t like them now, I can’t guarantee you ever will. We’re just going to show them as they are. Raw, honest people—flaws and all.

For more stops on the Get Addicted Tour, check out their schedule here!

AUTHOR BIOS

Becca Ritchie claims she's from Mystic Falls, but really, she lives in Atlanta where humidity is her greatest foe. She loves comic books, blue nail polish and Jonathan Taylor Thomas circa 1995. She frequents Twitter to dish about too many TV shows, and when she's not blogging, she writes novels and has teamed up with her twin sister to collaborate on a New Adult series.

Krista Ritchie has a clone...or someone who looks exactly like her. If she's not writing books with her twin sister, she's pouring over entertainment news and ingesting copious amounts of pop culture. She likes tennis, that thing called the TV, and beating Becca (her clone) on Sega Genesis. She created YA Book Exchange to combat her book buying addiction and started Nawanda Files, a YA Book Blog that features books into movies news, to share her love for all things bookish. Oh, and she does something called science. Whatever that is.

AUTHOR LINKS

Goodreads

Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway