Valentine's Day Treat from Danielle Sibarium

Happy Valentine's Day!

As a special treat, I'm excited to bring you an announcement from my good friend Danielle Sibarium. I've become a big fan of Danielle's YA romance novels, so I was so pumped when I got her message below. Be sure to enter the giveaway posted below for her new release!

First, I would like to thank you for allowing me to announce my special message on your blog. I am so honored to be here today. I understand your blog is a reflection of you and so I thank you for giving me this opportunity. Next, I’d like to thank every reader that has ever picked up one of my books and given them a chance. And finally I’d like to thank all of my fans that have felt compelled to reach out to me. I have appreciated all of your letters, messages, and support, whether it came in an email, or just a short and sweet tweet. 

When I began this journey, I had no expectations. I had dreams and hopes and wishes, but to say I expected For Always to take on a life of its own would not be true. Since its release in October of 2011, many people have contacted me asking me if I planned to write a sequel. I thought Stephanie and Jordan’s story had been completed, but for many of you, it wasn’t enough. So because you asked, because you told me in no uncertain terms you wanted it, I am working on And Forever, the sequel to For Always. And Forever picks up where For Always ended. While Stephanie and Jordan are finally a couple, they still carry the same baggage they had before. Can their love survive the ghosts of their past and the challenges of the future?

I hope you are excited about this as I am. I expect And Forever to be released in July 2014. Until then, look for teasers on Facebook and Twitter. And before I go, I leave you with this, the prologue of And Forever.  Once again thank you for being so amazing. Happy Reading! 

Prologue  

     The scent of death lingered nearby. Always. Only I didn't attract it, I repelled it, like a deflector shield. This was my lot in life, to extend the days of those I loved. That theory came from Jordan; the keeper of my heart, and the love of my life!
I sighed. I didn't realize I did it until Jordan apologized. Again.
"I'm sorry Steph, I don't want to be distracted."
"I know. I understand. Promise."
He misunderstood. It was a contented sigh. One that said I was thrilled my boyfriend was driving me to school. The sigh was a sign of how surreal sitting next to Jordan and knowing that he loved me was. How I couldn't believe in a matter of hours he'd be leaving me alone on the college campus, and I intended to savor each minute with him. The sigh was the only chance I had of getting any of those sentiments across because he didn't want me to talk while he was driving. I knew just being in the car together was challenging for him.
Jordan still suffered the after effects of a terrible car accident that left his ex-girlfriend dead. Of course he was breaking up with her at the time because he loved me, and I pushed him into making a choice between us. When he served as my unexpected prom date, I made him admit his feelings. That's what led to his break-up with Madison, leaving him in a swamp of guilt induced quick sand when she died. But we worked through all that.
I hoped.
I didn't bother saying anything further to try and reassure him I wasn't upset. I'd already been warned he couldn't concentrate on the road and to keep the radio down. The problem was he wanted it down so low I couldn't hear the music. I glanced at his hands on the steering wheel, his knuckles were white. He held on so tight I expected his fingers to cramp up. I hated that this was so hard for him. I wished I knew how to make it better, but the only thing I could do was stand beside him and hope in time he'd heal.
I turned to my window, watching the never ending expanse of trees zoom by. I wished for a brief moment I'd gone in the other car with my mother and her new, at least new to me, boyfriend Eddie. I'd been clueless about Eddie, but after her health scare last week, she came clean. She wanted to see him and had been ordered to take a few days off of work. Work is where they'd rendezvous during lunch. She'd been frightened when they first told her it looked like a heart attack and realized it was silly to keep him hidden away. No way I wanted to hear what cheesy, weird things they might be talking about. I mean it was my mom, gross. Still, I was happy for her. My father died a decade ago and as far as I knew she'd never dated before.
I chose to ride with Jordan, because even in the deafening silence, and the tension he carried on his shoulders every time we got in a car together, there was nowhere else I'd rather be. From the first moment he spoke to me, he owned my heart. It was branded with his name. I'd tried for four years to move on, to forget him, but that wasn't an option for me. No one could hold a candle to him.
"Hey," He pulled my attention back to the here and now. "You know I love you right?"
I smiled. Of course he knew that would make me smile, that's why he said it. It felt like that's all I'd done over the last week since he found me crying on the beach. I'll never forget the wave of relief that washed over me when I found out he'd been spared from a terrible plane crash. He never made it on the plane because I called him at the last minute in an attempt to get him to stay. Thank goodness I did. I didn't know where he was going or why, but Maria warned me that he was leaving, and it might be forever.
I always believed myself to be the root cause of the bad things that happen to people around me, Jordan thought I was what kept them hanging on. I didn't believe him, at least not yet. But having him try to convince me otherwise promised to be amazing.

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Writers Are People Too. No, Really.

I’m not going to lie. When you're an author, negative reviews of your book hurt. Like really bad. Imagine being stabbed repeatedly in the chest, then having an Army tank run you over, only to be followed by a stray dog peeing in your face. That's maybe a small glimpse into how it feels.

Today I came across some negative reviews left for a book written by a Twitter friend of mine who is extremely nice and kindhearted. While I haven't read her book myself, I was appalled to read through the overly harsh comments left by these bloggers on Goodreads. And I felt inspired to explain why I think this is totally uncalled for.

As writers, we spend months pouring our heart and soul into these stories, creating these characters and the worlds they live in from nothing more than the darkest corners of our imaginations. Then we take this precious story we've created and release it to the wild, kind of the way a mother has to send her child to his first day of kindergarten. And we're just ordinary people, like everyone else. So of course it hurts when you use dramatic GIFs and foul language to describe just how much you hated our books. Probably the most ironic part about all of this is the fact that most writers I know are emotional creatures, often even socially introverted. Many of us have a hard time putting ourselves out there to begin with. And we're known to take things to heart.

Before I published my first novel, I didn't fully appreciate this concept. While I've always tried to be a fairly positive person and don't believe in putting others down, I sometimes gave out 2 star reviews to books I really didn't like. Now, as I stand in the awkward and sometimes ill-fitting shoes that writers are forced to wear, I understand just what an impact negative reviews can have. If I really can't stand a book, I will just decline to review it.

Many bloggers I've contacted state on their website that they won't tear a book apart and if they didn't enjoy it that they will do their best to point out the positive aspects, knowing everyone doesn't have the same tastes. This is so true. That's the most frustrating part about negative reviews - just because Joe Blow thought a book was stupid and tacky doesn't mean his 60 year old mother whose basement he's living in won't thoroughly enjoy it.

Next time you leave feedback on a book you've read, please keep in mind (whether you personally know the author or not) that they're just regular people trying to make a living doing something they really enjoy. It's not necessary to put down the author and go on a rampage that tears their books to shreds. And to my fellow authors who have to endure the sometimes immature comments left by people who either don't know or don't care that they're talking about a real person who put gallons of blood and sweat into their work, just remember:

Thankfully, we live in a diverse world where there sill are people who are more interested in sharing the love than spreading the hate.

My Serious Anxiety

I'm one of those people who doesn't just like something and think it's good, but totally falls head over heels in love and obsesses over it, whether it's a movie, book, song, whatever. I will go an entire week listening to the same song on repeat. If I watch a favorite movie for the tenth time my mind will often get so lost in the story it's disturbing when I have to come back to reality. I guess that makes me either extremely weird or extremely passionate. But that passion sometimes comes with a price - something I call my "favorite overload".

A prime example of this is when I go into a book store. The second I step foot inside I am slammed with major anxiety. I'm not talking "gee there are so many books in here, this is awesome" but jittery-wandering-about-the-store-like-I'm-a-zombie-because-I-can't-freaking-focus-long-enough-to-know-where-to-begin-and-my-heart-is-going-to-leap-from-my-chest anxiety. It really sucks. Last time I think I even had a rash on my neck by the time I left and I have never broken out in hives before that I can remember. There is simply not enough time in the day for me to read all the books that are accumulating in my to-read list. I try to sneak reading time in at night, but often fall asleep and have the typical "kindle crashing down on my face" syndrome.

To cut down on this particular "favorite overload" I try to stick mostly to eBooks and avoid bookstores at all costs. For some reason, public libraries aren't quite as traumatic for me. I've gotten better about actually borrowing books, if you can believe there are just places that loan you a book for free. Besides, my physical bookshelves are so full they're beginning to bow down in the middle. If we ever build a new house, you can bet there will be a full-blown library somewhere in there with velvet lounge chairs for reading. The one below would do just fine.

Maybe I just confessed to all of you that I have some serious kind of mental disorder, or maybe I just proved that I'm a hard core author because it seems most authors I've met have personality quirks. It doesn't matter because I learned my lesson when taking depression meds and wasn't able to write for years while on it. But my point is, sometimes when you feel passionately about something, it can physically effect you in ways you would never have imagined.

What are some of your anxieties or passions?