Unleashed is Finished and Ready To Publish

I have finally put the finishing touches on my Contemporary YA Novel, Unleashed!  

Unleashed!
    Black Widow meets Mean Girls.  

Here's the blurb for the book: 

17-year-old Aleasha Summers was groomed to become a spy and never even knew it. That is, until her family died in a car accident and the Agency sends a handsome agent to collect her.

Tasked with infiltrating a high school and its seedy underbelly, Aleasha finds herself caught in Cecelia’s cross hairs.  But Cecelia is no ordinary high school bully. She's a child of the Mexican Mafia hell-bent on controlling the city and destroying Aleasha in any way she can.

When her boyfriend, her family, and Agency members are kidnapped, Aleasha must take on the Mafia to save her new spy family and the family she has come to love, or lose them and leave the city helpless against the Mexican Mafia’s reign of terror.

Interesting Facet #1:  Aleasha Summers is modeled after a girl I actually know. The girl ON THE COVER!  

There's so much to tell; so many tidbits to include about Unleashed!  And I'm so excited to finally be able to share them!  So take a moment, sign up for my newsletter so I can let you in on the secrets too. By the time Unleashed! completes the publishing process and is on the shelves, you'll feel like you already know her.  I guarantee you'll love her as much as I do. 

And, if you want to read the first five pages, head on over to my Website, and download them!

Book Review: Bridges of the Heart

I had the opportunity to read a book called Bridges of the Heart by author Joan Sowards this weekend.  She and I became acquainted through the ANWA Writer's group and she sent me a copy for review.  

I've never been a big historical romance reader, but I gave it a try and was impressed with the story.  Maybe it's because I have a soft spot in my heart for family history and genealogy.  My parents and a few sisters are/were avid genealogists.  We estimate my parents submitted more than 300,000 names before they passed.  Imagine THAT welcoming committee on the other side! ;)

Or maybe it's because the story line was different from so many that I've read in recent months.  I don't know.  Except that over the couple of days I spent reading this book, my mind would often wander back to the place I was at, wondering what would happen next and pondering the turn of events in the story.  

It was easy to get lost in the pages and the time period with the less-than perfect (although spot-on for that time period) dialogue, and little reminders that life in the 1800's were so very different from today.  At times I'd catch myself smiling at the pages, and toward the end there were tears steaming down my cheeks.  

I think what I enjoyed about this book, though, was the gentle reminder of how intertwined our destinies are with one another in our families.  I love how the author illustrates that who we are is because of our ancestors, and how those same ancestors depend on us, their future generations, to cement in heaven what was started here on earth. 

I was enlightened, inspired, and finished the book feeling a strong sense of belonging in the universe. If you are looking for a book that encourages and uplifts, mingled with a dose of gospel doctrine and a look into the eternities, this is the book for you.   I highly recommend it. 

~Susan

Click on the picture to go to the Amazon Page

Synopsis:

Bridges of the Heart is about the power of love and forgiveness and the eternal nature of families. Twenty-one-year-old Rachel's life falls apart when her mother becomes ill and passes away. To add to her confusion, Maxson proposes on the evening of the funeral. Rachel escapes to Utah to think and take time off from the relationship. After returning to Arizona, Rachel finds Maxson in a relationship with Paige—Rachel's rival throughout high school. With time, Rachel convinces herself she is over Maxson, but a strange Southern visitor named Jonathan tells her that in the eternal scheme of life, she was always meant to marry Maxson. Jonathan insists it is her responsibility to apologize to Maxson and set things straight. But Rachel refuses, and because of her stubbornness, she is whirled back in time to 1820 to learn that families are eternal—not only through time forward, but also the past. Latter-day Saint women of all ages will enjoy Bridges of the Heart. With a heart-warming, unique perspective of the early-nineteenth-century American South, Bridges of the Heart is a story about the power of love and forgiveness.

You Know You're a Bibliphile When...

Funniest thing ever:

So I was taking my 15-year-old to school this morning.  When he climbed into the car, he had an old, worn down hard-back book in his hands.  One of the Fablehaven series, I believe.  He's read them several times and loves them.



We drove to school like we do every morning, and as he climbed out of the car, I reminded him to grab his book.

He looks at me and says, "Nah.  I don't need it.  I already have several others in my bag."

I laughed so hard.  How many 15-year-old boys carry around a stack of books with them just in case they need something to read?  Plus, I happen to know he has another 200 books downloaded onto his phone.

That boy is worse than I am!

By son is a bibliophile.  And he's got it bad!

What? More Ideas?

I had the privilege of going to an ANWA (American Night Writer's Association) Retreat a couple weeks ago.

While there, I came up with nearly 10 new Novel ideas that I wanted to write about in the future.  Wahoo!  New Novels.  At this rate, I'll be busy for the next 10 years doing what I love: writing.

Last night as I was putting my youngest child to bed, I fell asleep (what a pleasant surprise!).  Except it gets better.  When I woke up, I remembered a dream I'd been in the middle of that was so unique and so neat that my 15-year old son (an avid reader and one of my biggest advocates) told me to write it down on a piece of paper.

"It must mean something," he said.  "Go write it down so you don't forget it."

So I did.

And from that one little dream, evolved six more titles and books, creating another Young Adult Book Series that I will be writing once I finished the Unleashed series.  I'm so excited about this new series idea too.  The themes are fun, unique, and will hopefully be uplifting to the teens who read it.  Now, to plow through and finish the Unleashed books so I can get to the "Deadly Wins" Series!

I certainly hope I get published.  Otherwise, I'll have shelves and shelves of paper in my office! lol  Oh well!  It's more about the love of the process for me.  Who knows? Maybe I'll eventually spend my life getting paid to do what I love.  Could I be so lucky?  I guess we'll have to wait and see.