Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Cover Reveal: Wicked Hunger by DelSheree Gladden


Today I am excited to announce the official Cover Reveal for Wicked Hunger!

One Liner:

"Vanessa and Zander Roth have spent their lives battling an uncontrollable hunger for pain and suffering that will either gain them limitless power or lead them to their deaths."

Author: DelSheree Gladden (yes, that's me :)
Release Date: July 9th, 2013
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Presented by: As You Wish Tours


Synopsis

Vanessa and Zander Roth are good at lying. They have to be when they are hiding a deadly secret. Day after day, they struggle to rein in their uncontrollable hunger for pain and suffering in order to live normal lives. Things only get worse when Ivy Guerra appears with her pink-striped hair and secrets. The vicious hunger Ivy inspires is frightening, not to mention suspicious. 
Vanessa’s instincts are rarely wrong, so when they tell her that Ivy’s appearance is a sign of bad things to come, she listens.  She becomes determined to expose Ivy’s secrets. Vanessa tries to warn her brother, but Zander is too enamored with Ivy to pay attention to her conspiracy theories. 
One of them is right about Ivy … but if they lose control of their hunger, it won’t matter who is right and who is wrong. One little slip, and they’ll all be dead.


Excerpt

1. Chapter 1: Stories

Having my back turned toward the empty parking lot as I lock up the dance studio is slightly unnerving. In the back of my mind, I know there’s nothing to fear, but I still turn the key quickly and spin around to face the approaching darkness. 

I hold myself close to the door, waiting for the feeling to leave me. Several minutes pass before I realize it isn’t going away. I can either stand here all night, or start walking. It’s with a show of false bravery that I take a step forward. As I walk away from the dance studio, I know I’m being silly. My brother, Zander, is constantly telling me that fear is a weakness. I know how to defend myself. 

Defending myself isn’t the problem. Controlling myself is. 

The walk to my grandma’s house where Zander and I have been living for the past several years is a good five miles away. I was supposed to ask Grandma to pick me up when Zander said he couldn’t, but I thought some time alone sounded better. At least, at the time it sounded like a good idea. Now, I’m not so sure that a fifteen-year-old girl walking home alone at night is smart at all. The fading sun seems to retreat faster than normal. Within ten minutes, I am left skulking along the streets of Albuquerque in full night. My pace quickens. 

I know the way home, but in the darkness I feel my courage fizzle. I am practically running past shops with my feet set in the direction of the relative safety of my neighborhood, taking any shortcut available to get me home faster. I’m not the only one out on the streets. Average looking people mill about on the sidewalks, but I keep my distance. 

Eyes down, I run. I’m only two blocks away from the cramped little neighborhood where Grandma has lived for twenty years. I am almost there when I lurch to a stop in front of a dank alley filled with scuffling noises and pain. 
An unsettled feeling rises in the center of my body. I try to take another step, get away, but I can’t. A muffled scream sends another shot of wretched pain shooting through the air. It’s too much to resist. 

Dance bag abandoned, tennis shoes slapping against asphalt, my body powers down the alley independent of rational thought. Fragile bones snap and howls of pain erupt. Delicious satisfaction rushes in as agony fills the damp alley. Everything else is forgotten.  

Author Bio

DelSheree Gladden lives in New Mexico with her husband and two children. The Southwest is a big influence in her writing because of its culture, beauty, and mythology. Local folk lore is strongly rooted in her writing, particularly ideas of prophecy, destiny, and talents born from natural abilities. When she is not writing, DelSheree is usually teaching yoga, coaching gymnastics, reading, painting, sewing, or working as a Dental Hygienist. Her works include Escaping Fate, Twin Souls Saga, and The Destroyer Trilogy. DelSheree's newest series, The SomeOne Wicked This Way Come series, follows Vanessa and Zander Roth, siblings with an uncontrollable hunger for pain and suffering that will either gain them limitless power or lead them to their deaths.

Connect with DelSheree Online at: 

Put Wicked Hunger on your TBR list on: 


As You Wish Tours

Friday, June 21, 2013

Midsummer's Eve Giveaway Hop

Need a boost to your summer reading list? How about a trilogy to keep you busy? 

Enter below for a chance to win all 3 books in 
The Destroyer Trilogy!

"For Libby Sparks, turning sixteen means only one thing…death. Guardian rule demands she attend the ritualistic Inquest that will unveil her talents and secure her place in society. But that isn’t all that will be revealed in Libby’s case.


The more talents you have the better, at least to some degree. Four or five talents will guarantee you a life of luxury, but seven…that is the mark of the Destroyer. Libby knows her Inquest will reveal her to be the Guardians’ greatest enemy. Their law requires her death before her eighteenth birthday. If she lives, prophecy foretells that the world will fall into chaos and destruction.

Once her destiny is revealed, Libby is abandoned when her mother throws her out, her boyfriend tries to kill her, and her best friend shuts her out. Only Milo, a slightly grungy outcast, seems willing to be her friend—but Libby soon realizes he has secrets of his own. His secrets may very well have everything to do with her own destiny.


In order to make it to her eighteenth birthday, Libby must bury her talents and convince the world she is harmless. Her plan only lasts until Milo is put in danger and Libby is forced to choose. Abandon her friend to save her own life, or embrace her destiny and truly become the Destroyer." 
















The Destroyer Trilogy is available now from AmazonB&NSmashwordsiBooks, and most major ebook retailers



Enter now for your chance to win ebook copies of the whole series!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Wicked Hunger Cover

The Official Cover Reveal for Wicked Hunger won't be until June 25th, but I just can't wait that long to show off the awesome new cover designed by Amber Rendon of Novel Idea Designs. So here is a sneak peek on the new cover! 

Monday, June 3, 2013

Twin Souls Cover Reveal

After redesigning all the covers for The Destroyer Trilogy, I decided it was time to update the covers for Twin Souls Saga as well. 

I decided to put my Photoshop skills to work on these ones. The first step though was doing a little research on Hopi and Tewa pottery styles and symbols. 

I learned a lot about the amazing potters like Nampeyo and Navasie and those that have followed them. Their beautiful designs helped me come up with the new covers for all three books in Twin Souls Saga. 

This cover, for book one, features a warrior to represent Uriah and a wolf to represent the Matwau. The Matwau can take many forms, but a wolf is the form he is wearing when Uriah first battles the Matwau. The spear in the warrior's hand represents the battle these two become involved in. 




Because the second book, Shaxoa's Gift, focuses so much on Claire and the potion Uriah is on a quest to procure, this cover features a female figure as the central focus. 

The design for Claire was based on the poterry images on the White Corn Maiden as well as photographs of Tewa women and the hairstyles they wore. 

Surrounding Claire is my version of the five parrot design seen in many Hopi/Tewa pottery. The inside of the parrot is decorated with symbols that stand for various tyes of plants and herbs, the feather for power, and the spiral for life. 








This last book cover for Qaletaqa features the Matwau alone. The last book in the Twin Souls Saga is centered around the events leading up to the final battle between Uriah and the Matwau. 

The figure for the Matwau was based off of a Hopi Katsinam mask. The Katsinam masks represent spirits that regulate minerals, game, domestic animals, plants, trees, wind, the dead, and many other areas of life. 

I was out to redesign my covers, but I enjoyed learning more about the Hopi and Tewa cultures and their mythology and artwork.