Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

It's cover reveal time! This time it's for Jennifer Lane's upcoming New Adult novel, Blocked . Because Jennifer and I are close writing buds, I got to be a pre-reader of this story, and let me tell you, it's so much more than regular college romance. These two co-eds not only have the pressure of being varsity volleyball players, they're the offspring of presidential hopefuls---in opposing parties. The story isn't afraid to address hot button issues, and it does so in a way that truly respects both sides, not something we see that often in politics anymore (or ever, really). But the main focus is the unlikely romance. The politics are woven into the narrative in a way that never detracts from, only adds to, the relationship's development. I fell in love with both of the leading lady and man. Lucia is so sweet and endearing, completely relatable and huggable, and Dane at first seems like a typical college jock...but then we find out he has a heart as soft a...

Pop the bubbly for sassy trollop Rumer Haven as she celebrates the release of her debut novel, Seven for a Secret ! The story goes back and forth between the Roaring Twenties when the “New Woman” was born and the modern Noughties when she really came of age. Lucky me got ahold of an advance copy and spent an entire weekend thoroughly engrossed in this suspensful and romantic tale. Read my full 5 star review at Goodreads Now for my revealing one-question interview with Rumer: If you had to choose one song that best captures the essence of Seven for a Secret , what would it be and why?  What a fun question. :) If I had to choose one song, I instinctively think of "Tonight You Belong to Me" by The Bird and the Bee. As a modern-day cover of a 1920s song, it's the perfect bridge between the past and present story threads and what I could hear playing as the final scene fades to credits if Seven for a Secret were a movie. The 1926 original features in the stor...

I'm tacking onto to yesterday's post for this month's contribution to Insecure Writer's Support Group ( brainchild of Alex J. Cavannaugh . Visit Alex and the IWSG website to learn more about the group, join it & find the full list of participants ). This month I'm wondering about sub-genre mixing. What I'm wondering is---can readers handle it? It seems like guidelines for genres and sub-genres have become more like rules, and when they're broken, readers act like something is wrong rather than simply different. Since my first novel was published over four years ago, I've become aware that many readers believe certan things shouldn't coexist in a book. Sex and religion, for example. This sincerely confuses me because sex and religion coexist in many, many, many people's lives, so why shouldn't those real-life aspects be merged in a book? But if readers don't like them together, should I refrain from mashing them in future stories I ...

To describe Broken Branch Falls by Tara Tyler in one word: delightful . To describe it in a lot of words... Gabe the Goblin's life isn't really all that different from that of the average teen---grappling with the cliques at school, feeling like he doesn't quite belong where everyone expects him to be, and crushing on the unattainable girl. I adored the little touches added to the Broken Branch world, like Looky Links and MeStar, that make it like our world but with a silly twist.Tara balances Gabe's teen angst with wry humor that made me like him immediately, and I kept that connection with him the whole way through the story, even when his circumstances became very different from anything human teens have to deal with.  What starts out as fun, teen hijinks takes a surprising turn when Gabe finds out that his peaceful little town is a lie...sort of. And if he doesn't do something, it's going to disappear. Here's where the story takes off on a ...