99 For a Limited Time!

Times are tough.
I know this all too well.
The holidays are coming but we still have our obsessive reading habits to feed.
So. Now through the holidays I have lowered the price of Filter: Book One of The von Strassenberg Saga to 99 cents (smashwords only, due to global marketing I cannot lower the price below $2.99 on Amazon.)
All I ask in exchange is that you drop a rating or review on smashwords and/or goodreads.
A review kind of like this one from Goodreads:

Holy wow. Like seriously. I loved this book. No doubt about it. It was perfection. Perfectly combining two stories into one with romance, mystery, and enough suspense to kill me. This is definitely one of my favorites now, and I can barley contain my eagerness waiting for the second book, because I MUST know what happens next.

I have never read a book that switches between two different people that was pulled off flawlessly before. It was always choppy and never meshed well and I ended up not even wanting to finish the book, but that was not the case for this book. I wanted to read more if I could have, it was perfect. And the chapters....what chapters?! It flowed perfectly between the two stories and times. It relieved enough to keep you informed with both sides and help piece things together as it got more and more interesting.

The best part about this book, well I must say, I have two. First, the fact that I was reading these two different stories and throughout the whole book, I never got to fully piece everything together until the ending. Usually, if there is some kind of mystery in a book you find out what it is about half way in, but not with this. It was great, and it kept me reading for more. Wanting to know what the heck was going on.

The second thing I loved about this book was the romance. Between the past romance and the current day, I was swooning every chapter. And I caught myself catching my own breath at some things, reminding myself, hey you should probably breathe or your going to pass out. Gwenn Wright has written a beautiful love story and a beautiful love story in the making. But with love, there is betrayal, and there is also plenty of that.

This book was amazing. I did not want to put it down, I really didn't. I even tried to read slower so I could enjoy everything that was going on, but I couldn't it was just too good. This book is well worth the money, I would have even paid more for it if I had to. Pick this up, I promise you won't want to put it down.

(see original post on goodreads here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/191441064)


Purchase from Smashwords and download to just about any eReader you have (Kobo, Kindle, Nook):
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/20957 AND FYI, you can also download 50% before you actually purchase the book (which is also available in a beautyful paperback). 

YA Indie Carnival: The Reader who Saved the von Strassenbergs

Filter was originally published first on Smashwords and then on Amazon in August of 2010. After a few months of floundering in the sea of self-published ebooks, I was convinced writing was not for me. My book was not meant to be successful. I was not meant to write. So Filter was yanked and I went back to doing my homework and trying to imagine myself in a regular 9-5. 
In early 2011, with graduation looming, it occurred to me that Filter should get another chance. So it went up for sale again and I launched an aggressive marketing campaign....without any financial backing for ads or such. Still sales were slow but better than they had been. Reviews slowly rolled in. 
Months went by and I had sold fewer than fifty books.
I was ready to throw the towel in again. 
One night, after a particularly lackluster review which misrepresented Filter, I raged against the whole idea of me being a writer. Well....a novelist. I would have to stick to journalism. In a fit of tears and prayers I swore the existence of Filter and any subsequent books would all hinge on the next review. If it was bad. I would give up writing. 
A few hours later, two five star reviews rolled in.
The first was from Dani Snell of Refracted Light Reviews.
It wasn't just that she gave Filter five stars, it was that she actually got it. From her review it was obvious to me that she saw the story as I did...a sweeping, gothic romance heavy with suspense and laced with hints of horror. That was the review that saved me and Filter and that still encourages me to carry on even when times are tough. 
Even more importantly than the review, Dani has become a good friend of mine and she is such a blessing. It is doubtful that without her and Heather and Angie and the others that BlueStocking Girl would ever have gotten started. 
See Dani's review of Filter here: http://refractedlightreviews.com/?p=41

Don't forget! When I reach 100 blog followers some lucky friend will win a signed copy of Filter and some von Strassenberg swag! Follow for a chance to win! (scroll all the way down to see the swag in my Zazzle panel!)


ALL RIGHT! Through the holidays you can download Filter from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or Smashwords for  99 cents. Times are tough and I want to help spread the Christmas cheer! And, shouts of joy!, Amazon lowered the price of the paperback to match Barnes and Noble! Now it's only $11.11!

MORE YA INDIE CARNIVAL NEWS!!!!

Courtney Cole released her Bloodstone Saga finale, My Tattered Bonds.  It is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Get your scare on at The Paranormal Plumes Haunted Book Tour in Savannah Halloween Weekend! www.theplumessociety.com

For a limited time, Kimberly Kinrade is selling signed copies of her YA paranormal thriller/romance Forbidden Mind. As an All Hallow’s Read bonus, she is also including some awesome gifts with each purchase… including a very special bonus to the first 5 lucky people who place an order. Get a copy for yourself and buy one for a friend in celebration of All Hallow’s Read. For more details, CLICK HERE. 

30% of the royalties of Lexus Luke’s Manitou The Sky People Saga go to the ASPCA.  It is available on Barnes & Noble & Amazon

FOR MORE FAVORITE FAN MOMENTS CHECK OUT THESE OTHER CARNIES

Fisher Amelie (Author of The Understorey)

K. C. Blake (Author of Vampire Rules)

J.L. Bryan (Author of the Paranormals series)

Courtney Cole (Author of The Bloodstone Saga, Princess & Guardian)

Rachel Coles (Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie and other stories)

Laura Elliott (Author of Winnemucca)

T. R. Graves (Author of The Warrior series)

P.J. Hoover (Author of Solstice)

Kimberly Kinrade (Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind)

Patti Larsen (Author of the short story, Henry and the newly released Run)

Michelle Leighton (Author of the Blood Like Poison series, The Reaping, Wiccan,Caterpillar, and the upcoming Madly series)

Lexus Luke (Author of Manitou and The Sky People Saga)

Amy Maurer Jones (Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy)

Alicia McCalla (Author of the upcoming debut novel Breaking Free)

Cheri Schmidt (Author of the Fateful series and Fair Maiden)

Heather Self (Author & Book Blogger)

Madeline Smoot (Author of Missing)

Dani Snell (You are here. Book Blogger)

Cidney Swanson (Author of Rippler)

Suzy Turner (Author of December Moon and Raven)

Nicole Williams (Author of Eternal Eden and the much anticipated sequel, Fallen Eden)

Casting Call at The YA Indie Carnival

If you've been following my blog (or searching Tom Welling's name), you know that "who should play the men of Filter" is not a new topic of discussion for me. Interestingly enough, no one seems concerned with who should play Rocky or Katherine. My 13 year old cousin, however, volunteered herself for the role of Rocky. lol

The ladies on my Facebook page voted for Alex Pettyfer as that mysterious hottie Peter Strauss, Max Irons as William Drexler the Third (sigh....), Gary Oldman as his creepy father, and Klaus von Strassenberg would be played by Ronald Guttman. And when you look at Ronald Guttman and his sharp nose and high cheek bones, it makes perfect sense to have Tom Welling play his heroic son.

Tom Welling would be sublime as the dashing Viktor von Strassenberg. O ladies....I can see it all play out in my head and it makes me weak in the knees.


Filter is available for Nook, Kindle, at Smashwords and in paperback! For reviews check out Goodreads.

UPDATES!!!I believe I have found the girl who most reminds me of my mental image of Katherine. Janelle Froehlich from the Twilight Saga. 
And thanks to one of my lovely readers I have now found the perfect young man to play William III! Brant Daugherty!

Brant Daugherty

Also, if you haven't seen. The Bluestocking Girl is now available

 in paperback and for your Nook or Kindle!

The Men of Filter (We Wish!)

On The von Strassenbergs' Facebook page, readers are enthusiastically voicing their opinions on the would-be cast of Filter (in my wildest dreams it is adapted by Melissa Rosenberg). So far, they're all about Max Irons as William Drexler the Third and Alex Pettyfer as the naughty boy Peter Strauss. I can totally see these two in the knockdown, blowout fight at the end of Filter. O yea. Also, Gary Oldman is the favorite to play that creepy, nasty William Drexler II. And Ronald Guttman (the cake maker in 27 Dresses) as the evil yet refined Klaus von Strassenberg. But who should play Viktor??? Nobody seems interested in casting the girls, tho....strange. Join the debate at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Von-Strassenberg-Saga/150889648309305?ref=hnav

UPDATE: I have decided. Tom Welling should play Viktor. I can't tell you why. But he would be PERFECT for Filter (Book 1) and BlueStocking Girl (Book 2). P-E-R-F-E-C-T.  Just makes me kind of melt, thinking of him as Viktor, sweeping Katherine onto the horse as they ride through the storm....le sigh.
Thing is ladies, if the book doesn't get any love you will never see this sweeping gothic romance come to life. And I just want to tell you, while Viktor is all sexy in Filter. He is beyond WOW in BlueStocking Girl. It would be such a perfect movie with fire and horses and ball gowns and murder and secrets.... You can buy the book at Barnes and Noble   or at Amazon  , you can also get Filter for your Nook or Kindle . Filter is also available for all other types of e-Readers at Smashwords. For more reviews visit me at GoodReads.  

UPDATED UPDATE: A reader and member of The von Strassenbergs' Facebook Page has informed me that Matt Bomer not Max Irons should play William the third. I kind of agree. And if not William the third he could replace Tom Welling as Viktor. You know, if Tom's schedule was too tight.