Cover Reveal: Fragile Brilliance by Tammy Blackwell

 

Today is the cover reveal for Fragile Brilliance (Shifters and Seers #1) by Tammy Blackwell!

Maggie McCray has worked her whole life for the opportunity to attend Sanders College. It’s her one chance at becoming a world-renowned artist, and she’s determined nothing will get in her way. But when a murder brings Maggie and her powers to the attention of the Alpha Pack and the tragically handsome Charlie Hagan, her carefully planned future hangs in jeopardy.

Charlie Hagan isn’t happy when the Alpha Female assigns him as Maggie McCray’s personal bodyguard. Just being near the Thaumaturgic threatens to unleash the primal instincts he’s been suppressing for so long. Charlie knows if the coyote is uncaged, then the person he’ll most need to protect Maggie from is himself.

Fragile Brilliance is the first book in the Shifters & Seers series by Tammy Blackwell, bestselling author of the Timber Wolves trilogy.  It releases on Tuesday November 26, 2013.  Add it your want to read list on Goodreads.

About Tammy Blackwell

Tammy Blackwell is a Young Adult Services Coordinator for a public library system in Kentucky. When she's not reading, writing, cataloging, or talking about books, she's sleeping.

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Children's Book Week - Guest Post - Tammy Blackwell

To celebrate Children's Book Week, I asked teachers and librarians to respond to the prompt - "Books can take you anywhere..."  Over the course of the week, I will be sharing their responses.  Up first is Tammy Blackwell.

When I was a kid, I lived in the middle of nowhere. This isn't an exaggeration. Our farm was roughly thirty acres and was surrounded by fields of corn and soy beans and cows. I don't know how close our nearest neighbor was, but it was far, far away. On the upside, my parents were fully onboard with me wandering for hours in the fields, woods, and creeks since it wasn't exactly like someone could wander up and snatch me. On the downside, I wasn't really an outdoorsy kid. Miles of nature didn't appeal to me, which left me feeling more like a trapped loner than a free explorer.

My salvation during those years came from the Bookmobile. My parents both worked, and my aunt who babysat me didn't drive much. She did, however, live in the actual little, tiny, we-have-five-houses-and-a-store town where once a month a big truck filled with books would set up at the Methodist church. I lived for Bookmobile days. While my cousin and her hooligan friends were swinging off grape vines behind the church (and breaking their arms, I should mention), I climbed up those metal steps with my aunt and entered a magical world. In reality, the Bookmobile can't hold many books, but to my tiny eyes it was an endless buffet of one-way tickets out of my country bumpkin life. Thanks to the Bookmobile, I was able to hang out with friends who actually understood me (the Babysitters Club), solve mysteries (Nancy Drew), and live a glamorous life in California (Sweet Valley). I may have been physically stuck in rural Kentucky, but those books took me all over the world.

Now, as a library employee for the same system whose Bookmobile was my salvation all those years ago, I can always spot the kids who are looking for that same escape. It's in their eyes when they walk through the door; it's in the way they caress the spines of the books with reverence, carefully selecting their next destination. Our world changes rapidly, and places that were once empty fields are now the location of overly full subdivisions. Even the farm where I grew up now has visible neighbors. But having people in sight doesn't mean you're not alone and isolated. Books will always be there for those kids, and for that, I'm truly grateful.

Thanks Tammy for sharing your thoughts about how books can take you anywhere!!!

For more information about Tammy:
Tammy Blackwell is the Young Adult Services Coordinator for a public library system in Kentucky. When she's not reading, writing, or cataloging books, she's sleeping. She is the author of the YA Novels Destiny Binds, Time Mends, Fate Succombs, and At First Sight. Her newest book All We See & Seem will be available on May 21, 2013.

You can follow Tammy on twitter: @miss_tammy or check out her website: www.misstammywrites.com

Guest Post: What's the Next Big Thing in YA Literature?

What is The Next Big Thing in YA literature? Is it angels? Mermaids? Garden gnomes? In November I spent three days in St. Louis with a gaggle of librarians and authors who tried to answer this very question at the YALSA Literature Symposium. And what did we decide?

No one knows.

Seems like a disappointing end to three days worth of conversations, doesn’t it? But you know what? It isn’t. In fact, it’s some of the best news I’ve heard in a long time.

Since I work both as a librarian and writer, I know what it’s like to feel the pressure to find The Next Big Thing. I’ve spent a million hours worrying whether or not I’ve bought the right books for my collection or if that new story idea will become/still be mainstream once I get it written. I’ve read industry articles and blogs and followed conversations on social media sites in an attempt to spot trends early on. Heck, I drove all the way to St. Louis (a city in which both Mello Yello and sweet tea are scarce) to get ahead of the curve.

Quite frankly, I’m exhausted.

At some point, and I’m not sure when it was, I began obsessing over trends instead of books. I wanted to be the cool librarian who always recommended the hot new book before anyone else. I wanted to become the writer who released a book at just the right time instead of a few years too early or too late. I worried about popularity and numbers instead of what is truly important... the story.

What I took away from St. Louis was that trends are unpredictable. Who knew a year ago that I wouldn’t be able to keep bondage erotica on the shelf at my small town Kentucky library? Small town Kentucky. Bondage erotica. It’s crazy! And it came out of nowhere. Why? How? Because people got so attached to the story, they told their friends. And those friends read it, became attached, and told their friends. It went on and on until you couldn’t turn on a morning talk show without hearing the words “Fifty Shades”. Could anyone have predicted it was going to happen? I don’t think so. Because you can’t predict emotional responses to books, and those are what make The Next Big Thing happen. Writers, editors, and marketing specialists might be able to somewhat steer popular taste, but it takes passionate readers to create a trend-setting phenomenon.

So, what does that mean for those of us whose job it is to be on top of book trends? What are librarians, teachers, and writers supposed to do? I think the answer is simple. Find the passion. Read books that set you on fire, and then tell others about them. Buy books that excite you, and then hand sell them to your patrons and students. Write the stories that are clawing to get out of your brain. Don’t worry about what is supposed to be The Next Big Thing, focus on the thing right now that gets under your skin and won’t let go. Maybe that book you’re telling every person who will listen about will become the next every-human-must-read-it-and-watch-the-blockbuster-movie book, and maybe it won’t. It doesn’t matter. What matters is getting excited about books and spreading that excitement. The rest will work itself out. And if you end up feeling blindsided by that garden gnome trend, don’t worry about it. Most of the rest of us will be scratching our heads and wondering where it came from, too.

Thanks to Miss Tammy for sharing your insights. Tammy Blackwell is the Young Adult Services Coordinator for a public library system in Kentucky. When she's not reading, writing, or cataloging books, she's sleeping. She is the author of the YA Novels -  Destiny Binds, Time Mends, and Fate Succombs .

You can follow Tammy on twitter: @miss_tammy or check out her website: www.misstammywrites.com

Tammy has a special treat for fans of her Timber Wolves Trilogy - From January 4th to 6th, At First Sight: A Timber Wolves Companion will be available as a free download for Kindle on Amazon.  It is a wonderful peek into her fabulous characters.

Guest Post: Tammy Blackwell - New Year Resolutions Timber Wolves Style

When Aly first asked me to write a guest post for the first of January to celebrate the release of TimeMends, possibly with a New Years resolution theme, I immediately thought of My So-Called Life.* There is this episode that starts with all the characters sitting around watching a pre-stroke Dick Clark herald in 1995. And as they’re watching, they do voice-overs of all their resolutions. It’s one of my favorite moments of the show because you get this really awesome over-view of each of the characters. Because resolutions, they’re like this really intimate thing, you know?**

            So, inspired by the spirit of Angela Chase,*** I am sharing Scout and company’s spoiler-free resolutions.

Scout: No more messes. No clothes just laying around in piles of clean and unclean and kinda clean. No more accidentally growing science experiments in the bottom drawer of the cabinet in my bathroom. No more screwing up the lives of everyone I love. This year, I’m Talley-izing my life.

Jase: Increase my free throw average to .90. Stop wanting things I can’t have. Be more awesome.

Charlie: I need to learn to accept the things I cannot change, have the courage to change the things I can, and have the wisdom to know the difference. Or, at least, that’s what my therapist says. And me? I think I just need to grow up and move on.

Talley: Try harder. And maybe learn a foreign language.

Angel: I want to: 1. Learn how to use the stove. 2. Read all the Harry Potter books, even the ones that Mom thinks are too scary. 3. Grow taller.

Alex: Follow the rules and quit getting distracted by her.

Liam: Avenge and atone.

* I’m of the Catalano generation. I almost always immediately think of My So-Called Life. Or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Or maybe even Veronica Mars... You know, there is a chance my own New Years resolution should have been to watch less TV.

** This sentence can be blamed on the fact I turned My So-Called Life on in the background while I typed this. I think I may throw on a flannel and dye my hair red next.

*** Who wanted to not get caught up in her thoughts so much and become less introspective, except that might make her shallow, so she was going to have to think about it some more.

Thanks to Miss Tammy for the helping us to get to know her Timber Wolves Trilogy Characters a little better.  Tammy Blackwell is the Young Adult Services Coordinator for a public library system in Kentucky. When she's not reading, writing, or cataloging books, she's sleeping.  She is the author of the YA Novel Destiny Binds and now Time Mends.  

You can follow Tammy on twitter: @miss_tammy or check out her website: http://misstammywrites.blogspot.com/

For more information about her awesome characters, check out the Destiny Binds character interview Tammy did a few months ago, click here.

Book Review - Destiny Binds

Author: Tammy Blackwell
Published: CreateSpace (March 3, 2011)
Audience: Young Adult
Source: Personal Copy
Young Adult * Urban Fantasy

Description from GoodReads:
Scout Donovan is a girl who believes in rules, logic, and her lifelong love of Charlie Hagan. Alex Cole believes in destiny, magic, and Scout. When Alex introduces Scout to the world of Shifters, men who change into wolves or coyotes during the full moon and Seers, women who can see your most private thoughts and emotions with a mere touch, the knowledge changes everything and everyone Scout thought she knew.

How do you review a book that you have watched come into being?  To admit that I am biased and partial would be an understatement.  But I can tell you why I like it just like I would any other book.  

When Tammy shared the manuscript for this book with me two years ago, it really did hook me. And I can be brutally honest.  If it moves too slowly or doesn't hold my attention or I don't care about the characters, I will say so.  Yet, as I read this early version of the manuscript, I got excited.  Also, I have read this story through several revisions and again in it's final format.  Trust me, I won't re-read and re-read something unless I honestly like it.  Destiny Binds has several of the qualities that are important to me in a story and for that reason I can easily recommend this for fans of YA paranormal/urban fantasy/romance.   

First, I loved the characters that Tammy created.  Scout, the female protagonist, is bright and feisty and has a great sense of humor.  I like being in her head.  She is a fun narrator.  Then there is her brother - really her step-brother - Jase.  As you can tell from the character interview from yesterday's blog post, they play-off each other in a fun way.  Of course there is Alex, the hunky new guy, and Charlie, the long-time object of hotness.  

Second, books that use just the right level of humor will keep me reading.  Maybe because I am envious of people who can write humor well and not be annoying in the process.  Tammy has a little Joss Whedon mixed in with some Libba Bray in her style of humor.  She is probably the only person that can use all these cultural references that in some books would date the text but she manages to pull it off.  

Third, I have to admit that prior to Destiny Binds and Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, I really hadn't read any books that centered on shape-shifters or what might be commonly referred to "werewolves".  I admit I am more of a vampire girl. (Yeah, don't hold that against me.)  Thanks to Tammy, I might have found a small place in my literary heart for some really cute shape-shifters. 

Finally, any book that makes me care about the characters and what will happen to them is a winner in my mind.  If Tammy doesn't hurry up and write book two I might throw a fit.  Really, I need more of Scout, Alex, Jase, Charlie, Talley and the rest of the gang.  Heck, I just might need to invite her out to California for a writer's retreat so I can catch glimpses of book 2.  If you want a chance to find read Destiny Binds, scroll down and find out how you can win your own copy.              

Tammy Blackwell is the Young Adult Services Coordinator for a public library system in Kentucky. When she's not reading, writing, or cataloging books, she's sleeping.  She is the author of the YA Novel Destiny Binds.  You can follow her on twitter: @miss_tammy or on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MissTammyJean

You can find Destiny Binds on Amazon.  Click here.

Complete the form below for a chance to win a signed copy of Destiny Binds.  Please read contest rules carefully.

Rules for the Contest:

1. Please do not enter any personal information in the comments section (it will be deleted if you do), you must complete the Entry Form to officially enter the contest.
2.  The Contest runs from June 18th to 11:59 Pacific Time on June 26, 2011.
3.  You must be 13 or older to participate in this contest.
4.  If you are selected as a winner, I will notify you by e-mail.  If you do not respond within 48 hours, I will select a new winner.
5.  International participants are welcome to enter the contest.

Destiny Binds: Character Interview

Sometimes strange circumstances bring you into contact with people you would otherwise never have met.  One of those circumstances led me to Tammy Blackwell.  At that time, Tammy was working on a manuscript for a YA fantasy story.  I offered to read her story and provide some feedback.  When I received the computer file, I opened up the document and started reading.  Several hours later, I had finished the manuscript and was emailing her a message that basically went something like this - "there better be more or else".  Destiny Binds is the finished version of that early manuscript that I read.  I will be posting a review of tomorrow with a giveaway.

As a teaser to get readers interested in Destiny Binds, Tammy answered a bunch of questions that I posed to Scout (the main character) and her brother Jase.  Hope you enjoy meeting Scout and Jase and get a taste of Tammy's humor.     

What's the worst thing about sharing a bathroom?

Scout: Wet towels that never seem to make it to the rack. A toilet seat that is never down. Basketball uniforms that get wadded up and thrown in the corner until they’re able to walk downstairs to the washing machine all by themselves.

Jase: Squeezable Lip Smackers.

Scout: Seriously? That was like five years ago.

Jase: And I spent four months never knowing when or where I would discover glittery, cherry flavored blobs on my person.

What are 5 things you would expect to find in your sibling’s backpack?

Jase: The Big Boring Book of Math; The Big Boring Book of English; The Big Boring Book of History; The Backwards Book of Weird Japanese Comics; and a pack of gum

Scout: Sports Illustrated; homework he should have turned in three weeks ago; a collection of McDonald’s receipts; an entire bag’s worth of potato chip crumbs; and the iPod Angel can’t find anywhere

Jase: I do not have Angel’s iPod

Scout: *raises eyebrows*

Jase: You’re not going to tell her, are you?

What is on your iPod/MP3 players?

Scout: I’ve been listening to a lot of Sea Wolf and Josh Ritter lately

Jase: What she means is, “I’ve been listening to whiny, folky crap that makes you want to slit your wrists.”

Scout: So says the boy who thinks Jay-Z qualifies as music.

Jase: Jay-Z does qualify as music. Just ask the Grammy’s.

Scout: You know who else wins Grammy’s? Taylor Swift.

Jase: Point taken.

What is your idea of the perfect date?

Jase: Front row tickets to a Lakers game and some In-and-Out burgers.

Scout: How on earth do you manage to talk girls into dating you? Does the word “romance” mean anything to you?

Jase: My date involves a trip to LA. That’s classy. But I suppose it doesn’t live up to the romance of all those nights you sat at Dairy Queen listening to Dalton Riley ramble on about he was going to go to Harvard because he was the smartest man to ever live.

Scout: I hate you.

Who is your favorite fictional character and if you could spend an afternoon with them what would you do?

Scout: That’s hard. Atticus Finch would be cool, but I don’t know what we would really do together. I mean, I don’t really have any desire to be involved in a racially charged trial and my dad is pretty awesome, so I don’t really need any of that fatherly stuff. Would it be too horribly trite to say that I would want to hang out with Harry Potter at Hogwarts? Because, seriously, that would be awesome.

Jase: I want a one-on-one match with Michael Jordan.

Scout: Michael Jordan is a real person.

Jase: Yeah. So?

Scout: So he’s not a fictional character. Pick a fictional character.

Jase: Fine. I want to hang out with Harry Potter, too. But not at the school. I want to go to that store Fred and George opened. That looked really cool in the movie.

Who was your favorite TV cartoon character as a kid?

Jase: Scooby Doo. He was the coolest dog ever.

Scout: A tie between Buttercup and Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls.

Jase: Mojo Jojo? Why do you always like the bad guys?

Scout: They’re not bad. They’re just misunderstood.

If you can have any kind of supernatural power/ability what would it be?

Scout: I want to be Batman. I know that’s not really a supernatural power, but those always seem so silly. I mean, immortals who are allergic to garlic or sparkle in the sun? Seriously?

Jase: Vampires are stupid, but people who can turn into animals? That’s cool. I would be one of those.

Last question, if you found your sibling’s diary, would you read it?

Scout: Jase doesn’t keep a diary.

Jase: But if I did...?

Scout: Honestly? I would probably read a few pages before the guilt made me stop. Unless it’s an account of your dating escapades. Then I would only make it a couple of sentences before the nausea hit. Would you read my diary?

Jase: Been there, done that.

Scout: You have not.

Jase: “Today I almost tripped Ashley Johnson in the hallway. I didn’t, of course, but I seriously thought about it. I imagined it all in my head. Her toppling over and bursting those stupid, fake boobs...”

Scout: Give me one good reason not to kill you.

Jase: Because I’m your brother and you love me.

Thanks to Miss Tammy for the character interview.  Tammy Blackwell is the Young Adult Services Coordinator for a public library system in Kentucky. When she's not reading, writing, or cataloging books, she's sleeping.  She is the author of the YA Novel Destiny Binds

Back-to-School Guest Post: Miss Tammy's Favorite YA High Schools

Kid Lit Frenzy is hosting a series of Back-to-School Guest Posts.  Let's welcome Miss Tammy - a YA Librarian from Kentucky.  She is super cool - you should ask her sometime about her Steampunk Tea or Renaissance Faire.  Trust me when I say I have never met such a hip librarian. 

When Aly first asked me to do a back to school post I thought I would share some clever stories from my own days as a yellow-bus-riding, backpack-toting slave to education. You know, an “Adventures of a Teenage Teen Librarian” sort of thing. Problem is, I don’t actually have any great stories to file under Miss Tammy: The High School Years.

Some might attribute my less than exciting high school career to my own nerd-like tendencies, but of course they’re wrong. It certainly wasn’t my fault that my days were filled with an endless stream of tedious lectures and inane homework assignments. No, the problem was that I went to the wrong school. I mean, who could have a rollicking adventure in a public school of all places? I should have gone to one of those bastions of learning where even the most unassuming bookworm would find herself battling evil while falling in the love with the most beautiful, brave, and sarcastic boy God ever saw fit to create.

But which one? After all, there are tons of them scattered across the YA landscape. I’ve thought about it long and hard, and after much deliberation, I’ve narrowed it down to my top ten choices (listed by alphabetical order, because that’s how I roll):

Culver Creek Preparatory

Looking for Alaska - John Green

Boarding schools just sound so cool with everyone living on campus and pulling major pranks. Plus, this one is filled with some pretty outstanding characters. Guaranteed to never be a dull moment.

Gallagher Academy

Gallagher Girls series - Ally Carter

Spy school! Sure, it has the misfortune of being an all-girl school, but still - A school that trains you to be a spy! Awesome, right?

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

Magic wands. Moving staircases. Ghosts. Quidditch. House elves. Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Snape. Obviously, this is the best school ever.

House of Night

House of Night series - P.C. Cast + Kristin Cast

House of Night students get to sleep all day and develop really cool powers. Of course, they have that whole chance of dying because their body can’t accept the change or getting killed by agents of their super-crazy High Priestess. Remember to weigh your options before sending in that application.

The Institute

Mortal Instruments series - Cassandra Clare

Technically, it’s not really a school, but young Shadowhunters train there, so I’m counting it. Maybe we could talk Magnus into teaching a class on the history of fashion.

The Princess Academy

Princess Academy - Shannon Hale

No matter what we might say or the image we project, every girl wants to be a princess.

Spence Academy

Gemma Doyle Trilogy - Libba Bray

Wearing corsets and dealing with Victorian society doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun, but it might just be worth it for a chance at an epic Gothic adventure. Just remind me to stay away from the trees, okay?

St. Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters

X-Men comics - Marvel

Teachers who can control the weather and classmates who can walk through walls? Sign me up! Surely my ability to remember every lyric to every song I’ve ever heard is considered a mutant ability.

Sunnydale High School

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Joss Whedon

A high school built on a Hellmouth offers up daily chances at adventure. Plus, the library is where all the cool kids hang out.

Texas Prairie University

Morganville Vampire series - Rachel Caine

So maybe the other students can be a bit of a pain, and the whole town run by vampires thing can be a bit problematic, but I’d gladly deal with those minor flaws for a chance to run into Shane or Michael.

How about you? What’s your ideal school? Help me add to the list by leaving them in the comments below!