Sunday, October 19, 2014

Blog Tour With Author @KrystenLindsay 'True Colors'



Book Blurb

True Colors by Krysten Hager Every day I walked down the sidewalk to school and wished I were one of the interesting popular girls who ran up with exciting news. Just once I’d like to be one of those girls instead of the being the one who didn’t get invited to things because people “forgot” about me. Landry gets pushed into trying out for the American Ingénue reality show modeling competition with her two best friends. She doesn’t think she stands a chance, but she advances to the next level in the competition and her friends ignore her when they get cut. Enter the gorgeous Devon, who also makes the first cut and includes Landry in her clique. Devon becomes the perfect best friend, but can their friendship survive the competition? Landry hopes her big break could come at any moment, but soon sees there’s much more to modeling. She begins missing out on being with friends and has the chance to have a boyfriend when she meets a boy named Vladi from another school. Part of Landry wants to be famous (and have her hair look good for once), but part of her just wants to be accepted. She learns about friendships, being true to yourself, and that a good hair conditioner doesn’t hurt.


Character Interview with Landry Albright from True Colors.

What's the worst thing that's happened in your life? What did you learn from it? When my friends all got mad at me—first when Ericka and Tori stopped speaking to me after we all tried out for the American Ingénue reality show modeling competition and I made it to the next round and they didn’t. But I learned who my true friends were after that.  

Tell me about your best friend. I have two or three besties. Tori used to be my best friend, but after she got mad at me over that modeling thing…I just don’t trust her the same way. Ashanti Russell is one of my closest friends. We became closer after getting to know each other better. She always has my back. Peyton Urich is another of my best friends. We met when Tori and Ericka weren’t speaking to me. She’s been such an amazing friend. And Devon and I have best friend bracelets together, but…sometimes she gets a little controlling.   

What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting? I was in a dance recital when I was four years old. We were supposed to be little ballerinas and have scarves attached to our tutus, but my mom was still in school at the time and she came home late and forgot to give me my scarves. So all the other little girls pulled out their scarves, and there’s a video of me looking on either side of my tutu for my scarves and then bursting into tears crying “Mommy!” as I ran off the stage. My grandmother said I was adorable, but I don’t think it was any coincidence my grandfather died two weeks later.  

What is your greatest regret? That I messed up my introduction during the American Ingénue competition. All I had to do was say, “Hi, I’m Landry Albright from Grand Rapids, Michigan,” and instead I said, “Chicago, Illinois,” my old state and when I went back to correct it, I totally slammed into the next contestant, made the microphone shriek and embarrassed myself. If I could go back in time, I’d totally choose that moment to change.  

Do you ever lie? Well, I don’t outright lie, but when my dad asks about my math grades, I do point out how awesome I’m doing in English and hope he changes the subject.  

What do you like best about yourself? Least? Best? I think I’m a nice person and a good friend. Least? My hair. I’d much rather have Devon’s dark, curly hair or Peyton’s dark red hair.  

What is in your refrigerator right now? Leftover butterscotch and vanilla pudding from the variety packs my mom and I eat all the chocolate out of.  

What’s on your bedroom floor? Dirty clothes—like my Hillcrest school uniform that makes me look like a dead goldfish, my mom’s favorite sweatshirt that I borrowed and got something blue on (when did I have fruit?), and some magazines.  

What’s on your nightstand? Magazines, YA mystery novels, gum wrappers, and my favorite lip gloss.  

Imagine you’re doing intense spring cleaning. What’s easy to throw out? What is difficult to part with? Did my mom put you up to asking this? I hate cleaning my room, but whatever. I guess the easiest stuff to throw out would be all the candy wrappers and to put my soda cans in the bin to take back for a deposit. What’s difficult to part with would be my magazines. I like to hang onto them and look at them at night before I go to bed. And I would never part with my stuffed animals—especially the blue mouse my dad got me when I was little.

If you could spend the day with someone you admire (living, dead or imaginary), who would you pick? Talisa Milan, my favorite model who won the American Ingénue competition. She’s so busy that I doubt I could keep up with her, but I’d love to see what it’s like to be her just for one day. She hosts a video show, does makeup and hair care commercials, goes to school, and she’s dating a member of the band, The Puking Baby Dolls.  

Are you upset your name is not in the title? Not really. Krysten almost used it for the title of the sequel, but at the last minute she changed it. She told me she might use that one for the third book though.  

Did your story end too soon? I’m getting a sequel and she’s working on a third book, so I’m okay with it as long as she lets Vladi call me and stuff.  

Did you and your author agree on the storyline? Well, at first she told me I had no say in any of it, but she can’t really control what I say or do. I’m just me and she has to figure out what to do with that. She calls it, “frustrating,” but hey, I told her, “You’re the one who became a writer. What did you expect, genius?” So whatever. She’s got to deal with it.


Author Bio

Krysten Lindsay HagerKrysten Lindsay Hager is an author and book addict who has never met a bookstore she didn’t like. She’s worked as a journalist and also writes middle grade, YA, humor essays, and adult fiction. TRUE COLORS is her bestselling debut novel from Astraea Press. She is originally from Michigan and has lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and currently resides in Southern Ohio where you can find her reading and writing. She received her master’s in American Culture from the University of Michigan-Flint.  
Krysten's Link: Author Website Facebook Twitter True Colors Goodreads Krysten's Goodreads Google+ Amazon Link
True Colors Trailer Gleam Code for Giveaway Author Giveaway Krysten Hager 
 

Top 10 Facts About TRUE COLORS

  1. The idea for the story came about originally when I was in the sixth grade. I used to read those YA and middle grade novels about those groups of girls who had the perfect close-knit relationships—the whole best friend forever thing personified. I was in grade school and I saw the cover of the Bangles “Everything” cd and they looked like that type of clique and I wondered what they were like at thirteen/fourteen. As an adult I wrote the story to show how Landry thinks everyone else has these tight groups of friends who never get mad at one another and everything is always perfect and she wants that and hopes to find it with Devon, Peyton and India. However, reality sets it…reality is such a bummer sometimes, isn’t it?
  2. The older actor Devon has a crush on that the other girls make fun of her for is based on my crush on Liam Neeson.
  3. People ask if I had best friend necklaces/bracelets/earrings/etc. when I was growing up. Yup, with several friends. Some I’m still close with, too. The day I told my writing group about my book contract I noticed I was wearing a silver bracelet with a heart charm and it never occurred to me before how much this was like the bff bracelet in the story—or the bracelet Landry’s dad gives her. I took that as a sign and that’s why you see the broken bff heart on the cover dangling off the, “s,” in “Colors.” BTW, one of my favorite gifts is still a thoughtful bracelet from a friend.
  4. Landry’s last name, “Albright,” comes from Madeleine Albright. As a kid I was very aware there weren’t a lot of female role models in my social studies books. I distinctly remember being amazed as a kid seeing Benazir Bhutto in my Weekly Reader at school. So I used the name to pay tribute to a woman who broke through the glass ceiling—the first female U.S. Secretary of State.
  5. The designer, Franciszka T, all the girls are obsessed with got the name because my great-grandmother, two of my great-great-grandmothers, and my great-great-aunt, were all named Franciszka. I picked “T,” because the great-great-aunt used to design and make clothes (she made her sister’s wedding dress and her own bridesmaid’s dress). Her last name started with a, “T.” I also look a little bit like her—we have the same big alien eyes.
  6. When I first saw the possible cover models, I thought the one who ended up on the cover looked like a couple cousins of mine. I knew she was the perfect choice. Months later, the cover model found out about being on the book and contacted me. Turns out she lives in Poland and is from a town next to the city my great-grandpa was from! Crazy coincidence.
  7. I’m not from the city the story is set in (Grand Rapids, MI), but my parents were, so I decided to have Landry and her mom live there. I’m actually from the other side of the state—an hour north of Detroit.
  8. Landry’s name was originally, Sydney, but I changed it because the name was getting overused. My mom suggested the name Landry because she had a little girl in her class years ago with that name. I loved it and what’s funny is she had a student named, “Krysten,” too, and she told me that Landry and Krysten were best friends.
  9. I named the ice cream parlor everyone hangs out at in the story after my great-grandfather. I picture the ice cream place being in Grand Rapids, MI (where the story is set)right near where he lived when he first moved to this country. In case you’re from the area and curious, I picture it being on Diamond Avenue.
  10. Like Landry and Ashanti, I was a big soap opera fan. My favorite was, One Life to Live. I pictured two of the characters, Colin and Lanie, as being Landry’s parents. If you look at the cover model, she really resembles them both.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

One Realm Beyond Review

One Realm Beyond


4/5
My Review
The line "With the help of his new friends Bixby and Dukmee, Cantor must uncover the secrets of the corrupt guild before they become too powerful to be stopped." is what pulled me in when I first read the blurb of this book. I enjoyed it. This story has  imaginative ideas that I liked reading. The Character would have to be the best part of the book. The Author know's them. (Sometime when reading I feel the author doesn't not the character as well as they know the plot.) But this book the Character development is spot on. The sitting of the story is one many will enjoy in this world. I found not wanting to put it down. I did how ever find some spots to be a big slow but that was just part of the storytelling of its pages building up to faster pacing parts. Bixby is my favorite hands down, I was a multiple layers girl once in my life. I'm not going to go in deep I'm not wanting to spill beans here. It was a magic read that I hope to re-read here soon. Book two will be on my "To Read List" Review Thanks to Book Look for giving me this copy to review!

P.S. Can I just say how amazing this cover it! It's sick! Love it! 

Monday, October 6, 2014

From Head to Tummy Blog Tour














Blurb:
Give your daughter the peace and freedom that come from knowing the truth about food, self-assurance, and real beauty.
It’s never too early to help your child build a healthy body image.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association
  • 42% of 1st–3rd grade girls want to be thinner
  • 81% of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat


Your daughter will journey with the adorable Ashley as she’s faced with life’s unavoidable moments that create confusion about food and her body. But soon she will discover the truth and find happiness in learning how to listen to her tummy’s signals, use tools to deal with social pressures, and focus on her true beauty.

From Head to Tummy provides vital tips and assignments for mothers to help build a strong foundation of worth for themselves and their daughters, as well as help them create a healthy relationship with food in their families.
Author Haley Hatch Freeman
Illustrator Lori Nawyn


The book is only for pre-order sell on the Authors website & will be available on the Amazon after the 10th of October

Books Sold at
www.haleyhfreeman.com
Amazon link:




About the Author:
Haley Hatch Freeman is the author of A Future for Tomorrow which tells her remarkable true story of enduring and overcoming anorexia and detailed miracles along the way which including a unique near death experience.
Because of her incredible story she has been interviewed on radio shows both in the US and Canada. She’s been on TV including an appearance on the Good Things Utah show. Her story has been featured in newspapers, national publications, and her book is available worldwide. Entire retreat programs have been developed because of Haley’s book and she mentors women all over the world.
Haley not only studied Eating Behaviors in college, but since she defeated anorexia she provides valuable insight on both professional and personal levels. She has been professional trained in public speaking and is a member of the Mountain West National Speaking Association. She is a keynote speaker presenting at women’s conferences, schools, church groups, and more. To schedule her for your event contact her at haleyshearttoheart@gmail.com
Haley founded the company Haley’s Heart to Heart in 2012. Haley’s Heart to Heart is a resource of truth for women and children about eating disorders, media messages, and social pressures. Haley’s Heart to Heart encourages others to creating a healthy relationship with food, develop self-acceptance, and internalizing their divine-worth.
After seeing a great need of children in these areas Haley wrote her next book From Head to Tummy: The Simple Truth about Food, Media Messages, Self-worth, and True Beauty.
Haley delights in raising her three children in Utah with her eternal companion, best friend, and true soul mate: Brandon.

Social Media Links:



About the Illustrator:
Lori Nawyn’s essays, articles, and short stories have appeared in regional and national online and print publications including KSL.com and Deseret News. She is the author of My Gift to You (2010), Fill Your Day with Hope (2013), Simple Things (2014), The Great American Family Reunion Cookbook (2014), and The Pear Aficionado (2014).
An artist and graphic designer, Lori is the illustrator of What are you Thinking? (2010), Love, Hugs, and Hope: When Scary Things Happen (2013), and the author/illustrator of the forthcoming children’s series Abbie & Jack (2015). She is also the creator and founder of Hearts and Hands Dolls, a company that creates dolls to donate to the elderly, and to homeless and abuse children.
The wife of a fireman, mother of four, and grandmother of four, she loves to find the miracles in each new day.










~Author Interview – Haley Hatch Freeman~

Q1. Tell us a little about what made you write “From Head to Tummy”

A. While speaking professionally, I found mother after mother confiding in me with their concerns, not only for their teens, which my book A Future for Tomorrow helps, but for their younger, elementary-aged daughters. As society’s confused messages about dieting and beauty increase, I agree there is a great need to address these issues for a younger audience. My hope is that this book will be a tool for parents in helping them build a stronger foundation of truth for their young girls, giving them a shield of defense when faced with potentially damaging life situations.


Q2. I noticed while reading “From Head to Tummy” that one of the issues you bring to the forefront was commercial advertisement, what are your thoughts about what today’s society and the ads young girls see?

  1. I wrote about how personally these things affected me as a teenager in my first book, A Future for Tomorrow: Surviving Anorexia, My Spiritual Journey. And how it lead to my near fatal eating disorder. Media can be absolute poison if we don’t build a stronger foundation of truth and debunk the lies we see in the media with our children. I understand why some parents completely don’t allow tv, I personally am not that extreme but I do discuss anything I don’t like. I feel it is impossible to completely shield our children from all media between computers, magazines, movies, tv, or just going to the store, so I would rather empower my children with knowledge and give them ammunition of their own internalized worth and stability to fight against societies pressures to be a certain way. (Of course I’m not saying don’t protect them from spiritually harmful material I’m speaking about media messages in general that they will be exposed to throughout their life even while just watching a children’s channel during a commercial break or walking through a mall.)

Q3. Another issue you bring up is bullying, in the book you can see Ashley being bullied, they approach you used was great, but what is your advice if a young girl does not feel comfortable talking to her parents about the mixed signals and being bullied?

  1. The first draft of my book didn’t have the bullying incident in it. I added it after a close friend came to me searching for help for her seven year old daughter. Her sweet second grader was told she “had too much fat on her body” to be friends with a girl at school and the bullying continued. It broke my heart and to hear the details of the bullying blew me away that this kind of fat phobia was being strewn from a seven year old’s mouth –so young, yet so judgmental and aware of body size already. It inspired me to add this issue in my book.
My advice for a girl obviously would to be to go to someone if not her parents then a teacher or other trusted adult at first if necessary, but hopefully eventually she would be comfortable to go to her parents. I would tell her and hope she could understand that no one else on earth loves her more or is more invested in her happiness than her parents. Perhaps more important advice would be for how parents can recognize when their child is hiding being bullied?

According to Dr. Joel Haber, bullying expert and author of Bullyproof Your Child for Life, your child could be a victim of bullying if he/she:
  • Is reluctant or refuses to go to school
  • Clams up when you try to discuss school
  • Demands some sort of change in a long-standing routine, like riding the bus to school or going to the park on Saturdays
  • Does not want to participate in after-school activities or play with old friends
  • Seems hungrier than usual after school - it might be a sign that someone is stealing his lunch money or that he is unwilling to brave the cafeteria at lunchtime
  • Shows signs of physical distress such as headaches, stomach-aches, or nausea
  • Goes to the nurse in order to avoid going to class
  • Performance in school (grades, homework, attendance) suddenly declines
  • Acts sullen, angry, and frequently wants to be left alone
  • Uncharacteristically uses bad language
  • Shows marked behavior change after computer time or a phone call
  • Starts asking for more lunch or transportation money without a clear explanation of why it is needed
  • Has unexplained bruises or injuries
Q4. From learning about your story, I feel that you are a very inspirational person for young girls to look up to as someone that has been through the war of peer pressures, mixed social signals and emotional barriers, my question is; do you ever do public speeches about your journey with anorexia and the emotional barriers that kept you from loving yourself? Also what is the one thing you always tell your audience about your journey?

  1. YES! I am a trained professional speaker. I am a keynote speaker for women’s conferences as well as a presenter for schools, church groups, treatment centers, and many more events. To learn more about booking me for your event please visit www.haleyhfreeman.com or email me at www.haleyshearttoheart.com Here’s a little info from my website to answer you follow up question:
Haley’s unique presentation will make your event unforgettable. Your audience will realize the destruction of anorexia, and will be filled with hope to overcome their own obstacles after hearing Haley’s extraordinary recovery. They will leave with a desire to love and take care of their bodies as well as gain a new appreciation for their own. With tools in hand to debunk media’s falsehoods and appreciate real beauty your audience will be edified and ready to face the world with a new strength.


Q5. In your book, little Ashley learns that it is okay to love yourself and offer the same advice to everyone around her, but sometimes in life it is not that simple, what should someone do if they know someone is fighting these battles within? How can the “outside” crowd learn to accept and deal with the negative thoughts and pressure their loved ones is putting their selves though?

  1. There is power in our thoughts, often it truly is about choosing that you are not going to beat yourself up anymore and deciding you are going to be kinder to yourself. One of my tips in the book helps with changing this type of inner dialog. After a prolonged, critical case of negative thoughts and even depression professional help is often needed. I am an advocate for seeking counseling and help if it is from a trusted and knowledgeable professional.

Far as your second question, we have to accept we can’t change the crowd, but we can work on ourselves and hopefully influence those around us. If we hold on to what is eternally true tight enough then the “outside crowd” will have less and no effect on us.

Q6. In your book, Ashley’s mom takes her to see the family doctor, the advice the doctor gives Ashley makes Ashley feel better about herself, what would your advice be if someone is fighting these same mixed signals and still are unsure what is right from what is wrong?

  1. That’s why I wrote this book for this exact problem. I’m hoping parents can use my book as a tool. Reading this book and completing the assignments in the back is the perfect place to start!

Q7. At the end of your book, you offer parenting tips and guidance, what else would you have to offer parents of young girls that may be facing these same pressures?

  1. It was extremely hard for me to limit myself to just the tips I did put in the book. I had to select the ones I thought were the most vital and most impactful, but there are many other tips that I share in my parenting presentations at my speaking events. Now days there are great resources out there, I would suggest not giving up and to keep searching for materials to aid in the fight.