Special Guest: Gemma Halliday!

Today we have a special guest post from Gemma Halliday, and she has a contest for our readers!



Take it away, Gemma!

_______________________

Thanks so much to the lovely Fictionistas for hosting me today! Not only are they all fantastic ladies, but I’m also bordering on mega-fan of their books.

My Hollywood Confessions Blog Tour is in full swing, so please check out my website for more tour stops, as I’ll be giving away cool prizes (including gift cards, free books, cameo appearances, and Hollywood Headlines collectibles) at each stop!



Hollywood Confessions explores the sensational world of Hollywood through the eyes of tabloid reporter, Allie Quick. Allie has high aspirations - much higher than reporting on the latest celebrity gossip for the L.A. Informer, Hollywood's most notorious tabloid. But if she's going to join the ranks of the real reporters, she's going to need a headline worthy story under her belt. Luckily, she gets just that when the producer of the trashiest reality shows on TV winds up murdered, and Allie convinces her editor, Felix Dunn, that this story has her name written all over it. Between an aging dance-off judge, a family with sextuplets and triplets, and the star of a little person dating show, Allie has no shortage of reality stars to question. But when she finds herself falling for her prime suspect, Allie's relationship with her editor is suddenly on the rocks, and her life is in danger. This is one deadline Allie can't afford to miss!

One of my favorite things about writing this book was coming up with the fake reality shows that the victim, Chester Barker, had created. I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a reality TV junkie myself. And with so many great slash trashy reality shows to choose from lately, it was hard creating unique ones of my own. Here’s what I came up with:


Little Love
A reality dating show where one eligible bachelor is put into a house with twenty hot, young single girls. Every week the girls tried to out-flirt each other on group dates to earn a rose at the end of the hour-long show. The last one left standing at the end of the season gets a proposal from the bachelor. The twist? All the contestants on the show are little people. Including the ‘Little Bachelor”, who happens to have serious anger issues and ends up taking out a couple cameramen during the course of the season.
(Cleary this was my homage to The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Little People Big World, The Little Couple, and maybe a smidge of explosive Jersey Shore tempers. )


Don & Deb’s Diva Dozen
Don and Deb Davenport are the parents of 12 little girls: two sets of triplets (ages six and ten) and a set of sextuplets (four-year-olds), and all of them compete in the Tiny Tot beauty pageants. In their fourth season, the ratings hit a high when Don was photographed with a string of young co-eds at trendy Hollywood nightclubs. Don and Deb announced a trial separation for Fall sweeps, Deb taking the sextuplets and doing the Southern Glitz pageant circuit, while Don took the triplets to the West Coast Sunshine pageants. But, thankfully, by May sweeps, the couple announced they were going to give marriage a try again, and the season culminated in an hour-long Don & Deb’s Reunion show where the couple took all twelve children to Vegas for a long weekend, renewing their vows at the MGM Grand.
(Take a dose of Jon & Kate, Quints by Surprise, and 19 Kids & Counting… or are they at 20 now? 21?... throw in some Toddlers & Tiaras, and just a *slight* hint of Octomom, and voila! Reality gold.)

Stayin’ Alive
Currently in its ninth season, this is the granddaddy of all reality shows, pitting fifteen strangers against each other to fight for the title of Last Survivor Alive. Each season contestants are dropped in the middle of nowhere, the only location requirements being a beach (where the female contestants can wear their teeny tiny bikinis), torrential rains (that wet said bikinis suggestively), and lots of big, hungry mosquitoes (just for kicks). All fifteen contestants have to brave both the elements and each other, fighting it out in reward and immunity challenges. Anyone not winning immunity is forced to go to the tribal staging area, where someone is sent home each week. However, they aren’t voted out on their survival skills. Instead, the contestants participate in a dance-off, where a panel of judges vote out the contestant with the worst ballroom skills.
(Survivor vs. Dancing with the Stars vs. American Idol – the ultimate competition show!)

So, what are you fav reality shows? Any great combos you’d love to see? Leave your answer in the comments below and you’ll be entered to win a prize! Since Hollywood Confessions is the 3rd book in the Hollywood Headlines series, I’m offering a FREE autographed copy of the 1st book in the series (Hollywood Scandals) in print format. I’ll pull a post at random tomorrow and announce the winner here.

Happy reading!

~Gemma Halliday
http://www.gemmahalliday.com

HOLLYWOOD CONFESSIONS
available now in:
Paperback Print
Kindle
Nook
Ebook

Contests and more contests!

Once again, the long holiday weekend throws me off. I thought for sure today was Wednesday. But, uh, apparently it's Thursday. How did that happen?

Anyway, as a result, I missed my blogging day yesterday. Mea culpa. But in my defense, none of the 'Nistas sent me a "hey, Amanda, are you blogging today?" email once I never put anything up. But really, it's all on me. My bad.

It's been a good week. I started it off by taking the toddler to a brand-new spray park on Monday. That was super fun. I loved seeing her playing in the jets of water.

Then on Tuesday I woke up to an amazing review of Codename: Dancer! Kelli from the I'd So Rather Be Reading blog called my book "a perfect example of YA done right." DUDE. You can't get much higher praise than that! You can read the full review here:
http://idsoratherbereading.blogspot.com/2011/05/book-review-codename-dancer-dani-spevak.html

Now for the contests part of this post. Yay for free things!

Dance Spirit Magazine is featuring Codename on their website this month! They're giving away 4 copies of the book, autographed by me!
http://www.dancespirit.com/





Are you a teen who desperately wants a Kindle? Or are you a parent whose kid keeps "borrowing" yours so often that you think you'll need to send out a search party?

Want to win a FREE Kindle, preloaded with 17 of the hottest indie YA and MG titles? Then look no further, because July 4 is Kindle INDIEpendence Day!

All you have to do is sign up here: http://www.kindleindiependence.webs.com/

You can win additional entries for a variety of tasks, such as reading/reviewing any of the books involved in the promotion, tweeting that review, talking about a book on FB, Twitter, etc (even just a simple "I love the cover of this book!" will get you an entry), blogging, and "liking" the event on Facebook. You can find the full list of ways to earn entries here:
http://kindleindiependence.webs.com/contestinfo.htm

There's no limit to the number of times you can enter, so start sending those Tweets! The deadline is July 3!!!!

Win a Signed Copy of Stupid Cupid!

Okay, I'm going to mix it up a wee bit from the question theme of the week and offer up a signed copy of Stupid Cupid for grabs! (US and Canadian addresses only, please).

And what do you have to do to win a copy of my book? Super simple--pick five of the 100 questions that Kristen and Mel answered on Monday and Tuesday of this week, and give your own answers to those questions as a comment in this post. You can find Mel's HERE and Kristen's HERE.

That's it!

Contest runs from now until Thursday, 1/21/10 11:59 PM EST. I will ask Gwenny Gwen to announce the winner in her Friday post. So...answer away! And tell your friends. And your grandma--I'm sure she'd love to read my book. haha

Roses are red...

Let the count-down begin! Rhonda Stapleton's Stupid Cupid releases on December 22nd, just in time for Christmas! She's kicking off her Stupid Cupid book launch contest! Here's what's up for grabs:




--a copy of Stupid Cupid, signed by the author

--a $30 bookstore gift card to the store of your choice

--a $30 iTunes gift card

--a $30 Starbucks gift card



That's a $100 value!



So, what do you have to do to enter this incredible contest? Simple--write Rhonda a horrible love poem. The more purple-prosed and nauseating, the better. Visit her blog for more details and be sure to spread the word! ALL DETAILS AVAILABLE HERE!

who wants a copy of BITE ME! (and other stuff?)

First of all, I'd like to congratulate ALISON the winner from last week's contest! Please contact Rhonda: rhonda@rhondastapleton.com to claim your prize


So y'all know I've written a book, right? And y'all know that it is scheduled to hit the shelves tomorrow, right? So who wants to win a free autographed copy plus some BITE ME! swag, and a $25 Amazon gift certificate? Anyone?

Just in case you've been living under a rock, BITE ME! is the next big vampire novel. (or so I keep saying...you know, just putting it out there for the Universe to take and do something with)

AJ Ashe isn't your typical seventeen-year-old vampire—as if there is such a thing! She's stuck in the middle of a huge fight between her two BFFs. Her ex-boyfriend—whom she's still totally in love with, by the way—is now her stepbrother. A former classmate—who, um, she may or may not have turned into a vampire—is stalking her. And now, apparently, the fate of humankind lies in her little undead hands. What ever happened to the good old days, when all a vampire girl had to worry about was the occasional zit and hiding her taste for blood?

There are 4 different ways you can qualify to win:

1.If you're on Twitter tweet: BITE ME! By @MelissaFrancis hits the shelves this week. I can't wait

2 &3: If you're on Facebook, join my author fan page and my book group page. Click the banner and link below:


Have You Been Bitten?

4: Blog about BITE ME! on your own blog, myspace, or facebook page.


Once you've done your tasks, comment on this blog to let me know how hard you worked for your swag! Just leave me a comment like this:

awesomeblogreader:
I tweeted you under my name @awesomeblogreader
I joined your author page
I joined your book page
I blogged you at awesomebookreader.com

You get one entry for each thing you do, but you only have to leave 1 comment. Now, let's get the word out and get this party started!

ETA: Winner will be announced Friday! Contest closes Thursday, July 30!

A Super Happy Funtime Birthday Contest!

It's my 33rd birthday today. YAY ME! I even sat up last night until 12:01, just because. haha

Unfortunately, I woke up this morning to a, um, present left by my dog. *sigh* What's weird is she NEVER does that, so I instantly thought it was a portent of doom. Here's hoping the rest of my day is better. haha

So, what's the worst birthday present YOU ever got?

Leave a comment in this post today (no later than 11:59 PM EST), telling me about the worst birthday present you ever got, for your chance to win a $15 gift card to an online bookstore of your choice (e.g., Amazon, B&N, Borders, etc.)! I'll randomly pick one commenter. Good luck!

CONGRATS on the Golden Heart finals!!

It's my day to post, but I'm too thrilled to talk about whatever goofball nonsense I was going to yap about. Instead, I wanted to give a shout-out to my friends for finalling in the Golden Heart category of the Romance Writers of America contest:

Jeannie Lin, for finalling in the historical category with her lush, amazing novel Butterfly Swords.

Cynthia Justlin, for finalling in the romantic suspense category with her novel Intrusion.

And our very own Amanda Brice, for finalling in the young adult category with the fantastic novel Codename: Dancer.

CONGRATS! I'm ecstatic for you and hope for big wins, which will be announced at the RWA national conference in July.

(And here's hoping I can update this post again today with more friends' announcements!!)

Pick my title and become a character in my book.

Here is my "working" blurb for the current WIP, and so far, I've been calling it A Boy for Every Season--but it just doesn't have that elusive It, if you know what I mean.

Layney Logan doesn't swim in the high school dating pool--period. She'd rather avoid the questionable warm spots in the water and focus on the important things--like getting into college and running the high school newspaper. So when her arch-nemesis and co-chief editor (who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend),Jimmy Foster, suggests she do a feature story about what girls are really looking for in boys she wants to run for the hills. What's worse, he wants her to go on twelve blind dates with the boys the paper is photographing for a fundraiser calendar.

The one thing Layney dislikes more than dating is letting Foster think he got to her, so she takes the assignment to prove she's more than over him. The trouble is, she is learning a little more about herself on every blind date--the good, bad, and ugly (sometimes scary) ones. And the more she learns about Layney Logan, the more she wonders if Foster's known her better all this time.

So--we've got two intrepid high school reporters, twelve blind dates of doom, a calendar of hunks (and some not so hunky), a newspaper staff of chaos, two people who hate each other but probably should never have broken up, and Mr. March--a total hottie skater boy who throws his hat in the ring. And a big secret Layney's been hiding for four years and it's the REAL reason she and her arch nemesis broke up.

So...give me some titles! If I end up using yours, you get to be a character in the book--one of the reporters for The Follower, Layney's high school newspaper. I'll send you a questionaire and make a character dossier of you. Not in high school anymore? That's okay--you'll get a second chance at sixteen and be immortalized in a young adult novel.

Let's hear them.....

New Year's Resolutions Contest

Simple contest to kick off 2009. Simply post a New Year's resolution before it becomes Jan 2, and you're entered to win a 2009 calendar!

Happy 2009, everybody!!!!