Book Giveaway at For the Love of Reading

Hey Guys and Gals,

Happy Holidays!  There is an autographed copy of SINFUL up for grabs at a blog called For the Love of Reading.  Follow the link below to enter!

http://www.ikissbooks.blogspot.com/

Also, Staci and I are back on the literary agent hunt, so wish us well.  Hopefully, we can find someone to love STATIC soon, and then it will be that much closer to being on a book store shelf!

We hope you all have a very merry holiday!

Sara

Listmania

I just created a list of some of my all-time favorite YA novels on Amazon's Listmania, so if you are looking for a good young adult book to read or buy for a Christmas gift, check it out. 

http://www.amazon.com/lm/R27O6N4D5NAXTR/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_view?ie=UTF8&lm_bb=

I couldn't possibly pick a favorite YA book, but one of my new favs is Numbers, by Rachel Ward.  It's edgy, dark, and much different from the average run-of-the-mill YA novels.  It was a pleasant surprise because I wasn't sure I'd like it, but I ended up loving it.

Don't forget, SINFUL is now available on barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com! 

Happy Holidays!

Sara

Book Give-Away at YA Books Central

Want to win an autographed copy of SINFUL?  We are giving away 5 signed copies at YA Books Central, so follow the link below to sign up!  You could be a lucky winner!

http://www.yabookscentral.com/cfusion/index.cfm?fuseAction=home.sinful

Cheers!

Sara

Two fabulous reviews for SINFUL!

So far, SINFUL has been reviewed by two book reviewer!  I have added the links below if you prefer to go directly to the reviewers sites, or you can read what I cut and paste below.

Night Owl Reviews - http://www.nightowlreviews.com/nor/Reviews/Kiki-reviews-Sinful-by-Sara-Dailey-and-Staci-Weber.aspx

For the Love of Reading - http://ikissbooks.blogspot.com/2010/11/sinful-by-sara-dailey-and-staci-weber.html

Kiki from Night Owl Reviews gave SINFUL 4 3/4 stars and called it a top pick!  See review below:
High school senior, Elizabeth Carrington always thought that something or someone had reached out to her in the hospital room, the night her mother died. It was almost as if she was being surrounded by comfort and solace. She never forgot that moment and thought back on it often as she began to establish a new life for herself in League City, Texas with her father.
Michael, the angel assigned to bring Elizabeth’s mother over to Heaven, is so touched by Elizabeth’s grief that he reaches out to comfort her. He is puzzled over the way that this young woman seems to affect him; after all, he has taken many people over to Heaven, and seen many grieving family members. No one has ever affected him like Elizabeth has.
Michael cannot seem to stay away from Elizabeth and follows her in spirit in order to remain close to her. Eventually, Michael takes human form and befriends Elizabeth outright. Friendship soon blossoms into something more personal and tender, and they fall in love. The road to happiness is not an easy one though, and they must face a few obstacles. The first and most obvious obstacle is the issue of Michael’s immortality and Elizabeth’s mortality. There is also the matter of Daniel, a hunky fallen angel with a vendetta, who is out to hurt Michael, even if he has to use Elizabeth to do it.
This was a wonderful romantic story about a teenage girl who falls in love with the angel who is watching over her. The theme of good versus evil in this story is an old tried and true one, but it is executed with finesse by the authors, who add twists and turns keeping the story engrossing and fresh.
The characters are well developed and Elizabeth is courageous as well as funny and exasperating at times. Many of her actions drive home the point that she is only a human teenage after all, further highlighting differences between her and Michael. Michael, while appearing pretty much perfect (he is an angel after all!), also shows flaws in his character. These flaws show us that even though he is a celestial being, he is actually far from perfect. He can get jealous, angry or afraid at times just like the next guy. The chemistry between the two is wonderful. They seem to balance each other out perfectly, and together, they are an unbeatable team, creating an atmosphere of love and peace that is all their own.
I really, really enjoyed this book and hated when I got to the last page. I wished the story could have kept going. It is definitely a keeper for all fans of young adult paranormal romance. I know it has earned a permanent home on my eBook reader. So, if you are into stories about tough heroines and hunky angels, both good and bad, then this book should definitely be the top contender for your next read.


Kate from The Love of Reading gave it 4 kisses!  See review below:

First off I want to say thank you so much to both Sara Dailey and Staci Weber for letting my review this book before it comes onto shelves! This book is coming out on November 16th so mark your calenders!
Now for the review. This book was not what I was expecting. I find that more often than not these days books are not what I was expecting, which is not a bad thing. This was a very good book, even if not what I expected. So we start off with our main character Elizabeth whose mom just died and she has to move with in with her estranged dad and start a new school for her senior year, that would really suck. The plot was very fast-paced, at the beginning it seemed a little to fast for me at times. Now I hate it when books go on and on with descriptions about certain things, this book was completely different. Sometimes I feel there just wasn't enough description, since I personally feel when you are new at a place that you pay a lot more attention to things. But it got a lot better as the book went along. Also, sometimes there were scenes that were not really scenes per-say but more of Elizabeth telling you, she was narrating, that so-in-so talked with her about this. Sometimes I really wanted to be around for those scenes, if you know what I mean, I wanted to experience them too. I found that a lot of things got better as the book went on. Back to the plot, it was fast and very straight forward and gets to the point, no useless and taking up space scenes as well as long descriptions, which I had a love hate relationship.
I also really liked the characters. They were very high school characters, which I really liked. What I mean is they are in high school and you can definitely find these people in your own high school, with a little editing of course but it's nice to be able to relate to. I really liked a lot of her friends and her enemies too, that's something Dailey and Weber hit right on the nail, the characters and high school. I really liked that Micheal was different than the normal love interest in a book. He was very kind, sweet, and sensitive. He is definitely not a bad-boy and I surprisingly did not mind, and I love bad-boys. He brought something very different to the book and to the whole YA genre. So I'm very glad he was different. Naturally I also fell in love with the bad guy in the book as well but that's another story. Elizabeth, however, I have to admit that I didn't really like her in the beginning at times. It seemed like she could be a little mean and kind of... not haughty and not judgemental but a little bit in between the two, but thinking about how I would feel in her situation I can empathize with her a lot more. Elizabeth is also independent and can also kick-your butt type of girl, which I also really like. She also speaks her mind, which could explain my feelings about her before, meaning she was just very blunt. Either way I did grow to like Elizabeth. Now the relationship between Micheal and Elizabeth happened really fast for me, it seemed like they saw each other, fell in love, then needed to be together. I just wish it would have been drawn out a little more, not love at first sight. But it was a very sweet relationship and it worked for them. Oh, and this book was really funny. Not constantly, I mean it wasn't a comedy but it had a bunch of parts that made me smile or laugh. Overall it was a fast, easy, and enjoyable/good read, three...well four of my favorite adjectives when reading a book. I'm really looking forward to the next in this new series!

Staci and I are very excited to see some good feedback!  We hope you all read it and enjoy it too.  By the way, if you have ordered our novel already, please be patient.  It should be in your mailbox soon.  Our publisher let us know that there was an issue with the printers, and it got delayed a bit, but don't worry; you should have your book soon!

Cheers!

Sara

SINFUL is for sale!!

Our debut novel, SINFUL, has been released.  You can order it today here: http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Sinful

It shouldn't be long before it's online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online book retailers.  Keep your fingers crossed :) 

But, if you live in the Houston area, we will hopefully be having a book signing soon, so you might want to wait and come see us in person and get your book signed!  Be on the look out for more information about that!

In the meantime, if you haven't already, check out our new website, designed by Patrick Golden (http://artzimedia.com/).  He is a rockstar!  There is a playlist for SINFUL under its link, and there is some pretty good music there, thanks to Staci :)

Cheers!

Sara Dailey

We are in our local paper - The Galveston County Daily News

It's pretty cool to be awoken by a text telling you that you novel is in the paper!  Good way to start the morning, so thanks to Mary Strickland!

The Galveston Daily News printed our press release!  Check it out here: http://galvestondailynews.com/story/190642/

It's in the Lifestyle section if you get that paper :)

Here's the article:

‘Sinful’ book debuts Tuesday


From staff reports

The Daily News

Published November 14, 2010
LEAGUE CITY — Two local authors have written a compelling, romantic novel, set in League City called “Sinful.”
Sara Dailey and Staci Weber are avid readers, English teachers, friends, wives and mothers. They teach at Creekside Intermediate School in the Clear Creek Independent School District.

The book is about 17-year-old Elizabeth Carrington, who is coping with the death of her mother and falling in love at the same time.
It’s not long before she realizes her new love-interest, Michael, is the angel who took her mother to heaven. Seeing Michael so happy doesn’t sit well with his archenemy Daniel. And when the fallen angel comes to town, Elizabeth suddenly finds herself in the middle of a battle between good and evil.

When Elizabeth and Michael’s one chance for “happy ever after” is threatened, Elizabeth has to face her fears and defeat an evil angel with a grudge.
“Sinful” will be released Tuesday by Mundania Press. The book is a paranormal romance, and it’s sure to spark the interest of young adults looking for something fresh and new to read.
The book will be available online and at local bookstores. (ISBN No. 978-1-59426-253-1)

So, don't forget, you can order SINFUL at mundania.com on Tuesday, and you can still sign up to win a free copy on Good Reads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9274485-sinful.

A Barnes & Noble book signing is still in the works, so hopefully we will have a date set soon.

Cheers!

Sara

Want to know how to purchase SINFUL ...

So... Staci and I just got word from our publisher about when and how SINFUL can be purchased.  SINFUL is set to be released on November 16th (only 6 days away!).  BUT ... on the 16th, it will only be available to order in trade paperback or ebook through mundania.com.  When you go to that site, you should see a link for new releases, and you will be able to place your order.

Within the following week or so, it should be available online on Amazon.  Hopefully, it won't take too much longer than that for Barnes & Noble, Borders, and other book retailers to have it available online as well. 

And ... if we are really lucky, we might just get to see it in the book stores.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

Mundania Press is a small publishing house, so they don't work the same way as the big houses where the books are at your fingertips the day of release, but it shouldn't take too long for it to be in your hands.

And Staci and I are working with the customer relations manager at the Bay Area Barnes & Noble in Webster to set up a book signing, probably towards the end of November, and of course, we hope to see you all come out and show your support, the locals at least.  We will get word out about that date on here, facebook, and our website saraandstaci.com as soon as it is set.  So be on the look out for that. 

We appreciate everyone who has shown us their support through this process, and we couldn't be more excited to see our first novel in print!  Clocks a tickin' and the 16th will be here before we know it!

Cheers!

Sara

Want to know what STATIC is about?

Staci and I are finally finishing up our second novel, STATIC.  It's taken a long time but there is finally an end in sight.  So, here is its back cover blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Allison Wright is becoming a werewolf; she just doesn’t know it. When her mood-swings, erratic behavior, and uncontrollable temper gets out of hand, her mother finally comes clean and admits her deep-dark secret. Allison’s mom is a werewolf, and it won’t be long before Allison and her brother Aiden will suffer the same fate. When Allison reaches her breaking point, the family packs up their life in Texas and moves to Red Ridge, New Mexico, back to the werewolf pack that Allison’s mother left behind almost 20 years ago. The last thing Allison ever expected when she arrived at the Estate was to come muzzle to muzzle with the wolf of her dreams.




Cade Walker is next in line to be the alpha of the Red Ridge pack. He’s been groomed to be a leader, and it won’t be long before he takes his father’s place. With his life carefully laid out, his mate already chosen, and his bright future awaiting him, what could possibly go wrong? But when a beautiful blonde he can’t resist joins the pack, his perfectly planned future gets turned up-side down.


Nothing will stand in the way of Kendall Stuart getting what she wants. She is already well on her way to becoming the next alpha’s mate, and finally, she will rule the pack by Cade’s side. But when her position in the pack is threatened, Kendall is willing to do anything to get her way, even if that means teaming up with a rogue werewolf with an agenda of his own. When these two join forces, all hell breaks loose, and no one in the pack is safe, especially not Cade and his true mate.





Wish us luck on getting it polished and ready to send out into the publishing world.  Hopefully, it will find a good home, and we will see it on the shelf some day :)

Cheers!

Sara

Want to read the first chapter of SINFUL?

The first chapter of SINFUL is up on mundania.com under the coming soon link if you would like to read it.  Also, our new website is up and running at saraandstaci.com.  Our web guy, Patrick Golden, is a rockstar, and if we ever make any money, he deserves a really big paycheck.

We finally wrote the back-cover blurb for our second novel STATIC, so I will post it here and on our website soon.  Be on the look out.

Cheers!

Sara

A New Post is Way Overdue

I have decided that I completely suck at blogging.  Guess it's just not my thing. 

Staci and I are hard at work getting promo items ready for SINFUL's release.  Be looking for details on a book signing soon.  The release is still set for November 16th though that date is still tentative. 

Our second novel STATIC is almost complete and hopefully will be ready for submissions soon.  Very exciting.  Seems like we've been writing it forever, but there is finally an end it in sight.

We did finally get to see exactly what the cover of SINFUL will look like.  Here it is:

Pretty cool!  We are up on our publisher's website at mundania.com under the coming soon link if you want to take a look!  Also, our website is being redesigned by the fabulous Patrick Golden so by the end of October it should be up and running.  Yay!  It is looking fantastic so far.

Well that's about it.  Be looking for more info soon!  And don't miss out on our goodreads.com book give away.

Cheers!

Sara

Book give-away on Good Reads

Hey guys and gals,

I just listed SINFUL on goodreads.com and created a contest give-away for our novel!  I'm just now trying to figure out the site, so there is not much on there yet, but I'm working on it.  Please check it out and enter the contest!

Also, we have ordered posters for SINFUL and would love to have teachers and librarians display them in their classrooms.  If you are interested in getting one (for free!), please let me know.

Cheers!

Sara

Goodreads Book Giveaway

SINFUL

by Sara Dailey and Staci Weber

Giveaway ends November 30, 2010.







See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

No Rest for the Weary!

I'm finally getting a break from all the reading and revising I've been doing for the last several weeks.  We sent in the 1st round of revisions for SINFUL to our editor yesterday, and then I spent the better part of last night and today revising the 1st five chapters of STATIC so that we can send our partials off to the agents and editors that requested it at the RWA conference.  Now it's Staci's turn to revise a bit more before she passes it back to me.  So finally I get to sit here and write a post about our RWA adventure.

Staci and I attended our first Romance Writers of America conference, and it was absolutely insane.  Here we are:

There were over 2100 writers there, which was a bit overwhelming.  Writers ranged from the greats like Nora Roberts and Meg Cabot to writers who were just getting started.  I had to remind myself not to go all groupie-like when we saw some of our favorite YA authors, including Meg Cabot, Kelley Armstrong, Tera Lynn Childs, and Simone Elkeles.  I got to meet one of my favorite adult authors, Christine Warren, and for one brief moment, we thought we would get to meet Sherrilyn Kenyon, my all time fav, but then found out that she had left early.  Major bummer.

We met lots of great people, including another writing team named Stephanie Jones and Jean Hovey, who took us under their wing and showed us the ropes.  This is them:

And to top all that off, we pitched STATIC to 2 literary agents and 2 editors, who all requested to see our work!  Very exciting!  We have a lot to do but are very excited about what might be in store for us.  And don't forget - only a few more months until SINFUL's release.

And now I shall leave you with a few of our favorite comments from our editor.  As she read through SINFUL, she left little notes along the side, and she didn't hold back :)

1.  Are his eyes supposed to be changing color? Because if so, you might want her to notice it a bit.
2.  has she read the bible? The non-fallen ones took care of a lot of smiting.
3.  no, fallen angels don’t become witches.
4.  What miserable existence? He seems to be doing pretty well for himself.
5.  Can you coordinate this with the above because we had tons of emotion followed by no emotion.
6.  Does this metaphor really work? Do you want your armored angels acting like feral beasts. Besides feral animals don’t really have weapons.
7.  Okay, have you thought this metaphor through? You’ve made your fallen angel the representative of an Islamic country.
8.  Okay, she’s actually arguing about whether she should damn an angel. Is she that limited in her thoughts?
9.  She desperately needs more depth at this point.
10.  I’m not sure a Dixie cup really holds enough water to quench a thirst.
11.  And my personal favorite - (in the story the main character asks herself, "Why would Lyndsee start a rumor like that?") Editor's comment - Because she called Lyndsee a skank cheerleader? Oh, and stole her boyfriend for a while. Does she not realize this?

Our editor did an excellent job editing SINFUL, and we have her to thank for Elizabeth not sounding like a shallow idiot!  And she made us laugh along the way :)

Please ignore all typos, for I am a self-declared typo queen, and I have edited all that I can edit today!

And now to reward myself for all of my hard work, I am going to lay on the couch and watch The Sopranos.

Cheers!

Sara

Revising and what I'd rather be doing

What I should be doing right now is revising Sinful, but I thought I'd pause for a moment to reflect a bit on all the things I wish I was doing instead.  The good new is that we received our first round of revisions back from our editor.  Yay!  The bad news is that there is A LOT to revise.  Boo!  And it's really, really hard!  Our editor rocks, and I couldn't really disagree with a single problem she had with our novel, and I know it will be a much better novel when we are finished.  It's just taking a really long time and there is so many other things I need and want to do.

What I wish I could be doing instead (in no particuliar order):
*Watching the TV and laying on the couch - the finale of True Beauty is still on the DVR, not to mention the new episode of True Blood that just came on.  Also, I just finished season 4 of The Sopranos and can't wait to start season 5 (Carmella finally told Tony off and sent him packing!)
*Going swimming - not right at this moment of course being that it's 10:00pm and there's a thunder storm going on, but the semi-tan I had working is fading fast.
*Shopping!  I need some new school clothes and school supplies.
*Sleeping

What I need to be doing:
*the dishes that have been sitting in the sink
*laundry
*pretty much any other house chore you can think of
*memorizing our editor and agent pitches for the RWA conference
*working on our other novel that is supposed to be finished before the RWA conference but isn't
*grocery shopping
*and surely a whole bunch of other stuff that I can't think of at the moment because I'm thinking that I really need to hurry this up and get busy with revisions

On another note, Staci and I are headed to Orlando on Wednesday for the Romance Writers of America conference.  Very exciting!  We have 4 appointments to pitch our novels to editors and agents, and it will be a great opportunity to network and learn.  Wish us luck! 

Okay, I need to get back to work.  Hopefully, I can knock some of it out and still be awake enough to watch True Blood.

Cheers!

Sara

Well . . . SINFUL it is!

Our novel has finally been retitled, and we were just sent our new cover art.  And here it is!

The new title is SINFUL, and we are hoping that this one sticks!  SINFUL is currently under revisions and edits by our editor from Mundania, and we should be receiving it back soon to make whatever revisions necessary.  At this point, it is still set to be out in November, which is creeping up quickly.  It will be here before we know it, and Staci and I are very excited!

Over the past several months, we have been hard at working on our second novel, STATIC.  It's coming along slowly, but I don't think it will be too much longer before we have it finished.  And then the hard part begins again - finding someone to love it and give it a home. 

At the end of July, Staci and I will be attending our first Romance Writers of America convention in Orlando.  This will be a great opportunity for us to learn, network, and if we are really lucky, impress an agent or two.  Wish us luck! 

Also, I want to thank everyone who helped out with title suggestions.  We had lists and lists of potential titles, and being that we both loved the original title FALLEN so much, it was really hard for us to agree on anything.  Nothing seemed right, and when we both liked SINFUL, we jumped on it.  I just hope others like it too.

Thanks for stopping by!  Cheers :)

Sara

What are the odds?

So, it's been a while.  I have been patiently waiting for our new cover art to be completed before I announced the new title.  Staci and I finally decided on CRAVE to replace the title FALLEN.  I was finally starting to get used to it, though I'm not sure that I actually ever called it CRAVE.  I just knew that when I saw the edited cover that I would finally accept CRAVE as its new title.

But . . . we received an email this morning letting us know that there is another YA novel coming out in September (1 month before ours) with the title CRAVE.  What are the odds?  Needless to say, we are totally bummed and now on the hunt again for the perfect title. 

Staci and I are still hard at work on our second novel STATIC, a werewolf teen romance.  It's been a slow process, but it's coming together quite nicely.

Thanks for stopping by.  All title suggestions are welcome!

Cheers :)

Sara

Potential New Titles for FALLEN

Here are our favs as of now:

FORBIDDEN
TORN
CREED
CRAVE
COLLIDE
COVET
MORNING STAR
ABSOLUTION
and 2 more that I can't remember.  That can't be a good sign for those titles, huh.

What do you think?  After a polling our 7th graders, the top titles were FORBIDDEN and TORN.  Those were my hubby's favorites too.  Personally, COVET and CREED have kind of grown on me. 

Thanks to all of you who offered ideas!

Cheers,

Sara

New Title for FALLEN Contest

We need a new title people! And Staci and I can't seem to decided what it should be.  We have lists and lists of prospective titles but have yet to decide on something.  So we are turning to you for help.  Below you will see our working jacket copy summary and our youtube video.  If you would like to partcipate in our little contest, please leave your title idea in the comments section on here, our facebook fan page, or our myspace page.  If we choose your title, you will win not only our undying gratitude, but also a autographed copy of our novel.  Get your creative juices a flowin'.  We need all the help we can get!



After the death of her mother, seventeen year old Elizabeth Carrington is starting over. In a new city, at a new school, with a dad she hardly knows, it isn’t going to be easy. Trying desperately to find her way and cope with her unceasing grief, she finds herself surrounded by a force so compelling, so comforting, so captivating that she can’t deny its presence and soon fears that if it were to leave her, she might loose her very self. But is it all really happening or has her wavering sanity finally found its breaking point?

Michael’s role in this world has been the same for centuries, but now something is different. He is inexplicably drawn to an intriguing stranger so alluring that he can’t force himself to resist her. Is he willing to risk everything to be with her, even falling?
 A dark force, hell bent on destroying any chance of happiness for his arch nemesis Michael, is lurking in League City, TX, and there is no limit to his need for vengeance. How far will he go to seek revenge for his sworn enemy’s betrayal?
 Caught in a clash of good versus evil, Elizabeth soon finds herself in the crosshairs of a battle that has been brewing since long before she was even born.



Thanks guys!

Sara