Giving Away The Shop

Business first! The winner of my Authors in Bloom prize pack was Melissa Bourne Yayyy, Melissa! You can check out the Authors in Bloom main page to find a list of other winners and to see who won the grand prize of a Nook or Kindle.

Now, on to another giveaway! After the Give Your Child a Book Day was so crazy successful yesterday, and I didn't want anyone to miss out on a FREE Kindle copy of my latest release, SAVAGE CINDERELLA, I'll keep the book free for two more days. That's right! Today and tomorrow only, the book is available for a free download from Amazon. Jump on over and get your copy NOW!

If this is your first visit to my blog, I write, as the title suggests, Extraordinary Stories of an Average Teenage Life.

Savage Cinderella is the story of a young girl’s tragically lost innocence, her miraculous survival in the wilderness, and the unlikely romance that teaches her to trust, and leads her to triumph over her past.

Eighteen year-old Brinn Hathaway has survived alone in an abandoned cabin in the High Country of North Georgia since she was a child. If her life is lonely and less than complete, at least she is safe from the man who kidnapped her, held her captive, and left her for dead in a shallow grave in the mountains. She believes that her parents are dead, the police are her enemy, and that if she returns to the world, her tormentor will find her. With the help of some unlikely friends, she has what she needs to survive, but is surviving enough?

Life takes a turn when a young nature photographer, Justin Spencer—in pursuit of the fabled Wild Child—captures her on film. While chasing the story of a lifetime, Justin is injured and Brinn comes to his rescue. The two build a tentative friendship, but with his own violent past, an abusive alcoholic father, and a mother he couldn’t protect, he must decide if proving himself is worth betraying the trust of the girl he has vowed to help.

Trust is a commodity that Brinn has been unable to afford. Can the kindness and gentle touch of a stranger break through the wall she has built around her heart? After half a lifetime of living in isolation and fear, Brinn must decide if leaving the safety of her remote cabin is worth the hope—and danger—that may await her.


Some people might say it's crazy giving away my book like this, but since yesterday, over 8,000 people have downloaded the book for free. If a dozen or so folks feel compelled to write a lovely review, tell their friends what a great story it is, or maybe decide to purchase my other two books, Heaven Is For Heroes and On Thin Ice, then it is well worth it. Besides, every writer writes for one reason and one reason only...to share their stories with the world.

I hope you enjoy Brinn's story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Comments and feedback are always welcomed and I would greatly appreciate any reviews you'd like to post to Amazon.

Blessings!

PJ

Hoppy April!

Hey Gang! Happy Spring time wherever you may be. I love this time of year. The birds are back in force, everything is budding and blooming, and the promise of warmer days has me itching to get out and dig in the dirt.

To celebrate this month, I’m joining forces with a fabulous group of authors on a Blog Hop called Authors in Bloom. How it works is that between April 9th and April 18th, you can visit each author’s blog or website and enter to win an amazing array of prizes. At each stop, you’ll be able to pick up some great gardening tips and wonderful recipes to make your spring that much brighter. You'll also be able to collect phrases at each author's site that will add up to a story. If you collect all the phrases, you can enter to win a Kindle or a Nook loaded with free books! You’ll find all the details and the list of participating authors with links to their sites by clicking here to go to the Authors in Bloom landing page.

Don’t go yet! Here are my phrases to the Authors in Bloom Traveling Story.
Line 4: Nestled together in the garden,
Line 5: they present a lovely palette of beauty; fresh fragrant.

I recommend checking out the details of the contest requirements on the Authors in Bloom site, but if you want to hop right on over to the participating authors and their links to collect your phrases, see their recipes and gardening tips, and enter their individual contests, you can find the links here.

Here's my idea of a Sunny Delight dessert. If you want a great super easy pie recipe that's just perfect for spring and summer, try this:

You'll need one package of vanilla instant pudding mix, 2 cups of cold milk, an 8 oz. package of cream cheese, a graham cracker crust (I buy mine ready made), and a banana. Beat the softened cream cheese with a half cup of the milk until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla pudding mix and the rest of the milk and blend until thickened (3-5 minutes). Slice half the banana onto the bottom of the pie crust and then pour the pudding mixture on top. Top the pie with the rest of the banana slices and add whipped cream if you like. I also add sliced strawberries to both the bottom and top of my pie to add a sweet/tart flavor. Chill and serve. Enjoy! You can make this low fat and sugar free by using lite cream cheese, sugar free pudding mix, and skim or 1% milk.

As for gardening tips, here's one of my favorites. Check out this you-tube video to find out how to make manure tea. Trust me; your plants are going to LOVE it!

My Contest
At the end of the blog hop, I’ll pick one lucky winner to receive this awesome prize pack which includes signed copies of each of my books, a free download of ON THIN ICE, a mug, bookmarks, a pen, a tee shirt, a World Wildlife Fund water bottle, and a national Wildlife Federation tote along with a cute stuffed baby polar bear! Whew…what a giveaway!

So here’s how you enter. Between April 9th and April 18th leave a comment on this blog. That’s all you have to do to be in the running. Make sure you include a valid e-mail address. If you want more chances to win, you can subscribe to my Newsletter by "Joining my mailing list" here, “like” my Face Book page here, follow me on Twitter here, and tweet about the Authors in Bloom Blog Hop (#Authors in Bloom Blog Hop. Enter to win amazing prizes @pjsharon http://www.pjsharonyawriter.blogspot.com ). It’s that easy, and for every effort, you will be rewarded by having your name entered for another chance in the drawing. If you do all of the above, I’ll add your name an extra time. That means you could be entered five times! That has got to up your chances. Just let me know in the comment section what you’ve done to help me spread the word.
Contest is only open to US residents and deadline to enter is midnight on April 18th. Winner will be announced here and also on the Authors in Bloom site on April 21st.

And if that doesn’t get you hopping, I’m joining fifteen other authors on April 19th for a “Give Your Child a Free Book Day (or fifteen)!

That’s right, SAVAGE CINDERELLA will be included in this wonderful opportunity to grab free Kindle books for kids from children’s books, to Middle Grade, to YA. You can check out the amazing lineup here. Just so you don’t miss out, I’m extending my free days to include April 20th and 21st. Awesome, right? Here's the link to Amazon where you'll have three days to get SAVAGE CNDERELLA for free!

Before I forget, a big thank you to Gina Beach for all of her creative "Title ideas" for Book One of the dystopian trilogy I'm working on called the Chronicles of Lilly Carmichael. A few other folks chimed in with suggestions, but I had to go with my gut on this one. Book One will be titled "WANING MOON", Book II will be "WESTERN DESERT" and Book III, "WINTER SUN". So there you have it! Now I just have to write it:-)

Well, that’s all I have for now. It’s going to be an exciting month!