New Release Awesome Applesauce: Indies Down Under by S.K. Lessner and Stacey Broadbent

Awesome Applesauce

Indies Down Under

By S.K. Lessner and Stacey Broadbent

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Blurb

Two Indie Authors, slinging our shit in every group, blog, and post we could find.

That’s how we met. That’s how we became virtual besties.

It didn’t matter that we lived on opposite sides of the world. We understood each other. We shared the same hellish road of authordom, filled with its

struggles, successes, rejections, and triumphs. Through endless texts, countless posts, and obsessive chats, we discovered the treasure hidden along this path.

This is our story.

Our first real book signing.

And the beginning of one very wild,

extremely funny, and beautifully intense adventure.

Excerpt

I’d checked my appearance in the mirror at least thirty times in the past sixty minutes.  What once passed for fingernails were now nothing more than red, inflamed nubs on the ends of each finger.  I was certain I’d wear a path in the rug due to the pacing I couldn’t control.  Furthermore, I could feel the rash that was blossoming on my recently shaved thighs as they continually rubbed against one another.  I was beyond nervous!

If anyone saw me, they’d assume I was meeting a man for the first time, interviewing for a new job, or maybe waiting to hear the doctor’s news that I was finally pregnant.  But none of that was true.  At least, not at the moment.  No, I was waiting on my bestest of best, fantastic, amazing friend.  The problem wasn’t in how close I felt to her or even how excited I was to finally see her.  It was the fact that she was my virtual bestie.  Yep, virtual.  She’d popped my cherry in internet relationships.  And together we’d forged one of the closest and most sincere relationships I’d ever had.

Dinah and I had met online, both of us aspiring new Indie Authors.  We were both slinging our shit in any and every group we could find, hoping and praying that just one individual would love our work enough to give us a review.  Forget hoping for receiving five stars back then.  We just wanted someone to read our books and type a few words about it.  Sounds easy enough, right?  But hell no!  The world of authordom does not work that way folks!  It’s like bleeding from every orifice I have, and somebody finally walks by taking notice, having pity on me by handing me a band aid ten sizes too small and patting my head as they scurry along their way.  It’s brutal.

Anyhow, as I was saying, we met online.  Over the next year or so, we became like sisters.  Albeit virtual sisters, but heck, beggars can’t be choosers!  We talked throughout the day, from morning until night.  Sometimes skipping sleep to work and chat too.  It didn’t matter that she was 19 hours ahead of me due to time zones.  Whatever we were working on, whatever odd and often crass thoughts that passed through our heads, we shared that shit!  Don’t even get me started on the photos we’d pass back and forth!  No, not of ourselves, you dirty-minded person.  (I only say that because that’s what my first thought was when typing it too!)

So, that’s us.  Virtual Besties.  And being the besties that we are, we had discussed, planned, and made preparations to attend our first book signing event together.  For me, that meant traveling to the other side of the world.  Seventeen hours of flying from Chicago to Australia.  And I had arrived in Brisbane exactly two hours ago.  After texting to tell her that I had arrived at the hotel, and giving her the room number, I took a quick shower, dressed, and began my nervous breakdown.  What if she didn’t like me in person?  What if the funny pictures we sent, and nasty complaints about annoying fellow authors we shared, were the limit of our ability to converse in real life?  What if she thought I was ugly?

Ugh!  You’d think I was waiting for her to arrive in order to fulfil one of the many love scenes I’d written in my books!  Which couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Join us in our celebration!  We are having a release party with lots of giveaways and games!  There are some fantastic authors who will be joining us and doing some takeovers, so invite some friends, and join in on the fun!

https://www.facebook.com/events/860410557395078/

About the Authors

Stacey lives in Ashburton, New Zealand, with her husband and three children.  She is a qualified proof-reader, self-published author, foodie, and self-confessed book-a-holic!

She loves to spend time with her family and friends, and experimenting in the kitchen.

When she isn't busy writing, she spends her spare time helping to promote other authors on her book blog.

S. K. Lessner is a native of the Chicago area, growing up between the cities and endless fields of cows and corn. After working in the medical field around the world for many years, she decided to put her experiences, as well as, dreams into writing.  She writes a mixture of Romance themed books that venture into suspense, comedy, and fantasy.  When she's not writing, she's busy being a mom and enjoying any beach she can find!

It pains my soul to have to give even a half way bad review of anyone's book, whether it's on my blog, amazon, or elsewhere.  But some things just can't be helped.  To all my authors out there:  PLEASE don't be vague in your novels, and don't leave too many loose ends.  Vagueness causes confusion.  Details are amazing!  It's what can really make a book shine!  Too many loose ends can create confusion too.  And it can cause people to lose interest easily.  Many of you are very good at keeping this to a minimum!  Keep up the good work!!  Those who aren't, keep trying!!  It will get there!!

Exalted by Tara Elizabeth

   Imagine a world you lived in where there are no emotions.  And everyone around you is like that.  No one smiles.  No one laughs.  The single most thought in your head being that you should be strong and defend The United Republic Of The Saved...

 This is the world of Mena.  Every day is the same.  Always training, always eating the same thing, sitting with the same people at lunch, and the single most dominating conversation piece always being The Republic.  But Mena knows no better.  She grew up in The Republic.  It has been her mindset since she was a small child.  She was an Exalted, a protector of The Republic.
   Long ago an apocalypse had happened, and the world was now a different place.  There had not been many survivors afterward, but those that did banded together.  They built a new colony.  And out of that rose those that were different than the rest.

    They were strong, fast, and fearless.  They were gods.

So it was that the Exalted, as they were called, were defenders of this new colony.  There were mere Citizens who needed the protection, as well as the Ambassadors. The Ambassadors were the ones in charge.  The strange thing was that the Citizens and the Ambassadors had emotions.  Mena starts to notice how their faces change, how they have tears that fall sometimes.  This is not a world she knows anything of, but she pays close attention.  Meanwhile, everyone is getting ready for the Trials.  The Exalted go through tests of strength and agility and are paired up to be United forever based upon their scores of these trials.  There is no falling in love.  It is purely to breed to have more like them.  The only problem is that although Mena doesn't feel love, she does not want to be paired with just anyone.  Her first choice would be her friend Ethan.
   Before the Trials begin, she meets an outsider by the name of Ryker.  He tells her that the purple pill they take every day, called the Pump, is causing her to have no emotions.  So she gets off of the Pump to see if he is right.  She wants to be stronger for the Trials.  She wants to be number one.  Sickness overtakes her for days.  Then she starts experiencing things like she never did.  And unfortunately that involves feelings for both Ethan and for Ryker, which confuses Mena because she has never been in love and doesn't really understand it.  And now that Mena knows what it feels like being off the Pump, things are changing for her, and she has decisions to make that she has never had in the past.  Choices.  A brand new concept..


   This book sucked me in!  It is a whole new concept to me reading, a novel about such a cult-like group of people.  They all have no idea what is really going on, and even though you don't see very much of that in this book, you get the feeling there is some really weird mess going on behind closed doors.  The Exalted are basically being controlled by the Pump and the Ambassadors.  Children go to live in dorms at the age of 5 and start taking the Pump.  Afterwards, all they want to do is be the best fighter and protect their Republic.  It is brainwashing 101.  This has gone on so long that no one blinks an eye when all of this stuff happens.  If someone dies in the Trials, which sometimes happens, they are deemed as having been weak and their name is no longer spoken.
   I, myself, cannot imagine a world without laughing, smiling, and love.  Even not having grief or anger would run a person mad if they knew it existed and knew what it felt like, but couldn't have it.  Perhaps that is why none of them care about these emotions.  They grew up just like this.  And everyone around them was the same way.  Crazy!  But a total cliff hanger at the end!  Can't wait for the next book! (which should be coming out pretty soon)

                                                      http://authortaraelizabeth.com/


*image via Tara Elizabeth
*quote via Tara Elizabeth