Let's Talk Books!

It's time to talk about those little packages that transport us away from this world, introduce us to new friends, and leave a permanent impression on our hearts--books!

Let me start by introducing you to a story that does all three. It's called She Laughs In Pink, and it's written by my good friend Jessica Calla.

Four years after her twin is murdered, Juliet Anderson still struggles with guilt, her parents, and her relationships. Two things keep her from falling into a deep, dark place—dancing and her best friend, Ben. So when Ben decides to play football for New Jersey University, Juliet doesn’t hesitate. She follows. Finally away from her past, there is nothing to stand in the way. Juliet will win Ben's heart.

Then she meets Ben's roommate, Chase.

On probation and hell-bent on adhering to a “new life plan,” aspiring artist Chase leaves his New York City home for New Jersey University and meets Juliet before even stepping foot on campus. For him, their connection is instant. She’s the most vibrant girl he's ever seen. Her colors explode on his canvas, and he's never been more inspired in his life. 

Too bad she’s madly in love with his seemingly perfect, good guy roommate.

About my buddy, Jessica Calla

Jessica Calla is a lawyer by day, author by night. Her favorite time is the kids’ bedtime, when she's free to open the laptop, battle with the blinking cursor, and pour out the contents of her heart. 

Jessica is a member of Romance Writers of America, involved in the Contemporary, Young Adult, and New Jersey Chapters, and is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. She recently became the oldest marketing intern ever at BookFish Books, and was named a Team Member for the inaugural FicFest writing contest. She also mentors unpublished writers as part of the Young Adult Romance Writers' mentoring program.

Besides reading and writing, Jessica enjoys movies, yoga, coffee, and chocolate, but has a serious addiction problem when it comes to Diet Coke, Twitter, and Netflix. Always a Jersey Girl, she lives in the central part of the state with her husband, two sons, and her dog. 

Jessica's first book, The Love Square, an adult contemporary romance, was published by Limitless Publishing in January of 2016 and continues to receive positive reviews. She can't wait for Book 2 of the Sheridan Hall Series, She Runs Away, to be released in November 2016 by BookFish Books.

Now, for some exciting updates about the books Deek and I are working on!

Deek: He FINISHED 122 Rules Redemption (Book 2 in the 122 Rules Series)!! This weekend was rainy and yucky, so we couldn't do the adventuring we'd been hoping to do. Instead of chalking up the weekend to a loss, we spent it writing. And at the end of the day on Sunday, Deek turned to me with a HUGE grin on his face. He pointed to the words "The End" at the bottom of his manuscript and said, "It's finished!" 

If you want to jump on the 122 Rules train in preparation for the second book, here's a link to the first book-- 122 Rules. 

In case you missed it, here's Deek's 122 tattoo!!

Me: So, I finished my revision on Restore to Me and turned it in to Anya to edit. I also sent copies to my Dream Team members to get their thoughts. And I got really great feedback--not in the "pat me on the back" sense but in the "here are great thoughts to make your work better" sense. I am happily incorporating their suggestions, and I'm loving the direction of the story now. After seven years of research and rewrites, it's easy to get lost in all that. These notes gave me back my clarity regarding the characters. 

So, my biggest advice: utilize beta readers, critique partners, and professional editors! And be prepared for MAJOR notes, even if you think your piece is perfect like it is. They'll offer you excellent suggestions, and it WILL make your work better. 

The Dream Team

My critique partner turned husband. <swoon>

Anya Kagan at Touchstone-Editing

I hope to finish the edits for Restore to Me in time for #PitMad on June 9! I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for an agent on this one. 

Fun factoid: One year ago, Deek and I started our cross country trip by train. If you missed out on that adventure, check it out here!

Oh, in other happy news, a fan sent us this picture of 122 Rules at the beach! WOOT! 

Until next time, friends! Happy reading! Live and love out loud!

From our second/Southern wedding! 

I love you beyond, beyond, my Deek! <3 <3 <3

Book Tattoos -- FINALLY!

So, it happened! FINALLY! Deek and I got our long-awaited book tattoos, and I'm here to give you the scoop on it.

I have been planning my book tattoo since 2013. I knew I wanted it to be the Vanguard symbol from my trilogy The Fulfillment Series. My friend and Dream Team member Danielle designed the symbol, and I loved it from the first moment she showed it to me. It's rich with meaning because Danielle spent hours and hours researching and creating the perfect blend of this and that to truly capture the Vanguards. For an explanation behind her choices for the Vanguard symbol, check out this post she wrote.

But...I'm so glad I didn't get it in 2013 because my cover underwent a revamp from the lovely and supremely talented Anita from Race-Point! I knew I wanted to incorporate her design with the blue ball behind the symbol and the swishes of light surrounding it, much like you see here on my work computer (the hubs had this symbol made for my birthday--LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!).

Ah-mazing!

Deek says he's been planning his book tattoo for almost as long as I have, but he had no idea what he wanted it to look like. So, last year, we hired Anita to design him a tattoo that he could also use as a blog banner for his upcoming release 122 Rules (thanks for the Christmas money to do that, Deek's parents!). We gave her the idea for what we wanted, but our drawings were truly atrocious. I mean, they were THAT bad. LOL! Somehow, brilliant Anita took our scribbles and created a visual masterpiece. 

This past Saturday, we went up to the tattoo parlor to discuss our designs and ideas with our tattoo artist, Karla. She's one of the best y'all. If you're in the Pacific Northwest, look her up. She's award-winning and certainly deserving of it! She said she could definitely make these images into amazing tattoos. But when we asked when she could book us, she said she was booked until mid-July. 

via GIPHY

OMG! We won't even BE in the Pacific Northwest anymore by then! Karla had done all of our tattoos up to this point, and we didn't want anyone else to do them. Lo and behold, someone called to cancel and appointment while we waited. She looked up and said, "Can you be here Tuesday?" We were like, "Tuesday, Tuesday? As in 3 days from now?" She said we could have the whole day to ourselves, so we agreed. Deek took the day off from work, and we had a date at the tattoo parlor. LOL!

We'd been planning to get these tattoos to celebrate the one year anniversary of our second, Southern wedding, so we just had that celebration about twenty days early! LOL!

Southern Wedding

May 30, 2015

So, we headed to the tattoo parlor on Tuesday, ready to get our long-awaited book tattoos as well as a special message to one another on our shoulders. A whole day dedicated to repeated little bee stings. Nothing quite like that kind of celebration! LOL!

I went first. Deek always lets me go first so I don't have to sit there and anticipate. He's such a thoughtful guy! <3

After several hours, Deek got his turn.

See Anita's design hanging from Karla's station? These tattoos were a group effort from two very talented ladies!

And we FINALLY have our long awaited book tattoos!!!

I love how Karla incorporated the themes of Anita's work while adding her own artistic flare to it. The kick-bootae nature of the tattoo really goes well with my happy socks, don't ya think? Haha!

Deek and I could not be more pleased with his as well. Same thing--Anita made an amazing drawing and Karla added her own interpretation. And we ended up with something inspiring!

That night, Deek and I walked to have an early anniversary dinner at our favorite haunt (and to reward ourselves for enduring a whole day of pain--LOL). As he talked, he kept gesturing with his newly-tattooed arm, and every time he did, I thought how totally awesome it looked on him. 

Karla was even amazing enough to post a little promo piece on her Instagram for us. She really does rock! We're starting a new hashtag to add to our #AnitaIsAmazing one. This time, it's #KarlaIsKool! ;) 

Happy early 1 year anniversary of our second, Southern wedding, my Deek! I loved marrying you so much, I just had to do it again. But you know what I love more than marrying you? Being married to you. You're THE most wonderful man I've ever met--kind, thoughtful, funny, hard-working, involved (I could continue, but then this post would wrap around the world a mazillion times). Thanks for celebrating our special day with me, in the unusual way we do things. Thank you for loving me and choosing me to be your wife. And thank you for being you. I can't even begin to express just how much I love you and love our life together. It's a dream from which I hope to never wake. Now and #always, my love. Now and #always! <3 

Bookin' It Despite the January Blahs

Hello, friends! Welcome to the long, dark days of January. Blah. I saw a meme on Facebook today that said, "Nothing in nature blooms all year, so be patient with yourself." Well, I'm here to tell you, this girl doesn't bloom in winter. I have plenty of friends who relish the cold and snow, but I'm much more of a beach (and by that I mean warm beach, sorry my PNW friends, but a year-round cold beach doesn't do it for me) and sunshine girl.

The beach from our Southern honeymoon. 85 degrees and bright sunshine. That's what I'm talking about, people.

Instead, I've got this...snow. Blarg. Though, I'm fortunate to be snuggled up against such a hawt man!

And this...big coat, scarf, hat, gloves. Cold weather wear. Blech. 

If we have to stay inside thanks to cold, fog, snow, and darkness, we might as well use the time to do bookish things, right? So, Deek's novella, "Birth of an American Gigolo," releases on January 19th. It's been through my edits, Anya's edits, and five different proofreaders, so it's ready to rumble. And thanks to Ellie, it's all formatted and purty for both eBook and print. Now Deek and I just have to get it uploaded and ready. It's our first time entering the self-publishing domain, so we're still figuring out all the bells and whistles. Update: The preorder is live!! Place your order for "Birth of an American Gigolo" now! 

And while we're in the midst of all that, his publisher sent back the proofread version of 122 Rules for his approval. We read through those minor changes and sent it back. Now, it's on to the final stages too! It still needs a cover and the formatting, but 122 Rules is almost finished too. PS. We have some exciting news about the other two books in the 122 series, but we have to wait just a bit longer for that announcement (stay tuned).

Then, we get an email from Anita (the bestest cover artist in the world) saying she's completed her work on the banner that Deek will use as the basis for his upcoming 122 Rules tattoo. We had high expectations because of the high quality of Anita's past work, but our mouths still hit the floor when we saw what she'd created. People, really... I can't even.

We bow to Anita's greatness!!

We'll talk to the tattoo artist to see how much of the background we can incorporate, but it will definitely have the gun, the numbers, the bullet, and the number fragments in it. We are so excited to get ink to represent our first books (I'm getting one with the symbol from the front of The Prophecy)!!

Then, Anita whipped up another banner using a smoke effect that Deek really liked. 

The background is transparent, so it takes on the color of whatever is behind it. Again, Anita is a genius! This banner transforms based on the background. Here's white.

 Here's black. Too cool!

So, as you can see, it's a very exciting time over at the Rhew's when it comes to writing. You may wonder what I'm working on over here. Well, I'm writing my historical fiction. Deek's editing it chapter by chapter as I get it complete, and I hope to start sending it out on submission in the spring. After that, I have to decide whether I want to revamp my futuristic thriller or turn my short story "Volatile" into a novel. Decisions, decisions... LOL!

And let me say, I'm so proud of my husband!! He's been working hard to make his dreams happen, and they are! We don't call ourselves Team Tenacious for nothing. But even though he's busting his hump to get his regular work and book work done, he ALWAYS makes time for me and our family. Always. He's the most amazing man, people! I loves him so much!

Before I sign off, I want to give a big shout out to Anita, Anya, Ellie, our proofreaders, our friends, and our family. Without them, we wouldn't be launching all of these amazing things. So, from the bottoms of our hearts, THANK YOU!! 

For those interested, here's the latest update on my PaPa (grandpa): He ended up back in the hospital after Christmas for dehydration and a bad reaction to some of the medicine. He stayed in there over the new year and came home shortly after that. Now, he's doing much better! I've spoken to him several times, and he's acting more like his regular self. It does my heart so good to see him well again. Thank you all for your kind words and well wishes! ((HUGS))

Now, I'll leave you with some more summer pictures so you can join me in dreaming of warmer days to come!