My books are on sale in July at Smashwords. Use the promo code on the book pages to get sale price. See all my books at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NicoleEvelinaAuthor or click on the image below.
Category Archives: Books
My Books Available in Stores & On New Site
I’m happy to say that if you live in LA or near Bellingham, Washington, you can now purchase my books from two physical book stores!
The Ripped Bodice – Los Angeles, CA
You may remember that I was a proud Kickstarter backer for the opening of this romance-only bookstore. (I sponsored a shelf.) Now, they are selling Daughter of Destiny, Camelot’s Queen, Been Searching for You and Madame Presidentess (once it’s published), both in-store and online.
Village Books – Bellingham, WA
A perk of being one of the top five bestsellers at the Chanticleer Author’s Conference is that Daughter of Destiny and Camelot’s Queen are now for sale in their store. Been Searching for You and Madame Presidentess (pre-order) are available on their website.
Ireadbooks.com
This is a new site by the folks behind Serious Reading. Daughter of Destiny and Been Searching for You are available for free on this site. Yes, you read that right. You can download them for free and I get paid for every download. I will eventually add my other books as well.
More to Come, and You Can Help!
As soon as I get some time to talk with my local indie book store owners, you’ll be seeing my books on shelves here in St. Louis and hopefully Chicago as well. I’ve also been told of a book store in Glastonbury, England that is interested; I need to follow up on that one. Not bad for an indie author who just published her first book on January 1!
Are there book stores in your area you’d like to see carry my books? If so, let me know. You asking them is always a big help, but if I know where you like to shop, I will contact them as well. Together, we can get books on shelves all over the world!
My First Radio Interview
Quick update on something I think you may want to know about. I was on Speak Up Talk Radio today and you can listen to my interview. It was my very first radio interview, so I think it went pretty well.
If you are a writer, I highly recommend checking them out. Pat, the host, regularly hosts authors of all ilks. The only cost is a $25 donation to charity, the pillowcase project, which sends handmade, one-of-a kind pillowcases to homeless Veteran shelters and women’s shelters. To me, that’s well worth it.
Been Searching for You – More Than Just a Love Story
Yay! It’s Been Searching for You‘s publication day! Here are the buy links:
What follows was actually written as a guest post for another site, but I loved it so much I decided to use it here and over at Spellbound Scribes as well since I have limited time to write these things in between conferences. Some of it will be familiar because of things I’ve said here in the past, but I urge you to read it anyway, as I hope it will give you some insight into why I consider this book more than just a love story, though it is very much one of those, too.
I never thought I’d write a romance. I actually swore I’d never write romance because I really disliked romance books for a long time – until I realized what I really hated was certain types of romance, specifically the more traditional ones where the hero has a pronounced physical reaction every time he sees the heroine, if you get my drift. Those make me want to barf. Others are pretty darn good.
But I still had one pet peeve: most heroines, especially in romantic comedies, are under 30. If there’s a wedding involved, it’s “OMG, I’m going to be 30 and not married!” As a 36-year-old single girl, allow me to smack you. So, what did I do? I went and wrote my own love story, one for those of us who are over 30 *gasp*, still single and still romantics at heart. I wrote it because I wanted to write the happily ever after I haven’t yet experienced.
The book came to life because of the Civil Wars songs “To Whom it May Concern” and “Dust to Dust,” both of which my best friend introduced me to. They seem to be bookends to a love story to me, so I swore I’d write a book that began with the words “To Whom it May Concern” and ended with the words “Dust to Dust.” And I did.
But while Been Searching for You is a fun beach read that won’t set the world on fire, it’s also much more than “just a romance.” It’s about a woman’s struggle to overcome her past hurts, heal and learn to trust again. Even if the reader hasn’t been traumatized in the same way as Annabeth, chances are good there are a few scars he or she can’t let go of; such things are a consequence of dating.
It’s about the struggle to connect in a meaningful way in the modern world, which seems to value hookups more than relationships with actual lasting meaning. Throughout the book, Annabeth struggles with having old fashioned romantic tendencies in a society that wants her to be happy with getting laid. That dichotomy is part of the reason why I chose not to have graphic sex scenes in this book; I wanted to show that it’s possible to have romance while the sex takes place off the page.
It’s also about friendship and the ways we support or harm one another through our interactions, ulterior motives and positive and negative reactions to life. I have had a few frienemies in my life (friends whom you are aware are likely to stab you in the back when it is convenient) and I wanted to explore that odd dynamic, one that I’m finding from contest feedback is much more common among younger readers than older. It didn’t begin with Mean Girls but that movie certainly brought it to the fore of societal consciousness.
Finally, the book also has strong themes of the power of education (especially in literature and writing) to affect students and positively change the world. This is a topic I’m personally passionate about and I’m sure it shows in the novel. In a world fixated on wealth (the quicker the buck, the better) I wanted to show how less flashy, sexy career paths can have meaning. Chalk this one up to the book lover in me!
One element Been Searching for You lacks that most traditional romantic comedies employ is a deception of some sort. You know the storyline: the fake boyfriend/fiancée, the woman pretending to be rich when she’s not, the person with a lie that will have to come out in the end. I think reason for this is twofold: 1) I hate deception, especially when it is contrived, and when it’s obviously contrived its like nails on a chalkboard and 2) I never sat down with the intention of writing a romantic comedy. I was writing a love story, plain and simple. When it ended up being laugh-out-loud funny, I dubbed it a rom-com.
Whether you like it, love it or hate it, I hope Been Searching for You is a worthy contribution to the annals of contemporary romance, albeit on the sweet side (but it’s not totally sweet due to references to sex and a bit of adult language). It was intended to be a standalone novel, but my beta readers are begging for more, so if you want me to extend this into a series, I need you to let me know. Either way, I wish you happy reading and hope that Annabeth, Alex, Mia and Miles are good company into the summer vacation season for all of you.
Daughter of Destiny Audio Book Out Now + Netgalley
Finally, after a month of wrangling with SAG, the audio book of Daughter of Destiny is out! Here are the links for Amazon and Audible. I don’t think it’s up on iTunes yet, but it should be soon. Because of my deal with ACX, those are the only three places you’ll be able to find it. If you join Audible and buy my book first (free trial doesn’t count), I get $50, so that’s the method I selfishly recommend, but please use whatever method is best for you.
The book is narrated by Hollywood actress Serena Scott Thomas. If her name sounds familiar, it’s because she is actress Kristin Scott Thomas’ sister. Or you may have seen her in the Bond flick The World is Not Enough, the Oscar-nominated Inherent Vice, Nash Bridges, Nip/Tuck, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She’s a native of England, so her accent is not only perfect, it’s authentic! I hope you enjoy her performance as much as I did. She’s got all the characters down just like they sound in my head!
Serena has already signed on for the other two books in the trilogy and we’re in the early stages of production for the audio of Camelot’s Queen. More to come as that unfolds.
Netgalley
Those of you who want a free look at Daughter of Destiny (in exchange for an honest review) should check out Netgalley this month. It’s available for download all month. Please, please, if you take this option, leave a review if you liked the book. That’s the whole point of making the book available there.
Web site Updates
Between coughing fits, I’ve been updating the site to include things of interest to those who have already read Daughter of Destiny. You can now read deleted scenes and help me cast the book over on Iflist. I’ve filled in who I picture for the characters, so I can’t wait to see how you see them!
Book Clubs
A reminder that if you’re in a book club, I’m happy to visit with you in person or via Skype. Here’s the link to all the resources for book clubs.
There’s been so much going on that I’m afraid I’ll miss something. But I think that’s everything for now. Once book stuff slows down, I will go back to blogging about history, I promise. There’s plenty I haven’t told you about Victoria Woodhull…
Daughter of Destiny Presale + Preview of Book
I’m over the moon excited to announce that Daughter of Destiny is available on Amazon for pre-order! Click the button below to place your order now.
The only version I can do pre-order for is Kindle, so if you’re looking for print, Nook, or other ebook format, you’ll have to wait until it comes out on January 1. 🙁 If I could change that, I would. I’m auditioning narrators for the audio book now, so I’m hoping it will be ready by January 1 as well. 🙂
Even if you can’t pre-order, please go mark Daughter of Destiny as “want to read” on Goodreads, if you have an account there. And while you’re there, feel free to ask me a question about the book and I’ll answer it (within reason, of course). I’m very excited to finally be a Goodreads author! Be on the lookout over the next few months for giveaways there as well.
One question for all of you: what price would you be willing to pay for a paperback from a new author? I’m looking for your input as I finalize my paperback price. I don’t want to undervalue my work, but I also don’t want to chase people away with a price that’s too high. My competition appears to price anywhere between $12-$15. What do you think? Please let me know in the comments below.
FREE SAMPLE
And…to entice you to buy the book (now or on January 1), here’s the back cover copy for the book, as well as the prologue. Chapter 1 is available for free if you sign up for my newsletter.
Before queenship and Camelot, Guinevere was a priestess of Avalon. She loved another before Arthur, a warrior who would one day betray her.
In the war-torn world of late fifth century Britain, young Guinevere faces a choice: stay with her family to defend her home at Northgallis from the Irish, or go to Avalon to seek help for the horrific visions that haunt her. The Sight calls her to Avalon, where she meets Morgan, a woman of questionable parentage who is destined to become her rival. As Guinevere matures to womanhood, she gains the powers of a priestess, and falls in love with a man who will be both her deepest love and her greatest mistake.
Just when Guinevere is able to envision a future in Avalon, tragedy forces her back home, into a world she barely recognizes, one in which her pagan faith, outspokenness, and proficiency in the magical and military arts are liabilities. When a chance reunion with her lover leads to disaster, she is cast out of Northgallis and into an uncertain future. As a new High King comes to power, Guinevere must navigate a world of political intrigue where unmarried women are valuable commodities and seemingly innocent actions can have life-altering consequences.
You may think you know the story of Guinevere, but you’ve never heard it like this: in her own words. Listen and you will hear the true story of Camelot and its queen.
Fans of Arthurian legend and the Mists of Avalon will love Daughter of Destiny, the first book in a historical fantasy trilogy that gives Guinevere back her voice and traces her life from an uncertain eleven year old girl to a wise queen in her fifth decade of life.
Sample
Prologue
I am Guinevere.
I was once a queen, a lover, a wife, a mother, a priestess, and a friend. But all those roles are lost to me now; to history, I am simply a seductress, a misbegotten woman set astray by the evils of lust.
This is the image painted of me by subsequent generations, a story retold thousands of times. Yet, not one of those stories is correct. They were not there; they did not see through my eyes or feel my pain. My laughter was lost to them in the pages of history.
I made the mistake of allowing the bards to write my song. Events become muddled as ink touches paper, and truth becomes malleable as wax under a flame. Good men are relegated to the pages of inequity, without even an honest epitaph to mark their graves.
Arthur and I were human, no more, no less, though people choose to see it differently. We loved, we argued, we struggled, all in the name of a dream, a dream never to be fulfilled. Camelot is what fed the fires that stirred us to do as we did. History calls it sin, but we simply called it life.
The complexity of living has a way of shielding one’s eyes from the implications of one’s role. That is left for others to flesh out, and they so often manipulate it to suit their own needs. To those god-awful religious, I have become a whore; Arthur the victim of a fallen Eve; Morgan, a satanic faerie sent to lead us all astray. To the royalty, we have become symbols of the dreams they failed to create and Arthur is the hero of a nation, whereas to me, he was simply a man. To the poor, we are but a legend, never flesh and blood, a haunting story to be retold in times of tribulation, if only to inspire the will to survive.
We were so much more than mute skeletons doomed to an eternity in dust and confusion. We were people with a desire for life, a life of peace that would be our downfall. Why no one can look back through the years and recognize the human frailty beneath our actions, I will never understand. Some say grace formed my path; others call it a curse. Whatever it was, I deserve to be able to bear witness before being condemned by men who never saw my face.
It ends now. I will take back my voice and speak the truth of what happened. So shall the lies be revealed and Camelot’s former glory restored. Grieve with me, grieve for me, but do not believe the lies which time would sell. All I ask is that mankind listen to my words, and then judge me on their merit.
[Guest Post] The Long Road to a Debut Historical Novel by Jeannine Atkins
Growing up, I liked to read books about ordinary girls doing things like fighting with or forgiving their sisters, but set in the past. Cooking in pots over fires or slogging through snow to reach wells or cold horses seemed thrilling. I started with an orange-covered series called “Childhoods of Famous Americans,” which were then shelved with biographies, though their use of dialogue and other fictional elements have convinced some librarians to put them elsewhere. I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books about Little Houses in woods or on prairies, another series that has made a similar shift to the fiction sections. I’m happy to browse for what I want, which remains books based on real girls and women who are full of dreams.
I found such a girl in one of the first fat books I cracked open. Many years ago, Little Women’s Jo March — huddled in a chilly garret penning plays and stories — gave me my first inkling that a girl could grow up to be a writer. My curiosity about other women writers stuck and carried me through college. I was unsatisfied with most reading lists, but scanned the stacks for books by women who’d been forgotten. I wrote some papers about them, and while I kept a scholarly tone, felt as if I were playing dress-up, again immersed in history.
The challenges and triumphs of women who came before me kept me good company as I wrote some stories that were published and two novels that weren’t. After I became a mom and read to my daughter, I found myself happily back with once-cherished books and the mother of the co-president of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Fan Club. The girls made posters (“Laura rocks! Ma rules!”) and wore old dresses to bake cornbread. Reminded of how life-changing children’s books can be, I put away my novels about angsty adults to write books for the young. I published picture books about paleontologist Mary Anning and religious reformer Anne Hutchinson, and collections about women explorers and pioneers in air and space.
No one should write history who doesn’t love doing research, and some of that is rereading books you once adored. I came back to Little Women, but what got inside me most this time was the half-hidden story of the youngest sister. In the novel, Amy March gives up art when she realizes she might not become great. In real life, May Alcott stuck with her paints.
I believed this real person who tried to balance art and love deserved more attention. Children and teens are a wonderful audience, but I wanted the girl I first met in Little Women to step out as fully adult, finding her way through or around traps and temptations and reveling in romance, too. For Little Woman in Blue: A Novel of May Alcott, I circled back to writing for adults who may find May’s struggles familiar, though they took place more than 150 years ago. Could May find a true love, in a period, after the Civil War, when eligible men seemed scarce? Could she keep making art in a time when women painters were rarely taken seriously? I loved exploring those questions, and finding a way to let another woman step out from the shadows of the past.
To learn more about Jeannine Atkins’s books about girls and women in history, please visit her website at www.Jeannineatkins.com.
Do you have any questions or comments for Jeannine? She’ll be around checking out the comments.
Publication Announcement!
Image purchased from Dreamstime
This is the blog post I’ve been waiting four years to write. I’m excited to announce that you will be seeing four (maybe even five) books from me in 2016!
That’s because I’ve made the decision to become an independent author. I’m even in the process of setting up my own company, which will be my publication house.
Here’s the publication schedule:
- Daughter of Destiny (Guinevere’s Tale: Book 1) – January 1
- Camelot’s Queen (Guinevere’s Tale: Book 2) – March 23
- Been Searching for You (formerly He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not) – May 23
- Madame Presidentess – July 25
And if the stars align, I’d love to have Mistress of Legend (Guinevere’s Tale: Book 3) published by the end of 2016, but that may be a bit ambitious, so I’m not making any promises yet.
All of these books will be available in e-book, print and audio formats. (Audio may come later than the others, depending on the production schedule. I’ll keep you updated.)
These books are the beginning of three series that I’ll continue in years to come:
- Arthurian Legend – Obviously, this includes the three Guinevere’s Tale books, but I also plan to write Tristan and Isolde’s story (Isolde demanded it when she walked into my head all those years ago), as well as several novellas. I’m also planning a companion book that tells you more about the details of my Arthurian world – you know, all the stuff that didn’t fit into the books.
- Love in the Windy City – Been Searching for You was supposed to be a standalone novel. However, my beta readers immediately came back and demanded more, as have several contest judges. I’m pretty sure that there will be two more books in this series. I don’t want to give away more than that until all of you get to read it and tell me if you agree there’s more to Annabeth and Alex’s story (and Miles, Mia, and Nick).
- Heroines of the 19th Century – Madame Presidentess (about Victoria Woodhull) is the first of four books about three feisty, mostly unknown, real-life women of the 19th century. Victoria was the first female to run for President in the United States. Another woman I will write about was a Morman with dreams of a new life in California, who unexpectedly became involved with Indians in the Wild West (I think her story will be two books). The other is a French woman who made a certain brand of high-end wine a household name in a time when women simply did not work. Though they are from vastly different worlds, none of these ladies lived the traditional role set out for women of their time and the world is better for it.
Which one will I focus on once the third Guinevere book is out? I have no idea. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I have 22 books floating around in my head, so it will really be up to the muse and the characters what comes next. Well, that and how all of you react to the books once you can read them.
As many of you know, this has been a long journey with many ups and downs, and I want to make sure you know how grateful I am for all of you sticking with me, whether you’ve been here from the beginning or are just hopping on for the ride. I plan to keep you apprised of every step in the process and will give additional information as soon as I can. Look for cover reveals, early sample chapters, giveaways and more as publication dates approach.
Eventually I’ll get to the fun stuff like scheduling book signings and virtual tours (hope to get to meet some of you via Skype!), but right now I’m working on securing a cover designer, map illustrator (for the Guinevere books) and editor. Plus learning everything I can about self publishing. Before long it will be time to firm up the audio deal. Every day brings a new challenge, but it’s something I am having so much fun learning. For me, this is a career and a business, so I want to get it right.
Curious as to why I chose to self-publish? Find out my reasoning on Thursday, August 28, over at Spellbound Scribes.
Are you excited that my books will finally be out there? Which one(s) are you most looking forward to? Anything in particular you want to see in terms of marketing?
New Book Titles Selected
I wasn’t thinking it would happen this fast, but my best friend Courtney and I did some brainstorming yesterday and came up with new titles for both books. Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions.
The new titles are:
Daughter of Destiny (was Guinevere of Northgallis)
(Other two books in the series are Camelot’s Queen and Mistress of Legend)
Been Searching for You (was He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not)
I’ll be able to tell you in a bit why I needed these new titles. You will be very happy when I do. Now I need to go and change them throughout this site.