Cinderskella Cover Reveal

Congrats to my writer pal & friend, Amie Borst, & her talented Daughter, Bethanie, on the cover reveal for CINDERSKELLA!

This is such a cute story and I’m thrilled to take part in sharing this gorgeous cover! ❤️

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Cinderskella Summary

It’s not just monsters that go bump in the night. Sometimes it’s skeleton-girls, too.

Cindy might appear to be your average twelve year old, but since her mother’s death she has a secret. Every night she faces a horrible, terrible curse; one that turns her into a skeleton. Yup, a boney, white skeleton.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Cindy’s own father is scared of her. Plus she has an evil stepmother who makes her do crazy chores, some of them with a toothbrush. And then there’s the wild dog with intentions of making Cindy into his midnight snack. As if all that wasn’t bad enough, the Spring Fling dance is fast approaching and Ethan, the cutest boy in sixth grade, doesn’t seem to know she exists. Cindy doesn’t think letting Ethan know she’s a cursed skeleton-girl is the best way to introduce herself. Determined to break the curse, Cindy travels to the Underworld where things aren’t quite what they seem, including Mr. Death, the strange and creepy Undertaker.

With a jar of pickled pig’s feet, a wacky fortuneteller, and an cranky skeleton mouse, Cindy is afraid this curse has really gotten under her skin.

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Amie and Bethanie Bio’s

 

Amie Borst loves glitter, unicorns, and chocolate. But not at the same time. That would be weird. She’s a PAL member of the SCBWI as well as a founding and contributing member of The Mixed-Up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors, a group blog dedicated to middle-grade books. Amie lives in Virginia with her three beautiful daughters, her handsome husband, and two cute dogs named Lily and Maggie. She wishes she could travel the world in a hot pink elevator but for now, her minivan will have to do.

 

Bethanie Borst is 17 and the author of three books. When she was only 10 years old, she wrote her first book, Cinderskella. She enjoys reading, writing, and STEM. Bethanie is fluent in both sarcasm and humor and is prepared for the zombie apocalypse and/or spontaneous combustion of the world. Because, let’s face it, both of those things are totally realistic.

 

You can find Amie on her website www.amieborst.com, her blog www.amieborst.blogspot.com and Facebook 

You can find Bethanie on her joint pages: Facebook and her website www.amieandbethanieborst.com

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SNOW FRIGHT COVER REVEAL (And a Signing!)

OMGosh, I *super* excited to share the cover to Amie and Bethanie Borst’s final installment of the Scarily Ever Laughter series. From Cinderskella to Little Dead Riding Hood, and now to Snow Fright, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed these books, the characters, the challenges they face, and oh man those covers. So without further ado, take it away Amie!!!

PS: CONGRATS!!!!

PPS: If you’re in the Kingston, NY area on Saturday, June 25, come see Amie, Bethanie, MYSELF, and a host of other local authors at the Barnes and Noble for a panel, reading, and signing at NOON!!! (I’ll be reading from The Zodiac Collector, yay!!!)

OK, for real now, Amie you’re up! 😉

Amie: The final installment of the Scarily Ever Laughter Series is here! Or, well it’s on its way. October 4th is its big debut.  But no need to wait until October for all the excitement! You can see the cover now! (And be sure to check out the first two books in the series, Cinderskella and Little Dead Riding Hood!)

Snow Fright Book Blurb

Sarah White is gorgeous even if she is a little bit rotten. A mirror arrives on her twelfth birthday and she thinks it’s the perfect gift. But when an innocent game of laser tag gets out of hand, the mirror swallows her whole!

Sarah finds herself dead center of the Underworld. As if repeated run-ins with Mr. Death weren’t bad enough, Sarah now has to deal with her decaying flesh and sudden craving for brains. Not to mention she keeps having brain freezes, all due to the seven worms living in her head.

Of corpse, by the time Sarah escapes the Underworld, she finds her new zombie life less than appetizing. Even worse, she needs to return to the Underworld to save her friends, Cindy and Scarlet.  With a poisoned apple, a crow named Raven, and a glowing necklace, Sarah’s pretty sure that if she doesn’t rescue her friends, she’ll be a brain craving zombie forever. And that’s more dead-ication than she’s willing to accept.

And now the cover! Ain’t it fab???

Want your own copy?

Add Snow Fright to your Goodreads account or pre-order your copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Indiebound!

About the authors

Amie Borst loves glitter, unicorns, and chocolate. But not at the same time. That would be weird. She’s a PAL member of the SCBWI as well as a founding and contributing member of The Mixed-Up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors, a group blog dedicated to middle-grade books. Amie lives in Virginia with her three beautiful daughters, her handsome husband, and two cute dogs named Lily and Maggie. She wishes she could travel the country in a hot pink elevator but for now, her minivan will have to do.

Bethanie Borst is 16 and the author of three books but she was only 10 years old when she wrote her first one. She enjoys reading, writing, and archery. She’s also interested in paleontology and astronomy. Bethanie is fluent in both sarcasm and humor and is prepared for the zombie apocalypse and/or spontaneous combustion of the world. Because, let’s face it, both of those things are totally realistic.

You can find the authors on Facebook, as well as their website

About the cover artist

Rachael Caringella is an artist, illustrator, intuitive reader, and healer. And deep down, she is just like you; a rebel and truth seeker. Her days are spent in a little cabin as she paints, dances, sips delicious coffee, reads tarot cards, and, of course, illustrates! When she’s not in her studio, she can often be found wandering the woods, honoring her wild nature in the great outdoors searching for beauty adventure and inspiration.

You can find the illustrator on Facebook and her website

Oh and there’s a giveaway!

Click HERE to go to Amie’s website where there’s a link to sign up for an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of Snow Fright.

Little Dead Riding Hood

I’m SO excited for Amie and Bethanie Borst’s newest title in the Scarily Ever Laughter series, Little Dead Riding Hood.

Congrats!!!!

You know things are going to suck when you’re the new kid. But when you’re the new kid and a vampire… well, it bites!

Unlike most kids, Scarlet Small’s problems go far beyond just trying to fit in. She would settle for a normal life, but being twelve years old for an entire century is a real pain in the neck. Plus, her appetite for security guards, house pets and bloody toms (tomato juice) is out of control. So in order to keep their vampire-secret, her parents, Mort and Drac, resort to moving for the hundredth time, despite Scarlet being dead-set against it. Things couldn’t be worse at her new school, either. Not only does she have a strange skeleton-girl as a classmate, but a smelly werewolf is intent on revealing her secret. When she meets Granny—who fills her with cookies, goodies, and treats, and seems to understand her more than anyone—she’s sure things will be different. But with a fork-stabbing incident, a cherry pie massacre, and a town full of crazy people, Scarlet’s O-positive she’ll never live to see another undead day.

Not even her Vampire Rule Book can save her from the mess she’s in. Why can’t she ever just follow the rules?

Add Little Dead Riding Hood to your Goodreads to-read list here.  Purchase LDRH at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your favorite Indie bookstore!

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We’ve been asked to speak a little about how we develop humor in our writing.  This is one of the hardest blog posts to write.  Honestly. Because I don’t think humor is something I really think about. It seems to come naturally, especially to my daughter and co-author, Bethanie.

For us, there’s a few things that really make us laugh-out-loud:

1. Don’t force it. Whenever you try too hard the funny dies.
2. Use puns. Puns are funny. Yup they’re punny.
3. Infuse real life into it. There’s nothing funnier than something that can really happen.
4. Be authentic. People know when you’re being fake.
5. Pain, humiliation, figurative language, irony….that list is a mile long. Use it!

Hope that helps. Bring on the funny! Just no pies in the face. Kay? Kay.

About us:

Amie Borst is a PAL member of SCBWI. She believes in Unicorns, uses glitter whenever the opportunity arises, accessories in pink and eats too much chocolate. 

Bethanie Borst is a spunky 14 year old who loves archery, long bike rides and studying edible plant-life. She was only 9 when she came up with the idea for Cinderskella!

Little Dead Riding Hood is their second book in the Scarily Ever Laughter series. Their first book, Cinderskella, released in October 2013.

You can find them on facebook. Amie can be found on twitter, pinterest, and her blog. ***

We’re having two great giveaways as part of our blog tour! The first is for a copy of LITTLE DEAD RIDING HOOD! So be sure to enter the giveaway by following the steps on the rafflecopter form below.a Rafflecopter giveaway

THEN – as soon as you finish that, be sure to stop by my blog for a second contest! I’m having a SCAVENGER HUNT that you won’t want to miss with lots of extra great prizes! All you have to do is make sure you enter the contest below first then hopping over to my blog and filling out the rafflecopter form there! Super easy! Here’s the rafflecopter form for my blog just in case you missed it!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

See you soon!

Little Dead Riding Hood

Little Dead Riding Hood Cover Reveal!

Authors Amie and Bethanie Borst co-wrote a trilogy of retellings that’ll make you LOL and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The first installment, Cinderskella, is a Cinderella retelling. The second book in the Scarily Ever Laughter trilogy, Little Dead Riding Hood, is, you guessed it, a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

I totally LOVED Cinderskella and can’t wait to read LDRH. I’m also super stoked that I get to be part of the cover reveal. Congrats, Amie and Bethanie!!!

 

BLURB

You know things are going to suck when you’re the new kid. But when you’re the new kid and a vampire… well, it bites!

Unlike most kids, Scarlet Small’s problems go far beyond just trying to fit in. She would settle for a normal life, but being twelve years old for an entire century is a real pain in the neck. Plus, her appetite for security guards, house pets and bloody toms (tomato juice) is out of control. So in order to keep their vampire-secret, her parents, Mort and Drac, resort to moving for the hundredth time, despite Scarlet being dead-set against it. Things couldn’t be worse at her new school, either. Not only does she have a strange skeleton-girl as a classmate, but a smelly werewolf is intent on revealing her secret. When she meets Granny—who fills her with cookies, goodies, and treats, and seems to understand her more than anyone—she’s sure things will be different. But with a fork-stabbing incident, a cherry pie massacre, and a town full of crazy people, Scarlet’s O-positive she’ll never live to see another undead day.

Not even her Vampire Rule Book can save her from the mess she’s in. Why can’t she ever just follow the rules?

Add Little Dead Riding Hood to your Goodreads to-read list here:

GIVEAWAY –

To celebrate the cover for Little Dead Riding Hood, Amie is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card! Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. The more ways you share, the more points you earn!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BIO –

Amie Borst is a PAL member of SCBWI. She believes in Unicorns, uses glitter whenever the opportunity arises, accessories in pink and eats too much chocolate.

Bethanie Borst is a spunky 13 year old who loves archery, long bike rides and studying edible plant-life.

Little Dead Riding Hood is their second book in the Scarily Ever Laughter series. Their first book, Cinderskella, released in October 2013 and has been nominated for three awards.

You can find Amie on Twitter, Pinterest, From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors, and blog. Together they can be found on Facebook.