Kelly Martin-- Saint Sloan

When You Write the ‘Hard’ Topics

I want to thank Jessie for having me on her blog today! I’m going a one day blog tour

(13 blogs!) to get the word out about my new book, SAINT SLOAN.

I’m a big fan of Jessie’s book, AT WHAT COST. If you haven’t read it, you so should! It deals with a very hard subject: abortion.

Writing ‘hard’ subjects is well… hard. You have to get into your character’s mind and sometimes that’s not a pleasant place to be. I had the topic of sexual assault in SAINT SLOAN (which is always a fun thing to write about). Come to think of it, in CROSSING THE DEEP, I had to write about child molestation from a guy’s point of view (not in detail, but I had to work it out in my mind so I had to *see* it even if it’s just implied in the novel).

Hard topics like abortion, sexual assault, and molestation aren’t fun or easy to write about, but they are important. If we all wrote about sunflowers and daisies, it wouldn’t be an accurate representation of the world around us.

And in these novels, we can still bring out the courage and fight in our characters. They may be flawed, but they are still human, still try to do their best in a very difficult world.

Here’s the back cover blurb from SAINT SLOAN:

When Sloan Bridges is seventeen years and three hundred, sixty-four days old, her dream of having a perfect birthday is shattered. Home alone after spending the afternoon working on a science project at the new boy’s house, Sloan is brutally attacked in her kitchen by a man she can’t recognize. The only clue she has to go on is what he whispers in her ear, “You deserve this.”

The police have one suspect—Aaron Hunter, older brother of ‘the new boy’, who picked Sloan up a few nights before as she ran from a party. Adamant that he didn’t do it, Aaron begs Sloan to believe him. For her part, Sloan doesn’t know who to trust. She never saw her attacker’s face, and when she does picture it, it’s Aaron’s face she sees standing over her.

Trying to move on is impossible with a former best friend who taunts her and gives her the moniker, “Saint Sloan”, an ex-boyfriend who doesn’t understand why she changed a few months before her attack, and Aaron’s brother, Ray, who makes Sloan smile but has a side she doesn’t understand.

With her attacker ready to strike again, Sloan has to figure out who would hurt her and stop him before he finishes what he started.

~*~*~

Want to read more? Buy the book from any of the links below:

AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Saint-Sloan-ebook/dp/B00BMQ9E9O/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1

BARNES AND NOBLE: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/saint-sloan-kelly-martin/1114723748?ean=2940016377308

SMASHWORDS: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/290677

ASTRAEA PRESS: http://www.astraeapress.com/#!/~/product/category=662245&id=20839143

KOBO: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Saint-Sloan/book-wNrqosRRB0i2jU9ym34izg/page1.html?s=4Xoj6XizzUOFvTfhOsZ87Q&r=1

Thank you so much for having me here today!

Author bio:

~Kelly Martin is a best selling author of young adult fiction. She has two books: Grace Award nominee CROSSING THE DEEP and Amazon Best selling in Teen/Religion SAINT SLOAN. She has several short stories published and loves to write ‘twitter fiction’ when she’s bored. Kelly loves God, is addicted to chocolate, and would rather write than sleep.

You can find her on twitter (she tweets a lot): @martieKay

You can find my author page (blog tour central): at www.kellymartinstories.com

Another giveaway...Oh yes, I think so.

I just realized I have 300 Twitter followers. This calls for a celebration. I'm giving away an ebook of At What Cost to celebrate! So, tweet to your friends, share on Facebook and tell everyone you know for your chance to win.

During her junior year, sixteen-year-old Maggie Reynolds expected to shop for prom dresses not maternity clothes. Now, instead of studying for the SATs, she’s reading, What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Maggie’s ‘Mother Dearest’ lives in fear that Maggie will somehow taint the family name, so Maggie can’t turn to her for help. Meanwhile, her father is oblivious to anything but his 9-9 job. And her boyfriend, Justin? She’s pretty sure he’ll stay by her side. 

While Maggie wrestles with her options, Justin offers a solution: abortion. It would solve all her problems quickly, easily, and effectively. And her parents would never know, which means they won’t throw her out and cut her off like they’d always threatened if she got herself knocked up. But an easy decision becomes difficult when Maggie’s aunt discovers her secret and sets out on a mission to stop the abortion, putting a kink in Maggie’s plan. Now Maggie must decide which choice she can live with: abortion or teenage motherhood. Either way, it’ll be a tough road to travel.


You can also skip the giveaway and get your copy on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Astraea Press



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Broken Wings-- Shannon Dittemore Blog tour

Please welcome back Shannon Dittemore, author of the Angel Eyes trilogy. She's here to talk to us a little about the second in the series, Broken Wings, and to share with us ten fun facts about her. 

Broken Wings and Shannon Dittemore: Ten Facts

1.   The Angel Eyes trilogy is set in Stratus—a fictitious town in Central Oregon. The author, Shannon Dittemore, loosely modeled Stratus after several different small towns in the Pacific Northwest.

2.  The pianist at the little church in town is named after Shannon’s youngest sister, Stephanie, who is a musician in her own right.

3.   In the early chapters of Broken Wings we meet the Prince of Darkness. Shannon has played Satan in more than one church production. The first costume included a pair of fuzzy red mittens and red makeup that stained her face for days.

4.   Jake has hazel eyes—green with a russet flame bleeding from the center—just like Shannon’s husband, Matt.

5.   Early versions of Broken Wings had scenes that took place in South America. While those have all been cut, Kaylee’s obsession with Peru is a nod to those early drafts.

6.  The old men who’ve taken up court outside the Donut Factory were inspired by a collection of eclectic gentlemen who hung out at a local doughnut shop in Shannon’s hometown.

7.  Like Brielle, Shannon’s favorite musical is Les Miserables.

8. The first draft of Broken Wings was written during National Novel Writing Month. Not a single word of that draft was kept.

9.  There are a handful of Peter Pan references throughout the series. Shannon nurses a mild obsession with the tale.

10.  And finally, Jake visits the Evil Deeds tattoo parlor. Shannon has one tattoo. She’s a wuss and will not be getting any more. 

Broken Wings (Angel Eyes Trilogy #2)

By Shannon Dittemore 

Release Date: February 19, 2013

Paperback/e-book

320 pages

Summary from Goodreads:

Giant angels with metal wings and visible song. A blind demon restored from the pit of darkness. And a girl who has never felt more broken.

Brielle sees the world as it really is: a place where the Celestial exists side by side with human reality. But in the aftermath of a supernatural showdown, her life begins to crumble. Her boyfriend, Jake, is keeping something from her—something important. Her overprotective father has started drinking again. He’s dating a much younger woman who makes Brielle’s skin crawl, and he’s downright hostile toward Jake. Haunting nightmares keep Brielle from sleeping, and flashes of Celestial vision keep her off kilter.

What she doesn’t know is that she’s been targeted. The Prince of Darkness himself has heard of the boy with healing in his hands and of the girl who sees through the Terrestrial Veil. When he plucks the blind demon, Damien, from the fiery chasm and sends him back to Earth with new eyes, the stage is set for a cataclysmic battle of good versus evil.

Then Brielle unearths the truth about her mother’s death and she must question everything she ever thought was true.

Brielle has no choice. She knows evil forces are converging and will soon rain their terror down upon the town of Stratus. She must master the weapons she’s been given. She must fight.

But can she fly with broken wings?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Be sure to check out Dittemore's first book: 

Angel Eyes (Angel Eyes Trilogy #1)

by Shannon Dittemore 

Release Date: May 29, 2012

Paperback/e-book

336 pages

Summary from Goodreads:

Once you’ve seen, you can’t unsee. Everything changes when you’ve looked at the world through . . .

ANGEL EYES

Brielle’s a ballerina who went to the city to chase her dreams and found tragedy instead. She’s come home to shabby little Stratus, Oregon, to live with her grief and her guilt . . . and the incredible, numbing cold she can’t seem to shake.

Jake’s the new guy at school. The boy next door with burning hands and an unbelievable gift that targets him for corruption.

Something more than fate has brought them together. An evil bigger than both of them lurks in the shadows nearby, hiding in plain sight. Two angels stand guard, unsure what’s going to happen. And a beauty brighter than Jake or Brielle has ever seen is calling them to join the battle in a realm where all human choices start.

A realm that only angels and demons—and Brielle—can perceive.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

For more information on the Angel Eyes trilogy, be sure to visit Shannon’s website: www.shannondittemore.com

About the Author

Shannon Dittemore has an overactive imagination and a passion for truth. Her lifelong journey to combine the two is responsible for a stint at Portland Bible College, performances with local theater companies, and a focus on youth and young adult ministry. The daughter of one preacher and the wife of another, she spends her days imagining things unseen and chasing her two children around their home in Northern California. Angel Eyes is her first novel.

Website / Twitter / Goodreads / Facebook / Pinterest

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For more on the Broken Wings YA Bound tour, check out this link, or click on the Broken Wings Banner to the right. http://yabound.blogspot.com/2012/11/blog-tour-schedule-broken-wings-angel.html