Emily Rachelle Writes

From Chapter Twenty-Seven: Rhea wanted to take off her gown, heavy with filigree and fur, and go to bed. A headache was threatening at her temples, and her eyes were sore and hot after her tears. After another pause, Ohnferead sighed, relaxed his arms from over his chest, and gave himself a little shake. Then he turned to Rhea. For a moment, the two stood gazing at each other. Then he stepped up to her and took her hands in his once more. He started to say something, stopped, then tried again. “I hope the people shall pardon you. Empyrean be with you, Rheúlea.” He bent quickly and kissed her forehead, then turned and marched out of the room. Don't forget to check out yesterday's post for an interview with Stacia, author and illustrator of Becoming the Chateran , plus a look at the cover!

I'm sure that none of you, my lovely readers, could forget my friend Stacia. At least, not after last weekend. Yes, I am referring to  Stacia Joy Aisling , the girl who conjured up a  tattooed boy on a motorcycle  and  ruined my life . Well, for whatever harebrained reason, I invited her back. But not the adorable jerk! No, he was not invited. Not today. Anyway, I'll let her take over now... *cries softly in the corner* Stacia Joy has always loved to tell stories and invent fictional lands and characters. But she never considered becoming a writer herself until age thirteen, when, inspired by a pretend play she invented with a friend, she wrote the first draft of  Becoming the Chateran . The story has since expanded into what will become  The Chateran Series . Stacia Joy also writes in several other genres, including steampunk and paranormal/science fiction, and occasionally writes poems about buffalo. Wanting to show others what her imagined univers...

Previous episode:  http://emilyrachellewrites.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-imaginary-boyfriend-episode-nine-and.html  Four days pass before I hear back from Rykel. The first day, I pretend not to think about it. After all, Rykel's not exactly the most dependable or predictable sort of person. The second day, I send him a friendly little text, asking if he wants to make plans for some time this week. There's no reply. I'm a bit quiet and snippy the next day, and I know it. Stacia gives me my space. I spend most of my classes doodling in the margins of my notebook. It's five o'clock in the evening the next day when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I slip out the door of the school library and slide the phone open. Thirty minutes.

True Love Dates by Debra Fileta Your indispensable guide to finding the love of your life Amazon Page GoodReads Page Author Website Amazon Summary: In True Love Dates , Debra Fileta encourages singles not to 'kiss dating goodbye' but instead to experience a season of dating as a way to find real love. Through reading powerful, real-life stories (including the author's personal journey) and gaining insights from Fileta's experience as a professional counselor, readers will discover that it is possible to find true love through dating.  Christians are looking for answers to finding true love. They are disillusioned with the church that has provided little practical application in the area of love and relationships. They've been bombarded by Christian books that shun dating, idolize courting, fixate on spirituality, and in the end offer little real relationship help. True Love Dates provides honest help for dating by guiding readers into vital relations...

Forgive my brain's complete refusal to come up with a witty or even half-sensible title for this post. Also, this post is replacing my usual Tuesday post, what with the auction closing on Tuesday and all that. Anyway, read on! Recently I've had the opportunity to be involved with two fundraisers that I happen to consider important and awesome. Naturally, I figured I should share these fundraisers with your noble and charity-supportive selves, my lovely readers. First off! Carter Crabb. High school freshman and talented artist, this guy was in the hospital with a collapsed lung earlier this year. He met quite a few kids and teens there with bigger problems and smaller support teams that now weigh on his heart. Therefore, he decided to do something! Okay, allow me to explain: our new student pastor has this thing about "Face Plant!" in the Bible - his term for devotions and personal Bible study, that sort of thing. He has us literally do face plants in our Bibl...

Previous episode:  http://emilyrachellewrites.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-imaginary-boyfriend-episode-eight.html Dizzy. So very dizzy. And nauseated. My entire body feels heavy. Everything aches and nothing will move. The room is hot, blazing hot. My mouth, dried out, tastes like metal and cotton. I gasp for breaths, but my chest barely moves.

Haven't read Ruth yet? No problem! Read it online for free now ! Last month, I set up a new Bible reading plan for myself. I'd been struggling to stick with my devotions, mainly because I felt like I wasn't learning anything or growing. I jumped from study to study, book to book, in my search for a deeper connection with God. Finally, I gave up on books or pre-made reading plans. Instead, I made a list of all the books of the Old Testament I'd thought it would be interesting to read. Yeah, preachers talk about how the whole Bible connects and every word is important , and that's true. But that doesn't mean every word is interesting or makes sense without extensive study and references. I wanted to find a way to make reading the Bible as interesting to me as reading fiction was. So I picked out the books of the Bible that stand on their own, that tell individual stories, that don't involve chapters and chapters of genealogies or prophecies that are beyond m...

What's Left of Me and Once We Were by Kat Zhang {Books One and Two of the Hybrid Chronicles} Amazon Page: What's Left of Me Amazon Page: Once We Were GoodReads Page: What's Left of Me GoodReads Page: Once We Were LibraryThing Page: What's Left of Me LibraryThing: Once We Were Author Website Amazon Summary - What's Left of Me: What's Left of Me , the first book of the Hybrid Chronicles, is set in an alternate reality where everyone is born with two souls. But one soul is naturally dominant, and in early childhood, the other soul fades away. That didn't happen for Addie and Eva. Now fifteen, Eva clings to life inside the body she shares with Addie, although she can no longer speak or even move. Addie does everything she can to hide the presence of her sister soul. Eva's very existence is illegal. If their secret is revealed, it could mean death for both of them.

It's here! It's here! It's finally here! Better late than never, eh? Previous episode:  http://emilyrachellewrites.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-imaginary-boyfriend-episode-seven.html "Are you sure this is a good idea?" "Sure it is. Nobody comes out here this time of night." Rykel pulls my bobby pin out of the lock and hands it to me with a grin, shadowy in the lack of moonlight or streetlamps. I slide it back into the back of my French braid. I fiddle with the thin strap of my purse hanging over the shoulder of my faded black Hunger Games t-shirt. "But is it safe? I mean, there's no security cameras or... or alarms, or anything?"

Good morning, my lovely readers! Today we have the lovely Tessa Emily Hall here on tour with her debut novel, Purple Moon.  Take it away, Tessa! About the Book Selena's life isn't turning out to be the fairy tale she imagined as a kid. That hope seemed to vanish long ago when her dad kicked her and her mom out of the house. This summer might finally hold the chance of a new beginning for Selena ... but having to live with her snobby cousin in Lake Lure, NC while waiting for her mom to get out of rehab wasn't how Selena was planning on spending her summer. She soon begins to wonder why she committed to give up her "bad habits" for this. Things don't seem too bad, though. Especially when Selena gains the attention of the cute neighbor next door. But when her best friend back home in Brooklyn desperately needs her, a secret that's been hidden from Selena for years is revealed, and when she becomes a target for one of her cousin's nasty prank...

As I mentioned before, I won a ticket to the Crossroads Writing Conference! (Pause here for that crazy statement to sink in.) Therefore, I spent last weekend having a lot of fun and a lot more secret inner going-crazy that I was meeting a bunch of famous book-deal-and-agent-having writers all in two days. (Also, I spent last weekend not sharing the next episode of my adventures with Rykel. Again, sorry! Working on that... anyway.) It was my first conference, located about thirty minutes from where I live, and totally awesome. I ate lunch on Saturday using this little $10 voucher thing that came with my ticket, at a little Mexican place that makes ah-maz-ing cheesy beef nachos. Oh, did I forget to mention - I ate lunch with the best speakers? All of them?! There's Lauren Morril , the newest star on the young adult book scene... and also the woman who ran the entire conference this year. Her reading at the Author's Avenue was perfect with the vocal inflec...

I tend to forget lukewarm books. The stores I love zealously, and those I loathe with fire and vitriol, I remember. A mere "okay" or "not great" book doesn't hold my attention long, and therefore doesn't hold as much substance in my review. When I write a book review, it is my opinion.  Not my editor's or best friend's or mom's or cat's opinion. Mine. Regardless of whether I love, hate, or forget a particular story, even my opinion alone brings three very different points of view to the table. I'm a reader first and foremost — a frequenter of Books-A-Million and Gottwals who enjoys a few chapters at the end of a long day. I'm also a writer, one who notices both the admirable and the lacking in a story's mechanics, while at the same time sympathizing with the author's rocky path to this book in my hands. Finally, I'm a reviewer. I'm a critic who must take nothing at face value and notice every thought and reaction —...

Thought I'd share a little something with y'all, my lovely readers... I got my senior photos taken!