Holiday Spirits, a Shadow Hills novella, is out on Kindle: http://amzn.to/11ceRYF

At Devenish Prep, winter break is fast approaching & Phe just wants to relax with her friends & Zach before the semester is out. But after the group of friends is forced into working for Devenish's drama department, they concoct a prank to make it appear that the theater is haunted. The thing they didn’t count on was that the ghosts might actually be real…

I realize my online presence and updates have been infrequent since sending in the proposal for my sequel. I needed to immerse myself in a project that was completely unconnected to Shadow Hills to keep my sanity while it was on submission. My ADD complicates the writing process and I have to set strict guidelines to avoid getting distracted. Though I love emailing readers, I can get so wrapped up in it that I hardly get any work done (Facebook and Twitter may also play a small part in that).

However, I got even more caught up in the new novel than I planned on and though I’m excited to see what will happen with the finished book, I’m also ready to get back to Shadow Hills related projects. And I’m really happy to have more time to catch up with readers.

The question that I see the most as I make my way through my email inbox is this: will there be a sequel to Shadow Hills?  Nothing is set in stone, but the story came to me as a series, and I can’t imagine not finishing it.  My hope is that I can get the sequel out sometime next year.

You won’t have to wait that long for more Phe and Zach, though, since I will be releasing a special holiday novella in eBook format this fall. Holiday Spirits is built on the mythos established in Shadow Hills, but it isn’t necessary to have read the first book.

Here’s a small taste of Holiday Spirits:

Winter break is fast approaching, and Persephone Archer is looking forward to one weekend at Devenish Prep where she doesn’t have to worry about her new supernatural powers or the mysterious affliction that plagues her boyfriend Zach.  All she wants is to lounge around with her friends, and, even more tempting, spend some alone time in front of the fire with Zach. 

So when the friends are forced to work as stagehands by the school’s drama department, the group concocts a prank to convince the Devenish Players that the theater is haunted.  The thing they didn’t count on was that the ghost stories might actually be true…

I hadn’t taken more than two steps when a deafening bang made the wood floor quake.  Zach ran over to the trap door in the stage.

“It won’t budge.”  He pulled more forcefully on the rope that opened the basement storage area where Adriana and Brody were trapped.  But force wasn’t the issue: a ghostly figure blocked the entrance with his crumpled body.  Unable to speak, I pointed at the gauzy traces of the boy, and Zach let go of the rope, stumbling backwards.

Half of the ghost’s wrecked head was above the stage.  The remainder was flattened like a wet clay bowl dropped from a great height.  His arms and legs were twisted in impossible positions, and his neck was bent to the side so sharply that, had he still been alive, he could have pressed his ear against his chest and heard his own heartbeat.  Vertebrae strained against paper-thin skin, threatening to split him open like overripe fruit.

An icy sensation danced across my shoulders, and my scalp tensed, hairs prickling.  I looked up.  The girl’s spirit hung suspended just below the catwalk, her limbs limp like a rag doll.  But her stare was disturbingly intense.  The stage beneath my feet undulated and spun like a Tilt-A-Whirl.  Hollow rushing flooded my head, a low ring resonating in my ears.  Logic told me it was merely adrenalin-saturated blood pulsing through my veins.  But logic didn’t have any hold over me at the moment.

Contest!

Today is the day the Shadow Hills paperback comes out! The lovely Yara at Once Upon a Twilight is hosting an awesome contest where you can take a quiz about Shadow Hills and possibly win a signed copy of the Shadow Hills paperback. (And there are five copies up for grabs.)

Go to her blog to take the quiz!

December Blog Tour

Check out this post about the new Shadow Hills blog tour. It's full of extras from the book, character interviews, and awesome giveaways!

Shadow Hills Blog Tour!

Shadow Hills Blog Tour

1. August 23rd - The Undercover Book Lover

2. August 24th - I Just Wanna Sit Here & Read

3. August 25th - I Heart Monster

4. August 26th - Aaron's Books

5. August 27th - Brooke Reviews

6. August 28th - Karin's Book Nook

7. August 29th - Tinas Book Reviews

8. August 30th - Anna's Book Blog

9. August 31st - Ellz Readz

10. September 1st - The Serpentine Library

11. September 2nd - The Book Vixen

12. September 3rd - Mundie Moms

13. September 4th - Notes in the Margin

14. September 5th - The True Book Addict

15. September 6th - The Story Siren

16. September 7th - Reading with Tequila

17. September 8th - A Fanatics Book Blog

18. September 9th - Only Sexy Books Allowed

19. September 10th - Tales of a Teenage Book Lover

20. September 11th - ReaderGirls

21. September 12th - Daisy Chain Book Reviews

22. September 13th - Confessions of Bookaholic

23. September 14th - The Fiction Enthusiast

24. September 15th - Presenting Lenore

25. September 16th- DJ’s Life in Fiction

26. September 17th - Red House Books

27. September 18th - Shut Up! I'm Reading

28. September 19th - Chick Lit Teens


Last Contest before Shadow Hills Debuts!

The first 50 people who post reviews of Shadow Hills on Amazon will automatically get a signed poster! (The review can be new or cut and pasted from your blog/Goodread. Just fill out the form---the link below will take you to the form---and I'll email you if you are one of the first 50. P.S. I think the book has to be out before you can write a review, so the earliest you can post it will be right after 11:59 pm on Monday.)

Go here to enter!

Click the link for my newest contest!

My contest for finished copies of Shadow Hills is up! http://www.hopcusblog.com/display/ShowJournal?moduleId=6517900&SSScrollPosition=345