Welcome to my blog, Brandy'z Books. Please feel free to look around and make sure to check out the contest list at the botton of the blog for awesome contests at other sites. Enjoy!!!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Gracen Miller will be here w/ a contest tomarrow!!!

Hi everyone. 

Author Gracen Miller will be with us tommarrow to talk about her new book "Pandora's Box" which will be released August 19th with Decadent Publishing.


   She will also be holding a contest on my blog for this amazing prize


A Skull Cameo Pendant 

I will be listing more info on the contest, so be sure to check back tomarrow and please feel free to pass the word along to a friend.  You just might get something special if they leave a comment and your name.

Thanks everyone, talk to you soon!!!

~Brandy

Friday, July 22, 2011

Top 100 Most Treasured Books???

Hi Everyone.  I saw this post and I thought I would share.  I have seen this list floating around of classic books that everyone should read.  I love to read and had always thought I was an accomplished reader but by this I am soooo behind.  I think that there are a few books that have been left off like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Dante's Inferno, Swiss Family Robinson, some Edgar Allen Poe or the Iliad and the Odyssey.  I have read 18 of these and 2 that I am still working on, one I won't finish (not much of a Shakespeare fan).   I think there are some that shouldn't be on here.

I've completed my list below. Please let me know how many you have read and if you think that they have left some books off :)  Also tell me if you post the list, lol

People who list it on their blogs are supposed to bold-type the books they've actually read and italicize the books they started and never finished. Those they've never read at all are left in the original type.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin – Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo


So what did you think?
~Brandy

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Congrats Hotcha12!!!

Congrats Hotcha12 you won a copy of Kristal's new book Burning from Within: Inside Kristal McKerrington!!!



I will be sending Kristal your email Hotcha12.  Thanks to everyone that came and supported Kristal!!!

~Brandy

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Burning From Within: Inside Kristal McKerrington **Contest**

Burning From Within: Inside Kristal McKerrington
Hello all Brandy's Book Readers,
           
Its great to be back, thank you so much Brandy! This time I have a wonderful treat for you all. I have the Release of my latest book. Burning From Within: Inside Kristal McKerrington. Best Comment will win a copy of the Ebook.
           
 This past week I saw the release of my very own story, let loose on the world. I wrote it in the way that I hope will not make people feel sad for me, because all I wanted to do is inspire people. Show them how I got through the Rheumatoid Arthritics and Dyslexia, which is a common thing that I have to deal with on a day to day bases.


           
Here is the blurb from the book and I hope that you will enjoy the teaser about what we will be talking about today.

            Kristal McKerrington, is a young twenty-two year old author, who opens up her heart and her life for her readers in hope to inspire and give hope for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Dyslexia sufferers out there. To show them that there is such a thing of getting your dream. She hopes that by writing this book that she can help raise awareness to all of the sufferers out there and help to show them that determination along with dreaming is all you need sometimes. Learn about this woman, who's over come the odds to become a full time, multi time published author.

I tell all in hope to bring some sort of peace, inspiration and help to the people out there that are fighting a condition that is making there lives hell. In some cases leaving them to believe that there isn't such a thing as a life outside of RA. I can tell them there is and it's amazing. I'm living proof that you can live you dream even though you have a condition.
           
 So far we have all ready received a on review on the book so far and I have copied the link into the blog so that you can check it out below.


Exclusively, I have an excerpt from the book itself. To give you a taste of what the book has instore for you.

            I want to reach out to the RA suffers out there that are about my age or even younger.  To help them see that we can still have a semi normal life. Achieve dreams through being strong within yourselves by fighting the condition and dreaming. I would love to go all over the world some day where they can talk to me and I can say to them the words that helped me more times than not.  To show them dreams are alive and can be reality.
            'Dreams are meant to be dreamt. They can only be achieved from within us and I want to help as many of you as I can achieve those dreams as I can.'  Kristal McKerrington.
            The RA Association aren't the only ones I want to help. There is the Dyslexia suffers out there too who are having their endless talents missed due to the fact that either teachers, bosses, lecturers, parents or anyone else, because they don't know how to spot the learning difficulty and are missing out on discovering the few talents that are floating about this world.  I want to end the hate and fear in school of kids who are different or treated differently by either teachers or students.  I want to reach out and help lead the way for that group as well.
            I want to do all this, because I care and I don't know who else is willing to do this, but I am. I believe and that is all I need to be able to help those out there.

 I hope that you enjoyed having me back on Brandy's Books. I have also gotten myself an Agent, who's handling my bookings and anything related to my career. So if you want to drop by to meet him or want to book me for anything then you can get him on http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002576127907&sk=wall . I'm now making moves to do more than just writing. David's helping me explore the other dreams I have had. I've been so honoured to have him take me on his books.
           
 I want to thank Brandy for having me back. Make sure that you comment below with your email address so that you can have the chance to win a copy of 'Burning From Within: Inside Kristal McKerrington'.  Its been  an honour please feel free to join the fan-page to tell me what you think or you can email me though the XoXo Publishing site also now.
            T
Thank you all again for having me.

Kristal McKerrington


**Contest** please make sure to leave a comment and include your email so that you can be reached.  The contest will go through Friday 7/15 
Thanks...  Brandy
My Kindle ebooks: http://ht.ly/3xbTS
Facebook Fan Page: http://ht.ly/3xc0D

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Mom is sick...

Hi, My name is Macy and I am Brandy's daughter.  Mom is sick right now.  She is having more surgery complications. 

Mom has asked me to post this so that all of the Amazing Authors that she has "spotlights" set up for the end of April and May will know why she hasn't contacted them or updated the spotlights daily.  She feels very badly but she is just not able to do all of this right now.

We are praying for a quick recovery and we hope that you all understand.

Macy

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

***Contest*** Revisiting Characters Years Later... by Cynthia Vespia

 We all know by now how novels are birthed. An idea is impregnated in my brain that must claw its way out before the host body is threatened. Novel is then nurtured through the initial pages, edited, and sent off into the world to find its place.

But sometimes that novel returns with luggage in hand looking for a place to crash for the night, which inevitably turns into months and then years. I know it sounds like I'm speaking about children, right? Well, in a way, a writer's work is their baby. Sometimes a beautiful blessed child and others a spoiled brat.
I have a fond place in my heart for everything I write even if it never sees the light of day. My new thriller Life, Death, and Back had a strange journey. The novel itself is the story of a man named Bryan Caleb's sudden death and subsequent return to form as a guardian angel of sorts. This was the initial story that stirred awake inside me (during yoga class of all things) almost ten years ago. I finished it, put it away, and went on to something else. I'm a little OCD that way, but aren't we all? Don't deny it.

So in all honesty a year rolled by when I was visited by this story again. It returned to me as I was minding my own business completely unaware. Knee deep in something I'm sure was important, it crept up behind me and bludgeoned me with a fresh continuation of the initial idea: Bryan now dead for so many years is suddenly resurrected. After picking myself up from the floor I took the bait and jumped right in. What wicked fun it is to write about a character fresh from the dead. Even in a contemporary piece there are no real rules!

I married parts I&II together and had myself quite a delectable little tale ready to be unleashed on the world. Then I of course put it aside and moved on with indulging more latent tendencies. It seemed this novel may never really see the world until one day my present publisher Sue Durkin at Weaving Dreams came across it. Sue enjoyed the story and wanted to release it but with one special request: We needed a third and final installment to round everything out.

I was up for the challenge but it quickly became daunting. It had been awhile since I'd seen Bryan and his crazy friends. I'd been knee deep in my other novels like Demon Hunter and the female gladiators in The Crescent. So I had to go back and find out who these people were, what made them tick.
What I found out is that these characters become a part of you. As soon as you breathe life into them they remain with you for all time, ever so subtle but still alive in your memory. It didn't take me long to pick right up where I left off...and let me tell you it was fun!

I've written a series before. But Demon Hunter was done back-to-back with virtually no break in between. For Life, Death, and Back a great deal of time accrued from start to finish. But I really did enjoy revisiting my old friends and putting them through more ordeals and troubles they had to find their way out of. Good times!

So I'd like to invite you to share in the same experience. One lucky winner will walk away with an electronic copy of LIFE DEATH and BACK so you can find out exactly what I've been talking about here. Enjoy a preview below:

CHAPTER I
The first sojourn from life to death was very much the epitome of birth. Brilliant flashes of light were aglow all around bathing snapshots of memory, minute but hardly trivial.
When the ride stopped and the suspension of disbelief released him, Bryan was curious to find his own corpse stretched out at his feet. It lay on the grassy lawn in front of his office building, twenty feet from where he had initially been walking.
The corpse, his corpse, stared up at him through one wide eye. Sightless now it still echoed the feeling of shock that he had felt the very moment the vehicle had struck him.
Though he wanted to look away from the tragic scene utter terror and confusion gripped him still. Pedestrians and motorists surrounded the accident and sirens wailed in the distance.  He was oblivious to it all.
All Bryan wanted to do was crawl back inside his body, stand up and say, "Hey, look at me, I'm fine. Not a scratch." Then there were strong impulses pulling him into the belief that this was just a nightmare. At any moment he was going to respond with a shudder and a cold sweat but he would wake, frantic at first, until he found himself in bed next to his lovely wife, Holly.
He hadn't bothered to wake her that morning. She was radiantly aglow in her pregnancy as she slept. It was their very first child and they were overjoyed to be experiencing this miracle after only one year of marriage.
Bryan had kissed her on the cheek and gone on his way to the law firm. His place of business was another joyful experience to be able to share with Holly. Bryan was the youngest of his class to seek and sustain a substantial position within a reputable law firm. Of course it helped that his father had owned and maintained the firm since Bryan had been a boy. But now it was his own, inheriting it when his father had passed away just two years after Bryan had graduated from law school.
It was an unusually cloudy day in Stanford, but nevertheless Bryan was in an upbeat mood. Whistling as he crossed the street to his offices he had never even seen the drunk driver's vehicle coming. Perhaps he had not wanted to. As the saying goes he had been looking upon the world with rose-colored glasses up to that point. No harm could befall him, he was indestructible. Throughout life Bryan had truly felt blessed, now it was all gone. In an instant his entire life had been snuffed out. His promising future was no more. All that was left was another casualty in the war of drinking and driving. He was no longer Bryan Adam Caleb outstanding lawyer, loving husband, expectant father, and genuine nice guy. Now he was just another statistic.
But Bryan didn't understand what was happening. If he was dead, why was he still on this Earth? What happened to the other side? So many unanswered questions tore through his mind.
He refused to believe it.
As paramedics encompassed the accident scene Bryan turned and ran. His mind was in frenzy and he just needed to get away, get some space to determine what in the world was going on. 
His pace quickened to the point where he felt as though he had wings and could lift off.  Finally he came to a stop at the end of the block and to his surprise he was not at all fatigued.  His leg muscles did not ache and he was not breathing heavy. In fact, he was not breathing at all.
Still in disbelief he went to check his pulse for some sign that he was still alive. His fingers passed straight through his arm. There was no solidity to his wrist at all. He tried two more times with nothing but the same result.
Bryan looked around frantically for help. With his head on a swivel, something above him caught his eye. Lights gleamed up in the sky like as though a great crystal was wedged between two clouds precariously placed for the sun to shine off it.
He stood awed looking at the magnificent colors waning in every direction. It brought him a smile and a sense of peace. After a moment he even thought he glimpsed his loving father's face high above beckoning him to come forward and join him. 
Bryan began to imagine just how nice it would be to be at his father's side again and to see his mother again in perfect and simple bliss.
The lights shone brighter and began to descend down towards him. Bryan stood stock still as they came closer and closer. The bright glare was such that he had to close his eyes but the pleasant images still remained. He felt his feet lift off the ground and he began to rise up with the jubilation.
Many wondrous memories were encompassing him now. Simple joys he new as a boy, more substantial and rich emotions of love and faith and virtue that he'd experienced as a man.  Those worlds of days long since past were uniting on a grand scale and lifting Bryan up higher and higher into ecstasy the likes of which he had never known before. But with this cataclysm of extraordinary peace came relevance and a fear.
This illuminated structure of memories was a portal allowing him access to the other side.  It was the ever after, bounty and life everlasting would be soon to come. Bryan's time here on Earth had been full but was now over. But he wasn't ready to leave yet.
"No," he stated. His voice was low at first as he still clung to the tranquility of the descending portal and the majesty of what it was. 
He tried hard to shake it off, feeling indifference of a strong nature. Something was wrong. He did not belong here, not now. There was too much left for him to do. He did not want to leave his unborn child fatherless. The Caleb Family Law Practice was on a steady rise; Bryan needed to leave his legacy before he left this Earth.
As his will to stay grew stronger and stronger he shouted "No!" more defiantly than before and this time it broke him away from the suction of the light.  
To find out what happens, order your copy of  Life, Death, and Back right now.
Visit Cynthia at: www.CynthiaVespia.com
See the trailer and find out more about Life, Death, and Back:

 One lucky winner will walk away with an electronic copy of LIFE DEATH and BACK just be sure to leave a comment and an email where your prize can be sent.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Romance and a*Contest* w/ Alison Chambers

Author Spotlight-Alison Chambers


Hello and thanks to Brandy for inviting me to post on her blog!  I’m also giving away a free e-copy of my book “The Secret Sentinel” to one lucky commenter selected at random!



 Here’s a little info about me:  Sandra Koehler, who writes under the pen name of Alison Chambers, was Vice-President of the largest association management company in Wisconsin.  She has traveled extensively and has also written for newspapers.  She first started writing when she was a teenager, sparked by an interest in Nancy Drew books and a desire to tell a good story.  She enjoys keeping her hero and heroine in dangerous and exciting situations against a backdrop of exotic settings, lost treasure and unsolved historical mysteries.  She has written seven novels, and besides writing, enjoys reading, playing piano and Green Bay Packers football.  Go Packers!

And here’s some info about my books: 

The Montezuma Secret  NOW Available on http://www.amazon.com/

Only $2.99 in e-book format for your Kindle, PC, iPhone, Blackberry or iPad

Murder and passion meet head-on in the steamy jungles of Belize...
 
Hunky Trey Zacco, gritty survivalist and host of the Miami-based Holiday Channel’s hit "Wildman" series and glitz and glamour girl, Erica Kingsley, host of the channel’s "Lap of Luxury" show, are thrown together in the steamy jungles of Belize as a publicity stunt and to search for Montezuma’s lost gold. Zacco cannot hide his resentment at having to share the spotlight with the flighty fashionista Erica, and he locks horns with her every step of the way as both try to ignore the strong physical attraction growing between them. But when Erica’s father's plane goes down in the jungle, Trey and Erica launch a desperate search to find him. And when members of the camera crew are killed and the equipment sabotaged, Trey and Erica find themselves stranded in the middle of the jungle, where no rescue crew can reach them.



The Montezuma Secret Excerpt-

 

    "Up?" she pointed, unable to believe her ears.
    Trey gave her a hard shove.
    "Get going!"
    "But how?"
    "Grab the vines and pull yourself up!" he shouted over the thundering rain.
    "You must be joking! It’s got to be one hundred feet high!"
    "Good calculation. Now move!"
    She stood her ground. "But why?"
    "A. There’s no other way. B. I’m ordering you to. And you’ll listen if you ever want to get out of here."
    Trey stifled an urge to smack her luscious wet bottom and watched in amusement as she struggled to grab hold of the slick vines, then smirked as she scrambled up a few feet and then landed in the muck with a splat. Her thick mane of black hair, once so splendidly coifed, was heavily matted and caked in mud.
    "Again!" he yelled.
    Raindrops, big as bullets, pelted her mercilessly. "I can’t do it. It’s impossible."   
    "Watch the master," he said, stowing the camera in his backpack.   
    He brushed her aside and grabbed one of the sturdier vines, then pulled himself up arm over arm with the agility of a spider monkey until he reached the top of the cliff where he had a perfect view of the lush jungle canopy and could see for miles.
"Now you know how it’s done. Get your ass up here or I’ll leave you behind."
    "You can’t do that. You wouldn’t."
    "Pull yourself up, Kingsley. If you have to, use the side of the cliff to push off and boost yourself higher. But watch out for the holes. There may be spiders and bats hiding in those nooks and crannies."
    Erica re-tied her sagging ponytail and pinned it to her scalp. Her breath was ragged, her heartbeat erratic.
    From above, she heard the sudden monotonous drone of a plane’s engine cutting through the rain splatter, then listened to the sputter as the motor spit and coughed, struggling to stay aloft. Wings slashed through the jungle over her head five hundred feet from her, both turbo props flaming. The plane wobbled and rolled before hitting the ground with an ear-splitting shriek of steel against steel followed by a blinding explosion of light that knocked her off her feet.
    A sickening sensation shot through her and she suppressed the urge to vomit. The stench of black smoke as dark as blood filled her nostrils. She knew what had happened. She hoped to God she was wrong, but more than ever she wished with all her heart and soul that she was still safely home in Miami Beach and that she had never come.
    From a safe distance, comfortably positioned to witness the entire spectacle, a smiling figure breathed a sigh of relief. It had all gone according to plan. On schedule and on time. They were right where they needed to be. Soon they’d both be dead and no one would be the wiser. Untimely accidents. Marauding terrorists. Ancient Mayan curses. Any excuse would do. Completely believable, considering the dangers of the jungle. They’d just disappear. Perfect. Simply perfect.

The Secret Sentinel-

 

Three lost keys to untold riches. Three cryptic rhymes. A secret society's deadly plot. When museum curator Savannah Rutledge steals her father's treasure map to impress her boss, she unleashes a Pandora's box of horror. Her father is killed and she is framed for murder. To atone for her father's death, she sets off on a cross-country chase for the treasure that ends with a dangerous showdown in the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix. To get there she and a sexy stranger, Antonio Desada, follow a perplexing trail of clues that lead them to the keys that will unlock the mystery.


 

FIVE STARS AND A TOP PICK FROM NIGHT OWL REVIEWS--"The Secret Sentinel is a wonderful read and I highly recommend it. Look out Nora Roberts...there's a new author on the horizon."
FOUR STARS FROM THE ROMANCE STUDIO--"The constant action and adventure made this a very enjoyable read. If you loved the movie 'Romancing the Stone' this book will be a treat for you."
RT Book Reviews magazine--"Deception is the watchword in Chambers' thriller. The action is fast moving and the characters intriguing."
NIGHTS AND WEEKEND REVIEWS--"A wild mixture of National Treasure and Indiana Jones."

And a tease from The Virgo Secret:


Three Dead Men.  Three Missing Cornerstones.  One Deadly Terrorist Plot.  Alexis McHenry is kidnapped while searching for her missing father, who was researching  the mysterious Virgo Stone.  She is offered a deal:  find the Virgo Stone in ten days.  If she succeeds, her father will be released.  If she fails, her father will be killed and massive terrorist attacks unleashed on Washington, DC during the President’s Inauguration.  A sexy masked stranger accompanies her as her bodyguard to make sure she doesn’t escape while they follow a trail of cryptic clues hidden in Boston and Washington, DC.  But who is this mysterious man and just what is he hiding?  When his identity becomes suspect, Alexis wonders, is he only her jailer or something more?
Coming in 2011 from Amazon.com!

I’ve also written three political thrillers entitled:  The Time of  the Eleven, A Question of Conspiracy and Sworn to Silence that I’m planning to release on Smashwords.com.

Now tell me a little about you:  Who’s your favorite romantic suspense author and why?  I like Kat Martin.  She always has great characters and sure knows how to write a spicy scene!  One commenter selected at random wins a free e-copy of my book “The Secret Sentinel”!

Alison Chambers